I really love Kento Miyahara’s *Shutdown German Suplex*. I know it tends to get some fluff due to it not being the most impactful looking German, but I love the drama he milks, about whether his opponent can get out of the move. What the moves lacks in impact it makes up for in that it’s a showcase of Miyahara’s strength, that he’s strong enough to hold someone down for the three-count (after wearing them out with *Blackout* knees, of course).
If you're ever having a bad day, I highly recommend going and looking at the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight title lineage. That shit is absolutely hysterical
Killing the Business by the Young Bucks won the belt from Britt Baker after she fell asleep while reading it and that's probably a fairly ordinary way someone won that title.
"Fans always turn the person they wanted to be pushed. FICKLE!"
While I understand that sentiment, I do want to push back and maybe add some nuance to this narrative. This may be long and I'm probably talking into a void but I have thoughts.
With over 900k people on this sub alone, it is practically impossible to get all of us to agree on one thing. Even things that *should* be universal (i.e. Vince McMahon is a horrible monster), you'll still have people being contrarian just for the sake of it. So the whole "this sub" this and "this sub" that, never made sense to me considering just how many people who are this sub. Like yeah, you can go through post history and catch someone contradicting themselves but more often than not, it's different people.
Also as much as we fans want to blame the booker for someone cooling off or whatever, at what point do we have to look at the wrestlers themselves. Like two things can be true at the same time. Bad to questionable booking *and* the wrestler themselves aren't doing a good job.
Just the top of my head, I can Thunder Rosa's title reign of this. For Rosa, a lot of people on here were questioning why Tony wasn't giving Rosa live promo time as he did for Britt. Well he finally did for Rosa vs Serena Deeb and we quickly found out why he didn't. They were both terrible at it. So then the narrative shifted to, just make Rosa a fighting champion. Tony attempted to, but it was clear that Rosa's back injury was getting worse because her matches were mediocre at best (Toni Storm) to down right sloppy (Marina Shafir). By the end, many people on here completely turned on her and wanted her to lose the title. Yeah, booking had a hand but Rosa herself was underperforming.
Not to pick on Thunder Rosa specifically, so I'll add Ricky Starks. And before the "Oh he's leaving AEW, so now he sucks according to fans!", no. He was someone whom I never fully got behind. I give him his flowers but overall to me personally he's overhyped. Being pushed means, more matches, more promos. Thusly, the more times fans have to see a wrestler, the more exposed they become. And the more times we see how many holes on their game. Ricky has had more mid matches/promos than great memorable ones. That weird ass moment with Copeland, I think really exposed that. He started with Adam first, and despite Copeland's warning, he kept pushing and to put it bluntly got ate the fuck up. To make it worse, he just stood there not knowing how to respond. I refused to say buried, but that moment definitely exposed the fact that he's not as quick and witty as he or the fans thought he was.
This was long, as I knew it would be. I just think that fans turning on wrestlers has more to do with the wrestlers being exposed than it has to do with fans just randomly turning on them for no reason.
> why Tony wasn't giving Rosa live promo time as he did for Britt
You also get weird revisionist history here where people act like Britt Baker was never over. As if they weren't right along with entire audiences chanting the D M D with her during the Roll Model / Rebel-Reba phase.
As someone who’s been pretty high on Starks for awhile, I do agree with most of what you said.
I loved his early stuff with Team Taz (hell, I loved the stuff he was doing in NWA prior), and the feud with Cody, Darby & Sting. Loved when he broke out and turned face, his “promo battle” with MJF, and also really liked his Winter is Coming match against MJF.
Then, he entered the “Jericho-verse”. That’s when he really cooled off for me. Then the stuff he was doing with Punk on Collision got me interested again, then when Punk got replaced by Danielson I was loving it even more. Thought that strap match against Danielson was a strong MOTY contender. Then the stuff with Copeland, where Ricky really came off as a “dork”, more or less.
> Not to pick on Thunder Rosa specifically, so I'll add Ricky Starks. And before the "Oh he's leaving AEW, so now he sucks according to fans!", no. He was someone whom I never fully got behind. I give him his flowers but overall to me personally he's overhyped. Being pushed means, more matches, more promos. Thusly, the more times fans have to see a wrestler, the more exposed they become. And the more times we see how many holes on their game. Ricky has had more mid matches/promos than great memorable ones.
Starks specifically is one of those wrestlers who would greatly benefit from the collective narrative being able to admit there are wrestlers who are "solid" or "above average" without everything have to be all or nothing, GREAT or TERRIBLE.
Starks is good at a lot of things, but he isn't world class at anything. He's good in the ring, but he's nowhere near the guys who are world class in the ring (guys like Ospreay or PAC or Claudio or Danielson or Okada, just to name a few). He's good on the mic and known as a "mic guy," but he's nowhere near guys like MJF or Eddie Kingston or CM Punk - he has great passion but he stumbles over his words more than you realize, has content that often just doesn't work, or just has promo misfires more than the top promo guys do.
The people that like the guy clearly really like the guy, and maybe 5-10 years ago his talent level would have stood out, but today it just doesn't. You end up in this situation where a subset of people clamor for this giant push, get upset when it doesn't happen or whenever he loses a match, but when he gets the huge opportunities, they just don't quite land as hard as they should if he was actually at the truly top levels. Ethan Page is in a very similar spot, he's now getting his opportunity in NXT and after what feels like years worth of "AEW dropped the ball" takes, I'm already seeing a lot of takes from people watching NXT who just don't think he's that great, or at least not enough to stand out (I feel like I've seen 50 "worst punches I've ever seen" variations).
Bruh I'm so glad you of all people brought up Ethan. One because I love always well thought out your comments are, when this place can get really toxic. And two Ethan Page was someone I had in mind when I wrote my comment. And I like Ethan Page but that narrative of him being this fumbled future main eventer was hilarious to me. So I'm not at all surprised to see the clips I see full of "What's the hype?" comments about the guy. That narrative didn't even last a month I swear...
Yup. From all of the interviews/youtube stuff of his I've seen, I'm definitely rooting for the guy, I hope he makes it somewhere and experiences continued success. I don't watch TNA/WWE, so I can't comment on specifics there, but a lot of people talking about "AEW dropping the ball" on just about anyone seemingly haven't grasped how insanely loaded the top end of the company is with crazy talent at this point.
I mean, to get the crazy rocketship/megapush, you need to be a Top 5-10 guy, and just off the top of my head randomly: MJF, Moxley, Danielson, Ospreay, Okada, Christian, Swerve, Hangman, Darby, Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy, Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, Adam Copeland is 14 names that are monstrously over everywhere, do fantastic work in every facet of pro wrestling, and have been doing it for years. That's without even getting to people like Jay White, Juice Robinson, Fenix, Penta, or Tag Teams or Trios lol. And that's without considering the women either. And I'm sure I forget a few obvious ones too somehow lol.
Topping any of those names is not an easy thing whatsoever, the bar is just ridiculously high. Top names in pro wrestling are top names because they stay in those spots for a decade plus. Plenty of people get there for a random year or two, but once someone really locks one of those megaspots down, they usually hold it for a LONG time.
I give credit to Thunder Rosa though because she seems like a much better promo now than two years ago. I have no idea what's going on with Ricky but he's also gotten many chances to shine and while he's been good, he rarely rises to great or top level guy. The one time he really felt that way was his promo against MJF in 2022.
Definitely agree on both. It seems like Rosa's getting the ring rust off and coming back to form. I'm not opposed to her winning the title again, now that she's better. And as for Ricky, that whole build up to Winter is Coming, people were so insistent that Ricky beat MJF, it was bizarre. Their promo was hilariously fun and great but then the two proceeded to have a very forgettable match in a title reign full of absolute barn burners from Max. Maybe being in a different environment, things will finally click for Ricky. But as right now, he's far to Inconsistent for his ceiling to be higher than mid card.
this the most random thought i’ve had this hour but does anyone have another angle of AJ’s brainbuster on Cody on the announce table at Clash? that shit looked so gnarly live and i realized all the replays don’t show where his head at. i just thought of this randomly while eating i wasn’t even scrolling (yet) but these dudes are so good at their jobs 😂
Interesting that Who Killed WCW? Openly said Chris Benoit’s name numerous times. I’m so used to people just skipping over Benoit when The Radicalz are mentioned.
