.) Oooooh, CM Punk is being a bit heelish there, eh? Nobody talking badly about Eddie Kingston can stay a face. .) I love the love/hate/devotion/guilt triangle between Miro, his wife and god. .) Matt Jackson tumbling down the ramp after he gets thrown by Jungle Boy reminded me of possibly my favourite flash animation from back in t'day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-7osIds_RU .) Not the biggest fan of the whole Team America/Inner Circle thing. Big fan of Miro/Danielson next week.
Well, and now we've seen WWE release a whole lotta people again, right after announcing great gains and the bloody Saudi Arabia show. Not 100% sure about Keith Lee's health status, but it looked like he's on the up and quite ready for a return. He's got it all, doesn't he? Also: Ember Moon. That sucks. I really, really like Ember Moon. I'm sure she'll pop up in another big promotion soon.
Remember the hooplah when Karrion Kross / Killer Kross was hired by WWE? It was a big, big thing. So what have they done with him in the mean time? And now they released him. It's crazy.
Nia Jax was tangled up in some stupid stuff during her WWE carreer, and in some cases it was her fault, no question. Feels like it's been about 7 years since Shayna Baszler's been in that tag team with her (and thus being kept from doing cool things). Still, I can't bring myself to dislike the person Nia Jax.
Eva Marie. What the heck was the plan there? It's almost as if WWE only hired her back for some interviews and some photos.
Of course WWE knows more than we do, and maybe Keith Lee is still less well than we think or they had a deal in which they keep him on until he's fully healed again. But as it stands now, it's just a bad look for WWE. Once again.
Yeah, Eva was basically brought in to rebrand Piper Niven as Doudrop (for some reason) and then be let go, apparently.
Typical WWE nonsense, in other words.
In other news, Windham posted a tweet which may be hinting at an AEW debut? He references Jake the Snake and Rome (Malakai Black referenced Caesar recently)
Yeah, I'm inclined to agree on Eva Marie's latest WWE run.
Not to mention Jake the Snake's amazing initial AEW promo.
That sounds cool. I'd like to see him in AEW. Premier a new character on there, blow everybody's mind, have a limited run, then take the character somewhere else.
I find her rather unimpressive to be honest, and I haven't heard anything to the contrary so far. It's probably a very bad thing to say, but I find that interesting. Not that I think that she's a bad wrestler, but I have yet to find a reason to root for her over the Bunny for example.
Interesting that GW referred to both Shayna and Cesaro as "superfans" - it's been known about Shayna for a while (and can currently be seen with a Dark Angels symbol on some of her gear), but I didn't think it'd ever come up about Cesaro.
Might mean he's a fan of the Total War games - does a good pose with a chainsword, though
Having said that, there are few things he can't do, so...
That is true. And I guess a big corporation will call anybody a 'superfan'. Ad-people speak, innit.
So I'm watching Dynamite, and I start wondering where the Varsity Blonds are and TH2? Haven't watched Dark in a while, so maybe that's where they are, but maybe there's some injury?
AEW World Championship -- Kenny Omega (c) vs. "Hangman" Adam Page: Adam Page wins (or we riot). Without the title Adam Cole might try kicking Kenny Omega out of the Elite as well. Or the Elite just dissolves in favour of the Superkliq. Either way, it'll be a really cool match.
AEW Women's Championship -- Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (c) vs. Tay Conti: I like Tay Conti as much as the next guy, and she will win the Women's championship at some point. Right now though I can't see Britt Baker losing it though.
Bryan Danielson vs. Miro: For that eliminator tournament championship shot. Miro will win. It's just the rigth thing to do, and I love Miro's character right now. Danielson is doing amazing things, and he either will finally take a week off or (more likely) he'll keep on having insane matches with just about everybody.
CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston: Interesting. The whole thing started out as a really petty thing, but as we know with things escalating over stupid little things, it's usually because something's bubbling underneath. I think that this feud is just beginning, andCM Punk will beat Kingston. But AEW will invest in this feud, and it will be amazing. Punk turning heel, Eddie Kingston being Eddie Kingston.
The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana & Ortiz) vs. Men of the Year (Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky) and American Top Team (Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski & Dan Lambert) - Couldn't this kinda just as well be in the pre-show? I didn't particularly enjoy the build-up (apart from Dan Lambert's promos), it doesn't help anybody except maybe Chris Jericho(?), and not much is at stake if I remember. I'm sure it'll be fun, and I hope it won't be too long. Oh, and the Inner Circle wins.
AEW Tag Team Championship -- Lucha Brothers (c) vs. FTR: That's more like it! It'll be lovely. I'm not educated enough to appreciate FTR for everything they do, but it will be a lovely match and the Lucha Bros win.
Darby Allin vs. MJF: MJF wins.
Christian Cage & Jurassic Express vs. Superkliq (Adam Cole & The Young Bucks): Surely this will be the opener, right? Superkliq wins.
PAC/Rhodes vs. Black/Andrade - Pac/Cody got this one.
It'll be a lovely, lovely show. Looking forward to it.
CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston - Punk to win. No actual heel turn. Possible show of respect from Punk after the match....
Is it possible not to turn heel when going up against Eddie Kingston in such a passionate manner? Somewhere I read that CM Punk right now is what Cena was in 2011 when Punk was up against him. And Kingston's now in the CM Punk role. Which is an interesting angle.
Also, I completely forgot about the PAC/Rhodes vs. Black/Andrade match! Added it to my predictions. (I assume that Pac/Rhodes win that one. Possibly after Cody gets taken out by nerfarious means, is dead and stretchered out, but returns 2 minutes later to save the day, with adrenaline in his soul)
CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston - Punk to win. No actual heel turn. Possible show of respect from Punk after the match....
Is it possible not to turn heel when going up against Eddie Kingston in such a passionate manner? Somewhere I read that CM Punk right now is what Cena was in 2011 when Punk was up against him. And Kingston's now in the CM Punk role. Which is an interesting angle.
Honestly? Yeah, I think it is.
This isn't/wasn't a match set up via the usual heel/babyface dynamics - it was two people with an issue, an issue with more history to it than I was aware of. In wrestling, sometimes these issues get aired out in the ring, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's a good person and a bad person.
Going back to the issue that kicked it all off - and treat everything as real - Punk only has so much time allotted to him to cut a promo on Rampage, so Eddie interrupting after getting beating and screwing the segment up is going to annoy him. Given the incident was televised, asking for an apology - and for it to be televised - isn't unreasonable.
Calling Eddie a coward is going a bit far, admittedly, especially when we find out later that Eddie was missing due to waiting on a response to COVID tests - and when it was the same week a close friend has gone for treatment due to alcohol issues - could've definitely cut him a little slack for the latter, even not knowing about the former.
Having the in-ring promo battle, Eddie could've defused things by saying he got hot after the loss and wasn't thinking straight - it's Eddie, no-one would've argued with that. Eddie then goes into their history and pulls out all this other stuff, things which Punk obviously thought was done with. It's only when Eddie tells Punk to walk away for another seven years that Punk snaps, despite all the barbs Eddie has thrown his way - Punk has come back to something he love(d/s), the crowd (and the wrestling world as a whole, I'd say) want him to be here, and now Eddie's telling him to leave again? I can see why he'd get hot over it.
The Player's Tribune piece by Eddie that came out during this is a great read, if you haven't already done so. It certainly positions Eddie as a sympathetic figure, and continues helping people become more aware of who Eddie is. I don't think Punk has done a similar piece since he's been back, so the scales are certainly tilting to Eddie's side of things at the moment.
For the Women's Championship, the title change will probably be Britt Baker to Thunder Rosa. Unfortunate for Tay Conti now, but I'm sure she'll get a Championship run down the line - she's still developing, after all.
Hangman/Danielson should be a good match, though I don't foresee a title change on the first defense.
I'm hopeful for more Punk/Kingston stuff, but not straight away - with the possible exception of a Punk promo on Wednesday.
The tag match that was announced during Full Gear, with Cassidy bringing Ishii in from Chaos as reinforcements - am I alone in wanting to see Ishii caught up in (and bemused by) a Best Friends hug spot at the end?
Yup, with many of the matches I wasn't quite sure how they'd end. I actually watched with friends who watched AEW for the first time, and they kept pointing out how hard it was to predict the matches as they went on. But overall they liked it. Or they just wanted to be polite after 4 hours of PPV.
Spoiler:
Either way, Full Gear was a great show indeed. And I don't know where lots of things go too, but you know what? It's really nice to be able to trust a company that storylines will most likely be good and that everybody involved will not look like an idiot in the end. The friends I watched with were impressed with how Andrade was presented as a capable, threatening dude rather than a 'clown', as in WWE.
Only thing I was disappointed with a little was Miro not winning. But oh well, I'm not the booker.
Yeah, I was pretty hyped when I saw Ishii popping up on Dynamite too. The forbidden door with NJPW is wide open! Good times.
The ending was just lovely. Hangman having the beer handed to him, but he slapped it out of Alex Reynolds'(?) hand and instead went in for the hug. A lovely story, that whole Hangman affair. Also: Matt Jackson's nod. GOOSEBUMPS, I'm tellin' ya!
I'm a little confused by Anna Jay coming out with DO at the end, but not being ringside for Tay's match to counteract Hayter/Reba, though.
True, I was surprised about her not showing up for that match either. Surely Tay Conti told her to stay back. Heroically so.
Btw, a thing came up while we watched Full Gear. Entirely unrelated, but did the whole turnbuckle break in the Roman Reigns vs. Demon Finn Bálor match ever get explained?
Another question: How do you explain Kenny Omega to people who don't know him? I went with the old "he's the best wrestler in the world. period.". Which probably caused more confusion than explained things.
Oh, also: Jay Lethal! What a solid, solid choice. I like him.
I don't recall the collapsing turnbuckle being mentioned, yet alone explained.
I try not to explain Kenny Omega He is meant to be at a convention over here this coming weekend, though, so I'm considering whether I want to try and meet him while I'm there.
Dysartes wrote:For the Women's Championship, the title change will probably be Britt Baker to Thunder Rosa. Unfortunate for Tay Conti now, but I'm sure she'll get a Championship run down the line - she's still developing, after all.
Hangman/Danielson should be a good match, though I don't foresee a title change on the first defense.
I'm hopeful for more Punk/Kingston stuff, but not straight away - with the possible exception of a Punk promo on Wednesday.
The tag match that was announced during Full Gear, with Cassidy bringing Ishii in from Chaos as reinforcements - am I alone in wanting to see Ishii caught up in (and bemused by) a Best Friends hug spot at the end?
No, not at all - that would be awesome.
I mean, you've got to give the people what they want, right?
(Hopefully Trent is back soon too?)
And I was *shocked* when Jay Lethal showed up.
More than just about any other wrestler, he is Ring of Honor, isn't he?
He's signed on with AEW - so is ROH not coming back?
OK, so yeah, Google is a thing:
Lethal has now become the first superstar from ROH to appear for another company since the announcement that ROH will be going on a hiatus. The former ROH World Champion spoke about the situation with the company he spent over a decade with and why he’s excited for this next chapter in his life with AEW.
“Unfortunately the doors are closing soon there,” Lethal said. “I met a lot of friends there, I’ve wrestled there for over 10 years. I’m a very loyal professional wrestler, if you’re good to me I’ll stay there till the doors close. The doors are closing [in ROH] and the opportunity presented itself [to come to AEW]. Mr. Opportunist here [Tony Khan] and I was welcomed in with open arms. To answer your question, my heart goes out to a lot of those guys who no longer have jobs. It’s a sad time but also a great time to be a professional wrestler because the wrestling world is frickin booming.”
Lethal continued to speak about the amount of time left on his contract before revealing he requested his release from the company. The 36-year-old said he chose to bet on himself knowing that WWE talent was also released recently and wanted to get to AEW before other recently released talent did.
“I had about a month left up until maybe five days ago, six days ago where I asked for my release,” Lethal said. “Because I knew that as a professional wrestler, everybody knows, left and right people were released, there was a massive amount of free agents and for a professional wrestler if you don’t strike while the iron is hot, then you’re going to be behind the eight ball. I figured I would bet on myself and try something and I got a response and it worked and I’m so thankful for it.”
ROH will be holding their last event, Final Battle on December 11th, before going on hiatus. Having spent over a decade with the company, Lethal was asked whether or not he’d appear at Final Battle and here’s what he said:
“I will not be,” Lethal said. “My new home is AEW.”
Yikes!
I really liked ROH over the years - but this doesn't look good for them...
Oh, indeed I'd love to see Ishii giving the people what they want. Most of all I'd like for Trent to return though of course.
Yeah, I mean it's really cool that RoH kept on all their people during the pandemic. I hope RoH make a return. It'll be different, but it's so important that we got alternatives, not only to WWE, but also to AEW. Because a Duopoly is almost as crap as a Monopoly, but less self-unmasking.
Is Bully Ray RoH's booker now? Would be majorly interesting to hear what he's got to say. I don't really follow his podcast, but I listened to what he had to say about two years ago or so when he was on Jericho's Podcast, and he's a highly interesting guy to listen to. I'M also very keen to know where people like Dalton Castle or the Briscoes(!) show up next.
Trent? is recovering from neck fusion surgery, I believe, so I'd rather he take the time to make sure he is absolutely 100% before coming back - he's had a horrible time of it the last year or so with injuries.
RoH are in an interesting spot, and it's intriguing to think about what Sinclair may do with the property. I hope they come back properly in Q2 next year, but we'll see.
@Dysartes: Yikes, I hope Trent's back on his feet again soon. At first I didn't even get the connection between the Best Friends and Rocky Romero. Thankfully Excalibur filled me in.
@Alpharius: Yup, that'd be my hope too. No idea in which shape they're going to go on, but the main thing is they do.
On a slightly different note - I just checked if Lacey Evans was still with WWE. Turns out her kid was born just one month ago. Congrats on that. Remember when the sill storyline in which her pregnancy was announced happened? Feels like it was ages ago, doesn't it.
Funny though how they chose that night to also show the WWE 2k22 trailer. ("we said we'd have updates in January.... but we couldn't wait!"). Why is it that companies/entities who are obsessed with PR are so bloody bad at it? Or it's just when they suck that we notice the PR, I guess. It's like with referees.
I can't imagine how low morale is among the designers working on WWE 2k22. How many hours of work do you think they've had to throw out after GW fired the wrestler they were working on getting into the game?
I know that the build to Survivor Series was a bit of a lame duck this year, but why was a random prop more important than the brand vs. brand nonsense?
I won't see SuSe until Thursday, until then I'll try to dodge any spoilers. As for your question, I assume that even WWE realize that the whole 'brand warfare' thing is very silly, especially right after a Draft.
Dysartes wrote: I know that the build to Survivor Series was a bit of a lame duck this year, but why was a random prop more important than the brand vs. brand nonsense?
Right, tonight I'll finally watch Survior Series. I'm kinda hyped, simply because i had to wait for so long and I managed to avoid any spoilers (apart from the Rock thing, but I didn't expect him to turn up anyway). I just hope the battle royale is on the main show. I like a battle royale.
Anyway, until then I'm watching last night's Dynamite!
.) CM Punkt - MJF: Gooood. Funny. Slightly heavily leaning on references to WWE things, but that's okay.
.) LET EDDIE EAT HIS CAKE!!!!!1
.) I have to admit that I'm intrigued about Dante Martin in Team Taz.
Also, I watched Survivor Series last night, and had a lovely time. I will NOT watch Red Notice, because why would anybody. I will not eat Pizza Hut pizza, because why would anybody. It reminded me though of when we watched Full Gear the other week and one of my friends who watched with me (who'd never watched an AEW PPV before) was confused as to who sponsored the event and why there were no commercials.
All that aside though, I kinda enjoyed all the matches. I think I found out how to make Survivor Series enjoyable: It's basically Eurovision. You choose a team, have drinks and work yourself up (not into a shoot, brother, but up) to see them win. Without know ing the card, I chose team Raw because Kevin Owens is on team Raw. Turns out I was lucky in my choice. It was also the first time I saw Austin Theory in action proper. Well, more or less. But I love the sound of that name. Shame he's got a bloody selfie gimmick. I was okay with it on Typer Breeze, because for him it makes sense. For Austin Theory it just makes him one more cockwomble who takes selfies (don't take selfies. It's undignified, everything that comes with it actively sets back humanity). Either way, I cheered him, because #teamraw.
The main event was quite something. It's interesting how Roman Reigns matches always kinda work the same, but still there are points at which it looks like the opponent may just take away a victory. Also, Roman Reigns is really good at showing the weakness of his character. It may sound silly, because it's so on the nose, but he needs that validation from everybody. The match heats up, Roman makes a comeback after the initial babyface offence, the crowd starts booing Roman, Roman gets irritated and looks at them weird, the match goes on, he can't put away the babyface, gets angry at the audience, shouts, basically asks them to acknowledge him, they don't, he gets angry (defiant, even), and talks back to them in a cocky manner, then some more babyface action, then Roman wins. Or something like that. It's just interesting to see. Also: Big E is really strong. Roman Reigns is really strong. it's crazy.
However, I was very surprised that nothing happened in the end. Either way, good show. Watching with friends and drinks makes things better.
Aye, seems like we're in that pre-christmas Wrestling slump. So Johnny Gargano and Kyle O'Riley are out of NXT. Care to wager a guess where they'll turn up next? I really hope that neither of them will be a surprise entrant for Royal Rumble.
@Dysartes: Yeah, one of the youngsters I don't find annoying. Nah, I don't find the young'uns generally annoying. Darby Allin I don't get, but that's okay. It's just a phase he's going though. I absolutely HATED Sammi Guevara first few times I saw him. Jericho did a lot of good there. Anyway, with Hook I'm fine, and I really like the submission move. And the hair. Appreciate your hair, young man! He reminds me of Vincent Ventresca in the invisible man tv series, so I'm fine with him.
I also enjoy the change to Brian Cutler. Not that I'm the biggest fan of the stooge character, but anything's better than a pro wrestler with a "look, I play dungeons and dragons" gimmick, even if he loses all the time.
Agreed. It's a good way for the goodies to triumph for a bit without hurting the important baddies.
Yeah, and it's generally good to have some non-flippy young dude. Especially a heel.
That Dynamite last night, eh? That title match was quite something, all culminating in Danielson taking a NASTY looking landing after that last buckshot lariat. Also: Wardlow's storyline getting a bit furthered, funny Superkliq promo. I like angry Shida. Cool main event, looking forward to Penelope Ford vs. Tay Conti. Neat.
I'm just watching cultaholic's 9 pitches for WWE for 2022, and one of the guys pitched an idea which I've been a great fan of for weeks now, not only for WWE, but also AEW: Getting rid of the word 'bitch', especially in women's promos. The word is unnecessary, and has little meaning. It doesn't add gravitas to promos, or make anybody look good or clever. It's overused, hollow, and a joke. I very much could so without it. Especially in the 'positive' way it's often used in AEW promos.
