Got distracted shouting at Nia Jaxx for being trans
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Saying something racist somewhere, probably.
Hmmm.
This is the thing people thought was going to be Okada isn't it? Proper upgrade.
Yep...
I thought Okada is pretty much confirmed for AEW now?
Virgils dead :(
At least he won't be lonely any more.
Dementia and colon cancer double whammy. Poor fella. Hell of a pop when he finally nailed DiBiase.
And multiple strokes for good measure. At that point, the body wants death.
And I'm out again.
It's been changed to an "All-Star 8 Man Scramble" with Jericho in it. :facepalm: And there's two unnamed participants still. If that fucking cokehead debuts Okada in a shit fest like this he needs crucifying.
I will probably just watch Takeshita vs. Ospreay the next day and assume the rest of it is the steaming pile of shit it's lining up to be. Although the FTR match might be interesting, just to see how they cope with Moxley no-selling all their shit.
Spears :facepalm:
I’m out the loop with AEW but hoping this PPV is my gateway back in. I’m scared to even look at the card though.
To be fair it's on the whole a good card if you're not bothered about it being set up by spurious booking.
Rick :cool:
Definitely rehearsed that for a couple hours
21 minutes? Fuck that.
It’s good. He even goes after Cody’s dog. :D
Not gonna lie, this is some good marketing.
Thank fuck we're getting Heel Hollywood Rock out of this BUILDUP!
I actually disagree with this. You can see far more live, especially if you're in decent seats. I understand why they do it, but footy broadcasts follow the ball so much that you can't really work out what's going on tactically. I fucking can't, anyway. I watch loads of games on tv, and often haven't really got much of a clue about what's going on, except for the obvious. Whereas I could bore you all to death with the minutae of West Brom's shape, tactics and strategy for our disastrous 2008/09 premier league season, and even some of the teams we played to an extent.
When we got battered by Utd, it was actually pretty mesmerizing seeing how they built attacks with wave after wave of pressure from Ronaldo, Berbatov and Tevez, in a way that you wouldn't quite see unless you were actually at the game.
It's a bigger problem for me watching NFL, cus I really haven't the foggiest about how formations and routes and stuff work, until they show the replays.
Rock/Reigns v Rollins/Rhodes night one.
Rollins is definitely eating the pin from gasman
100%. Don't think that whole segment needed to take up a third of the show but despite Rick talking in circles while he remembered his lines I did enjoy it, between all the bants and Reigns very clearly hating being outshone and all that. Plenty of good work going on in there.
My other highlight of the show was KO on comms for the main event.
"I untied his shoe!" :D
Yeah that was good.
Theory might be the new Ziggler. Freak athlete and seller. Turn him face so we can see his cool moveset. I think they’re going down that route anyway with Waller turning on him so should get a decent and deserved WM match for then
Sting's retired with an undefeated record in AEW? Tony, you fucking mark. Naturally, Tony has to come out bawling because he can't just let the moment happen without him. :D
The alternative was letting the Bucks win in North Carolina. It would have made for a nice riot I suppose.
On the topic of North Carolina, what the fuck are they doing with FTR? Moxley has choked them out on TV for weeks so then they go and tap out on the PPV. Absolutely buried their best tag team in their home town. Bizarre shit and you can only think Moxley is giving it the "doesn't work for me brother" shit backstage these days because he never sells and wins all the time (and now I've typed that out, it absolutely makes sense him coming out in Road Warrior gear).
Clown of the night goes to Darby Allin. I think he's great but that was one of the dumbest spots I've ever seen.
Fans looking at their phones and/or not bothered about him. Guy killed himself for a two second pop then nobody cares. AEW's problem in a nutshell.
You people are so joyless. You'd be on here crying about how unsafe Taker throwing Mankind off the cell was if we were around then.
Well it was. No denying it was memorable but when you've got the man's wife and FUCKING TERRY FUNK pleading with him to not do it then maybe us miserable folk have a point.
Darby Allin's not seeing his 40th birthday is he? He's great at absolutely flinging himself around but he's got to be made enough now to not have to go that far.
Glass has no place in wrestling. A completely moronic spot.
To add, the fact that the one guy was just stood there staring at him, waiting for his teammate to come and grab him - why couldn't he just move out of the way himself? It's not like he was lying prone like they usually are in these spots.
Then you get the fact that the glass went flying into the audience...
Whoever put that spot together is a retard.
Welcome to AEW. Now there's no Punk and MJF, it's just indie wrestling with a big budget.
Indie Wrestling is good.
That spot where Ospreay no sold a piledriver was grim followed by a kick out at 1 by the Jap. I don’t get it
Just realised that with the Sting win that the titles will have to be vacated :drool:
IT'S TOURNAMENT TIME BAY BAY
Blame Gargano and Adam Cole. That Chikara/PWG bollocks was confined to backyards before they brought it to NXT, which was still super hot off the back of Owens, Zayn, Balor, Nakamura etc. and it conned fans into thinking that style was hot stuff. Which at the time you could argue made for some great matches but it got vastly overplayed very quickly and now everyone watching wrestlers of that ilk knows they don't need to give a shit until the Stormbreaker/Hidden Blade super combo, by which point they've missed the audience's peak energy for the match because they've still got to get all their shit in.
I remember him being properly chucked down some stairs in a minor thing that could easily have put him out a while with an ankle injury as well, I guess though without that side of him you wouldn't also get this absolute magic
https://64.media.tumblr.com/42d2ea0f...a1ef44ef7.gifv
Great bump by Miro too. Got his hands up right at the last moment. That would have looked a lot more fake yet dangerous if it was one of the friends gang.
Going to assume Miro won that match as he's gone pure 'That doesn't work for me brother' now.
Shame as he was onto a good gimmick after binning the gamer stuff but now he can fuck right off.
Tony needs to cut at least 50% of his roster then maybe these guys will start working hard for their 500k per year instead of punching Sammy Guevara in the face and being paid to sit at home for two years.
Tony tried signing up any reasonable name that WWE cut loose for ages and he seems to(to his credit really) hate releasing people unless conduct dictates he has to, so all of these people have to sit twiddling thumbs until their deals run out.
You really can tell he grew up watching 90s WCW.
Imagine how many times he would have feared for his life in THAT backstage area.
I'd have loved to see him try hugging one of the many roided up wrestlers.
He’d end up getting knifed for real by Tank Abbott.
Tank Abbott was in WCW?!?!?
I really liked him in the early UFC events.
Tank Abbott was arguably at his best as a member of Three Count. He just loves to have fun!
AJ Styles was on the books by the time WCW closed.
That 8 man scramble match could have an entire episode of botchamania to itself
Wrestler of the year. Hater of the year. Heel of the year. Social media extraordinaire of the year
Broo McIntyre
You’re dissing Rollins to the wrong guy brother
:D
WWE giving away one of the greatest matches in history for free on YouTube. That crowd manipulation. :drool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRg_vJvyMC8
Cornette getting mad at Darby Allin for performing a stunt correctly while he can't walk because he dropped himself off a ladder like a fucking dingus. Perfect.
What? Getting up and walking away isn't in any way a justification of what you just did. It was absolutely moronic and plenty of folk a lot "friendlier" to the AEW core have said as much.
Darby Allin is pretty much a professional stunt man. They also rehearsed the move, made sure if it did go wrong doctors were on hand and planned a different finish if anything happened.
Meanwhile Cornette:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9BKScsdglA
And Cornette doing his knee on the scaffold isn't quite the gotcha you think it is when you've got Adam Cole derailing six months of booking by carelessly jumping off the ramp on a run in.
1) It's funny to have to be the AEW guy here because I'm the one in my friend group that gets called the AEW hater.
2) If you replace the person with someone less talented/willing it changes things. There are such things as professional stunt men.
3) Adam Cole sucks, has always been terrible and is up there with Gargano in over-rated talent purely because WWE destroyed the business to monopolise it.
4) The only reason that Devil nonsense was allowed to carry on so long is because Tony is as big a Black and Gold NXT guy as Mahow and co.
I’m trying to get to the fundamental flaw in our thinking and I’m starting to land on this. I like watching pro wrestling. The stuff outside of it can either decrease my interest or elevate it but my enjoyment is based on what happens inside it.
1) That's a hell of a rabbit hole your mates are down.
2) It doesn't change anything in my opinion. I think Darby is really good so I'd rather one of AEW's better wrestlers didn't take himself out permanently with some dumb shit. Even with the best of them, the law of averages comes into play eventually.
3) Glad we agree.
4) Ditto.
It's the advantage of knowing WWE was largely terrible since 2001. As a massive CM Punk hater, his fall was so satisfying to watch the realisation that hes just a prick that cant even wrestle without something exploding
on 2) As I said above, he was given a week off and did a 40 foot ramp on a trycicle on fire and next month he's climbing everest. If he wasn't wrestling he'd be doing something else dumb so why care?
Is Darby Allin not just Jeff Hardy but for 2024?
Yeah, I'm sure he won't get hooked on painkillers.
Wrestling is a carny industry for weirdos. I'm not sure why I should boo a guy for possibly doing something that Kurt Angle and Stone Cold did years from now.
You've just encapsulated the problem in a nutshell. You don't have to be down the AEW rabbit hole to recognise something like this. The AEW diehards have convinced themselves it's an us vs. them thing. Anyone daring to criticise AEW must be a WWE shill. Tribalism nonsense. You say you're labelled the AEW hater in your group but really you just recognised stuff like the Devil for what it is. If your mates were rational they'd agree, but the rabbit hole has provided a huge set of blinkers.
No but see there’s the issue with also your side here. Every AEW match on a random Wednesday is better than 99% of WWE matches. Because the guy in charge likes wrestling. Outside of it I have issues. But that’s exactly why I’m not going to cry about Darby Allin doing a cool spot. The week to week wrestling is very high tier so the PPVs have to be better than that. Meanwhile WWE spend as much time as they can not actually wrestling. I want to watch cool shit once a week. Not Eastenders with topless buff men.
I'll take your point that AEW TV matches are usually better than WWE TV matches. WWE formula is crap, with the matches having the least focus on the show (ten minute entrances, then a commercial break as soon as the match starts). Commercial breaks destroy AEW too but at least they break the mould and even have at least one match a week I can get on baord with. They're not better 99% of the time though, because flips and no-sells aren't good wrestling in my book.
This week is a bit of an oddity too. Raw was unusually decent in the ring (Gunther match, Judgment Day tag) and Dynamite's matches last night looked like a car wreck (I like Ospreay but I'm not wasting my time on his match with Fletcher because I know exactly what it would have descended into), with the highlights seemingly an opening promo, Bucks/Okada angle, Danielson/Ospreay face off. Classic WWE actually.
Also at the end of the day shit like this makes me laugh because I know the person in charge is a slightly autistic amateur weirdo and not a psychopath who shits on women and covers up murders in his spare time. It's easier to enjoy in that sense.
Mate, go join an AEW forum you fucking flange
That's why the e-fed crew call AEW "we" isn't it, because they think Tony is making all their forum booking become reality. The problem is, a lot of it is shit and that's why they're holed up in basements and not out there making bank. Tony would last two minutes if he tried to run an actual wrestling company rather than just booking dream matches with dad's inheritance.
Also as a nice cherry on top for the whole discussion, it seems that Darby turned up on AEW last night and said 'I'm off to climb Everest, I might die so cya later'
Bossman is meant to catch Cornette there right?
Definitely. But Darby Allin would have bounced back up onto the scaffold.
Darby > Cornette
Is he actually climbing Everest for real and it's not just a story to be off TV a little bit to recover from getting a battering? He's one of those that does so much mad stuff he'll somehow die of natural causes in his sleep age 100.
:lol:
I feel dirty for laughing at Dave Meltzer
Tweet not Twitter tags, mongo.
And that is brilliant.
Sasha Banks openly admitting she will go back to WWE one day is hilarious. Getting that bag off Tony and fucking back off home. :lol:
This WM build is getting really, really good. The production levels are insane since TKO took over from Kevin Dunn.
Rick being completely out of breath just cutting Cody off is lol.
Interesting they still have the bloodline presenting the united front but the Rick still as a separate thing.
Makes sense if Rick's just going to bounce after Wrestlemania.
What about when Roman wins so we can do Roman v Rick at Summerslam instead?
I could be wrong but I swear they said Rhodes would never be able to go for a title again if he loses and that’s never gonna happen
Has he really done that again? :cab:
I might have picked it up wrong but Rick was going on about how he’s a director of the company and that he won’t allow Rhodes anymore chances if he fails at Wrestlemania
Vince RickMahon.
Wasn't it a shot specifically against Roman they said Cody wouldn't get again?
The number one rule in wrestling is that if a babyface is going to win the title he will say it in no uncertain terms (“I will win” / “I promise you [the fans] that I will be champion”). They never say it and then lose. Cody never said it last year and I don’t think he has up to now. I’m waiting for it and until he does I’m not 100% convinced he will win the title.
He’s winning and it’ll be down to don Cena ala Austin when mankind win his title
Here we go. :cool:
Why do they keep getting my hopes up with Chad Gable
Zayn vs Gunther will be tremendous. And as it stands I've no idea who's winning it. Gunther is either holding the IC until Germany or winning a world title there, right?
Zayn hasn’t been built up enough to be champion.
Also a six team ladder match for the tag titles. What a fucking non entity.
Also also Drew is awesome again but is he really the heel in this? He comes out spitting truths, meanwhile his opponent comes out in OTT costumes sucking himself off and slagging off the rest of the roster. Drew wins or we riot.
Candice LeRae taking major HEAT on Twitter for this:
Don't get why people are SEETHING but Maxxine really should have slapped her rather than just leave crying.
Very obviously a work using the house show incident to get some fans behind Maxxine.
She’s more boring than her husband.
Her brother isn't dead, he just changed his name.
Such a joke.
At this point it really should just be The Rick v Cody Rhodes. Reigns is just an afterthought. He does nothing
Hollywood theme made a comeback last night. :cool:
His theme is slowly changing every week. Hopefully the final one at Mania is full on Hollywood theme with an actual helicopter.
Rare Kate Middleton reference on Smackdown last night as Barrett says "Pretty Deadly are the official tag team of Buckingham Palace and are so pretty they don't need to edit their instagram pictures" :D
No Everest for Darby Allin. He's broken his foot jumping off something at someone.
I'm shocked, he takes such good care of himself.
He gets enough practice. And I didn't like The Rock last night. Maybe it's a Memphis thing but he was face as fuck.
I thought he was leaning a bit face early in the promo but I think that was to set the fans up for when he then started being a shitbag toward the end.
He's so iconic that the crowd will turn him babyface again very soon. I think they're going the route of having Roman do the sympathetic babyface turn and Rick as the massive ego heel but the crowd won't allow so they'll have to pivot (again).
It's exactly like when Hogan came back in 2002. There's not enough shenanigans in the world to get a WWE crowd to boo him for any sustained period.
He’d get booed at your mark cities but not places like Memphis. He should have just talked shit about Memphis like he did with Sacramento.
I guess the whole thing ends with Roman fucking him up after losing to Cody to set up their match for next year or Saudi Arabia or whatever it is, then Cody saves him and they share some tequila and energy drink before pointing to the big Moana 2 sign.
I'd book that there's infighting during the match about who gets to make the pin, eventually leading to Rick pinning Rollins. Then on night 2, Rick declares it a no DQ match or something similar, but we get all of Codys allies coming to help. Eventually it leaves just Rick and Roman and Cody in the ring. Rick eventually goes too far for Roman, who spears him and throws him out, but this allows Cody to hit his terrible finisher(or 4 on the run).
From there you get Rick v Roman at SummerSlam.
Would Roman really work a few months later after working on two consecutive nights?
Rick flubbing his lines when they're literally written in front of him for this one was entertaining.
Not saying Rick is the guy to let loose on it (Punk), but I hope now Vince is gone they allow certain guys to regain the art of totally ad libbing promos. There definitely seems a bit more leeway already, but the overproduction is still glaring. It’ll probably never happen though and Punk is about as close as we’ll ever get.
He's done a lot of that and talking in circles while he remembers what he's doing but when it works it works.
Fully agree, and I think what they'll do is actually have all the shenanigans happen 5 or so minutes before the finish. Whether it's Cody's Avengers or whatever I think we'll see Reigns left all on his own with Cody and then they'll have Cody ultimately win clean as a whistle. Assuming he wins....
Meant to say regarding Smackdown that I'm really enjoying Aldis as Smackdown GM. He was a lot of fun with Paul last night.
That KO stunner into RKO spot from Austin Theory should have been booed out of the building.
I don’t think Cody can have any interference on his behalf. Heel interference is fair enough but when a babyface is getting it, whatever the circumstances, it makes them look weak.
Classic example, Mankind’s first title win. Yes it was a great moment but the pop was more for Austin screwing Vince than Mick Foley who never gained anything more long term because he was the babyface who needed a shit load of help to get over the line. Tony Schiavone had a point when he lolled it off live on air, he just massively misjudged the room at the time, in that Austin was still the guy so nice moments for others like Mankind could be afforded. Cody however, will be expected to carry WWE post-Mania, so you’ve got to have him overcome the odds on his own.