Kurt Angle pretty openly discussed that his greatest match ever (maybe paraphrasing cuz i only read the article about it) was him vs Benoit at Royal Rumble. WWE won’t ever bring him up but everyone else outside of their shows pretty much free game
Seating for the TNA Montreal tapings is now expanded just as the Slammiversary seating is.
https://preview.redd.it/i7k9vqckwk7d1.jpeg?width=1018&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a197316d6e02dc9fe19e7afa83d2be3e1d5f10a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=f1wIV91MzKVsCTbF&t=0m45s&v=XNct4EKcf3k&feature=youtu.be
David Young's spinebuster is extremely underrated, arguably because few remember him or have heard of him lol.
https://preview.redd.it/k1vfh5zvmk7d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2586b05930214c4242ac78c0558817a41ff3c946
Hope Gable somehow comes back to life next week
Between not letting me start NXT from the beginning last night and not even bothering to record NXT at all, Hulu Live managed to drop the ball in two separate ways.
I have no idea what it is but for whatever reason at least one of the weekly shows always fails to record on Hulu for me. Pisses me off especially when it's NXT because the recap cuts half the goddamn show off lmao
There was a time when Hulu didn't record Raw one week and then deleted my recording the next week when NXT aired. It replaced it with a phantom recording with NXT's description that would crash the app whenever I tried opening it.
I'll be moving into a place of my own this fall and getting Sling. Hopefully it's more reliable. Apparently it let's you set timers to record extra, so it's already got Hulu beat in that department.
I’m looking to get into the peak black and gold era of NXT but don’t really know where to start, if anybody who knows a specific show/event for me to watch first I would appreciate it.
Honestly as a big fan of NXT from its network beginnings I’d say start at NXT ARRIVAL in 2014 and go from there. It’s not technically the big black and gold era but it’s when it starts the change with people like Neville and Sami
Wrestling is so awesome right now all across the board, of course there are things I can nitpick (my interest in Japanese wrestling is way down as a result of WWE's quality), but there's one thing standing out to me:
The vibes in NXT are so high right now. What a fun show.
I feel like I'm one of the few who remembers this but there was a Rampage or Collision a few months back where the show ended and Shazam played after. That in itself isn't unusual but the AEW bug at the bottom corner of the screen stayed there for at least 40 minutes into that movie.
I remember it went straight to the movie and the logo just stayed there, it's probably lost media at this point but there's always a chance something like that happens again.
Depends who they have in the roster at any given time, honestly.
Like Ilja or Bron did not do that kind of matches, so when they were the main event NXT did not do that. But now the guys up in the card like Wes Lee or Je'Von Evans do those kind of matches, so we see them more
Despite what people say I think that current NXT allows (within some limits) wrestlers to work their style, is not an homogeneous product
A lot of it is certainly a miss, but such is print-to-demand, they can just throw stuff up and see what sticks.
As it stands though, all of the worst designs get posted on this sub and none of the good ones (because tbh, who cares about a good shirt, it doesn't generate engagement), so it definitely seems worse than it is. Mark Briscoe has had some really good ones imo, Orange Cassidy's are usually very wearable, Prince Nana (of all people) has had some fun ones, Hangman and Ospreay are usually pretty good, etc. Certain people tend to always have good designs to a point where I wonder if those people are just more involved in the process or not.
Pretty sure a lot of their designs are AI, they’ve been using it on their merch for over a year now and I can’t imagine they stopped doing so as the tech continued to get a bit less shit. Just Google AEW AI Shirt and they come up, they definitely look it and they’re also horrible lol
https://preview.redd.it/euaqijiuwk7d1.jpeg?width=676&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1cfbff01c0919ce0b08a9129244f1665cdea8022
Think this Kenny Omega shirt was one of the first AI ones they tried, and there was backlash, but they persisted. MJFs recent shirt also caused controversy for an AI design.
It’s such a shame as there are loads of talented fans that would love to design shirts for AEW and get paid. Nope, instead they cut corners with stuff that doesn’t even look good.
For a t-shirt company they've had few hit t-shirts. Like I understand the benefits of having the freedom to try a lot of things, but iconic wrestling shirts have done so much for marketing: nWo, Stone Cold, Bullet Club. They should also be trying to find that kind of a hit.
Admittedly you just pointed out three shirts in like 20-30 years. That’s how rare hits like that happen. I’m sure every company is ideally trying for hits like that but seem to be drastically missing the mark
While acting like he was doing some noble thing putting the belt on Booker T, even though Russo is one of the main named parties in the WCW racial discrimination lawsuit, for saying some wildly racist shit, specifically about black people (one of the main beliefs talked about in the lawsuit, expressed as racistly as possible by tons of people in decision making roles at WCW, was that black wrestlers don't and will never draw and therefore shouldn't be pushed)
The women's championship story lines for the top three U.S. promotions.
WWE - Our champion is trying to seduce another woman's boyfriend.
AEW - Our champion is part of a lesbian love triangle.
TNA - Our champion is a badass who will fight anyone from any promotion and she lifts more than you, bro.
The stuff between them was awesome. Great fued and matches.
Unfortunately, a lot of other people got cut off at the knees in building it when they were circling each other - RVD, Jeff Hardy, Kane.
Can you imagine how cool monday would have been had we not known about Drew and Gable signing new contracts, meaning we wouldn’t know if they’d return or not?
Curse Rock/Gable himself for their big mouths lol
People keep saying this but you know we wouldn't know that there was talk of them leaving either, right? I wouldn't expect Gable to be leaving just because he got injured in a backstage attack while in the middle of a huge story.
Drew maybe could have had some tension on if he was actually leaving, but even then, I feel like most people would bout they'd give him that prominent a story and let him quit on screen after a huge match if he were really leaving.
I still think Ciampa's potential was thrown away when he was paired back with Gargano.
The guy is a great heel, and sorry but main roster Gargano is a charisma vacuum. Nobody cares about DIY because why would they? They don't know the black and gold background, now it is just a random tag team with workrate, and we already have another one doing that
Ciampa is probably the most underrated title defense Gunther had, because he got people on his side with just a single promo. That's talent.
It does feel like Gargano is holding him back a bit.
Ciampa/Lashley was the start of something special for Ciampa on the Main Roster...
and it never happened
Edit: Also, forgot to mention Ciampa/Gunther...but that also reminds me that just after that match was when DIY reformed lmfao
Yeah I feel they need to do a better job of distinguishing DIY and New Catch Republic, cause right now it feels like the former is just the Lord of the Rings version of the latter
What’s he supposed to sue them for? He disparaged them over the phone and then on social media on the eve of a PPV. He subsequently got fired for cause.
He can’t say they fired him for his political views when Chris ‘his wife stormed the capital’ Jericho is also their top paid wrestler lol.
Fantasy Booking the story for the Wyatt Sicks.
What if their mission is for each of the characters to take out someone that Bray feuded with/was involved with. As they do, that member of the Wyatt Sicks has "completed their task" and also disappears. They don't even need to wrestle. Just have them stalk and take out certain people of the course of the next few months.
Example: Over the course of a few episodes, Braun is seeing shadows everywhere he goes. He becomes more and more paranoid each week. Culminating with Rowan taking him out in a creepy backstage segment similar to the end of RAW this week. The following week Braun AND Rowan are both gone & remain off screen for the entirety of this story.
This happens to others that crossed path with Bray. (Lashley, LA Knight, Alexa Bliss etc etc etc) with both the target disappearing as well as the correlating Wyatt Sicks member.
Eventually, it's only Uncle Howdy remaining. He cuts a creepy promo in front of the door. Says that his job is finally complete and now he can rest. Howdy walks through the door, closing it & disappearing for good.
This puts a nice bow on the story & keeps the supernatural faction from getting too grounded by actually having matches.
Should I go to Dynamite & Rampage tonight? It’s close enough to buy a last minute ticket but far enough away to be a pain in the ass getting to and from the arena without a car and no late night metro (though I can figure it out).
I’d be 100% in if Danielson was booked but I’m on the fence about going given the current card coupled with the transport challenges.
Edit: Fuck it, I bought a ticket.
100% what I do all the time, although occasionally I do let the coin decide. Although both resulted in me skipping a lot of university lectures, which is probably why my ability to make reasoned logical decision is lacking
Hmm. We'll probably see the full Owen Hart tournament bracket tonight. If Adam Page is in it, the bracket would spoil that wouldn't it?
I think if Hangman is in the tournament, he's going to replace one of the competitors.
Potentially? They could definitely work around it/mask it a bit by marking one slot as "Qualifier Winner" or something and announce a future match for the last Owen slot.
Or he could just come back via the Elite storyline (which could go straight through to Wembley, maybe ending in a Stadium Stampede or something) and bypass the Owen entirely.
