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The Wrestling Discussion Thread

shaz619 said:
All this guy ever wanted:


@RedwoodOriginal
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Meanwhile no name jobbers like Dolph Ziggler's brother are still trying to use his name to stay relevant. As if anyone even cares if Punk mistreated a jobber after he mouthed off about him on social media to get some attention.

Punk's current WWE run has dispelled all the nonsense about him supposedly being the spawn of satan backstage. He has moved on and reclaimed his place as one of the biggest stars in the business today, who actually wants to help young talent succeed and do things the right way. Meanwhile AEW is sinking faster than a lead balloon.
 
shaz619 said:
Definitely though I think Jacob is going to be very busy with the bloodline story for some time. Where’s Austin Theory these days 🤔
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I don't know if they will do it anytime soon. But it definitely sounds like a future WrestleMania main-event.

As for Theory, he is kinda languishing in the undercard with Grayson Waller. I don't think H sees him the way Vince did. Ironically enough, he has probably been hurt the most by Vince leaving.
 
shaz619 said:
I don’t judge him based on what he did in the past for the NA market because a lot of wrestlers who join WWE have to water their style down and focus more on story elements. Yeah he should have perhaps gone over AJ for the title, but AJ was the better draw so made sense to be persisted with, but beyond that I can’t recall any other Jap wrestler to have as much success in NA as Nak and I personally feel he’s overlooked, I still enjoy his work, it’s fresh compared to others which keeps him interesting, he did some matches in Japan not long ago don’t know how you found them. I still take him pretty seriously and being in the upper mid card not a bad spot, plus the prestige of the IC scene has been restored, in NJPW he worked a similar spot tbh it’s just the stylistic matches are different.

Yeah probably given how consistently he has booked like that, which is a shame for a number of guys including Sami Zayn who should have been in the WHC picture as well.
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Well, you're right about that. There was Muta but I don't think he did anything besides that short stint in WCW where he had that feud with Sting.

I heard he was returning to NOAH for the match against Muta, but I didn't watch it.

Yeah it's not a bad spot. You need some experienced campaigners like him on the card too. I just question the booking and whether he should be beating one of your top babyfaces like that...clean in the middle of the ring. It would be one thing if he cheated to win or used the mist but he didn't even do that. And sorry but the eye-poke does not have the same effect it did 50 years ago. It barely even registers with the modern crowd anymore and certainly isn't used as a transition to a finish.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
LMAO and AEW still won't just go ahead and give him his release. This is the equivalent of holding someone captive in jail while paying them to stay there lol.
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And imagine being in Ricky’s shoes, it feels like the longest 12 months ever, his last match was on Collision ? just after Punk’s exit ? he was having the best stint of his AEW run when Punk was the booker
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Well, you're right about that. There was Muta but I don't think he did anything besides that short stint in WCW where he had that feud with Sting.

I heard he was returning to NOAH for the match against Muta, but I didn't watch it.

Yeah it's not a bad spot. You need some experienced campaigners like him on the card too. I just question the booking and whether he should be beating one of your top babyfaces like that...clean in the middle of the ring. It would be one thing if he cheated to win or used the mist but he didn't even do that. And sorry but the eye-poke does not have the same effect it did 50 years ago. It barely even registers with the modern crowd anymore and certainly isn't used as a transition to a finish.
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You mean the win over LA Knight at SS? the finish was pretty sick bro, eye rake, scorpion death drop on the exposed metal part between the two rings and then his finisher. It was a pretty physical match as well I liked it a lot. But I get the vibe you’re coming from, it all felt rather anti-climatic didn’t it for the title reign of LA Knight, as was his overdue win in the first place; they only really made good use of LA’s heat when he faced Reigns for the title, after that he has been handled poorly and to be honest with you, I don’t think this change was the worst idea for him because he is best fighting from underneath and needs to get his mojo back, for sure H and his dweebs are responsible for their inflated ego’s giving him the short end of the stick.

On the flip side, they really seem to be going all the way with Nak and I’m enjoying his new character, Nak is charismatic as hell and he really is going to town with his mannerisms and tweaks made in the ring like his fighting stance to suit his character. A world title is a long shot but if he could revisit matches with some big names and be able to express himself a bit more that could be cool.

Also, I saw that KO promo great work, he changed his tone throughout depending on what he had to say and why, while someone like Seth just screams and everyone thinks he’s a great promo. That final line from KO ‘I loved Randy’ was so cold and does more damage then any shouting, not going to say it’s promo of the year etc or the best I’ve heard and what not, especially when Punk has the best promo of his career every week :yk3 but that was a great job building up SNME, why were KO & Orton feuding ? also, it looks to me like Orton has added even more muscle ahaha

Am late to the party but back into it a bit after watching SS.
 
Where the hell is AJ Styles?

And why haven’t we demanded CM Punk vs AJ Styles yet!

Real ones know this is the match to make for the streets!
 
shaz619 said:
And imagine being in Ricky’s shoes, it feels like the longest 12 months ever, his last match was on Collision ? just after Punk’s exit ? he was having the best stint of his AEW run when Punk was the booker
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Yeah and now the poor guy can't even work the freaking indies because some unknown deathmatch mutant over on GCW said something about Tony Khan that offended him. Seriously, how petty can you even get? I feel for Ricky the most because unlike Miro or Fenix, these are the prime years of his career that are completely being wasted.

Not just Punk, but his friendship with Cody has also hurt him. In a recent interview, he recalled how someone in AEW told him it "wasn't a good look" when video surveillance footage of him being backstage with Cody at the Royal Rumble leaked online earlier this year. This is how small-minded the people working in that company are.

Punk showed everyone what he was capable of...before that he showed what he was capable of with that MJF feud, where he verbally lit up MJF. But because he's not someone handpicked by Tony, Moxley, or the Bucks, he sits at home. Meanwhile guys like Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta and Jack Perry who have the charisma of a mailbox continue to be pushed to the moon.

How can anyone seriously look at either of those guys and say they are even in the same stratosphere as Ricky Starks inregards to anything? Be it promos, personality, or in-ring work...
 
shaz619 said:
@RedwoodOriginal Not to flog a dead horse, but is it criminal to suggest Ricky is a more creative mic worker then MJF :yk
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I don't think so at all. I think you could argue both sides. Ricky has had some great moments on the mic in AEW. Unfortunately the booking from Tony just hasn't supported him in any way to capitalize on that. And MJF does have the tendency to lean on some of the more old school heel tactics that can feel obvious and uncreative at times. On top of that, MJF has not been involved in anything good in a very long time. And I'm including the Ospreay feud, which had great matches but a pretty mediocre and played out storyline.

Starks is very quick-witted and someone who has the ability to think on the fly which most young wrestlers these days don't. Do you remember the verbal bust-up he had with Edge on Collision lmao? That was some good stuff :moyo2
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I don't think so at all. I think you could argue both sides. Ricky has had some great moments on the mic in AEW. Unfortunately the booking from Tony just hasn't supported him in any way to capitalize on that. And MJF does have the tendency to lean on some of the more old school heel tactics that can feel obvious and uncreative at times. On top of that, MJF has not been involved in anything good in a very long time. And I'm including the Ospreay feud, which had great matches but a pretty mediocre and played out storyline.