Anyway, I like the wrestling. Watching Day 1 tomorrow, New Year's Rampage was fine. Dang, that street fight was something. The Bunny is great. All the people in the match are, but the Bunny and Tay Conti to me are the stand-outs quite clearly.
Are we looking forward to Wrestle Kingdom? Over the past 2-3 years they kinda fell off the map a bit, didn't they? Strong didn't quite live up to what I hoped for either and honestly, I'm not quite sure if the prospect of THREE days appeals to me that greatly. (not the least because I know nothing about PW Noah, so the third day possibly doesn't play much of a role for me?).
Still, I'll have a look at the card and share with the world who I'd like to win:
DAY1:
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada - Funny thing about Shingo Takagi is that I just don't know him. He's a dragon and he looks pretty regular as far as menacing Japanese wrestling guys go, right? I'd say Okada wins, so NJPW can try to get things back on track again a bit.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
El Desperado (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi - Oh, that'll be crazy, won't it. Hiromu Takahashi for the win.
IWGP Tag Team Championship
Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi) (c) vs. Chaos (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) - I will love this. It features three of my absolute favourites of mine of New Japan (and Yoshi-Hashi). I have a feeling that Dangerous Tekkers will win, but I want Chaos to win, because of Goto and him being a really good babyface. I insist for Miho Abe to be there though. Always loved Taichi's entrance. What a great concept for a heel.
NEVER Openweight Championship
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. EVIL - Ishii to win. I don't like EVIL much.
Special Singles Match
Catch Wrestling Rules Match Katsuyori Shibata vs. ??? - I don't know. It's Shibata's miraculous return to in-ring action, right? I think Suzuki isn't on any card until a 3-man tag on day #3, so why not Suzuki? Shibata beats him for the babyface return, they'll have another match with regular rules, so Suzuki can beat the snot out of him.
Six Man Tag Team Match
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI) vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) - Love the return of Ospreay, do not love the United Empire, but maybe they'll grow on me. Sucks for Naito and Sanada, but I think the United Empire got that.
Six Man Tag Team Match -
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Rysuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero vs. Bullet Club (Kenta, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) - Phew. hard to tell. But it's Wrestle Kingdom and it's bloody Tanahashi! He's good, isn't he. The whole match will be a great showcase for Ishimori and Phantasmo especially, but the good guys will win. It sucks for Bullet Club, but what can you do. Can't beat Love and Energy.
Special Singles Match
YOH vs. SHO - Uhm. Sho. Yoh is a bit less of a star, is he.
Kick-Off:
KOPW 2022 New Japan Ranbo - I have no idea. They'll have a ton of participants, right? I don't HAVE to see Toru Yano win this, I have to say.
DAY 2:
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Shingo Takagi or Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Will Ospreay - Based on my prediction it'll be Okada vs. Ospreay, but I just can't quite tell who will win this one. It would be nice to see Ospreay pick up where he left off, but if New Japan try to get back to their glory days (which I have a feeling they want to), combined with the travel and pandemic situation I'm inclined to say that Okada wins.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship
No Disqualification Match
KENTA (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Oooh, the sequel to Day#1's 3man tag match. Kenta's got that one. A no-DQ singles match against a possibly hurt Tanahashi (they'll make sure of that during the first night's match) sounds like something that would favour Kenta.
Special Singles Match
Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb - Cobb. I hear he's been great lately.
Special Singles Match
SANADA vs. Great-O-Khan - Phew. I'll say Sanada. People love him, he can do all the things, Great O Khan still feels a bit meh to me.
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
House of Torture (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO) (c) vs. Chaos (Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH) - Yikes, this doesn't look good for Goto, but I'll stick to him, even though he's got yoshi hashi and yoh with him. Does anybody really like House of Torture? Btw, I demand to see Pieter on the entrance.
KOPW 2022
4 Way Match
??? vs. ??? vs. ??? vs. ??? - Well, I'll say ??? wins. If Tama Tonga is in that match, I wanna see him win. Otherwise: Chase Owens.
Stardom Special Match
Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid vs. Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani - It's great that we get the Stardom match on the proper card now. More of that, please! I'll readily admit that I know nobody in Stardom. I watched some Tokyo Yoshi Pro, but no Stardom at all.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Flying Tiger (Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask) (c) vs. Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori) vs. Mega Coaches (Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero) - Robbie Eagles started out in Bullet Club, right? (possibly as the Sniper of the Skies or something like that?). Anyway, I'll say that the Bullet Club team will win this one. Somebody aligned with Tiger Mask won't win at Wrestlekingdom, and the Mega Coaches don't really need the win more than the Bullet Club guys.
Kick-Off:
??? - Yeah, well, who knows.
I won't put down any predictions for night#3, because I don't know most of the people. But going through the card made me look forward to Wrestle Kingdom a bit more, so that's good. What about you? looking forward to the event?
Watched Wrestle Kingdom's Day 1, and it was good fun. I have to admit that I didn't pay very close attention to all the matches because I had stuff to do, but I watched the main ones. Well, Goto and Yoshi Hashi vs. Dangerous Tekkers.
Other findings:
.) Covid sucks and I'm getting tired of it.
.) El Desperado looked cool
.) Yoshi Hashi is growing on me.
.) I actually like the New Japan Ranbo matches. It's like a mini-rumble with a big fight at the end on the next day.
Spoiler:
(loved how Suzuki dismantled all the young lions when he came in)
.) Ospreay is a great heel.
.) Hate to say it, but Tanahashi is getting on a bit, isn't he. And ever since his return the New Japan, I haven't seen Kenta do anything that really impresses me. He has that legacy and a good face and all, but I have yet to see why his run as the Bullet Club boss would leave much of a mark.
I've been done with WWE for a while now, but still - wow!
Yeah, Regal will be a great catch for whatever company picks him up. He's got a great mind for the business and is also able to mentor others and help them find their own character and voice.
All of which is no longer wanted in modern WWE. They don't want people who understand wrestling psychology or have their own character ideas and voice. They want people they can insert into feuds with no continuity or long term plan, who will play the character they tell them to (including whatever stupid name and ring gear Vince is hot on at that moment) and whose voice is what is written for them in a script which was only finalised 5 minutes before the show went live.
EDIT: Samoa Joe is gone as well now. Something is seriously rotten in Titan Towers.
The word from "sources at WWE" seems to be this latest batch of releases is almost entirely to do with removing people brought in by - or with some loyalty to - HHH.
Doesn't explain the cruelty of what has happened to Alison Danger, though.
Note that this wave of releases was bigger than just Regal and Joe.
Aye. Time to fantasy book Triple H and all the indie people he hired (and whom WWE fired) starting an invasion of WWE.
On a more serious note - I love Hook. Everybody does. And we're all correct in doing so. Maybe this will be the prime example for how to build a to star debut with a complete newbie for years to come. I hope they keep it going so well.
I haven't seen Hook's match with Bear Bronson, but the ones with Fuego and Aaron Solow were good. Interesting interaction with QT at the end of the latter, so we might see that at some stage.
Looking forwards to an eventual Hook/Punk match, though we definitely don't want that too soon.
I haven't heard anything about it. I mean, what is happening in WWE and to NXT and its talent specifically is gonna be really frustrating to Levesque, and Vince is the final say in that. So that would no doubt have some form of effect on their relationship, but many people have difficult in-laws and still make stuff work.
Unless you are really behind on your wrestling and just got to the HHH/Stephanie/Test stuff, in which case: noooooooo, of coooourse not
Unless you are really behind on your wrestling and just got to the HHH/Stephanie/Test stuff, in which case: noooooooo, of coooourse not
Yeah, no spoilers plase.
Imagine having Vincent Kennedy McMahon as your father in law. And working in his company. I'm sure that Stephanie is a lovely lady, but Vince... I don't think he's any different on screen than he is off screen.
I feel like NXT 2.0 is to NXT as WWE ECW is to ECW.
Vince did it to spite everyone who loved the previous thing. He did it to kill it because he didn't make it and people loved it compared to what he did create.
It's an interesting thing, isn't it. Of course NXT was cool, but I guess NXT2.0 is what they always had in mind. In the end it was probably about either having a developmental system or having a main brand and a 'cool brand'. Both are interesting options, but I guess WWE went with what was the basic idea of NXT to begin with.
Swiftly off to another topic - Anyone of you got DDT/NOAH/TJPW's streaming service Wrestle Universe? And if so, do they have anything with English commentary?
Also: Dynamite!
Spoiler:
.) I don't want to see Jericho feuds any more. I love me some Eddie Kingston, and adding 2.0 (who are great) and Daniel Garcia (whom I'm starting to like) to the mix is pretty interesting. Less so with the Proud&Powerful aspect; them being either with Jericho or with Kingston. We got that in the Bucks/Red Dragon story already.
.) ooh, she's good, that Serena Deeb, isn't she.
.) Wahey, Brody King! Perfect. Somehow I've been waiting for Julia Hart and/or Brian Pillman to turn and become part of the House of Black for two weeks now, but oh well.
.) Wahey, Lance Archer! I really like that guy. Nothing wrong what so ever with an Archer/Hangman Page story right now.
.) The amount of cheers Penta gets is insane. And yet justified.
.) Wahey, Pac! Probably being a baddie again. Great. You really gotta feel for the guy, but his return will be all the better.
And since I don't watch enough crap as it is, I watched some UpUpDownDown things, featuring Caesaro, Adam Cole, Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze. What a wholesome sausage fest of wholesome people. Good fun.
Hey, Rampage! I really enjoyed Shawn Spears' promo there. You can see that he put a lot of effort into it, and it payed off. Looking forward to the Punk match and Wardlow (who looked like bloody Roman Reigns in terms of facials!) turning.
Well, half of the guys who were part of that group left the company. I think Breeze actually stuck to doing things on UUDD even after his release (since he doesn't wrestle anywhere else atm), but Adam Cole is out obviously.
In general I think that UUDD has a sort of special status due to it being so insanely popular. There seems to have been some friction a few months ago as Xavier Woods and WWE were working out some sort of resolution during which Woods just didn't do any new videos. I think he's a pretty smart dude.
Btw, Asuka's channel also seems to be exempt from WWE's Banhammer because she never makes reference to her WWE work apart from the odd title in the background, and I think it's due to how her channel is mostly in Japanese. Still, very wholesome. I have a look once in a few months (skipping ASMR stuff, because I'm a normo, and not a weirdo. At least not in that way. ). But I enjoy watching Asuka change the RAM in her computer or stuff like that.
So, WWE convinces WALTER to move to the USA to be in NXT 2.0 and they instantly change his name to Gunther. Oh and they trademarked the name Gunther Stark, who was a fething U-boat commander in world war two.
I hope you can get out of that contract soon WALTER, because Vince will have you goosestepping to the ring in around 6 months time.
@A Town Called Malus: Yeah, not sure he'll goose step (but it's not unlikely), but I could see him riding a tank at Wrestlemania. I think that for me the turning point will be the addition of a monocle.
There aren't that many wrestlers out there who are as connected to a very incisive name as WALTER. And they change it. I mean it's a lovely tribute to Friends, and I'm all for that. Maybe they'll dye his hair as well and give him a secret amirer angle with some lady on the NXT2.0 roster.
Speaking of which, I have horrible, horrible prejudices against NXT2.0. I haven't watched it since the first reboot episode, but I keep hearing those things. Like the lady who went back to Japan after being beat and now she's wearing a schoolgirl's outfit. And a huge medallion from her grandmother. Are we taking bets on how this lady (who I'm sure is a very capable wrestler with all the potential in the world) is going to turn into a magical girl? Will they go with Festus rules (bell ringing turns her) or by main roster Finn Balor rules (pretty much random)?
...which makes me feel like quite the hyprocrite, because of course Yuka Sakazaki is the magical girl, and she rocks. I just don't trust NXT2.0's "creative" or decision makers. I mean they messed up Kushida! Maybe it's all just my prejudice, but I don't really feel like watching NXT right now, even with Walter being on there now.
A positive note on WWE - I caught a few minutes of RAW on TV last night. Boy, Roman Reigns is over. It's so weird, but it's satisfying to see (was I annoyed with his character in 2016/2017? Of course I was! Everybody was.) and the weirdest thing is that they could turn him babyface (subtly and underhandedly, but still) and it would work. They did it. It feels like Reigns is The Guy. Really looking forward to Rollins/Reigns at Royal Rumble, and I'm weirdly inclined to give RAW a watch until then.
There aren't that many wrestlers out there who are as connected to a very incisive name as WALTER. And they change it. I mean it's a lovely tribute to Friends, and I'm all for that. Maybe they'll dye his hair as well and give him a secret amirer angle with some lady on the NXT2.0 roster.
And WWE have been putting him over with that name for several years now. He was WALTER in NXT UK when he dominated the division, he was WALTER when he put on match of the year contenders with takeover title matches against Tyler Bate and Ilja Dragunov (twice!). And now they throw all that away. He even had a single name which WWE loves (or used to at least)!
Yeah, it's just weird. I mean I'm rather sure that Vince McMahon and Prichard aren't even aware that NXT UK exists, but they must have at least heard of the massive battles that were Walter vs. Dragunov and how well they went over with fans.
And now he's Gunther. Without a reason or anything, just so WWE own the name. Yes, it is weird.
I mean, you'd hope before making a trademark application they'd run the prospective name through Google to see if there were any known negative connotations out there...
I assume they didn't care really. They were in love with that other name, and thought nobody would mind. I probably shouldn't be writing this, but the guy (to my knowledge) wasn't member of the SS. Most probably party member, and of course part of the Kriegsmarine. Still, a massive oversight on part of the WWE, and not a clever move. Especially since they knew they'd already get some flak for renaming Walter in the first place.
Imagine how much money and how many titles they must throw Walter's way to a.) make him come to the US in the first place and b.) have his name changed. I just hope he does well.
The funniest thing is that the whole problem was SO avoidable. The guy's only got a first name to begin with, and they never ever would have used the last name anyway, because they're the WWE. Yeah, a silly oversight.
Or maybe we're being worked here like the bloody marks that we are , and they're banking on controversy creating cash and attention for Walter in NXT2.0 (because not thart many people watch that show, right?).
I watched RAW because I felt I should. It's the go-home show after all. Here's something to make your life easier: When ever you see a blonde woman you've never seen before on screen it's Dana Brooke. You're welcome.
I'm in a good mood, so here's my tips for Royal Rumble 2022:
WWE Championship -- Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Bobby Lashley: Lashley retains by nerfarious means (I got two or more words for you there: Paul E. Dangerously Heyman). Because K.O. (see below) needs somebody to beat at K.O.mania. Lesnar instead will lock horns with the big dog and will TORMENT him until wrestlemania.
Universal Championship -- Roman Reigns (c) vs. Seth Rollins: I've heard mumblings of Rollins maybe winning this one. However! Reigns got it. Because the ROMAN EMPIRE can only crumble from within. The Usos are the important part here, no external enemy, even if it's Rollins, who - as we all know - got Roman's number.
Miz & Maryse vs. Edge & Beth Phoenix: Edge and the Phoenix'd one. Not because I like Edge so much, but because Betty looks badass (unless she got complicated videogame hair. Don't give her complicated videogame hair! One or two braids: good. Any more: Silly. Anything poofy: silly, detestable). I like a good badass.
Women's Championship -- Becky Lynch (c) vs. Doudrop: Lynch. But it's gonna be good.
Men's Royal Rumble match: Kev "the stuff" Owens. Because Sami Zayn won't win it, and one of my lads should. It's not quite Austin Theory's time, but his time will come. He'll be the face of the company.
Women's Royal Rumble match: Bayley! And it will be glorious. (remember when Glorious was a thing? Feels like it's been ages ago.) Yeah, yeah, Rousey, Rousey. Doesn't matter. She got nothing on B-dawg.
Raw Tag Team Championship -- I love the Alpha Academy. I can't stand Matt Riddle. I tolerated NXT Matt Riddle, but on the main roster... sorry, but no. He's great, he does what they ask him to do, but I just don't like the guy.
Alpha Academy is finally starting to hit a stride. Gable has gotten some nice heat lately and even though I miss fun lovable Otis, I just love to watch the guy work.
Just finished the Royal Rumble, and it was a lovely PPV.
The spoilers on wwe's website are absurd, that's true.
Spoiler:
Reigns/Rollins was amazing. The finish was really annoying at first, but then I Reigns started emoting and acting and all, and I really, really liked that.
It was great to see Alicia Fox being really good. It was great seeing Mickey James WITH her championship title. Sasha Banks being dressed as Sailor Moon was ...something. Sarah Logan! Amazing.
Miz/Maryse vs. Grits was perfectly okay, Maryse did good things. Did not like Mrs.Grit's hair.
Lashley/Lesnar was really good.
Lynch/Doudrop was really good.
Men's Royal Rumble was perfectly alright. Somehow I tend to think that in recent years the men's royal rumble is always a bit of an afterthought compared to the women's. I still get very excited when I hear Sami Zayn's music. I still get very annoyed when I see Bad Bunny (yes, he seems to put a LOT of effort in, but still. Btw, the Jackass guy stuff was mercifully short and efficient.). The amounts to which I like and dislike Rick Boogs are pretty large. I could see myself liking him proper much, but all the over-the-top comedy crap is annoying me.
One thing the rumble really illustrates is how poorly stocked the women's roster is right now. They had to bring in SO MANY non active women that it takes a lot of the drama away. And then they even had to give the win to someone who might only be hanging around till Wrestlemania and then bolting.
I enjoy face Lesnar. He's got that twinkle in his eye. The twinkle of a man who doesn't give a toss, and it's very much fazed by WWE scripts. Which might actually make him a face that works. In general though I agree with you in the question of the big money draw. It's so weird how WWE (ha, once again typed GW at first by accident) thirst for mainstream media attention and new customers rather than getting to the lapsed or existing fans. I assume it's what consultants tell big companies who are the biggest fish in the pond to do? Because Lego do exactly that, GW do that to great extents, and WWE certainly do it.
But oh well. We'll see. I mean I think we can be pretty sure that it'll be Reigns/Lesnar at Wrestlemania, one way or another. I'm okay with it.
For me this is the most enjoyable version of Lesnar we've had. I'd like to see something ridiculous like him deciding spite Roman by taking the tag belts away from the Usos by "convincing" Sami Zayn to be his partner as the Canadian Alpha Males.
But, the Lesnar and Rowsey issues only highlight how poorly WWE are at developing megastars.
I don't usally watch wrestling but I do check in on some of the news sites as its something my father still enjoys and it gives us another thing to talk about. As the rumble is usually a good time it is generally the only event I watch each year. Add in the fact that it was being held in my home town I was curious to give it a go.
Spoiler:
To start with, while I am aware of some of the story lines very few seem interesting to me. As such I just skipped right over the Reigns and Rollins match. I became burnt out on hearing about Reigns years back and while I know he is popular as a heel now, I still don't care. Rollins never did much for me and since the outcome of the match wasn't in question why waste my time.