He obviously botched it but Theory is definitely in the top 1% for selling. Just make him face ffs
Unfortunately for Theory, he is getting to that role of comedy character which in WWE, there's just no escaping. I can't recall any talent falling into a comedy character gimmick and then every getting back to the top in a serious way. Look at Chad Gable. No matter how good he is, they just will not pull the trigger. I'm sure he'll be shooshing people or being released in a few months time.
I mean him being the definition of mediocre at everything is probably the bigger issue than his booking.
Plain wrong yet again.
I didn't say bad. He just does absolutely nothing higher than okay. He's boring.
A seperate complaint that I noticed on Smackdown but AEW is probably worse on.
When did Wrestler Themes become so bad. Like I can not tell a single person apart.
This was the case under Vince, I'd say it's at least TBC for HHH and he clearly likes Theory.
There's definitely something there with Theory but I'm not sure he's had a properly good main roster match against anybody who wasn't just obviously better and more experienced than him.
The Cena match was a real indictment of where he's at though and it didn't help that because Cena knew he was losing he was desperate to bury him at every turn before the match itself rather than doing anything to try and help him out.
I've no idea what his ceiling is. It's probably lower than whatever Vince thought it was but there's still plenty of time to salvage his current predicament. Doesn't help pairing him with Waller, who's basically the Aw Mate Miz.
CFOdollar weren't consistently good but they had some bangers.
Their Asuka theme is an all-timer.
There’s just a lack of creativity. Years ago they’d just licence a known song, or have someone like Jim Johnston tailor a theme towards the gimmick.
Nowadays you’ve just got nerds churning out loads of shit in advance then they slap the first one out of the box on whichever wrestler needs a new theme.
Soon it will all be AI generated.
That will potentially improve things. TKO have been improving a lot of things already so hopefully that results in a bit more creativity or willingness to licence actual songs.
AEW’s generic themes are the worst but at least Tony is a mark for getting some good music now and again if he liked a wrestler on the indies years ago (Roddy’s End of Heartache :cool:).
Legally distinct WCW themes should make a comeback.
I was going to praise Tony for paying up on good themes, but then I heard Sasha Banks music.
I think you mean Mercedes Money. Or Candice Cash. Or Wendy Wonga.
Hang on, when did Owens find his way into the US title match? Did Randy just say he’s not jobbing to that annoying cunt? :D
Logan Paul has been feuding with them both simultaneously so it was always going to happen
If you believe the Twitter people, they claim Orton requested to work with Paul so you’d assume jobbing wouldn’t be an issue. It’s a shame it’s been made into a triple threat as they’re rarely good. Be an interesting dynamic with two faces though.
That was kind of my point but I wanted to put a different spin on it rather than just bitching about triple threats again. :D
I still don’t have a clue what Stratton and Bianca are up to. As good as the Rick stuff has been, it’s ruined a few people’s feuds/story build up to Wrestlemania as 2 hours isn’t enough. Raw folk are alright as there’s plenty time on that as no Bloodline shenanigans.
Yeah Rick taking up a third of Smackdown in the Mania build isn't ideal for the other stuff, last couple of weeks you can just see which matches would and should have had a few extra minutes.
Agree it’s not great foresight to have a two hour show dedicated to Rick and a three hour show constantly stalling for time because it’s impossible to book that length on a weekly basis. They should have done a mass migration around Rumble time to even it out.
Meanwhile in AEW I hoped Okada and Ospreay would make up for a lack of MJF and Kenny Omega, but it just doesn’t. :(
At the risk of incurring phonics' wrath, I'll tell you why I think they don't fill the void.
THE BOOKING.
Ospreay debuted first and immediately was thrown into a match with his fucking stablemate Takeshita. Makes absolutely no sense. Callis is saying he wants to give the audience "the best match possible" but what fucking heel ever has ever said anything like that? Heels want to win by any means and that is that. So the match is pointless. Yeah it was nice but so what, they might have just done it at the local indie considering the lack of story. So Tony pigeon-holed Ospreay in the heel stable but realises he needs to be a face. The crowd want to get behind him but aren't really sure if they should. If Tony really wanted to burn that Takeshita match straight away, why didn't he have Ospreay get beat down at the end to really cement a face turn? But God forbid this clown knows how to get his heels any sort of heat.
And Okada, oh my God what a fuck up already. He's come in as the supposed best in the world but to a lot of Americans watching on prime time television, probably don't really know who he is, so all this wink-wink-nod-nod referencing with the Bucks goes straight over their heads. Excalibur (lol) has been saying how Okada is incredible and the best there is blah blah blah, but the booking has presented him in goofy backstage segments with the Bucks and a couple of undercard six-man tags. If you want the crowd to believe he's the best, have him come in and destroy a top babyface in his first segment. They've fucked it already, to the casual fan he's just that Japanese guy standing behind Matt Jackson doing shit acting.
Ospreay already fucked off home for a break, didn’t he? What a life
To be fair, he pretty much flat out said he signed with AEW over WWE because Tony will let him fuck off home for long periods. :D
Worked a treat with PAC.
The creeds in that ladder match would have been insane.
Sadge
They were scared they'd do a Brutus Bomb from the top of a ladder.
The ripped one would have done Shelton Benjamin esque madness. Hope they get on the pre show or something at least
I saw Alpha Academy lost their qualifying thing but it wasn't Gable so hopefully there are plans for him to do something as well.
From the YouTube and Twitter clips I’ve seen from Raw, the production really is looking magnificent. So many small
Improvements
Yeah it's pretty exceptional.
:D
This smackdown has been a very easy watch. I normally just watch YouTube and Twitter clips but fuck me they’ve come a long way. So many little touches that make such a difference
Loved the vignette for Breakker with all the NFL combine like stats. The sports feel is great and they’re going to push this guy hard post-Mania.
Helps that he has the best spear going too.
Proper Goldberg when he was good vibes about it. Just tries to cut everyone clean in half as fast as possible.
Bill Goldberg was never good [/Bret]
His spears were.
I can't believe I'm saying this but I am jealous of Nia Jax.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/...g_is_not_fake/
Apologies for it being a Reddit link (or if it's been posted before, I don't keep up with this thread), I tried downloading it and uploading it to youtube but it automatically gets turned into a short which I can't embed.
But anyway, :D
The infinity stunner :drool:
That's some chikara shit. :D
SGW! SGW! SGW! :drool:
That Ugandan guy sold more in that clip than you see in a whole episode of Dynamite.
The "BUMBASH" poster in the background. :D
Horny fans are usually cringe as fuck but for Rhea, I am one of them.
I think I'll blow my load in her match against Becky at Mania.
What are the matches involving the rock / Cody / Roman reigns then? And what night(s)?
Night 1 is Reigns and Rock vs. Rollins and Cody. If Bloodline win it's "Bloodline rules" (no DQ) on might 2, so Rollins will be taking the pin there.
Night 2 Cody vs. Reigns for the belt.
Just to balance out (overcorrect) for the Rhea filth, here's a picture of Missy Hyatt with Terri Runnels. It's spoilered for a reason.
Toggle Spoiler
I know the lapsed fan podcast is something of an acquired taste, and even I was getting a bit sick of the co-chairmen recently, but their recent Virgil double header is absolutely fantastic. First part mostly chronicles the time host jack conspired with other host JP's father to book big Virge for JP's bachelor party, and other guests from the party sharing their memories of a truly insane evening, and part two is Jack's usual meticulous research on the life and times of the guy. It includes a particularly juicy revelation about Virgil's early life, that surprisingly doesn't seem to have been picked up by any of the dirt sheets.Toggle Spoiler
Highly recommend both episodes. Maybe just be prepared to fast forward some of the bantz, it can get a bit much.
Thought I was watching AEW with that Ricochet/JD match. Give them a PPV match, they’re both fun as fuck.
McIntyre, Punk and Rollins is tv gold
I'm sure the nerds in here will find a way to hate it, but that final segment with The Rock battering Cody in the rain was pure entertainment.
Well Raw was hype as fuck wasn’t it.
Drew again :cool:
Rollins is turning heel. Probably after Mania when he loses, but he's turning.
And speaking of the better Rollins:
So many good segments.
Reigns is utterly useless. Rick is selling this far better than he has and ever could.
Genuinely cannot wait for the clusterfuck finish. Something that I would normally hate but this is an exception. Cena putting Solo through the tables. Yes pls
I'm just about finished watching the whole episode in its entirety. First time I've done that in about 10 years. Possibly the best episode in 20+.
I hope they’ve not blown their load and the go home show is even better.
Rick is going to take up about 75% of smackdowns go home show. They’ll need to make is add free to get anyone some airtime
The actual wrestling matches can sometimes get in the way of the TV show for WWE at the moment, but still, as I said it was an all-time episode. The hype for WrestleMania is off the charts.
Cody starts the show and again referenced "keeping his promise" which is to win the title. Babyfaces don't do that if they aren't winning so we're definitely on baby. A little dig at Rick and then here he comes! That Hollywood theme is so good and even though he did fuck all, it was a complete surprise and the whole thing is so over that they can get away with it here.
Ricochet and JD, the large-headed guy from JD, had a really nice match. The camera work these days in outstanding. It's amazing how much better TV matches are when they don't have to play to the hard camera all the time. That "steady cam" or whatever at ringside is magic.
There's not a lot of downside to Triple H's booking at the moment but Judgment Day is possibly one of them. Ripley is over like Rover, Dom is such a great shithead heel, Priest is a boss, but the actual faction is crap now with all these shit backstage segments.
Two girls had a match. Shit but short.
Then we get Punk. What a fucking segment. He's so good on the mic, then Drew comes out and he's just hitting zingers all over the place, what a guy. My reaction to Rollins coming out was the same as Punk's but give him credit, when he's serious on the mic he's good. Looks like we are getting Punk on commentary which will be classic stuff. Segment finishes with Rollins superkicking Drew; crowd loved it but it was a cheap shot and a hint at a future heel turn I reckon. Clearly these top guys are now being trusted to not have all their promos fully scripted and it's showing.
I generally hate comedy because it's usually done bad and finds its way too high up the card but R-Truth is incredible at it. Nice little Easter egg of Drew and Heyman chatting in the background to further Drew's hypocrite gimmick. He's going to get involved on the Bloodline's side at Mania then.
In my determination to watch the whole episode without skipping, I was subjected to both New Day and DIY in the same match. I like Ciampa but he can't keep my loathing at bay here. Thankfully Judgment Day come down to end it early in a good ol' sports entertainment finish. Give Awesome Truth the titles.
Hey, a wild Andrade appears! I don't know what to think with him. The guy looks great and can clearly wrestle (having Vinci bump around for him was a good choice) but I doubt I'll ever be able to get behind him in a hot storyline.
Rhea and Becky promos were pretty average. I am disappoint. However, the Becky punch on Dom was tremendous and the title match will be amazing. Becky did well to get cheers with Rhea standing opposite her but fuck knows how either of them get a boo out of Philadelphia.
There were a few bits through the show to promote Gunther getting in Zayn's head and Reed thusly won their match but let's face it, Sami has no heat anymore and although the match at Mania will be good, the story is flat. Shame.
Jey Uso vs. Nakamura in the main event. Jey is a fucking bad wrestler and Nakamura is a jobber now. Hoping for shenanigans to get me through. And oh boy do we. Chaos all over with Cody, Seth and the Bloodline. Here's Drew to pay off the Heyman bit earlier. Then we get some iconic shit with Rick beating the piss out of Cody in the rain. A strategically placed production truck highlights Cena and Austin. The Cody-Reigns match is going to have so much interference and normally I'd hate that but this story is so hot and so packed with stars that I think I'll love every second. The visual of Cody getting juice with the blonde hair and the rain was perfect. Blood is such an elevator when used correctly (Moxley take note).
Pretty great episode all around. We're nearly at Mania and it's all starting to peak at the right time. I had my doubts they'd keep the momentum going post-Elimination Chamber but they're just stepping it up every week with the big matches, which is really what we're here for. Night 2 is stacked as fuck.
Having said that, there's three more shows left until Mania. Surely they've got to tease something massive between Rick and Reigns. No way do they put all this effort into such a great story and have Reigns going into it looking like an absolute whopper. Reigns doesn't get aggressive with his adversaries so it wouldn't have made much sense to have him give Cody that beatdown, so surely they've got to have him stand up and make Final Boss Rick second guess himself. At the moment it feels like the title match will be shenanigans with Rick and Cena and Austin and Seth and fucking Ultimate Warrior or whatever, with Reigns being a total non-entity until Cody gets the three count on him. Triple H won't let it end like that surely. He's not let me down on this so far, so I'll not be a Negative Nigel in anticipation.
Oh and by the way, when Triple H finally confronts Rick live in the arena the roof will come off.
What a belter. That and Takamichinokus themes live in my head 24/7.
I'm liking this steady move away from PG. I hope it's here to stay.
Funny how two companies have both been affected by a CM Punk injury.
For one it sent them into a spiral that they haven't fully come out of. For the other it might be perhaps the best thing that could have happened.
Punk (along with many others) was more of a symptom, not a cause. A disruptive symptom yes, but the problems were there long before he arrived.
It started as All Friends Wrestling financed by a money mark (which is fine), but as soon as Tony got in bed with WBD he had to pivot in order to reach the next level that the TV company demanded. The likes of Punk were needed but the Friends didn't like it (again, fine) and it's plain as day that the backstage is just a complete clusterfuck of nobody knowing what they're meant to be doing until 30 minutes before the shows. Then Tony goes and signs Okada to $4.5m/year and immediately pairs him with the proven ratings death that is the Young Bucks. He might as well just set that money on fire.
The spiral is all Tony Khan's fault. He's not a booker, he makes cool matches. Of course it's fine for AEW to not want to be WWE v2 but you look at Raw last night and see all the anticipation it's built, Tony couldn't dream of being able to do anything that hot. The sooner he realises and signs someone with experience to run things, then it won't turn around. He can't even go back to just Friends because he's made them look absolutely worthless on TV for at least two years now.
I am sensing Ben may not be the biggest fan of AEW.
Not many people are these days. :eyemouth:
That’s a fake number though.
And they barely fill out 40% of the stadiums they go to. They’ve definitely missed their chance now
On weekly shows it looks like they'd have trouble filling out a high school gym at times.
You people are fucking weirdos about this. It's a successful promotion.
Yeah, it's a solid 2nd. They have a great talent pool and the weekly in-ring stuff is worth watching/attending. They're not at WCW size (and might never get there) but they book those venues because they can get away with it, presumably.
WCW a company that never made a literal penny. But Eric Biscoff should tell Tony what to do.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJnqCT8WoAAhKQW.jpg
WHO GIVES A FUCK WHAT PEOPLE GET PAID. Are you there crying with joy that good people in WWE are paid dogshit. UFC just got sued for stealing money from their fighters and WWE are paying their staff half that. People who are on the WWE/AEW war are absolute fucking weirdos.
:lol:
Successful despite itself.
Take the two most popular guys right now: Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland.
Samoa Joe is booked like a heel but gets cheered like fuck by every crowd, except when he's against Swerve Strickland, who is undoubtedly the most popular guy at the moment, but he's also booked as a heel. So Tony put them in a triple threat with one of his top babyfaces, Hangman Page. Who then got soundly booed into turning.
While we're here let's look at their third most popular guy, Will Ospreay. Crowds chanting for him already yet he's still part of the silly heel stable and despite booking two matches to give them a quick face turn, he ends said matches by hugging the heel and saying how he respects them.
Like what the fuck is going on here? The talent is there but Tony just has no clue what he's doing here. Lots of potential fanbase growth being squandered by this nonsensical stuff.
I don't care, I like watching good wrestlers doing good wrestling matches because I watch the shows instead of reading recaps and 30 second Twitter clips. There's bad stuff but WWE's been dogshit on all counts for large swathes of my adult life. That's fine, I'll like what I like but posing everyone who likes AEW as some fucking moron who doesn't UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS is fucking cringe.
It feels like too often someone has hype either from coming in new or picking up steam and instead of capitalising on it they're quickly in another stable or feuding with some dork. Wardlow is limited enough but he could easily have been their Batista now, instead he's Matt Morgan.
Khans biggest weakness is feeling like everyone has to get their shine. Which just ends up in your Wardlows getting hot, getting over, then getting forgotten because it's someone elses turn. It's been a consistent issue. I'm not some idiot that can't see that but it doesn't mean I have to never watch AEW again.
But that's it isn't it. AEW hardcore fans are like the boys at school who hate mainstream music just because it's mainstream. They love their little circle and the fact Tony books for them, but as soon as they do something logical that attracts a few new casual fans, they think they immediately have to pivot away again because "this isn't what AEW was created for" (the standard argument during the Punk era).
It's fucking infuriating because as a wrestling fan not in the bubble that just wants to enjoy something other than WWE (ie. me), AEW fans like to moan about their detractors but they're the biggest fucking gatekeepers going.
You're talking to someone who AEW hardcore fans attempted to dox because I questioned the Jericho/MJF angle where he had to fight some bloke from WCW so don't worry about what they think.
Because I do not care about if it makes money or if people that never watched it in the first place enjoy it. So I'll express my opinion that I do.
Just catching up with this week’s Raw.
It can’t be said enough how good Drew McIntyre has been over the last few months. Top quality shit-posting on social media and top quality work on the microphone. I genuinely love his work right now.
Shame Mania isn't this weekend because work on the Monday is going to be a struggle.
