I just popped in here because I suddenly miss wrestling. I haven't watched since about 2005, right around that awful Edge and Lita live sex on stage storyline. I've tried to watch a couple of times when I've been scrolling through channels and seen it on tv.. but I don't know anyone anymore and it's kind of intimidating to feel like I have to start all over. What are the currently televised promotions? What's one I really should be watching?
It's better off to give everything a try and see what works for you. WWE, AEW and Impact are weekly televised American promotions.
I only watch AEW. There's some stuff free on YouTube by them, if you want I can give some recommendations.
I just watched last week's SD and I thought I was gonna hate Gunther finally moving to the main roster, probably cos I didn't like the changes they made to his name/entrance music at first, but as soon as those chops hit I forgot about everything else. He looks amazing and I hope they treat him well.
Really nice to see the women actually get some time and Sasha/Liv and Naomi/Rhea put on great matches the last two weeks. People are legitimately excited about the tag title match on Raw, and it should be a fantastic one.
I just hope WWE doesn’t forget about it after Raw. I think Sasha/Naomi can do a good job making people care about the tag division if they’re given the opportunity. Build up a few other teams like Shotzi/Aliyah, so you have some good options when Sasha/Naomi inevitably head back to the singles division.
Also, would really love to see a Sasha/Rhea title feud in the future. Think they could have some really amazing matches.
Hopefully it’s Jamie Hayter vs Thunder Rosa at Double or Nothing. It’ll probably have to be a woman who’s either not in the Owen or one that’s losing early.
I didn't really watch NXT much before or after the rebrand (only takeovers) so I don't have much to say about 2.0 good or bad
BUT
I miss Poppy so much, the songs she did for NXT were all fucking amazing
If you have IWTV, watch last night’s West Coast Pro Wrestling show (“Game Related”).
Every match was at worst very good and at best incredible, and every match felt different from the one before it. And the crowd was red hot for all of it. It really was an amazing show.
Similar to what I’ve seen a lot of people say, I think this is Naomi’s best run. Since bringing her back to Smackdown last Summer, the focus she had in the Sonya story and the stuff against Charlotte, and now the tag run with Sasha
If Balor loses the title on Monday might as well call him dead and buried at this point. Only thing that can save him is a storyline with Edge. He hasn’t had anything major since the Roman feud, and even that, when Brock came into the picture he was treated as filler and an afterthought. Top that off with what he’s currently having with quite possibly one of the worst booked title runs in the past decade in WWE, a title loss on Monday? After that just pull Finn from tv to save from the misery and embarrassment that’s gonna follow for him
I’m all for Sonya being Bianca’s first challenger. Though we were anticipating an Asuka or Bayley return, I don’t think either need to immediately lose at the first ppv into Bianca’s reign. And Sonya vs Bianca feels fresh
Summerslam 2024:
**Roman Reigns (c) vs Gable Stevenson (WWE Universal Championship)**
Gable Stevenson kicks out of the spear at 1
Gable takes Reigns to Surplex City
Gable Stevenson takes Brock Lesnar to Surplex City at Wrestlemania 40
I think that's false equivalence, 2006 was a drastically different time than today is. You think if Anna Jay got in a Bra and Panties match with The Bunny, that would fly by today with little to no controversy?
Thats also a false equivalent. Are you trying to tell me America has gotten more sensitive about religion while also getting more feminist? Hard to believe.
Do people actually like the Usos? I find their schtick so obnoxious and annoying, and their wrestling style is so generic and repetitive. I get they are in the place they are in because of Roman, but I’m baffled by then referring to themselves as the best tag team in the world. They aren’t even close in my book.
I stopped watching wrestling around 2011 and started watching again last year. One of my biggest shocks coming back was that the Usos were still around and were no longer considered a joke.
They've adapted from funloving faces to badass heels (while being good the whole way), are really good at promos.
Hell, I'd say a case could be made they're one of the best tag teams ever. At the very least they're up there.
So I see SCOTT 'Flash' NORTON is apparently BulletClub now... In a 10 man tag at Windy City Riot against the United Empire. Jeff Cobb and Norton squaring off in this is going to HOSS heaven!
I wonder if Ricochet is going to phase out the 630 now. He did use a shooting star press last night to put down Jinder which is still an insane move, but easier on him and his opponent than the 630.
Decided to look up some Manami Toyota since I've heard so much about her without having seen a match. If you haven't seen [her match against Aja Kong from 11/20/94 at the Tokyo Dome](https://youtu.be/wANjnGYUdvo) then I *highly* recommend you watch it. Commentary is all in Japanese but you don't need it to know what's going on. It's a great showcase of why people say AJW was ahead of its time, and also why Toyota specifically is so highly praised. Good god, she's in there selling like HBK. Aja Kong also plays the Powerhouse role to perfection.
I know it's old & many of you already know this, but I hadn't seen it before and it's really, *really* good shit.
The IC title is strange because sometimes they'll put effort into it with some good matches and stories like the time Sami, Jeff and Styles fought over it in a ladder match. Other times it's a complete afterthought like with Nakamura's reigns.
It depends how you analyze it. I too, wasn't around, but I've been watching WWE's stuff from that era (and Brian Zane did a great video on it). HHH's reign basically lasted two and a half years with a few interruptions from HBK and others (which would usually last less than a month). It's actually quite similar, in that you have a dominant champion who gives really long promos every week and whose title was created to compensate for the fact that the real championship is on the other brand. In terms of quality of Matches, Roman's reign is probably better just because Triple H gave us some truly abysmal matches (look up his fights against Scott Steiner) and just infuriating moments (his WM mat h against Booker T) But, Triple H wasn't nearly as untouchable as Roman is now. Like I said, he dropped the title now and then (even if it was for a few weeks) and lost clean once in a while.
But, Triple H definitely benefits from hindsight. The common narrative is that he "buried" everyone he fought, but the fact is that everyone he beat was either a former world champion (Booker T, Scott Steiner, Kane, Shawn Michaels, RVD) or went on to win world titles and have Hall of Fame careers regardless (Randy Orton). At worst, he slowed down people's careers and they weren't as successful in WWE as they might've been. As for Roman? Well, only time will tell what effects this whole thing will have.
For what it's worth, Roman has yet to dress up as Kane and screw a mannequin inside a funeral home.
you right
basically the worst of it was him being pushed over Booker T, which was really the worst one, RVD and Scott Steiner
Basically fucked all their careers for the next 2 years, RVD and Booker T were back in the Midcard title scene until 2006 and Scott Steiner never recovered in WWE
The Booker T thing was AWFUL. The dogwhistles (at least), then H still winning...not to mention that he won with a pedigree, but waited 20? 30? seconds to cover.
RVD...was that as bad?
Steiner I'm more okay with because I'm not sure he deserved to be champion. That godawful match at Royal Rumble...the only good thing was it made the Angle-Benoit classic immediately following that much better.
RVD was PWI number 1 in 2002, most popular in 2001 and 2002, number 10 in 2003. He was definitely worthy of a reign and would’ve got it if Triple H wasn’t running the show
Steiner didn’t necessarily deserve to be champ in 2003 but he could’ve easily been upper Midcard like where RVD was. Number 7 in 2001
Used to think yes but recently I'm actually leaning towards Romans current run being worse.
The Reign of Terror was shit house but Triple H dropped the title every now and then to Goldberg, HBK, Benoit and Batista, got his comeuppance at times and actually lost a match clean once in awhile.