Starks is very quick-witted and someone who has the ability to think on the fly which most young wrestlers these days don't. Do you remember the verbal bust-up he had with Edge on Collision lmao? That was some good stuff :moyo2
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MJF truly needs to be in WWE, I can say that about few guys there and I know you wanted him there to make the best out of a bad situation, and effectively we need strong opposition in wrestling. But Tony has killed off the indies and there’s no future for the talented prospects there anymore sadly. Oh yes man he made Edge of all people break lol all these poor sods are tied up in lengthy contracts, it probably made a lot of sense financially but they probably didn’t factor how deep the ship would sink apart from Jim Cornette
 
shaz619 said:
You mean the win over LA Knight at SS? the finish was pretty sick bro, eye rake, scorpion death drop on the exposed metal part between the two rings and then his finisher. It was a pretty physical match as well I liked it a lot. But I get the vibe you’re coming from, it all felt rather anti-climatic didn’t it for the title reign of LA Knight, as was his overdue win in the first place; they only really made good use of LA’s heat when he faced Reigns for the title, after that he has been handled poorly and to be honest with you, I don’t think this change was the worst idea for him because he is best fighting from underneath and needs to get his mojo back, for sure H and his dweebs are responsible for their inflated ego’s giving him the short end of the stick.

On the flip side, they really seem to be going all the way with Nak and I’m enjoying his new character, Nak is charismatic as hell and he really is going to town with his mannerisms and tweaks made in the ring like his fighting stance to suit his character. A world title is a long shot but if he could revisit matches with some big names and be able to express himself a bit more that could be cool.

Also, I saw that KO promo great work, he changed his tone throughout depending on what he had to say and why, while someone like Seth just screams and everyone thinks he’s a great promo. That final line from KO ‘I loved Randy’ was so cold and does more damage then any shouting, not going to say it’s promo of the year etc or the best I’ve heard and what not, especially when Punk has the best promo of his career every week :yk3 but that was a great job building up SNME, why were KO & Orton feuding ? also, it looks to me like Orton has added even more muscle ahaha

Am late to the party but back into it a bit after watching SS.
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I just didn't think they gave L.A enough of an out with that finish. For me, it was as close to a burial as you can possibly get. Nothing against Nakamura, but he hasn't been featured in a prominent position on the card in a very long time. And if you want to rebuild him, sacrificing one of your top babyfaces who hasn't established himself yet shouldn't be the way to go. But anyway what's done is done, let's see what they do with L.A...and Nakamura for that matter. This is definitely the most interesting he has been for quite some time.

Are you talking about the interview he did with Michael Cole in his car? That was brilliant lol. KO was in top form there. His promos every week are pretty great. He seems to excel at being a heel. His feud with Orton is basically over Orton taking Cody's side instead of his. They actually executed the turn really well on TV, and then followed it up with the piledriver the next week. Cody vs KO should be good. This time around it will have heat as well and I'm sure both guys will want to go out there and put on a great match, if they get the time.
 
shaz619 said:
MJF truly needs to be in WWE, I can say that about few guys there and I know you wanted him there to make the best out of a bad situation, and effectively we need strong opposition in wrestling. But Tony has killed off the indies and there’s no future for the talented prospects there anymore sadly. Oh yes man he made Edge of all people break lol all these poor sods are tied up in lengthy contracts, it probably made a lot of sense financially but they probably didn’t factor how deep the ship would sink apart from Jim Cornette
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Yeah I don't know how many great feuds and programs are left for him to do in AEW. Edge...Okada...Eddie Kingston...(Christian?)...can't really think of anyone else noteworthy enough who he hasn't already worked with. Can you believe that they are still doing the MJF-Adam Cole feud? It is absolute death and makes the crowd go silent every time. One good thing though is that MJF only appears on the screen in pre-taped promos, because apparently he is out filming a movie. But yeah, he should consider going to WWE very soon. He has shown enough to be brought in as a main-event level guy at the top in WWE.

Jim is the only one who has been consistent about AEW from day one. Probably because he knew that Tony had no idea about how to run a wrestling promotion and was only going to sink it with his ineptitude. Now even someone like Dirt Sheet Dave has started changing his tune about AEW because the sharp decline in numbers and attendances has become so patently obvious. They booked a freaking 52,000 capacity stadium in Australia for a show next year, advertised it and then had to change the venue and move to a 10,000 seat arena because they found out they wouldn't be able to sell enough tickets.

The funny thing is that you can pin-point two exact moments when the company became an absolute clown show that was only destined to go downhill.

Moment 1: Firing CM Punk
Moment 2: Airing the All In backstage footage

And the rest, as they say, is history.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I just didn't think they gave L.A enough of an out with that finish. For me, it was as close to a burial as you can possibly get. Nothing against Nakamura, but he hasn't been featured in a prominent position on the card in a very long time. And if you want to rebuild him, sacrificing one of your top babyfaces who hasn't established himself yet shouldn't be the way to go. But anyway what's done is done, let's see what they do with L.A...and Nakamura for that matter. This is definitely the most interesting he has been for quite some time.

Are you talking about the interview he did with Michael Cole in his car? That was brilliant lol. KO was in top form there. His promos every week are pretty great. He seems to excel at being a heel. His feud with Orton is basically over Orton taking Cody's side instead of his. They actually executed the turn really well on TV, and then followed it up with the piledriver the next week. Cody vs KO should be good. This time around it will have heat as well and I'm sure both guys will want to go out there and put on a great match, if they get the time.
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Yes, absolutely, what they’ve done to LA is pathetic to say the least. To completely neutralise his heat and business asset in that way is unacceptable and I agree he didn’t need to be sacrificed to Nak in that fashion, it wasn’t even like the blow off to a programme between the two. Ultimately H is not his fan and his ego got dented by how over he got himself, similarly he punished Austin Theory simply for being pushed by Vince who despite his flaws, hasn’t been wrong about which horse he wants to back. I’ve also noticed how H books reactively to the IWC audience and then goes to his old ways after a short period, he has a huge ego and is always concerned about his own perception opposed to prioritising getting talent over.

I meant the promo where he was standing on the announcers desk, still catching up with the past few months. But my oh my, what about the New Day Angle? just caught up with it, they’ve caught lightening in a bottle with this lol I always knew they would have to break up with one of the members turning heel, but here things have transpired in a way I could not have been coming.

That segment involving Big E, Xavier & Kofi has to be in my top 3 for this year if not the best, the promo work between all of them was just off the charts. And man, this is the Big E we wanted when he was champion & not Mr. Goofy. And Kofi cracks me up because he’s such a natural on the mic 🤣 you can tell after all these years he is still enjoying himself so much and is about to have the time of his life again.