Can always rely on Zom to have WCW's corner. :cool:
WCW lost 10 million quid in 99 so I would love to see where you got these other numbers from. Once again, I could not give a single fuck whether AEW made a penny. You're the one that cares about Eric Bischoffs booking reputation.
Cry more.
I don’t care one iota about AEW. I’m just correcting your erroneous statement.
With absolutely zero proof.
It's right that a lot of people who worked for Turner wanted rid of wrestling and eventually got their wish after the merger, but under Bischoff WCW became profitable for the first time and had their best year in 1998 before it all went to shit again by the end of 1999.
Bron :cool:
"Bischoff said in an interview last April that WCW had “never made a dollar of profit in the history of the company” when he took over the division in 1994 and made it profitable within a 12-month period."
https://mikemooneyham.com/2001/01/14...hat%20division.
Bischoff truly went full circle – from taking the dying promotion from years of follies and a distant second to the hottest wrestling organization in the country, only to oversee its fall. He took the Atlanta-based company from $24 million to more than $225 million in revenues in just a few years and made more than $50 million in profits in 1997 and 1998.
https://mikemooneyham.com/2004/05/30...s-to-bischoff/
For several years in the '90s, Eric Bischoff was Turner Broadcasting's "golden child." As the Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Bischoff guided the promotion to its first profits in 1995
Read More: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1183365...w-live-events/
From The Death of WCW book: In addition to the sky-rocketing ratings, WCW was one of the biggest and most profitable touring groups in the country, as fans swarmed to arenas for live Nitros and for the monthly megashows. Fans who couldn’t attend the matches live ordered in record numbers via the miracle of pay-per-view, spending upwards of $30 a month just to watch the special events. And let’s not forget the insane amounts of merchandise sold, from T-shirts to posters to magazines to bandanas to wrestling teddy bears to key chains to beanie babies to sipper cups to every stupid tchotchke piece of crap imaginable — all with the WCW logo slapped right on it. Everything was making the company money, to the tune of more than a $55 million profit in a single year.
You’ll be getting angry responses now. Watch out
This book about WCW is good although my feeling that the author really allowed Eric Bischoff more right to reply than you'd expect is confirmed by them co-writing a book together later.
Zom dropping fachts :drool:
You love to see it.
Nobody besmirches the good name of WCW on my watch.
All this WCW talk has me wanting to watch SuperBrawl 2000 again. Such a glorious clusterfuck of an event.
Boring chants in the opening match. Then Brian fucking Knobbs pulling a "doesn't work for me, brother" in the next match. WCW having to bill a midcard match as a "main event" to satisfy them dropping $500k to licence the KISS Demon, only to have him promptly squashed by The Wall. A Vince Russo special Leather Jacket on a Pole match with the highlight being Tank Abbott pulling a knife and threatening to murder his opponent for a shoot. Then we get Booker T vs. Big T feuding over the letter T (spoiler: Booker T loses and has to be billed as just Booker for the next 9 months or so). David Flair then proves to be the worst wrestling son of a wrestler ever to exist as Greg Gagne and David Sammartino rejoice. The best match on the show is a Texas Death between two pensioners. Hogan then literally ends Luger's career. Then the main event triple threat has six referees and goes home after 7 minutes because they ran out of PPV runtime.
AEW can only dream of such chaos. I implore everyone to watch this show.
Fucking yes Seven fuck him right up, majestic lad.
Was it Goldberg vs. DDP they had to replay for free on Nitro the next night due to Hogan and Warrior going way over time? That match was so hot, incredible for just ten minutes or whatever it was.
Yeah, one of the Halloween Havocs. That might also be the one where Warrior's trapdoor broke Davey Boy's back.
Davey broke his back at Fall Brawl I'm sure, which would have been immediately before Halloween Havoc 1998.
Look at this fucking card. The second half an absolute all-timer on paper:
Toggle Spoiler
Meng :drool:
Chris Jericho vs Raven in the opener was also a great match.
Just found the best promo of all time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKSiChEuTng
Imagine being up at 4am to tweet this out. Got to be the most thin-skinned person in the business.
Cocaine :cool:
Bischoff firing back :cool:
I kind of hope it’s a work.
https://media1.giphy.com/media/xULW8...=200w.gif&ct=g
I’m backkkk
I always find Eric Bischoff pulling a serious face slightly unsettling. Like he's really concentrating or holding in a massive fart. He looks like an old Jamie Carragher in that 'Strictly Business' picture.
Aye, he was born to be permanently grinning.
Imagine being on the end of a beat down from Naomi, Bianca and Cargill. That’s a lot of cake. :drool:
Dat powerbomb. :drool:
Similarly there are very few situations in life I find can't be styled out with The One Billy Gunn's theme song.
"I'm afraid it's inoperable ...."
Look at all I've got ...
If you’ve got a spare half an hour, CM Punk’s interview with Ariel Helwani today was a great listen.
Raw was really good again. Not one for the ages like last week but it did the job.
Rick has been incredible in recent weeks to be fair. The few seconds where Cody hit the ring and got some punches on Rick was amazing (and Rick taking good bumps on free TV in 2024) before the inevitable Bloodline beatdown. Great heat going into Mania for them, and Roman finally turned up. He's still a bit of a goof but it's an improvement on where he was even just last week.
And eventually they tried to get a bit of heat into the Gunther vs. Sami match, using Gable. Decent stuff but it's only one angle going into the biggest show of the year. I don't think they'll take the belt off Gunther here (or at least they shouldn't, given the storyline hasn't warranted the big title change), but at least they've sowed a seed of doubt.
Oh and Drew is winning the title for sure (:cool:).
Clash in the Castle announced for June. Huge hints about it being in Scotland.
Hints?
https://www.wwe.com/article/wwe-head...land-this-june
Like it being announced as taking place in Glasgow?
Yeah I didn't see that. :D
I fast forwarded some stuff then assumed they'd announce Scotland next Monday after Drew parades the title on Raw.
Joey Swole v Austin Theory?
:D
I'd missed that CotC was Glasgow this year. I'll have to keep an eye out for tickets but I assume they'll be off-puttingly expensive.
Yeah that whole bit was superb, Rock selling Cody's music after Rollins' grin but then of course Roman was still there anyway. He's definitely getting into a proper rhythm with his promos now too, much better even than when he first appeared during this story (which in itself was much better than any of his playing-the-hits promos in the last 10+ years.)
Also a little shout out to Rick O'Shea for catching one of the Fridge Raiders and doing a fallaway slam on him. :cool: Nice to see they've finally realised that when you've got three hours to fill just sticking him in a match every week (and giving him some wins) is a solid plan.
Get a ticket and take a TTH sign (and business cards ofc) to the event.
"Die Ricky Die."
:D
"Ben says more headlocks"
More headlocks needed?
Yes: Ben, CM Punk
No: phonics, Baz
I'm right.
Old injured man says I Need A Rest.
15,000 people chant for Old Injured Man to make the save as Cody and Seth are beat down by The Bloodline.
Headlocks are over, brother.
Typical indie-ass ROH wrestler looking for the cheap pops.
I like how Rock's entrance changes a little each week, by Wrestlemania it'll be full on Hollywood dicksplash. This is the most I've enjoyed seeing him probably since he left first time round
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JotqUtE8564
I assume he'll bust this one out.
But with an actual helicopter.
I see Punk had the whole of AEW in damage control last night and going phonics on us
The interview is great. Sure he has a very strict opinion on what wrestling should be and how he goes about portraying that, but whatever you think of him, it makes Tony Khan and the Elite guys look horrendous. No wonder they were in damage control, there's clearly a lot of truth to what Punk was saying (and I'm not sure how any anti-Punk guy can even argue against that in good faith).
AEW need to snap themselves out of this complex they're in.
Edge opened Dynamite with a weird promo that he obviously didn't believe vaguely responding to things Punk said on a fucking YouTube show (but not actually denying anything he said). 20% of the US audience promptly changed the channel and the last two weeks have been their lowest viewership ever.
The longer they keep doubling down on this Punk situation and talking about a guy that's in another fucking company, the longer this death spiral will continue. Tony out there getting his guys to tweet #ThankYouAEW, proper high school shit. But that explains why 90% of their storylines are "why aren't you my friend?" because the son of a billionaire was obviously short of real friends in his youth. Now he pays guys seven figures to sit at home.
So how does everybody think the Bloodline stuff is gonna pan out this weekend then?
I think I have Cody winning, and I also think that whereas last year I thought having him lose was a bad call (and I'm still not entirely won over there) I definitely think doing it this time and stretching the fucking thing out even longer would be. Roman and Rick are surely winning Saturday to then have Cody's mates come and help him fight off the Bloodline on Sunday? Also curious as to how soon, if Roman loses, they kick off the Rick / Roman stuff. Rick keeps being a dickhead for a while and try and bring Reigns back as a face? Always a risk there but wrestling fans love a return so if they keep Reigns away long enough (how would we notice the difference lol) he'd probably get the cheers required for that. Can't quite shake off the thought that they might well just romanwinslol it again.
That sounds like a sensible way to go. You got to draw a line under Cody's story and the Bloodline's ran its course. The biggest problem is Roman. The head of the table stuff put him in a good spot after years of the company trying to force it. Putting him against Rick might allow some creativity but it's just as likely to have him steamroller him in the promo stakes. You're faced with the same old problem of making Roman interesting.
I'm hoping having the show in Glasgow is indication that Drew is sticking around long term because he's the best at the moment.
Everything about this program suggests Drew is staying. Unless he's just decided to be one of the top stories and characters on his way out, but surely, surely he'll be in Glasgow.
My one mate who I might have gone with (if tickets aren't a total rip-off) can't make it because he's going to the Euros but honestly, and especially if Drew's gonna be there, I would consider going myself anyway.
They wanted Rick v Roman to be last years main event with Roman going over. When they couldn't get Rick on board, they pivoted to put Cody in there instead. Now Rick is not only on board, but on the board. They'll want to do Rick v Roman. The issue here is they get the chance to have Roman take Hogans record. I don't think we'll have this chance again for a very long time, so my head says Roman is likely going to win.
The other way to look at it is, if you assume Roman wins, who actually does take the belt off him down the line? Rick makes no sense, Cody may have used up the crowds favour by that point, Rollins doesn't need the rub and there's only really Breakker that I can think that is there now, that could use the win to ascend to being a top star.
For that reason having Cody win here just makes sense. Roman wants to be a part timer and you crown a new face of the place. Everyone can move on to something more new.
You have to have the bad guys win night 1. Create some tension between the two. For example Roman gives an order to get a chair, but Rick instead showboats with the peoples elbow and it gets countered into a near fall. Then play out the 'who is really in charge here?" angle. The only issue with this is you're asking Seth to lose on both nights, because I think Drew absolutely should win night 2.
Then on night 2, after all of the interference shenanigans, you have a 2 v 1 in the ring. Rick and Roman stood over Cody. All other members are brawling away in the backstage. Have Jey pick Jimmy up and lead him away because he's his brother and he's trying to save him. Rollins is battering Sikoa.
Now you have Roman bark more orders at the Rick and give him a little shove or something like that. Rick looks super pissed at this but stands his ground. It continues more until finally Rick snaps and gives Roman the Rick bottom and walks out. Cody then wins with 57 shit Cross Rhodes.
You have to do it something like this way because like fuck is Rick going to ever be the heel against Roman down the line.
There's a follow up question, actually. Do you guys think there'll be Bloodline involvement in Seth / Drew and then Drew involved in Cody/Roman? I know they had that shot of him talking to Heyman but I'm still not sure I see that or if it'd just make things a bit too busy, even by the standards of the smoke and mirrors clusterfuck we're surely getting.
I really hope that the shenanigans are done and dusted with 5-10 of the match left and Cody does then just beat him.
One idea I did have (and to be clear, I don't think I actually like it) for what scenario they might actually have Seth and Cody win night one. Rick / Roman mixup, Seth and Cody win, singles match. Solo, Jimmy, etc. come out Sunday night anyway but then in a call back to everybody's favourite Mania main event - Cena vs. Miz at Mania 27 - the Rock then comes and uses board member to restart the match and bar everybody from ringside under the threat of being fired, then Cody wins. It's a terrible idea but it amused me a lot when I thought of it. :D
Does The Rock being THE FINAL BOSS mean that Roman is a lesser boss or perhaps even a mini-boss?
Not necessarily. Roman could be like an Emerald Weapon or that fucking bouncy ball cunt in Final Fantasy IX.
Shame Hunter couldn't put the Andre Battle Royale on the pre show tomorrow.
Well that was hilarious :D
Has it really only been a year since the Snoople’s Elbow?
Heyman :cool:
WWE is on fire. I’ll be let down if this isn’t one of the greatest PPVs of all time
Wont be able to watch live this year so I'm really hoping I can avoid all spoilers before I've watched the shows.
WrestleMania Predictions:
Night One
Rhea Ripley vs Becky Lynch (Women’s World Championship) - Not a huge Becky Lynch fan, to be honest. A bit cringe. Rhea on the other hand is a god tier performer. No brainer for me.
Judgement Day vs New Day vs New Catch Republic vs #DIY vs Awesome Truth vs A Town Down Under (Ladder match for WWE Tag Team Championship) - No bloody idea with this. Could be an all-time classic or a stinker. R-Truth has been great in tv the last few months and I’ve got no problems with Miz holding titles because he can carry a feud with his fat gob. Hoping for the best with this one.
Rey Mysterio and Andrade vs Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio - bit of a throwaway, this one. Should’ve really been either a singles match between Escobar and Rey or a big multi-man between LWO and Legado. Dom feels like he’s been shoe-horned into this at the last minute just because it’s his dad on the other side. Will probably be a decent match though.
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill & Naomi vs Damage CTRL - no chance Jade is losing in her second match.
Gunther vs Sami Zayn (Intercontinental Championship) - Lived the build up for this on Sami’s side. Playing the underdog on tv for the last few months, which is his bread and butter. Gunther probably needs a shot higher up the card so would make sense for Sami to win this one. Then possibly defend it against Gable at Backlash.
Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins vs The Rick and Roman Reigns - what I like about Triple Haitch’s booking is that he seems to always leave himself lots of options and he’s done it again here. Could go either way and still make sense. If I was a betting man I reckon Bloodline win this one. For two reasons. 1) Can’t have Rock lose at WM in the twilight of his career. 2) It sets up the stipulation for huge shenanigans on night 2.
Night Two
LA Knight vs AJ Styles - don’t know why, but I haven’t really been able to buy into this feud. They’ve had Knight show up at AJ’s house a few weeks ago but it didn’t hit, for me. LA Knight should really have had a singles title by now so hopefully this is the start.
Bobby Lashley & Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford vs Karrion Kross & Akam & Rezar - Montez Ford is far too good for this. Have him turn on Dawkins already.
Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre (World Heavyweight Championship) - MVP of tv the last few months. Absolutely kills it on the mic every time. Beat Seth here and then defend against CM Punk at Clash at the Castle in the summer.
Logan Paul vs Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton (United States Championship) - done a good job of building this. Not sure how it will play out in the match with Orton and Owens having a bromance every week on tv. Paul to retain and drop it to someone else (Bronson Reed), in future.
Iyo Sky vs Bailey (WWE Women’s Championship) - not really bothered about this match.
Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes (WWE Universal Championship) - fucking hell. Cody has to win, right? But I said that last year. Again, if I’m a betting man I think shenanigans will occur in the second half of the match. Could be a clusterfuck if not booked right. I reckon Rick will interfere and cost Roman. Therefore setting up their eventual Tribal Chief match somewhere down the road. My only worry would be if Rick’s interference would weaken the effect of Cody winning. Conversely, I wouldn’t be surprised if Roman won so that he can overtake Backlund and Hogan in the coming months for longest reign. I genuinely don’t know what will happen here and that’s great for fans.
Sounds like the ladder match will have two sets of winners to split the titles, I'd forgot there was just the one set until now.
Makes sense. Tag division is stacked right now.
I'd rather one set of champs who could go between shows and one set of belts that aren't the fucking pennies.
Night One
Rhea Ripley vs Becky Lynch (Women’s World Championship) - I like Becky, and initially thought when this started that she'd probably win this but as time has gone on I feel more and more like Rhea will retain. Not a disaster if she doesn't but probably the right result to keep it on her.
Judgement Day vs New Day vs New Catch Republic vs #DIY vs Awesome Truth vs A Town Down Under (Ladder match for WWE Tag Team Championship) - If there's one winner I think it'll be Miz and Truth. If they're splitting them and we have two sets of tag champs then I dunno who the other would be.... maybe JD keep one but it's still presented as a failure as part of the impending JD split? Really not sure, could be any result to be honest.
Rey Mysterio and Andrade vs Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio - Dom loses to cause further JD discord.
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill & Naomi vs Damage CTRL - 7om had it right - 'no chance Jade is losing in her second match.'
Gunther vs Sami Zayn (Intercontinental Championship) - This match should be so good. Really torn on how it'll go. They're building up Sami as needing to win something but Gunther is gonna be involved in something title-y in Germany in August but I don't really see which World title they'd have him defending/winning by that show. I don't want every title reign to be endless so maybe between Glasgow and Berlin he gets the belt of Drew? His Punk feud doesn't need a title I'd say but given Punk was gunning for Rollins before feels like they'll go down that route anyway. I dunno, I think my instinct is that Gunther holds the IC title until Autumn.
Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins vs The Rick and Roman Reigns - As discussed upthread I can envisage ways they decide to have Cody and Seth win this but ultimately I reckon Rick and Reignsy will win here. Really wouldn't surprise me if Rick pins Cody either, even though you'd think that's what Rollins is there for. Rollins might have already left the match at that point to go fight off Drew or something. We'll see.
Night Two
LA Knight vs AJ Styles - Fairly meh feud to be honest and I don't have super high hopes for the match but AJ should keep it right. Knight to win and get his 'moment.'
Bobby Lashley & Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford vs Karrion Kross & Akam & Rezar - Who knows, or indeed cares? I'll say they give Bobbo a win.
Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre (World Heavyweight Championship) - Drew's winning. Rollins then hopefully actually gets a break. Plenty of people to pick up the slack on top end of the roster and let him heal up the various knackered bits of his body.
Logan Paul vs Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton (United States Championship) - I wish this fucker was shit at wrestling. He'll be retaining though. He ain't taking a pin in a triple threat or on a Prime logo.
Iyo Sky vs Bailey (WWE Women’s Championship) - Only way I see Iyo winning this is if Bayley insists she needs it more but logically Bayley ought to be winning.
Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes (WWE Universal Championship) - Covered further up. For fuck's sake please just have him win.
Can’t believe you’re all forgetting the USO/Uso slug fest.
Best chance of that being a good match is if they both open night 1 and just go all out. They’ve had good tag matches many a time so no reason they can’t just have a fast paced 10-12 min match. Worried they get given 20+ mins and we get rest holds and super kicks galore
Oops. :D
Yeah Jey's winning that, you'd think / hope and I think they're gonna have to do what you've said and just have 10-12 at 100mph because if they try and do an actual "proper" match then yeah that ain't happening. That whole feud feels pretty undercooked to me, I think they've tried to rely on the stuff done previously to carry it but they really needed to do more and weave that properly into the Bloodline stuff .
I'm going for O12.5 Superkicks in that match.
Free money.
Super kicks, splashes and sleeper holds.
Don't forget samoan drops. They might do one of those each.
It will be very interesting to see what happens to the Bloodline members post-Mania.
Reigns: I hear everyone saying Roman will take time off. Isn’t that basically what he’s done the last 2-3 years? He’s not even 40 yet so I’m hoping all of that talk is premature. Do they hold off the match with Rick until WM41? If yes, do they do something with him over the summer? Big questions to be answered.
Solo: wouldn’t surprise me if he went, well, Solo. Although if I remember correctly, didn’t Reigns christen him as Tribal heir or something a while back? Don’t see him ready for that spot yet, personally.
Jey: got enough charisma in the tank to stay solo. Keep pushing the yeet bollocks and he will be fine. Can’t see him main eventing outside the confines of a Bloodline storyline, however.
Jimmy: he’s the one I worry for. Been overshadowed by his brother over the last year and will surely lose the 1-on-1 match at Mania. Unless he teams up with Solo as a tag team, he could get lost in the shuffle.
Heyman: can’t see him staying around to manage Jimmy or Solo. But then it would be a shame if he followed Reigns into part-time status. New client? Can’t see it if Reigns already said he won’t be Tribal Chief without Heyman by his side.
Rick: hasn’t he got another film coming up? Imagine he disappears until the feud with Reigns officially kicks off.
I feel a bit for Solo. They'd made him look a bit of a killer and he's another that with Reigns barely around he's just lost all momentum because they haven't kept on having him murder people or have basically any agency of his own.
Solo seems to be in a tough spot. They keep making him lose.
Apparently including house shows (bollocks I know) he's on a 35 match losing streak or something. Hasn't won since he beat Cena.
2 draws/no contests in that.
Problem for Solo is he's not really that good at anything in particular. He's not bad, I just don't see what he's good at other than standing and looking moody.
He looked like he was sleeping during Heyman’s speech. All the wrestlers reacted to the ‘suck my dick’ line other than him :lol:
He's paid not to react.
Mahow is right, he is literally (for better or worse) being told to no-sell everything.
I think as a worker he's been fine from what I've seen (I never saw much of his NXT stuff, were you watching NXT at that point 'How?) but again, he's clearly being told to work a very particular way.
Not too much, was more just watching PPV's/special episodes during his run.
That tag match was fun as fuck. Pure Indy.
Bron’s spear was ridiculous :lol:
HBK really doesn’t wanna let Bron go lol
Do you have the Network Waff or do you stream it?
Was just sitting there wondering whether now I mostly like what they're doing again if I should consider giving them some money.
Is NXT on now?
Yeah. Started at 5
Stream, Ian. Get BT through my phone so have tv stuff on there but I mostly just watch clips that interest me rather than watch a show through. PPVs on here: https://methstreams.com/wwestreams/wwe-stand-deliver/
Good quality on phone so probs even better on a computer.
NXT getting 13k+ is some effort considering they weren’t doing much better when it was NXT: Black and Gold and just a glorified Indy company. Majority of the product are through the development structure. HBK and HHH are properly good at this thing.
What actual channel is it on? I’ve put the WWE Network on and it’s Undertaker vs. Edge lol.
I put it on but wanted to rewind to the start and it took me to the NXT BEFORE Stand and Deliver (Your money or your life) which wasn't too helpful.
Currently watching the Wrestlemania episode of Scooby Doo on Boomerang to get ready. Shaggy and Scooby (skinny man and dead meat) in a 2v1 handicap match vs Kane :cool:
Mayor Kane would simply jail Shaggy for clearly being high as a kite.
I love Dragunov but is Tony D'Angelo actually any good? What little I've seen the gimmick just looks like the worst sort of cringey nonsense that once upon a time would have been designed to amuse Vince.
He's got some in ring skills (mainly seen his tag matches with STACKS) but his gimmick is shockingly bad.
I’m really not up to speed on NXT at all but Trick looks like money.
I really am not a fan of him and I really don’t know why. Maybe bc of Booker T
I like Trick, he's not actually quite as good as Hayes I reckon but he looks the business. Both should be stars if WWE play their cards right.
I like both and it should be decent but LA Knight and AJ Styles is the match I'm least interested in, even though the buildup had AJ flying all the way to Australia just to batter LA Knight which really is world class shithousery.
https://i.redd.it/s32xgza6broc1.jpeg
Who we thinking in 15 years then?
Most of their build up has been outside of Smackdown since Bloodline and the woman’s stuff takes most of that up. I’ve enjoyed it - bit of a throwback. Knight drawing blood from AJ at the press conferences was a nice touch.
Feel like a few of the matches could have done with a stipulation more so than the Street Profits match. Normally they’re shit but it does feel like WWE are allowing things to be less PG. ladder match should be a corker. Fully expecting R Truth and maybe Waller to get both titles simultaneously
How dare that graphic ignore Undertaker vs Kane.
Maybe I retract my previous statement. That match was pretty shit. Both should have been DQed anyway for trying to hit their opponent with the chair right in front of the ref.
2 hour pre show now starting.
Honestly couldn’t tell you jack about the Usos (other than wanting Young Bucks to super kick their faces off) but that promo video got me invested.
They did keep reiterating that the ref was told to let as much as possible go tbf
At least it's not the coloured abortion I saw before.
Still painful to see.
Considering the amount of advertising that's everywhere in the US I'm surprised they haven't been doing this kind of thing for years, particularly considering WCW used to do it in the 90s. US sports largely avoiding kit sponsors until recently seems odd as well.
Is this Becky Lynch’s level now, or is it because she’s ill? She looks terrible out there.
Honestly thought they moved Rhea/Becky to the pre show at first. Hopefully I haven’t missed much as thought this started at 1
You’ve missed nothing besides a HHH promo
Before I commit to this (open another beer) what time is the main event likely to be? 5?
I’d guess somewhere between 3:30 to 4.
Doubt it. Be before 4 id imagine. I don’t think they do much more than 4 hours per night
People like Judgement Day? They look like absolute dorks.
Get Pete Dunnes mate some knee pads. He looks nude.
‘It was effective either way’ :D after Miz jumped off the ladder while Priest wasn’t ready
Class match that
Holy fuck
Yeah, that didn’t work. Predictably two teams in the ring while the rest lie in the floor watching. At least they split the belts, though. And happy with both winning teams.
Biggest surprise is that Road Dogg and K-Kwik were never champions.
GET ROWDY
Santos Escobar’s entrance music is so good. Proper villain stuff.
Why are the tag teams in their wrestling gear like they’re in the match lol.
Carlito is definitely turning heel
Main event getting 45 mins apparently (not including ring walks)
Christ
Don’t understand that tag match. They’ve built this Latino storyline now for months, but they end it with two football players that only the local audience would know.
They’re a bunch of jobbers and mid carders getting their WM moment. Let them be
This is much worse than expected:D
Bed time
One of the boringest matches I’ve ever seen
The main event needs to save this show, because it’s not been great so far.
Isn’t Rick getting gassed during his entrance? I think Sunday needs to save it cos tonight’s a write off.
Best entrances by far
She can’t wrestle but imagine if she could. Money.
Nvm forgot this match was on. This should be good.
I assume Zayn is winning. Should have been Gable but whatevs
That camera of the Germans :lol:
This night 1 is a banger.
This is fucking great
Didn’t have Rhodes taking the pin but I suppose it doesnt really matter if he’s winning tomorrow.
Gimme Stone Cold and Cena
Sounded like Cody was getting some boos tonight. Good main event. Delivered what was needed.
The crowd has been pretty shit. Stadiums too big, not enough marks to carry it
Crowd was as bad as the Saudi shows. I thought the main event was belting after a slow start.
Not ready for the heartache of McIntyre winning tomorrow and Priest cashing in
Just finished the Women's tag match and the Network has shat its pants.
Audio and video are 10+ minutes out of sync.
Rhea v Becky - I never thought I'd see Motionless in White performing a WWE show so this was great. Entrances on the whole were so good for this show(with one exception). The correct winner here and there looked a gulf in quality between the two. Becky is so far from Big Time Becks now it's a bit sad. As for Rhea now, her problem is not hers really. They don't have anyone on her level.
Multi-tag Madness - I don't overly care for anyone in this. A bit of a way to separate the belts and give everyone a pay day. Then they can take that money and buy some better gimmicked ladders. The ref slapping Priest on the ankle was comical. They're lucky Miz landed alright with that spot. Good to see R-Truth get himself a moment.
Rey v Dom with others. - Stop doing this. Dom has to win these matches ffs. The Eagles themed ring gear was great and it's always great to see Jason Kelce. Maybe not here though? Lane Johnson looked a little out of place as well mind you.
Uso v Uso - Considering they work so well as a tag, they don't seem to work well against each other. Jey also had no chemistry against Solo the other day. Considering all of the wheel spinning we've had of these two turning back and forth over the last 2 years, this is not a great conclusion. I thought post match we were going to get Jey lift his brother up and console him, but no just cut to black. Have to hope the WWE don't Hardy Boyz these two in the future and just have Matt v Jeff again every year.
A special mention here for how shit Little Wayne is. I never want to see or hear that again.
Womens tag - WWE also really really need to get out of this habit of sticking the black guys/girls together when they've no idea. Match was fine for what was needed.
GUNTHA v Zayn - The continuous cut from Zayn seeing off his Mrs and kid, all the way through the curtain was glorious. No idea if Sami knew KO was going to be waiting for him but that was a lovely touch. Chefs kiss. It did give away the winner somewhat but there you go. Gunther looks all kinds of a star in his entrance and looks really good now he's leaned out fully.
Decent match with Gunther battering Sami for most of it. Not quite battering the shit out of him a la Sheamus, but it'll do. I'd say good but then we get to the end. The attempted splashes by Gunther were hilarious. Then a horrid looking 'brainbuster.'
Get Gunther into the main event scene now please.
Bloodline Bollocks - I saw an hour remaining before entrances and thought christ. This one went too long. The got the result right(I think) but I don't think they did enough to build friction here.
I did lol at Rick telling the ref he's in charge and he had to do as he says, then immediately take himself to the apron to properly wait for a tag in.
I also see we're back to Rollins selling a knee again forever. Please make it stop.
Having Cody replicate his pose from after he lost last year is also a nice little touch. Full chaos main event it is I guess. You also have the last realistic chance for a successful MITB cash in tomorrow.
The rock cannot move. It’s like watching a tanker.
I also see Tony Khan is so rattled by CM Punk he's going to air the footage of what happened at All In now.
All in all a pretty meh night one.
WALTER/Zayn was the best match on the card for me but I thought they played their hand a little too much pre-match so it was too obvious that Zayn would be winning. Although I did love the KO bit.
Uso CIVIL WAR the worst of the night, that was like pulling teeth out at times.
Gunther vs. Zayn was really good, I quite liked Rhea vs. Becky though Becky did look to be suffering. Most of the rest of it was just fine I thought. Not helped by the crowd who initially I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt because those big open stadia can sometimes suck the noise out a bit but nah, there was stuff especially in that main event where they should have been making a lot of noise and just weren't. The closing stretch of the main event was decent and as as Fox said, Cody replicating the closing shot from last year was a nice touch. Also didn't expect Rick to be taking a Rick Bottom through the announce desk.
A fairly underwhelming night on the whole.
When it came to the actual wrestling it was largely awful and saved by Sami.
There was some decent 'ring psychology' in Becky vs Rhea but about 7 minutes in I wanted Michael Cole to never say the word 'Rhea's Left Arm' ever again.
Unless the All In video shows Jungle Boy beating the shit out of CM Punk I can't see what it's going to achieve other than devoting more company time to an interview they'd just as easily ignore
Finally finished watching.
Rhea vs Becky was decent but I was astounded at the gulf in quality between both. I thought Becky would bring it. Rhea unfortunately has nobody on her level to go with at the moment.
Ladder matches aren’t for me so I didn’t enjoy it, with a lot of the usual tropes sending me to phone browsing. Having two winners was crap, but at least Truth was one.
The Lucha match was pretty good. Lucha generally isn’t my cup of tea and gets confusing as fuck if you dive into CMLL or AAA but for what it was I quite liked it, probably because it was still early in the night. The live crowd didn’t seem to agree.
The Usos. Fuck me. I’ve been telling you lot forever how bad these guys actually are and now they’ve been exposed to the biggest audience possible. Piss break.
Women’s tag is all about getting Jade over. Those of us that watched AEW know how limited she is. It seems she still is but they protected her a lot better. Jade got over. Job done.
Ok I’ll say it, I just don’t like Sami Zayn. Sure he’s a good worker but I find his babyface selling a bit too hokey. Plus up until two weeks ago this match barely had a storyline. Still a good match but I couldn’t get invested, even though I love Gunther.
The main event was about as good as it could have been. We didn’t need the brawling into the crowd and in the second half when they largely stayed in the ring, it was much better. Apparently it was 45 minutes but it didn’t seem like it. I’m sure they foreshadowed the finish of the Night 2 main event so if that follows through then that’ll be nice. Rick held up a lot better than I anticipated and fair play to him for taking the bump through the announce table. Cody has to win tonight now, as they managed to kill the tension between him and Reigns so really all the heat will come from the outside interference and the 1-2-3 for the title change.
On the face of it the night as a whole was good but we had (perhaps prematurely?) hyped ourselves up for so much more.
Shout out to the production team. Some incredible stuff again.
Hopefully the crowd is better tonight.
I have no idea why Night 1 was hyped up to be the better of the 2 nights. Tomorrow just looks better. Iyo/Bayley and Rollins/Mcintyre should both be better than most of yesterday and the main event will be a mess but a beautiful one at that.
Montez Ford gonna do something batshit in that tag match too
"Look! Look! He choked him out!"
Yes Tony, he told us all last week. What's interesting here is he could made himself look very silly because he said he feared for his life during the incident. Either now Punk is lying /downplaying it, or he told us the truth. If it's the latter you make the whole company look silly.
I mean, it’s got to be a troll, despite what the journos are saying. They’re doing it during a Bucks segment who are playing carny heels.
The only way this looks in any way good for AEW is if Perry dusted Punk for real, and we know that certainly didn’t occur. Seems like an angle to reintroduce Perry to AEW as part of the Elite.
Once again catering to their (ever declining) niche audience at the expense of logic and making new fans. Basically exactly what Punk said in that interview.
Ticketmaster have enabled reselling of All In tickets so I listed my spare pair for £400 each despite paying £432.75 each for them, hoping it would result in a definite sale.
However, the listing seems to include a £120 service charge (which I won’t receive, of course) so who on earth is gonna buy them?!
Really could do with this money back but it’s seeming less and less likely.
WWE seem to be making it so obvious Drew is winning that I think they’ve successfully worked me.
I now think Punk will interfere and cost Drew, then Priest will cash in on Seth. Punk vs. Drew main event of Clash sans the belt.
:(
(Priest is pretty boss though)
Drew said he’s leave the company if he lost so maybe he never actually signed. Who knows
Yeah I was shocked at this match. Some are saying Jey possibly got injured early on and so they had to limit what they could do. Even if that is true, it was a truly shocking display. Probably also not helped that the Bloodline storyline is in its descent in terms of relevancy and these two have been on separate shows for the best part of a year.
I don’t know where these two go from here. Please just don’t let it be a rematch.
Does night 2 kick off at 10 again?