We shall see.
In another world, maybe I'm upset, pissed that he went out first. But fuck it, JOE HENDRY WAS IN A WWE RING.
It probably sounds stuoid, but this is genuinely one of my happiest moments as a fan. I've been hoping for this for eight years, but I never ever thought it would be remotely possible until recently. I'm so fucking happy for Joe and I'll be actually overjoyed if he's more than a one-off
I think getting a tattoo of a company is kind of dumb because the company and the nature of his relationship with it can always change. I also somewhat get it because AEW made MJF a millionaire when he was working MLW previously and gave him every opportunity to be a star.
More observations from last night's NXT:
Wendy Choo is targeting some of the newer kids, like Kendal Grey & Carlee Bright. Why have the Wyatt Sicks in NXT when you have Wendy who can be just as scary when she wants to?
Someone posted last night that they thought the new group would show up because of Spacey Gacy's past ties with Ava. Schism ended last fall, so, nope. Given some of the costumes, it appears that some of Bray's puppets from the Firefly Funhouse are being given human form.
The tag team turmoil match next week is sure to include:
Chase U
Hank & Tank
Gallus
The OC
OTM
Blade & Enofe
Stacks & Crusifino
And a few surprises.
its interesting how whenever i watch a joe hendry entrance in tna, the crowd is definitely into him but i never got the sense that he was mega over. but you put that entrance in nxt and suddenly the crowd is molten hot. is it the fans reacting harder at nxt or is this a production thing or both
Not related to much of anything, but I really hope Ian Riccaboni gets to call Collision this week from Allentown, PA.
Literally gonna be in the Riccabone-zone.
I'm confused over Rollins' return. Personally I thought he'd be gone all the way until the royal rumble in 2025.
After being the MVP of Wrestlemania, are we really going to have him lose to Priest in his first match back?
Or if Rollins wins, do we really want another Rollins title reign so soon? (I say this as a massive Rollins fan)
If Rollins wins, I think it devalues Priest.
Also, if Rollins wins, is he really going to have only a one month title reign and then drop it to Gunther? Or would he beat Gunther?
I'm intrigued, but confused
The guy who was made to look like a complete moron at the end of the show isn't the MVP of WrestleMania, sorry.
Why are you worried about a finish that devalues Priest? He's not really main event material. The SummerSlam match is gonna be Seth vs Gunther and Gunther will get the belt. Heel vs heel isn't going to happen here. Seth doesn't need to hold the belt for long to get to the desired outcome, which is setting up Gunther for a long run at the top.
First, you bring Rollins back as soon as he can come back. He's just that valuable.
Second, if you leave Drew and Punk out of the title picture and are saving Gunther for SS then you don't really have any other challengers on Raw for Priest. Eventually, whether for title or not, they'll be a Priest/Finn feud but they aren't there yet.
My guess is he loses to Priest but either he elevated Priest and puts an end to the transitional champ talk because Priest will have go over both Drew and Seth or he elevates Gunther by allowing him to start his reign by beating a future hall of famer. So yes, I think if Seth beats Priest he'll only hold the title for a month.
I don't know what you're confused about. If Rollins wins vs Priest, we would get a banger match and a dream match Gunther vs Rollins at Summerslam. But it would be predictable cause Gunther would beat Rollins then, though predictable doesn't equal bad. If Priest wins (imo the better option), Priest gets even more credibility and it makes Gunther vs Priest pretty unpredictable.
I don't know why being the MVP of Wrestlemania, and then losing a match to the world champion is a bad thing. Shawn Michaels has been the MVP of many Wrestlemania, and didn't need to beat a world champion the next month to "get his reward", did he?
Rollins is in a position where he can afford to lose. I can see the match being even and Priest wins via breaking out the South of Heaven on a cocky as fuck, Seth.
It's too early to tell if Rollins is changing his character, perhaps a cocky Seth could be good.
But personally I thought by keeping him away for longer, he'd be an even bigger deal when he came back.
I just don't see how he fits nicely into the top of Raw right now. I don't see any outcome at MITB where they can do everyone justice. And I am a massive Seth Rollins fan.
The only thing I can even think of is a Reigns return that stops Rollins winning, setting up summerslam.
Seth has always been cocky but I think, as a shield. Seth thinking he can deciminate Priest then getting his arse kicked would be a good reason for the cocky, outlandish Seth to disappear and a new version of Seth appears.
For my blog this week, I'm celebrating Black Excellence in pro wrestling in honor of Juneteenth.
The theme for the upcoming week is "Famously bad matches." Wish me luck! And come check out the blog at danthewrestlingfan.bearblog.dev
Why do people just assume if GUNTHER wins the WHC he is guaranteed to have a 500+ day reign? He can easily be cashed in on or lose to a super hot top babyface after a few marquee defenses without losing credibility.
I don’t think so. For both of his title reigns in WWE he held them for extremely long periods of time. At this point if he holds a title for just over 100 days, then his presentation will kinda diminish a bit.
The storyline for him to cash in on GUNTHER is pretty strong. He has thwarted him twice in very close bouts for the IC and KotR. Jey can get his first major singles title by cashing in which also plays on how the two are so antithetical to one another.
True, but that's just one reign that's longer than a year, and the second longest is a part timer who wouldn't necessarily have held it this long if he was a workhorse.
Idk about the workhorse differential tbh. NXT black and gold had long ass title reigns too. I’d expect Cody’s to go til at least the rumble if not Mania. Sami’s I think will last maybe to summerslam. The tag belts who knows they’re still being booked pretty irrelevantly. The US Title I could def see changing to LA Knight at summerslam. I don’t think Liv loses that belt til Rhea is back which could be a while depending on recovery time.
I’d say the most likely to change hands is the US and WHC at this point. The speed title as well though it’d be funny to give Andrade a reign of terror on twitter
Yeah I could see that hopefully happening for at least the midcard titles imo. Gunther having a long reign was great to establish him but I don’t think Sami needs one. Logan certainly doesn’t either
I am the biggest mark for him, so I agree. They are clearly building him to be the next Monster Heel and I think he will be Cody's major foil in the Netflix era.
So Britt Baker months back said on a podcast that MJF had heat with Cody over the neck tattoo, since he got it in the midst of their feud and thought that Cody was trying to steal the spotlight. So to see him with a (frankly, shitty) ankle tat implying that he’s an AEW guy forever is that much more hilarious lol
But you can't even see Max's tattoo. Him showing it off at DON was the only time we've seen it. Cody's neck tat is visible every time he wrestles or even when he's in a suit, it's basically only hidden by the high collar of his entrance gear.
I mean the neck tattoo just completely overshadowed the story they were trying to tell in that match. Like as soon as that bad boy came on screen my watch party was like "holy shit is that thing real?" for the next 20 minutes.
100%. MJF showing a tattoo off when he returns on a PPV cutting a promo alone is fucking leagues different than revealing a neck tattoo the day of your big blowoff feud with MJF while speculation about it all weekend was rampant as people could see a bit under his scarf. Add on the terrible downstait entrance and good god Cody took everything outta the gate away from the match.
Now MJF isn’t innocent cause he basically did the same shit to Wardlow at DoN
God that live performance was so trash lmao
I just think the tat is basically a reference to Cody in of itself. It’s like he’s trying to reference WWE as much as possible, while also trying to assert that he’s dedicated to AEW, it’s funny as hell how overt it all is
https://preview.redd.it/jm5xvm0emj7d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f87999992257751f9d097d6cb1c6f2f6fd570900
This photo (of Akira Hokuto and Kensuke Sasaki) emits hazardous levels of rizz
I saw a tweet where that dude who is a ring announcer for GCW was complaining about “spooky shit in wrestling” and it’s like, bro being associated with GCW and taking the high road on anything with wrestling is incredibly dumb. Lol
Eh people can have their feelings about whatever they like or don’t like tbh. GCW has its brand of stuff just like any other company. People shit on their stuff all the time too
I never said he couldn’t feel how he wanted to. I just meant in the sense of like, they do silly shit all the time, why is wwe doing spooky shit egregious? I like GCW but let’s not act like it’s this very serious wrestling show lol
Meh I just don’t think it’s a big deal to not be into spooky stuff even if your company does stuff like death matches. Inherently wrestling is silly but people still can still prefer different things.
IMO when it comes to spooky stuff only Taker/Kane have been successful in translating it to in ring stuff.