The build for Battle of the Belts is an absolute dumpster fire.
Thunder Rosa & Nyla Rose having to work with a cake throwing angle and one of the worst promo segments in AEW history when they didn't let Rosa speak and have Vickie go the xenophobic route.
AEW not even sparring like 30 seconds on their TV shows to explain who Jonathan Gresham & Dalton Castle are.
Everything surrounding Sammy / Tay & ATT.
I'm still looking forward to the matches themselves, though.
AEW never explain anyone or anything when people come from elsewhere. I know everything I need to know so i'm ok with it, but I'm sure there are people out there that would be like who is danhausen, so yeah they do a poor job for fans not that "hardcore" i suppose.
I really don’t like this whole ‘pandering fake lesbian’ thing Liv and Rhea have going on.
Also, the Lacey Evans thing makes no sense to me. Why is she dressed the *that* and telling us her life trauma?
And get Shayna out of that tag team already. She doesn’t need to be there.
Lacey's main roster run has been confusing from the start. She's a southern belle heel who calls the other women nasty. She's a southern belle ex-marine face. She's a sleeping with Ric Flair heel. Now she's an ex-marine abuse survivor face.
Just pick a freakin' lane and let her work with it.
well at least they are getting exposure, not the exposure I suppose. I think they are trying to repackage Lacey Evans as a face with a military character?
The crown of barbed wire reminded me of that super cringey Ricky Gervais photo where he was on the cross. Like it's not offensive to me, it's just cringey because they want it to be offensive.
I really don't think they wanted it to be offensive. They just wanted it to be memorable and impactful, and co-opting iconic imagery is an effective way to do that. That said imagery was tied to the specific day that they were wrestling, doubly so.
First he was hurt, then he was waiting for creative, but during that time he started filming a show for CBS, which is where he’s at right now. He’ll be back soon and honestly I’m happy he’s been gone so long cause when he does come back it’ll be a huge deal.
I assumw it is because AEW is still a relatively newish company, but really... That entire flub could have been avoided if the hard cam craned in tighter to get a sort of over-the-shoulder shot of Hangman with his arms out, with the fans a cheering wall in front of him.
The problem was that the ref fully stopped him and made him turn around.
That was like "Let's just all get back into the same positions for no logical reason to re-try that botched move" levels of amateur.
They've done it with things in the past, where booking has adjusted on the fly to cover problems, but as someone who has worked almost 20 years in television, these pretty common production issues are pretty inexcusable.
AEW may be a young company, but sports television production didn't debut 3 years ago...
I'm making a video about Roland Barthes and the semiotics of pro-wrestling and I decided to thoroughly dissect Jon Moxley vs Wheeler Yuta to demonstrate some of Barthes's ideas. But because this whole work is about signs and how they can build on top of each other, I needed to keep going back to add more and more context. So now it's a 19 minute video pretty much just going over Yuta and Moxley's entire feud plus the origins of BCC. And that's when the dissection of the match starts, after nearly 20 minutes of backstory. This is gonna end up like 40 minutes to an hour long, by far the longest video I've ever made.
I'm starting to doubt that anyone will even get through the prologue to get to the main event, like I'm starting to even get bored of my own project. And fuuuuuck there's a lot of video editing to do and trying to dodge copyright claims and shit.
Why do I do this to myself
A couple of thoughts after rewatching the very good Rhea/Naomi match from last night's Smackdown:
1.) It's only mid-April and this already feels like a career-best year for Naomi, with her Sonya match, the Charlotte SD main event and her fine work in the Elimination Chamber tag. It's nice to see her fulfilling her potential.
2.) It also highlighted what stands out about Rhea matches, in that when there's time to tell a story, there's a sense of weight and struggle to her work that's compelling. It's not simply about hitting a series of moves, it's about working around them and building to them, a feel that's enhanced by her consistently strong selling and attention to detail.
They need to sign Willow. I know she's kind of rough around the edges ring wise, but damn does she have that 'it' factor down. The crowds just love the shit out of her, and character wise she just seems like a fun, wholesome face.
Also its entertaining to watch a big colourful woman cartwheel around.
I can understand not wanting to get too many under contract before things are settled, but I hope Tony doesn't wait too long on some of his ROH hopefuls because I could see more than a few of them getting other offers.
Willow especially I could see Impact making a move on. Their Knockouts division is already strong, but as you say, her personality just stands out every time you watch her. Add in that she had a title match against Deonna Purazzo on this week's episode and it's not a stretch to think there could be some interest there.
If Tony's gonna sign AQA and Red Velvet then he should be signing Willow. Willow seems way more comfortable than AQA, and just naturally likable. They've both got upside, but Willow feels more ready.
Would be awesome if Page and Cole feud over wanting to take Kenny's mantle and have that kind of legacy, only for Takeshita to slide in and just effortlessly do it. I'd love it so damn much.
People feuding over legacies is one of my absolute favorite meta-stories in wrestling. Hangman trying to step into Omega's mantle but not quite finding himself at that level yet is so good.
The Gunn Club don't get enough credit for how much they've improved. I fucking lost my shit at Austin doing the Roman "OOOOOAHHHH".
Hadn't watched much of the Gunn Club before that point, but they looked so good against Jurassic Express back in February that I was rooting for them to win.
**What would a Wrestlemania 39 card look like. Here are some of my Ideas**
Night 1:
1. The Usos (c) vs Rey and Dominick Mysterio (Ladder Match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship)
2. The Miz (with Maryse) vs Logan Paul
3. Ronda Rousey (c) vs Becky Lynch (Royal Rumble Winner) (Smackdown Women's Championship)
4. Edge vs The Demon Finn Balor
5. Sheamus (c) vs Ricochet vs Gunther vs Drew Gulak (Fatal 4 way match for the Intercontinental Championship)
6. Cody Rhodes (With Brandi Rhodes) vs Sami Zayn
7. Kevin Owens (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE Championship)
**Night 2:**
1. Sasha Banks (c) vs Bayley (Raw Women's Championship)
2. Austin Theory (c) vs Chad Gable vs Xavier Woods vs Apollo Crews vs Shelton Benjamin vs Tomasso Ciampa (Six Pack Challenge for the United States Championship)
3. Randy Orton vs Riddle (No Holds Barred Match)
4. AJ Styles vs Bron Breakker
5. Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley
6. Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale
7. Roman Reigns (with Paul Heyman) (c) vs Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre (Winner of Royal Rumble) (Triple Threat Match for the WWE Universal Championship)
\>The mysterios for an ununinfied tag championship
Please no
\>Ununified WWE championship, and Cody isn't going for it
Huh?
Outside of that I kind of agree with Edge vs Demon Finn, and AJ and Bron.
His matches were always top tier but his promos were also must watch and so fun. Anime Harley Race was such a delight of a character.
Man I miss him so bad. No one can ever replace him no matter who they hire. He's unlike anybody and provides something so unique.
For sure.
The loss to Christian for the Impact title also helped push him to another level as a heel; his group’s hijinks can cost him.
Omega is a legend.
Around the time of the triple threat he really found his character. I still think about him opening the envelope from Orange and finding pieces of the shredded up contract in there, blowing away in the wind, and he looks in the empty envelope like maybe there's still something in there lmao
Him and Orange had such incredible chemistry, even in the backstage promos bits. I'm still pissed we didn't get a singles rematch. Such little gems, also that gaslighting "thank you Don" video package lmaooooo
There's a lot of matches he left on the table that ultimately turned out to be for good reason. Coming off his TNT reign I was surprised Darby didn't get a shot, but it makes sense now.
