The DakkaDakka Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread

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**Sigur**

I know.

I've seen the pictures. And I'm sure it's no coincicence either that both of them seem like very sound people from interviews and such. That doesn't mean I have to see it in the ring, just because they like something in private. But as I said, that's just my individual opinion on that sorta stuff.

**Ghaz**

I don't recall seeing Claudio having 40K iconography on his ring gear, however I don't have a problem with Shayna doing so. It's nothing more than an Easter egg like you'll see in any number of movies nowadays. For the fans in the know it's something cool, and for those who don't they're not really missing anything important.

**Ghaz**

Looks like the WWE talent cuts due to merger with the UFC have begun with both Rick Boogs and Mustafa Ali having been 'future endeavored' with others expected to join them soon.

EDIT: More releases according to Wrestling INC:

Dolph Ziggler
Shelton Benjamin
Emma
Riddick Moss
Elias
Top Dolla
Aliyah
Tegan Nox

EDIT: Tegan Nox may not have been released (see article linked above).

EDIT: Six more releases:

Dana Brooke
Mansoor
Mace
Quincy Elliot
Dabba-Kato
Yulisa Leon

**Sigur**

Yeah, hefty.

Mustafa Ali - argh. The dude never got a break in WWE despite being the full package. Too smoll for WWE though. :/
Emma - argh. I really like Emma. Moss....yeah... I mean....he's got a freaky physique; would have been a good tag team with Boogs as proper big wrestlers.
Rick Boogs - I didn't like the guitar thing (I don't like Pat McAffee as a commentator either, just to squeeze that in.

), but he looked great and would have worked great as an 80s-like wrestler. I would have liked to see that.
Aliya - i didn't even know she was on the main roster to be honest.
Elias - Shame. He's got a really great face and had a fun character for a while. Maybe he can form a great tag team with his brother on the indies now. I liked Ezekiel; there was potential there I thought, but had no proper plan or were too afraid to pull the trigger on him. Then they sent KO to save the angle, but him being KO of course he was brilliant, but couldn't help either.
Top Dollah is out - okay.
Shelton Benjamin - WILDLY underutilized guy! He could do everything and they did nothign with him when he was rehired a bunch of years ago. Few wrestlers I have seen so little of and still am such a fan.
Dolph Ziggler - WTF. Insane. One does not fire Ziggler if one is WWE. He would have been useful to them for life. Maybe he just didn't want any more.

MMModels - don't know them well enough; I ignored the angle too when it was on.
Not familiar with the NXT people I'm afraid.

It also seems like Matt Riddle is out now? Maybe for the best, for WWE and Riddle himself. I'm not entirely opposed to it; i have to admit that I found him grating on the main roster.

Dana Brooke.... she's a tough one. Obviously she put in a ton of work over the years. I actually liked her as Charlotte's slightly incapably henchman. That wasn't bad. Otherwise I'll remember her as "the woman I never recognize when I see her", because her face always looked a bit different. She'll do fine though, doing training and videos on the internet and bodybuilding and such.There's a huge market for that (for some reason).

**Ghaz**

Sigur wrote:
Mustafa Ali - argh. The dude never got a break in WWE despite being the full package. Too smoll for WWE though. :/

Mustafa Ali was set to challenge Dominik Mysterio for the "WWE NXT" North American Championship at the No Mercy PLE next Saturday, so the release is a real

Sigur wrote:
It also seems like Matt Riddle is out now? Maybe for the best, for WWE and Riddle himself. I'm not entirely opposed to it; i have to admit that I found him grating on the main roster.

Yeah, it looks like it was just a case of him burning through one too many chances and a bit of a coincidence that it happened alongside all of the other releases (he had another incident at JFK airport earlier this month).

**Ghaz**

WWE signs Jade Cargill to multi-year deal - WWE.com

STAMFORD, Conn., September 26, 2023 – WWE today announced it has signed Jade Cargill to a multi-year contract. The news was first reported by ESPN.

Cargill, a standout performer who has earned accolades as an industry-renowned talent, will begin training today at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

There had been rumors that she was going to debut on the main roster and bypass NXT altogether. I guess we'll see.