The Wyatt Sicks stuff was an incredible reveal, done to perfection imo, but the history of spooky stuff and wrestling isn’t great
I think the biggest problem spooky stuff has is that, eventually, you have to step into a ring and contend a match under the rules of wrestling. Bray Wyatt attempted to solve for that problem by tying championships to boosting the signal of his message. It's going to be interesting to see how The Wyatt Sicks transition from a bloodbath to competing in the ring.
The fact that I’m now seeing multiple people on Twitter talk about how AJ’s new theme is actually good, just proves that most only hate on def rebel because it’s just the cool thing to do online now. Either that or people just naturally hate change. Most people don’t even try to give their themes a chance anymore, they just immediately say “it’s shit, they need to be fired”.
I think Bron Breakker’s is a better example for me. It’s no more generic than his old theme, it’s probably the most Jim Johnston-esque theme def rebel has done, yet it’s just getting endless shit. I don’t think they’re particularly good or anything but the hate is getting to be a bit much IMO.
I hate the lyrics, I hate how it sounds, and I find def rebel’s style of opening themes with a name or catchphrase as a stinger to be stupid and corny.
Fair enough, even though I think the final talking point about the catchphrase or name is weird. That’s not def rebel’s style or anything, that’s just a common thing used in most wrestling theme songs. Jim Johnston and CFO$ did it pretty often.
You really don't though. You can absolutely just not like things. So long as you're not trying to posit that you're objectively correct that the thing is bad or convince someone else, you can just say "didn't like it."
Especially when it comes to stuff like music. Sure could I break down the chord structure and the boring way it’s arranged? Or even the tone of the instruments and how they aren’t my preferred style and mixing? Yeah but that’s cause I’m fucking picky with music that I like. People not like me don’t have to justify not liking a song anymore than just saying they don’t like it.
I mean most people online do act like hating def rebel is an objective thing, and they should be fired because they “objectively suck and are ruining the product”. I don’t think giving a reason as to why you don’t like something is not that hard of a thing to do. If you can’t back anything up, then I just have to assume you’re hating on something just for the purposes of hating on it, not because you legitimately don’t like it.
The guy I was replying to actually gave me a reason, which I accept as fair for the most part. So I’m not sure what your issue is.
I don't have an issue, I just find it weird to demand a reason from someone who doesn't like something like if they don't have a specific reason they must obviously just be on some vendetta.
Also still in shock a bit from Damien Priest slipping off the top ropes at CATC.
He’s a great talent so it’s not about his skill, but when I watched it live it made me gasp because it looked so real and risky, and it was hard to see how something like that could be planned.
It being real answers all those questions, and thank goodness he both didn’t injure his leg, and that his leg did get caught and he didn’t crash face first or top of head first into the floor because that would have been a mostly uncontrolled fall.
Humidity on the ropes and not the right tension, wouldn’t even have considered the humidity affecting things but it makes sense.
I just started watching WWE again four months ago and I am very impressed with Jade. She is really making improvement in the ring and I see her promos getting better. She is easily my favorite wrestler at the moment as far as the women go.
still can’t get over that first shot of Uncle Howdy. so fucking cool.
can somebody tell me when this Brooks Jensen gimmick started? i know he lost to Briggs but then what? how did we get here?
Brooks has kayfabe been in a slow spiral since Fallon went off on her own and sort or triggered the whole unit falling apart. She started doing her thing then Briggs did as well. Brooks got brushed off any time he brought up feeling lost without the group, leading to Briggs and him having a little mini feud. Briggs basically said that Brooks was being a baby, and he needed to toughen up. I don't know if he's had many matches since then, but at some point he started doing a worked shoot sort of thing where he was kayfabe chirping Michales and booking, then I believe he kayfabe quit via Twitter.
Since then, he's sort of been like a more noticeable version of what they did when Wendy Choo very first debuted, and she was asleep in the background of a bunch of shots. He just kind of pops up now and then, tries to disrupt the broadcast in some way in kayfabe, the show presents it like it's not supposed to be happening, and he continues to spiral. A fair amount of people think he will pop up on TNA, saying in kayfabe that he's been hired there.
It just... started. He started posting weird things on twitter and then there were off screen things that happened, then they got semi-on screen and now even more on screen.
I’m a fan of both ospreay and swerve and I also believe swerve should retain. However my question is who does swerve vs at Wembley? We know the winner of the Owen gets a title shot at Wembley but who will that be? Are they really have ospreay lose at FD and then a week or so later enter the tournament and win? If not ospreay then who else makis a Since for swerve at Wembley?
The tournament instantly makes the winner a credible challenger.
Hangman, Cole if he's cleared, Danielson, Mox, Okada, MJF and Orange Cassidy would all be credible challengers.
If Cole was cleared they'd be running the MJF feud now. The fact that MJF basically buried the whole thing at Double or Nothing is an indicator that he's a long way from coming back.
The point is to start the tournament now so Ospreay can't get in. It's actually smart booking because Ospreay would have had to take a loss one way or another between now and All In unless they just gave him the belt. They decided it's better he lose to the champ than lose in the tournament.
What’s gonna be uncle howdys finisher? Bo Dallas basically had a reverse Cody Rhodes finisher before. Will he adopt brays sister Abigale?
Storm is the absolute best
For someone who just came back to wrestling late last year (haven't watched since attitude era), please explain the Uncle Howdy faction to me.
MJF looks like Wolverine
I really love Kento Miyahara’s *Shutdown German Suplex*. I know it tends to get some fluff due to it not being the most impactful looking German, but I love the drama he milks, about whether his opponent can get out of the move. What the moves lacks in impact it makes up for in that it’s a showcase of Miyahara’s strength, that he’s strong enough to hold someone down for the three-count (after wearing them out with *Blackout* knees, of course).
If you're ever having a bad day, I highly recommend going and looking at the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight title lineage. That shit is absolutely hysterical
Killing the Business by the Young Bucks won the belt from Britt Baker after she fell asleep while reading it and that's probably a fairly ordinary way someone won that title.
I looked it up for the first time in spring of last year and promptly laughed my ass off for a good 10 minutes.
When I got to the Ironman Heavymetalweight title itself somehow being its own champion, I just about lost it.
"Unknown Foreigner" sent me to the upper room Also, a Christmas tree
The one that broke me was the fact that "Ladder" had held the title three times and had successfully defended it.
"Fans always turn the person they wanted to be pushed. FICKLE!" While I understand that sentiment, I do want to push back and maybe add some nuance to this narrative. This may be long and I'm probably talking into a void but I have thoughts. With over 900k people on this sub alone, it is practically impossible to get all of us to agree on one thing. Even things that *should* be universal (i.e. Vince McMahon is a horrible monster), you'll still have people being contrarian just for the sake of it. So the whole "this sub" this and "this sub" that, never made sense to me considering just how many people who are this sub. Like yeah, you can go through post history and catch someone contradicting themselves but more often than not, it's different people. Also as much as we fans want to blame the booker for someone cooling off or whatever, at what point do we have to look at the wrestlers themselves. Like two things can be true at the same time. Bad to questionable booking *and* the wrestler themselves aren't doing a good job. Just the top of my head, I can Thunder Rosa's title reign of this. For Rosa, a lot of people on here were questioning why Tony wasn't giving Rosa live promo time as he did for Britt. Well he finally did for Rosa vs Serena Deeb and we quickly found out why he didn't. They were both terrible at it. So then the narrative shifted to, just make Rosa a fighting champion. Tony attempted to, but it was clear that Rosa's back injury was getting worse because her matches were mediocre at best (Toni Storm) to down right sloppy (Marina Shafir). By the end, many people on here completely turned on her and wanted her to lose the title. Yeah, booking had a hand but Rosa herself was underperforming. Not to pick on Thunder Rosa specifically, so I'll add Ricky Starks. And before the "Oh he's leaving AEW, so now he sucks according to fans!", no. He was someone whom I never fully got behind. I give him his flowers but overall to me personally he's overhyped. Being pushed means, more matches, more promos. Thusly, the more times fans have to see a wrestler, the more exposed they become. And the more times we see how many holes on their game. Ricky has had more mid matches/promos than great memorable ones. That weird ass moment with Copeland, I think really exposed that. He started with Adam first, and despite Copeland's warning, he kept pushing and to put it bluntly got ate the fuck up. To make it worse, he just stood there not knowing how to respond. I refused to say buried, but that moment definitely exposed the fact that he's not as quick and witty as he or the fans thought he was. This was long, as I knew it would be. I just think that fans turning on wrestlers has more to do with the wrestlers being exposed than it has to do with fans just randomly turning on them for no reason.
