The DakkaDakka Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread

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**Sigur**

Right, I just watched the New Japan Cup match Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr., and it was great. Funny thing is that I didn't even root for Ospreay this time, because he's such a nasty heel.

Anyway, great match and very good promo afterwards.

One thing I noticed: for a while around the middle of the match there was some trash talking back and forth (which I greatly enjoy, because those two are cheeky boys), and for 90% of the trash talk part the commentators shut up. Reminded me of earlier during the pandemic when clever wrestlers realized that without an audience they could talk a lot in the ring and thus make the whole thing much more entertaining. Bayley did heaps of that, and so did Ospreay and Bea Priestley in their match they did for Wrestletalk(?). With the prior on many occasions commentators would talk over the character-building and entertaining stuff, on the latter the commentator just would not stop blabbering on. That I found very irritating, to the point that I didn't want to finish the Ospreay/Priestley match.

Oh, and apparently Maki Itoh is on her way back to Japan. That's okay. Now we know her, and each time she returns to AEW people will be happy. It's like with Yuka Sakazaki. HER I wanna see back on Dynamite, by the way. Either way, there's a bloody pandemic going on, Japan's been hit badly once more. I'd rather have people be safe and at home with family and whatnot than travelling the world. Also, frankly, I'd like to see Maki Itoh get a bit better at wrestling and THEN return to Dynamite and be a star. But anyway, the cool thing is that this draws eyes on Japanese ladies' wrestling and other promotions in general. No idea where to watch Joshi Pro or Stardom, but I'm sure there's things on youtube.

**Kroem**

I didn't much enjoy the women's match on the last Dynamite (including Itoh-chan's wrestling/singing!) but the rest of the episode was really good I thought, some great promos and good matches.

Darby vs Scorpio Sky was great, although I'm not sure how I feel about Sky's heel turn as I thought he made a great babyface.
Darby really impresses me in the ring, I'm just not a fan of all the other dangerous stuff he loves XD

**A Town Called Malus**

I'm hearing a lot of buzz in the wrestlepshere about the Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker match. Sounds like it was phenomenal by all accounts.

**Dysartes**

Last night's episode sounds solid, but the Rosa/Baker match sounds really good.

Despite a COVID outbreak, it sounds like NXT was decent as well.

**Kroem**

Sounds good, I haven't watched that one yet since it isn't on TV in the UK until Friday night :-)

**Sigur**

Just watched Fast Lane.

Spoiler:

**Sigur**

So the whole Peacock thing is pretty bad, isn't it?

**bbb**

Apparently there's a bunch of stuff that won't be added. I'm hoping ECW isn't among that group.

**Sigur**

The one thing the WWE Network is all about is it being an archive of ALL the things, right? McMahon bought huge libraries of wrestling tv to put them on the network, right? It's a very impressive thing. Selling that is rather annoying.

**bbb**

Sigur wrote:
The one thing the WWE Network is all about is it being an archive of ALL the things, right? McMahon bought huge libraries of wrestling tv to put them on the network, right? It's a very impressive thing. Selling that is rather annoying.

They still own all of it. The deal with Peacock is only for USA streaming rights for 5 years, so the WWE Network still exists outside the USA and in 5 years might be back in the USA.

Peacock is making the decisions about what doesn't make it on their network.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Wait what?

What’s this peacock thing?

As for WWE’s archive? Vince may not be the most popular man in the world, but through intent or accident, he is preserving a huge amount of wrestling history.

Here’s a Factfiend (NSFW due to mild language) video covering it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeHBauzInT0

**A Town Called Malus**

The WWE signed a deal with NBC to have their streaming service Peacock be the distributor of WWE Network content in the USA. Doesn't currently affect us here in the UK.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Ah cool. Cheers for that.

Does make me wonder about the future of the WWE Network though.

**Sigur**

Yeah, I'm fairly certain that they'll sell the outside-the-US WWE Network to somebody else as well if they can find someone.

**Kroem**

WWE was on Sky for ages and is now on BT sport in the UK, however they kept The Network running at the same time which was weird!

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Just wish they’d put RAW and Smackdown on without a month’s delay.

It’s terribly distracting!

**bbb**

I wish Hulu would put consistently put Smackdown on 24 hours after it airs like they are supposed to do.

**Alpharius**

Christian (Cage) did not disappoint in his return!

In fact, it hardly looked like he'd been gone for all the years that have passed since his last singles match...

**Dysartes**

I've only seen the clips on YouTube, but the Arcade Anarchy match looked fun.

