Professional Wrestling: Irish War Painting II

[lessthanluke]

16 hours ago, lmanion said:

Bryan wanted to wrestle dream matches with guys outside WWE Vince was never going to allow that so when his contract expired he didn't sign a new one. 

Jericho is still the big name and they will milk him as much as they can until he has had enough and goes properly on tour with fozzy.

Hangman looks great with his fully embracing dark order and looks like he belongs as their leader. That entrance was awesome.

The problem with the women's division on dynamite is they have so much that jumps off the screen that the women's division has a lot more work in progress type competitors. Britt is super over but sometimes the work doesn't back it up. Thunder Rosa signing full time with aew will help lift the division. There is the other shows they put out each week as well where they do use a lot more of the women's division.

I was always a bit meh when it came to punk but he was big when I was taking the least notice of wrestling and I understand how huge it will be if he does return.

WWE has been pretty bad outside Lashley and Reigns although seeing Cena get a massive pop when he returned at money in the bank was cool and a bit of a sign that there isn't really a big star that's a face in the company atm.

Punk was terrible in ring for the last like 2 years of his WWE run so I've got very little interest in him.

[briantw]

11 hours ago, The BlackBear said:

I have heard it theorised that wwe don't really want stars to get too big anymore, because they're worried they'll do what the Rock and Cena have done, piss off to Hollywood. I can't imagine Sasha appearing in the Mandalorian helped that fear. 

Yeah, I've been hearing that for years and I always thought that it's both probably true and also completely idiotic.  If someone becomes big enough as a wrestler that they can piss off to Hollywood, that means they've elevated your show and brought more eyes to wrestling.  WWE should strive to make more Rocks and Cenas, because that might mean they are actually relevant in the cultural zeitgeist again in a way they haven't been for over a decade.

[The BlackBear]

Well:

Spoiler

He's back baby! 

Game changer 

[Rhom]

Wasn’t expecting Becky Lynch to come back and win in seconds.  Wonder what happened with Sasha that she wasn’t out there for that?

[Rhom]

That Goldberg match was worse than I feared… and the bad part is, they are obviously setting up for a further storyline.

[lmanion]

WWE buried one of their rising stars and ruined the return of perhaps their biggest star all in like 2 minutes. I was hyped for her to come back but really couldn't care less now. Becky should have lost putting Bianca over and setting her up to rebuild to mania and finally win the title again. As a bonus you build Bianca into a bigger star in doing so. They seem to be doing it rightish with Roman but that's probably due to Heyman keeping everything in line.

On the other hand you have AEW with 2 of the biggest crowd reactions of the week, first with the crowd singing Jericho to the ring and obviously the big return on rampage. I still watch both companies but one company I feel like I can trust to tell some kind of story the other I just end up shaking my head at. It's pretty infuriating, when does the G1 start need some NJPW to wipe away the bs.

[The BlackBear]

On 8/23/2021 at 2:03 AM, lmanion said:

when does the G1 start need some NJPW to wipe away the bs.

I think late September, presumably they have to work around the Paralympic games as well as the olympics.

[Slurktan]

On 8/22/2021 at 9:03 PM, lmanion said:

WWE buried one of their rising stars and ruined the return of perhaps their biggest star all in like 2 minutes. I was hyped for her to come back but really couldn't care less now. Becky should have lost putting Bianca over and setting her up to rebuild to mania and finally win the title again. As a bonus you build Bianca into a bigger star in doing so. They seem to be doing it rightish with Roman but that's probably due to Heyman keeping everything in line.

I honestly have no idea but to me it seems like they buried Bianca Belair due to the live Raw they did at a concert or some such a few weeks ago.  The crowd was absolutely dead and were visibly looking elsewhere during her match.  (That was not the case for other matches).  She just wasn't getting a pop so get the belt on someone who can.

[lmanion]

I get taking the belt off her if that's the case but there is a way to achieve that outside of the way they did it.

[briantw]

So Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole both debuted at All Out on Sunday.  I honestly think getting those guys is a bigger deal than Punk.  Bryan was, by all indications, happy wrestling in WWE, but he left anyway.  And reports are that they asked Cole, a 32 year old who has been one of the best performers in the entire WWE for the better part of the past four years, to be a manager on Smackdown, which is an outright slap in the face.  

Rumor has it that Bray Wyatt will debut in October as well, and both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are expected to have their contracts up in the next four months, meaning they could jump ship as well.

Certainly exciting times ahead for AEW.  WWE, on the other hand, is just hemorrhaging high end talent.

[Rhom]

3 minutes ago, briantw said:

So Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole both debuted at All Out on Sunday.  I honestly think getting those guys is a bigger deal than Punk.  Bryan was, by all indications, happy wrestling in WWE, but he left anyway.  And reports are that they asked Cole, a 32 year old who has been one of the best performers in the entire WWE for the better part of the past four years, to be a manager on Smackdown, which is an outright slap in the face.  

