The WWE Discussion Thread

[Rozalia1]

1 minute ago, Nekket_ said:

I simply don’t understand this kind of behaviour over wrestling. It puzzles me. You wrote three whole paragraphs about a guy not signing with WWE because he was given a better deal elsewhere. He was given a lot of money… oh no? This doesn’t affect you.
 

Yeah, let’s leave this here. You’re one of those. 

 

You know, if we're leaving things you're not supposed to take a shot at me like that. Just bad conduct, but I'll forgive you. What I will say is that your framing is once again incorrect because at no point have I shown anger or whatever at Okada taking the money. I said it wasn't surprising and laid out exactly why it makes sense. He'll be getting paid more, to do less, and have absolutely zero pressure. Good for him.

[Nekket_]

27 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

You know, if we're leaving things you're not supposed to take a shot at me like that. Just bad conduct, but I'll forgive you. What I will say is that your framing is once again incorrect because at no point have I shown anger or whatever at Okada taking the money. I said it wasn't surprising and laid out exactly why it makes sense. He'll be getting paid more, to do less, and have absolutely zero pressure. Good for him.

The issue I’ve had hasn’t been due to your “anger” as much as it has been your general behaviour. It has evolved from unprovoked bashing of another company to incessant childish and condescending comments. 
 

You’re attempting to gaslight me and I’ve reported you accordingly. 
 

 

 

[Rozalia1]

25 minutes ago, Nekket_ said:

The issue I’ve had hasn’t been due to your “anger” as much as it has been your general behaviour. It has evolved from unprovoked bashing of another company to incessant childish and condescending comments. 
 

You’re attempting to gaslight me and I’ve reported you accordingly. 

 

So to recap. You are reporting me because I dared besmirch the name of AEW and rather than get angry at your comments... I told you that we shouldn't get into it and that I'll ignore the shots you've taken. Amazing stuff.

 

Ultimately it is pretty typical behaviour for an AEW faithful. Again, please just stop trying to get into it with me. If you simply must though, then please actually try to make a case instead of trying to, to use your word, gaslight the situation. You're not the reasonable party when you're acting in this way.

[Dauersack]

Since we are already on the topic of a hilariously fragile ego with a tragic level of being unaware of how to deal with critical opinions on the internet that hurt a persons feelings, there are currently two such cases happening in the wrestling world too, and I can't stop facepalming about how supposedly grown and functional adults, none of which are so old that they should be this incapable and unaware about how to deal with criticism, both the legit kind and the trolling kind, especially on the internet, can mess up this bad and fuel an ongoing fire hard instead of letting it die out, but here we are.

 

Example one is the fully legit one, Maxxine Dupri getting rightfully called out on being probably the single worst main roster womens wrestler since Eva Marie, being so bad in the ring that she even makes Nia Jax look good by comparison. Her own reaction to negative feedback is complaining about getting booed and called out for not belonging on the main roster as anything other than a valet or manager at the moment, then spewing all the "I want to improve and grow" wannabe inspirational kind of shit, basically telling the world that she wants us to pay money to watch her get trained to become a decent wrestler, on the main roster instead of NXT where that kind of thing should actually happen. Most people naturally don't want to see greener than grass rookies get on the job training on the main roster, big shocker I know.

Confirming that the fan reactions in the arena and online are really getting to her is guaranteed to increase the amount as well as the severity of these reactions, and to really shit the bed many of her fellow divas (yeah in this specific context I deem this usually outdated term fully appropriate given the circumstances) go on a big online preaching campaign about how mean everyone is and how nice of a person she is backstage, as if the criticism was ever aimed against her real life personality instead of her shit in ring performances. Someone like that really shouldn't be a public figure if pretty mild criticism about her being nowhere near passable, especially compared to some of the other women, cause that kind of sore reaction. As far as I have seen, no one has called the fans liars and claimed how great she is in the ring btw, they are just crying because someone said it, can't call a bad womans wrestler bad in todays climate I guess, even if it's observably true.

 

Example two has some legit elements but also rather obvious trolling, a bunch of people having a small yet somewhat coordinated go at a wrestler on some social media site, I think it was 2Ks Instagram this time, aiming at Bianca Belair not really belonging on the cover of the current reheated cash grab due to not being in the same league as her fellow cover stars, Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley in popularity, which given that these two are the single most over people in their respective divisions company wide for over a year by now, by a LOT too, while Bianca has been mostly flundering around aimlessly in the midcard of her division for months, is a factually correct statement, but as we already established, can't call out things that are observably true, not when it comes to womens wrestlers anyway.

Some people calling it a diversity quota thing is where it goes into trolling territory, because while that is something that definitely happens nowadays, usually for it to qualify as a diversity quota thing the person in question would have to be really shit at it, making it obvious that neither skill, nor public demand played any role in the decision. Bianca is neither bad in the ring nor unpopular though, she is one of the better wrestlers of her division, even if she is a damn carricature, she excels in the ring and is popular enough with fans that this kind of assumption wouldn't get taken seriously by most people.