And that old school heat this week though! that reaction is why I want to follow the version pro wrestling I have loved. This is a good example of still being able to get fans to suspend their disbelief when kayfabe is dead, those crowd shots were great, it was like a riot was going to break out during a studio taping in the territory era lol
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Yeah I don't know how many great feuds and programs are left for him to do in AEW. Edge...Okada...Eddie Kingston...(Christian?)...can't really think of anyone else noteworthy enough who he hasn't already worked with. Can you believe that they are still doing the MJF-Adam Cole feud? It is absolute death and makes the crowd go silent every time. One good thing though is that MJF only appears on the screen in pre-taped promos, because apparently he is out filming a movie. But yeah, he should consider going to WWE very soon. He has shown enough to be brought in as a main-event level guy at the top in WWE.

Jim is the only one who has been consistent about AEW from day one. Probably because he knew that Tony had no idea about how to run a wrestling promotion and was only going to sink it with his ineptitude. Now even someone like Dirt Sheet Dave has started changing his tune about AEW because the sharp decline in numbers and attendances has become so patently obvious. They booked a freaking 52,000 capacity stadium in Australia for a show next year, advertised it and then had to change the venue and move to a 10,000 seat arena because they found out they wouldn't be able to sell enough tickets.

The funny thing is that you can pin-point two exact moments when the company became an absolute clown show that was only destined to go downhill.

Moment 1: Firing CM Punk
Moment 2: Airing the All In backstage footage

And the rest, as they say, is history.
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Dirt sheet Dave knows everything, don’t know why he can’t share when the contracts of these boys is expected to run out. I can imagine mid tier talent being happy with this, crazy money for little work when their ceiling is low, but do you think the likes of MJF would be content being a similar position ? And how would H book him ? one positive is he always put over H on their program so the little insecure dweeb would be happy with that. With Ricky, I know Cody would take him under his wing and there’s Punk there as well, I also feel weirdly more confident about Ricky rising above WWE booking but am not sure about MJF.

Not surprised there with Tony’s delusion, I also hear Shawn’s NXT has been beating them in the ratings for weeks now.

Man never has a single even led to such a steep decline, just look at the crowd on the first Collision and now, they robbed us of a proper throwback Wrestling show
 
shaz619 said:
@RedwoodOriginal @BunnyRabbit

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Damn!...(if true).

I guess the only thing that can make up for no Rock v Roman this year would be this. Rollins v Punk is definitely a big WrestleMania-level match, but not bigger than Roman v Punk.

That Netflix RAW premiere is gonna be off the charts though. WWE is going to pull out all the stops for that show, so I don't think this is such a farfetched rumor.
 
@shaz619 Gotta say WWE's booking of their key stars has been brilliant in the past couple of years. So much stuff has happened in storyline that these guys can bring up to prove their point. This was best highlighted by the Sami Zayn-Rollins back and forth last week, where both guys made some very good points by bringing up things that have actually happened in storyline. When Punk finally turns heel, you can just tell that Rollins and McIntyre will be waiting to tell everyone: "we told you so!"
 
shaz619 said:
Yes, absolutely, what they’ve done to LA is pathetic to say the least. To completely neutralise his heat and business asset in that way is unacceptable and I agree he didn’t need to be sacrificed to Nak in that fashion, it wasn’t even like the blow off to a programme between the two. Ultimately H is not his fan and his ego got dented by how over he got himself, similarly he punished Austin Theory simply for being pushed by Vince who despite his flaws, hasn’t been wrong about which horse he wants to back. I’ve also noticed how H books reactively to the IWC audience and then goes to his old ways after a short period, he has a huge ego and is always concerned about his own perception opposed to prioritising getting talent over.

I meant the promo where he was standing on the announcers desk, still catching up with the past few months. But my oh my, what about the New Day Angle? just caught up with it, they’ve caught lightening in a bottle with this lol I always knew they would have to break up with one of the members turning heel, but here things have transpired in a way I could not have been coming.

That segment involving Big E, Xavier & Kofi has to be in my top 3 for this year if not the best, the promo work between all of them was just off the charts. And man, this is the Big E we wanted when he was champion & not Mr. Goofy. And Kofi cracks me up because he’s such a natural on the mic 🤣 you can tell after all these years he is still enjoying himself so much and is about to have the time of his life again.

And that old school heat this week though! that reaction is why I want to follow the version pro wrestling I have loved. This is a good example of still being able to get fans to suspend their disbelief when kayfabe is dead, those crowd shots were great, it was like a riot was going to break out during a studio taping in the territory era lol
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You definitely get that feeling. Whenever someone on the roster that he didn't have any plans for, starts getting over, he slowly kills their momentum with 50/50 booking. Does just enough to make people think he is pushing them, then pulls the rug from under them. I doubt anything will ever compare to the Austin Theory burial, but I guess there are levels to this.

Oh god, they've done an amazing job with the New Day. They basically teased a break-up between them for weeks and weeks, and then just when you thought that Woods was going to turn on Kofi, they did this epic angle. I think its a masterstroke. New Day had gotten really stale as babyfaces, and now they have the opportunity to become the hottest heel tag team in the company. I always thought that both Kofi and Woods were great talents, but I just hated the New Day gimmick so much that it turned me off them. Btw, how funny is it that this faction started with 'New Day Sucks' chants, which turned to 'New Day Rocks' chants. And now, its back to 'New Day Sucks' chants. Talk about going full-circle lol.
 
shaz619 said:
Dirt sheet Dave knows everything, don’t know why he can’t share when the contracts of these boys is expected to run out. I can imagine mid tier talent being happy with this, crazy money for little work when their ceiling is low, but do you think the likes of MJF would be content being a similar position ? And how would H book him ? one positive is he always put over H on their program so the little insecure dweeb would be happy with that. With Ricky, I know Cody would take him under his wing and there’s Punk there as well, I also feel weirdly more confident about Ricky rising above WWE booking but am not sure about MJF.

Not surprised there with Tony’s delusion, I also hear Shawn’s NXT has been beating them in the ratings for weeks now.

Man never has a single even led to such a steep decline, just look at the crowd on the first Collision and now, they robbed us of a proper throwback Wrestling show
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I think H should be able to recognize how good MJF is. I think any wrestling fan with half a braincell would. I also think that MJF is smart enough to only go if it benefits him. Both he and Ricky would shine in WWE I feel.

Lol yeah, they beat AEW twice in the ratings. Including one night when NXT were running on Wednesday night, in Dynamite's timeslot.

Collision has become the new Rampage. Just a show with endless matches, without any rhythm or reason. A far cry from what it was when Punk was booking it.
 