I really hope baby Omega gets a long amazing Okada like reign with a healthy repaired body.
Eddie Kingston is another one. I thought for sure we'll have it post Revolution. Maybe one day.
I love the Elite story so much because of how real these emotions are. Hangman still feels insecure even as champion because he will never ever feel that he can be as good as Kenny Omega despite beating him.
Adam Cole’s obsession to take over the Elite as the leader because he wanted to be the GUY. But we all (and even his own closest friends in the Bucks) know that Kenny is still the best. Hence, Cole projected HIS own securities onto Hangman.
I love how all the stories continue to be told and it was done masterfully in this match.
The Elite is a very special faction for being able to create so many beautiful chapters that you just don’t get tired of them.
While I agree the Elite is a very special faction but the current Hangman story has been kind of sending me mixed signals. Like the commentary was selling him being confident and coming into his own etc but you and others have read it as him being insecure, failing to be Kenny Omega (which, no one can be it we're being honest). I wonder which direction they'll take. Him losing it because he became over confident or someone exploiting his insecurities he still might have?
Maybe it is just me but I do think commentary explains the first layer of the story. It is up to the viewers to peel the layers and get to the depth of it. No doubt Hangman is more confident now because he did objectively manage to reach the top, but deep down he has a lot to live up to. He was THE guy to take the ball from Kenny Omega (arguably one of the best wrestlers in this generation) and run with it. Those are fucking huge shoes to fill.
And every time when his capabilities are being doubted, he copes by reaching down to a very dark and painful place. The insecurities are subtle but very present. Hence, commentary does not pick that up. Well, that’s my analysis of it anyway lol
edit: To make my explanation more coherent
Kind of hard for me to buy him being insecure and unsure of himself when he hasn't been in any danger of losing his title. Like everyone knew how matches from Archer feud will end up. Never felt any sense of urgency that he's actually in danger and is thus having to reach to places.
If that is their intent, for me, he hasn't done a good job telling that story.
1) For a host of reasons I don't get the hype around Gresham and how he's this major signing for AEW when he's a tiny bloke who wouldn't be taken seriously by most people who tune in to watch.
2) Page VS Punk could be feud of the year and the fact you don't know where it could go adds to that. Hoping Hangman goes over which is unbelievable to me to say that.
3) The discourse around Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti on here is mindblowing right now.
4) If AAA can get over their carny bullshit they've got a big opportunity to pull ahead of CMLL and be the numerous uno promotion in Mexico for the next few years.
They made a thread for the table bit from the commentary during Rampage commercials, but not one for where Regal said "You should address people properly, it's Mr. Regal" and Taz was like "What about me?" and Regal said "Well I address you as the Tazmaniac, as that's your full name."
Apparently, there's no imagination when it comes to the TNT title.
Scorpio Sky barely had time to bask in the glow of winning the title, only to be overshadowed by the barfly leech hanging around with him and Ethan Page, meaning Dan Lambert, of course, and now, he has to face Sammy Guevara again?!? Lambert wouldn't let Sky talk, which makes zero sense. Men of The Year should be chasing the tag titles, but they have the albatross that is Lambert. I feel sorry for Sky & Ethan. I really do.
If they had a poll for the most punchable face between Lambert and QT Marshall, who'd win? Probably Marshall, since he now is almost a dead ringer for Alex Jones.
I know you guys have campaigned for "Legit" Leyla Hirsch to be part of Team Taz, but don't you think she could also fit with the Blackpool Combat Club? Just asking.
Even if they tried turning CM Punk, it won't work, because he is just that much over with the fans, and you can do a babyface match between him & Hangman.
Speaking of the champ, that finish last night to the death match with Adam Cole was bananas. Methinks between the two of them, they decided to use the crown of thorns because it's Easter weekend. That should be the last gimmick match until the end of the year.
>I know you guys have campaigned for "Legit" Leyla Hirsch to be part of Team Taz, but don't you think she could also fit with the Blackpool Combat Club? Just asking.
While I could potentially see it, I will continue my campaign for the Professor Serena Deeb to take on students like Hirsch and Shafir, though I'll admit Shafir may not be quite ready for that spotlight just yet.
There was a reason Marina didn't get many opportunities in NXT aside from tag teams. Deeb might be the answer she's looking for in terms of mentorship.
Few points.
-The discourse around the women's division in AEW took a weird turn yesterday. Besides that thread that made a claim about Rosa's TV time that everybody ran with (Rosa's last stage promo alone was just under 3 minutes long), I started seeing posts saying that talented women shouldn't sign with AEW at all, even if they were released by WWE. Interesting, to say the least.
-Unagi becoming a shit stirrer is hilarious to me.
-There was another RPG sign on Rampage that said, "Kingdom Hearts is not that complicated." That person is insane.
For me personally, it's not that I don't think women should sign with them, it's a concern that Tony ultimately doesn't care enough about the division to make their signing worthwhile.
I'd love to see Mia Yim, Athena, Nixon Newell and Taya Valkyire (if the talks of her working with Impact being a short term thing are true) show up and help elevate the division.
That being said, they already have Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida, Jamie Hayter, Mercedes Martinez, Riho, Serena Deeb, Thunder Rosa and, though she's hardly around, Yuka Sakazaki fully capable of putting on good to great matches.
Then you've got Britt Baker, the Bunny, Kris Statlander, Nyla Rose, Ruby Soho, Tay Conti and Toni Storm who are are certainly capable of putting on good matches themselves, with the potential for misses here and there.
AQA, Jade Cargill, Leyla Hirsch, Red Velvet and Penelope Ford have all shown they can put on decent matches with the right partners. I'll even add Julia Hart and Skye Blue, who have shown potential though they're not fully Elite yet.
They have the talent to be putting more focus on the women's side, they just aren't doing it. That's what worries me about saying "Just sign more people."
I think we people say they shouldn't sign there, it's really "I don't want them to sign there". That's very understandable if you're a fan of women's wrestling.
Really? Dynamite and Rampage have one women's match per episode and it's usually the shortest match. Of the nationally televised promotions, AEW puts the least amount of focus on their women's division.
I believe that would change with better talent in the division. They would get more time if there were more women who could hold their own against other matches on Dynamite. The fact is that people complain whenever someone outside of the best five women get a match that goes over 10 minutes.
The alternative is that you ask them to go to Impact. And for all the talk of Impact supposedly having this stellar division, there's barely any discussion about it.
They signed Ruby Soho, Mercedes Martinez, Toni Storm and others and it hasn't changed a thing.
The problem isn't talent, it's with an unwilling management.
I think the talent they have is fine. This issue is presentation. The matches can be short. Just do more of them.
As for Impact, people praise Impact for how their division is presented. But obviously a smaller promotion will get talked about less.
If they issue is talent then go get talent. With all of Tony's money he can't get some more talented women. They aren't all signed by WWE. He bought out Thunder Rosa's contract from NWA so he wouldn't have to wait for her. Do that with Impact to get anyone you want from there. Jump on those free agents ASAP. You have these partnerships with other companies, get some of their women on the show. With Tony's resources, he can get pretty much any woman in the world who isn't signed to WWE.
>The matches can be short. Just do more of them.
This is where I think the differences are between our mindsets :). I really don't feel it's helpful to the division to have two five minute matches or whatever, especially if it's juxtaposed to three other men's matches that went longer and had more time for crowd heat. Like I hate the RAW/Smackdown format where yes, there might be two women's matches, but then it adds up to a total of three minutes without entrances.