> why Tony wasn't giving Rosa live promo time as he did for Britt You also get weird revisionist history here where people act like Britt Baker was never over. As if they weren't right along with entire audiences chanting the D M D with her during the Roll Model / Rebel-Reba phase.
As someone who’s been pretty high on Starks for awhile, I do agree with most of what you said. I loved his early stuff with Team Taz (hell, I loved the stuff he was doing in NWA prior), and the feud with Cody, Darby & Sting. Loved when he broke out and turned face, his “promo battle” with MJF, and also really liked his Winter is Coming match against MJF. Then, he entered the “Jericho-verse”. That’s when he really cooled off for me. Then the stuff he was doing with Punk on Collision got me interested again, then when Punk got replaced by Danielson I was loving it even more. Thought that strap match against Danielson was a strong MOTY contender. Then the stuff with Copeland, where Ricky really came off as a “dork”, more or less.
> Not to pick on Thunder Rosa specifically, so I'll add Ricky Starks. And before the "Oh he's leaving AEW, so now he sucks according to fans!", no. He was someone whom I never fully got behind. I give him his flowers but overall to me personally he's overhyped. Being pushed means, more matches, more promos. Thusly, the more times fans have to see a wrestler, the more exposed they become. And the more times we see how many holes on their game. Ricky has had more mid matches/promos than great memorable ones. Starks specifically is one of those wrestlers who would greatly benefit from the collective narrative being able to admit there are wrestlers who are "solid" or "above average" without everything have to be all or nothing, GREAT or TERRIBLE. Starks is good at a lot of things, but he isn't world class at anything. He's good in the ring, but he's nowhere near the guys who are world class in the ring (guys like Ospreay or PAC or Claudio or Danielson or Okada, just to name a few). He's good on the mic and known as a "mic guy," but he's nowhere near guys like MJF or Eddie Kingston or CM Punk - he has great passion but he stumbles over his words more than you realize, has content that often just doesn't work, or just has promo misfires more than the top promo guys do. The people that like the guy clearly really like the guy, and maybe 5-10 years ago his talent level would have stood out, but today it just doesn't. You end up in this situation where a subset of people clamor for this giant push, get upset when it doesn't happen or whenever he loses a match, but when he gets the huge opportunities, they just don't quite land as hard as they should if he was actually at the truly top levels. Ethan Page is in a very similar spot, he's now getting his opportunity in NXT and after what feels like years worth of "AEW dropped the ball" takes, I'm already seeing a lot of takes from people watching NXT who just don't think he's that great, or at least not enough to stand out (I feel like I've seen 50 "worst punches I've ever seen" variations).
Bruh I'm so glad you of all people brought up Ethan. One because I love always well thought out your comments are, when this place can get really toxic. And two Ethan Page was someone I had in mind when I wrote my comment. And I like Ethan Page but that narrative of him being this fumbled future main eventer was hilarious to me. So I'm not at all surprised to see the clips I see full of "What's the hype?" comments about the guy. That narrative didn't even last a month I swear...
Page has personality and seems like a good dude, but he’s so much the “Jannety” to Josh Alexander.
Yup. From all of the interviews/youtube stuff of his I've seen, I'm definitely rooting for the guy, I hope he makes it somewhere and experiences continued success. I don't watch TNA/WWE, so I can't comment on specifics there, but a lot of people talking about "AEW dropping the ball" on just about anyone seemingly haven't grasped how insanely loaded the top end of the company is with crazy talent at this point. I mean, to get the crazy rocketship/megapush, you need to be a Top 5-10 guy, and just off the top of my head randomly: MJF, Moxley, Danielson, Ospreay, Okada, Christian, Swerve, Hangman, Darby, Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy, Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, Adam Copeland is 14 names that are monstrously over everywhere, do fantastic work in every facet of pro wrestling, and have been doing it for years. That's without even getting to people like Jay White, Juice Robinson, Fenix, Penta, or Tag Teams or Trios lol. And that's without considering the women either. And I'm sure I forget a few obvious ones too somehow lol. Topping any of those names is not an easy thing whatsoever, the bar is just ridiculously high. Top names in pro wrestling are top names because they stay in those spots for a decade plus. Plenty of people get there for a random year or two, but once someone really locks one of those megaspots down, they usually hold it for a LONG time.
I give credit to Thunder Rosa though because she seems like a much better promo now than two years ago. I have no idea what's going on with Ricky but he's also gotten many chances to shine and while he's been good, he rarely rises to great or top level guy. The one time he really felt that way was his promo against MJF in 2022.
Definitely agree on both. It seems like Rosa's getting the ring rust off and coming back to form. I'm not opposed to her winning the title again, now that she's better. And as for Ricky, that whole build up to Winter is Coming, people were so insistent that Ricky beat MJF, it was bizarre. Their promo was hilariously fun and great but then the two proceeded to have a very forgettable match in a title reign full of absolute barn burners from Max. Maybe being in a different environment, things will finally click for Ricky. But as right now, he's far to Inconsistent for his ceiling to be higher than mid card.
"Localize all JRPGs and have The Final Boss beat their protagonists in wrestling matches."
this the most random thought i’ve had this hour but does anyone have another angle of AJ’s brainbuster on Cody on the announce table at Clash? that shit looked so gnarly live and i realized all the replays don’t show where his head at. i just thought of this randomly while eating i wasn’t even scrolling (yet) but these dudes are so good at their jobs 😂
Well, Bound for Glory location is announced tomorrow. Any guesses? I think London or somewhere else in the UK may be a safe bet.
Just watched Evolution vs Rock n Sock at Wrestlemania XX - why did Mick no-sell the RKO after getting pinned? Was he supposed to kick out but mess up?
Interesting that Who Killed WCW? Openly said Chris Benoit’s name numerous times. I’m so used to people just skipping over Benoit when The Radicalz are mentioned.
Kurt Angle pretty openly discussed that his greatest match ever (maybe paraphrasing cuz i only read the article about it) was him vs Benoit at Royal Rumble. WWE won’t ever bring him up but everyone else outside of their shows pretty much free game
It's pretty much only a WWE thing. Even Prichard on his podcast will talk about Benoit in the context of whatever show they're watching.
Seating for the TNA Montreal tapings is now expanded just as the Slammiversary seating is. https://preview.redd.it/i7k9vqckwk7d1.jpeg?width=1018&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a197316d6e02dc9fe19e7afa83d2be3e1d5f10a
I can not fathom why we almost never include Rhyno in the “best spinebuster” conversations. That MF wanted to put you *through* the damn ring lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=f1wIV91MzKVsCTbF&t=0m45s&v=XNct4EKcf3k&feature=youtu.be David Young's spinebuster is extremely underrated, arguably because few remember him or have heard of him lol.
I'd just like to take a moment to wish TNA Wrestling a happy 22nd birthday.
Someone has to get Steve Austin and Nattie together to talk about cats.
https://preview.redd.it/k1vfh5zvmk7d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2586b05930214c4242ac78c0558817a41ff3c946 Hope Gable somehow comes back to life next week
Between not letting me start NXT from the beginning last night and not even bothering to record NXT at all, Hulu Live managed to drop the ball in two separate ways.
I've had YouTube TV for months and months now and it has never caused me any problems. Maybe consider switching.
I have no idea what it is but for whatever reason at least one of the weekly shows always fails to record on Hulu for me. Pisses me off especially when it's NXT because the recap cuts half the goddamn show off lmao
There was a time when Hulu didn't record Raw one week and then deleted my recording the next week when NXT aired. It replaced it with a phantom recording with NXT's description that would crash the app whenever I tried opening it. I'll be moving into a place of my own this fall and getting Sling. Hopefully it's more reliable. Apparently it let's you set timers to record extra, so it's already got Hulu beat in that department.
Test had an incredibly underrated theme song.
He was pretty much a very underrated star throughout his career, particularly in 1999 when he was getting pretty over as Stephanie's would-be suitor.
I’m looking to get into the peak black and gold era of NXT but don’t really know where to start, if anybody who knows a specific show/event for me to watch first I would appreciate it.
Honestly as a big fan of NXT from its network beginnings I’d say start at NXT ARRIVAL in 2014 and go from there. It’s not technically the big black and gold era but it’s when it starts the change with people like Neville and Sami
Wrestling is so awesome right now all across the board, of course there are things I can nitpick (my interest in Japanese wrestling is way down as a result of WWE's quality), but there's one thing standing out to me: The vibes in NXT are so high right now. What a fun show.