So nice to see that they are bringing back Jesse Ventura to commentate on SNME. The card for this show looks great and better than most WWE PLEs. Glad they are treating these shows with some seriousness. AEW got Battle of the Belts from TNT and all they did was book undercard matches that nobody wanted to see.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
So nice to see that they are bringing back Jesse Ventura to commentate on SNME. The card for this show looks great and better than most WWE PLEs. Glad they are treating these shows with some seriousness. AEW got Battle of the Belts from TNT and all they did was book undercard matches that nobody wanted to see.
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Mate Jesse Ventura was a treasure on commentary, he made the main event feel so special and called it like it should be 🤣 @Markhor Catch Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens for the title free on WWE’s youtube, it’s worth it just for the body’s commentary. Honestly, even for me who has not followed every segment he gave a masterclass in giving you all the sound bites, advancing the story and getting both guys over, the heel Heenan type common sense was hilarious Lol
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I think H should be able to recognize how good MJF is. I think any wrestling fan with half a braincell would. I also think that MJF is smart enough to only go if it benefits him. Both he and Ricky would shine in WWE I feel.

Lol yeah, they beat AEW twice in the ratings. Including one night when NXT were running on Wednesday night, in Dynamite's timeslot.

Collision has become the new Rampage. Just a show with endless matches, without any rhythm or reason. A far cry from what it was when Punk was booking it.
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Rumours swirling that Ricky’s contract with AEW has expired, pretty petty keeping him out of action for a whole year just because he hurt someones ego and wouldn’t sign an extention.

For as evil as we know Vince is, I haven’t seen this level of pettiness even from him, he’d do something with the talent like job them out every week or if he likes you and see’s some dollar to be made, he would make use of it, Ambrose/Mox had the best send off possible from the WWE when you know that Vince was aware he wasn’t going to re-sign for some time
 
shaz619 said:
Mate Jesse Ventura was a treasure on commentary, he made the main event feel so special and called it like it should be 🤣 @Markhor Catch Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens for the title free on WWE’s youtube, it’s worth it just for the body’s commentary. Honestly, even for me who has not followed every segment he gave a masterclass in giving you all the sound bites, advancing the story and getting both guys over, the heel Heenan type common sense was hilarious Lol
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I think Jesse might have been my favorite thing about this show. It was incredible how he stepped back into his role as the heel announcer. It was seamless and like he barely missed a step despite being away for 40 years. Even someone like JR, who I have always loved is just not the same on commentary anymore. But Jesse was just brilliant. My only gripe was that he was only on commentary for 11 or 12 minutes...however long that main-event was.
 
@shaz619 Did you check out Punk's latest shot at Hangnail on SNME? I missed it while I was watching a backstage interview of his, but came across it in an online article somewhere. It's a small thing, but I just get a kick out of how much he hates Adam Page with a passion.

Apparently Page said this after Logan Paul said he was retiring from pro-wrestling:

HANGMAN PAGE (@hangmanpage.bsky.social)

i hope the next person they give half my moveset to is at least kinda cool
bsky.app bsky.app

Which Punk referenced in a backstage interview when Pete Rosenberg (probably regrettably) used the word move-set:

"It’s garbage! If you say that, you’re an idiot! Especially if you’re a wrestler, and you say ‘moveset,’ that 100% tells me you don’t know what the hell you’re doing."

Here's the video btw. Very nice. Punk is marking out for Koko B. Ware lol.

 
shaz619 said:
Rumours swirling that Ricky’s contract with AEW has expired, pretty petty keeping him out of action for a whole year just because he hurt someones ego and wouldn’t sign an extention.

For as evil as we know Vince is, I haven’t seen this level of pettiness even from him, he’d do something with the talent like job them out every week or if he likes you and see’s some dollar to be made, he would make use of it, Ambrose/Mox had the best send off possible from the WWE when you know that Vince was aware he wasn’t going to re-sign for some time
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What makes Tony even worse is that he tries to project a fake image of caring about the wrestlers and being “all about the boys,” when his recent treatment of certain wrestlers clearly shows otherwise. He is more petty and small-minded than Vince ever was.

He is also remarkably dumb. Because if he had any brains as a booker, he would use wrestlers like Penta, Fenix, and Ricky to put other guys over, and even bury them. I mean why would you not want to capitalize on that equity they built on your TV show when you know that they are leaving the company? Instead, he’s willing to pay them just to keep them from going to WWE. All of this also tells you how little this company operates like an actual business, and how little metrics like ratings, ticket sales, PPV buys, and wrestler salaries matter. Because if this was an actual business, guys like Penta, Fenix, Ricky, and, Miro—who haven’t been used in months—would have been cut loose a long time ago.

I would also bet my bottom dollar that Tony hasn’t even spoken to Ricky since taking him off TV. Tony doesn’t have the guts to have uncomfortable conversations. Instead, he’s more content to ignore and ghost people till their contract runs out, instead of being open and honest with them.
 
Another great post-show angle:



This is a seriously great way to use social media and the internet to build interest in matches and feuds. It feels realistic and unfiltered, especially when you have the fans capturing the footage from different angles with their phones and uploading it online.
 
This could have been great. Had Heyman been given full-control to do things his way, who knows where TNA would be today? I have a soft spot for that Hogan-Bischoff era because of stuff like Joker Sting and the Aces & Eights storyline, but I don't think anyone can say that those two coming on helped TNA in any way from a business stand-point.

 
Rollins is stagnant and stale. He's simply this guys Triple H (even though Trips was lesser talented in the ring but got pro wrestling much better). I missed out wrestling for around 2 weeks for Umrah. Just binge watched last 3 weeks of wrestling today. Didn't feel like there was anything that packed a pure punch apart from New Day's storyline. Drew's return felt forced.
Nick Aldis has been revelling in his role as an on air authority figure. I hope he can get to wrestle too. About time we get the returns of Lesnar, AJ, Rock, Randy, Cena etc.
 
I am seeing on Netflix they are adding all seasons of old ppvs like royal rumble survivor series etc available from Jan. But not all seasons of raw or smackdown yet. Any idea if we'll able to watch the old raws from attitude era in Netflix?
 
I saw a match on YT recently which not only made me nostalgic, but my blood began to simmer the more I thought about it.

Triple H vs Eddie Gurrero - March 22, 2004; about a week after Wrestlemania 20.

To start with the positives, great match & dramatic finish, back when the brand split meant something, and rare sight of seeing Shawn & Eddie in the same ring - I can’t recall if they ever did before this ? but what an assist from Shawn and it would have been epic if Eddie was able to hit the frog splash and go over H; I an delusional for entertaining the possibility in 2004.

Eddie’s reign would spiral out of control and we often focus on how much pain his body was in, he had severe back issues and to top that, with him being the first latino champion from a well respected wrestling family; he put himself under immense pressure. The two issues inevitably were married together and unfortunately led to his abuse of pain killers.

After withstanding the scenario before him, overlooking the mental & physical challenge, it was more about respect. Eddie had too much respect for this business, the WWE, his heritage and especially himself that he put his ego & pride aside, to request that he drop the most prestigious championship in wrestling to JBL.

Was Eddie vindicated in his decision or could he have been helped a little more ? The more I think about this, I am leaning towards the latter.

Eddie was the first latino champion who was glittered in the robes of wrestling royalty, as a minority, as a Mexican, he knew he had to work that much harder and while he was his own biggest critic, the company could have eased him into the role of being champion and gave him the confidence he needed.