**Sigur**

Yeah, I mean she's rather new to the whole wrestling thing (to avoid an 'insider term'), but having her go straight to the main roster makes all the sense in the world. I'm sure she'll do well in WWE. She's not a great wrestler yet, but she has a ton of potential and has an incredible presence.

**Sigur**

I think I had a better understanding of who Toni Storm was when she had no character.

**Alpharius**

Sigur wrote:
I think I had a better understanding of who Toni Storm was when she had no character.

Ha!

Well said!

Though I think I like her more now then before?

**Sigur**

AEW Wrestledream

I like AEW PPVs. Just a few notes:

Spoiler:

I really like Julia Hart as a singles wrestler. Nice match. Can we please have another women's match on the card? It doesn't have to be about the title. Just give me Athena vs ...I don't know, Hikaru Shida on the main card.

I'd say it's a typical AEW PPV, with even more wrestling this time. Which means LOTS of matches.

And lots of technical wrestling. I'm too much of a muggle to have been able to appreciate Danielson/SabreJr.'s match all the way through. Especially with Wheeler Yuta and Ricky Starks having just shown really strong mat wrestling in the beginning of their match right before that. Speaking of which - that was one good match. Both guys are great new(ish) talent. Moxley on commentay is refreshing. Somehow the match transported a weird thought - Big Bill and Ricky Starks look like the way nicer people than the Blackpool Combat Club. They help each other, while Moxley just keeps saying how they beat down Yuta every day. But i guess that's the idea behind that heel stable of the coolest dudes on the roster

The 4-way Tag match was fun and chaotic.

The Omega Boys vs. The Callis Family was really good (despite one or two silly spots). I have no idea why Omega loses all the time.

It's just insane. Kota Kota'ing up was rather cool. I know it's silly, but at the moment it's cool.

FTR/Ozzy Open - super. As to be expected. Quick and entertaining.

Strickland vs. Page was a crazy match. The crowd was very, very much into it (mainly into booking and cussing out Page, which I found unwarranted. Who doesn't love Hangman Page?! ). Swerve Strickland is great and both put in a great performance. I'm starting to appreciate Prince Nana. Not because of the headband thing, but because of the tireless dancing.

Darby Allin vs. Christian was rather cool too. I'm not the greatest fan of Darby Allin's. Everybody keeps saying he's a very sound and creative guy, which is great, but the character just isn't for me. He's just for a different age demographic, right? In 20 years time we'll see young wrestlers in interviews talk about how they were either a Darby Allin guy or an Orange Cassidy guy.

Oh, I almost forgot (because I already watched them on Monday): Kingston/Shibata was as to be expected. I do think this Kingston dream run is very cool. It makes him happy, and Eddie Kingston is the kind of guy you like to see when he's happy. MJF/Righteous was ....entertaining. A good opener. I hate the kangaroo kick so much.

The thing about MJF ending matches with hip moves I like, but that was a bit comedic for my taste. I also find The Righteous more weird than scary. I think they could be presented a bit better.

The big surprise was spoiled to me the day before (I only watched it on Tuesday rather than Monday). I mean it's been rumoured and with the Allin/Cage Match going on last it was rather obvious, but still. Oh well. Looking forward to what's going to happen. The debut was nicely done.

Have yet to watch the pre-show (and in the end I probably won't anyway), but it looks pretty big. Barnett/Castagnoli and all. Also, it's cool to see Athena, Billy Starkz (she's making quite a splash. Cool. The better Skye Blue

), Kojima(!), Diamanté (i like her) and so on. At least in the pre-show.

**Sigur**

Hey, Fastlane was fun, wasn't it. Again, very interesting to see the different booking on WWE PPVs vs. AEW PPVs. Which is all the nicer, because we have variety.

Funny thing about the Fastlane is that there was just one singles match. Some bits in the tag matches seemed positively AEW-like in the chaotic segments.

I really enjoy those WWE women's matches. Three outstanding wrestlers in there in Charlotte (she's a heel forever, but in the ring she's just such an all-round pro), Asuka (can't ever boo her, she's captivating) and Iyo Sky (great babyface, great champion right now).

Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits are a great coupling. One thing I notice about WWE heels - I usually like them better, because they don't do silly things. Street Profits minus the cups and less dancing - i'm on board with that! And Lashley is just worth his weight in gold for WWE. Always a spectacle, dependable (as far as I know), put glasses on him and a suit around him and he becomes this superstar.

Love Lashley glasses.

That press conference afterwards with Cody and Jay Uso is something else.

**Sigur**

AEW Title Tuesday.

Spoiler:

Fun Dynamite.

**Ghaz**

Watched NXT instead. Got to see the Undertaker (in his American Badass persona) chokeslam Bron Breakker. Also got to see the first NXT promo by Brian Pillman, Jr.

**bbb**

Fastlane was solid.

Interested to see what they do with Jey and Cody. This allows them to hop between Raw and Smackdown, so that could be interesting.

I really wanted Shinsuke to win. I'm not sure how you proceed with Seth. They made a big deal out of the back injury. Does it just magically go away?

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Toecutter. That’s Toecutter.

**Sigur**

@Ghaz: I haven't watched NXT since 2.0 started, but this would almost intrigue me, with all the main roster people on there.

Why does Brian Pillman Jr. look like he's a cartoon figure? I'm aware that this is a silly question, but he looks so, so, so groomed.

@bbb: Oh yes, I very much wanted Nakamura to win this too. The title has a tough stand as it is, being (and until something itneresting happens with it) the "consolation prize". And Seth Rollins just doesn't make it any more interesting, specially at this point. Now Nakamura will rattle down the food chain again and just "be there" for years and years. Well, I hope he gets a lot of time off to surf and cook and have a good time. It's just a shame that they have Shinsuke Nakamura and didn't do much with him. Honestly, maybe it would be best to have Rollins relinquish the title due to kayfabe back issues; let's have a tournament for the world title. Rollins can take some time off, maybe return with a more mature character even, then he has a ready-made programme with Nakamura and with the new holder of the title.

**Ghaz**

Sigur wrote:
@Ghaz: I haven't watched NXT since 2.0 started, but this would almost intrigue me, with all the main roster people on there. Why does Brian Pillman Jr. look like he's a cartoon figure? I'm aware that this is a silly question, but he looks so, so, so groomed.

They had all of the main people on their for the exact same reason AEW had their 'Battle for the Belts' last night. AEW got moved to Tuesday due to sports and neither NXT or AEW was going to let the other win the ratings race. Right now, the only main roster star assigned to NXT seems to be Baron Corbin (with occasional appearances by Dom Dom, Mami and Co.). With that being said, without Vince's daily involvement with creative, NXT to slowly moving back to the Black & God era.

As for why 'Lexis King' (named for his late sister Alexis Reed) looks the way he did, no idea. This was his first appearance where we saw his face. Everything else was just teasers mainly focusing on what was on the television.

**Sigur**

Ghaz wrote:
Sigur wrote:
@Ghaz: I haven't watched NXT since 2.0 started, but this would almost intrigue me, with all the main roster people on there. Why does Brian Pillman Jr. look like he's a cartoon figure? I'm aware that this is a silly question, but he looks so, so, so groomed.

They had all of the main people on their for the exact same reason AEW had their 'Battle for the Belts' last night. AEW got moved to Tuesday due to sports and neither NXT or AEW was going to let the other win the ratings race. Right now, the only main roster star assigned to NXT seems to be Baron Corbin (with occasional appearances by Dom Dom, Mami and Co.). ...

Yup.

**Ghaz**

A bit more separation between WWE brands. Adam Pearce is the GM of RAW and Nick Aldis is the GM of SmackDown. And killing two birds with one stone, in the same announcement Kevin Owens goes to SmackDown in place of Jey Uso

**Sigur**

Oh, Nick Aldis as an on-screen character? I'm absolutely up for that!

**Ghaz**

Rhea Ripley will be defending her title at Crown Jewel against Nia Jax… and Shayna Baezler… and Raquel Rodriguez… and Zoey Stark. It’s a Fatal Five Way BAY BAY!