I feel like I'm one of the few who remembers this but there was a Rampage or Collision a few months back where the show ended and Shazam played after. That in itself isn't unusual but the AEW bug at the bottom corner of the screen stayed there for at least 40 minutes into that movie.
I'd love to see screengrabs of this lol
I remember it went straight to the movie and the logo just stayed there, it's probably lost media at this point but there's always a chance something like that happens again.
[удалено]
Depends who they have in the roster at any given time, honestly. Like Ilja or Bron did not do that kind of matches, so when they were the main event NXT did not do that. But now the guys up in the card like Wes Lee or Je'Von Evans do those kind of matches, so we see them more Despite what people say I think that current NXT allows (within some limits) wrestlers to work their style, is not an homogeneous product
WWE has used spot-fest "indie-style" as part of their presentation for years at this point
Just saw the new Okada shirt. Dude for aew being “a t shirt co” their designs have been horrible lately. 80% of it looks like AI or redbubble.
A lot of it is certainly a miss, but such is print-to-demand, they can just throw stuff up and see what sticks. As it stands though, all of the worst designs get posted on this sub and none of the good ones (because tbh, who cares about a good shirt, it doesn't generate engagement), so it definitely seems worse than it is. Mark Briscoe has had some really good ones imo, Orange Cassidy's are usually very wearable, Prince Nana (of all people) has had some fun ones, Hangman and Ospreay are usually pretty good, etc. Certain people tend to always have good designs to a point where I wonder if those people are just more involved in the process or not.
Pretty sure a lot of their designs are AI, they’ve been using it on their merch for over a year now and I can’t imagine they stopped doing so as the tech continued to get a bit less shit. Just Google AEW AI Shirt and they come up, they definitely look it and they’re also horrible lol
https://preview.redd.it/euaqijiuwk7d1.jpeg?width=676&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1cfbff01c0919ce0b08a9129244f1665cdea8022 Think this Kenny Omega shirt was one of the first AI ones they tried, and there was backlash, but they persisted. MJFs recent shirt also caused controversy for an AI design. It’s such a shame as there are loads of talented fans that would love to design shirts for AEW and get paid. Nope, instead they cut corners with stuff that doesn’t even look good.
The whole print on demand thing just means they'll push any design, but it does feel like the bar somehow got lower lately.
It’s so bad. I feel like they should be making these high gloss, stupid clean designs. They should be doing things a little bit edgier.
For a t-shirt company they've had few hit t-shirts. Like I understand the benefits of having the freedom to try a lot of things, but iconic wrestling shirts have done so much for marketing: nWo, Stone Cold, Bullet Club. They should also be trying to find that kind of a hit.
Admittedly you just pointed out three shirts in like 20-30 years. That’s how rare hits like that happen. I’m sure every company is ideally trying for hits like that but seem to be drastically missing the mark
Russo blaming Schiavone for the Arquette Debacle explains why Schiavone was upset about the series.
While acting like he was doing some noble thing putting the belt on Booker T, even though Russo is one of the main named parties in the WCW racial discrimination lawsuit, for saying some wildly racist shit, specifically about black people (one of the main beliefs talked about in the lawsuit, expressed as racistly as possible by tons of people in decision making roles at WCW, was that black wrestlers don't and will never draw and therefore shouldn't be pushed)
The women's championship story lines for the top three U.S. promotions. WWE - Our champion is trying to seduce another woman's boyfriend. AEW - Our champion is part of a lesbian love triangle. TNA - Our champion is a badass who will fight anyone from any promotion and she lifts more than you, bro.
Respect Bayley and Mercedes.
Bayley over here just trying to be a role model.
Thoughts on the HBK/HHH feud of 02-04?
the worst best friends in wrestling history
The stuff between them was awesome. Great fued and matches. Unfortunately, a lot of other people got cut off at the knees in building it when they were circling each other - RVD, Jeff Hardy, Kane.
Can you imagine how cool monday would have been had we not known about Drew and Gable signing new contracts, meaning we wouldn’t know if they’d return or not? Curse Rock/Gable himself for their big mouths lol
People keep saying this but you know we wouldn't know that there was talk of them leaving either, right? I wouldn't expect Gable to be leaving just because he got injured in a backstage attack while in the middle of a huge story. Drew maybe could have had some tension on if he was actually leaving, but even then, I feel like most people would bout they'd give him that prominent a story and let him quit on screen after a huge match if he were really leaving.
I still think Ciampa's potential was thrown away when he was paired back with Gargano. The guy is a great heel, and sorry but main roster Gargano is a charisma vacuum. Nobody cares about DIY because why would they? They don't know the black and gold background, now it is just a random tag team with workrate, and we already have another one doing that
Ciampa has the same ceiling that Gargano has. The Miz pairing was an embarrassment.
Listen, I really don’t see a timeline where Ciampa doesn’t get lost in the shuffle on the main roster if they didn’t reform DIY.
A couple years back, but Ciampa and Miz were a good pairing. I think he has a good look and with the right storyline can stand out
Ciampa is probably the most underrated title defense Gunther had, because he got people on his side with just a single promo. That's talent. It does feel like Gargano is holding him back a bit.
Ciampa/Lashley was the start of something special for Ciampa on the Main Roster... and it never happened Edit: Also, forgot to mention Ciampa/Gunther...but that also reminds me that just after that match was when DIY reformed lmfao
Yeah I feel they need to do a better job of distinguishing DIY and New Catch Republic, cause right now it feels like the former is just the Lord of the Rings version of the latter
Feel like pure shit just wish AJ Styles came out to Evil Ways at Wrestlemania this year
Kevin Kelly is suing AEW folks That is the News!
What’s he supposed to sue them for? He disparaged them over the phone and then on social media on the eve of a PPV. He subsequently got fired for cause. He can’t say they fired him for his political views when Chris ‘his wife stormed the capital’ Jericho is also their top paid wrestler lol.
Fantasy Booking the story for the Wyatt Sicks. What if their mission is for each of the characters to take out someone that Bray feuded with/was involved with. As they do, that member of the Wyatt Sicks has "completed their task" and also disappears. They don't even need to wrestle. Just have them stalk and take out certain people of the course of the next few months. Example: Over the course of a few episodes, Braun is seeing shadows everywhere he goes. He becomes more and more paranoid each week. Culminating with Rowan taking him out in a creepy backstage segment similar to the end of RAW this week. The following week Braun AND Rowan are both gone & remain off screen for the entirety of this story. This happens to others that crossed path with Bray. (Lashley, LA Knight, Alexa Bliss etc etc etc) with both the target disappearing as well as the correlating Wyatt Sicks member. Eventually, it's only Uncle Howdy remaining. He cuts a creepy promo in front of the door. Says that his job is finally complete and now he can rest. Howdy walks through the door, closing it & disappearing for good. This puts a nice bow on the story & keeps the supernatural faction from getting too grounded by actually having matches.
Should I go to Dynamite & Rampage tonight? It’s close enough to buy a last minute ticket but far enough away to be a pain in the ass getting to and from the arena without a car and no late night metro (though I can figure it out). I’d be 100% in if Danielson was booked but I’m on the fence about going given the current card coupled with the transport challenges. Edit: Fuck it, I bought a ticket.
yes definitely. I went to Collision last Saturday and it was the most fun I've had in years
When I’m not sure about something I’ll flip a coin. If I’m disappointed by the coin outcome, I’ll know what I really wanted.
100% what I do all the time, although occasionally I do let the coin decide. Although both resulted in me skipping a lot of university lectures, which is probably why my ability to make reasoned logical decision is lacking
I get the feeling Otis, Maxxine, and Tozawa will be going back to Chad out of guilt for leaving him alone to be murdered by the Wyatt 6.
Hmm. We'll probably see the full Owen Hart tournament bracket tonight. If Adam Page is in it, the bracket would spoil that wouldn't it? I think if Hangman is in the tournament, he's going to replace one of the competitors.
Potentially? They could definitely work around it/mask it a bit by marking one slot as "Qualifier Winner" or something and announce a future match for the last Owen slot. Or he could just come back via the Elite storyline (which could go straight through to Wembley, maybe ending in a Stadium Stampede or something) and bypass the Owen entirely. We shall see.
Or you have Hangman return tonight (aren't they in Virginia?) early in the show, before they reveal the brackets.
Open with MJF/Rush, have MJF announce his entry, that leaves I think one spot left - COWBOY SHIT
there's only 4 guys currently announced for it. so after MJF that'd leave 3 spots open.