Yes, the business trends were not great, but they rarely were during H’s reign of terror and no one bat an eyelid , numerous title defences, declining attendance at house shows and H still carried the strap and was given a blank paper to book as he pleased, there was no accountability when H was champion.

Eddie was the most over face in the company and he had no one to work with. Brock Lesnar had left, Angle & Big Show were hurt. Rey, RVD & Taker were all faces.

There was one plan to help Eddie transition into his role as plan; a very simple but effective plan, Triple H moves to Smackdown! They were going to fire on all cylinders with this until H refused to make the move at the very last minute, it created unnecessary disruption and there was no real direction for Eddie as a result. Why could H have not moved to Smackdown even for a short period? It would have made the world of difference for Eddie and his title reign, they would really have set him up and the business for the remainder of 2004.

Eddie is one of the rare gems who folk don’t always recall that was buried by H, ultimately I think, H’s decision inspired Eddie’s downward spiral. When Eddie requested to drop the title, they didn’t even give him much time off and proceeded to put him on a losing streak for months until he won that pointless feud against Luther Reigns. Just think how many times H returned from injury and was still booked strong, giving your champion a bit of time of or adjusting their work load may seem novel in the early 2000’s unless you were the bosses son-in-law.

H couldn’t even do the job for Eddie with an assist on that RAW episode, it’s all good calling it a dream match and what not but I thought I’d give some insight into the background.

If H moved to SD for an extended period and the WWE treated Eddie like the champion he was, perhaps he would still be alive today.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I think Jesse might have been my favorite thing about this show. It was incredible how he stepped back into his role as the heel announcer. It was seamless and like he barely missed a step despite being away for 40 years. Even someone like JR, who I have always loved is just not the same on commentary anymore. But Jesse was just brilliant. My only gripe was that he was only on commentary for 11 or 12 minutes...however long that main-event was.
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To be fair with Jim’s it’s just his health & personal issues to, and he must cringe calling AEW. His last few great calls were Taker/Reigns and the match between Nam/Ibushi, he always had a great eye for talent and was blown away especially by Nak & his charisma.
 
shaz619 said:
To be fair with Jim’s it’s just his health & personal issues to, and he must cringe calling AEW. His last few great calls were Taker/Reigns and the match between Nam/Ibushi, he always had a great eye for talent and was blown away especially by Nak & his charisma.
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I don't blame him at all. It's only natural for someone to not be the same with the passage of time, and in his case, the personal and health related setbacks have also been significant. If anything, I find it entertaining when he just buries stuff that insults his intelligence.
 
Okada v Ospreay was off-the-charts. Finally Okada delivered a match in NA that you could put on-par with his best work.

@shaz619 Highly recommend seeing this and Ospreay v Darby from Dynamite from a few weeks back. Two incredible matches.
 
BunnyRabbit said:
Rollins is stagnant and stale. He's simply this guys Triple H (even though Trips was lesser talented in the ring but got pro wrestling much better). I missed out wrestling for around 2 weeks for Umrah. Just binge watched last 3 weeks of wrestling today. Didn't feel like there was anything that packed a pure punch apart from New Day's storyline. Drew's return felt forced.
Nick Aldis has been revelling in his role as an on air authority figure. I hope he can get to wrestle too. About time we get the returns of Lesnar, AJ, Rock, Randy, Cena etc.
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I am enjoying the long-term booking with Drew and KO. They have done a great job giving these guys a proper motivation to be heels because they were the ones who were screwed by Roman and co. And now that they are babyfaces, these guys are right to be angry at everyone just accepting them. It feels like a number of these storylines will intersect at some point and the potential of match-ups that you could create organically based on things that have already happened in storyline is fascinating.

Rollins will always be Rollins, which is boring and bland. But if he keeps the clowery down to a minimum and is involved in feuds like this Punk feud, where they are playing off real-life stuff, then he can good. This Punk feud has certainly made him more interesting than he has been in a very long time.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I am enjoying the long-term booking with Drew and KO. They have done a great job giving these guys a proper motivation to be heels because they were the ones who were screwed by Roman and co. And now that they are babyfaces, these guys are right to be angry at everyone just accepting them. It feels like a number of these storylines will intersect at some point and the potential of match-ups that you could create organically based on things that have already happened in storyline is fascinating.

Rollins will always be Rollins, which is boring and bland. But if he keeps the clowery down to a minimum and is involved in feuds like this Punk feud, where they are playing off real-life stuff, then he can good. This Punk feud has certainly made him more interesting than he has been in a very long time.
Click to expand...

Punk just brings out the best in pretty much everyone and is having a blast, he doesn’t care for the shoots one iota because he is a business man and see’s the bigger picture opposed to going into business for yourself to make the neck beard crowd happy, like Seth getting personal at the Netflix kick off would have the old internet crowd propagating stories like how Punk is furious about it and what not but when this stuff is discussed behind the scenes and used to progress the angle, that’s business and a big pot of ££££££. Punk came back to wrestling so he could use all this material and work with his so called enemies for the betterment of the product.

There are some whispers he could be facing Reigns at mania which I think would be huge and absolutely the right move!
 
shaz619 said:
Punk just brings out the best in pretty much everyone and is having a blast, he doesn’t care for the shoots one iota because he is a business man and see’s the bigger picture opposed to going into business for yourself to make the neck beard crowd happy, like Seth getting personal at the Netflix kick off would have the old internet crowd propagating stories like how Punk is furious about it and what not but when this stuff is discussed behind the scenes and used to progress the angle, that’s business and a big pot of ££££££. Punk came back to wrestling so he could use all this material and work with his so called enemies for the betterment of the product.

There are some whispers he could be facing Reigns at mania which I think would be huge and absolutely the right move!
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Yup, this is where he needs to be. A talent of his caliber and star-power needs to be on the biggest stage possible. And so far he has delivered in spades.

Could go a number of ways at WrestleMania. Another possibility is Rollins v Punk Part 2 or 3 for the World title. At any rate, I have a strong feeling that Punk will be in a main-event World title match. Because having the belt on him as they move into this new Netflix era is simply good for business. Punk v Roman would depend heavily on The Rock's plans. Drew v Roman is another match being discussed.
 
Best Seth Rollins promo of his life that too against Punk. See how much better his character is when he just keeps it real instead of being too cartoony on the mic. Same with the wardrobe, stood out but not over the top.
 
Suleiman said:
Best Seth Rollins promo of his life that too against Punk. See how much better his character is when he just keeps it real instead of being too cartoony on the mic. Same with the wardrobe, stood out but not over the top.
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I thought it was incredible. This is how you sell a match. Rollins has never been better on the mic. Even better than Punk here, who was pretty outstanding himself. I was kinda surprised by how much real-life stuff they referenced, particularly around Vince. I guess this really is a new era of WWE.
 
What if The Rock interferes next week to cost Roman Reigns the match against Solo? Think that would be a good way to set up Rock v Roman for WrestleMania and elevate Solo.

