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Alfndrate wrote:Went to a local wrestling show here in Cleveland on Friday. Took a few pics, got one with The Swolverine Brian Cage, MDogg Matt Cross (Son of Havoc on Lucha Underground), and a few pics from the hardcore match for the AIW Absolute Championship belt between Josh Prohibition and Tim Donst. http://imgur.com/a/RGWyA
Great photos Alf, really good. Looks like lots of fun. And well done on getting out and supporting
Thraxas Of Turai wrote:Hands up, who did not see that coming in the Survivor Series main event...but I liked it. The main Raw vs Smackdown match was excellent, some brutal spots and a fair bit of intrigue as well. Overall a highly enjoyable event, so now onto January and the Rumble and the road to Wrestlemania.
The Takeover tag title match was excellent, I am really glad that the Revival are helping to bring tag team wrestling back to where it should be. The main event and Ride and Nakamura entrances were epic as well.
Yeah… I didn’t see that coming… not a bit.
Pleasantly surprised though. Not because I expect terribly much from Goldberg going forward, but mostly because it heralds a slight change of direction for Lesnar. I don’t expect it’ll be too long before normal service is resumed, but for now the change is welcome.
So it looks like both will feature (and likely dominate) the Royal Rumble match, Does that mean that one of them is about to enter the Championship picture? Can’t see a way for a part-timer to hold (or even believably compete for) a title.
What are your predictions for the Rumble? Seems likely that either Lesnar or Goldberg will win it, but what sort of title challenge does that lead to? Is there any space for a plucky underdog Rumble win? The last couple of RAWs suggest they may be beginning to build something with Sami Zayn, or am I just reading too much into it? I know I’d like to see a big title match between him and Owens. Their last run together produced some excellent stuff.
The rest of Survivor Series I enjoyed.
I thought all the elimination matches were very good (even if I thought that some of the orders of elimination were odd).
I thought it was a good show.
Not sure what to make of RAW holding on to the Cruiserweights, but we’ll see how it goes.
I also managed to what the NXT Takeover show. That tag match really was absolutely tremendous. Very, very, very good. And I agree with you Thraxas, those entrances were awesome.
Other news…
TLC is this weekend. Any excitement? I think it actually looks quite promising (Corbin-Kalisto aside).
And what’s going to happen with the Universal Title now that Reigns has a shot? Surely not, eh?
Finally, a wee catch up on some recent “Insane Spots” lists from Whatculture…. Because wrestling GIFs are cool
I have never been as unsure about the main Wrestlemania matches 4\5 months out for a long time apart from Brock and Goldberg seeming like a lock. It could be for a title (Universal one assumes) but I doubt it as they are both part timers and they do not need it. Balor vs Owens would be great, but depends upon his fitness. It almost seems as if they were positioning for Owens vs Styles but they would be nuts to try and unite the titles already. I would love it if both men run with the titles until April.
Maybe we get Rollins vs HHH and Taker vs Cena but really who knows? With the brand specific ppvs and possible injuries, suspensions and X-Factors (an awful team) there are so many twists in the road before the WWE rolls into Orlando.
TLC has a lot of potential to end a lot of feuds before we roll into the new year. I am pretty sure that the main event will deliver.
Alpharius wrote: I'm still holding out hope that Finn returns and wins the Rumble!
And do we think Sasha will hold the title for longer than 30 days now?
Who konws?? That was quite a match again, wasn't it?
I don't mind the title flip-flopping, I just wonder where its going to end. If it wasn't Hell in a Cell, I'm not too sure where else they can go.
As for Balor, I think there's every chance (depending on his recovery). For the same reason I fancy Sami Zayn as an outsider, and which Thraxas mentions... can't see them having a part-timer winning it. Maybe Lesnar might be stepping his work rate up a bit in the lead up to 'Mania? Could happen I suppose. Again, as Thraxas says, it's getting quite hard to predict. There's Undertaker's return too. What does that hold?
In terms of the Universal belt, Rollins should still be well in the title hunt as well over the next few months. I'm not sure what the thinking is behind giving Reigns the title shot at Roadblock rather than Rollins.
The WWE have just announced that they are holding a 16 man UK Championship tournament in Blackpool on the 14th and 15th of January, with the winner becoming the inaugural holder of this little beauty....
The entants are as follows....