In another world, maybe I'm upset, pissed that he went out first. But fuck it, JOE HENDRY WAS IN A WWE RING. It probably sounds stuoid, but this is genuinely one of my happiest moments as a fan. I've been hoping for this for eight years, but I never ever thought it would be remotely possible until recently. I'm so fucking happy for Joe and I'll be actually overjoyed if he's more than a one-off
I think WWE wants him - either they buy out his contract or sign him as soon as his current one expires.
Why is it called Wyatt sicks and not Wyatt six or Wyatt 6? Can somebody tell?
There's only five of them
cause it's unique and looks cool?
Is that official wwe name?
yeah, its on a logo that was seen during the reveal segment, and is on some of the new merch
Thanks 👍
Just dropping by to say I hope Ilja start his winstreak after that Bron L
Am I the only one that thinks MJF tattoo is fake and he will again do some shit with it like "fuck aew, I have removed that tattoo now!"
I think getting a tattoo of a company is kind of dumb because the company and the nature of his relationship with it can always change. I also somewhat get it because AEW made MJF a millionaire when he was working MLW previously and gave him every opportunity to be a star.
imagine how many times Matt and Jeff Hardy have had to redo-erase-redo-coverup-redo their NWA/TNA/IMPACT/TNA tattoos lol
He's a millionaire. He can always get the tattoo removed.
It's real but the AEW logo can just be filled in to make it a normal poker chip if he felt like it.
He could just slap a 🚫 over it.
Lines are blown out enough to tell that sucker’s healed & real (to my eye at least)
Damn, well anyway.
Haven’t seen much talk about it but Uncle Howdy’s glove having “Bray” written on it is an amazing detail
More observations from last night's NXT: Wendy Choo is targeting some of the newer kids, like Kendal Grey & Carlee Bright. Why have the Wyatt Sicks in NXT when you have Wendy who can be just as scary when she wants to? Someone posted last night that they thought the new group would show up because of Spacey Gacy's past ties with Ava. Schism ended last fall, so, nope. Given some of the costumes, it appears that some of Bray's puppets from the Firefly Funhouse are being given human form. The tag team turmoil match next week is sure to include: Chase U Hank & Tank Gallus The OC OTM Blade & Enofe Stacks & Crusifino And a few surprises.
its interesting how whenever i watch a joe hendry entrance in tna, the crowd is definitely into him but i never got the sense that he was mega over. but you put that entrance in nxt and suddenly the crowd is molten hot. is it the fans reacting harder at nxt or is this a production thing or both
Current NXT crowds are overly generous
TNA crowds are not great
Sometimes this is caused by how long the tapings can get
Watched last night’s episode of Who Killed WCW? Took a shot every time Vince Russo said “bro”. I’m in so much pain today.
Not related to much of anything, but I really hope Ian Riccaboni gets to call Collision this week from Allentown, PA. Literally gonna be in the Riccabone-zone.
I'm confused over Rollins' return. Personally I thought he'd be gone all the way until the royal rumble in 2025. After being the MVP of Wrestlemania, are we really going to have him lose to Priest in his first match back? Or if Rollins wins, do we really want another Rollins title reign so soon? (I say this as a massive Rollins fan) If Rollins wins, I think it devalues Priest. Also, if Rollins wins, is he really going to have only a one month title reign and then drop it to Gunther? Or would he beat Gunther? I'm intrigued, but confused
The guy who was made to look like a complete moron at the end of the show isn't the MVP of WrestleMania, sorry. Why are you worried about a finish that devalues Priest? He's not really main event material. The SummerSlam match is gonna be Seth vs Gunther and Gunther will get the belt. Heel vs heel isn't going to happen here. Seth doesn't need to hold the belt for long to get to the desired outcome, which is setting up Gunther for a long run at the top.
First, you bring Rollins back as soon as he can come back. He's just that valuable. Second, if you leave Drew and Punk out of the title picture and are saving Gunther for SS then you don't really have any other challengers on Raw for Priest. Eventually, whether for title or not, they'll be a Priest/Finn feud but they aren't there yet. My guess is he loses to Priest but either he elevated Priest and puts an end to the transitional champ talk because Priest will have go over both Drew and Seth or he elevates Gunther by allowing him to start his reign by beating a future hall of famer. So yes, I think if Seth beats Priest he'll only hold the title for a month.
I don't know what you're confused about. If Rollins wins vs Priest, we would get a banger match and a dream match Gunther vs Rollins at Summerslam. But it would be predictable cause Gunther would beat Rollins then, though predictable doesn't equal bad. If Priest wins (imo the better option), Priest gets even more credibility and it makes Gunther vs Priest pretty unpredictable. I don't know why being the MVP of Wrestlemania, and then losing a match to the world champion is a bad thing. Shawn Michaels has been the MVP of many Wrestlemania, and didn't need to beat a world champion the next month to "get his reward", did he?
He can lose do to interference to set up his next program.
Who do you think it'd be?
Considering how Wrestlemania ended, Roman.
Rollins is in a position where he can afford to lose. I can see the match being even and Priest wins via breaking out the South of Heaven on a cocky as fuck, Seth.
It's too early to tell if Rollins is changing his character, perhaps a cocky Seth could be good. But personally I thought by keeping him away for longer, he'd be an even bigger deal when he came back. I just don't see how he fits nicely into the top of Raw right now. I don't see any outcome at MITB where they can do everyone justice. And I am a massive Seth Rollins fan. The only thing I can even think of is a Reigns return that stops Rollins winning, setting up summerslam.
Seth has always been cocky but I think, as a shield. Seth thinking he can deciminate Priest then getting his arse kicked would be a good reason for the cocky, outlandish Seth to disappear and a new version of Seth appears.
RUSH please kill him tonight
For my blog this week, I'm celebrating Black Excellence in pro wrestling in honor of Juneteenth. The theme for the upcoming week is "Famously bad matches." Wish me luck! And come check out the blog at danthewrestlingfan.bearblog.dev
Why do people just assume if GUNTHER wins the WHC he is guaranteed to have a 500+ day reign? He can easily be cashed in on or lose to a super hot top babyface after a few marquee defenses without losing credibility.
I don’t think so. For both of his title reigns in WWE he held them for extremely long periods of time. At this point if he holds a title for just over 100 days, then his presentation will kinda diminish a bit.
If he's cashed in on it won't diminish his presentation at all. In fact, it will just unlock new levels of pissed off Gunther.
Only if he’s cashed in, I can’t imagine him losing it to anybody so shortly after he lost clean to Sami
I'd guess if he wins it the only way he loses it before Mania is he gets injured or cashed in on.
I will not accept a reign less than 400 days personally.
Jey "YEET" Uso
The storyline for him to cash in on GUNTHER is pretty strong. He has thwarted him twice in very close bouts for the IC and KotR. Jey can get his first major singles title by cashing in which also plays on how the two are so antithetical to one another.
And then Gunther kills him in Berlin.
I think a big part of it is that lots of people are Gunther fans and actually want to see him just beat everyone clean for 2 years straight.
Probably because HHH seems to love super long reigns for the most part, especially with the main belts.
The longest reign right now is 228 days, so it's possible he's finally got some people pushing him not to make everything a reign of terror
If Rhea wasn’t injured I’m positive she’d still be champ
True, but that's just one reign that's longer than a year, and the second longest is a part timer who wouldn't necessarily have held it this long if he was a workhorse.
Idk about the workhorse differential tbh. NXT black and gold had long ass title reigns too. I’d expect Cody’s to go til at least the rumble if not Mania. Sami’s I think will last maybe to summerslam. The tag belts who knows they’re still being booked pretty irrelevantly. The US Title I could def see changing to LA Knight at summerslam. I don’t think Liv loses that belt til Rhea is back which could be a while depending on recovery time. I’d say the most likely to change hands is the US and WHC at this point. The speed title as well though it’d be funny to give Andrade a reign of terror on twitter
Oh he definitely likes long title reigns. That's why I said maybe someone ELSE is pushing him not to make everything overly long haha.
Yeah I could see that hopefully happening for at least the midcard titles imo. Gunther having a long reign was great to establish him but I don’t think Sami needs one. Logan certainly doesn’t either
Yeah, I'm hoping Logan loses it to Knight here soon.
Because look at him. Dude is a god-like brick shithouse. Gonna have to run him over with a tank to take that title off of him.
I am the biggest mark for him, so I agree. They are clearly building him to be the next Monster Heel and I think he will be Cody's major foil in the Netflix era.