When I said AJ Styles vs LA Knight was the match I had least interest in it's because I forgot the Uso one entirely. I like them both in their separate roles but nobody gave a shit when they did the Ax and Smash start in the Rumble match and there was no real reason to care about this.
Will also be interesting to see how the likes of Cody and Sami are booked after Mania. Clean cut good guys chasing the villains is booking 101, and I think they’ve done a great job with both of them. However, I think it becomes more difficult after they achieve their goal.
If I heard correctly, Cody starting getting some light boos last night. The exact same thing happened with Daniel Bryan in and around WrestleMania 30. The crowd were 100% behind him in the six months prior to Mania but there was a palpable turn once he started getting closer to winning the title. If my memory serves me well, there were definite boos on the Raws after that Mania. WWE got bailed out of having to carefully book Bryan because he got injured and vacated, so will be interesting to see how they handle these two.
Philly/Mania marks. I wouldn't read too much into it (yet).
Potential spoiler
Toggle Spoiler
Rollins’ entrance reminds me of Adam Rose and the bastard rosebuds.
Drew wins or we riot.
That McIntyre tweet for the phone spot is great
Fucking hell! No! I was all in on a McIntyre reign.
Such a great start
https://i.ibb.co/vB6LZZ5/giphy.gif
Best to ever do it via social media.
This has been 3x better than night 1 already.
Eveery event a friend of mine hasn't seen Logan Paul and are disgusted that wrestling allows him in and 100% of the time they're amazed by him.
Well, here we go. Let the fuckery commence.
This is fucking amazing
My fucking God. The most mental clusterfuck ever. Incredible.
lol what a shit show. Mark Calloway desperate for cash clearly.
Such a good fucking show tonight god damn
I am sports entertained. Great finish.
Yep, massive upgrade over night 1. Really enjoyed it from start to finish.
That HHH piece for the cameras is going to look awful when he its mentioned that Vince was doing it with ol Paul Levesques permission.
Not seen any of either day outside clips yet but sounds that the second night was a big step up. Main event seems like classic nonsense that worked, only thing it needed was Steve Austin turning up to batter The Rock.
Good weekend for Rollins, two defeats and one for his wife and then flattened before he can even make his feet for his interference.
Felt like a right mug for falling for the Moxley tease.
I'm not sure why it was Undertaker and not Austin, but either way it was great. A whole lot of shenanigans, but I still can't believe we've finished The Story.
I marked out big time because I thought the same. Lonely Seth coming out in Shield gear only to not get a hit in was sad afterwards. Great callback to the chair shot that started it all off though.
Hopefully now they do a proper Raw after WM show again as well, the last few have been absolute dogshit.
Undertaker couldn't even be bothered to take his hoodie off, let alone get in his gear so I presume they weren't paying Austin money for that part of the run-in.
Well, now that story's over, Rick can get back to what matters. Family.
<cue Simone becoming RAW GM>
Seth v Drew - Exactly what it needed to be. Great that Drew got his moment and in a pretty convincing win. However as soon as he was still hovering around the ring a good 5 minutes later you know what was coming next. Good for Priest getting his win too. Just a shame this likely means Drew doesn't get to parade the belt around Scotland.
Tag Match - There is nothing you could have done to make me care about this. Skipped to see who won.
LA Knight v Styles - Again I don't really care for it. This all felt very forced to get the two a match on the show. Correct winner at least. We'll see what they really think of Knight backstage with what he does next. I have a feeling he gets stuck in the upper-mid card, but they've likely already missed him when he was at his most over.
Triple threat - Now we know why KO was involved in this. To eat the pin. Cringey that we had to use the guy inside the prime bottle thing again. Not a fucking clue who the child in it was though. He looked about 14. Probably the right winner again as you'll surely want Randy to shake Codys hand then RKO him and challenge for the title.
Iyo Sky v Bayley - Finally! Bayley has deserved this for quite some time and good to see her get it.
THE STORY - Brandi on the entrance ramp in A.N attire another give away of the finish. The bit where we had to pretend this was a proper match at the start did drag on a little, but then we kick off the interference clusterfuck and it was glorious. This is so very much Sports Entertainment and they nailed it. It was just constant levelling up of star power coming down to the ring. Marking out left right and centre. I burst out laughing when the first gong hit for Taker.
Great to see that Roman loses because he had to hit Rollins with the chair first. I assume the bloodline goes into full meltdown now.
Show over both nights as a whole was pretty good. A few meh matches in it and a few too many video packages. They seemed very very keen to put over that this is now a Paul Levesque product and no longer anything to do with that other guy. I was shocked to see Steph too(she's looking good for pushing 50). First on-show appearance since before the Vince stuff all kicked off?
Production quality has been absolutely top notch. Some great long term storytelling pay offs. Commentary was great. McAfee still just sounds like an excited fan of the show most of the time. I will say I think they need to calm the swearing down a little. Some is great, but it does lose its effect if done too much.
Drew can now chase the title and win it in Glasgow in another massive overbooked match with run-ins by Grado, the Highlanders and the ghost of Rowdy Roddy Piper.
It's so perfect that years and years after his retirement, Wrestlemania has got back to what it's supposed to be about. HHH getting himself over.
The Paul Levesque era. Fuck off.
Reigns losing the title by going for Rollins with a chair shot to the back was ‘rasslin greatness
Indeed they did.
I was thoroughly sports entertained by that main event. Incredible shit. All the callbacks. Brilliant. I wonder why it was Taker over Austin though because that would have been the perfect adversary for Rick. However, minor point. That was beautiful.
Fuck the rest of the card, don't care. The opener was actually a really shit match but Drew is such a legend. The cash in sucks as a fan of his, but it very much works. The tweet lmao.
Looking forward to the Raw tonight. Hopefully similar to a few weeks ago and a lot of storylines being created and progressed.
Expecting Gunther to wrestle a classic tonight against someone. Hopefully a few NXT call ups but I think we’ve already had them for Smackdown and we’ll start seeing Bron and Tiff every week
He did say he’ll be Cody’s shield and it all played out. Everything since the mania press conference has been perfect. Rick was marvellous. Should never be a face again - much better being a dick.
Pretty sure Rollins genuinely fucked his knee. The grimaces were too real and Owens was helping him up the ramp whilst everyone else was standing around not caring about Kayfabe
Thank Christ
Nothing is ever saving that TNA rip off, blud
I found the Karrion Kross nonsense match surprisingly watchable thanks entirely to Snoop Dogg on commentary, get him back in again
Hopefully Ricky starks being backstage for yesterday means he’s joining the Paul Levesque phenomenon whenever his contract ends
Three general points:
- Crowd were way better tonight and it makes such a difference. Hats off especially to the Hey Bayley lads who kept the atmosphere going until the rest of the idiots there got with the program in the back half of that match.
- Even by their own high standards the video packages on these two shows have been fucking superb. The WWE video department don't miss.
- Much better night than night 1.
Drew vs. Seth - I wouldn't have had Rollins kick out of three Claymores, but I don't hate the idea on the whole that he was just desperately hanging on, and that it was a 12 minute match mostly filled with the two hitting their best shots because Drew just wanted to end up and Rollins knew he couldn't survive a twenty minute battle so he was just trying to do something to give himself a chance. Good fun, and did the job. And that Tweet is fucking superb. :D
Priest cash-in - I probably should have realised this was what was happening when Punk took Drew off the table, but they'd put the briefcase so out of my head I really didn't think of it before the music hit. Happy for Priest, and if it's him losing to Drew in Glasgow that crowd are gonna be mental.
We Definitely Call Them 'The Pride' Okay? vs. Karry On Krossing - A match it was already impossible to care about before they designated it the bants match by having Bully Ray and Snoop Dogg involved. Skipped most of it.
Knight vs. Styles - A bad feud with a hype package good enough that it almost had me misremember it as a decent feud. Not a terrible match or anything but yeah(!), not much real heat to it. At least Knight won. It'd be nice to get to see Styles win a match again at some point.
US Title Triple Thread, sponsored by Prime and Ben - I thought this was fun. I enjoyed the early stages where it was Orton and KO hating Paul too much to stop double-teaming him. They kept the pace up thereafter and fair play to Paul, he's always prepared to take his fair share of the heat. Another nice RKO counter for Keith's collection too.
Bayley vs. Iyo - Probably the match of the night / show in terms of Actual Good Wrestling Matches. Really liked this, glad the crowd finally sorted their shit out and got louder toward the end and it was cool to see Iyo get some great moments in defeat.
Cody vs. Reigns - Look, right, this wasn't a good match. But it was a FUN match, in a very Attitude Era clusterfuck sort of a way. I actually didn't even mind the walk-and-brawl or Roman slowly beating Cody bits because they didn't dwell on either part for too long and it came after a reasonably back-and-forth opening. After that part just so many good moments. Roman putting the table away to wind up the crowd for a start, and him basically telling Heyman he hit the Cross Rhodes for a laugh. And then all the overbooking comes. Jey wiping out Jimmy was satisfying, Cena and his bald spot is a slightly odd choice to be involved but between getting beasted by Solo, losing to Bloodline Reigns and history with the Rock I guess it'll do. Undertaker was there I assume only so he could teleport Rock and Cena away after their bit. I had wondered why, earlier beating or not, Rollins didn't really get land even one proper shot on Reigns but using the Shield music was a good callback generally but also to their Rumble match and as has been discussed further up, he was really there to set up the excellent chair shot call back. So much nonsense but I had a really good time watching it, and thank fuck Cody won this time.
Re: Raw tonight, what is actually likely to happen? So far as I'm aware there is nobody really pending a long-awaited return and no proper big names they're likely to have signed (MJF? :henn0rz:) so unless there's anybody obvious I'm forgetting they're just gonna need to set us up with some killer of an angle if they want that Raw After Mania feel.
That was a lot better than night one.
The Drew tweet :cool:
Would have liked it if Austin was in Taker's spot as it would have been a much better moment with Rick overselling another Stunner.
Also, I think Waff is right regarding Seth's knee. He looked bad out there and would explain why he did nothing. Bar the quality chair shot callback.
Oh and I had the Bayley and Cody result spoiled for me.
How? Because WWE Shop sent me a fucking email at 8am with the subject being "Champs Are Crowned: Cody Rhodes & Bayley!", thanks dickheads.
Serves me right for not unsubbing ages ago.
MJF coming straight in to bring Cody back down to Earth would be incredible. No idea what his contract status is with AEW. But Tony will likely throw every penny he asks for at the moment. If MJF goes to the other side, it's game over.
I would 100000% put money on Cody saying a line of "You thought last night I finished my story, I'm here to tell you it's only just getting started" or something very similar.
They have signed another Fatu, so yay more Bloodline guys.
I suspect Breakker gets his monster push soon.
Uso v Priest at Backlash? That’s gonna be stinky.
Now that they don't have to awkwardly combine two belts into a record-breaking run, surely they can rename it the WWE Championship again rather than Cody being the ULTIMATE UNDISPUTED UNIVERSAL CHAMPION OF THE UNIVERSE
I'm watching RAW now, what do you lot reckon The Rock gave Cody?
Cena :cool:
So glad they actually did that for Truth, a childhood dream come true.
A WWF Attitude condom
https://i.imgur.com/jDYaTy0.png
I've never seen that but I'm also not surprised at all.
Unfortunately you can't just have Drew shit on Punk for weeks without them having to have a match about it.
It's odd that both Drew and Cody won title matches at WM but were having better feuds with other people at the time.
Cracking callback.
They actually showed the All In footage lmao.
Is that it? Barely an altercation.
Edit: I've just seen the crowd reaction :D Cocaine Tony in the mud.
Malakai Black looks well better without his stupid makeup.
Him strolling into shot with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a cup of coffee kind of sums the situation up.
I just can't fathom their reason for addressing it. Apparently the live crowd were chanting CM Punk as well. :facepalm:
Yep, it's backfired so badly.
Literally everyone was saying this would backfire ever since it was reported they'd do it. Even Bucks fanboy Dave Meltzer was practically saying not to do it.
CM Punk gave a version of events on some guy's podcast, so AEW dedicated their own TV time to a video that backed him up while also making Jungle Boy, Tony Khan and the Young Bucks look like losers. I didn't understand what they were hoping for before it, even less so now
AEW burying itself and being obsessed with WWE. Just another Wednesday:drool:
TK FEARED for his life though.
Fucking hell was that it? A scuffle that lasted for ten seconds that had Tony fearing for his life.
I don’t know what on Earth they were thinking this was going to achieve. They just come across as tinpot.
I just think there's a massive insecurity amongst everyone involved with the promotion. Literally every other storyline is some form of "why aren't you my friend? :("
Conversely, great for Punk and therefore McIntyre.
Please, please let them parody this in gorilla.
Majority of fans wouldn’t even get the reference and doubt WWE really care that much. Would be lol though.
Even Ospreay was trying to throw digs at HHH in that awful accent of his. Calm down BRUV
Bubba burying the cokehead.
I forgot the CCTV is from the UK. Punk could do the funniest thing
You know it's bad when even he can have a reasonable take on it.
That supercunt Punk can be himself and have choked someone out and got fired, yet still be the one that looks much the better coming out of this, says a lot about how badly Tony has taken/handled this.
Swear WWE fans are obsessed with AEW. It's shit who givs a fuck. Waff literally doesn't watch either show and posts like its Chelsea v Spurs. So tiresome to come into this thread and every time it's YOU'RE A MORON THAT DOESN'T GET THE BUSINESS BROTHER.
Do you have any CCTV of Waff to absolutely show what a bad man he is?
Got 12,887 posts.
Alright, Phonics.
“WWE fans”
It’s only one side making this a tribalism thing.
Personally I’ve no issue calling a spade a spade with either company, AEW have just been extra shit in the last six months and we all love a good lol. Making a guy in another company the babyface is a whole new level.
Fuck Rhonda Rousey as a person obviously but the part of her book about wrestling as a business is great. Her Ghostwriter deserves an award because she's not coming out with poetic shit like this on her own.
https://i.imgur.com/8w1XWNi.png
Why fuck Ronda Rousey? Genuine question, I’m not being argumentative.
Oh and New Japan just put their World title belt on Moxley in one of their strangest booking decisions since Inoki’s MMA fetish. He bled of course.
She's a Sandy Hook truther. Also, there's some transbashing in there but Sandy Hook being a CONSPIRACY is top of the tree.
Genuinely thought Tiffy Time was going to be Titty Time during that match
Stop pretending you watch the shows.
So what's this Tama Tonga like?
Watching it now.
Solo becoming even more of a bastard is great.
Bron's new theme is fucking horrendous.
That's not even the Fatu they just signed either. More to come :p
Although the guy getting pissy about 1 loss, being on a near year long losing streak, is a little lol.
Retribution BACK?!?!?!
Bo Dallas.
It makes out a four. Fourtune confirmed.
What if it was Bo Dallas in the Fiend get-up?
It was. It's Uncle Howdy. I wasn't just plucking a random name, I've seen it reported as being Bo Dallas already.
Opportunity to reform the Forgotten Sons, what's nazi Gunnar doing these days?
Fuck.
Put it on Jade Cargill and do a Roman Reigns run.
Looks like a shoulder dislocation.
How long would she be out for? Reigns kept his title defending it 3 times a year lol
4 to 6 months if surgery is needed according to Google.
There's a zero percent chance she doesn't get a rapturous welcome when she returns so build up a heel champ for her to obliterate when she returns, whoever that might be.
I mean fuck it, give Liv a go if that's the story they teased last night, surely they can't fuck a Liv push twice.....
Also those new tag titles are better than the pennies but HHH needs to get over his big gold belt obsession.
Jamie Hayter disclocated her shoulder a year ago and still isn't back. Has single handedly ruined the womens division.
Liv Morgan is rubbish but I don't mind her getting a heel title run so Rhea can come back as a big babyface and literally toss her out the arena.
Stumbled upon this clip and it triggered me with my least favourite move in wrestling. The Flying Nothing. Where the action is only to set-up the ensuing counter. It used to work occasionally if you had someone going for the deadest move of all time, the double axe handle. But in the modern era it's absurd.
https://i.imgur.com/f0HCNs2.png
https://i.imgur.com/PCt6YYl.png
You can't come in here with this nonsense. The deadliest move of all time is the roll up pin. I do agree though that it just looks silly. Especially when you make a guy who never goes up, go for it. Although I saw GUNTHA attempt 3 splashes at 'Mania and each one looked worse that the last.
Deadest, as in dead because it's unused.
This is what I get for skimming.
I would accept going up for the double axe handle if it moved well into the opponents finisher or signature move. It just looks clunky otherwise.
Me and phonics bonding over phoney bullshit. :beer:
File it away with the Spanish Fly and the standing around outside the ring to catch the guy doing a moonsault without looking back.
I'm another who doesn't like that, if a move off the top rope is countered you should at least have an idea of what should have happened otherwise.
Alternatively have it end in a flying strop 'n' kick
https://i.imgur.com/SxDzfVw.gif
Matt Hardy teasing a WWE return :drool: Enjoy.
Surely he's just going into business for himself there?
More gorgeous production work last night, following Jey out to Sami in for his entrance.
He's been in business for himself the last several years so nothing new there.
It's just infinitely better without Kevin Dunn and his hundreds of cuts a second.
Camera work is amazing now.