The womens rumble match was next and I was ready to check out. Now, not because of anything that had happened yet, but because I still have a bad taste in my mouth from last year when Belair and Naomi were doing some stupid cartwheel transition together. I understand they are trying to showcase their athleticism but I don't want to see contrived spots. I didn't see much like that this year, but I was also doing some painting so my attention wasn't fully on the match. Notable things for me was how long Tamina was in the match, how incapable most of the "legends" were at actually wrestling, I still can't believe they gave the Bella the "YES" chant, and how much Charlotte Flair looks like she doesn't want to be there. As for the finish, don't really care about anyone on the roster, never liked Flair, so if this is what they want to do it doesn't bother me.
I kinda feel bad for the Lynch / Doudrop match. While I was watching it I noticed how little the fans seemed to care. At the time I thought it was a situation where they just didn't care. Maybe Doudrop hadn't been properly presented or just simply wasn't over with the fans. It was a quiet match. Then I heard that around this time a sign caught on fire so the fans were distracted by that and not paying much attention to the match. Hopefully the wrestlers can tell themselves that is why nobody seemed to care. As for me, well, I have no idea who Doudrop is and while she didn't look to be new, I didn't see anything special from her. I remember Lynch was popular a couple years back but then left to have a kid. Don't know if that sapped her popularity but this match just felt meh. Maybe it was again due to the crowd being distracted, I just didn't see this match as much other than filler.
If there is one thing to get me to watch a wrestling match it is Brock Lesnar. I watch on average 2 non rumble matches a year and they always include Brock Lesnar. Dude is a monster and I appreciate what he does in the ring. A lot of people seem to be sour on him but his enterance had the largest reaction of the night. Plus when Heyman did his enterance the crowd reaction was deafening. While you have to give Paul his due, the name he was saying was Brock Lesnar. As a part time viewer I could care less if Lesnar is a part time wrestler. He not only is believable as monster, but his ability to sell and put his opponents (that he likes) over is amazing. If you can beat him it means something. I know Lashley has been wanting this match for years so I was excited for him to finally get his opportunity. Even though I haven't seen much of his work I am aware he is a monster himself. His knock seems to be that he lacks the charisma factor in his work. Even still I was ready for a nice slobber knocker of a fight.
One Inital thing I noticed was how much Brock was smiling and looked like he was having fun. Then they went into the first lock up and I got very scared. I had immediate flashbacks to Lesnar / Goldberg wrestlemania 20 and was worried that was the direction they were heading in. Thankfully they shifted out and started hitting power moves. In general it was an enjoyable watch and I think they both did well. The ending was a decent bit of story telling. I appreciated how Heyman was quiet and methodical with his actions. He wasn't cheering Reigns action or celebrating Brocks defeat. He just simply did his thing and slunk away. I do kinda feel bad for Lashley. After waiting years to get this match and win to not having done so cleanly might be disheartening. Hopefully he is still proud of his acomplishment.
The tag team Edge/Miz thing, I skipped right over. A day or so later and I still don't know who won and I'm good with that.
The mens rumble match was ok. I think I was simply expecting more from it. For starters while I have read their names before, I was surprised at how many people I saw for the first time. Other take aways were that Omos was bigger than I imagined and while he looked stiff I think in time he could actually amount to something. Johnny Knoxville received a surprisingly large crowd reaction. It seems the WWE still don't know how to keep their cameras on the same shot for more than a few seconds and as such tend to miss things. Thankfully its only little things like eliminations that get missed. Any luster that Drew Mcintyre received from beating Brock for the championship is long gone. Bad Bunny wasn't that bad. Shane had a large pop, but I don't need to see him in a wrestling ring. (Also a personal gripe, his shirt. I don't know how many noticed it, but it was basically a rip off of the St. Louis Cardinals birds on bat logo. As a life long Cardinals fan I am annoyed at him ripping off the logo. If you are trying to pay homage or do a tie in to the local team just simply wear their logo. Don't try to get yourself over by stealing someone elses heritage.)
Randy Orton was popular with the home crowd. The RKO Riddle hit after jumping off of Otis onto Mcintyre was nice. Brock coming out as number 30 gives me mixed feelings. I was happy to see him as always. I think it just telegraphed the end of the match too much. Still I am not going to complain about Brock winning. I also loved seeing him stiff Shane when he refused to go over the first time.
In the end the show was alright. I spent most of it with a paint brush in hand so it was good way to pass the time while getting some work done. There was nothing that makes we want to tune into weekly programs and unlike last year nothing that made me turn it off. One final note, have your finger ready on the button for the pyro. There was no need for Rousey or Brock to have stand their and point at the sign that long. It makes them look like a good and you look like you are an amateur. They point, the pyro goes off. It is that simple.
One thing the rumble really illustrates is how poorly stocked the women's roster is right now. They had to bring in SO MANY non active women that it takes a lot of the drama away. And then they even had to give the win to someone who might only be hanging around till Wrestlemania and then bolting.
Spoiler:
To be honest they don't seem to ever truly had a large enough womens roster to do a royal rumble without bringing in outsiders and old timers. And while I am not familiar with all of the female wrestlers out there, are there actually 30 active and truly capable female wrestlers in the world? My immediate thought would be probably not and even if there were I can't imagine them all being signed to one promotion. There simply isn't another way to do a womens royal rumble than to bring in "outsiders" and "legends".
bbb wrote: [spoiler]One thing the rumble really illustrates is how poorly stocked the women's roster is right now. They had to bring in SO MANY non active women that it takes a lot of the drama away. And then they even had to give the win to someone who might only be hanging around till Wrestlemania and then bolting.
Spoiler:
To be honest they don't seem to ever truly had a large enough womens roster to do a royal rumble without bringing in outsiders and old timers. And while I am not familiar with all of the female wrestlers out there, are there actually 30 active and truly capable female wrestlers in the world? My immediate thought would be probably not and even if there were I can't imagine them all being signed to one promotion. There simply isn't another way to do a womens royal rumble than to bring in "outsiders" and "legends".
On their active rosters WWE had available:
Raw: 9
Smackdown: 8
NXT: 21
So for their main programs they only had 17 active women, and they didn't even use 2 of them. They would have had more than enough if they incorporated NXT, which, while it's a developmental program, there are at least 5 who are experienced enough to warrant inclusion.
As far as other female wrestlers in the world, after doing some quick searches with some USA based companies:
AEW: 19
IMPACT: 20
MLW: 4
ROH: 13 (they still had them up on the website, so even if RoH isn't active, the wrestlers can book independent shows)
Shimmer: 21
So in the USA there are at least 115 active female wrestlers.
bbb wrote: [spoiler]One thing the rumble really illustrates is how poorly stocked the women's roster is right now. They had to bring in SO MANY non active women that it takes a lot of the drama away. And then they even had to give the win to someone who might only be hanging around till Wrestlemania and then bolting.
Spoiler:
To be honest they don't seem to ever truly had a large enough womens roster to do a royal rumble without bringing in outsiders and old timers. And while I am not familiar with all of the female wrestlers out there, are there actually 30 active and truly capable female wrestlers in the world? My immediate thought would be probably not and even if there were I can't imagine them all being signed to one promotion. There simply isn't another way to do a womens royal rumble than to bring in "outsiders" and "legends".
So for their main programs they only had 17 active women, and they didn't even use 2 of them. They would have had more than enough if they incorporated NXT, which, while it's a developmental program, there are at least 5 who are experienced enough to warrant inclusion.
As far as other female wrestlers in the world, after doing some quick searches with some USA based companies:
AEW: 19
IMPACT: 20
MLW: 4
ROH: 13 (they still had them up on the website, so even if RoH isn't active, the wrestlers can book independent shows)
Shimmer: 21
So in the USA there are at least 115 active female wrestlers.
Maybe so, but how many are capable? I don't know much about the non WWE ones so I can't say how many are capable. And when I say capable I mean what you get with your basic everyday professional wrestler. Not likely to make mistakes, able to make it believable, work safely, and to come across as comfortable. By and large I think the vast majority of the men on WWEs roster could be considered capable. Maybe an outlier or two like Omos, but just about everybody else can work a professional looking match. While there are 115 active female wrestlers I would be surprised to see a quarter of them would fall into the capable category. Heck, I haven't watched a match by Jade Cargill in AEW (actually I think the only AEW match I have watched was CM Punks return), but from what I have read by many people is that while she may have the look, she is super green. And she is a champion of the promotion. How good can the rest of the women be?
Oh, I will point out that I am not saying that all the women on the WWE side of things are capable. They just seem to have a higher percentage of capable wrestlers.
If you are only looking to have a ring filled with active women than the numbers say that you can do it. For me, I would rather have quality over quantity. If that means dipping into the past, so be it. (I will point out if you are dipping into the past only bring the capable ones back, no need for the Kelly Kellys to show up.)
I'd probably put describe the following women on the WWE/AEW rosters as capable or not... with additional notes where necessary.
Not touching NXT, though there are some very good women on that card still.
Spoiler:
RAW Women Alexa Bliss - Capable, Inactive
Becky Lynch - Capable
Bianca Belair - Capable
Carmella - Capable
Dana Brooke -
Doudrop - Capable, Needs new name
Liv Morgan - Capable
Nikki ASH - Capable
Queen Zelina - Capable
Rhea Ripley - Capable
Tamina
SD Women Aliyah -
Charlotte Flair - Capable
Naomi - Capable
Natalya - Capable
Sasha Banks - Capable
Shayna Baszler - Capable
Shotzi - Capable
Sonya Deville - Returning from being inactive, may have ring rust, will be capable once back into ring rhythm
Xia Li - Capable
AEW Women Abadon -
Bunny - Capable
Anna Jay - Capable
Brandi Rhones -
Britt Baker - Capable
Emi Sakura - Capable
Hikaru Shida - Capable
Jade Cargill - Getting a Goldberg-style push, though is still green
Jamie Hayter - Capable
Kris Statlander - Capable
Leva Bates -
Leyla Hirsch - Capable
Mercedes Martinez - Capable
Nyla Rose - Capable
Penelope Ford - Capable
Rebel -
Red Velvet - Capable
Riho - Capable, injured
Ruby Soho - Capable
Serena Deeb - Capable
Tay Conti - Capable
Thunder Rosa - Capable
Yuka Sakazaki -
Note - I haven't seen enough of Abadon, Leva or Yuka to say if they're capable or not.
Alpharius wrote: I really have had enough of Brock Lesnar already, again.
But I guess he's a big money draw still for WWE?
Ugh.
Indeed. And such lazy booking as well for the Rumble itself. But…I actually quite enjoyed his match against Lashley for once. Normally splunge vs splunge bores me to tears, but that one was pretty decent.
To be fair, Cargill is the TBS champion, which is the secondary women's title in AEW, and she's getting the push because she's a draw (and alright, considering how new she is).
There's a ton of capable female wrestlers out there. Within the WWE, as well as outside. Off the top of my head:
.) Asuka (WWE, she's cleared as far as I know) .) Smiley Kylie Rae .) Srena Deeb .) Yuka Sakazaki .) Myu Yamashita .) The Bunny / Ally .) Tay Conti (certainly capable enough for a rumble) .) Thunder Rosa (I'm not the greatest fan, but capable) .) Deonna Purrazzo .) Alexa Bliss (okay, her in-ring capabilities depend on taste a bit) .) Ryo Mizunami .) Ruby Soho / Riott .) Toni Storm .) Rhea Ripley .) Bianca Belair .) Natalya .) Hikaru Shida (not the most exciting personality, though super capable) .) Riho (again, depending on tastes, same as with Maki Itoh) .) Sasha Banks .) Mickie James .) Naomi (I'm not a huge fan, but capable she is) .) Shayna Baszler .) Jamie Hayter .) Kris Statlander .) Io Shirai .) Charlotte Flair .) Britt Baker .) Rosemary .) Ember Moon .) Kairi Sane
...plus several Stardom ladies (because I know nothing about Stardom), including home-girl Thekla. Oh, and plus NXT ladies, none of whom I'm familiar with, but I'm sure there's some greats in there as well.
Okay, towards the end I had to google a little bit. But doesn't make the ones towards the bottom of the list any worse in my view (Ember Moon is class). There's tons more of course, and I'm sure I omitted several very obvious ones (Bayley I didn't list because I'm not sure if she's cleared yet, Becky Lynch was already booked for another match that night). And this isn't just wrestlers I could think of; that's wrestlers of who I'm sure that the widest consensus is that they're very capable in-ring workers.
Who I wanted to list but in the end didn't was Tennile Dashwood, but I haven't seen a match of hers in ages.
Came in, booked the rumble like he is Hulk Hogan (50 year old sweaty man out-strikes the mma fighter, eliminates Kevin Owens, is then one of the final four), pissed off everyone, and was then let go.
feth me, WWE is a clown show. Well, without the mirth and fun.
I was surprised he was there to begin with. Didn't he cut ties with the company a few months ago?
Either way, yeah, he wasn't a very good addition to an already not-very-good rumble.
Just tried to listen to Renee Parquette's podcast. The latest episode features an interview with Nia Jax, which I'm sure is very interesting, but I just couldn't make it past the first three minutes. The amount of 'like's these two women put in their sentences is just too much for me. It's just a horrible habit and really detrimental to how I estimate the person's intellect even though I know that they both are lovely and smart.
Of the three, I'd argue Bad Bunny is the closest to being a workable talent - put on a great showing alongside Damien Priest against Miz/Morrison at last year's Wrestlemania, including pulling out a Canadian Destroyer...
Alpharius wrote: I really have had enough of Brock Lesnar already, again.
But I guess he's a big money draw still for WWE?
Ugh.
It´s a worrying development for professional wrestling in general that WWE needs to rely on former MMA talents like Lesnar and Rousey in order to generate interest in their product. But that´s their fault as well because they were reluctant to build stars of their own.
Another bad aspect for WWE´s show is that fans tend to associate the above talents as being the only "legitimate" badasses/tough guys on the roster.
So it looks like throughout the world of professional wrestling you should be able to find thirty women to have a decent rumble with without so many non-active women. I still think it is unlikely and impractical to have that many on one roster though hence the need to pull from the past.
Strg Alt wrote: It´s a worrying development for professional wrestling in general that WWE needs to rely on former MMA talents like Lesnar and Rousey in order to generate interest in their product. But that´s their fault as well because they were reluctant to build stars of their own.
Another bad aspect for WWE´s show is that fans tend to associate the above talents as being the only "legitimate" badasses/tough guys on the roster.
To be fair, Lesnar was a collegiate national champion wrestler and a member of the WWE for over 5 years before going into mma. As for fans perception of them being the only tough ones on the roster, well, its probably because the majority of roster are busy doing flips or playing with pancakes. If you want to be perceived as legitimate you need to act like you are legitimate.
...you need the WWE writers to be willing/allowed to give you lines that don't make you a clown or a smug idiot. But yeah, looking back Lesnar has been with WWE for a LONG time now, and he's really doing good things for the company. I enjoy seeing him, especially right now. He can talk (and be funny without looking like an idiot, because he doesn't give a hoot and above all he's dangerous), and his matches are spectacles. Especially seeing him sell things. So I absoultely agree with you there.
Flips are okay. We need flippy dudes. What we need less of is written humour and funny characters forced upon people who maybe shouldn't be. Some people (like New Day) got over on the basis that they are proper funny and got range. Big E will never be a pure badass fighter dude, but he's funny-charismatic. So that works for him.
I think what's lacking is legitimacy in the characters, and I think that's due to how overproduced WWE's product is. Lesnar and Rousey are shown as a legitimate threat, because we KNOW they are buff-brawly people in proper. But that's from outside of WWE. Somehow they don't manage to build characters with legitimacy within their own system. What gets a pure WWE wrestler legitimacy is seniority, because seniority means they get to have more input in the creative of their character and to an extent they probably know better how to work within the WWE system to get the vision for their character through. Which is why Roman Reigns works so splendidly now. He's been around for a long time now (of course the physical traits only enabled him to do so), he's done probably most of what he was asked to do, WWE know they can rely on him. Same with Rollins. So now they can have some fun with their characters. Not that I'm hugely into Rollins right now. Dressing up like an idiot and ruining the cackle which I had so much fun with the past years doesn't do it for me (same thing with Becky Lynch. Why the hell is she not a babyface with an edge?)
I mean the seniority thing probably is universal in wrestling. Just as with figure paintmonkeys, with the one ones that stick around you know they're good and use ful (subtley putting myself over ), but with WWE's approach to creative and name IPs and so on it's all a bit more complex.
One more thing on women's wrestling - there are several women-only promotions which work perfectly fine. WWE released a ton of people over the past 2 years, and insists in having their roster split up into two. That's why the women's roster looks so thin over there.
The other thing is if you don't have enough women to do a 30 woman rumble without padding the numbers with past women who weren't great then and look even worse now by comparison to the current roster, then don't do a 30 woman rumble.
Do 20, or 25 or whatever. Sure, they'll have to change their stock commentary and promos but is that really a bad thing?
Just having a quick gander at the NXT roster, it is even more surprising that they didn't pull some talent from there for the Women's Rumble - while some of the talent is still developing, there are several there who could've worked the Rumble in place of some of the Legends without an issue.
Off-hand, and assuming WWE.com is up to date, I'd've suggested the following - Dakota Kai, Indi Hartwell, Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray, Raquel Gonzalez, Sarray and Zoey Stark, and could see arguments made for Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter as well.
That's without putting any of the holder's of female gold in NXT into the match, though I'd only suggest Mandy Rose there, as I think t'other pair are too green.
That's a potential ten spots that could be filled by people who are working a weekly TV product. I wouldn't be booking any of them to win, but they'd do a better job of "making up the numbers" than some of the Legends apparently did.
Dysartes wrote: Just having a quick gander at the NXT roster, it is even more surprising that they didn't pull some talent from there for the Women's Rumble - while some of the talent is still developing, there are several there who could've worked the Rumble in place of some of the Legends without an issue.
Off-hand, and assuming WWE.com is up to date, I'd've suggested the following - Dakota Kai, Indi Hartwell, Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray, Raquel Gonzalez, Sarray and Zoey Stark, and could see arguments made for Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter as well.
That's without putting any of the holder's of female gold in NXT into the match, though I'd only suggest Mandy Rose there, as I think t'other pair are too green.
That's a potential ten spots that could be filled by people who are working a weekly TV product. I wouldn't be booking any of them to win, but they'd do a better job of "making up the numbers" than some of the Legends apparently did.
Yeah. Makes the youtube 'news' hounds squee and all. And I assume it's out of fondness/respect Rollins and Reigns have for Moxley. So all's well, I suppose.
I was curious about where the heck Diamante was. I hadn't seen her on AEW programming pretty much since that Big Swole feud, I think. So I looked her up, and it turns out she isn't even signed to the company. That surprised me. Other people who aren't actually signed to AEW, but have been around a lot: KiLynn King (I like her) and Wheeler Yuta. Interesting. Well, to some extent at least
Sigur wrote: ...you need the WWE writers to be willing/allowed to give you lines that don't make you a clown or a smug idiot. But yeah, looking back Lesnar has been with WWE for a LONG time now, and he's really doing good things for the company. I enjoy seeing him, especially right now. He can talk (and be funny without looking like an idiot, because he doesn't give a hoot and above all he's dangerous), and his matches are spectacles. Especially seeing him sell things. So I absoultely agree with you there.