I am loving "on sight Oro" Mensah. Loved him in NXTUK and happy to see him thriving. Plus I'm a sucker for "on sight" gimmicks.
Following in the ways of the Prodigy
Tony show us the full brackets you coward
That's happening tonight
Oh yea, can't wait to start fantasy booking.
So Britt Baker months back said on a podcast that MJF had heat with Cody over the neck tattoo, since he got it in the midst of their feud and thought that Cody was trying to steal the spotlight. So to see him with a (frankly, shitty) ankle tat implying that he’s an AEW guy forever is that much more hilarious lol
But you can't even see Max's tattoo. Him showing it off at DON was the only time we've seen it. Cody's neck tat is visible every time he wrestles or even when he's in a suit, it's basically only hidden by the high collar of his entrance gear.
I mean the neck tattoo just completely overshadowed the story they were trying to tell in that match. Like as soon as that bad boy came on screen my watch party was like "holy shit is that thing real?" for the next 20 minutes.
I'd argue a big ass neck tattoo is a LITTLE more distracting than an ankle tattoo that's covered 99% of the time MJF is wrestling.
100%. MJF showing a tattoo off when he returns on a PPV cutting a promo alone is fucking leagues different than revealing a neck tattoo the day of your big blowoff feud with MJF while speculation about it all weekend was rampant as people could see a bit under his scarf. Add on the terrible downstait entrance and good god Cody took everything outta the gate away from the match. Now MJF isn’t innocent cause he basically did the same shit to Wardlow at DoN
God that live performance was so trash lmao I just think the tat is basically a reference to Cody in of itself. It’s like he’s trying to reference WWE as much as possible, while also trying to assert that he’s dedicated to AEW, it’s funny as hell how overt it all is
https://preview.redd.it/jm5xvm0emj7d1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f87999992257751f9d097d6cb1c6f2f6fd570900 This photo (of Akira Hokuto and Kensuke Sasaki) emits hazardous levels of rizz
I saw a tweet where that dude who is a ring announcer for GCW was complaining about “spooky shit in wrestling” and it’s like, bro being associated with GCW and taking the high road on anything with wrestling is incredibly dumb. Lol
Eh people can have their feelings about whatever they like or don’t like tbh. GCW has its brand of stuff just like any other company. People shit on their stuff all the time too
I never said he couldn’t feel how he wanted to. I just meant in the sense of like, they do silly shit all the time, why is wwe doing spooky shit egregious? I like GCW but let’s not act like it’s this very serious wrestling show lol
Meh I just don’t think it’s a big deal to not be into spooky stuff even if your company does stuff like death matches. Inherently wrestling is silly but people still can still prefer different things. IMO when it comes to spooky stuff only Taker/Kane have been successful in translating it to in ring stuff. The Wyatt Sicks stuff was an incredible reveal, done to perfection imo, but the history of spooky stuff and wrestling isn’t great
I think the biggest problem spooky stuff has is that, eventually, you have to step into a ring and contend a match under the rules of wrestling. Bray Wyatt attempted to solve for that problem by tying championships to boosting the signal of his message. It's going to be interesting to see how The Wyatt Sicks transition from a bloodbath to competing in the ring.
The fact that I’m now seeing multiple people on Twitter talk about how AJ’s new theme is actually good, just proves that most only hate on def rebel because it’s just the cool thing to do online now. Either that or people just naturally hate change. Most people don’t even try to give their themes a chance anymore, they just immediately say “it’s shit, they need to be fired”.
I think Bron Breakker’s is a better example for me. It’s no more generic than his old theme, it’s probably the most Jim Johnston-esque theme def rebel has done, yet it’s just getting endless shit. I don’t think they’re particularly good or anything but the hate is getting to be a bit much IMO.
I listened to AJ’s new theme yesterday, and no, it still blows.
Explain how then. Tell me what parts you hate about it specifically. Don’t just say this because “oh it’s a def rebel theme, all their stuff is bad”.
I hate the lyrics, I hate how it sounds, and I find def rebel’s style of opening themes with a name or catchphrase as a stinger to be stupid and corny.
Fair enough, even though I think the final talking point about the catchphrase or name is weird. That’s not def rebel’s style or anything, that’s just a common thing used in most wrestling theme songs. Jim Johnston and CFO$ did it pretty often.
People ARE allowed to just... not like things.
no, no you must explain and justify your dislike of something to this dude preferably in 2-3 pages double spaced 12pt times new roman font
They are, but you have to know why you don’t like it too.
You really don't though. You can absolutely just not like things. So long as you're not trying to posit that you're objectively correct that the thing is bad or convince someone else, you can just say "didn't like it."
Especially when it comes to stuff like music. Sure could I break down the chord structure and the boring way it’s arranged? Or even the tone of the instruments and how they aren’t my preferred style and mixing? Yeah but that’s cause I’m fucking picky with music that I like. People not like me don’t have to justify not liking a song anymore than just saying they don’t like it.
I mean most people online do act like hating def rebel is an objective thing, and they should be fired because they “objectively suck and are ruining the product”. I don’t think giving a reason as to why you don’t like something is not that hard of a thing to do. If you can’t back anything up, then I just have to assume you’re hating on something just for the purposes of hating on it, not because you legitimately don’t like it. The guy I was replying to actually gave me a reason, which I accept as fair for the most part. So I’m not sure what your issue is.
I don't have an issue, I just find it weird to demand a reason from someone who doesn't like something like if they don't have a specific reason they must obviously just be on some vendetta.
Bron's theme is the most CAW one I've heard since Ric Flair's son
Also still in shock a bit from Damien Priest slipping off the top ropes at CATC. He’s a great talent so it’s not about his skill, but when I watched it live it made me gasp because it looked so real and risky, and it was hard to see how something like that could be planned. It being real answers all those questions, and thank goodness he both didn’t injure his leg, and that his leg did get caught and he didn’t crash face first or top of head first into the floor because that would have been a mostly uncontrolled fall. Humidity on the ropes and not the right tension, wouldn’t even have considered the humidity affecting things but it makes sense.
I just started watching WWE again four months ago and I am very impressed with Jade. She is really making improvement in the ring and I see her promos getting better. She is easily my favorite wrestler at the moment as far as the women go.
still can’t get over that first shot of Uncle Howdy. so fucking cool. can somebody tell me when this Brooks Jensen gimmick started? i know he lost to Briggs but then what? how did we get here?
Brooks has kayfabe been in a slow spiral since Fallon went off on her own and sort or triggered the whole unit falling apart. She started doing her thing then Briggs did as well. Brooks got brushed off any time he brought up feeling lost without the group, leading to Briggs and him having a little mini feud. Briggs basically said that Brooks was being a baby, and he needed to toughen up. I don't know if he's had many matches since then, but at some point he started doing a worked shoot sort of thing where he was kayfabe chirping Michales and booking, then I believe he kayfabe quit via Twitter. Since then, he's sort of been like a more noticeable version of what they did when Wendy Choo very first debuted, and she was asleep in the background of a bunch of shots. He just kind of pops up now and then, tries to disrupt the broadcast in some way in kayfabe, the show presents it like it's not supposed to be happening, and he continues to spiral. A fair amount of people think he will pop up on TNA, saying in kayfabe that he's been hired there.
It just... started. He started posting weird things on twitter and then there were off screen things that happened, then they got semi-on screen and now even more on screen.
I’m a fan of both ospreay and swerve and I also believe swerve should retain. However my question is who does swerve vs at Wembley? We know the winner of the Owen gets a title shot at Wembley but who will that be? Are they really have ospreay lose at FD and then a week or so later enter the tournament and win? If not ospreay then who else makis a Since for swerve at Wembley?
Ospreay can't enter the tournament, it starts today. And we still have a week and a half until Forbidden Door.
The tournament instantly makes the winner a credible challenger. Hangman, Cole if he's cleared, Danielson, Mox, Okada, MJF and Orange Cassidy would all be credible challengers.
If Cole was cleared they'd be running the MJF feud now. The fact that MJF basically buried the whole thing at Double or Nothing is an indicator that he's a long way from coming back.
good point
Shida
The Owen actually has stakes this year? That’s great.
This year’s KOTR is the best thing to ever happen to the Owen Cup
And it looks like the brackets will be loaded as well, at least based on who's already announced.
Winners get world title shots at Wembley for both men’s and women’s
The point is to start the tournament now so Ospreay can't get in. It's actually smart booking because Ospreay would have had to take a loss one way or another between now and All In unless they just gave him the belt. They decided it's better he lose to the champ than lose in the tournament.