You could even go so far as revealing The Rock to be the Darth Sidious to Solo's Darth Vader, who has kinda been plotting this secret coup of Roman and The Bloodline all along from behind-the-scenes.
 
Seriously though, best promo-off ever? The only thing that comes to mind from recent memory are Punk's verbal battles with MJF and Eddie Kingston.

 
Suleiman said:
Best Seth Rollins promo of his life that too against Punk. See how much better his character is when he just keeps it real instead of being too cartoony on the mic. Same with the wardrobe, stood out but not over the top.
Click to expand...

I read this earlier in the day and thought F that guy Rollins lol But to be fair, he cut a solid promo, maybe one of the best of his career, but still, I think it’s a shame because he got a little overshadowed by CM Punk. Seth is great when he speaks from the soul & believes every word, a lot of the time he comes across overly scripted and screams too much. These two are having the programme which Adam Page should have had with Punk.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Seriously though, best promo-off ever? The only thing that comes to mind from recent memory are Punk's verbal battles with MJF and Eddie Kingston.

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I think the duels on AEW were a different level imo This is similar, but in a slightly distinct stylistic range.
 
shaz619 said:
I saw a match on YT recently which not only made me nostalgic, but my blood began to simmer the more I thought about it.

Triple H vs Eddie Gurrero - March 22, 2004; about a week after Wrestlemania 20.

To start with the positives, great match & dramatic finish, back when the brand split meant something, and rare sight of seeing Shawn & Eddie in the same ring - I can’t recall if they ever did before this ? but what an assist from Shawn and it would have been epic if Eddie was able to hit the frog splash and go over H; I an delusional for entertaining the possibility in 2004.

Eddie’s reign would spiral out of control and we often focus on how much pain his body was in, he had severe back issues and to top that, with him being the first latino champion from a well respected wrestling family; he put himself under immense pressure. The two issues inevitably were married together and unfortunately led to his abuse of pain killers.

After withstanding the scenario before him, overlooking the mental & physical challenge, it was more about respect. Eddie had too much respect for this business, the WWE, his heritage and especially himself that he put his ego & pride aside, to request that he drop the most prestigious championship in wrestling to JBL.

Was Eddie vindicated in his decision or could he have been helped a little more ? The more I think about this, I am leaning towards the latter.

Eddie was the first latino champion who was glittered in the robes of wrestling royalty, as a minority, as a Mexican, he knew he had to work that much harder and while he was his own biggest critic, the company could have eased him into the role of being champion and gave him the confidence he needed.

Yes, the business trends were not great, but they rarely were during H’s reign of terror and no one bat an eyelid , numerous title defences, declining attendance at house shows and H still carried the strap and was given a blank paper to book as he pleased, there was no accountability when H was champion.

Eddie was the most over face in the company and he had no one to work with. Brock Lesnar had left, Angle & Big Show were hurt. Rey, RVD & Taker were all faces.

There was one plan to help Eddie transition into his role as plan; a very simple but effective plan, Triple H moves to Smackdown! They were going to fire on all cylinders with this until H refused to make the move at the very last minute, it created unnecessary disruption and there was no real direction for Eddie as a result. Why could H have not moved to Smackdown even for a short period? It would have made the world of difference for Eddie and his title reign, they would really have set him up and the business for the remainder of 2004.

Eddie is one of the rare gems who folk don’t always recall that was buried by H, ultimately I think, H’s decision inspired Eddie’s downward spiral. When Eddie requested to drop the title, they didn’t even give him much time off and proceeded to put him on a losing streak for months until he won that pointless feud against Luther Reigns. Just think how many times H returned from injury and was still booked strong, giving your champion a bit of time of or adjusting their work load may seem novel in the early 2000’s unless you were the bosses son-in-law.

H couldn’t even do the job for Eddie with an assist on that RAW episode, it’s all good calling it a dream match and what not but I thought I’d give some insight into the background.

If H moved to SD for an extended period and the WWE treated Eddie like the champion he was, perhaps he would still be alive today.
Click to expand...

This was the match @Suleiman @BunnyRabbit @RedwoodOriginal :

Have you seen Eddie and Shawn in the ring other than this time ? special moment.

Also tagging @The_KING who probably hasn’t read any of my H hate mail in a while 🤣
 
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RedwoodOriginal said:
What if The Rock interferes next week to cost Roman Reigns the match against Solo? Think that would be a good way to set up Rock v Roman for WrestleMania and elevate Solo.

You could even go so far as revealing The Rock to be the Darth Sidious to Solo's Darth Vader, who has kinda been plotting this secret coup of Roman and The Bloodline all along from behind-the-scenes.
Click to expand...

They will go down that route eventually I think it’s just a matter of their timing, WWE have some good problems for Mania because both Punk/Reigns & Rock/Reigns work :yk3

I reckon this RAW needs a high profile unexpected title change like the good ol days.
 
shaz619 said:
I read this earlier in the day and thought F that guy Rollins lol But to be fair, he cut a solid promo, maybe one of the best of his career, but still, I think it’s a shame because he got a little overshadowed by CM Punk. Seth is great when he speaks from the soul & believes every word, a lot of the time he comes across overly scripted and screams too much. These two are having the programme which Adam Page should have had with Punk.
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For sure, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been nothing but critical of Seth, I think he gets pushed ahead of guys far more talented than him and 90% of his work in last year and a half is cringe. but think we all give him credit here.
 
shaz619 said:
I think the duels on AEW were a different level imo This is similar, but in a slightly distinct stylistic range.
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Yeah you're probably right. Might be the recency bias.

But still this was pretty outstanding. I don't want to downplay how good Punk was here too. The stuff about Seth being a corporate, boss's pet was pretty good.

Rollins's final salvo though was just brilliant. I am not a big fan of him shouting, but I thought it worked perfectly here.
 
shaz619 said:
They will go down that route eventually I think it’s just a matter of their timing, WWE have some good problems for Mania because both Punk/Reigns & Rock/Reigns work :yk3

I reckon this RAW needs a high profile unexpected title change like the good ol days.
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I imagine alot of these storylines will be set in motion next week.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Yeah you're probably right. Might be the recency bias.

But still this was pretty outstanding. I don't want to downplay how good Punk was here too. The stuff about Seth being a corporate, boss's pet was pretty good.

Rollins's final salvo though was just brilliant. I am not a big fan of him shouting, but I thought it worked perfectly here.
Click to expand...

The shouting & screaming is generally awful because that’s what he tends to do from the first to final minute, here it was ok because it meant something and his tone changed throughout the promo.

With the AEW exchanges, I think there’s a playlist on YT with all of them, videos keep getting deleted here but have a look, the work Punk did their for a couple of years cemented his status as an ATG imo, and now Punk has adapted his range for the WWE, not aa gritty though he remains very compelling. When you compare those exchanges with what he is doing with Rollins, to me it’s night & day as far as promo’s are concerned but almost every WWE programme has been vastly superior with the exception of Punk/MJF imo, that’s just the machine and logical booking maximising their returns from Punk and using him much better to get heat on their roster, all who Punk has worked with are producing the best output of their careers creatively & that’s not a coincidence, even after working with him, you look at Drew and he still got that same edge and is actually using his programme with Punk as a platform to justify his character change and actions.