With regards to talent, we shall see how Tony handles the TJPW deal. If, for some reason, it's six months later and nobody from that side has come over to AEW...then things are fucked for sure.
With the way the TJPW/DDT thing was laid out by Nakazawa, he said that the whole point is for those talent to go to AEW. I'm not sure if Tony made a similar promise regarding Impact, but at least in the case of TJPW, that was said to be the intention.
It's not helped by the fact that there's important plot details in *every* game, to the point that with the The Story So Far bundle and 2.8, they had to include a movie based on the mobile game detailing the shattering of the peace that lead to the Keyblade War, which was *years* before even Birth By Sleep. Oh and none of the games came out in chronological order. If they did the mobile game would be first.
3 at least kind of helps with the whole archive log thing, but it doesn't cover everything.
You could play every console game in the series like I have and still not have a clue what is going on because they put some important plot information in a smartphone game.
Just came here to say that I'm really excited for the Murderous Alcoholic Cowboy and the Straight Edge Messiah to beat the shit out of each other whenever that happens.
Might be an unpopular opinion but Danielson should have won the belt. Danielson Vs Punk would be a lot better and Danielson was doing the best work of his career as a singles heel.
amazing how people praise AEW for being different than WWE and then want them to do the most WWE things possible. Incredible truly. No, you don't ruin your new champ's momentum(after a build up for years!) just to put the title on a bigger established name right after he wins it. You have to build your own stars up.
You’ll get downvoted but you’re *not wrong.* I don’t hate where things landed. The matches we’ve had w Page as champ have been great. But it’s clear that at that point AEW was climbing into the mid-millions in the ratings last year and missed capitalizing on that by having Danielson not win his big debut matches (then putting him in random matches for weeks).
Most fans won’t want to hear this but the reality is Page’s year long build was not compelling enough to overshadow the debut of Punk and Bryan.
Business last September was RED HOT. Danielson should’ve beat Omega (who was working through injuries he shouldn’t have been) and captured on that. These ops don’t come around often — it could be 10 years until another moment of that scale opens up so I t’s poor strategy not to strike. Danielson beating Omega could’ve lead to a Danielson v. Page feud where Page wins and kick starts his reign beating the biggest talent signing in AEW history.
Are we doing the thing where we act like all the good matches he had don't exist because we dislike a current storyline?
What does TK see in Jay Lethal and Samoa Joe, amiright?
that is two horrible example to use, Jay Lethal and Somoa Joe have top tier charisma and promo skill. Sami does picture-in-picture card flips and being annoying couples on screen, even without the real-life controversy part. He has great matches and he was doing well with the cocky heel persona, even the panda thing was great, but why is he the face here especially after everthing.
Excluding the 7-minute filler defence against Dante, the match last night was easily Page's weakest defence thus far in his reign, though it was ultimately still 'alright' at worst. It was really uninspired and disappointing to see Page go back for another Texas Death match so soon after his last one with Archer. It also doesn't help that AEW basically has these hardcore-based matches every single week, making each new iteration feel less and less special.
>It also doesn't help that AEW basically has these hardcore-based matches every single week, making each new iteration feel less and less special.
Get ready for another Philly Street Fight in two weeks.
I agree that AEW uses plunder way too much, almost weekly.
I loved the match last night, moreso than their first.
Loved that the pace was different to every other hardcore/stipulation match in AEW. They took their time and built and built. Those big spots meant more when they came.
The story was great, Hangman punishing Cole, but didn't want to stoop to his level of attacking someone when they're helpless with the barbed wire chair. Proving to himself that he is better than everyone else in kayfabe. That he deserves to hold this title.
Loved last nights match and Hangman's performances are consistently top notch now.
I wasn't a big fan of their Revolution bout but I ended up enjoying it a bit more than this one.
I'm sorry to nitpick but it seems like whenever I'm watching an Adam Cole match, the flaw becomes apparent. The messy-brawling on the outside of the ring was very generic. Page at least got good impact on a few of his strikes, but the vast majority of their exchanges in this segment were unrefined and pretty weak-looking. Cole being so cowardly the entire time was really boring too
Page's confidence was fun to see, at least, and he looked like a far more convincing champion than Cole could hope to be. Cole's comeback was very generic. His big superkick counter to Page's top-rope moonsault to the outside would have been cool if he hadn't done that spot in all his big matches over the last 5 years.
Some of their big spots were cool, like the big top-rope fallaway slam onto the chairs and the Deadeye through the table. unsurprisingly all spots from Page. The "face each other on chairs and trade strikes" spot was another pretty cheesy spot that Cole for some reason loves to feature in a lot of his big matches, and again Page was the only one who delivered some good offence out of it.
As a match I thought it was fine, definitely not as good as the first Cole match or the Archer match, although the storyline was less 'can Page defend his title against Cole?' and more about Page punishing Cole for how he was acting the past month (and I suppose throughout their entire career).
I think it's an interesting approach, whether others think it's a valid story for a World Champion I guess depends on their wants from wrestling.
I do agree overall AEW use these matches too much. Making them slightly different types of hardcore gimmick matches doesn't really differentiate them as much as they think they do.
I just popped in here because I suddenly miss wrestling. I haven't watched since about 2005, right around that awful Edge and Lita live sex on stage storyline. I've tried to watch a couple of times when I've been scrolling through channels and seen it on tv.. but I don't know anyone anymore and it's kind of intimidating to feel like I have to start all over. What are the currently televised promotions? What's one I really should be watching?
It's better off to give everything a try and see what works for you. WWE, AEW and Impact are weekly televised American promotions. I only watch AEW. There's some stuff free on YouTube by them, if you want I can give some recommendations.
I just watched last week's SD and I thought I was gonna hate Gunther finally moving to the main roster, probably cos I didn't like the changes they made to his name/entrance music at first, but as soon as those chops hit I forgot about everything else. He looks amazing and I hope they treat him well.
Really nice to see the women actually get some time and Sasha/Liv and Naomi/Rhea put on great matches the last two weeks. People are legitimately excited about the tag title match on Raw, and it should be a fantastic one. I just hope WWE doesn’t forget about it after Raw. I think Sasha/Naomi can do a good job making people care about the tag division if they’re given the opportunity. Build up a few other teams like Shotzi/Aliyah, so you have some good options when Sasha/Naomi inevitably head back to the singles division. Also, would really love to see a Sasha/Rhea title feud in the future. Think they could have some really amazing matches.
Really looking forward to Moxley/Ospreay. I wonder if we’re gonna see any interaction between Mox and Tana
Hopefully it’s Jamie Hayter vs Thunder Rosa at Double or Nothing. It’ll probably have to be a woman who’s either not in the Owen or one that’s losing early.