Are the smaller entrance stages a permanent thing now? Looks much better to see actual people instead of monster screens, the Puerto Rico show was great for that in particular so I'm all for it.
Spanish Fly can get in the same bin as the Canadian Destroyer.
Tower of Doom too.
Those are kayfabe though. The flying nothing is anti-kayfabe.
"Court ordered Smackdown" is a great concept that I need. Like some Hannibal Lecter type who's on lockdown apart from he's allowed out by the judge to cut a promo on Smackdown once a month.
[X] doubt
https://i.redd.it/3qid4473n4bc1.gif
Yeah but we also pretend the Rock Bottom hurts like.
Bad Bunny's entire wrestling career just died if we get rid of it.
Comparing AEW wrestlers to a famous singer. Sounds about right
I used to really like Luther Reigns, proper doofus meathead hired goon. Of course he's since been overshadowed by his brother Roman.
https://411mania.com/wrestling/bully...n-things-come/
Bully Ray on WWE failing to sell out Raw in Montreal: “Last night was the first night that WWE has not sold out. I always talk about the crack in the wall. It always starts with one crack. I always talk about the pop in the crowd. 20,000 people are popping every single night, but there comes that first night where 19,000 people popped. Do you think [Monday night was] a sign of things to come for WWE now maybe on the tail end of WrestleMania?”
They sold 11,800 tickets of 12,100. Mainly due to opening up more tickets because of the paired back set to get more fans in.
RIP WWE it seems. Congrats Cokehead.
Great to see Coolman get to finish his story.
Lord White did not look like he enjoyed taking that bump.
Veer, Sanga, JINDER, Xia Li and Xyon Quinn released.
The fatal 4-way tag match on SD was really fun.
The new belts are nice as well, could still live without the big logo sideplates but at least it's not slap bang in the middle of the main face of the belt.
Also, Waller and Theory are an active detriment to everything they're involved in at the moment. The tag match was breezy and fun but they offered nothing on commentary. No charm about them at all.
Jinder Vs Lord White please.
I thought they'd keep the theme of the singles ones on smackdown and just be a massive logo but instead they've gone for the shape of the classic 90s tag belts, big fan.
Mental that he wrestled on RAW before Mania and then on both nights of Mania whilst still fucked.
I'd really like it if they gave him a few months off. Let him get properly healthy for a start but also rework his character a bit.
Can't wait for him to come back and start selling his knee again.
They need a TV deal.
Danielson v Ospreay. All kinds of silly fun.
The PPV card looked great but I can only imagine how long it went. I'll probably watch that match, Okada-PAC and Swerve-Joe and leave it at that. I'll enjoy those and the rest will likely be the usual tripe so I'll not go there.
It does sound like the AEW crowd has soured a lot on Jericho too. "Please retire!" chants going through his match.
He should probably announce a retirement tour like Sting did, but I don't think he'll be going away any time soon.
He was important to have around at first as a major name but if he disappeared tomorrow they wouldn't miss him for a second, he seems to exist solely to suck the life out of younger wrestlers these days.
Into 2025 apparently. I also saw he's supposedly a mentor to Hook but guess who got the pin...
I do think one of the things Tony does well is not releasing guys unless they cause him problems, but you also don't have to have him on TV.
The only man in wrestling with more ego than HHH is Jericho. He's terrible these days. Trying to flip him heel so that 'I swear they're SUPPOSED to be booing me' stops his feelings getting hurt.
Fuck off to TNA with ol' Broken Matt.
Von Wagner has been released by WWE.
I get it but I'm kinda bummed, I think he had a lot of potential and I liked his teaming up with Robert Stone. Liked his matches with Bron too.
Did you ever see the absolutely amazing royal rumble those Indian lads did?
https://youtu.be/W6GeTGkZ2j8?si=VV3ENs7zTKV_RJJS
His dad was one of the Beverly Brothers so I guess there isn't much natural ability there.
So does anybody have time for Jericho these days? On top of what you guys have said in here Going in Raw were really getting stuck into him following the weekend.
I admittedly don't watch the most AEW of anyone, but from what I gather it's a lot to do with him not having the decency to realise he's getting to his mid 50's and he shouldn't be a big part of the show.
He should really be off into the sunset but coming back for a big one off match or mini-run. Not going over on your young up and coming guys who are getting popular.
I think the feeling is universal now. I thought he'd jumped the shark with his ROH World Title run a couple of years ago. Then he pivoted to "getting the next generation over" with Action Andretti, Ricky Starks and Hobbs, but he always protected himself in defeat and as we know, those guys got nothing from it because of that. Then he had that horror show with Adam Cole which I think was the turning point for the diehard fans and it's been a year long journey since towards souring more and more fans. The Hook match backlash is just a culmination of everything Jericho has booked himself in since Tony give him that ridiculous 10 year contract.
There was also some kind of #metoo thing with Jericho fairly recently as well although I don't know if it was bollocks made up by people who want him gone
He's just a large blob that gloms onto anything with some heat so he can stay on TV and subsumes them until they have nothing left and then moves on for his next victim.
Beckywinslol
Tells me that Rhea might be out for a long time then, because putting the belt on Liv now until Summerslam seemed fair enough.
That's crap.
I'll tell you what was not crap, the one camera shot of the backstage sequence up until her entrance.
I'd still have given the title to Liv.
Becky just isn't it right now.
She’s far too weak to be doing the rock bottom.
Nia Jax is also an embarrassment. She always drops folk that are ‘bigger’. No strength at all under that flab
Also I wasn’t sure Gable had it in him for this Perc Angle run but I’m all for it. Give him the creed brothers
Cameron Grimes released.
Sad as I really liked him on NXT but he was doing fuck all on the main roster.
The Young Bucks ladder match with FTR was alright, @Ben.
No thank you, Barrington. Thanks for the consideration though.
:D
I can't think of a more anti-Ben match.
Meanwhile Boring Danielson’s headlocks where masterfully countered by Will “actual the best professional wrestler on the planet” Ospreay who let Bryan wait outside the ring while he got the crowd excited, multiple times.
If your opponents not gonna get fans cheering, I guess you’ve gotta take matters into your own hands.
Unlike Baz, I like Danielson a lot. I also think Ospreay is one of the most naturally gifted wrestlers around.
But I just don't get the hype of this match at all. People out there saying the best match ever in America and other such nonsense. It was good and the crowd was hot, but come on.
Dragunov to the main roster? Feud with Gunther as they are the final 2 in KOTR?
Yes pls
I'd like them to hold off on Dragunov vs. Gunther until they've built the former up enough for him to get the first win on the main roster. I like the idea of keeping Dragunov as Gunther's kryptonite for a while at least.
If it's the KOTR finals then he's surely won a match or two already?
And to be honest, I doubt Dragunov gets immediately catapulted to the top of the card. He's an incredible wrestler but he's missing a lot of the usual things WWE would want from a top guy, even in Triple H world. A show stealer with Gunther on PPV might be a good a way as any of introducing him to the wider audience, even in defeat.
Have they done Gunther and Pete Dunne yet? I'd be happy to see that again
Either him or Bate (I think I like Bate/Gunther even more than the Dunne match) but dunno if either of them will ever get a proper match against him.
Tony's only gone and put himself in a fucking angle. Jesus christ.
:D
It's so shit.
Also, I think that's the first time I've seen their finisher. It's fucking horrendous.
That reaction to the gut punch :lol:
In other news:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GL-ZSy8WcAEDuxR.jpg
Gonna BANG.
Hopefully it's outdoot because those trousers will take him off like sails
Takeshita better take the belt off that stupid bald fuck.
The less said about Tony's angle, the better. :facepalm:
Daily's Place needs to fuck off as well. The audio is horrendous.
That flippy piledriver thing looks atrocious, do they always do it like that?
Now do people in here see why I hate the Bucks and it's not just some old man yelling at clouds stuff because I like elongated headlocks.
I can imagine it would look better if they get the timing perfect but even then it's just a shit piledriver but now with an added flip.
It would have been the biggest babyface turn ever in my book if they'd done him over Chuck Austin style. :D
I just wanna see if he Kayfabes it in the NFL draft tonight.
Tony's AEW champ run will be great.
He’s on NFL films wearing a neck brace. Love it. What a carny ass mark.
He should turn up to a Fulham game in it now, see if he can get on Match of the Day and confuse Danny Murphy
:D
Credit for that.
Wait some other dude on Twitter is claiming it's photoshopped. Now I don't know what to believe.
Yeah, I've seen both images and I'm as confused as Danny Murphy.
Even fake kayfabe is a shoot brother.
Just realised what we missed out on. Imagine Shad Khan tore both his quads.
Kayfabe is alive. Love it.
How can you not enjoy Tony Khan? :D
Aside from his oft-embarrassing booking, I think he’s great.
Just seen the pics. Amazing from Tony to turn up in the neck brace. Keep kayfabe alive.
:lol:
It's real to him, damn it.
If this doesn't end with Shad turning heel as an excuse to twiddle that magnificent moustache what has any of this been for?
Rich Eisen is a bit of a wrestling fan apparently so I bet he enjoyed saying that.
The Young Bucks should’ve turned up to the draft and put him through the table. Ratings.
Man selling a concussion as well. As if he said that.
"For them to do that LIVE on TBS in front of a CROWD at <TOWN THEY APPEARED IN> really scared me."
Always ready to sell, that Tony. :D
Pepsi vs Harvey Weinstein, the biggest rivalry since Muhammad Ali vs anti-lock brakes.
He's not slept in days but the kayfabe is well and truly alive.
Man’s a genius. People are like Cody who? Did you hear about Tony Khan?
Genius is a weird way to say coke-addicted super mark.
Him reducing Okada and Moné (his two biggest money signings ever) to complete irrelevancy within a month of debuting them is a hell of an achievement.
I was excited for Okada because I know he’s a brilliant wrestler but instead he’s walking around behind the ratings-death Bucks like he’s Jose the Assistant, and all Mercedes has done is promos which is by far the worst part of her game. Silly me for guessing I’d be able to get back into AEW.
The ladder match though. :youpi: Its a fan!
Just starting on SD, I like that they've announced that champions are PROTECTED and not eligible to be drafted. Shame they didn't think of that before the awkward Becky/Charlotte title swap.
The draft wasn’t half pointless. I think Nia Jax was the only one who switched brands. :lol:
You’d hope it’s better on Raw on Monday.
Carmelo Hayes :cool:
Edit: It's always pointless, Waff.
https://411mania.com/wrestling/new-b...dds-wwe-draft/
Could have made a killing if you had some info.
10/1 each for for SD's and RAW's first picks.
Draft episodes are always a bust but there were at least some defter touches than in previous years. Even in defeat immediately putting Hayes in doing a bit with Cody is a decent move, tying the Bloodline stuff into it, anticipating that Kiana James wouldn't be that well known so just doing that video package and the little interview with her, etc. Still about 40 minutes worth of actual content in a 2 hour show, but a bit better done than usual.
Also I think it's been mentioned in here already but the bloke who replaced Kevin Dunn is killing it. Looks a much better show and matches without a billion cuts is very refreshing.
That Hayes Cody spot is fucking hilarious. Sorry you aren’t Osprey bruv.
Kenny Omega back on Dynamite this week?
Probably stepped out on purpose as he thought it would get him over with the people in NY.
What a bunch of weirdos you wwe lot are.
Dragunov on RAW. We eating good. Sheamus and Bron tease as well. That will be a fight for the ages
Kurt Angle said he'd be happy to come back as a heel manager for Gable :cool:
Throw the Creed brothers in too and make it an insane stable.
Also, Drew has a new 3 year contract \0/.
I assumed he would but I'm a little surprised they didn't try and tease out the idea of him leaving.
They do a lot more of that these days, albeit wwe doing more of it is a very low hurdle to stumble over.
I really enjoyed that they dropped all the heel/face for NXT during the draft.
Was really cool when Davenport got drafted and she was able to just get all emotional.
I did like the idea of Drew winning the title and fucking off and doing the Summer of Punk properly, but I guess they still don't have the balls.
I've watched the last 2 RAWs and the last SD in their entirety as my daughter has gotten into it. It's definitely a step up from where it was when they lost me, but I'm not sure even they knew the rules of the draft, and some of it was just weird. Why in the fuck was Strowman drafted immediately before his big return?
I guess advertising him for the full run up to Clash at the Castle is the more attractive option for them.
I can’t believe there is a PPV this weekend. Couldn’t even tell you a single match :lol:
Is it the France show? Priest vs. Uso will be awful and I don't know anything else. The draft shows are so shit.
https://i.imgur.com/9CvctJn.png
It's not great.
I'd love Tiffy to get the title but it's too early for Bayley to drop it sadly.
I mean for a foreign show it makes sense. France will be rabid anyway so you could put Cody vs. a traffic cone. Naomi will eat the pin to protect Stratton. I imagine Tama Tonga will be booked strong but Solo loses to an RKO.
Would be a big statement if Tama Tonga pinned Orton, or more likely Owens. But Solo hasn't won a match in six months. :D
Solo needs a win being the NEW Tribal Chief.
NXT are going to have a combine to determine 12 potential women for their new title, what?
They need to hit up Tony Khan. His specialty.
NXT is the only place with a worse womens division than AEW sadly. (Cue Mahow about to tell me how good Shawn Michaels parade of 'chicks that turned up in his Instagram Explore page are actually really good and he's definitely not horny')
Phonics in being wrong shocker.
AEW watcher Mahow about to put me in my place. You don't watch it so stop pretending to have an opinion on it.
Speaking of AEW and women's divisions, why does Tony keep putting women's matches in the main event?
You mean for Dynamite and such? Think it's a holdover from when the Womens division was so weak that Tony was getting a bunch of 'do you hate womens wrestling' so just shoved Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa in your face a bunch. I miss Jamie Hayter.
Is Hayter dead? She's excellent but it must have been nearly a year now.
Feels like nearly 18 months.
Meanwhile,
Mariah May being incredibly hot and dropping these tweets means I can't wait until her and Toni Storm turn on each other.
Starting on SD now (didn't know they were doing it live from France) and the crowd are HOT AS FUCK.
Is there a more perfect summary of Ricochets WWE career than 'First to hold the 2 minute match belt'
France loves wrestling. They love it so much that Baron Corbin is over in France.
I think one of the things WWE does best is put the belts on people who matter and I've just seen the Heavyweight Title match for Backlash is Damien Priest vs Jey Uso. What the fuck happened there?
It's like if the AEW title bout was Brian Cage vs Cash Wheeler.
The crowd will hopefully elevate a show with a card that otherwise looks deeply uninspiring.
Melo v Bobby? Yes please.
Drew won the title at Mania but was screwed after by Punk. Priest then won the title as he still held the MITB briefcase which he cashed in.
Jey Uso is now MAIN EVENT Jey Uso and they're really trying to push him in singles. He's not good enough but the crowd love him because of his shit YEET chant.
Priest isn't a bad champ but Jey is a horrific first challenger.
I have to assume McIntyre* is taking that off Priest soon. I like Priest and Jey in their own ways but after Rollins was already struggling to make that belt look a big deal it's a big ask for Priest/an Uso to do it.
* Or Punk? That feud is surely going to go on a while but could you have Punk beat Priest, McIntyre beats him in Glasgow and then you keep that ticking over until later in the year / Mania? I dunno. Either way, I imagine Priest ain't holding it long.
I wish Jade Cargill was as good at wrestling as she is good at looking like a top tier wrestler. It's been like 5 years and her best match is still 'Cody Rhodes & Red Velvet vs Jade Cargill & Shaquille O Neal'.
Randy & KO are great workers so hopefully they can rescue it. Cody v AJ would have been great like 8 years ago.
Seth Rollins has re-signed.
X more years of selling the knees :drool:
Seth Rollins is an absolutely fantastic wrestler, a generational talent, I do not understand the hate he gets from WWE fans. Although I don't have to watch his weekly segments but when he's wrasslin' there's very very few better.
I think he's great too but I hate the constant knee selling.
It seems you can't have a Rollins match without it.
We'll have to agree to disagree. He's not a top worker, and he's never gonna be a Top Guy but in my opinion they could have made him look enough of a threat to the main event scene that this run needn't have felt how it does before it's even started.
And you're right on Rollins and while he does a lot of WWE selling and The Cackle needs to get in the bin I think he's underappreciated in some quarters too.
Probably because his knee, as seen in the main event of wrestlemania, is absolutely destroyed and he needs to sell it so he can use a rest spot.
Oh it was destroyed by then but he's been doing it for years, it hasn't always been shot to fuck.
Yep. It's an obvious weak point and you'd be daft not to sell it. Hell, after a double knee replacement he can sell that as bionic super knees.
My issue isn't with his knee being an IRL issue used in kayfabe as a consistent weak spot, but he manages to fight through the pain so as to often look like it's fine when he's on offense which is the issue. Not a major issue though, because he's still reliably a good match.
I would like for his sake if he did get a properly sizeable bit of time off now to heal up the various injuries he's been carrying but I suspect he'll be back as soon as he can/they let him.
I actually think he's a very good worker. Similar to Miz, I think his strength is elevating bad wrestlers to his level. But unlike The Miz, his personality means he needs a group of people who are all more interesting than him to keep him relevant when he's not wrestling. How do you make him scary? While he might be 6'4 he has the build and swagger of a Cruiserweight.