If Punk can remain healthy for a bit longer, he could break into top 10 all time lists. I recently had him in my personal top 5 and that has never happened before, my no.1 & no.2 never change however, just the other spots.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
@shaz619 I'm glad someone paid homage to the most iconic wrestling hype package with this feud

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Rock Austin was something else. Two guys who would always stand toe to toe in terms of aura and entertainment.
Punk schooled Seth last week IMO and Seth was probably too stupid to even realize it.
 
BunnyRabbit said:
Rock Austin was something else. Two guys who would always stand toe to toe in terms of aura and entertainment.
Punk schooled Seth last week IMO and Seth was probably too stupid to even realize it.
Click to expand...

I think Rock vs Austin is the greatest wrestling rivalry of all time. Probably Rock vs Triple H would come remotely close.
 
BunnyRabbit said:
Rock Austin was something else. Two guys who would always stand toe to toe in terms of aura and entertainment.
Punk schooled Seth last week IMO and Seth was probably too stupid to even realize it.
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Yeah and that hype package for that WrestleMania 17 match was so good. That is how you sell a match. Absolutely perfect. Sadly WWE has had it removed from YouTube.

Seth got the one-liners, Punk got the insults. Ultimately, when you think about it nothing Seth said about Punk wasn't stuff people already knew about. Whereas what Punk said about Seth were more deep-seated versions of the truth that casual fans probably weren't aware of. Seth won the battle, but Punk won the war.
 
shaz619 said:
The shouting & screaming is generally awful because that’s what he tends to do from the first to final minute, here it was ok because it meant something and his tone changed throughout the promo.

With the AEW exchanges, I think there’s a playlist on YT with all of them, videos keep getting deleted here but have a look, the work Punk did their for a couple of years cemented his status as an ATG imo, and now Punk has adapted his range for the WWE, not aa gritty though he remains very compelling. When you compare those exchanges with what he is doing with Rollins, to me it’s night & day as far as promo’s are concerned but almost every WWE programme has been vastly superior with the exception of Punk/MJF imo, that’s just the machine and logical booking maximising their returns from Punk and using him much better to get heat on their roster, all who Punk has worked with are producing the best output of their careers creatively & that’s not a coincidence, even after working with him, you look at Drew and he still got that same edge and is actually using his programme with Punk as a platform to justify his character change and actions.

If Punk can remain healthy for a bit longer, he could break into top 10 all time lists. I recently had him in my personal top 5 and that has never happened before, my no.1 & no.2 never change however, just the other spots.
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Yeah you're spot on. That's one thing you saw with AEW. Even when guys were involved in great programs, nothing was done to capitalize on their momentum. That structure is so important if you are serious about growing as a business in the long-run and getting people interested in the personalities enough where they want to tune in or pay money to see them. AEW it seems is destined to be an asylum run by the inmates. Did you see Edge's new name in AEW btw? 🤣 Now he's just called 'Cope' lol.

He needs another World title run imo. As a certain someone used to say, "it's what's best for business." And from what I am hearing WWE want Punk in a World title match at WrestleMania. Will be interesting how these next few months shape up.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Yeah you're spot on. That's one thing you saw with AEW. Even when guys were involved in great programs, nothing was done to capitalize on their momentum. That structure is so important if you are serious about growing as a business in the long-run and getting people interested in the personalities enough where they want to tune in or pay money to see them. AEW it seems is destined to be an asylum run by the inmates. Did you see Edge's new name in AEW btw? 🤣 Now he's just called 'Cope' lol.

He needs another World title run imo. As a certain someone used to say, "it's what's best for business." And from what I am hearing WWE want Punk in a World title match at WrestleMania. Will be interesting how these next few months shape up.
Click to expand...

I read about that like wth lol Cope as in still ‘Coping’ from the Ricky Starks burn.

They could put the belt on Stone Cold Steve Austin and AEW will still not draw a dime, they’ve degraded all their big names and done the opposite of monetising them.

There was money to be made from Punk, Bryan and others but they failed in different ways.

Sting is the only guy they booked well as a major name and actually made some money out of him, they even managed to use Sting to set Darby on the right track before he still ended up doing the same dumb internet sh!t that he did before he was paired with Sting.

Christian Cage has been the MVP of AEW because no matter what sh!t you throw at him including that re!arded Dinosaur, he has kept himself fresh as a character and looks to make the most from terrible scenario’s and you kind of expect that from him as one of the most creative performers ever.
 
Have you jobbers watched RAW yet, I been trying not to spoil it for you guys 🤣
 
shaz619 said:
Have you jobbers watched RAW yet, I been trying not to spoil it for you guys 🤣
Click to expand...
I have seen everything besides the main-event. Need something worthwhile to watch on the weekend.

I thought it was a pretty mediocre episode. Way too much corporate boot-licking for my taste.

The Rock babyfacing himself, being chummy with Cody just cheapened all the great work they did last year before WrestleMania. In one appearance he pretty much destroyed all the long-term booking they set in place for his future feuds with Roman and Cody too. And then the anti-climax of him coming out and hugging Roman....

Seems he is just desperate to be liked.

Solo v Roman & Rhea v Liv were both pretty meh. Jey v Drew was awful. The work was sloppy, the pacing was slooow and the crowd absolutely died a death during certain moments. And then the decision to put Jey over just made it worse.

I did get a kick out of Hogan getting booed out of the building though. 😂
 
shaz619 said:
I read about that like wth lol Cope as in still ‘Coping’ from the Ricky Starks burn.

They could put the belt on Stone Cold Steve Austin and AEW will still not draw a dime, they’ve degraded all their big names and done the opposite of monetising them.

There was money to be made from Punk, Bryan and others but they failed in different ways.

Sting is the only guy they booked well as a major name and actually made some money out of him, they even managed to use Sting to set Darby on the right track before he still ended up doing the same dumb internet sh!t that he did before he was paired with Sting.

Christian Cage has been the MVP of AEW because no matter what sh!t you throw at him including that re!arded Dinosaur, he has kept himself fresh as a character and looks to make the most from terrible scenario’s and you kind of expect that from him as one of the most creative performers ever.
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It's just the dream matches now. And don't get me wrong, I want to see some of these dream matches. Like for instance, the idea of Christian and Edge going after the tag titles or wrestling FTR interests me. As does Ospreay v Christian or Edge v Omega and MJF, to name a few. But that doesn't mean that anything about this show makes any damn sense week-to-week.