Flips are okay. We need flippy dudes. What we need less of is written humour and funny characters forced upon people who maybe shouldn't be. Some people (like New Day) got over on the basis that they are proper funny and got range. Big E will never be a pure badass fighter dude, but he's funny-charismatic. So that works for him.
I think what's lacking is legitimacy in the characters, and I think that's due to how overproduced WWE's product is. Lesnar and Rousey are shown as a legitimate threat, because we KNOW they are buff-brawly people in proper. But that's from outside of WWE. Somehow they don't manage to build characters with legitimacy within their own system. What gets a pure WWE wrestler legitimacy is seniority, because seniority means they get to have more input in the creative of their character and to an extent they probably know better how to work within the WWE system to get the vision for their character through. Which is why Roman Reigns works so splendidly now. He's been around for a long time now (of course the physical traits only enabled him to do so), he's done probably most of what he was asked to do, WWE know they can rely on him. Same with Rollins. So now they can have some fun with their characters. Not that I'm hugely into Rollins right now. Dressing up like an idiot and ruining the cackle which I had so much fun with the past years doesn't do it for me (same thing with Becky Lynch. Why the hell is she not a babyface with an edge?)
I mean the seniority thing probably is universal in wrestling. Just as with figure paintmonkeys, with the one ones that stick around you know they're good and use ful (subtley putting myself over ), but with WWE's approach to creative and name IPs and so on it's all a bit more complex.
One more thing on women's wrestling - there are several women-only promotions which work perfectly fine. WWE released a ton of people over the past 2 years, and insists in having their roster split up into two. That's why the women's roster looks so thin over there.
I can agree there is a lacking of legitimacy but I would be hesitant to drop it completely at the writers door. Yes, they are the ones controlling the creative narrative, but I think kayfabe being long dead has a lot to do with it. A lot of wrestlers in the days gone past presented themselves as fighters and people you didn't want to mess with. Todays wrestlers present themselves as performers or actors and little more. You know they aren't legitimate by the virtue that you know wrestling itself isn't legitimate. That is just how modern wrestling is. The few that have earned legitimacy have done so via doing work in mma.
Seniority can help you in the WWE like it can in most places I just dont think it does as much as you think. Look at some of the wrestlers with the most seniority and some of their recent stories. Kurt Angle loses a retirement match to Baron Corbin. Randy Orton is in a stupid feud with Bray Wyatt and pretends to have burn scars only not to the next week. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens were doing amazing work and were basically ignored. Regal, who had been with the WWE for over 20 years, and his crew were all just fired from the company. While seniority may give you a better opportunity to be heard when you speak up, quite simply Vince is going to Vince. And that is why Roman Reigns is where he is at, not seniority. Vince has wanted Roman at the front of the company for years and its only recently has he lucked into getting him over.
In regards to the womens rumble, they have dug themselves in a hole and they probably feel the best thing to do is to continue what they are doing. While it makes perfect sense to drop it down to 20 participants they can't. It's been a few years now but one of the main reasons why the women got a royal rumble match in the first place was to sell the womens revolution in the WWE. They did it mostly to buy some good pr with the fans and to try to stop the women from complaining so much. To reduce the number would hurt the image of that along with showing how few women the WWE have on the roster. Probably not a look they want.
I think in 'seniority' I used the wrong word there. As you said, seniority will help, but your position on the card is a huge factor as well. I don't think that Natalya has a lot of input on her lines or stories for instance. I don't blame the writers directly, but the whole system of written scripts which go through several hands before they are put on TV. And of course Vince is going to Vince.
I enjoy the Women's Royal rumbles, but yeah, they can't go back on the number. That's the funny thing - quality isn't that much of a concern as long as the numbers are right. Numbers can easily be counted and compared and get mad about on twitter. Anyway. I think the Women's Rumble works as it is, WWE just should get their NXT women ready for the main roster, as I don't think they're interested in hiring outside talent right now. The Rumble is the place for novelty acts, bringing back old people, and so on. I think that's okay, as long as it's not too much. This year it was too much. Funnily enough, one of those got us one of the most interesting moments (Nikki ASH attacking Molly Holly. I bet they won't do anything with it though, apart from having Nikki run as a lower card heel.).
I enjoyed it! English commentary too. Not the best commentary by far, but still. It helped me understand some more stuff and it added some entertainment. Slowly getting to know the roster. Enjoyable, fun. Didn't really feel like close to 4 hours at all.
edit: Wrestling's a bit exciting right now, isn't it.
edit2: Wait. Melissa Joan Hart called Kevin Owens a lazy wrestler in 2015!? Outrage! It's on, witch!
First match, utterly flaccid. Goldberg just ain’t got it.
Wimmins’ Elimination Chamber
Bloody impressive all round. Absolutely everyone pulled and punched their weight. Great to see Alexa Bliss return, and in fine form. I may be a little bit more in love with Rhea Ripley.
Rousey and Naomi vs Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville
I suspect this will be divisive, but I enjoyed it. Some cool stuff by Rousey for sure.
Drew McIntyre vs Madcap Moss
Superb stuff. Really really enjoyable.
Becky Lynch vs Lita
Excellent match. Truly excellent. Lita still has it, and both ladies made each other look fantastic in the ring. Hopefully we might see more of Lita in the future.
The Usos vs Viking Raiders
Really not sure why they bothered. Not as flaccid as the opener, but still a big old question mark in the booking.
Men’s Elimination Chamber
Quite good fun. Really not sure if Lashley getting squished was Kayfabe or not. Because we get the weekly shows a month late, I can’t really follow the plots, such as they are. Could be genuine injury.
I quite enjoyed it. Happy Corbin still feels a bit out of place, and do bare in mind I was coming in plot blind, so I’ve no idea how well hyped the match should’ve been.
But some impressive scrapping, and Drew remains one of my faves.
Oh wait. The botch. Bloody painful to be honest! I did wonder if it was a botch at first, as they don’t generally call attention to them. But landing square on yojr noggin is gonna hurt. Hopefully he’s OK, as I think Moss has a decent future.
I just watched Elimination Chamber. Went over pretty fast. It was alright all in all, I'd say. Madcap Moss falling on his head looked GNARLY. Yikes.
Reigns vs Goldberg
It was alright for a Goldberg match. Good idea to use it as an opener. Also served as a nice occasion for revisiting the rope break rules.
Wimmins’ Elimination Chamber
Good times.Unfortunately I've had the result of this one spoilered. Rhea Ripley is a star.On a personal level, I'm really starting to like Liv Morgan. I just can't really see her as a main eventer.
Rousey and Naomi vs Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville
It was alright. I really liked Rousey's whole presentation. No complicated braids, no war paint. the stipulation was just silly (but at least fun, old-school heel stuff on DeVille's side). Between this one and the Elimination chamber match - how many fetish stores did the WWE seamstresses raid for this event?
Drew McIntyre vs Madcap Moss
Madcap Moss is starting to grow on me. I think he could be a good face actually. Of course without the jokes. Drew MxIntyre is just good. WWE should present him as such.
Becky Lynch vs Lita
I have little to none emotional connection to Lita. All I know is that she's probably a pretty cool lady. Becky Lynch is great (despite the generally gaunt face she's got now. Bulk her up!). The match was perfectly fine, especially for Lita, who to my knowledge hadn't wrestled at all in many, many moons before the Royal Rumble.
The Usos vs Viking Raiders
Ya, well...
Men’s Elimination Chamber
It was fine. We (the people I watch with via Discord) have this running joke in which I think that Austin Theory is the future of the WWE and most probably the guy who'll take the title off Roman. To be fair though, I really think that this might be the case. Just think about it: First, Theory takes out Lashley via a VICIOUS team move, THEN proceeds to be the last one in the ring along with Brock Lesnar, and via a VICIOUS (slightly under-handed) move almost gets rid of him too! Oh well. Anyway, I love current Brock Lesnar, and seeing him with the proper title (the black one) just looks right to me.
Pretty fun show.
Also fun: On Rampage, Trent Beretta got out the old "knife pervert" moniker for Jay White. That amused me a lot.
That Madcap Moss botch was brutal. I hated that they kept replaying it before they could really establish he was okay. Hopefully it isn't the kind of neck injury that flares up later. Everything I saw said he was fine, but yikes.
I think the most important thing to me about the Wimmins Chamber match was that everyone was clearly having a blast, and nothing felt forced or obviously out of place.
About the only move which didn’t quite land, or perhaps more accurately shouldn’t haven’t landed was Alexa doing that spinny Black Widow thing on Ripley.
There was something just ever so slightly off about it, but man both ladies sold it beautifully. And anything off about it is almost certainly competently explained by Alexa having a bit of ring rust - which soon seemed well and truly dusted off by the match’s conclusion.
Now. On that botch, can anyone suggest who might’ve botched it? Was it a team effort, just bad luck etc?
Ya, crazy. It was an accident. He's not super-experienced as a Wrestler, but he'll get there. And he's 'ard as piss, that madcap moss. Drop the madcap, make him a star.
An observation: Listening to Dave Meltzer for more than 5 minutes gets really, really annoying.
edit: I love MJF. That promo on Dynamite.
edit2: Woooaah, Cesaro left WWE. The contract just ran out, there's no No Compete clause. This makes me excited. Ever since I started watching wrestling he's constantly been among my favourite wrestlers. Not the least because somebody who's SO good at everything not being annoying but very endearing instead is a feat in itself.
edit3: So I've been thinking about Alexa Bliss (as you do). Just now I realized that there was no interaction between her and Nikki at the Elimination Chamber match. That's very weird, since Nikki was Alexa's legit best friend for WAY longer than the whole short Ripley affair. Odd. Also: WWE basically handle the Alexa Bliss character now as if the Fiend never existed. At first glance: silly. HOWEVER, doesn't it make the Fiend much, much scarier now that he's that thing we don't talk about and pretend it doesn't exist? This is where the horrors happen, right? In that way, he's still around. He'll ALWAYS be around. Pretty good. Anyway, that's my profound thoughts while painting bases.
Absolutely. However, if RoH decided to return with any sort of regulars... I'd love for him to pop up there. I want a proper strong RoH, and you can build a promotion on Cesaro's back without a problem.
Hey, should we all chip in and start a wrestling promotion? How hard can it be? And with all that talent around it should be proper easy.
Also, I hear Angelico is about to return. This is very good news to my ears. Love me some Angelico.
Sigur wrote: Absolutely. However, if RoH decided to return with any sort of regulars... I'd love for him to pop up there. I want a proper strong RoH, and you can build a promotion on Cesaro's back without a problem.
Hey, should we all chip in and start a wrestling promotion? How hard can it be? And with all that talent around it should be proper easy.
Also, I hear Angelico is about to return. This is very good news to my ears. Love me some Angelico.
FFS AEW SIGN HIM NOW AND LET HIM SHINE! He doesn’t need a push. Just the merest prod.
Sign him, but hold off on a debut until after Revolution.
Have Sammy retain the TNT title at Revolution, and do a Cody-style open challenge the Dynamite after.
Claudio comes out to answer the challenge - and wins the title.
N.B. - This might not work due to the Sonic Ring Ladder Match, which I believe gives a TNT title match too.
Alternative idea - Regardless of how the Mox/BD match turns out in terms of a partnership, have Claudio come in as a tutor in the BD Dojo (or whatever it ends up being called).
@Sigur - regarding Angelico, I think he is still in rehab for an ACL injury, so I'm not sure how imminent the return is likely to be.
@Mad Doc Grotsnik: Well, to say that they do everything wrong would be unfair, but to zig where others zag can't be bad.
@Dysartes: Oooh, I like that idea to have him as a coach for the Mox/DB thing. That might make it a bit ex-WWE heavy at the top, but i'M sure there's some way around that.
I didn't even know that Angelico was injured. Hope he's in for a soon return.
Only reason I knew about Angelico was that there was a story on Cultaholic or WhatCulture on Thursday or Friday - he'd kept it pretty quiet, and only tweeted something about it in the last couple of days.
And while WWE may not do everything wrong, on balance I'd say they're doing more wrong than right over the last few years.
I checked Angelico's twitter every now and then and he just retweeted things. Weird. Either way, I'm really looking forward to him making a return.
Yeah, I guess you're not quite wrong there about WWE. I guess it's a whole different game if you're a publically traded company somehow.
I'm just watching Ninja Mack vs. Speedball Mike Bayley on GCW Welcome to Heartbreak. Dang, that is one unconventional wrestling match. I love Ninja Mack.
Somehow I think it's sad, because I don't want a duopoly as much as I don't want a monopoly in US wrestling. On the other hand, I assume this gets us closer to AEW's own streaming service, and the ROH library of course is a coveted commodity.
I heard (via Cultaholic news) that AEW wanna use RoH as some sort of developmental territory with sometimes AEW people popping up over there. Which sounds perfectly alright to me. I wonder what'll happen to AEW Dark, which I appreciate a lot, then. But let's wait and see.
Keith Lee vs Wardlow vs Powerhouse Hobbs vs Ricky Starks vs Orange Cassidy vs Christian Cage / Ethan Page [Face of the Revolution Ladder Match] - Unless we see a Claudio Castagnoli shaped surprise entrant (which I assume we won't, just so I don't get my hopes up), I think that Keith Lee should win this. Wardlow is a hot contender as well, but has his win snatched away via Shawn Spears (who in turn gets powerbombed and this lovely story, the Emancipation of Wardlow, proceeds)
CM Punk vs MJF [Dog Collar Match] – The build-up's been good, hasn't it? Since the whole "MJF's been bad all along" thing played out on this week's Dynamite [I think they should have held on to this until Revolution really. That MJF face promo was so perfect and it worked so well in making Punk, the dude who knows like no other who and what he is, second guess himself. Not that Dynamite's segment wasn't great as well this week. I AM THE DEVIL. Woah. Good stuff.] I think that CM Punk wins. He's got enough of that Snake in the Grass, no-good MJF.
Jurassic Express(Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus)(c) vs ReDragon(Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs Young Bucks [Three-Way Tornado Tag Team Match for AEW World Tag Team Championship] - Jurassic Express retain, possibly after a YB/RD fall-out.
Adam Page(c) vs Adam Cole [AEW World Championship Match] – Adam Page after a banger of a match, followed by proper soap opera stuff involving ReDragon, the Young Bucks, possibly Kenny Omega, POSSIBLY Tama Tonga /Tanga Loa, POSSIBLY Jay White and his new friend.
Britt Baker DMD(c) vs Thunder Rosa [AEW Women’s Championship Match] – Thunder Rosa. I wouldn't put it past them to keep the belt on Britt, but I just realized I got shockingly few title changes so far, and why not Thunder Rosa.
Chris Jericho vs Eddie Kingston [Singles Match] - Kingston[b/b]. For the feel-good moment.
Jade Cargill(c) vs Tay Conti [AEW TBS Women’s Championship Match] – [b]Cargill. The streak goes on.
Bryan Danielson vs Jon Moxley [Singles Match] – Oooh, this gon be good. Danielson to win.
AHFO(Andrade El Idolo, Matt Hardy & Isiah Kassidy) vs Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin & Sting [Tornado Trios Match] – As much as this pains me, it'll be Guevara, Allin and Sting.
Hook vs QT Marshall [Singles Match] – Hook, no question.
Dysartes wrote: OK, people - would you say TK's announcement on Dynamite qualified as "major"?
I think it all depends on what you consider major. I think for Tony Khan, he feels it was major. I think for a lot of AEW fans they will think it was major. If you are a casual wrestling fan or just a fan of WWE you will probably not think it is major. If you are just a random person you will probably think what is ROH? For me, I would say this is no Vince buying WCW.
It is the number 2 promotion buying the number 4 (5?) promotion. The thing is ROH was dead and in a zombie state. Tony Khan bought a defunct promotion and its video library. I know that ROH has a history with some of the best wrestlers of this generation so having those rights is something. The thing is unless you are an indie mark you don't care. It is not going to bring in new viewers and its not going to grow your brand.
In the end I'm sure Tony sees this as another accomplishment and feather in his cap. He also got the rights to All In which ironically was the show that birthed AEW and led to ROHs death. I mean how dumb do you have feel if you are ROH's management. You put together a super show of indie talent only to watch said talent to abandon you to create a new promotion, put you out of business, and then collect your carcass.
Will this change the landscape of professional wrestling? Not at all. I think that alone diminishes the importance of the situation. But promoter has to promote.
Maybe we've gotten a bit used to things which 'change the landscape of pro wrestling' by now, since 2019. I think that the annoucement was major. It's not Vince buying WCW, but I think it's a bit as if WWE had bought TNA in 2018.
I think it's pretty big. Sure, always depends on where you come from, but if we're taking the general terms and histories to be known (because otherwise nothing can ever be called 'major'), I think it's pretty big. The library, the legacy, and all of that.
Keith Lee vs Wardlow vs Powerhouse Hobbs vs Ricky Starks vs Orange Cassidy vs Christian Cage / Ethan Page [Face of the Revolution Ladder Match] - I don't think we'll see Cesaro in this. If he is coming to AEW, I'm hoping for it to happen in April, after any immediate Revolution aftermath has played out. I hope Ethan Page wins his qualifier, but I do think the win here should go to Keith Lee.
CM Punk vs MJF [Dog Collar Match] – I'm kinda torn. After Dynamite this week, I think Punk needs to win, but I could also see an MJF win as part of continuing to push him towards the World Championship picture - though he needs to wrestle more to earn a shot, in my eyes. So, I'll go with CM Punk for now.
Jurassic Express(Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus)(c) vs ReDragon(Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs Young Bucks [Three-Way Tornado Tag Team Match for AEW World Tag Team Championship] - Hoping for a Jungle Express retain, possibly by surprise roll-up, as infighting between ReDragon & YB lead to an Elite breakdown.
Adam Page(c) vs Adam Cole [AEW World Championship Match] – 'Tis the Hangman's first PPV defense, so I think he needs to retain. Potential Elite shenanigans to be countered by the Dark Order if required, though I'd like to keep it as a straight 1-on-1 without any interference.
Britt Baker DMD(c) vs Thunder Rosa [AEW Women’s Championship Match] – I think it's time to pull the trigger on Thunder Rosa here. Having said that, I've seen a report today that she picked up some degree of injury on Wednesday, so I'm assuming that's a minor one and she can manage it.
Chris Jericho vs Eddie Kingston [Singles Match] - Given the build, I think it has to be Eddie, doesn't it? He may be the Mad King, but Jericho is coming across as a little delusional the last couple of weeks. Interesting to see what plays out with Santana & Ortiz, though...
Jade Cargill(c) vs Tay Conti [AEW TBS Women’s Championship Match] – Much as I'd like Tay to get a title, Jade to retain. AEW do like to establish a title with a meaty reign, after all.