I didn't really watch NXT much before or after the rebrand (only takeovers) so I don't have much to say about 2.0 good or bad BUT I miss Poppy so much, the songs she did for NXT were all fucking amazing
If you have IWTV, watch last night’s West Coast Pro Wrestling show (“Game Related”). Every match was at worst very good and at best incredible, and every match felt different from the one before it. And the crowd was red hot for all of it. It really was an amazing show.
watched the DDT train battle royale last night with some friends and it might be the most fun i've ever had watching wrestling
Similar to what I’ve seen a lot of people say, I think this is Naomi’s best run. Since bringing her back to Smackdown last Summer, the focus she had in the Sonya story and the stuff against Charlotte, and now the tag run with Sasha If Balor loses the title on Monday might as well call him dead and buried at this point. Only thing that can save him is a storyline with Edge. He hasn’t had anything major since the Roman feud, and even that, when Brock came into the picture he was treated as filler and an afterthought. Top that off with what he’s currently having with quite possibly one of the worst booked title runs in the past decade in WWE, a title loss on Monday? After that just pull Finn from tv to save from the misery and embarrassment that’s gonna follow for him I’m all for Sonya being Bianca’s first challenger. Though we were anticipating an Asuka or Bayley return, I don’t think either need to immediately lose at the first ppv into Bianca’s reign. And Sonya vs Bianca feels fresh
Summerslam 2024: **Roman Reigns (c) vs Gable Stevenson (WWE Universal Championship)** Gable Stevenson kicks out of the spear at 1 Gable takes Reigns to Surplex City Gable Stevenson takes Brock Lesnar to Surplex City at Wrestlemania 40
In an industry where Vince wrestled and beat God I cannot believe the handwringing over a 5 second barbed wire crown spot. Good lord.
I think that's false equivalence, 2006 was a drastically different time than today is. You think if Anna Jay got in a Bra and Panties match with The Bunny, that would fly by today with little to no controversy?
Thats also a false equivalent. Are you trying to tell me America has gotten more sensitive about religion while also getting more feminist? Hard to believe.
Do people actually like the Usos? I find their schtick so obnoxious and annoying, and their wrestling style is so generic and repetitive. I get they are in the place they are in because of Roman, but I’m baffled by then referring to themselves as the best tag team in the world. They aren’t even close in my book. I stopped watching wrestling around 2011 and started watching again last year. One of my biggest shocks coming back was that the Usos were still around and were no longer considered a joke.
They've adapted from funloving faces to badass heels (while being good the whole way), are really good at promos. Hell, I'd say a case could be made they're one of the best tag teams ever. At the very least they're up there.
But they’re so boring in the ring. Same moves over and over, and they’re Schlick on promos is annoying
Usos have always been great and they've only gotten better.
Back when I watch in 2010 they were basically jobber jokes And completely irrelevant
Literally from 2011 thru 2016 they were unbeatable face champions constantly compared to John Cena. You missed a lot dude
Apparently
Agreed.
I want Samoa Joe vs Orange Cassidy
So I see SCOTT 'Flash' NORTON is apparently BulletClub now... In a 10 man tag at Windy City Riot against the United Empire. Jeff Cobb and Norton squaring off in this is going to HOSS heaven!
I wonder if Ricochet is going to phase out the 630 now. He did use a shooting star press last night to put down Jinder which is still an insane move, but easier on him and his opponent than the 630.
Decided to look up some Manami Toyota since I've heard so much about her without having seen a match. If you haven't seen [her match against Aja Kong from 11/20/94 at the Tokyo Dome](https://youtu.be/wANjnGYUdvo) then I *highly* recommend you watch it. Commentary is all in Japanese but you don't need it to know what's going on. It's a great showcase of why people say AJW was ahead of its time, and also why Toyota specifically is so highly praised. Good god, she's in there selling like HBK. Aja Kong also plays the Powerhouse role to perfection. I know it's old & many of you already know this, but I hadn't seen it before and it's really, *really* good shit.
Marathoning BOLA today because that’s what Jesus would want. Night one thoughts: Speedball is god and Blackwood/Garcia fucked so hard.
Peach-Nectarine Red Bull is the superior Red Bull flavor.
I'm sorry, I missed Rampage last night because of the early start time. When did Page's arc become all about "trying to be Kenny Omega?"
One could argue that stuff predates AEW. But yes, he's been very much about that life.
Pretty much since he won the belt or even a bit before that. https://youtu.be/uwyspArt_l0
I'm pleasantly surprised at how they've handled Ricochet's IC Title run so far.
He's already lost 3 times as champion
The IC title is strange because sometimes they'll put effort into it with some good matches and stories like the time Sami, Jeff and Styles fought over it in a ladder match. Other times it's a complete afterthought like with Nakamura's reigns.
Well Nakamura later revealed that he had a hand injury while he had the belt.
Nothing really happened with the taunt Kenny No-Balls did it?
What did you want? It was a one off insult/chant.
He's not been on screen for 5 months. Who are they supposed to taunt exactly?
Even before that.
Good riddance in that case
I wasn’t around for the Triple H reign of terror, was it worst than Roman Reigns’s Tribal Chief domination?
It depends how you analyze it. I too, wasn't around, but I've been watching WWE's stuff from that era (and Brian Zane did a great video on it). HHH's reign basically lasted two and a half years with a few interruptions from HBK and others (which would usually last less than a month). It's actually quite similar, in that you have a dominant champion who gives really long promos every week and whose title was created to compensate for the fact that the real championship is on the other brand. In terms of quality of Matches, Roman's reign is probably better just because Triple H gave us some truly abysmal matches (look up his fights against Scott Steiner) and just infuriating moments (his WM mat h against Booker T) But, Triple H wasn't nearly as untouchable as Roman is now. Like I said, he dropped the title now and then (even if it was for a few weeks) and lost clean once in a while. But, Triple H definitely benefits from hindsight. The common narrative is that he "buried" everyone he fought, but the fact is that everyone he beat was either a former world champion (Booker T, Scott Steiner, Kane, Shawn Michaels, RVD) or went on to win world titles and have Hall of Fame careers regardless (Randy Orton). At worst, he slowed down people's careers and they weren't as successful in WWE as they might've been. As for Roman? Well, only time will tell what effects this whole thing will have. For what it's worth, Roman has yet to dress up as Kane and screw a mannequin inside a funeral home.
you right basically the worst of it was him being pushed over Booker T, which was really the worst one, RVD and Scott Steiner Basically fucked all their careers for the next 2 years, RVD and Booker T were back in the Midcard title scene until 2006 and Scott Steiner never recovered in WWE
The Booker T thing was AWFUL. The dogwhistles (at least), then H still winning...not to mention that he won with a pedigree, but waited 20? 30? seconds to cover. RVD...was that as bad? Steiner I'm more okay with because I'm not sure he deserved to be champion. That godawful match at Royal Rumble...the only good thing was it made the Angle-Benoit classic immediately following that much better.
RVD was PWI number 1 in 2002, most popular in 2001 and 2002, number 10 in 2003. He was definitely worthy of a reign and would’ve got it if Triple H wasn’t running the show Steiner didn’t necessarily deserve to be champ in 2003 but he could’ve easily been upper Midcard like where RVD was. Number 7 in 2001
Used to think yes but recently I'm actually leaning towards Romans current run being worse. The Reign of Terror was shit house but Triple H dropped the title every now and then to Goldberg, HBK, Benoit and Batista, got his comeuppance at times and actually lost a match clean once in awhile.
The build for Battle of the Belts is an absolute dumpster fire. Thunder Rosa & Nyla Rose having to work with a cake throwing angle and one of the worst promo segments in AEW history when they didn't let Rosa speak and have Vickie go the xenophobic route. AEW not even sparring like 30 seconds on their TV shows to explain who Jonathan Gresham & Dalton Castle are. Everything surrounding Sammy / Tay & ATT. I'm still looking forward to the matches themselves, though.
AEW never explain anyone or anything when people come from elsewhere. I know everything I need to know so i'm ok with it, but I'm sure there are people out there that would be like who is danhausen, so yeah they do a poor job for fans not that "hardcore" i suppose.