I can't speak so much for elsewhere (I haven't seen it much in the occasional AEW match I dip into) but there are a lot of WWE guys who mistake bumping for selling (hello, Dolph) or just sell very selectively but it might be a wider/modern issue. And look, by all means sometimes have 'adrenaline' see a guy through but if you've got a glowing weakspot it should be an actual weakspot, and that in turn would give you opportunities to do other stuff in matches.
Sami / Gable on Raw last week I thought Sami did a great job of selling all the leg work Gable had done and his winning Helluva Kick he half ran, half hobbed to get across the ring to him.
Was always a big fan of RVD selling his own frog splash before covering.
I think 98% of Wrestlers selling an injury for a whole match only to overcome it/lose because of it means 'I'm doing ring psychology'. So it must be good. Sami is another stratosphere entirely, and I feel holding anyone to 'Yeah but Sami did it better' is cruel. Whether it's comedy/storytelling/high flying/hard hitting wrestling Sami can match the best in any of those genres of matches.
Oh, 100%, and I'm by no means suggesting it's realistic to hold everybody to that exact standard.
Speaking of I saw a clip of Sami / Nakamura from NXT the other day and now I'm back on the Network I really need to get that rewatched.
Tempted to just go through all the black and gold Takeovers again to be honest.
I did it a while back a couple Manias ago. It's good but it's very much 'what you see on AEW/The Indies every week' stuff now which lessens the impact.
You know what hasn't aged well? This t-shirt idea.
https://i.imgur.com/jGwKEc8.png
Everyone standing at the railing wearing it looks like they’re making an even more racist statement than your avaerage Cornette podcast listener.
The show that follows Wrestlemania is always a bit this'll do particularly if they have it before whatever draft kicks in so I don't mind Jey Uso as challenger for this. They really should send it round the world every year, like with the Puerto Rico show it's probably going to be that much better just because the crowd are bang up for it.
Phonics has been slamming the gear all night clearly.
No, I just actually like wrestling rather than following whatever Twitter tells me to.
Lads, no fighting in the wrestling thread.
For selling I always thought Christian was one of if not the best, I've not seen his AEW matches on the whole but I'm going to assume he's still right up there.
Instead of arguing about Punishment Martinez being bobbins instead we should all enjoy this song Rikishi made about Hulk Hogan.
I didn't know I needed that, but I needed that.
Gable Steveson released :harold:
His match with Corbin in NXT was so fucking bad.
I dunno what the crowd were singing in that final segment of Smackdown last night but Cody looked utterly baffled before he decided to just power through it. :D
Christ. That's gone poorly.
EDIT: In looking that up I saw Gulak was released, and I'd missed that he'd been accused by Rousey of trying to loosen her sweatpants backstage. Which he appears to have not denied but claimed it was an accident? Not sure how you accidentally do that.
I often loosen the pants of female coworkers accidentally when attempting to shake someones hand.
Didn't Steveson have some kind of sex pest past as well?
Isn't that the rapist guy they kept trotting out and then never did anything with?
It was worse than that wasn’t it? He only got off due to a loophole in the system
What was he accused of? I'd apparently missed that one too.
Rape.
Can’t be charged with rape in Minnesota if the victim is intoxicated at the time or something
:face:
Fucking hell.
The land of the free and the home of the brave.
‘ Minnesota law at the time stated a person who is sexually assaulted is not considered mentally impaired if they voluntarily drank alcohol or consumed drugs to the point they could not give reasoned consent. The law was changed earlier this year.’
The whole country is so backwards.
It's important to protect the penis-having section of the population at all costs.
‘Welcome to Lee own’
I didn’t think we’d ever see a crowd as loud as last years Backlash.
This crowd might even know all the words to Cody Rhodes’ song.
Imagine if Dom tries to cut a promo here.
I have no idea what they’re chanting.
We want Roman?
Jacob Fatu to make his debut here?
Beautiful sports entertainment
And after a two count they chant "SIMPLEMENT DEUX" which means only a two count in French.
Apparently it's a catchphrase that their commentators have used a lot which got over with the crowd.
That match was fun, had lots of nutty bumps.
Especially the chair brainbuster.
At least that guy looks like a unit. Bored of the flabby Samoans
Never mind, apparently he is absolutely dreadful :D
If he's not riding Hunico's bike, I don't want to see him back
I just started googling these samoans.
Jacob Fatu having 7 children at 32 to keep the tree growing
Wouldn’t be surprised. Rick’s bloodline v Reigns Bloodline or something.
When was the last time we got a shock singles title win? Feels like everyone just holds on forever and it’s obvious when it will change hands
Blood World Order.
These next two matches will have to some serious entrance times if this PPV is lasting 3 hours.
1 hour for Cody/AJ including entrances?
I'm hoping it ends a little early so there's no overlap with F1 Quali.
Fucking hell.
wtf was that :D
Cargill looks lost
Her power is bonkers though.
AJ Styles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnkS1Ji4BgQ
Missed all of this but Tanga Loa debuted apparently. He’s fucking awful btw.
I'm all for it if this means Haku turns up as tribal elder at some point.
In the words of Vin Diesel who I'm sure will show up at some point, it doesn't matter if you're fucking awful, when you're family.
There's a reason New Japan always used them in a tag team.
KOTR looking stacked.
:D
Thankfully it looked fine on the TV angle.
Asuka vs. Iyo in QOTR please.
Y'know, that missed cue wasn't awful. It's not Papa Shango/Vicky Guerrero levels, at least.
The best thing about the Papa Shango one is that Sid, a noted goofball (we’re live pal), had the presence of mind to kick out of the leg drop. Which I’m sure Hogan loved.
Someone find him doing chops to Okada, absolutely disgraceful. He's mostly fine though, GOD did a decent job in their time.
I did enjoy GOD. Good gimmick and an all time entrance theme (twice). Tanga Loa looks the part but is very limited and they always worked around that well enough.
Hopefully this record gate announcement hopefully means we'll get more foreign events that aren't just house shows. I mean I still won't go because the math on that Backlash record means it was a $300 ticket on average but at least the atmosphere's better than 90% of American shows.
They’re already doing it. There’s not a PPV in America until Summerslam.
I've seen the chops thing, it's so rough I assumed it was a skit because you never know with Japan.
Canada doesn't count. I did consider going up for Clash but 500 quid a ticket is obscene.
I think I'll just go to the RevPro event that they'll inevitably hold the week AEW is at Wembley and call it there.
I paid 8 pounds for my front row seats at CMLL.
https://i.imgur.com/UlGLftN.jpeg
Vicky Guerrero sat 3 seats down from me and called me a prick when I fucked up a tv spot by leaving my seat looking for more beer.
Ticketmaster emailed the other days saying they’ve sold two of my All In tickets. Hopefully the other two sell.
You not going now?
The clash at the castle PLE is struggling for ticket sales because they've made it in a 14k odd seater, but mandated that you must buy a double ticket for Smackdown and the PLE. No single night tickets allowed and it's a good £400 odd quid for one right now.
I wanted to go this year but the only seats I think it's worth getting were 1450 and above. If I'm going to end up watching it all on a big screen why wouldn't I just watch from home.
I think it's Nagata or Kojima who does them, slightly better but it's sort of his signature thing that he's done for years. A bit like how Shawn Michaels is otherwise very good but his punches look like flailing with wet noodles.
Kojima does the machine gun chops yeah. They're absolutely absurd but they're over because it's him. Similarly, if anyone tries to get away with Austin's stomps they'll get booed out of the building.
It's been about 30 years since anyone was DQ'd for closed fist punches yet no-one can do them well.
I'll put my Cornette voice on and say it's because the territories died.
Which is true, because back when there were a lot of guys who threw good punches, in about 90% of cases it's because they'd worked the Memphis territory. A Lawler match (as a babyface in Memphis, not heel in WWF) is a sight to behold for worked punch fans. Best active puncher these days is Jeff Jarrett.
Those two were trained over here, stuff like this is mainly a WWE thing because they;ve always been character over technique to a greater extent than anyone else.
Yeah I've been waiting to see if tickets for just the PLE go in sail but no luck, and having seen a Raw live I don't have much interest in seeing a TV show live again. Might be better these days but I imagine there are still elements to it which just aren't suited for a live audience.
That's excellent. :D
Sheamus v Gunther will never disappoint. Poor Sheamus’ chest took a battering
Just clocked that Jey Uso is going to beat Dragunov :sick:
I fear they're going to go all the way with him. They need a babyface for Raw now Cody is on Smackdown and he's probably it. :facepalm:
Fucking yeet.
One of the worst chants ever and it's managed to put him over.
Disgusting.
Surely the yeet thing won't last too much longer. And his match quality isn't going to get him over when it does inevitably go to shit.
He’s likeable and he’s obviously one of the most over but it’s not like he can carry a promo either. I too am very worried.
I suppose Punk should be the babyface but he’s too busy with Mcintyre
Tony on the phone?
He could teach them all how to punch, at least.
God no he's fucking awful.
*Shriek*
Ricochet v Ilja at a PLE please.
That was a fun match.
Can't wait to watch WALTER v Sheamus later tonight.
I enjoyed all the tournament matches aside from Stark / Nile. The former is solid if unspectacular but Nile just needs a lot more experience at this stage. Even the one with Natalya in, who I'm normally just bored by.
I also just like seeing how much more WWE are always trying to turn stuff to their advantage these days. Drew injured out of King of the Ring and Uso takes his place, but even though he's got Punk as his main feud, Drew then turns up to eyeball Jey during that KOTR match because Drew is all about grievances these days so it makes sense that he would. Not genius stuff, just sensible things to do.
King Kofi Kingston?
I'd love to see how they deal with that.
Raw was banging. Ended up watching the whole thing, didn’t even fast forward Jey Uso.
£105 is the cheapest ticket for Clash at the Castle. That'll be a no then.
It's absolutely mental.
Conversely, with regular ticketing strategy, they've already sold out Money in the Bank (18,000 capacity).
I believe Tony Khan has booked Dax Harwood in a random singles match against the nephew of the Dynamite Kid, the Dynamite Kid. Not even on Dynamite, it’s on Collision. :harold:
Did anything ever turn up about British Bulldog being murdered. My father in law is from Golborne, where that lot were from, and he swears everyone knows he was murdered. Maybe they’ll interview my in-laws for the episode of Dark Side of the Ring.
Murdered how? I've never heard anything other than tjay he drugged and raided himself to death in Canada.
Dynamite strangled him with his beads.
It was a heart attack from all the drugs.
And at least Dax might finally win a singles match. Every cloud.
Bobby Lashley replaced with Angelo Dawkins, ugh.
I know it's because he's in the same faction but that's a shit replacement.
Tama Tonga with the round 1 bye.
Feels like a work. Tama Tonga was probably going through anyway so why have Bobby take a loss? They'll work the injury into their storyline.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg39e53jvdpo
You're not the only one SEETHING.
"Former wrestling promoter Mark Dallas, founder of Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW)"
Do they not exist any more or is he just not part of it?
They still exist.
Every so often I see a poster for their upcoming show. "Skelpin' Yer Maw VI" or whatever it might be.
Smackdown wasn't as good as Raw but it's nice to see the tournaments being the main feature of TV.
I'm also gonna assume Solo is lying through his teeth and Roman ain't told him shit. Which will make Roman SO MAD he won't do anything about it until November, in true wrasslin' style.
PLEs going back to Sunday so the UFC can have Saturdays alone :(
Bad move.
Jeywinslol
I swear if he beats Gunther next week
I’ve just clocked Toma Tonga or whatever his name is will potentially match up with Jey. They’re going to go down that route. Oh god no.
Can't wait to see how SEETHING Waff will be when Jey wins MITB.
They'll probably call him YEET In The Bank after, ugh.
The odds are a mess so you’ll get a decent price for him at 15/2
Zayn is the fav somehow
This is the first year in a while that it's hard to predict I feel. There's no standout "he must win".
Tiffy Time should take the women's.
If Gunther loses to Jey I'd be surprised if it was squeaky clean, because if Jey's going through it's to set up a Bloodline final, right? So maybe Bloodline try to cost him or something?
I think I still reckon Gunther is probably winning but I wouldn't put anything on it.
Not going to lie I might have teared up a little at this
I love that the celebrities that get involved now across the companies are a far cry from Jeremy Piven yawning his way through a Summerfest promo.
Tiffy Time.
(If you want my actual thoughts I don't think she actually meant to be racist, and as she's regularly cited Megan Thee Stallion and others I'm going to say she might have just got a little too comfortable with her memes)
Ohhhh dear.
:lol:
The most talented people in life are always a wrong un in some way
Fuck sake.
She's married to Gunther's Nazi twink mate so it adds up at least.
They're not married, please don't spread false and malicious rumours.
Seems it's still Tiffy Time.
Of course Bianca wins though. All these NXT guys just losing so soon after debuting is quite annoying.
Lets hope we get Gunther/Orton rather than Jey/Tonga as the former could be one for the ages
Losing to Belair and Randy Orton (plus Cody) isn't too bad.
Losing to Jey Uso though, rough.
Gahahahahahahahahahahah Nia Jax/Jade Cargill.
What a shitshow, it was worse than I could have predicted.
Also, what the fuck was this about?
Is he on some sort of gear?
They’re pushing the wrong NXT person. Lyra making it to the finals is certainly something. At least Gunther won clean, did not expect that.
Also hope that jobber Bron was up against got paid good. My lord
Apparently Darby Allin rocked back up on Dynamite, wielding an actual flamethrower.
What the fuck. :D
Nia Jax pinning Bianca clean wasn’t what I was expecting to read on Twitter this evening. She better not beat Bayley
Not understanding this prolonged Nia Jax push. I thought Triple H would have phased her out after the job to Rhea in Australia.
Gunther vs Orton :thbup:
Perfect chance to push Tiffy whilst the bodybuilders team until their inevitable feud. Hopefully she at least wins MITB
Oh God is Hayes being aligned with Theory and Waller? Hopefully he escapes that in short order.
Another loss for him too...
WWE has always been a babyface company. If the heel isn’t a monster like Lesnar or Gunther, then you’re getting beat like a drum.
Phonics will give me the old man treatment but that’s a big reason I loved old NWA/WCW. Heels were dominant so the babyface chase was a great journey to go on. WWE conditioned us to think babyfaces need to keep winning to be relevant.
That’s why 99-03 Rick was so good. He broke the mould and often lost clean as a babyface when nobody else did, even Austin, because he’d just go back out the next night and get himself over again.
Hayes will get himself over when he eventually turns and not before, unless his promos suddenly start setting fires.
Agreed to an extent but Gunther and Reigns were both heels and both broke records for title reigns. Even Rollins was a heel for a lot of his dominant run.
I'd say outside of Punk/Cena/Bryan their champions have been mostly heels. The problem is if you're a heel and don't think you're made for the top belt you end up doing a dance routine with a mid-card tag team. But then I'd have a slightly different definition of Babyface/Heel than some so maybe I'm wrong. (Wouldn't classify HHH/Rock/Austin as Faces)
Also the Reign of Terror was about 300 years long.
Or at least the ti.e between the Pedgiree and pinning Booker was 300 years.
That wasn’t indicative of Vince’s day to day booking strategy for the full roster, champions got different treatment (obviously). Everyone in his circle said it was a nightmare to build up a heel through the pack because as soon as they had any ounce of popularity, Vince was itching to turn them. Heels are cannon fodder until they get to the top, because the mantra is to send the crowd home happy, not have them clamouring at the ticket office to come back the next week to see the comeuppance (itself caused by their widespread touring schedule).
Hence what I meant when I said they all end up doing a dance routine. Remember that giant guy who ended up hanging around with blue meanie in a tie dye shirt whos personality was 'he likes south park'
AEW aside, me and Phonics are two peas in a pod.
This show has been really good.
Logan Paul is a future HOFer. Crazy
Phonics has reminded me that Brodus Clay existed and how awful that whole thing was.
I can be overly defensive about AEW but Billy Corgan called Tony Khan a bad booker and made this man a champion for nearly a full year.
https://i.imgur.com/JI3kqvx.gif
I didn't watch any of the shows building up to it so wasn't sure why people thought Orton would win, other than "he's never won it before"! Having Gunther lose 2 big matches so close together would have been really odd.
I was surprised they had the balls to let Liv win, but it's the right call as Liv/Rhea actually has a reason to happen.
Going to presume they didn't let Liv where her new outfit with the slkirt thats smaller than her arse? I wanted her to get pushed the moment I saw that gimmick.
She was basically wearing the Britney Spears red jumpsuit but it was better than Becky who looked like she was wrestling in a shit tux.
I don't remember him well because I used to switch off when he came on. Found it cringey as fuck. Apparently there were vignettes played teasing him as this big heel, only for him to debut as the FUNKASAURUS. Only surprising thing I've seen from a quick look up is that one of his "Funkadactyls" was Naomi.
The other one really, really liked Melina Vs Alicia Fox.
I remember Lord Tensai lasting about a week before they just gave up on them all and had them as a tag team who just love to have fun©
The Tensai gimmick was so daft. All they had to do was acknowledge, "Albert's back from Japan and he was good over there." Instead they went, "LORD TENSAI HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!" <looks down at his notes phonetically spelling out a generic Japanese promo>
Becky's attire is half Peaky Blinders half 90s Businesswoman.