Rumor has it that Bray Wyatt will debut in October as well, and both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are expected to have their contracts up in the next four months, meaning they could jump ship as well.

Certainly exciting times ahead for AEW.  WWE, on the other hand, is just hemorrhaging high end talent.

Everything I've read says that the PPV was one of the best by any company in years.  Its a shame... right as I get WWE Network/Peacock to get PPVs for free, the best ones cost $50 again! 

Maybe this is for the best, a repeat of the mid 90's Monday Night Wars would be a good thing for WWE if it means they can get their act together and be creative again.

[The BlackBear]

It was a class show, every match was good if not great, including the big show squash (it was funny) if you find a way (legally or otherwise) the tag team match was amazing though. 

Really looking forward to tonights dynamite (which due to timezones I will watch tomorrow) 

Wrestling twitter are of course being incredibly weird losers about the company rivalry. I hate wrestling fans so much.

[briantw]

28 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Everything I've read says that the PPV was one of the best by any company in years.  Its a shame... right as I get WWE Network/Peacock to get PPVs for free, the best ones cost $50 again! 

Maybe this is for the best, a repeat of the mid 90's Monday Night Wars would be a good thing for WWE if it means they can get their act together and be creative again.

I don’t know think it hit the highs of some of the best NXT shows the past six years or so, but that’s more or a testament to how great NXT has been.  
 

It was definitely a quality show top to bottom, and the two big debuts plus Punk’s return to in-ring action made it feel bigger than shows that I think were better from an in-ring standpoint.

[briantw]

5 minutes ago, The BlackBear said:

It was a class show, every match was good if not great, including the big show squash (it was funny) if you find a way (legally or otherwise) the tag team match was amazing though. 

Really looking forward to tonights dynamite (which due to timezones I will watch tomorrow) 

Wrestling twitter are of course being incredibly weird losers about the company rivalry. I hate wrestling fans so much.

I’ve never understood why people give their allegiances to companies and blindly follow them regardless of the quality of their products.  I love NXT, but it’s easy to see that main roster WWE has been creatively bankrupt for a decade now, and that they can’t effectively push more than two guys at a time.  Right now, the only people that matter on Smackdown are Roman Reigns and whoever his next opponent is.  Everyone else on the show isn’t worth a sack of shit, and that’s why their best performers are jumping ship. 

[The BlackBear]

9 minutes ago, briantw said:

I’ve never understood why people give their allegiances to companies and blindly follow them regardless of the quality of their products.  I love NXT, but it’s easy to see that main roster WWE has been creatively bankrupt for a decade now, and that they can’t effectively push more than two guys at a time.  Right now, the only people that matter on Smackdown are Roman Reigns and whoever his next opponent is.  Everyone else on the show isn’t worth a sack of shit, and that’s why their best performers are jumping ship. 

I take the view that I want both of them to be good, I watch AEW rn because I enjoy it. I don't watch wwe for the opposite reason, but I would like to be in a position to look forward to wwe ppv's again. I pretty much only watch the rumble now.

Do you have a view on the 'new' NXT direction? 

[briantw]

1 hour ago, The BlackBear said:

I take the view that I want both of them to be good, I watch AEW rn because I enjoy it. I don't watch wwe for the opposite reason, but I would like to be in a position to look forward to wwe ppv's again. I pretty much only watch the rumble now.

Do you have a view on the 'new' NXT direction? 

Yeah, I think it’d be great if WWE didn’t suck.  I only root for them to fail because I hate their business practices and I think Vince lost touch with what his viewers want a decade ago and often books o deliberately spite the fans.  
 

As for NXT, I’m not optimistic.  

[Rhom]

3 hours ago, briantw said:

Yeah, I think it’d be great if WWE didn’t suck.  I only root for them to fail because I hate their business practices and I think Vince lost touch with what his viewers want a decade ago and often books o deliberately spite the fans.  
 

As for NXT, I’m not optimistic.  

I was reading an article a few weeks ago that said WWE value had gone up quite a bit during the Pandemic and the deal with NBC for Peacock.  At the same time, they are dumping high salary talent.

If this was any other industry, it would be pretty obvious that the company was being positioned to sell.  I can’t picture Vince ever selling his baby, but it’s hard to deny the appearance.

[DMC]

I think WWE's purging of talent is mostly due to Vince trusting in Nick Khan rather than Triple H.  We'll see how that goes, but I don't think he's selling..ever.

[Rhom]

This may be the second episode I've ever watched of AEW Dynamite (the first had Shaq go through a table!)it has opened with a heckuva match between Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega.

Half hour in and I really wonder how they are going to fit in a the other matches they've been promoting for the show! 

[DMC]

Anyone else see the TikTok video of Taker drunkenly chopping a fan at what looks like a wedding reception?  Probably not the wisest thing to do in this day and age.