Bryan Danielson vs Jon Moxley [Singles Match] – Time limit draw, with blood being spilt. Probably 20 minutes. This would then lead to them teaming to form this Dojo of Violence, with BD to turn on Mox a few months down the line...
AHFO(Andrade El Idolo, Matt Hardy & Isiah Kassidy) vs Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin & Sting [Tornado Trios Match] – Team Face to win, Andrade (and possibly Isiah) to turn on Matt Hardy after the match.
Hook vs QT Marshall [Singles Match] – Hook. Next question?
Kris Statlander vs Leyla Hirsch [Singles Match] - Coin-flip. I'll say Kris for now, but wouldn't be surprised if Layla was to win.
Oh, right, a time limit draw between Danielson and Moxley sounds like a good way to go.
Rampage!
Spoiler:
That opening match was something else. I love Andrade. Mostly for kicking Darby Allin in the face and throwing him around. Fits the character, right?
I like Penta Oscuro. I don't like the golden shovel, I don't like his pal dressing up in a robe. I do like Eric Redbeard though. That's going to be a fun match.
Hikaru Shida! How nice. She's also been announced for the Tokyo Joshi Pro thing in the 19th.
Wrestlers are insane. Somehoy by now a broken neck (if there's no nerve damage etc.) doesn't even seem like a huge deal any more after Ricky starks' incident last year or whenever that was. Still, it's pretty shocking of course, and I wish the guy all the best. I mean who doesn't love Big E? He seems to be one of the nicest people around.
Sigur wrote: Wrestlers are insane. Somehoy by now a broken neck (if there's no nerve damage etc.) doesn't even seem like a huge deal any more after Ricky starks' incident last year or whenever that was. Still, it's pretty shocking of course, and I wish the guy all the best. I mean who doesn't love Big E? He seems to be one of the nicest people around.
Did anybody get WWE 2k22?
I just bought it after checking out streams and such to check it wasn't a dumpster fire like 2k20 was. Currently installing.
Aye. I watched the first two hours of the single player on Adam Pacitti's stream (gosh, I hate the interaction aspect in video game streaming ). It already looks WAY better than the absurd career mode in 2k20. Mostly in that you play a wrestler starting at the performance center rather than two insanely unlikely teenagers.
You mean you don't want your wrestling video game to depict wrestling fans as morons and mock them? And then have Samoa Joe gain a bionic arm?
Also, heart-breaking news from Kevin Nash about Scott Hall. He was on life support following complications during surgery until his family got there to make the decision to switch it off.
That IS heartbreaking. Razor Ramon to me is THE image of a heel. Never seen him in his active time, but even back when I didn't know or care about wrestling (ie before 2015), the image of Razor Ramon to me equalled Heel. One of the great characters.
So today I heard that AEW are entering a partnership with DDT. Just yesterday I signed up for Wrestle Universe, DDT's streaming service (it works really well, even though I can't find the app in the google play store so I can watch on my cellphone).
I know squat about DDT except for the quirky things of years past you keep hearing about. BUT if I'm informed correctly, this means that there'll be further cooperation between Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and AEW, and THAT is something I'm interested in. And honestly, I think that this is a large chunk of the reason for this partnership. Hikaru Shida showing up for Grand Princess 22 (and being a great heel. Hollywood Shida, we may call her for things concerning TJPW ) two days ago is a good sign there.
Btw, Grand Princess 22 was 60% longer and 75% bigger than I thought it would be. And it was good. Really interesting to see how they book PPVs.
I'm watching this interview, and it's just insane how well MJF's character is put together. Eddie Kingston is the most authentic dude out there, but MJF just may be the close second, which seems insane, but I'm almost convinced of it.
Yeah, that sucks. :/ It really does. I mean he's been the dad of the whole thing for years. It's almost hard to believe with all these miraculous returns we've seen over the past years. But this one seems to stick. I wonder what his future in the WWE will be. Either way, he'll be OK. He's the cerebral assassin.
Ha, that idea tickles me on some dramatic level, but it makes so incredibly little sense from HHH's perspective. Unless Cody and him start a little dance between territories.
Watching Stone Cold's chat with Lita. Lita seems to be a really cool lady.
I'm watching the segment with Seth Rollins being called into Vince's office for his wrestlemania match. A bunch of months ago I already was a bit ....oversaturated with heel Seth Rollins (I guess I should be careful what I wish for), but now he's full-on The Mask, right?
it's weird, but I have to say that I prefer Reigns over Rollins these days.
They’ve definitely cracked Reigns as a character. I’ve always been a fan of his, but then his push came just as I was getting into Wrasslin’.
In hindsight it does seem the relentless push was the objection rather than the man himself (the support shown when his Leukaemia returned spoke volumes). But now they’re not pushing against the audience, he’s over as a Heel.
Rollins I can be Marmite on. I really like him as a performer, but enjoy Face Rollins more than Heel Rollins, if only because his Heel turns always feel like they last too long.
Yeah, I absolutely agree on Reigns. He seems to be a cool guy, and they finally got him right as a character. It's a shame WWE are lacking in top babyfaces now, but you can see that they're working on that, pushing Damien Priest and... the other face they got. Also: Kevin Owens, bravely reminding the world of the rotten egg that is texas and the rotten egg that is Steve Austin. That horrible man!
I don't see how Rollins could ever work as a face unless he's got a very specific and very dastardly heel to work off of. His match with Roman recently was really good. But in general I think the guy's just a natural baddie. I love heel Rollins in general, but I just can't get behind the over the top cackling cartoon figure persona. They can't really make him a chicken poo heel any more (as he was in his hayday, holding on to that MitB coffer for ever), but something slightly more serious. He's not a very naturally funny guy I think, but one heck of a wrestler.
Honestly, I'd love to see him lead a stable. But I want every top guy to lead a stable. I like stables. Stables make everything better. The more, the better.
Aaaanyway, on the cultaholic news I just heard that AEW were interested in Toni Storm (don't know her very well.), and Athena (f.k.a. Ember Moon). And the latter got me more excited than is probably warranted, but I really like Ember Moon and I wanna see her wrestle again.
Dysartes wrote: Damien Priest, the guy they turned heel, Siggy?
Oops, right you are. Well... Cody should work as a face, right? Or will they introduce him as a heel? Surely they wouldn't. Once the initial singles run ebbs off, partner him up with Austin Theory and build him up as a big, company-on-back-carrying babyface!
Yeah, I agree there, bbb. And I somehow just don't like Riddle. McIntyre slipped badly since he lost the title (hope he gets it back at some point), and Ricochet.... phew.
@A Town Called Malus: I'm sure she is. I also saw a few of these matches I'm sure, I just have to get familiar with her. Looks like she'll be well fine in AEW.
Sounds like the All-Mighty might've experienced a face turn while injured - should be interesting to see how that gets pulled off, especially with the generally-heel MVP as mouthpiece.
I've been too, but put a pair of big sunglasses on him, a big suit, and book him as a big monster heel and I'm all on board.
Geez, I'm tired of Danhausen. He seems to be a great guy, I wish him all the best, but a wrestler who states his main goal a being popular on tv and 'make moneys' I can't take seriously as a babyface.Maybe it's a US thing. And yes indeed, he's got his stuff in hot topic and so on, but that's no reason for me to root for the guy at all. Being rich or good at marketing isn't why I kinda like the Young Bucks (still).
Aaaanyway, I watched Bloodsport 8 yesterday, and it was very interesting. Different. Recently I've been watching Tokyo Joshi Pro, so very different. But it was pretty cool. Speedball Mike Bailey, Ninja Mack (who I love) in a FIGHT, without mask or flips (well, one, but that was spectacular), Johnny Bloodsport vs. Simon Gotch (bad mask, but he seems to be going to NOAH. Very, very interesting. NOAH seem to be on an interesting journey to the West, and I'm all on board with Ninja Mack and Simon Gotch). Also, Minoru Suzuki is the greatest, isn't he. Watch that match. It's insane. Moxley and Bill Busick got all crazy. Oh, and I saw Masha Slamovich for the first time. Cool. Her opponent was great too though, the Kick Demon something Kai. There's so much wrestlikng going on this weekend; it's crazy.
Erm. Well. Meh. Maybe I'm weird, maybe I'm not in tune enough with WWE at this point to enjoy it fully. Certainly didn't enjoy the main event, because I'm neither Texan nor a fan of Stone Cold. I hear great things about Texas from people who've been there, and I'd love to go some time. Other than that though, the whole loooooooooong segment felt really underwhelming and a bit embarassing. Kevin Owens was the perfect guy for the whole story though. It just struck me how insanely badly the dialogue was written. We all know for a fact that Kevin Owens is a great, witty talker. These lines were neither and Owens is just so much better than that. Otherwise, during the match, he was the perfect guy to do that. He showed over the past years that he's willing to bump like a madman. Kevin Owens is the pearls before the swine that we are. The man is a saint.
Becky looked ace. Really liked the match.
I like Charlotte better than Ronda Rousey. That's how much I can't get behind Rousey. The match was alright, the ending made me laugh.
Woah, Cody. With all the music and all of that. It was really good.
Nakamura/Boogs vs. the usos was kinda how I imagined it would be. All the best to Boogs though. I think that the injury is legit, but as fate would have it fits the story to a tee.
Wtf was up with all the video packages? I know Sasha Banks. I know Bobby Lashley. Neither had anything to do with today's event. Same with all the others we saw.
Oh, naturally I hate Logan Paul and everything he stands for, but I really liked his performance. And Miz is a complete face for planting Paul on his face. If they try to do the story in any other way, WWE are insane.
Unrelated note to shows over the weekend, but I was able to make it to Wales Comic Con and meet Sammy Guevara, Tay Conti and both of reDRagon, which was pretty cool
I enjoyed it a whole lot more than night 1. At first I wasn't, and seriously thought I'm somehow done with WWE things. I was bored, I didn't like the people I'm supposed to like. However, it got better over time. I strongly and deeply dislike Pat McAfee for some reason, and I very muchj like Austin Theory. Yes, McAfee is very good in the ring. We knew that, right? From that Cole match. Anyway, what happened thereafter got me greatly entertained I have to say. Even that Austin (Stone Cold Steve, not Theory) segment was WAY better than the night before. The Lesnar match was great.
Now for that Jackas match thing. Sami Zayn is one of my favourite wrestlers. I've never seen a single episode of Jackass. For what it was, the match was pretty good.
All in all, I found this wrestlemania a bit underwhelming. I find lots of WWE-isms to be very grating. Like the unnecessary video packages and the HORRIBLE dialogue in the KO sement on night 1 and the constant and endless"last night..." videos on night 2. Get rid of that crap, get rid of the ads, shorten the video packages, have matches.
I also don't get cheerleading. It's very impressive how the ladies (and dudes) do things in synch, but it always feels like an archaic, local quirk to me.
Anyway, it was rather okay, if long. Night 2 made up for a lot, I thought. The overall build was much better than on night 1, I think.
I enjoyed it a whole lot more than night 1. At first I wasn't, and seriously thought I'm somehow done with WWE things. I was bored, I didn't like the people I'm supposed to like. However, it got better over time. I strongly and deeply dislike Pat McAfee for some reason, and I very muchj like Austin Theory. Yes, McAfee is very good in the ring. We knew that, right? From that Cole match. Anyway, what happened thereafter got me greatly entertained I have to say. Even that Austin (Stone Cold Steve, not Theory) segment was WAY better than the night before. The Lesnar match was great.
Now for that Jackas match thing. Sami Zayn is one of my favourite wrestlers. I've never seen a single episode of Jackass. For what it was, the match was pretty good.
All in all, I found this wrestlemania a bit underwhelming. I find lots of WWE-isms to be very grating. Like the unnecessary video packages and the HORRIBLE dialogue in the KO sement on night 1 and the constant and endless"last night..." videos on night 2. Get rid of that crap, get rid of the ads, shorten the video packages, have matches.
I also don't get cheerleading. It's very impressive how the ladies (and dudes) do things in synch, but it always feels like an archaic, local quirk to me.
Anyway, it was rather okay, if long. Night 2 made up for a lot, I thought. The overall build was much better than on night 1, I think.
In the USA the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are supposed to be a big deal, but in reality no one actually cares about them. More of a holdover from the last millennium when the Cowboys were a force to be reckoned with.
I'm fully on the Ezekiel train. He looked amazing. He's got the best hair. He looks like a wrestler. Please, WWE, don't mess him up.
Btw, Hook. Here's what's good about him: He's got pretty hair. He doesn't play video games, or D&D or with little puppets or all that geeky crap. He doesn't make jokes. All of which is very refreshing for a pro wrestler.
edit: Just heard that Austin Theory wants to be referred to as 'theory' in the future. This sucks. 80% of why I'm so much behind this guy was due to how great I thought the name sounds. I knew nowthing about the guy, but loved the name (10% is because I actually think he'll be a big name in the future, 10% I'm taking the piss because the people I watch WWE stuff with detest him almost as much as youtubers ).
edit2: I know, they want us to think of Rollins as "the joker", because we're not able to think outside of bloody comicbook figures now. But he really isn't is he. He's just Seth Rollins being told by his wife what to wear (and all the better for it. he always looks very impressive), and making the smarks sick of his witch laughter. All that being said - I like the dynamic between him and Cody Rhodes. That program could become really good. And for the first time I got a tiny little vibe of Joker vs. Batman there. Because without Batman the Joker is just one more dude in silly clothes. Cody is the perfect counter-part for "I enjoy my heel gimmick a bit too much"-Rollins, because Cody does the same in the face direction. If this was a WWE-original face it would all come down to stupid jokes and all. I think that cody's character - be he as crazy artificial as he is - could make this feud very interesting simply by how contrasting him and Rollins' presentations are.
Sigur wrote: Btw, Hook. Here's what's good about him: He's got pretty hair. He doesn't play video games, or D&D or with little puppets or all that geeky crap. He doesn't make jokes. All of which is very refreshing for a pro wrestler.
If my choice is between pro wrestlers getting into the "geeky crap", or the sort of things that went on backstage in the 80's and 90's, I'll take the geeky crap, please.
And Hook has a passing interest, at least, given he's been on a few of Ethan PAge's Toy Hunt vlogs - though I'm not sure he's bought anything he's at least been curious.
I have to catch up on Rampage! Somehow there's been quite some Wrestling to watch last week and lots of other things to do! But I'm always up for a Moxley match, and Wheeler Yuta can do amazing things.
edit: oh yes, the Mox-Yuta match was quite something indeed. Very nice. Entirely unrelated to things above - Somehow I always hear "Blackpool Comic Club". But it's a very interesting group there. Looking forward to what they do next.
edit2: Watching Rampage.
1.) William Regal is great.
2.) Dustin Rhodes is kinda turning into Martin Crane. During that nice backstage promo I realized how much they sound alike too.
3.) Wahey, we're getting a Saturday thing, featuring Dalton Castle! I like that guy.
Kushida is out of WWE. I hope he made a ton of money. Now I'd love to see him pop up elsewhere again. I love Kushida. He can do it all, and in my perception it was a waste having him in NXT for so long. I had some high hopes when he was brought into NXT, because there was some dream matches to be had there then, but ..nothing. So I'm happy that he'll pop up elsewhere now, and it will be great..
Also, seems like Sammy Guevara is back where he belongs: being an obnoxious heel. His face run was pretty good, but the Tay Conti stuff certainly and irreversably puts him in the heel corner. Which is ok. He's basically made for that. He's like an evil Jungle Boy. I don't care all that much for either to be honest, but once the match is on there's at least two times per match I have to go "wow, he IS good, that one".
Spoiler:
Speaking of which, Austin Theory's the US champ. Strap the rocket to him, make him a star!
Riho vs. Yuka Sakazaki did not disappoint. Bless Yuka for playing to the crowd rather to the hard cam like an attention starved dog.
Originally I was firmly against the idea of having Hook involved with Danhausen in any way. Honestly, I can't think of anybody I'd like to see involved with Danhausen. That being said - the idea of Hookhausen as a tag team intrigues me. They should keep Hook being a complete bastard with utter disregard for Danhausen and they should tone down the curses and hijinks on Danhausen's part, but it might work.
Regal's promo on Twitter (I think the version on Dynamite was shortened?) was really good. The BCC still are basically just hard bullies, but it really doesn't take any more.
So, Wrestlemania Backlash, eh? Everybody's least favourite PPV of the year.
Here's what I think will happen:
triples-match, bloodline vs. rk-bro & mcintyre: Bloodline wins, but the Usos prove to be - once again - the weak point of the whole thing, and Roman has to fix it. Why, oh why is this for no titles what so ever?
Rhodes vs. Rollins:Rhodes, just to avoid 50/50 booking. Having a Backlash PPV and then 50/50 booking on it would be the death knell to this feud. Also, I think that Rollins having to work something out to overcome Cody is a way more interesting thing for Rollins to do than have him cackle and say something like "the thing at wrestlemania was a fluke because I wasn't prepared, but in the actual match I beat ye!" on Raw.
Charlotte vs. Rousey: It's an I Quit Match, which makes things a bit predictable, I'm afraid. My guess would be that miserable old Ronda Rousey wins this one, despite Charlotte's uncanny ability to win at PPVs, no matter the odds.
AJ Styles vs Edge: Edge, with the help of new friends. I want that thing to be a proper stable. Stables are what make things better. Lashley vs. Omos: Omos. Otherwise I can't really see them getting anywhere with him.
Corbin vs. Madcap Moss: Moss.
Unless this PPV features a spectacular Bayley or Asuka return I have no idea how I could get excited about this. What's your take?
Oh yes. She's amazing (if given anything not puppet-related). Wasn't the latest news on her a few weeks ago, that 'creative had nothing for her'? Which is insane, because she's Alexy Bliss. Make her the goddess again, have her in matches, have her talk. Heck, put her together with Nikki Cross again if need be.
triples-match, bloodline vs. rk-bro & mcintyre: What a fun match. I went in with zero expectations, and they just delivered a fun match. It's really fun to experience how much the people I watch with now love Randy Orton. I always viewed him as an "ever-over boring guy", but he really seems to have fun now. Good stuff.
Rhodes vs. Rollins: I really enjoyed that one. Great opener, and I really liked how Rollins - true to Rollins fashion - had a plan and knew how to counter Rhodes' moves. Those two are agreat match for Rhodes' first feud back in WWE.
Charlotte vs. Rousey: Also surprisingly good. I liked all the going into the audience and the interaciton with the guy in the HOOK shirt. Somebody please tell these people to use the word "bitch" less.
AJ Styles vs Edge: Yeah, this one I thought would happen. AJ Styles is a bit good, isn't he. Also: dat Finn Balow swerve.
Lashley vs. Omos: yeh. well.
Corbin vs. Madcap Moss: Alright palette cleanser.
It was a house-show, wasn't it. But really well done. Good timespan, good fun.
Here are some entirely injust and subjective observation:
Spoiler:
.) The Countdown to Cody is hilarious.