I take everything seriously, which is why I hate most stuff. Albert would have been a good midcarder when he came back but nothing more (Giant Bernard was great in New Japan but he was either in tags or working with the best guys so it hid his weaknesses). I wasn’t buying Tensai from the get go, even if the gimmick wasn’t as goofy as it turned out.
:d
Aye, as a solo monster, he probably isn't going to cut it. At best, you keep him under a mask and never get him to talk. I can't remember much of the roster at this time but I can't think of a suitable guy you'd pair him up with. Ideally, you bring Karl Anderson along for the ride. Maybe entice Doc Gallows in as a three-piece. They can call themselves the Bullet Train and make some t-shirts or whatever.
Hindsight bookery.
That would have completely preceded the OG Bullet Club so you’d require a lot of originality from Vince to come up with that. Bernard and Anderson were a great tag team (miles better than Anderson and Gallows).
Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows are two of the most awful jobbers ever to be in the business that are continuously hired because they're mates with the boys. WRESTLING IS ABOUT BEING TALENTED NOT ABOUT PUTTING SHITHOUSES IN A DRESS AND CALLING THEM THE SUGARBABES.
This is where I don't understand modern wrestling fans booking like the territories still exist. I know Gangrel is shit but if he turned up once every 9 years with his sick entrance music, I'll pop off. I'm not seeing D'Lo Browns 3rd in command walk into the ring with a Mike Tyson face tattoo and go 'oh damn he's hard, he should beat up Jon Cena'
Shindigs master booking for Prince Tensai Albert was to line him up with Jobber Gallows. A man so bad that Antonio Inoki came out and stopped his match because it was a disgrace to wrestling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8fJWg8v0RY
WRESTLING MATTERS.
It's why I think as Ben said, that we are actually quite similar in our outlook but I just like a slightly different, possibly less long term, style of wrestling than he does. Because from my perspective, if Inoki calls you shit, you're shit forever so bang out 5 star matches weekly so that chin doesn't chop you.
The kids hotel I’m at in Spain is doing a rehearsal for some type of show tonight and they’re using Sycho Sid’s theme music to portray some scary scene. :cool:
Also what Phonics said, can’t argue with the great chin.
Can't wait for you guys to pick up on how much of a self obsessed cringelord this bloke is.
Credit to him for keeping that covid trend alive of people awkwardly displaying books in shot
We still remember him refusing to put Booker over for obvious reasons.
Also more recently inserting himself into the Rumble at 30 because he was the only possible way to get Roman over. Worked really well.
I pointed out that he started both nights of Wrestlemania with a 'Isn't HHH great?' segment and was called salty.
Good to know people are starting to learn.
Finally finished K/QOTR.
Fun PLE with the last two being really good.
The 360 shot before the frog splash to the announce table was stunning.
Lol I didn't even know there was a PPV tonight only to find out it's the most awful card of all time.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GOgpuhZXMAAdKGx.jpg
Trios match and Anarchy in the Arena probably worth a watch.
And Ospreay, obvs. I’d watch him peg washing out and get a semi. :alan:
Surely they’re not putting this midcard belt on Ospreay? Unless it’s an avenue to unify it with Okada’s one.
"Bang Bang Gang"
What a shit name.
I'm going to assume they don't have to escape the barbed wire steel cage. 'cos that would be silly.
What's an "Anarchy in the Arena" match the equivalent of?
A backstage brawl but bigger-ish.
They were a COVID thing originally where it would be a pre-recorded match that they'd edit together so you'd get fun spots where the cameras were in the right place. They used the Jaguars stadium for it so like people dove off the posts, fucked up the canteen etc. A particular highlight was Matt Hardy being dunked into the inbuilt pool the satdium has and constantly being reborn as different gimmicks. It was dumb fun when wrestling was hard and has been progressivbely more wank ever since.
Big fan of MJF returning in the horrible Triple H denim jacket from back in the day. I'm sure I remember him saying he was his favourite wrestler growing up so a nice little callback.
A shame we wont see him in WWE for a while(if ever) but staying where he is, is the smart money.
Just saw a clip of the “spot” where Darby sets Jack Perry on fire with the flamethrower. Horrendous stuff all round, amateur hour as fuck.
Roddy and Ospreay opened the show so at least I won’t have to work the fast forward button to see the one match worth bothering with.
Big Bill nearly got impaled by a table in a spot that wouldn’t even break top 5 most dumb on the show.
At least MJF learnt from Cody and got the tattoo in an area that can be easily covered.
Edge’s knees have to be a mess after whatever the fuck he attempted off the top of the cage. Was he attempting an elbow drop?
Reckless use of a flamethrower > waving a sword around like a fanny or pulling a sledgehammer out and booping then with the handle.
Cry me a river.
They’re all shit and that doesn’t excuse the flamethrower. You could see the medics rushing to him in a panic. There’s literally no upside to the spot.
I was just having fun on the internet tbh. I haven’t seen any of it. I’m far too old to be staying up till 5 am to watch Mr Khans shows when the card looks like that.
It's very stuntman. His pants are on fire, he runs around a couple seconds before extinguishers hit the scene. Honestly, it looked fine.
Becky Lynch's contract is done at the weekend apparently...
I expect she'll take some time off but she won't be going anywhere I wouldn't have thought.
Wouldn’t be sad if she left. She’s not really it anymore.
Raw looked pretty fkn shite yesterday.
Accidentally caught the end of the Willow Nightingale vs whatshername Monay match while skipping through. lol at that division without Hayter, crikey.
Why's Liv Morgan making out with Lil Dominic again?
I think he was trying to prove there was nothing going on between him and Liv by attempting to let Becky win the cage match. Cue shenanigans and she planted one on him as a fuck you.
She's also on a "revenge tour" so having taken Mami out, it makes sense she'd fuck with Dom while she was gone.
Rhea will likely be a face once she's back given crowds already cheer her as a "heel" so it wouldn't surprise me if Liv is running Judgement Day by then. And in the match where she beats Liv we'll surely see Rhea batter Dom too (to a huge pop.)
Buddy Matthew’s will be praying that is the case
Jordynne Grace taking on Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's title.
Sweet.
Spekaing of attractive blonde ladies. What's Alexa Bliss up to these days?
She was off having a baby. Very much rumoured to be back any week as part of the Wyatt 6(yes really).
Sounds terrible but if she puts on a skirt that's shorter than her arse, keep doing your thing girl
Is Dexter Lumis the one who just stood lingering and staring at the Miz for ages?
Joe Gacy has only been on NXT and he also tried the WEIRD LAD thing by making a stable.
He had Grizzled Young Vets but they changed their names to Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid as well as Rock's Daughter (who is now the GM of NXT).
The little I saw of him/them it was not good.
AEW marks, talk to me about Ethan Page.
He joined NXT this week.
Pretty bland from the little I saw of him. He looked big in AEW's world of tiny flipsters and that was about it.
Too big for his boots, even beyond the gimmick.
For a brief second, I thought it was the cowboy man. One less Page for AEW to confuse people over, at the very least.
The cowboy man :harold:
It'll be a fitting tribute when wwe turn it from a big spooky thing to Halloween jobbers within a month.
I mean that's the only way it can go anyway, isn't it? A spooky faction led by Bo Dallas isn't going to have a lot of legs.
@phonics because I don't understand Tony Khan's booking, please help me understand what is going on with Ospreay.
They put a midcard title on him and before he's even defended it, he's now won a #1 contender match for the World Title at Forbidden Door. But surely you want him to win the title at All In, not Forbidden Door? So is Ospreay going to lose, then get a rematch?
There’s no way Swerve drops the belt yet.
Which is fair enough because he's great and over enough to warrant a lengthy run.
So don't put Ospreay in there to take a loss.
Reckon MJF will be back in the big belt mix? Six degrees of separation can link Ospreay to Strong to Cole to MJF and have them duke it out, but not sure how Swerve fits in beyond being the man with the belt.
Don't ask me I've just seen this match is on fucking Rampage.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GOys11pWAAATLHT.png
Gable's contract expires next week.
I hope he gets a new deal and does a proper heel Academy with the Creeds.
Endeavour really do like running these contracts down
Swerve doesn’t really strike me as the banger wrestler. Like, he’s fucking great at promos and has loads of charisma and can work a “proper” match, but he’s not Dave Meltzer’s wet dream.
Ospreay will have a banger with a traffic cone. Waste of a match for me.
The one bad thing about the AJ fake retirement is that the OC wont be fired.
He did mark Hendry proud
Bron Breakker makes Brock Lesnar look like a pussy cat. PHENOM
Can’t believe they’re wasting him v Ilja next week. Neither need a loss
Will they keep the momentum going, or Wardlow him?
He'd have to be Wardlowed another five times before he catches up to Wardlow. Poor bloke.
I felt bad for Wardlow and then he started cutting promos about what 'marks on the internet' think and he consigned himself to the bin forever.
Don't work yourself into a shoot, brother.
Oh no I mean, it's just the cringe part. Like Bischoff setting fire to a Wrestling Observer or whatever. It's too inside baseball.
Fair enough. Agreed.
That was a great little TV match. Didn't hurt Ricochet at all because of his injury etc. and got Breakker over as a beast.
Let's see how they do the Dragunov match though. They've definitely built up enough goodwill in the booking for us to allow to see how it plays out before shitting on it but other than a double DQ / sports entertainment finish, I fail to see how this doesn't stifle one of them (likely Ilja).
Marks have spent YEARS telling me how GENERATIONAL this mans talent is, I've never seen it and without fail he's bottom of the midcard wrestling jobbers within 2 months of signing a contract.
https://i.imgur.com/30kPPPL.png
What a poster
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPU4oz5XsAEmSvx.jpg
Watching the first (of four) episode of Who Killed WCW, the new documentary series on Vice. It’s funny how much Bret Hart hates WCW, and even funnier how not arsed Kevin Nash is about anything if he’s getting paid.
Watched it @7om?
As a wrestler he's like the absolute best of all time at everything that I don't care for and was boresville as a personality but he's great for quotes like this now
Bret Hart's the best, I hope over the series he also calls Goldberg a worthless shit about 5 times without having being asked about Goldberg.
Randomly watched an episode of RAW from “when Veron signed for United” (don’t ask :D) and it turned out to be two episodes before the Invasion PPV so now I’m fully invested in WCW & ECW vs WWE.
:baz:
Did we cover the revelation that Jim Ross was banging Missy Hyatt for a while in the last few years?
:harold:
Oh. Could they not get Celtic in on the deal as well?
I'm sure Gallus have worn some kind of Celtic thing before? Maybe it wasn't on sale as well though
Real shame as I do love Rick.
He's got "Go to AEW, do well for a month and then never be seen again" vibes though.
HHH has at least had him on shows more which is what you should do with him regardless because he's just fun to watch but clearly has no intention of doing much with him.
But he's the SPEED CHAMPION mate.
If you’d told me he was Action Andretti I wouldn’t have doubted it.
He's now lost the speed title to Andrade which is a good choice as it means Andrade will now mostly wrestle on Twitter.
Dom really is winning at life. Wonder what female he’ll be attached to next to complete the heroic hat trick
Netflix era about to be wild
Suddenly I enjoy headlocks.
Love 'no disrespect to Eric' while calling him a clueless twat either side.
Disappointed at the lack of "fuck Bill Goldberg" there.
I think that was the remaining 28 minutes.
Watching NXT Battleground.
Oba Femi is a fucking star, he's a freakish GIANT.
Only 26 years old too.
Only been wrestling for about 18 months and he just seems to get it.
Just checked and he's legit Nigerian which is good as I wasn't sure if they were getting him to do an accent like Apollo Crews that time.
Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be
The powerbomb he hit on Wes Lee (who has only just returned from back surgery), after catching him doing a meteora, was incredible.
I’ve seen that clip tweeted a lot and I don’t understand what’s so impressive about it :D
The pop up powerbomb is whatever.
The catch (he just takes two steps back easily catching Wes Lee) and the force he slams him into the mat are impressive.
Wes Lee also sells it really well.
Also, a catch into some sort of slam is usually done via a lame crossbody or a shitty axe handle. How many times have you seen it done with a meteora?
Triggered by niko_cee mentioning watching wrestling in Sky One, what’s everyone’s first memories of wrestling?
I looked up the first match I properly remember and it was in 1989, a week before my 2nd birthday, so I obviously don’t remember watching it live, but it was a cage match between Hulk Hogan and Big Bossman where the latter ended up bleeding and it blew my mind. I remember Mike’s mates step dad was watching it.
Aside from that we either taped or, more likely, my dad brought home from work a tape of Wrestlemania IX and I must have watched the opener everytime I was off school sick, before falling asleep and missing the majority. It was Tatanka vs Shawn Michaels, outside at Caesars Palace and it looked awesome.
:DQuote:
The event has been panned by critics and fans alike. The most frequent criticism has been related to the match between The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez, Hulk Hogan's title win, and the Roman togas worn by announcers.
We also had some of those ‘Best Of’ compilations like Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude but I hated them as soon as I clocked the cover star won every match on it, so I didn’t watch them after that. Another tape we did, and probably still do have, is this beast:
https://www.picclickimg.com/2b8AAOSw...he-Albert.webp
I can’t remember much about it, having looked it up, besides British Bulldog celebrating in the ring at the end and his music seemingly lasting forever. :cool:
I legitimately don't know. I had a Macho Man action figure as a kid and an Ultimate Warrior Wrestling Buddies pillow. It must be something New Gen because I remember Razor jobbing to 1-2-3 Kid.
The first event I remember watching was the Royal Rumble in 1998.
Friends stayed round for a sleepover and we all went to bed early before waking up to watch it live.
Obviously the Rumble stands out most but the next most vivid match in my memory? The little man 6 person tag. Was fucking wild seeing the mini luchadors.
I'm also sure I had watched wrestling before then as I knew most of the wrestlers but I imagine it was all taped.
Speaking of tapes. Last year my sister bought a VHS/DVD player as she has loads of old family VHS tapes. I was proud that so many of the collection were my old tapes of WWF. No Mercy 2004 being one of them.
I think it might be Austin throwing the IC title in the river, so that would be just after Montreal Screwjob.
My oldest vivid memory of something was when the Invasion lot take over a RAW and there's brawls everywhere and ring is packed. Cut to the parking lot, Austin pulls up and starts battering the piss out of anything that moves on his path to the ring. Crowd are frothing at the mouth by the time the glass shatters and everyone goes nuts.
I have bits and pieces from earlier but nothing as vivid.
Brock Lesnar breaking the ring or Eddie winning the title off of him
My nan had Sky and taped the 92 Royal Rumble for my older brother. I ended up watching it with him and couldn't believe that "a granddad" won :D
All downhill from there, best PPV ever.
tbf Ric was born looking like a Granddad.
Summerslam 90 is the first I properly remember seeing, I must have rewatched it so many times I could recite most of the commentary.
I can recite the commentary from King of the Ring 1994.
I used to watch WCW re-runs with my grandma on ITV or Channel 4 I'm guessing. The specific earliest memory in question is Vader battering somebody he'd just beaten in a match and British Bulldog coming out for the save. Google tells me they had a match at Slamboree in 1993 so I'm gonna assume that was around that time.
I can't really remember after that what the first thing I remember is when my friend at secondary school properly got me into it. I definitely saw a bunch of the stuff around the build up to Wrestlemania 2000 including some of the HHH / Cactus Jack stuff he recorded for me but it's hazy remembering what I actually saw at the time and what has sort of been subsumed into my memory with stuff I've seen since then.
I vividly recall watching Royal Rumble 2000 live on Channel 4. What a PPV, possibly still my favourite.
The Austin run from when Brett made him bleed onwards.
Jesus Christ, this might be one of the worst moves I've ever seen.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4x1U...RuOGE5bw%3D%3D
As well as being shite, this is why they didn’t last long. Dangerous. And shite.
That was Worldwide on ITV, which I believe was the UK's first exposure to WCW. Taped at the shite Disney studio in Orlando.
I honestly don't remember enough of the show other than that specific moment. You're probably right between you though.
Even though it was awful to watch, Worldwide tapings at Disney got them turned around financially (thanks to Bischoff) and started the slow road to Nitro on primetime in 1995.
Drew coming out to Broken Dreams tomorrow will make me jizz.
Will make up for him not going over
Episode three of Who Killed WCW is Vince Russo time, bro. The quote on the NEXT TIME with him saying ‘this is a television show, if you wanna watch a wrestling show go to a house show’ is so funny. :D
*TTH's Vince Russo, Bro
As soon as McIntrye lost to the cash in at Mania, I was thinking he must win at Castle. But I’m thinking now it might not happen. I reckon Punk interferes to cost him and it turns it into a blood feud for Summerslam.
Praying to the lord almighty that Styles becomes champion tonight.
Wasn't there a stipulation won where Judgement Day are banned? That pretty much guarantees Punk interference. Drew winning and then going on to face Punk for the title is the money, but Paul Levesque really needs to get over his thing of every singles title only changing hands on the big shows and after long reigns.
It also makes zero sense to have AJ do the fake retirement thing and then give up in an I Quit match. I suspect he's just knocked out and unable to answer the call, but it's massively wasted momentum.
Master Gable stays :drool:
Give him the Intercontinental title.
Oh ffs Cody-AJ on first. Can’t see AJ winning now. Should be a banger tho.