•Trent Seven
•Jack Starz
•Pete Dunne
•Wolfgang
•Roy Johnson
•Sam Gradwell
•James Drake,
•Joseph Conners
•Tyson T. Bone
•HC Dyer
•Dan Moloney
•Chris Tyler
•Saxon Huxley
•Ringo Ryan
•Tiger Ali
•Tucker
I can admit to not knowing many of them. I've seen a bit of Trent Seven (super nice guy), Wolfgang, Joseph Conners and Pete Dunne. All very talented.
This should be a blast. I was close to buying tickets there (£27 each), Blackpool is around 3 and a half hours from where I live. However, being right after an expensive time of year, I'm now thinking that it might be quite nice just to sit in and watch on TV. It's a rare novelty when WWE events are shown live at a sociable hour here.
Post tournament, it'll be interesting to see how the division will be handled. I guess it'll be separate from the main roster? Something like how the cruiserweight are being shown? Will they have their own show (205 live like), and will it be permanently based in the UK? That'd be kinda cool, but I'd also like there to be a possibility of some of the guys crossing over into RAW or Smackdown.
Any thoughts?
Also, I just noticed this thread has been moved to Geek Media..... GEEK MEDIA?!?
I would expect that any nationality could compete for the title, but that the talent will be pulled from the UK indy scene? Not sure.
At launch Finn Balor (who isn't from the UK) described it as a bridging the gap between the independents and the WWE.
Could see it being a sort of developmental tier based here permanently, kinda like how NXT is predomiinately based in Florida. In fact, I could see it being run very similarly to NXT. There would definitly be an appetite for that here. I think they'd build a real strong fanbase pretty quickly.
Any potential Takeover like event would be awesome by the way.
I'm quite excited by this prospect. And quietly optimistic.
Triple H says...
"The tournament is the next step in our ongoing strategy to create localized content for our global WWE Network, develop another brand that engages our passionate fans, and add a new dimension to our on-going storylines."
Few things to catch up over the last couple of weeks. Any thoughts? I’ll have missed a few things.
Three cheers for Sheamus and Cesaro!!! Didn’t expect that, but please that it happened. They’re a good, entertaining team.
The RAW women’s title flipped again. It wasn’t particularly a surprise. I just hope Sasha Banks can take a little break now. It feels like she’s been getting the gak caned out of her for months and months now. Give the girl a rest.
And Neville’s back as a horrible ol’ heel. Love it. Suits him. Hopefully he’ll inject some welcome excitement in the CW division. Speaking of which, why did they have to make Noam Dar so very, very creepy? Why? Can wrestlers ever recover from that gimmick? It’s always the Scot.....
Decent week for spots this. Kenny Omega finishing Okada through a table, a Vertibreaker onto a chair in LU and there are some absolute gems from Delete or Decay.
There’s a wrestler being fired out of an erupting volcano.... And Matt Hardy’s boat breaks up a pinfall.....
........
There is a wrestler being fired out of an erupting volcano and Matt Hardy’s boat breaks up a pinfall.
I never saw the whole show but I need to find it. Bonkers!
For completeness, here are the big spots from Roadblock: End of the Line…. Meh….
Looking forward to Smackdown on the 27th. Cena’s return might be worth watching, particularly if the Undertaker shows up again. A few title matches on the show. Can’t see any title changes coming (rightly probably), but the matches should all be pretty strong. Think it’ll be a good show.
Anyone planning on watching Wrestle Kingdom in the new year? Should I (having never watch NJPW before)?
Automatically Appended Next Post: And Happy Christmas everyone
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/12/22 14:23:02
Someone on r/squaredcircle went through and tallied up how many times Ric Flair would have been champion if he won titles at the same rate Charlotte was winning and re-winning the Women's title. There was a point where he would have been a 49 time champion in a single promotion.
I think it might be time to legitimize the Women's belt and place it on someone for a good long time and just stop throwing it back and forth between Charlotte and whatever poor girl has to deal with the mini-feuds.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/12/23 00:36:51
DR:80+S++G+M+B+I+Pwmhd11#++D++A++++/sWD-R++++T(S)DM+ Ask me about Brushfire or Endless: Fantasy Tactics
2016/12/23 02:07:31
Subject: The DakkaDakka Pro Wrestling Thread - WWE UK Championship Tournament Announced Jan '17
Alfndrate wrote: Someone on r/squaredcircle went through and tallied up how many times Ric Flair would have been champion if he won titles at the same rate Charlotte was winning and re-winning the Women's title. There was a point where he would have been a 49 time champion in a single promotion.
I think it might be time to legitimize the Women's belt and place it on someone for a good long time and just stop throwing it back and forth between Charlotte and whatever poor girl has to deal with the mini-feuds.
Yes, please!
I could not agree more!