.) I love the look of Ezekiel and the little joke, but since they turn that into a storyline I can't see any outcome that would benefit Ezekiel or end in anything but his disappearance. Kevin Owens is a GOAT (and a donkey! "No more tests! They never work!"), but I don't see Ezekiel do anything in this whole thing. And I'm very concerned that once he talks or strikes back in any way, it will happen in a WWE face style, and will render him instantly unappealing. Gable is great. I do hate the "shush".
.) Austin Theory's getting better and better. .) Ha, Judgement Day are the Dark Order. In 10 months they're all wacky "hungy" and Rhea Ripley will punch Priest in the nads.
.) I like Liv Morgan, but why does she say "i'll think about it" when 5min later she's with Styles and Balor?
.) Becky Lynch is good. New look is good.
.) The Miz is good, isn't he.
.) Lacey Evans confuses the heck out of me. What was her promo about?
.) Geez, the 24/7 title stuff. Everybody involved is good at what they do, but what they make them do them...
.) I like Angel Garza. .) Asuka vs. Bianca Belair? I'm all for that.
It's good to have a show not start with Adam Cole. You have to love the guy, the theme is a banger, especially to start a night, but it almost seems like AEW are a little too keen to pack all their big stars into each show every time, and that's just no good. Instead we started off with Joe vs. Johnny Elite, and that's just fun.
Kyle O'Riley vs. Rey Fenix, that's a match I'll watch any time.
Even the Chris Jericho bit was good. Surprise over surprise, William Regal's toothbrush stuff was silly. Moxley was lovely, Kingston was lovely, Matt Menard is fun (because you expect him to do silly stuff all the time, so even if he does nothing it's entertaining. He's like the unresolved jump scare.)
Hangman vs. CM Punk is going to be big. Me, I like Hangman's reign, but I'm not sure he'll retain this time. I think it's time for CM punk to hold the belt for a bit, maybe even turn heel, and we'll get what we like best: the distraught Hangman Page.
Keith Lee seems to come into his own a bit more it seems. That's nice to see. And the three-way match at Double or Nothing will be grand.
MJF is so weird. At this point 70% of his promos are excellent, 40% of his bits (like heaving when saying Houston, Texas. Is there a reference in that I don't get?) is just silly and broad. The segment was good though.
Well, what do you know. The joker in the Owen Hart women's tournament is Maki Itoh. Wish this would have gotten more time so the typical Itoh bits would have been spread out a bit more. The lie-down in the beginning was fun, because I don't see it often. Itoh's new way of countering her opponent's rolling away from the kokeshi is great. I'm a sad, sad nerd, so I've seen her do it before. The twirl is new though, I think. Fits the thing, but again, I would have liked to see it all spread out across a longer match, because Maki Itoh is getting better and better a wrestler. I can't say all that much about Britt Baker, because I still don't quite get her. And it's usually me just not 'getting' a wrestler which makes me dislike them.
Speaking of which - Toni Storm. I'm vaguely familiar with what she does. Her thing kinda was that she just wouldn't lose, right? With what she's done in AEW so far though she just comes across as a big blonde ladywrestler with not much to her (a very good theme though). I'm sure they'll do something with her in the future though.
The end bit was rather top-heavy I'd say. I get that AEW play various towns and want to deliver everything they got each time, but doesn't it feel a bit cramped sometimes?
But anyway, it was good fun, as most of the times.
In the run-up to RAW on Monday, Sasha Banks & Naomi - Women's Tag Team Champions - were presented with booking that had them in a six-way match to be No. 1 contender for Bianca Belair. Some reports indicate that Naomi was going to pin Sasha, others Nikki, but either way Naomi was going to go into a single program with Bianca for the next PPV.
Some more talk indicates that Sasha would then face Ronda Rousey for the SD Women's Championship at the same event.
Both would lose.
Prior weeks had seemed to indicate that WWE were building towards Doudrop & Nikki whatever-surname-this-week forming a tag team and challenging Sasha & Naomi for the titles. Reports indicate that the WTT champions had pushed back against the idea on RAW, trying to get focus on the tag feud for their titles rather than being used as placeholder challengers for the singles titles.
They met with Vince, discussed it, went away, got told that WWE was sticking with the original creative, and possibly got screamed at by a producer when they stood up for themselves (and their titles).
Either not long before the show started, or while it was airing, they apparently went to John Laurinitis' office, deposited the title belts, and then left the venue.
WWE flipped their wig, issuing a pretty biased statement on their website, and had Corey Graves describe them as "unprofessional" on the air*. From what I hear, Michael Cole was doing the same thing on SmackDown.
As of a news article I read earlier, they've officially been suspended, and stripped of the titles. This is apparently leading to a tournament to crown new champions, but given how few women they have on the main roster, getting to a field of four teams could be a challenge.
Interesting wrinkle - Naomi is apparently in negotiations for a new contract at present, and Sasha allegedly only has around two months left on her current deal.
* - I'm aware that Corey is probably just parroting Vince when he said that, ditto Cole on SD.
Of course, if John Lauranitis - aka Johnny Ace, aka "VP of Talent Relations" - was any good at his job, I doubt this would have happened. If he wasn't a misogynistic dinosaur (along with Pritchard and Vince), I imagine the NXT 2.0 women's division would look a bit more respectable, but that's another conversation entirely...
I mean, you might be right - but if it is a work, it's already a far more effective story than anything they've run in, what, the last three or four years?
I just don't buy WWE suddenly being that competent.
@bbb: I would love for Charlotte to put a wedding photo online with her wearing an arm brace. Just for funsies.
@A Town Called Malus: I'm no expert on how the WWE shop works, but wouldn't they move the stuff to clearance first?
@Alpharius: Not a bad call at all. Make the whole thing a "bloodline vs WWE" story. They get Naomi even though she's 'suspended indefinately' into the Bloodline, it comes down to team WWE (Drew, Austin Theory, some non-RK-Bro tag team, Bianca Belair) vs. the Bloodline (then including the NXT guy who's somehow related to them. There is such a guy, right?) at Survivor Series 2023. Kinda like Team Cena vs. the Authority a bunch of years ago, but with the WWE as ...the good guys? Oh well.
@Mad Doc Grotsnik: Maybe? In my imagination Sasha Banks is a pretty eclectic person with tons of charisma. Speaking of which, I have no idea why WWE don't do more with her.
@Dysartes: You never know. Either way, I'd perfer them to be effective in doing wrestling angles about wrestlers wrestling.
Dysartes wrote: You're thinking of Solo Sikoa, I think, Siggy (apologies if the spelling is wrong, working from memory).
I'm sure I do. The name sounds famliar from the NXT2.0 recaps in the cultaholic wrestling podast. That#s the only way i'm keeping up with NXT these days I'm afraid.
@A Town Called Malus: I'm no expert on how the WWE shop works, but wouldn't they move the stuff to clearance first?
If WWE were interested in selling it, yes.
But by removing all merch for Sasha and Naomi from sale, they deny royalties to Sasha and Naomi. Sure, WWE doesn't get any money from the stuff not being sold either, but it's not the first time they have left money on the table in order to punish their employees.
I'm still having a hard time believing it's not a work. Otherwise WWE wouldn't talk about it so much, even on the weekly A-show. Also - they really wouldn't wanna have either of them (mainly Banks, who can pretty much do anything, even beyond wrestling) to go anywhere else.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Btw, if you're bored on a Sunday night, go watch Paul London/El Generico promos on youtube. I knew nothing about the guy beyond the fact that he exists, now I'm on the verge of being a fan. Talking about Paul London of course. El Generico is a saint, may he rest in peace. Or live in peace, whatever the story currently is.
Paul London - used to be in a tag team with Brian Kendrick, if I'm not mistaken, then got either released or buried for smiling in the backstage segment where Vince was on his way to get blown up in a limo.
Given everything we've seen over the last ten to fifteen years, I can't say I blame Paul for smiling if he knew that was going to be the end of the segment/show.
I knew the name Paul London from somewhere, but it took me a second to remember. He has a brother who runs a nerd website called Geekscape that a buddy of mine is heavily involved with.
I never saw any of his WWE stuff or promos so I'll have to check it out.
Dysartes wrote: Paul London - used to be in a tag team with Brian Kendrick, if I'm not mistaken, then got either released or buried for smiling in the backstage segment where Vince was on his way to get blown up in a limo. ...
Oh, that was him! Alrighty. I just watched El Generico stuff last night, ran across the promos (apparently filmed by Kevin Owens), and that's some first class stuff. The main goal seems to make everyone laugh and break character.
edit: Aaaargh, Will Ospreay is out again, this time with a kidney infection(!). Poor guy, he can't catch a break.
AEW Championship: Hangman Adam Page (c) vs. CM Punk. - Very, very difficult. My money is on Hangman Page. Possibly with a heel turn attached, but I think he would just keep tweening. Anyway, my gut feeling is that I'd rather see a continuation of the title reign than Punk as champ.
MJF vs Wardlow.: You could obviously let MJF win, because MJF is a very strong wrestler and has a habit of winning at PPVs. He lost to Punk, but only because of Wardlow's intervention. In theory he should get the win, but on the other hand Wardlow has to win. And he will.
AEW Tag Team Championship: Jurassic Express (c) vs. Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland vs. Team Taz. As great as Ricky Starks is and as great as I think Powerhouse Hobbs is - I think Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland win this thing. Owen Hart Cup Final: Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole. Adam Cole.
Owen Hart Cup Final: Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. vs. Ruby Soho or Kris Statlander. Ruby Soho. It just makes sense.
The Young Bucks vs. The Hardys. Oh, this is going to be exciting. Sure, the Young Bucks are kind of annoying (they're also way older than I always thought. I looked yesterday by accident), but it's the Young Bucks. And I think they're winning. Possibly by an interference or something, possibly unwanted interference, with both teams teaming up on interfering Red Dragon, sowing dissent within the Undisputed Elite.
Anarchy in the Arena match: Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Santana and Ortiz. Is this the first PPV match for JAS? That makes it more complicated. It's also not clear to what extent this will be a street fight, a real match, or something pre-recorded. Whereas I think the latter is very unlikely, after Moxley's glorious statement, which shot down the Statium Stampede III match right away. Anyway, my money is on Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz. Just because. Because I want to root for a likable group, and "Anarachy" sounds like something where those three can hold their own.
TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Anna Jay. I hope this ends up on the pre-show, along with Hookhausen vs. Whoever. I think Jade Cargill is great, anything she says just doen't work for me (a whole garland of bad catchphrases, the baddies are an absurd jumble between emporwerment and qualities, but also bad behavior and a misleading name, and wrestlers saying "bitch" is just something I'm rather sick of), I'm not necessarily a fan of "Smart" Mark Sterling and even Anna Jay I don't find ragingly interesting. There will probably be some storyline stuff and in the end Jade Cargill wins against everyone. I don't mind that either, but the promos somehow spoil Jade Cargill for me.
House of Black vs Death Triangle. : This is going to be awesome. I'm glad Alex Abrahantes(?) isn't dressing up anymore. Match will be great. Storyline-wise I would have preferred to see HoB vs. Varsity Blondes, but when Death Triangle is in the ring there's nothing to complain about. I would assume that this is the opener, and in that case I assume that Death Triangle will win.
Women's Championship Match, Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa: Serena Deeb is a great addition to the AEW women's roster, on every level. Thunder Rosa will retain her title. I'm a little bit disinterested in Thunder Rosa I have to say. Her promos don't come across as very convincing. The hat she was wearing on Dynamite was funny though. I'm really silly about Thunder Rosa though. I like the theme, I like the facepaint and her wrestling is fine, but somehow her Talk is Jericho interview weirdly spoiled her character a bit for me. Which is the opposite of what usually happens. But I'm having a hard time being a 'fan' of her. She's good though.
It's going to be good fun. But long. I'm almost not daring to ask my WWE-only watching friends to watch it with me. The last PPV already was pretty darned long.
I watched on my own, and not all at once, but mostly it still was excellent fun.
Spoiler:
MJF vs Wardlow.: Well, it's a big new chapter in the MJF saga. It's all a work, right? yeah.
AEW Tag Team Championship: Oh, that was a fun match, right? Except Ricky Starks landing on his neck. That was bad. I'm still thinking that Keith Lee looks a bit slow and tired? Maybe it's just me. But he's getting better and better and the right guys won.
The Young Bucks vs. The Hardys: That one was a bit painful, wasn't it? I don't know what was wrong (apart from Jeff's boot). I assume that was the main problem.
Anarchy in the Arena match: Now that was fun. Having the music over it was a great idea and Jericho destroying the sound board was the biggest heel move of the night.
TBS Championship: It was what it was. Loved Anna Jay being the showgirl magician what ever again. In a way I thought this means that Abadon would get into it. Anyway, It was a Jade Cargill match, but THEN! ATHENA! Finally. I really like Athena. Great person to pick up the tbs title.
House of Black vs Death Triangle. : Great match and it furthered my favourite storyline in AEW -- the Fall of Julia Hart.
Women's Championship Match, Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa: Good, good match. Really good rasslin there, eh?
Owen Hart Cup Final: See, this one made me a bit worried. Ruby Soho turned up, which us as wrestling fans like. And the sheen was off rather soon, wasn't it. And it probably won't come on again for a good while. So far AEW have been good with handling ex-WWE people. I really hope they do good with Athena.
Owen Hart Cup Final: Yup, Adam Cole. That Owen Hart ceremony was nice, but a bit weird. What was that about the hat? Also, Tony Khan creeps me out.
AEW Championship: That was great. I would have preferred a different result, but the way it furthers the Hangman story is great.
Hookhausen's first outing was fine. I'd way prefer for them to present Danhausen as a wrestler (because why else would they wanna have him wrestle?).
Oh, Kyle O'Reilly vs. Darby Allin was really, really good as well and prefer Allin not winning.
.) Tanahashi was there! And he'll face CM Punk! Imagine somebody would have told you in 2018 that in 2022 we'd get a PPV match Punk vs. Tanahashi in a promotion started by the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. .) Miro's back and he's taking on god! I'm loving this.
.) MJF's promo. I think that what's to come will go down in history as one of the most interesting stories of the 2020s at least. It's so funny; when all the news broke starting on Friday or Saturday I was sure it was a work. Now that 'pipebomb' promo (everybody'll call it that), which looked so genuine. It's all about context, isn't it. Anyway, I was a bit on the fence in terms of MJF's promo skills because I once heard that it's rather him being allowed to say outrageous things rather than him actually be a good promo. Rubbish. He is that good. And he's so, so smart about his character, about wrestling, about everything. Really keen on seeing how this develops.
.) Athena will take the tbs championship off Jade Cargill, and I'm looking forward to it. Seems like the first match will be vs. Keira Hogan. (is she all elite? she's been around for a while, and I don't think she's on impact any more). Cool. I haven't seen much of her, but people praise her and what I've seen so far I really like.
.) Jericho vs. Ortiz hair match. Sure, why not. Ortiz will get shaved. Jericho is good, isn't he. Say what you will about the guy, and often it's a bit much, but in general he'll always be a GOAT.
.) the big tag team match was good. Poor Jeff Hardy. Cool that he was there.
It was really good. Shame there was no women's match, but I guess that's always a caveat with Dynamite. They just have so much going on, and I wish there'd be more women's stuff. Japan is still barely opening up, which I think hurts the women's roster, but still.. they could do more. It's a real shame Shanna is gone. I'd love to see more European wrestlers who are not from England. Heck, get Thekla in there.
Right, here's what I think will happen at Hell in a Cell:
Cody Rhodes vs. Seth "Freakin" Rollins (Hell in a Cell Match) - I'd like Cody to win this. I feel they really wanna build up Cody, and I think in terms of Rollins it makes for a more interesting story.
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka vs. Becky Lynch - Not entirely happy they squeezed Becky Lynch in there. Oh well. I'll say that Asuka wins this one.
Bobby Lashley vs. Omos and MVP - I'm not very invested in this story to be honest. It's a toughy too, because things are getting rather hairy for Omos. If he loses once more he may be done for. Going by logic, Omos has to win this, but it's just so hard to imagine. I think Lashley will win again, and what it does to Omos I'm not sure.
Ezekiel vs. Kevin Owens - I like Ezekiel, of course Kevin Owens is one of the all-time greats already, and I think that Ezekiel has to win this one. Just hoping they don't do a low-effort thing like playing the chords of Elias' entrance, which distracts KO and Ezekiel goes for a roll-up or something like that.
Theory (c) vs. Mustafa Ali - Theory will retain. I wouldn't be surprised to see these two become a tag team for a while though.
Finn Balor, AJ Styles, and Liv Morgan vs. The Judgment Day (Edge, Damian Priest, and Rhea Ripley) - Yeah, I guess The Judgement Day will win this one. Although I like the little team of AJ Styles, Bálor and Morgan.
Madcap Moss vs. Happy Corbin - Moss wins, the feud ends, Corbin goes on to put somebody else over, Madcap Moss goes on to be a very capable face.
Last night I watched Hell in a Cell, and I'm starting to enjoy the WWE more. I think they're getting better again.
Spoiler:
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka vs. Becky Lynch - A fun opener. Man, wouldn't it be great if WWE had a deeper women's roster beyond these three and Charlotte Flair?
Bobby Lashley vs. Omos and MVP - It's almost getting a bit more interesting? Adding Cecric Alexander to the mix (honestly, I thought he was gone from WWE and over at Impact) is a good move. Bobbly Lashley being a smilie babyface is as terrifying as ever. Ezekiel vs. Kevin Owens - Okay, I'm not entirely sure if there's much of a point to this outcome unless they have some interestig plans with Ezekiel. Which realistically I doubt, but anyway. The match was good (as were all matches that night really.), Ezekiel can work! And Kevin Owens is a GOAT, that goes without saying. So that's good. I had a little discussion during this match with a friend who's not on board with Ezekiel at all. I greatly enjoy that he looks like a wrestler, and he's got a character face. All good things. My friend finds nothing to ledge on to with that character though. "He needs a gimmick", he said. I'd be absolutely happy with him just being a wrestler. I'd like for more people on the WWE main roster to be just wrestlers. But that's just me being boring. They COULD do exciting and very current things with Ezekiel. He could be beaten a few times and then admit to the crowd that he used to be Elias, but always hated it because he doesn't like playing the guitar, Elias wasn't good at what it really is about - to compete in the ring. And he went to WWE to be a proper competitor, etc, etc. IF people get on board with that (bit of a gamble) they'll from then on they'll accept him as Ezekiel and he's off to a nice upper midcarder run. I mean if you'd really wanna ride this thing, you could turn it into a proper identity politics thing, reinvention of the self vs. ascribed identities/roles, and so on. That could touch a whole lot of very current topics. But it would push it, and knowing WWE, that would probably end in tears and a creepy supernatural gimmick. Anyway, I'm still interested in that character, even though he lost his first PPV match.
