Professional Wrestling: Irish War Painting II

[briantw]

1 minute ago, lmanion said:

Its a very wwe thing to have happen and bloody Nia hurting Becky and her bleeding everywhere was about the best thing that could happen to her. Her mouthing off to Charlotte while hobbling on 1 leg was pretty great. Its great that wwe went with it when she accidentaly got over as a face when they tried to turn her heel. Its fun listening to stone cold and Jerichos podcasts when they talk about how these things work.

Yeah, it's really funny how Nia Jax being a horrible and unsafe worker led to that iconic Becky Lynch moment where she held out her arms while her face was covered in blood.  Fit her character perfectly.  

Also ironic that her missing that match with Rousey at Survivor Series is going to lead to her actually being the first woman to main event Wrestlemania.  And make no mistake...it's going to be because of Lynch, not Rousey, that the women main event 'Mania.  She's the reincarnation of Daniel Bryan.

[lmanion]

I think the yes movement with Bryan was a pure baby face where I see what Becky is doing as being more like Stone Cold where he calls himself a 'tweener' where he was a face despite doing a lot of things where he was borderline being a heel, he was still getting cheered though. The best thing Becky could do now is throw an improvised line out that will sell merch, im not sure the man tagline is quite it although there seems to be a lot of those shirts in the crowd. Obviously noone is going to drop a line as iconic as Austin 3:16 though.

[The BlackBear]

Grab a big ol pinch of salt guys:

Dean Ambrose rumoured to have handed in his notice.

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2019/01/29/dean-ambrose-leaving-wwe-shortly-after-wrestlemania-when-his-contract-expires-in-april/

 

8 hours ago, lmanion said:

Obviously noone is going to drop a line as iconic as Austin 3:16 though.

IIRC it was Austin himself who demanded Austin 3:16 become a shirt. And given Trips was originally planned to win that KotR (before the Curtain Call,) one could say WWF/E stumbled on to Austin as well.

[lmanion]

Yeah I knew the circumstances of the kotr win and it doesnt suprise me after listening to Austin that he would be the one pushing the shirt idea, he seems very into the merchandising part of the business.

Ambrose leaving really isnt a massive suprise his program with Rollins has fallen flat, funnily enough his segment when interacting with hhh on raw was probably as good as he has been since coming back. Probably head to AEW which would be pretty big for them especially if AJ lets his contract run out which is apparently around WM time.

[DMC]

8 minutes ago, lmanion said:

Yeah I knew the circumstances of the kotr win and it doesnt suprise me after listening to Austin that he would be the one pushing the shirt idea, he seems very into the merchandising part of the business.

It also was a different era in which the onus was much more on the talent to push and market themselves.

I agree Ambrose could use a change of scenery.  Hopefully he leaves on good terms and can return if it's mutually beneficial in a couple years.

[briantw]

16 minutes ago, lmanion said:

Yeah I knew the circumstances of the kotr win and it doesnt suprise me after listening to Austin that he would be the one pushing the shirt idea, he seems very into the merchandising part of the business.

Ambrose leaving really isnt a massive suprise his program with Rollins has fallen flat, funnily enough his segment when interacting with hhh on raw was probably as good as he has been since coming back. Probably head to AEW which would be pretty big for them especially if AJ lets his contract run out which is apparently around WM time.

AJ needs a change of scenery too.  He used to be the best wrestler in the entire world.  Now he's Mr. Three Stars.  Unfortunately, WWE is probably going to back up the fucking Brinks truck to keep him, because losing him to AEW would be a huge blow that I'm sure Vince will do everything in his power to avoid.

Edited January 29, 2019 by briantw

[DMC]

15 minutes ago, briantw said:

AJ needs a change of scenery too.  He used to be the best wrestler in the entire world.  Now he's Mr. Three Stars. 

I think AJ just needs to move into semi-retirement mode along with Bryan.

[KingintheNorth4]

I don't know, a part of me thinks this Dean Ambrose news could be a work.

[DMC]

Certainly could be.  My news sources on the subject entirely entail this thread.

[lmanion]

Well if its a work they sure burried him on raw. No kick out and Rollins was even allowed to do his foot stomping burn it down show off bit before the kerbstomp which is never allowed to work for a face, because showing off and getting away with it is pretty much a heel move.

After the promo to finish raw I dont really even want to see a triple threat at mania, I just want to see Ronda vs Becky and turn Ronda heel because the crowd is already starting to turn on her a bit. If Ronda is leaving no need for a heel turn and Becky goes over at mania. If shes staying on she turns heel to keep hold of the title gets massive heat. Have an angle where she hurts Becky and Becky goes off for a month 'injured' comes back and rides the crowd support fights back to number 1 contender and becomes the first one to beat Ronda at Summerslam. If main roster storylines could go for longer periods of time that would be a cool way to do it.