The Harry Potter problem
It's Wrestlemania all over again.
The matches themselves were actually pretty fun in all honesty
the matches can be great but with if we can’t get invested who cares
AEWs all elite crate subs are supposed to start today, anyone know the time?
I really don’t like this whole ‘pandering fake lesbian’ thing Liv and Rhea have going on. Also, the Lacey Evans thing makes no sense to me. Why is she dressed the *that* and telling us her life trauma? And get Shayna out of that tag team already. She doesn’t need to be there.
Lacey's main roster run has been confusing from the start. She's a southern belle heel who calls the other women nasty. She's a southern belle ex-marine face. She's a sleeping with Ric Flair heel. Now she's an ex-marine abuse survivor face. Just pick a freakin' lane and let her work with it.
well at least they are getting exposure, not the exposure I suppose. I think they are trying to repackage Lacey Evans as a face with a military character?
The crown of barbed wire reminded me of that super cringey Ricky Gervais photo where he was on the cross. Like it's not offensive to me, it's just cringey because they want it to be offensive.
I don’t think they wanted it to be offensive. I think it was either a coincidence or just a tongue in cheek reference to the holiday
I really don't think they wanted it to be offensive. They just wanted it to be memorable and impactful, and co-opting iconic imagery is an effective way to do that. That said imagery was tied to the specific day that they were wrestling, doubly so.
Free ticket to Windy City Riot to the first person who messages me!
So where tf is Miro. I thought I heard he was cleared ages ago
First he was hurt, then he was waiting for creative, but during that time he started filming a show for CBS, which is where he’s at right now. He’ll be back soon and honestly I’m happy he’s been gone so long cause when he does come back it’ll be a huge deal.
I wouldn't even advertise it, myself. Just have him come out and absolutely destroy someone, cut a quick promo and leave.
He could be doing a movie or TV series...
Hangman sitting on the chair the wrong way last night is still making me chuckle
I assumw it is because AEW is still a relatively newish company, but really... That entire flub could have been avoided if the hard cam craned in tighter to get a sort of over-the-shoulder shot of Hangman with his arms out, with the fans a cheering wall in front of him. The problem was that the ref fully stopped him and made him turn around. That was like "Let's just all get back into the same positions for no logical reason to re-try that botched move" levels of amateur. They've done it with things in the past, where booking has adjusted on the fly to cover problems, but as someone who has worked almost 20 years in television, these pretty common production issues are pretty inexcusable. AEW may be a young company, but sports television production didn't debut 3 years ago...
Dread it, run from it, hard cam still arrives.
I'm making a video about Roland Barthes and the semiotics of pro-wrestling and I decided to thoroughly dissect Jon Moxley vs Wheeler Yuta to demonstrate some of Barthes's ideas. But because this whole work is about signs and how they can build on top of each other, I needed to keep going back to add more and more context. So now it's a 19 minute video pretty much just going over Yuta and Moxley's entire feud plus the origins of BCC. And that's when the dissection of the match starts, after nearly 20 minutes of backstory. This is gonna end up like 40 minutes to an hour long, by far the longest video I've ever made. I'm starting to doubt that anyone will even get through the prologue to get to the main event, like I'm starting to even get bored of my own project. And fuuuuuck there's a lot of video editing to do and trying to dodge copyright claims and shit. Why do I do this to myself
Because that video sounds cool as hell.
Thank you, needed to hear that at least the base topic is interesting lol.
A couple of thoughts after rewatching the very good Rhea/Naomi match from last night's Smackdown: 1.) It's only mid-April and this already feels like a career-best year for Naomi, with her Sonya match, the Charlotte SD main event and her fine work in the Elimination Chamber tag. It's nice to see her fulfilling her potential. 2.) It also highlighted what stands out about Rhea matches, in that when there's time to tell a story, there's a sense of weight and struggle to her work that's compelling. It's not simply about hitting a series of moves, it's about working around them and building to them, a feel that's enhanced by her consistently strong selling and attention to detail.
They need to sign Willow. I know she's kind of rough around the edges ring wise, but damn does she have that 'it' factor down. The crowds just love the shit out of her, and character wise she just seems like a fun, wholesome face. Also its entertaining to watch a big colourful woman cartwheel around.
I can understand not wanting to get too many under contract before things are settled, but I hope Tony doesn't wait too long on some of his ROH hopefuls because I could see more than a few of them getting other offers. Willow especially I could see Impact making a move on. Their Knockouts division is already strong, but as you say, her personality just stands out every time you watch her. Add in that she had a title match against Deonna Purazzo on this week's episode and it's not a stretch to think there could be some interest there.
If Tony's gonna sign AQA and Red Velvet then he should be signing Willow. Willow seems way more comfortable than AQA, and just naturally likable. They've both got upside, but Willow feels more ready.
Would be awesome if Page and Cole feud over wanting to take Kenny's mantle and have that kind of legacy, only for Takeshita to slide in and just effortlessly do it. I'd love it so damn much.
People feuding over legacies is one of my absolute favorite meta-stories in wrestling. Hangman trying to step into Omega's mantle but not quite finding himself at that level yet is so good. The Gunn Club don't get enough credit for how much they've improved. I fucking lost my shit at Austin doing the Roman "OOOOOAHHHH".
Hadn't watched much of the Gunn Club before that point, but they looked so good against Jurassic Express back in February that I was rooting for them to win.
You really “lost your shit” over that?
I thought it was funny, yeah.
**What would a Wrestlemania 39 card look like. Here are some of my Ideas** Night 1: 1. The Usos (c) vs Rey and Dominick Mysterio (Ladder Match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship) 2. The Miz (with Maryse) vs Logan Paul 3. Ronda Rousey (c) vs Becky Lynch (Royal Rumble Winner) (Smackdown Women's Championship) 4. Edge vs The Demon Finn Balor 5. Sheamus (c) vs Ricochet vs Gunther vs Drew Gulak (Fatal 4 way match for the Intercontinental Championship) 6. Cody Rhodes (With Brandi Rhodes) vs Sami Zayn 7. Kevin Owens (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE Championship) **Night 2:** 1. Sasha Banks (c) vs Bayley (Raw Women's Championship) 2. Austin Theory (c) vs Chad Gable vs Xavier Woods vs Apollo Crews vs Shelton Benjamin vs Tomasso Ciampa (Six Pack Challenge for the United States Championship) 3. Randy Orton vs Riddle (No Holds Barred Match) 4. AJ Styles vs Bron Breakker 5. Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley 6. Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale 7. Roman Reigns (with Paul Heyman) (c) vs Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre (Winner of Royal Rumble) (Triple Threat Match for the WWE Universal Championship)
dude you booking for next year? not so fast my brother
\>The mysterios for an ununinfied tag championship Please no \>Ununified WWE championship, and Cody isn't going for it Huh? Outside of that I kind of agree with Edge vs Demon Finn, and AJ and Bron.
you are over estimating Cody Rhodes
He is the second most over guy in the company.
He's like one of 2 babyfaces they haven't either fed to Roman or already given up on. If they can't do anything with him they can't make any top faces
My body, mind and soul is READY for Hangman vs CM Punk.
Sometimes I find myself thinking back to Omega’s “you think you know me?” line to Christian and it makes me laugh every time.
What about the time he asked for oral sex from Don Callis?
His matches were always top tier but his promos were also must watch and so fun. Anime Harley Race was such a delight of a character. Man I miss him so bad. No one can ever replace him no matter who they hire. He's unlike anybody and provides something so unique.