**Sigur**

It was. Jeepers, Excalibur even quoted Garth Marenghi and I didn't even pick up on it! Shame on me.

And I love factions.Makes even the most boring of people (QTMarshal) have at least some promise.Everybody should be in a faction. NOT being in one should be the exception (and reserved for Jon Moxley and the likes).

I also love Moxley promos.

A wholesome episode of dynamite.Do no much care for the Young Bucks, but oh well. Really liked the thing. I even like the little dissent thing in Team Taz. I want to see Cage (Machine that is, not Christian. I know the latter one will do cool things as well) do cool things, because he looks just insane.

**Dysartes**

I know the joke is getting a little tired, but I wouldn't mind seeing Cage Cubed - Brian Cage vs. Christian Cage in a Steel Cage...

**Sigur**

The way it's going now I think there's a possibility that they'll actually turn Christian and Brian Cage into a tag team of sorts. Taz wants to recruit Christian, he's too much of a babyface and instead nicks Brian Cage (who's on his way of turning face and leaving Team Taz as it seems) away. I wouldn't mind. Brian Cage is a spectacle and the "Swolverine" shirt is the funniest thing I've seen in a while.

SO! Wrestlemania is around the corner, eh? How/when will you watch? I assume it'll be a lonely affair again for me.

Let's see.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Just watching it now.

Also, Sasha Bank’s character from Mando is now available in Black Series.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Lashley v McIntyre.

What. A. Match. For the most part, a good clean match.

I was in Drew’s corner, because he’s a fellow Scot. But at least there was minimal ringside assist for Lashley. Indeed, MVP’s sum total influence was verbally distracting.

Can’t fault Lashley though. He’s impressive physically, and great in the ring.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Largely enjoyed it, though I completely skipped the Bad Bunny match.

No idea who he is, or why that strand has run so long. Got as far as his stupid “I are on top of truck because” entrance and then skipped.

Roll on night two!

**Sigur**

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Largely enjoyed it, though I completely skipped the Bad Bunny match.

No idea who he is, or why that strand has run so long. Got as far as his stupid “I are on top of truck because” entrance and then skipped.

Roll on night two!

Yup.

Here's my take from night 1:

Spoiler:

It was alright, wasn't it. Cool to see an audience made of flesh and bones. NOw I want them to be really rowdy, chant, have signs, etc.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Alexa Bliss remains outrageously attractive.

Here’s hoping Randy gets his boring arse kicked, and that wraps up the whole Fiend angle.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Erm....what was the point of that match? Flaccid, repetitive nonsense. I swear that every Wyatt v Orton Wrestlemania match is destined to be crap.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Women’s tag team match to the rescue. Really enjoyed that.

Not sure why they’re blowing smoke up Logan Paul’s arse. But KO is looking great. He’s still a chunky guy, but he’s in great shape. Sami has always been a favourite of mine, even if he’s horribly misused.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Riddle v Shamus

Boooooooring. I really like Riddle as both a character and a performer. But Shamus remains dull a dishwater. I’ll never understand why he keeps getting pushes.

Starting to feel like this should’ve just been a one night event. Certainly the Fiend match didn’t feel like it deserved Wrestlemania time.

**bbb**

Sigur wrote:
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Largely enjoyed it, though I completely skipped the Bad Bunny match.

No idea who he is, or why that strand has run so long. Got as far as his stupid “I are on top of truck because” entrance and then skipped.

Roll on night two!

Yup.

Here's my take from night 1:

Spoiler:

weather lol.

Lashley vs McIntyre: Wow, that one bummed us out big time. The one guy I watched with had his night basically ruined by the result, the other two of us were extremely surprised as well. Not my favourite outcome there.
New Day vs. Styles/Omos: Perfectly nice and very strong debut for Omos.
Cesaro vs. Rollins: Probably my favourite match of the night, Good stuff, great for Cesaro.
Shane McMahon vs. Braun Strowman: Phew. It was alright. for some reason I had McMahon put down to win this one.
The Big Womens Tag Team Qualifier Match: Hrm. Not sure why this isn't on the pre-show or Raw.I mean it was alright and I guess for the novelty factor of TAMINA getting a VICTORY at WRESTLEMANIA was worth it.
Bad Bunny/Damien Priest vs. Miz&Morrison: Liked the Miz/Morrisson entrance. I do not care for the big stars, I do not care for Bad Bunny on any level. I feel bad for Damian Priest. I did NOT like that match.
SD Women's Title Banks vs. Belair: It was perfectly nice and I enjoyed seeing both looking so happy at the beginning of the match. Match was good, I detested the sound effect when Belair whipped Banks with the hair. It's a cool spot and it looked nasty. The sound effect cheapened it a lot. I was set on Belair winning, but found it impossible not to root for Banks at several points during the match. I'm not the biggest fan of hers (but Bayley wasn't in any matches, so Sasha Banks is the next best thing), but she IS good, isn't she.