I still haven't quite figured out what WWE Creative is up to, or even if I think they're actually 'up' to anything at all with this!
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2016/12/23 07:21:55
Subject: The DakkaDakka Pro Wrestling Thread - WWE UK Championship Tournament Announced Jan '17
The churn and burn with the title changes and feud is just indicative of the amount of wrestling we see now. 2016 has had a daft amount of ppvs/special events and a feud that could have easily lasted 12-18 months has been burned out in less than half a year, never mind the RAW matches. During his heyday Rice Flair would have had 3 to 4 championship matches on ppv or a Clash of the Champions equivalent in that same timespan, Charlotte vs Sasha did that in about four months.
Had a lot of wrestling in the past week. I've been traveling down Pro-wrestling's history. I read Squared Circle, a history of wrestling in the US, as told through the lives of dead wrestlers. I also found a copy of Wrestlemania 3 on DVD and watched that (for the Hulk vs Andre the Giant match and Macho Man vs Ricky Steamboat), and then saw a Japanese women's wrestler named Dynamite Kansai's last match, which prompted me to go find her best match which was a tag team bout from 1993.
And then NJPW's WrestleKingdom 11 is Wednesday.
Friday I went to the final show of 2016 for my local promotion, saw Matt Cross (Son of Havoc from Lucha Underground) challenge for the "Intense Title" and his Grandmother interfered (Matt's from my hometown). Then Raymond Rowe (of Ring of Honor's War Machine tag team) was supposed to challenge Josh Prohibition for the "Absolute Title" but that was cancelled when Josh was attacked with chair by Tim Donst. Suffice to say Donst got what was coming to him.
And for you WWE fans, someone on Reddit made a video of all of the title changes of 2016 https://streamable.com/3psqx
Love the pictures you're posting Alf, looks like a fun little night at those shows.
Did you watch Wrestle Kingdom? I didn't, but it seems it was quite the show. Meltzer gave the (47min) main event 6 stars?! I've yet to watch it, but I believe it's on YouTube somewhere.
Was it really that good?
I haven't watched terribly much over the past couple of weeks. I've only really made time for Smackdown. Delighted to see my American Alpha win the tag titles. It would've been cool to have it happen at a big PPV after maybe being screwed out of it a couple of times, but hey, still great to see them on top. Their performances over the last few weeks have been really excellent. Particularly in their title winning match. Wee Chad Gable is quickly becoming my hero. Two minutes into that match he picks the biggest guy in it and delivers the most perfect Northern Lights Suplex. Hits another on Luke Harper (the 2nd biggest guy) later on too. Really really like this guy.
Other than that I've mostly been getting excited for this UK Championship this weekend. Anyone else planning on tuning in? They've released the first round draw. My early pick is for a Pete Dunne, Trent Seven final. Perhaps simply because they are two of the guys I'm more familiar with. Both are good. Trent maybe a bit old for the WWE though? Mid thirties he is. Similarly Tyler Bate is also good, but I think at 19, they may think him a bit young... who knows.
Quite stylish, this trio is....
Spoiler:
Also look out for Joe Conners, Mark Andrews and Wolfgang.
Alpharius, the Irish guy Jordan Devlin, could be Finn Balor's twin.... in fact he could be Finn Balor.
Any word on his return yet? The Rumble is close.
And in completely unrelated news, I seen this Jedi Chokeslam....
No idea who it is or where.... but it's truly awesome.
Edit:
Also, I really agree with this...
Thraxas Of Turai wrote: The churn and burn with the title changes and feud is just indicative of the amount of wrestling we see now. 2016 has had a daft amount of ppvs/special events and a feud that could have easily lasted 12-18 months has been burned out in less than half a year, never mind the RAW matches. During his heyday Rice Flair would have had 3 to 4 championship matches on ppv or a Clash of the Champions equivalent in that same timespan, Charlotte vs Sasha did that in about four months.
The oversaturation of WWE PPVs (and WWE programming generally) is definitely a problem. When PPV's start becoming missable, how can they keep expecting people to sit through 3 hours of RAW every week. The point about potential 18 month fued being burned through in less than 6, is super-valid. We are seeing the same matches 5 times a month.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/13 09:25:24
Whatever happens do not show Jim Cornette the Jedi chokeslam, he would go ballistic.
I am looking forward to the UK tournament this weekend, it is nice to have wrestling during primetime rather than waiting up until 1am. I am also coming in with no idea about any of the wrestlers ask know nothing about the UK independent scene bars few bigger stars such as Ospreay and ZSJ.