Theory (c) vs. Mustafa Ali - Didn't know Mustafa Ali was from Chicago. That made his chances of winning even slimmer. Good match though, as to be expected. Theory looks like one of these action figures with a small torso and bulbous legs and arms. But anyway, I'm on the Austin Theory train, mainly because he annoys some friends, because I desperately wanna like some people on the WWE main roster and because I wanna be on board with the next big thing right from the start on something.
Finn Balor, AJ Styles, and Liv Morgan vs. The Judgment Day (Edge, Damian Priest, and Rhea Ripley) - Good match, Edge's hair is good fun. In Ghibli's Spirited Away Chihiro's hair's an important indicator of her being scared, angry, annoyed, and so on. Edge's hair works very, very similarly. You can bascially read how the match goes from his hair. Anyway, I hear things happened on Raw, and I'm fearing the worst for Judgment Day.
Madcap Moss vs. Happy Corbin - I'm a huge hypocrite, because I like Ezekiel for looking like a wrestler while I thought that Madcap Moss looked like the most generic wrestling man in the world with the most generic music in the world. It was astounding. Interesting to see him cheered for doing such ghastly things to Corbin, but I guess he's a bad egg. Curious to see what they do with Madcap now.
Cody Rhodes vs. Seth "Freakin" Rollins (Hell in a Cell Match) - Well. Those two guys are just so good. I give Rollins crap for having ruined the Seth Rollins laugh for me, which I held so dear since 2015 and for being an over the top evil cartoon witch. But that's okay. Because he such a bloody good wrestler. And so is Cody. With the added bit that he's incredibly smart about stories, presentation, and his character. The funny thing is that if you put something real into a context of the not-real it becomes hyper-real. A bit like the reverse of putting a unicorn in your front garden. Cody showing up with this mother of all hematomas made the match. That reveal in the beginning. Wow. Cody wrestling with his left arm, Seth carrying them safely through a really good match without having to resort to absurd spots and so on.... wrestling is so incredibly interesting, isn't it? I mean I'm always fond of the old "heel works bodypart, face sells that bodypart" dynamic, but this time the work was real and done. These two guys created something that'll be referenced a lot in the future.
I read it as "my contract is coming to an end, and we can't figure out a good role for me", rather than a random out-of-the-blue release, so at least she'd had time to plan for it happening.
Perhaps unsurprising, given she’s not cleared for the ring, and WWE haven’t really done much with her.
So I’m not sad she’s leaving WWE so much as sad such an excellent wrestler and in-ring character’s career was so short.
I hope one day she can do an Edge, and in the meantime finds gainful employment.
Well put. I started watching towards the tail end of the 'divas era', AJ Lee was out of the door pretty soon, and Paige clearly was my favourite among the women's roster back then. All the best to her, and I think we don't have to worry. As far as I heard she's doing amazing numbers on Twitch.
Now for something slightly different. Why not take a look at NJPW's Dominion card. I haven't watched all that much New Japan the past few years (as have so many) due to AEW. So many people have left NJPW, AEW took a lot of the appeal with them. Anyway, here's my guesses:
* IWGP World Heavyweight: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Jay White - Jay White is one of these guys I find rather unremarkable, but once a big time match is on and he's in the ring I kinda get the appeal. Still, he's no Okada. So I'll say that Okada gets the title. Also makes for a cooler Forbidden Door match, and even though we may not like it, I think that Forbidden Door is a big factor this year. How times have changed.
* Vacant IWGP United States: SANADA vs. Will Ospreay - Yus, Juice Robinson no-shows the event, so it's down to SANADA (who is very well beloved as far as I know. A wrestlers' wrestler with good hair.) and Will Ospeay, who is just class, and a bit naughty. Ospeay to win this. He needs to come back in a big way. I miss old Will "best in the world highflyer" Ospreay.
Btw, are we big fans of the United Empire? I'm not sure I am. At least the Great O Khan got somewhat of a character now, but just due to the real life stuff that happened.
* Interim AEW World Title qualifier: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto - Oooooh boy, am I looking forward to this one! I have no idea how Goto got that match, and who cares. I mentioned before that I love Hirooki Goto. He's got the most badass entrance, he's a proper face, he's a serious man, he's good. But he's up against Tanahashi, the ace of NJPW. I'd love to go ahead and really try to hope for a Goto victory, but Tanahashi will get the win. And that's okay, because Tanahashi is the hero we deserve.
* NEVER Openweight: Tama Tonga (c) vs. Karl Anderson - that one's been in the making for a while, eh? have these two clashed in recent years? After all the twitter back and forth about the real Bullet Club and all? I got this thing about the Good Brothers - I think they're very, very funny. And I like Tama Tonga because he's got an amazingly cool presence and is a more than capable wrestler. I'm also very scared of the Good Brothers and Tama Tonga, but that's beside the point. This match should be good, depending on how much Anderson is into it. And I think he will be, because he may not care about titles, but I think he does care about the japanese audience and delivering a good match with his (former?) friend. Oh, and Tama Tonga will win.
You know what? Looking at the card, and who's present.... this whole show may be planned to be a huge bullet club reunion/takeover show. It would be a very bold move on NJPW's part, but who knows.
* Provisional KOPW trophy: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Taichi - I never watched all that many matches of Shingo Takagi's. I'm sure he's great, but somehow to me he looks like a younger and more successful Hirooki Goto, which of course makes him less interesting. Taichi is great, and it's so cool that he got that much of a limelight the past years. I wanna see his full entrance, including ... I actually forgot his ladyfriend's name. It's been that long! Anyway, I'm afraid that Shingo Takagi winning this one makes the most sense.
* IWGP Tag Team: Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale (c) vs. Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan - I was very surprised to hear that Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale were IWGP tag team champs. And I really like Chase Owens. But I think that Cobb and Khan will get this one.
* NEVER Openweight Six Man: EVIL, SHO, and Yujiro Takahashi (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and El Desperado - Smells like the opening match, eh? Recently seen SHO at the Super Juniors tournament(?). He's all evil and got an overblown coat now and all. Not a fan of EVIL. Big fan of Pieter and Takahashi's posture. Zack Sabre Jr. is great. And I think that the House of Torture guys will get that title. EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi are House of Torture, aren't they? Now if this was a whole big Bullet Club takeover thing this match would be the first to have shenannigans take place in of course. Because BC hate HoT. Or they love them. I don't know any more.
* Toru Yano vs. Doc Gallows - This must have some sort of external involvement, right? Toru Yano to win.
* Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI, and Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo, Ace Austin, and Taiji Ishimori - Oooooh, hard to tell. I mean it's for nothing, right? Technically, Naito and his boys should win this. It will be one hell of a match. I'm kinda rooting for Naito vs. Andrade for Forbidden door. That would be great.
* TJP, Francesco Akira, and Aaron Henare vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan - Just had a quick google. The United Empire may have some intersting people after all. And I think that TJP, Akira (never even heard of the guy, but he's Italian, so that's good. I'd like to see way more European wrestlers who aren't from the UK) and Henare will win this one.. Big fan of Taguchi and I kinda wanna be a fan of Master Wato, because his thing is that he loses all the time, right?
Oh, and this show needs to have the big return we've all been waiting for - KUSHIDA. It's been so long. And he's got the best entrance theme, up there with Goto and Tanahashi.
Looking at this card and hoping for a Kushida return, Dominion may shape up to be one very, very interesting event. Not to mention implications for Forbidden Door! What do you think?
Still, that was one fun show. Jeebus, Tanahashi seems beat up when ever he gets in the ring. Over time he seems to warm up, but these first minutes of the entrance always looks a little painful.
On the whole I'd say that New Japan is on the up again. And what's more, Bullet Club is fine. And I finally got behind Jay White. That press conference thing afterwards was a smapping good promo.
And there's chatter about Kevin Dunn possibly being in trouble for inside trading - with a bit of luck, we could see the back of three of the main problem people in WWE...
Do we have a cite from either WWE or Sasha/Mercedes that this is the case now?
Not yet, but looking at how it has gone down and who is saying that this is what they're hearing from inside sources, I don't see why anyone would be surprised or doubtful?
The timeline: Sasha refuses to perform after airing grievances about creative and being brushed off, she is indefinitely suspended, then has all of her merchandise pulled from the WWE store.
Oh, I'm aware of the timeline - but after the first claim that she'd been released emerged on Twitter on... Thursday, I think, there was a post from Sasha stating that Twitter didn't know what it's talking about.
I'd not taking the release for granted until one of the two parties involved confirms it, basically.
That's been a thing for a few years now. Not a huge event by any means, but I went last year, and it was pretty good. I mean I don't ask for much apart from a ring really. But it's a good variety show (silly stuff, tag team stuff that usually features some cool high-flying, even some hardcore, and some storyline things and I think a battle royale), delightfully anachronistic (especially once people get a bit more drunk as the evening goes along) and it's got that local colour (people I'd never heard of getting HUGE pops.).
EWA is pretty much the one promotion 'round here, along with WUW (who run regular shows at a bar in Vienna. Usually without a ring and with lots of sillybuggery. I attended one of their shows and it was rather fun, close-up to the audience [and they have some hardcore fans] in parts pretty gnarly. Good stuff, and they get some pretty good publicity for being a bit more out there. And it seems like they're doing fine because Thekla is out of WUW, and the's tearing it up in Stardom right now). I just like the sounds a proper ring makes.
Anyway, it'll be fun I'm sure. Last time the dastardly Fabio Ferrari took the Prater Cup in the end. It's funny that the Italian guy usually seems to be the go-to baddie here in Austria. But that's okay, it's all in good fun. Also, we sat next to a pocket of fans in Italy last year, and it was really fun to hear them cheer 'their guy'. I think it's probably not up there with WxW or any of the more popular English promotions like RevPro or stuff like that, but I love me some live wrestling, and I enjoy these things a whole lot more than a WWE house show for instance .
Oh, that Brian Danielson. Ever since one of the Cultaholic boys pitched the idea of having Caesaro appear at Forbidden Door instead of Danielson I'm kinda taken with the idea. And now Danielson teases bascially just that! Especially as he's announced to be the new member of the BCC! Tthat would be such a great fit.
OKADA!! :O Forbidden Door had some problems getting hype, but it's shaping up, isn't it. Next they'll have a cross-over PPV with TJPW/Stardom and things are fine. Btw, Willow Nightingale (whom I like) and Thunder Rosa announced for Summer Sun Princess at TJPW. Neat.
Christian's promo was good. At least it made sense. The bit about Jungle Boy's father was uncalled for I thought. Btw, each time I marvel at the hair of all members of family Boy. Or the Jungles? Not sure.
It's great to see Silas Young again. I have maybe seen three matched with him tops over the years, but I like the guy.
Toni Storm and Marina Shafir. Two people I just don't know. Still, good that they get a women's match into Forbidden door. Speaking of which - the card's looking REALLY good now. Loads of multiman matches, but that's okay. El Phantasmo! He's great deals of fun to watch. I would have loved to see Hirooki Goto, but oh well.
I don't know, I'm not hugely into how the United Empire is depicted. To be fair, I'm not a huge fan of them altogether, but still.. they should be more of a threat.
Tanahashi looked good. How can you not love Tanahashi? How can you not love Lance Archer? That's the thing: We have so many amazing wrestlers around - we should have so many more big promotions, right? Okay, that ending was fun. Everybody brawling around the ring, Tanahashi and Moxley in the ring, having a chat. That'll be a fun PPV.
• Gunn Club (Billy, Colten, & Austin Gunn) & Max Caster vs. a NJPW Dojo team of The DKC, Kevin Knight, Alex Coughlin & Yuya Uemura (pre-show) - Okay, I don't get the Gunn Club. I mean I get it, but I don't get why they're over as they are. Of course I enjoy The Acclaimed being a bit naughty, but otherwise... not sure. Anyway, I think that the Gunn Club will win this.
• Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (pre-show) - Lee/Strickland.
• QT Marshall & Aaron Solo vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi (pre-show) - HECK YES! Goto made it onto the show. Him and Yoshi-Hashi will tear the house down.
• Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the interim AEW World championship - That's the big'un isn't it. As much as I'd love for Tanahashi to get the interim title, I can't quite see it. Also, it would be so much better to have Moxley chase Tanahashi a bit more. Can he pull it off though? He seems really knackered. Okay, I'll dare to go there. I say Tanahashi takes the interim title. Go Ace!
• Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy for the IWGP United States title - Will Ospreay, no doubt.
• Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s championship - Thunder Rosa.
• FTR (c) vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan (c) vs. Roppongi Vice for the ROH & IWGP tag titles - Alright, technically FTR don't NEED these titles. Technically it would be more convenient to have Roppongi Vice hold them. On the other hand FTR are FTR. And Cobb/O-Khan just got the titles, right? But then again if the UE get the RoH title RoH will never get'em back. Tough. I say it's Roppongi Vice who get the belts.
• PAC vs. Miro vs. Malakai Black vs. Clark Connors for the AEW All-Atlantic championship - Miro. It's a crying shame that PAC won't get a title once more, but Miro will do great things with it.
• Zack Sabre Jr. vs. the newest member of Blackpool Combat Club - At this point anybody but Caesaro will be a disappointment for me. Which kinda sucks, but I'd so love to see that. Anyway, I assume that Zack Sabre Jr. wins this one actually.
• Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino & Wheeler Yuta vs. Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara - the JAS have this alarming tendency of winning PPV matches, and Eddie Kingston is just such a great underdog. I assume that the JAS will win here and Eddie gets his revenge at Blood&Guts.
• Dudes With Attitudes (Sting, Darby Allin, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi) vs. Bullet Club (The Young Bucks, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) -DUDES WITH ATTITUDES is a very good name. Very much looking forward to El Phantasmo in an AEW ring, but I think that the DUDES WITH ATTITUDES win this one.
• Jay White (c) vs. Hangman Page vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Adam Cole for the IWGP World Heavyweight title - Right. This will be a frantic, great match. And in the end Jay White will win because he's more ruthless than Adam Cole (who will take the pin).
Given the stip has been added to the Jericho match that the winner gets the advantage for their Blood & Guts match, I do agree with the heels getting the win tonight - it makes more sense for the heels to have the advantage in B&G, generally speaking.
A Town Called Malus wrote: I think the Gunn club might have benefited quite a fair amount from interactions with Danhausen online.
It's produced some pretty fun bits and clips, such as Danhausen calling Colten and Austin the Ass Boys (since they are the children of Mr. Ass).
Oh, so Danhausen came up with Assboys? Funny. And it would fit. The guy is rather apt at marketing and such (which is why I just can't get on board with him. ).
• Gunn Club (Billy, Colten, & Austin Gunn) & Max Caster vs. a NJPW Dojo team of The DKC, Kevin Knight, Alex Coughlin & Yuya Uemura (pre-show) - Hey, A Town Called Malus got his money's worth, right? Billy Gunn is huge, the Dojo guys made a great first impression on me. Top marks for the mustache. Billy Gunn is huge.
• Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (pre-show) - Even this match was WAY better than I anticipated. Keith Lee is a funny, funny man. I'd actually forgotten who Kanemaru was, but he's good too, isn't he.
• QT Marshall & Aaron Solo vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi (pre-show) - Yup, that did its job quite well, didn't it.
• Will Ospreay (c) vs. Orange Cassidy for the IWGP United States title - All the kick-outs! Very New Japan-y, that thing, but enjoyable. I'm impressed with how well Orange Cassidy and his partners manage to balance the wacky OC stuff with serious stuff, and how much emotion they manage to draw from this contrast. The ending was just a million miles a minute. Also: Bloody Shibata, along with good interaction with OC in the end.
• Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s championship - Yup, that worked. Good match. Two very capable wrestlers having a good wrestling match.
• FTR (c) vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan (c) vs. Roppongi Vice for the ROH & IWGP tag titles - Okay, FTR are above everybody else now. The injured arm was a shoot, right? Kudos to Dax Harwood. They did good there.
• PAC vs. Miro vs. Malakai Black vs. Clark Connors for the AEW All-Atlantic championship - Oh, that was fun. Loads of multi-man matches, but they worked rather nicely. Pac as a winner? Sure, why not. I'm all on board with that.
• Zack Sabre Jr. vs. the newest member of Blackpool Combat Club - That pop. Incredible. And I made a lot of pretty indignified happy sounds too. Some of these AEW surprise entrant pops Iinstantly rewind to watch them again, and this was one of them. And Claudio seemed so happy too. Poor ZSJ, who is absolutely amazing, but he was almost reduced to a prop, some notable spots aside. I was kinda hoping that Claudio wouldn't do the swing once he's off WWE, because it's a bit of a comedic move which I don't quite see in the Blackpool Combat Club. But the people love it, so oh well. Btw, that music is insanely babyface-y. Really like it though.
• Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino & Wheeler Yuta vs. Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki & Sammy Guevara - Great match. For some reason the opening with Wheeler Yuta just suplexing Jericho all over the place got me laughing. It was the funniest thing.
• Dudes With Attitudes (Sting, Darby Allin, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi) vs. Bullet Club (The Young Bucks, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) -Sting is 63 years old. Sixty-three. Insane. The fact that Takahashi was out hurt the match a lot I thought. Imagine what him and Phantasmo could have done. Btw, Phantasmo is great, and Shingo Takagi is a star. Never seen him as much as being a showboat-y guy, but his audience interation is really good. I always viewed him as that new guy who came in at the time at which NJPW was getting much less interesting really. Kinda like a Hirooki Goto with a thinner neck. But he's really good and deserves that top spot he's in.
• Jay White (c) vs. Hangman Page vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Adam Cole for the IWGP World Heavyweight title Hi-Octane stuff, right? I was a bit disappointed with Okada's robe, but that's about all I can critizise about that match.
• Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the interim AEW World championship - Bless Tanahashi. He gave it his all, didn't he. Moxley seems to be well, which is nice. And which means that he'll bleed out by minute 18. The guy is crazy. Really good match though.
As much as it was cursed, they pulled off a greatly entertaining show there. One great match following the next. Loved it.
.) I made it a thing to insist that Austin Theory was the future of the WWE, so I'm pleased. Still, I'd rather seen Sami win it.
.) That Bliss/puppet VISA ad was horrible. Remember Alexa Bliss? And how she could make anything work because she's really good at being Alexa Bliss? Well, they found the thing she couldn't make work, and that's not the least due to that effin puppet.
.) Was it Micheal Cole who referred to the maternal instincts of Bobby Lashley? Anyway, whoever it was, that was the call of the night.
.) When did the Street Profits inherit the 'suck it'?
.) I'm a-okay with Liv Morgan winning MitB, I'm a-okay with Liv Morgan winning the Championship. It was wildly weird for Ronda Rousey to act all babyface when Morgan took it from her.
.) One of the two people I watch with is getting SERIOUSLY fed up with the Bloodline. He also hates Austin Theory (which I can understand. I only don't hate him because I decided to be on board with that thing. It's like with Tau back in the day).
I'm just watching Joey Janela vs. Invisible Man. Apart from the fact that it shows really well how good Janela is, we also get a great look at how the thigh slapping works. Which I rarely see in actual matches, because wrestlers are good at hiding that stuff. Or I don't notice.