It was alright, wasn't it. Cool to see an audience made of flesh and bones. NOw I want them to be really rowdy, chant, have signs, etc.

Did you see the welt on Sasha? That might not have been a sound effect.

**Sigur**

I saw it. It was impressive. They've done that before in NXT (on Asuka and others if I remember correctly); it's always been impressive welts. However, the "whoo-PAH" sounded fake as heck to me. Like the bouncy bullet they used to add in for a while when Ricochet entered the stage (remember Ricochet? Most capable flippydude in the world?). Maybe I'm wrong there, but I'd by majorly surprised if that was an actual sound.

Gonna watch night two tonight.

Looking forward to it.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, I watched night#2 now!

Here's some of my brilliant insights:

Spoiler:

Fiend/Orton: I'm not one of the people who are down on the Fiend. I like the Fiend. I do NOT like seeing Fiend stuff every single damn week. I love Alexa Bliss to bits, but I don't think she helped the Fiend storyline much. It's all just stills and visuals and moments, but there is no story what so ever. I never was a fan of Alexa Bliss being Sister Abigail (heck,I preferred Wyatt with a veil on "being" sister abigail), but apparently they're doing that now. Or her spirit being in Bliss. And I assume she'll try to save Wyatt by exorcising the Fiend. That's too fast though. The burned Fiend should have run wild for a while before that stuff happens. But that's just me. I liked the red light being back, I didn't enjoy the match overall. edit: One thing I did enjoy: Orton making funnies during his entrance. He's a mischievous little imp, isn't he.

Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley: Good match. Okay result. Have Asuka take a bunch of weeks off now; she deserves it. Have Ripley feud with Charlotte.

Big E vs. Apollo Crews: *sigh*. The Nigerian Drum Match is just a lame no-DQ match with some drums they painted green around? Even the gong-spot was a bit underwhelming. Poor Apollo Crews; that gimmick is pretty badly executed (Intense Nigerian dude = cool. Nigerian Foreign Heel with a spear = crap). Who was the guy who helped him out? Was that Babatunde? The outcome was okay by me (because he HAD to win, otherwise he'd be dead)
US Championship Riddle vs. Sheamus: I really liked that match. It was intense, it was fast, it was brutal. I like Sheamus, I have a slight dislike for Matt Riddle to begin with. He's a monster and a great athlete and all, and I like that he's wrestling bare-foot, but I just don't like the guy much. And I find the main roster character just annoying. Loved the match though.
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens: Have I ever mentioned that I love those two guys? And that I'd like them to fight forever (clap-clap clap-clap-clap), with short instances of them being a tag team in between? And that I'm really, really happy to see WWE letting Zayn wrestle proper again? The match was great. And they used the 'celeb' 100% correctly. Nobody wants to see bloody youtubers play an integral part to anything, right?
Women's Tag Championship Tamina/Natalya vs. Baszler/Jax: I like Nia Jax. There's a place for her in any women's division. But I'd like for this tag team to be split up asap and Baszler should run wild solo. Anyway, I very, very much enjoyed this match as well. Everybody was good, I really like Natalya. A Wrestlemania crowd chanting for Tamina in 2021 was one of the most bizarre moments of the night. (yes, more so than the fiend-in-a-box) or that "that's our thumbnail" make-up they put on Alexa Bliss).

Reigns vs. Edge vs. Bryan: Wooo, what a match. Really enjoyed it. Was very surprised by the no-DQ stipulation, but apparently that's normal in a triple threat match? Weird. Anyway, good stuff. For a few moments I thought Bryan would actually win. Oh well. Reigns is confirmed as THE GUY, which I'm okay with. Only question is who he'll feud with now, but we'll see.

Overall I enjoyed night 2 MUCH more than night 1. It was fun.

**bbb**

Dabba-Kato is Polish-Nigerian, so it kinda makes sense.

**Sigur**

I'm not questioning whether it makes sense or not, but I thought it was just a wasted opportunity and certainly didn't help Creed much.