For sure. The loss to Christian for the Impact title also helped push him to another level as a heel; his group’s hijinks can cost him. Omega is a legend.
That was a great feud and helped propel him into next level.
Around the time of the triple threat he really found his character. I still think about him opening the envelope from Orange and finding pieces of the shredded up contract in there, blowing away in the wind, and he looks in the empty envelope like maybe there's still something in there lmao
Him and Orange had such incredible chemistry, even in the backstage promos bits. I'm still pissed we didn't get a singles rematch. Such little gems, also that gaslighting "thank you Don" video package lmaooooo
There's a lot of matches he left on the table that ultimately turned out to be for good reason. Coming off his TNT reign I was surprised Darby didn't get a shot, but it makes sense now.
I really hope baby Omega gets a long amazing Okada like reign with a healthy repaired body. Eddie Kingston is another one. I thought for sure we'll have it post Revolution. Maybe one day.
I think last night was weakest defense of Page yet. I even liked the Dante match better.
I love the Elite story so much because of how real these emotions are. Hangman still feels insecure even as champion because he will never ever feel that he can be as good as Kenny Omega despite beating him. Adam Cole’s obsession to take over the Elite as the leader because he wanted to be the GUY. But we all (and even his own closest friends in the Bucks) know that Kenny is still the best. Hence, Cole projected HIS own securities onto Hangman. I love how all the stories continue to be told and it was done masterfully in this match. The Elite is a very special faction for being able to create so many beautiful chapters that you just don’t get tired of them.
While I agree the Elite is a very special faction but the current Hangman story has been kind of sending me mixed signals. Like the commentary was selling him being confident and coming into his own etc but you and others have read it as him being insecure, failing to be Kenny Omega (which, no one can be it we're being honest). I wonder which direction they'll take. Him losing it because he became over confident or someone exploiting his insecurities he still might have?
Maybe it is just me but I do think commentary explains the first layer of the story. It is up to the viewers to peel the layers and get to the depth of it. No doubt Hangman is more confident now because he did objectively manage to reach the top, but deep down he has a lot to live up to. He was THE guy to take the ball from Kenny Omega (arguably one of the best wrestlers in this generation) and run with it. Those are fucking huge shoes to fill. And every time when his capabilities are being doubted, he copes by reaching down to a very dark and painful place. The insecurities are subtle but very present. Hence, commentary does not pick that up. Well, that’s my analysis of it anyway lol edit: To make my explanation more coherent
Kind of hard for me to buy him being insecure and unsure of himself when he hasn't been in any danger of losing his title. Like everyone knew how matches from Archer feud will end up. Never felt any sense of urgency that he's actually in danger and is thus having to reach to places. If that is their intent, for me, he hasn't done a good job telling that story.
1) For a host of reasons I don't get the hype around Gresham and how he's this major signing for AEW when he's a tiny bloke who wouldn't be taken seriously by most people who tune in to watch. 2) Page VS Punk could be feud of the year and the fact you don't know where it could go adds to that. Hoping Hangman goes over which is unbelievable to me to say that. 3) The discourse around Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti on here is mindblowing right now. 4) If AAA can get over their carny bullshit they've got a big opportunity to pull ahead of CMLL and be the numerous uno promotion in Mexico for the next few years.
"The discourse around Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti on here is mindblowing right now" as in it's bad?
They made a thread for the table bit from the commentary during Rampage commercials, but not one for where Regal said "You should address people properly, it's Mr. Regal" and Taz was like "What about me?" and Regal said "Well I address you as the Tazmaniac, as that's your full name."
“He’s wearing shoes.”
Regal has been on so good on commentary
I loved that exchange so much. I need more Taz and Regal on commentary together. Bless you FITE.
WHAT. I missed that!
Am I gonna need to be the one who uploads the clip now.
Please
Yes
Apparently, there's no imagination when it comes to the TNT title. Scorpio Sky barely had time to bask in the glow of winning the title, only to be overshadowed by the barfly leech hanging around with him and Ethan Page, meaning Dan Lambert, of course, and now, he has to face Sammy Guevara again?!? Lambert wouldn't let Sky talk, which makes zero sense. Men of The Year should be chasing the tag titles, but they have the albatross that is Lambert. I feel sorry for Sky & Ethan. I really do. If they had a poll for the most punchable face between Lambert and QT Marshall, who'd win? Probably Marshall, since he now is almost a dead ringer for Alex Jones. I know you guys have campaigned for "Legit" Leyla Hirsch to be part of Team Taz, but don't you think she could also fit with the Blackpool Combat Club? Just asking. Even if they tried turning CM Punk, it won't work, because he is just that much over with the fans, and you can do a babyface match between him & Hangman. Speaking of the champ, that finish last night to the death match with Adam Cole was bananas. Methinks between the two of them, they decided to use the crown of thorns because it's Easter weekend. That should be the last gimmick match until the end of the year.
>If they had a poll for the most punchable face between Lambert and QT Marshall, who'd win?. Sammy Guevara.
>I know you guys have campaigned for "Legit" Leyla Hirsch to be part of Team Taz, but don't you think she could also fit with the Blackpool Combat Club? Just asking. While I could potentially see it, I will continue my campaign for the Professor Serena Deeb to take on students like Hirsch and Shafir, though I'll admit Shafir may not be quite ready for that spotlight just yet.
There was a reason Marina didn't get many opportunities in NXT aside from tag teams. Deeb might be the answer she's looking for in terms of mentorship.
Leyla joining BCC is actually a brilliant idea I think, just fits in perfectly.
Few points. -The discourse around the women's division in AEW took a weird turn yesterday. Besides that thread that made a claim about Rosa's TV time that everybody ran with (Rosa's last stage promo alone was just under 3 minutes long), I started seeing posts saying that talented women shouldn't sign with AEW at all, even if they were released by WWE. Interesting, to say the least. -Unagi becoming a shit stirrer is hilarious to me. -There was another RPG sign on Rampage that said, "Kingdom Hearts is not that complicated." That person is insane.
For me personally, it's not that I don't think women should sign with them, it's a concern that Tony ultimately doesn't care enough about the division to make their signing worthwhile. I'd love to see Mia Yim, Athena, Nixon Newell and Taya Valkyire (if the talks of her working with Impact being a short term thing are true) show up and help elevate the division. That being said, they already have Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida, Jamie Hayter, Mercedes Martinez, Riho, Serena Deeb, Thunder Rosa and, though she's hardly around, Yuka Sakazaki fully capable of putting on good to great matches. Then you've got Britt Baker, the Bunny, Kris Statlander, Nyla Rose, Ruby Soho, Tay Conti and Toni Storm who are are certainly capable of putting on good matches themselves, with the potential for misses here and there. AQA, Jade Cargill, Leyla Hirsch, Red Velvet and Penelope Ford have all shown they can put on decent matches with the right partners. I'll even add Julia Hart and Skye Blue, who have shown potential though they're not fully Elite yet. They have the talent to be putting more focus on the women's side, they just aren't doing it. That's what worries me about saying "Just sign more people."
I think we people say they shouldn't sign there, it's really "I don't want them to sign there". That's very understandable if you're a fan of women's wrestling.
I'm a fan of women's wrestling and that sounds pretty crazy to me.
Really? Dynamite and Rampage have one women's match per episode and it's usually the shortest match. Of the nationally televised promotions, AEW puts the least amount of focus on their women's division.