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Sounds hype. Then I realise it’s Crown Jewel. Which I boycott on account of things we don’t discuss on Dakka.

**Sigur**

Ghaz wrote:
Rhea Ripley will be defending her title at Crown Jewel against Nia Jax… and Shayna Baezler… and Raquel Rodriguez… and Zoey Stark. It’s a Fatal Five Way BAY BAY!

...and it's a beefy one!

@MDG: You're a good'un. And one doesn't miss much, because the Saudi events are still bascially non-canonical, right?

**Ghaz**

Lexis King (f.k.a. Brian Pillman, Jr.) will be making his NXT television debut at the first night of Halloween Havoc next Tuesday.

**Sigur**

Okay, I have to admit that Lexis King is a pretty good name. And he's got a pretty good story built in. I'm just not a fan of the angular hair.

So what's TNA up to? I'd love for them to get more in the limelight again.

**Ghaz**

Sigur wrote:
Okay, I have to admit that Lexis King is a pretty good name. And he's got a pretty good story built in. I'm just not a fan of the angular hair.

According to this article from Wrestling INC, it seems like Eric Bischoff. Mickie James and Tommy Dreamer like it as well.

**Sigur**

Ghaz wrote:
Sigur wrote:
Okay, I have to admit that Lexis King is a pretty good name. And he's got a pretty good story built in. I'm just not a fan of the angular hair.

According to this article from Wrestling INC, it seems like Eric Bischoff. Mickie James and Tommy Dreamer like it as well.

...so all of us important people in The Business agree then.

Just two random notes:
.) Realized that German TV is showing Dynamite. Hadn't seen it last week, so this way I got to catch up on Omega vs. Kyle Fletcher. Which as cool.
.) Mizuki's Whirling Candy is one of the most impressive wrestling moves I know. She doesn't use it often, only against stronger opponents (with good reason), but when ever she does it I rewind several times, slow it down and watch it again a few times. It's just so insane. So I looked for a compilation on youtube; of course there is none, because Japanese companies are fierce about not letting anything on youtube. But I learned about R-Truth's Lie Detector, which is somewhat similar, but no less cool move. Each time I see R-Truth wrestle, he's super impressive, even recently. Remember a few years ago when he was John Cena's biggest fan and had a match with him? R-Truth was insane. On the latest Cultaholic wrestling podcast a listener sent in a question, asking which wrestler the hosts liked best without ever really watching many matches featuring him/her. To me, R-Truth must be really up there, along with Speedball Mike Bailey and Mei Suruga. And Willie Mack. He's also great each time I see him. Which isn't often, but I like him.

**Ghaz**

The food court in the new WWE headquarters...

**Sigur**

Ghaz wrote:
The food court in the new WWE headquarters...

Friends attended the WWE house show in Munich last week. Waiting for them to report in.
Me, I don't watch as much wrestling any more the past few weeks. I think I even skipped the last episode of Dynamite...

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Random aside?

My friend and I were talking bollocks the other night, and we hit upon a concept for a Wrasslin’ ‘pooter game. But an actually realistic one.

See, the days of Kefaybe are pretty much gone. We know it’s choreographed and scripted.

Yet except for the Hard Of Thinking? That’s actually kind of added to the appeal. To see incredibly buff folks throw one another around, but for the most part actually not injure one another is an art to be appreciated in itself.

So make something like a rhythm game of it. You start out as a fresh recruit. The aim is to become The Face Of The Company.

You start at the bottom. In-game, nobody really knows you, nobody really trusts you with the more dangerous moves. But, as you train and progress and get Over with the crowd? Your fellow talent become ever more open to the idea of a march, as they learn to respect your competence.

Then, add in some kind of random Botch Generator. A quick time type event which as your career progresses, involves you Knowing The Crowd to effectively mask.

Make the length of your character’s career open ended. If you suck and never get Over in your first few matches? Game Over. But, the more you progress, the more crowd goodwill exists to literally forgive the odd crappy match.

I think this might work as a Brand Agnostic Game. But it’s a game I wanna play!