[briantw]

Well, Halftime Heat was definitely better than the actual Super Bowl.  Great match.  Thought Black was the MVP.  He was fucking flying out there.

[DMC]

So seems to me Vince being the guy that makes the Woman's match a three-way is designed to set up a match between Triple H and someone.  And someone is likely to be Batista.  Not sure I get that.  Is Triple H supposed to be the face while Batista is Vince's henchman.  If not, how?  And does anyone want to watch these old men fight in the first place?

[lmanion]

Well after raw this week it seems Batista and HHH is happening after Batista attacked Ric Flair. The last couple of weeks have had Vince going against what shane stef and trips have been wanting  and putting in place themselves. I think they might be working towards a Vince vs kids and trips power struggle survivor series for control of raw and smackdown towards the end of the year. Charlotte Flair is a much more intersting character as a heel.

Also out of nowhere and an injury to Mustafa Ali, Kofi might actually get a title shot at wrestlemania

[briantw]

If you're a fan of wrestling, check out tonight's NXT Takeover: New York.  The main event is ongoing but, assuming this one delivers, it'll go down as one of the best wrestling shows I've ever watched.  First four matches were varying degrees of great and the main event features my pick for the best in-ring guy in the entire WWE in Johnny Gargano.

[briantw]

Gargano/Cole is one of the best matches I've ever seen.  Gargano is the best wrestler I've ever watched.  He's just amazing at everything.  He's the second coming of Daniel Bryan.  The way the crowd connects with him is unreal.  Whatever IT is, he has it.  

[Joe Pesci]

I've caught everything so far except Dunne/Walter, and it's all been great. It's also kind of depressing though that I'll slog through WM tomorrow and probably won't see more than a match or two that will beat something from this card. If they would only give the talent on the main roster a little freedom to create like they do in NXT, the product would be so much better...

[briantw]

18 minutes ago, Joe Pesci said:

I've caught everything so far except Dunne/Walter, and it's all been great. It's also kind of depressing though that I'll slog through WM tomorrow and probably won't see more than a match or two that will beat something from this card. If they would only give the talent on the main roster a little freedom to create like they do in NXT, the product would be so much better...

Dunne/Walter was the second-best match on the card imo.

I'd rank them:

1. Gargano/Cole
2. Dunne/Walter
3. Tag Title Match
4. Dream/Riddle
5. Women's Title Match

And the women's match was still really good, so ranking it last isn't meant to be a slight.  It's just every other match was fantastic.

[DMC]

19 hours ago, briantw said:

1. Gargano/Cole
2. Dunne/Walter
3. Tag Title Match
4. Dream/Riddle
5. Women's Title Match

I haven't seen it (canceled my subscription a while ago), but from what I read that seems pretty low for Dream/Riddle.  I think Dream has a lot of "WWE" potential.  As in, compared to your average NXT guy, he could really excel at Vince's "sports entertainment."

[briantw]

9 minutes ago, DMC said:

I haven't seen it (canceled my subscription a while ago), but from what I read that seems pretty low for Dream/Riddle.  I think Dream has a lot of "WWE" potential.  As in, compared to your average NXT guy, he could really excel at Vince's "sports entertainment."

It might look that way, but I'd rate the top four matches all at four stars or higher.  Can't really go wrong with any of them.  I'd say that Gargano/Cole was clearly a rung above the other three, but after that it's just personal preference.  Dunne and Ricochet are two of my favorite wrestlers, so that factored in.  Been following Ricochet since season one of Lucha Underground.  Dude is amazing.  

I agree about Dream.  I think he, Gargano, and Riddle have the highest main roster ceilings of any of the guys in NXT, although for varying reasons.  Gargano because of his ability to connect with a crowd, Riddle because of the MMA background and the kind of look Vince loves, and Dream because he's the most entertaining overall act in wrestling right now.

By the way, it's pretty crazy that Dunne and Dream are 25 and 23, respectively.  Dunne's already one of the best in-ring guys in the world and Dream is quickly becoming a mega-star.

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, briantw said:

I agree about Dream.  I think he, Gargano, and Riddle have the highest main roster ceilings of any of the guys in NXT, although for varying reasons.  Gargano because of his ability to connect with a crowd, Riddle because of the MMA background and the kind of look Vince loves, and Dream because he's the most entertaining overall act in wrestling right now.

Agree about Riddle.  It's going to be very difficult for Gargano to gain traction on the main roster as long as Vince is alive, just like it was for Bryan.  He's perhaps the epitome of the vanilla midget unfairness.