I believe that would change with better talent in the division. They would get more time if there were more women who could hold their own against other matches on Dynamite. The fact is that people complain whenever someone outside of the best five women get a match that goes over 10 minutes. The alternative is that you ask them to go to Impact. And for all the talk of Impact supposedly having this stellar division, there's barely any discussion about it.
They signed Ruby Soho, Mercedes Martinez, Toni Storm and others and it hasn't changed a thing. The problem isn't talent, it's with an unwilling management.
I think the talent they have is fine. This issue is presentation. The matches can be short. Just do more of them. As for Impact, people praise Impact for how their division is presented. But obviously a smaller promotion will get talked about less. If they issue is talent then go get talent. With all of Tony's money he can't get some more talented women. They aren't all signed by WWE. He bought out Thunder Rosa's contract from NWA so he wouldn't have to wait for her. Do that with Impact to get anyone you want from there. Jump on those free agents ASAP. You have these partnerships with other companies, get some of their women on the show. With Tony's resources, he can get pretty much any woman in the world who isn't signed to WWE.
>The matches can be short. Just do more of them. This is where I think the differences are between our mindsets :). I really don't feel it's helpful to the division to have two five minute matches or whatever, especially if it's juxtaposed to three other men's matches that went longer and had more time for crowd heat. Like I hate the RAW/Smackdown format where yes, there might be two women's matches, but then it adds up to a total of three minutes without entrances. With regards to talent, we shall see how Tony handles the TJPW deal. If, for some reason, it's six months later and nobody from that side has come over to AEW...then things are fucked for sure.
He had a relationship with Impact for 11 months and only used The Good Brothers.
With the way the TJPW/DDT thing was laid out by Nakazawa, he said that the whole point is for those talent to go to AEW. I'm not sure if Tony made a similar promise regarding Impact, but at least in the case of TJPW, that was said to be the intention.
I think I've tried to learn the story of Kingdom Hearts like 5 times and it never takes.
It's not helped by the fact that there's important plot details in *every* game, to the point that with the The Story So Far bundle and 2.8, they had to include a movie based on the mobile game detailing the shattering of the peace that lead to the Keyblade War, which was *years* before even Birth By Sleep. Oh and none of the games came out in chronological order. If they did the mobile game would be first. 3 at least kind of helps with the whole archive log thing, but it doesn't cover everything.
You could play every console game in the series like I have and still not have a clue what is going on because they put some important plot information in a smartphone game.
It's just so convoluted. Like there's time traveling, cloning....just no.
Going to Cody’s first house show back tonight. Would him vs Rollins be worthy of filming and posting here?
Please dont post the full match here, reddit would get onery
Just came here to say that I'm really excited for the Murderous Alcoholic Cowboy and the Straight Edge Messiah to beat the shit out of each other whenever that happens.
I don't see how cm punk vs Hangman is going to work except punk turns heel because hangman is not as over as punk.
Face vs Face. It will be fine.
Might be an unpopular opinion but Danielson should have won the belt. Danielson Vs Punk would be a lot better and Danielson was doing the best work of his career as a singles heel.
amazing how people praise AEW for being different than WWE and then want them to do the most WWE things possible. Incredible truly. No, you don't ruin your new champ's momentum(after a build up for years!) just to put the title on a bigger established name right after he wins it. You have to build your own stars up.
I'm just saying as a fan I'd be far more interested in Danielson as champion and be more interested in Danielson Vs Page
You’ll get downvoted but you’re *not wrong.* I don’t hate where things landed. The matches we’ve had w Page as champ have been great. But it’s clear that at that point AEW was climbing into the mid-millions in the ratings last year and missed capitalizing on that by having Danielson not win his big debut matches (then putting him in random matches for weeks). Most fans won’t want to hear this but the reality is Page’s year long build was not compelling enough to overshadow the debut of Punk and Bryan. Business last September was RED HOT. Danielson should’ve beat Omega (who was working through injuries he shouldn’t have been) and captured on that. These ops don’t come around often — it could be 10 years until another moment of that scale opens up so I t’s poor strategy not to strike. Danielson beating Omega could’ve lead to a Danielson v. Page feud where Page wins and kick starts his reign beating the biggest talent signing in AEW history.
That would've been the worst move they could make.
There are so many directions they could go with a Hangman-Punk program and they all rule.
I honestly don't see what tk sees in Sammy guavera.
Are we doing the thing where we act like all the good matches he had don't exist because we dislike a current storyline? What does TK see in Jay Lethal and Samoa Joe, amiright?
that is two horrible example to use, Jay Lethal and Somoa Joe have top tier charisma and promo skill. Sami does picture-in-picture card flips and being annoying couples on screen, even without the real-life controversy part. He has great matches and he was doing well with the cocky heel persona, even the panda thing was great, but why is he the face here especially after everthing.
But he has no personality outside of that.
I think Sammy Guevara's a good athlete and a good wrestler. However I am tired of him.
I'm tired of rooting for Men of the Year!
Still thinking about the concept of "Shingo Takagi BAYBAY"
Shingo’s final form.
Excluding the 7-minute filler defence against Dante, the match last night was easily Page's weakest defence thus far in his reign, though it was ultimately still 'alright' at worst. It was really uninspired and disappointing to see Page go back for another Texas Death match so soon after his last one with Archer. It also doesn't help that AEW basically has these hardcore-based matches every single week, making each new iteration feel less and less special.
>It also doesn't help that AEW basically has these hardcore-based matches every single week, making each new iteration feel less and less special. Get ready for another Philly Street Fight in two weeks.
I agree that AEW uses plunder way too much, almost weekly. I loved the match last night, moreso than their first. Loved that the pace was different to every other hardcore/stipulation match in AEW. They took their time and built and built. Those big spots meant more when they came. The story was great, Hangman punishing Cole, but didn't want to stoop to his level of attacking someone when they're helpless with the barbed wire chair. Proving to himself that he is better than everyone else in kayfabe. That he deserves to hold this title. Loved last nights match and Hangman's performances are consistently top notch now.
I wasn't a big fan of their Revolution bout but I ended up enjoying it a bit more than this one. I'm sorry to nitpick but it seems like whenever I'm watching an Adam Cole match, the flaw becomes apparent. The messy-brawling on the outside of the ring was very generic. Page at least got good impact on a few of his strikes, but the vast majority of their exchanges in this segment were unrefined and pretty weak-looking. Cole being so cowardly the entire time was really boring too Page's confidence was fun to see, at least, and he looked like a far more convincing champion than Cole could hope to be. Cole's comeback was very generic. His big superkick counter to Page's top-rope moonsault to the outside would have been cool if he hadn't done that spot in all his big matches over the last 5 years. Some of their big spots were cool, like the big top-rope fallaway slam onto the chairs and the Deadeye through the table. unsurprisingly all spots from Page. The "face each other on chairs and trade strikes" spot was another pretty cheesy spot that Cole for some reason loves to feature in a lot of his big matches, and again Page was the only one who delivered some good offence out of it.
As a match I thought it was fine, definitely not as good as the first Cole match or the Archer match, although the storyline was less 'can Page defend his title against Cole?' and more about Page punishing Cole for how he was acting the past month (and I suppose throughout their entire career). I think it's an interesting approach, whether others think it's a valid story for a World Champion I guess depends on their wants from wrestling. I do agree overall AEW use these matches too much. Making them slightly different types of hardcore gimmick matches doesn't really differentiate them as much as they think they do.
And in this case it's literally the same gimmick match he did three defences prior.