The funniest thing is that every few months they come up with a long-term storyline they think will save the company. First it was the MJF-Adam Cole stuff which went from being one of the best things they were doing to arguably the worst storyline in the company's history. Then you had Young Bucks and Jack Perry trying to be evil heels and cash in on the Punk drama. No one gave a damn, no one bought it...the whole thing died a death in the ratings. Them airing the All In footage may have been the point when a large portion of the audience just gave them the middle finger and left. Now you have Road Warrior Mox cosplaying Roman and trying to do his lame version of the Bloodline storyline. Still, nobody cares because he has explained nothing, keeps talking in riddles and the booking is as lousy as it ever was.

The problem is that the audience keels dropping and dropping. I get that Tony has an endless amount of capital but what about the ticket sales? The crowds are thinning out with each show. They booked a stadium in Australia and then had to move to a 10K capacity building because they couldn't sell enough tickets. Would be even more embarrassing if they don't sell out that stadium in Texas. But Tony doesn't get it. And I don't think he ever will.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I have seen everything besides the main-event. Need something worthwhile to watch on the weekend.

I thought it was a pretty mediocre episode. Way too much corporate boot-licking for my taste.

The Rock babyfacing himself, being chummy with Cody just cheapened all the great work they did last year before WrestleMania. In one appearance he pretty much destroyed all the long-term booking they set in place for his future feuds with Roman and Cody too. And then the anti-climax of him coming out and hugging Roman....

Seems he is just desperate to be liked.

Solo v Roman & Rhea v Liv were both pretty meh. Jey v Drew was awful. The work was sloppy, the pacing was slooow and the crowd absolutely died a death during certain moments. And then the decision to put Jey over just made it worse.

I did get a kick out of Hogan getting booed out of the building though. 😂
Click to expand...

I found the opening very odd, H was certainly not required here and just seeing him cos play Vince boiled my blood, then again Vince wasn’t such a big mark like H when it came to hogging the spotlight.

Then The Rock came out and I was confused, my last memory of him was beating Cody to a bloody pulp; I had to research online to find out if we got the pay off to that; which was basically the Rock pinning Cody at Wrestlemania. I understand why they did this for a more global audience. However, my problem is more with Cody, I don’t care how much of a diplomat he is, you can’t be ringside like that on a major show with him being the top champion in the company, would Austin have done that ? This is why Austin was so special, his wrestling IQ is one of the best ever and he protected the hell out of his sh!t, and he wont just show up to even these kind of events either for the sake of a cheque.


AE era wasn’t perfect for ring quality but they best executed gimmick matches on TV shows, Roman/Solo didn’t need to be so long, it went on forever. Rhea/Liv was fine for what it was and I didn’t watch Drew/Jey.

Cena’s promo was outstanding, I feel he should have opened the show because among a few, he really delivered for a super hot crowd and tugged on all your heart strings.

The show reeked of H’s booking style imo

However, let me know your thoughts on the main event when you get around to it.
 
Travis Scot smoking a blunt coming down the ramp with the most over guy in WWE with the commentators standing on the table and going crazy was the highlight of the event for me. Netflixtude era is here!
 
One of the best cold open ever. I felt like my entire childhood memories as a wrestling entertainment fan rolling in front of my eyes

 
Bhaijaan said:
One of the best cold open ever. I felt like my entire childhood memories as a wrestling entertainment fan rolling in front of my eyes

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It was good but so cringe with H doing the doing the voice-over, would have been better if it was Stephanie.
 
Hogan being boo’d was too funny and even more so because he got upset 🤣 It’s California lil buddy, Pat McAfee made the whole thing 10x more amusing.

I don’t think it’s anything to do with Politics, I respect what Hogan has done for the business but he’s all round just a sh!t human being while everyone still admires Austin & Taker.
 
shaz619 said:
I found the opening very odd, H was certainly not required here and just seeing him cos play Vince boiled my blood, then again Vince wasn’t such a big mark like H when it came to hogging the spotlight.

Then The Rock came out and I was confused, my last memory of him was beating Cody to a bloody pulp; I had to research online to find out if we got the pay off to that; which was basically the Rock pinning Cody at Wrestlemania. I understand why they did this for a more global audience. However, my problem is more with Cody, I don’t care how much of a diplomat he is, you can’t be ringside like that on a major show with him being the top champion in the company, would Austin have done that ? This is why Austin was so special, his wrestling IQ is one of the best ever and he protected the hell out of his sh!t, and he wont just show up to even these kind of events either for the sake of a cheque.


AE era wasn’t perfect for ring quality but they best executed gimmick matches on TV shows, Roman/Solo didn’t need to be so long, it went on forever. Rhea/Liv was fine for what it was and I didn’t watch Drew/Jey.

Cena’s promo was outstanding, I feel he should have opened the show because among a few, he really delivered for a super hot crowd and tugged on all your heart strings.

The show reeked of H’s booking style imo

However, let me know your thoughts on the main event when you get around to it.
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Forgot to mention the Cena promo. Yes, that was great. With The Rock potentially out of WrestleMania it will be interesting to see if Cena wins the Rumble or Elimination Chamber. I was hearing about a potential match with Cody. And if The Rock is out then I really hope that Punk main-events Night 2.

You're right. Cody came off looking like an absolute chump here. But my biggest issue was as you mentioned, Rock beating Cody to a bloody pulp last year. They made you believe that these guys really hated each other. And then to do this was just B.S. Even on the RAW after Mania, The Rock came out, whispered something in Cody's ear and said "now don't you go breaking my heart" lol. So it kinda felt like this feud was going to continue down the line. But yeah, I hated him coming out and babyfacing himself, acting like all that stuff is just water under the bridge.

Yes, it went on too long. And they overdid the interferences too for me. After a certain point it started to feel like the type of stuff people point to when they make fun of wrestling.

Haha well I fully expected that from H. But for me, this show had more finger prints of Corporate and The Rock.

Penta's debuting next week so that should be fun.
 
shaz619 said:
Hogan being boo’d was too funny and even more so because he got upset 🤣 It’s California lil buddy, Pat McAfee made the whole thing 10x more amusing.

I don’t think it’s anything to do with Politics, I respect what Hogan has done for the business but he’s all round just a sh!t human being while everyone still admires Austin & Taker.
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Yeah I dunno why people are conflating this with his support for Trump. Undertaker openly endorsed Trump too. He didn't get booed out of the building.

Every wrestling fan in the world that has followed wrestling for a reasonable amount of time knows who Hogan really is. In recent years it has simply become more well-known because he just can't stop lying and making s**t up. Every chance he gets he invents a new lie.
 
Bhaijaan said:
Are we in the club or something bruh

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shaz619 said:
Am not familiar with Travis, is he another mumble rapper lol
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He's supposed to be the biggest rapper in the world. Which is probably why he came out with a literal blunt in his mouth. I guess Jey Uso has an excuse now for having that sh!tty match :yk

Stunning how downhill rap music has gone though.
 
This bloodline cow has now run dry. I’m like when will they finally disband at this point lol. Solo got beaten yet today it was like nothing happened. Are they clinging to it because outside of KO and Cody feud there’s nothing else interesting on smackdown? You lost the ula fala, let it go already 🤦🏼‍♂️

KO run is incredible rn. Justified heel. Hope he wins.
 
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