Well, I went and watched the wrestling on Saturday (Pratercatchen, Vienna). It was good fun. Other than last year there was no hardcore match.
Speaking of which - this is a show for a very broad audience, not for the smarks. Lines were drawn very clearly and everyone was on the same page.Before the intermission (the whole thing went for about 4 hours, including a 15min intermission) they put on a match between Ringkampfteam Germany and Ringkampfteam Austria. Things couldn't have been clearer. Instant heat. The Germans even had a manager with them who seems to do the same stuff every year, saying very basic heel manager stuff. Team Austria was pretty much an all-star team (Peter White, Martn Pain, and that other guy. He's from the same canton as I am and got a big belly, so I like him. Only wrestler in the world whom I took a picture with, but more out of coincidence than anything else).
But this year there was a women's match! And it was very cool too. Jessie somethingorother from France vs. Moxie (who I swear I've seen before). Jessie was managed by Sultanov (who is pretty much all heel tropes rolled into one ), so we know she's the baddie. This was early on in the show, so I cheered basically everybody. Got more cautious later on because I often was the only one doing so in the case of several heels, and it took me remarkably long to get that they ALWAYS sent the heels out first. Anyway, the match was .... so-so. In the beginning I claimed that Jessie would get over as the babyface over the course of the match and I felt very, very smug when it happened. (it certainly helped that she's got the long blonde hair and a butt and generally had more presence than her very energetic and lovely opponent from Upper Austria).
There was a very good match between a dude from Brussles (looking like Ethan Page's evil older brother) and a dude from Strasbourg (who looked a little bit like a slightly shrunken down Madcap Moss). Which led to great confusion as to who's supposed to be the baddie. Usually you can go by nationality for this event (as I said, it's not subtle, but it's all in good fun). Strasbourg dude was exeedingly babyface like though. Baddie was better though and eventually won.
Oh, and there was EAW Intercontinental Champion Tajiri! Going up against a big, bad man who's billed from Aleppo. It was a short affair, but somehow they managed to squeeze THREE mists in there. Aleppo man won the title. Later that night I was on the loo, when I came out of the stall there was Aleppo-man standing at the sink, having trouble washing the green mist off of his face.
Anyway, it was rather fun. My brother joined us for a live wrestling event for the first time, he enjoyed it (despite bringing a cold). Good times. Matches were built rather interestingly. Some well, some seemed a bit haphazard. I'd love to watch it again to have a look at how they were built exactly. Oh, one word on the audience - it's fascinating. People are very willing to go along with the show (not to today's WWE extent, but still). Patriotism is something that for the largest swathes of the Austrian population is something pretty alien and suspect (certainly to me); only used by the far-right loonies, and there isn't really any overt national chauvinism. However, these events always seem like a sort of 'safe space' for acting a fool. Due to how this is a show adressing everybody, there being next to no promos, and most people won't know all the personnell a LOT of the face/heel dynamics is conveyed via the nationality of the wrestler. Which is iffy, for sure. But it's all in good fun, even as the night goes on and there's the usual two or so pockets of very beer-drunk gentlemen who get a bit rude. In the fan interactions after the show and so on everybody's being perfectly friendly. It's an interesting dynamic for sure. Lateron my brother said he's been looking around for people flashing a hitler salute, because it all seemed so weird to him. But I think it's rather healthy or at least there's nothing evil in it (people who bring kids along of course have to have a chat with them, that's clear). I think it's WAY more productive to relegate silly behavior to games with rules rather than trying to 'root them out' and 'rid the world of all that reeks of evil', because this is how it's just relocated to deep within people, to cellars, to backrooms and so on. Which is why I believe that wargaming is an even more productive way of dealing with the topic of war than never ever touching on it. I mean there's even empirical data showing that video games which have the player act out violence have a stress-reliefing and pacifying effect on people, right? So yeah, wrestling is good. Playing silly is good every now and then.
Almost unrelated: I hear Dolph Ziggler made a triumphant return? That's funny.
Summer Sun Princess 22: This tag division is a scham, the champs have been robbed, this is rigged. An outrage.
Dysartes wrote: Might go tot he RevPro show on Sunday - PAC is going to be there, defending his AEW title.
Well, if you went you're probably on AEW Dark.
And what a bloody dark it is! They got the Miyu Yamashita - Thunder Rosa match from Summer Sun Princess 22. For free! Watch it. They also got the Pac match from RevPro and ANGELICO! (with a dapper new theme).
Dysartes wrote: I did go, but I wasn't stood at the barrier for the match, so I blended into the background.
Did like the commentators getting in to one of the songs we were singing during the PAC match, though
British audiences are really good about that; I'll give you that. Few years back I watched that UK tournament before the start of NXT UK. That was amazing, not the least due to the fans!
Got tickets for Extreme Rules in Philly in October. Not really expecting a great show, but my kids are excited. Hopefully they can put something good together.
bbb wrote: Got tickets for Extreme Rules in Philly in October. Not really expecting a great show, but my kids are excited. Hopefully they can put something good together.
Oh, cool. I'm sure it will be a fun night out either way. WWE surely will also add something spoopy, because October and all.
.) Brodi King vs. Darby Allin. I enjoy Brodi King a lot (finisher was GNARLY). Miro is great. The shades are silly and don't fit The Redeemer. Very reminiscent of "Miro, twitch streamer" days, and I do NOT want these days back. .) Great match between the Best Friends and Mox/Wheeler Yuta. Good story/character stuff. William Regal on commentary is a treat. .) Lee/Strickland are tag team champs, that's very good. Promoting some non-wrestler is not, non-wrestler doing fighty things on tv is silly, do not like Smart Mark Sterling, poor Tony Neese. .) Ass boys/Max Caster rap battle is silly, I don't like rap battles, I certainly don't like them in the wrestling. Next week: pose-down. .) That Luchasaurus heelturn didn't last long, did it? Angry Jungle Boy looks adorable. Anyway, I think they're doing more interesting things with Luchasaurus now. He's a smart dude in a dinosaur mask, NOT a dinosaur after all, and that is to be kept in mind. Him going "raaah" is silly. .) FTW championship match was perfectly fine (Ricky Starks is good, isn't he), next week we'll see Danhausen vs. Ricky Starks. I hope that we'll see Danhausen wrestle proper. .) What happened to Kris Statlander? Is she concussed? Anyway, rarely I have seen a wrestler with such a subtle charisma. She's interesting, but surely a future women's champion. She would have been one ages ago if she hadn't broken(?) her leg then. Willow Nighingale is good fun, I like her. And it's a shame she didn#t make it to TJPW last month. Didn't know she was that tall either. .) That FTR promo. Three years ago, could anybody have forseen THAT sort of reaction for The Revival? It's crazy. I mean they're crazy good. Also, good to hear about Dax Harwood's daughter being fine. That hole in the heart thing isn't too uncommon; we got that in our family as well. Not sure how much you can do to make it close apart from sitting and hoping, but it made for a good, real promo. And Dax saying "This Saturday I'll fight like an 8 year old girl" just made the promo. I watched the FTR-Briscoes I match and it was just grand. .) Really enjoyed the women's tag team match! .) I don't agree with Dr.Britt Baker often, but we probably need fewer Thunder Rosa matches. It's funny how Tony mispronounces Yamashita's name each week in a different way. But that's a-okay. .) That Main Event was quite something. Felt really short, actually, but just because stuff kept happening. The JAS slipping through the shark cage after the endless struggle with getting it open was rather funny. The Anna Jay turn was ...interesting? The Dark Order really are crumbling. The end was a bit weird, with Jericho winning, but Eddie too in a way. Not sure i'm all that happy with that, but I hope that means that this feud is over now.
Absolutely. Can't wait for Balor, Walter and Ciampa being the main event in 6 months. I think not all that much will happen within the forseeable future actually, but maybe there'll be a gradual change.
Hey, could it be that the latest Broken Skull sessions features the one and only Sami Zayn? He's been doing amazing work the past years. Now they just have to let him wrestle again proper (and more often, once he's healed up), and actually pretty good times are ahead.
bbb wrote: Maybe... just maybe... maybe... we can get coherent booking and storytelling?
...nah.
Wasn't Steph Head of Creative until she stepped back earlier in the year (before stepping forwards again when Vince stepped down)?
We may see a slightly higher chance of advertised matches actually happening on RAW and SmackDown, though.
It didn't matter who was head of creative on paper, as in practice everything had to go by Vince and his whims ripping up scripts hours before the show went live.
bbb wrote: Maybe... just maybe... maybe... we can get coherent booking and storytelling?
...nah.
Wasn't Steph Head of Creative until she stepped back earlier in the year (before stepping forwards again when Vince stepped down)?
We may see a slightly higher chance of advertised matches actually happening on RAW and SmackDown, though.
It didn't matter who was head of creative on paper, as in practice everything had to go by Vince and his whims ripping up scripts hours before the show went live.
To be clear, I still have no real hope in the current writing staff, as they had to mould their work to what they thought Vince would like and accept for a long time. That is a tough habit to break once you get into it. Vince set the company culture, and company cultures take time to change even when leadership is trying, and we don't really know if they are trying.
On the surface? Slow, gradual at best. I think for he next few weeks some people will interpret huge changes into every little thing, then they'll get bored and moan about NOTHING EVER CHANGING. Typical internet stuff. But I'm sure there'll be some changes. At the moment everything's open and rather exciting.
Apart from that, did you guys catch that New Japan announced an IWJP Women's Championship? That's pretty cool. Of course New Japan won't get a women's division (no point in that), but they said that the IWJP Women's Championship title will be defended at big NJPW shows, including a NJPW-Stardom joint event coming up. So that's pretty cool. Also of course: An IWJP title (next to all the Stardom titles, which stay as they are) mean somebody else could pick it up (Miyu Yamashita, Yuka Sakazaki, Ryo Mizunami come to mind. In that order.). Or some AEW lady of course. Heck, at this point in time maybe we'll see Becky Lynch being the IWJP Women's Champ in 2 years. Anything's possible.
My swift predictions for Summer Slam:
McAfee vs. Corbin - Corbin
Lashley vs. Theory - Theory
Usos vs. Street Profits - Street Profits
Liv Morgan vs. Rousey - Liv Morgan
Belair vs. Lynch - Belair
Logan Paul vs. Miz - Miz
Mysterios vs. Judgement Day - Judgement Day, Mysterio turns on Dominik
Ooh, I can't wait to see The Authority back in action!
Didn't watch Summerslam so far, the people I usually watch WWE things with are on holiday for a week. We agreed to watch on Friday or something when they return. That means I'll have to stay away from spoilers until then. No idea how I'll manage. Sit in a box and just watch Japanese wrestling for a week?
bbb wrote: Try to avoid spoilers. The main event is bonkers.
I made it through the week without a single spoiler. All I read was your comment above in passing, told my friends about it. We all agreed that the main event was indeed bonkers.
The week was interesting, without having a single look at the usual news outlets and so on. I made it by instead watching TJPW, Flair's last ride (wha a card. The main event was ....well, it was something to be seen), The People vs GCW, RoH and I even watched NWA Powerrr for the first time in months!
Spoiler:
- BAYLEY! With a Stable! Wrestling is pretty much pointless if there are no Stables/Factions. I just hope she's not just a manager. That would be a huge shame. Iyo Sky is a silly name, but I'll get used to it. Of course she is great. I haven't seen Dakota Kai for sooo long. When she came in to NXT I slowly stopped following it more closely. That's why I know her mostly as a friendly babyface who is scared of Shayna Baszler (for good reason).
- Lynch/Belair was good, of course. Lynch as a heel was always a very odd choice. Glad to see that rectified now.
- This Rollins/Riddle thing. Amazing how within 5min they managed to not make Riddle look like an idiot for the first time in 2 years, and at the same time make him look like quite an idiot.
- The Drew McIntyre promo. That guy is so good. Over the past 2 years they kept him pretty much cold, quickly turned him into an annoying WWE face, and now he's ready for the main event scene again. Just like that. He's a great talker with a good sense of humour. Seems like a good guy.
- Logan Paul is good. I'm glad I don't know this guy from youtube and stuff, because I have this thing about youtubers which doesn't allow me to like them or what they do a lot. But he looks like a wrestler. The Tiny Balls thing is stupid, hopefully they'll get rid of that. The intervention of AJ Styles was great. Like he just flew over the stadium like Superman and heard his help was needed.
- Corbin/McAffee: This will make me sound like a jerk, but I just don't like Pat McAffee. There's something about him I find entirely off-putting. Corbin is good at what he does. Having McAffee win is very odd. A commentator shouldn't beat a wrestler. It kinda fits the overall 'feelgood' vibe of the show.
- Usos/Street Profits: Also good, but I see so many good tag team matches. With Montes Ford being so amped up now there's a weird imbalance in the team, but interesting character stuff happening with Ford.
- Mysterios vs. Judgement Day: the people I watch with basically only know Finn Balor since he came back to the main roster from the NXT excursion. Consequently, they see him as an 'okay mid-carder but utterly unremarkable'. Which is terrible, but because of what's happening it's hard to convince them otherwise. Rhea Ripley should be the boss of Judgement Day. By the way - the faction is really in trouble now, huh? They're not goodies, but they're not the baddest baddies either, now that Edge has that going for him. It's quite possible that they'll be ground up in that position.
- Lashley vs. Theory: I always bet on Theory out of habit now, just because I get a weird kick out of it. This match was pretty unexciting.
- Morgan vs. Rousey: I was not happy with this outcome. Sure, Rousey is 100% the favorite on paper, but there must have been other ways for Morgan to win. Her keeping the title was indisputably necessary. I like the Morgan fine by now, but they should at least portray her as semi-competent. Rousey I don't really need to see as champ or in general.
- Main Event: bwahahahaahaahahaa. How Good was that. It's nice to see a man like Brock Lesnar just being happy. Hat on his head, flannel around his shoulders, and driving a tractor. Reigns is great at what he does. All good. I'm a little worried about Austin Theory. Let's see. The picture with the twisted ring is just incredibly strong. In general a match with great "moments".
It was a really good show. Gives me hope for the future.
I started watching WWE in 2015 and I'm not used to it being good! What's happening? What am I supposed to do? Does this mean I have to watch WWE weeklies again? Who's got the time!?
....and I'm loving it. There go my plans of coercing my pandemic-WWE-PPV-watch friends over to different stuff. But WWE actually is pretty exciting now. Imagine - WWE being good? That would be really nice.
Sigur wrote: ....and I'm loving it. There go my plans of coercing my pandemic-WWE-PPV-watch friends over to different stuff. But WWE actually is pretty exciting now. Imagine - WWE being good? That would be really nice.
Imagine WWE being [consistently] good...
There were always glimmers, but logic, consistency, maturity... Vince craves not these things.
So there's rumblings about AEW PPVs becoming 2 days affairs. How do you feel about 2 day events? I'm not a huge fan to be honest. Takes away the event character. I'm not as keen on the 2 day wrestlemania because one day will always seem bad in retrospective. I'm not a fan of 2 days Wrestle Kingdom either. I'm good with 1 day PPVs. Makes'em feel more special.
Not a fan, but it's understandable considering how much stuff they try to pack into them.
My kids are crazy excited about WrestleMania coming to Philly in 2024 and are asking about going both nights, but... I don't even know if we'd be able to get affordable tickets for just 1 night.
So there's rumblings about AEW PPVs becoming 2 days affairs. How do you feel about 2 day events? I'm not a huge fan to be honest. Takes away the event character. I'm not as keen on the 2 day wrestlemania because one day will always seem bad in retrospective. I'm not a fan of 2 days Wrestle Kingdom either. I'm good with 1 day PPVs. Makes'em feel more special.
I’m still something of a Wrasslin’ noob. But I’m not a fan of two day PPV. I want my spectacle and Frankly Stupendous Displays Of Choreographed Athleticism, because that’s what Wrasslin’ is. But? I. Want. It. Now. If like WWE and AEW you have Talent for days? Work smarter. Milk us smarter.
Whilst I don’t much care for a Two Day Wrestlemania or Summerslam? I’d be (probably inexplicably) down for three PPV’s in rapid succession. One for Raw, one for Smackdown, then a “best of the best” finale event where the champs from the preceding events knock seven bells out of each other. Because otherwise? What’s the wider point of the false brands?
It can be 'interesting' to watch the audience on Monday Night RAW after WrestleMania weekend as they can get a little bit loopy from wrestling overload...
I’m still something of a Wrasslin’ noob. But I’m not a fan of two day PPV. I want my spectacle and Frankly Stupendous Displays Of Choreographed Athleticism, because that’s what Wrasslin’ is. But? I. Want. It. Now. If like WWE and AEW you have Talent for days? Work smarter. Milk us smarter.
Whilst I don’t much care for a Two Day Wrestlemania or Summerslam? I’d be (probably inexplicably) down for three PPV’s in rapid succession. One for Raw, one for Smackdown, then a “best of the best” finale event where the champs from the preceding events knock seven bells out of each other. Because otherwise? What’s the wider point of the false brands?
Very much agree with you on the "milk us smarter" thing. I don't need to see everybody all the time. Okay with AEW and their much fewer PPVs I would like to see the top card guys though..
As for RAW/Smackdown-branded PPVs - careful what you wish for. We had that a few years ago, with one PPV every 2 weeks, and it was exhausting and ultimately felt a bit unexciting due to the density of PPVs coming up. I agree on your point about the two brands. I don't get the point either. They should do away with the brand split (which I believe they pretty much do), because the two shows feel the same anyway. The height of the two brands silliness each year is Survivor Series. It's the ONE time of the year the two brands remember that there are two brands and get real angry about each other.
@bbb: Ooh, that should be fun. How do you handle wrestling with your kids? Last week I had Jay Lethal vs. Orange Cassidy on whilst cooking and my niece (4) came in. She looked at the TV and asked "What are they doing?" - "They're fighting to see who's the stronger of the two." - "Are they fighting for real?". This put me at a moral crossroads. Being a weenie, I murmued something like "half-way". We watched for a few seconds, I tried to hype up the moves a bit, but she wasn't too impressed (because all those youngsters want to see is SPOTS and FLIPS and don't appreciate a man pretend-jumping on another man's ankle for a while, right? ) and we went on to play something.
@Ghaz: I bet! Two days of Wrestlemania, all the great shows taking place around it... but RAW after Wrestlemania is a must, because that's where the interesting things happen, right?
Just a general observation: I love Miro the Redeemer. He's so great. There's no funny business, no 'self awareness' (which lowers the impact of anything), they do that character so well. And it's such a clear, solid character direction as well. God, Redeemer, Flexible Wife. His interaction with the House of Black is great.
Also: Kris Statlander is out with injury again. That made me make a frustrated groany sounds. I'm not liking it.
Also: Mickey James apparently has retired. Good on her. She seems like a cool lady who's got things down and does things behind the camera, she can do commentary, she can do anything. Including getting back into the ring at any point.