I just hope that Vince still believes in Finn post injury, the past of wwf\wwe is littered with people destined for the big time only to suffer injuries and then fall down the card. This man beat 2\3 of the Shield on his way to the title, perhaps he would not have beaten Roman were it not for his wellness policy failure, but that is another matter. With Taker, Goldberg, Brock alone there is enough star power in the Rumble, I see no real point in Balor coming back early unless they plan for him to win it and challenge for the Universal title at Mania.
He, his opinions and probably his accent, are the very definition of Marmite. Personally I love the show and most other things on the MLW podcast network. I am especially keen on anything hat covers old school (for me pre Rock n Wrestling era) and outsider wrestling, that means the 605 Super Podcast is my favourite. It led me to the discovery of one of my favourite outsider wrestling characters Mark Gullen:
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/14 16:31:59
It's not so much his opinions, or his accent. It's kinda more that his general manner grates on me a bit. And the (apparent) lack of structure you the show bothers me probably more than it should. Which is a shame as he'd undoubtedly have some interesting stories. I'll probably try again at some point.
I do listen to Bruce Prichard's show every week. I like that one a great deal. I've listened to a few of Flair's (which has finished now) but I didn't always find them very easy to listen to.
Any others you'd particularly recommend? Most of the shows on MLW don't give you any sort of synopsis on the episodes which would usually attract me to download.
How about wrestle soup? Ever listen to that?
Jim Ross is another which I sometimes listen to while waiting for the next Prichard episode.
Something To Wrestle with is great, you just have to have your BS alarm on for some of Prichard's bias but the co-host Conrad does a good job of that.
What do you want from a podcast? I tend to steer clear of most modern based podcasts and prefer historical based ones.
I tend to like specific genre podcasts, my personal favourite is the Lapsed Fan which reviews old ppvs with the relevant historical background and associated book quotes. This month is AWA month which I know little about. Again you may hate it, especially if you are not a fan of bad language. Probably the best place to start is their Wrestlemania review series.
Stone cold is usually great if he has a wrestling based guest, I ignore all others. I have kind of gone off the podcast one podcasts(Austin, Jericho, JR) due to all of the adverts.
I enjoy the LAW Live audio wrestling reviews of modern ppvs and see/Japanese shows.
That said there is so much out there maybe just give everything a go and see whatsticks. If you want any more details just shoot me a pm.
Not sure how much we'll see about him 'officially' tonight though, given the cloud of the murder charge hanging over him that was more or less dismissed due to him being found incompetent to stand trial...
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2017/01/17 12:37:56
Subject: Re:The DakkaDakka Pro Wrestling Thread - WWE UK Championship Tournament Announced Jan '17
So, I haven't seen it, but it seems they gave him the full gushing death of a legend bit on RAW last night.
Not how I'd have went with it, to be honest.
Onwards and upwards however, to happier events.... The WWE UK Championship Tournament happened!
How did everyone find it?
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The first night was alright, but the second was great.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Spoiler:
The action was pretty good, characters were built well, and there were some really strong matches (Dunne-Andrews particularly). I thought that from the quarters on, the talent were showcased really well, all getting the chance show what they were about. Trent Seven might be a little disappointed but it worked well for the show I thought, particularly with him being built as the early favourite.
The simple in-ring storytelling was great, particularly in the later rounds. Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate both getting over massively (Dunne with the assistance of a scary William Regal). At least that's how it appeared in the hall. I don't know how the wider WWE audience felt about it all, but I loved it. I let myself get totally invested in it too, I was 10 years old again on Sunday night I think I actually yelped when Bate got that pin on Wolfgang.
I'm probably a little biased, I've been watching a few of these guys quite a bit this year, and I'm loving where the UK scene is at the moment, but I really enjoyed the whole event.
I'd love to hear the opinions of you folks?
Here are Whatculture's handy "Insane Spots" gifs...
I think they were in a tough spot given that Tamina works for them and all of the closeness of the Anoa'i family (Roman, Uso's etc) and the Maivia's that they had to acknowledge it or there would have been a lot of ill feeling. They also have the technicality that although the evidence points to him having been a murderer he was never actually charged.
UK Tournament wise I agree, the first night was good but the second night really put it over the top. I knew nothing of the 16 wrestlers but came out a fan of Bate, Dunne, Mandrews et al. As you say simple story telling with well executed wrestling. I am looking forward to see where they go with the scene now.
Angels Amaranthine - growing slowly
Currently 200pts 
I think I actually yelped when Bate got that pin on Wolfgang.