Divas meanwhile, once again, making a big crying campaign about "dem razist wrasslin fans" and how "misogynistic" (most overused as well as wrongly used word of our generation and like in 90% of cases its use is completely misplaced here too due to these people speaking out in favor of Rhea Ripley, a fellow woman, over Bianca) the community, aka a small bunch of people online with mostly throwaway accounts, are and how we should all feel extra amounts of pity for Bianca and other wrestlers with her background. Once again, this is just confirming beyond any doubt that the fans, and especially the few trolls easily get under her skin, while also giving them all the attention they want from both wrestlers and lazy wrestling journalists who have something to easily circle jerk about for a few weeks now while they keep playing up how severe it all is, usually without providing actual quotes, cause its soo bad you can't even go into any detail of course, all while the trolls will come out in bigger numbers for sure as they have been generously fed, and they oh so thrive on being fed.

 

Regarding other recent developments, the community that was so hellbent on "getting new talent over" a while ago and even bashing The Rock for the sake of it as he was trying to take current day top talents, not "new" talents, prominent spots away, now are being fine with current day talents clogging up two prominent Wrestlemania spots in one year and therefore taking spots away from actual new talent that could really use the chance to get some of that biggest PPV of the year experience. Reminds me of the dark Daniel Bryan days, when his insufferable fans used "push someone NEW" as an obvious excuse to hijack shows and comment sections for years on end whenever their favorite fragile troll doll didn't get featured front and center everywhere as well as win absolutely everything.

I mean I get it, Cody is good, Seth is good, hell if he bothers to show up for work even Reigns CAN be good if he isn't regurgitating the exact same formula, seeing them perform twice on one PPV is likely to be more entertaining short term than seeing them all perform once and giving the newer guys a chance to make a mark, but you can't expect to be taken seriously if you are fine with these guys taking spots away, aka if it benefits a wrestler you have a personal hard on for over actual new talent, yet cry about it hard if it benefits another guy over your favorite as well as a potential new guy. Some freaking consistency would be a nice change of pace among wrestling fans.

 

On 2/19/2024 at 3:33 AM, Don_Chipotle said:

 

I think it's more a reality that at WM priest will cash MITB

I can't imagine that being super likely. Priest has cooled off a lot, having been reduced to a comedy act, hell not even that, a support guy for a comedy act named R-Truth for most of the last few months, not being taken seriously often, even being demoted to the comparatively looked down upon tag team division, and being outshined by Rhea Ripley, someone who has done fuck all of value for her stable in a good long while and is likely on the way out of it long term.

 

If they indeed make him cash in, then they'd either have to make him fail his cash in, which I think is the most likely scenario at this point, or if they want to make him succeed with his cash in, they'd either have to make him and Balor lose the belts to some other tag team at WM, which is a bad look for a new world champion given that most of these teams will never escape that position on the card yet they will hold a win over him in the records, or make him keep the tag belt and turn him into a double champion, but then their world champion is wrestling with the undercard and midcard guys in tag team matches, which is also not that great of a look if he is also supposed to be seen as a top guy who can hang with the other top guys. WWE shot themselves in the foot in that regard by failing to preemptively establish that bullshit New Day type thing where anyone from a stable is deemed a champion and therefore can defend the belts instead of just two like it should normally be, JD being able to take over the tag team responsibilities would have been an easy way out.

Hoping I am wrong about this, because the last thing I want to see is another MiB winner who gets buried by something that should be a guaranteed catapult into a main event title run for a potential new top star, something Priest, while not being amazing, is certainly more qualified for than several others who held that kind of position in the last ten years, but the companies track record for the mens MiB hasn't been that great in recent years.

Edited March 11 by Dauersack

[Rozalia1]

The timing of the Bianca stuff is interesting to me. Right before it Meltzer (a guy present told him this, and that is all it takes) blamed WWE fans as being racist at an AEW show, because AEW fans could never act negatively apparently. Then the Bianca thing goes down. What I will say is that AEW fans are extremely online so I would not be surprised if some manner of Op is going down. As far as Bianca belonging. Like @Dauersack said, you can't put her down as being a 'diversity hire' and as far as I'm aware she is one of the more popular wrestlers with kids, young girls especially, and there is huge value in that. Rhea Ripley is certainly overall more popular, but in that younger age range specifically? I think it likely does go Bianca's way. Bianca is the sporty and beautiful superhero who stands up to and beats up all the bullies.

 

As for Maxxine. Not heard of her specifically being the one to complain, more so everyone else on the woman's roster. That said, the great thing in all of this is the fact that WWE you know, actually turns real life stuff into a work. RAW had Candice LeRae as a heel mocking Maxxine and telling her that she didn't belong. Having this story present could very well lead to the audience actually caring about these lower card women's matches which normally get zero reaction. Naturally the same people who wait with bated breath for every Christian mention of a dead father, are suddenly outraged that someone's dead brother was brought up.

 

Good mention of Eva Marie, because she is a prime example of how your wrestling talent can be completely irrelevant as long as you're presented correctly. Eva Marie in her time was able to get better reactions than most women once they leaned on her being so obviously unworthy of being in the ring. Maxxine being a face means obviously you don't want to do that, but having her as the nice girl who doesn't belong, but damn does she work hard to try to, can work. Best thing to do I'd say is to ultimately link it with another story. Gable her stable leader is someone more people are caring about. Use that. Be it at Mania or later, you could have Gunther keep rejecting Gable's inclusion, calling him and his friends losers. Gable takes up for his friends naturally. Gunther then challenges him to risk it all on Maxxine if he believes in them so much. If she can beat <insert heel> then Gable can have his match, but if she loses then Gable can never challenge Gunther for the title again.

[Rozalia1]

NXT might have made history with the Gigi Dolin vs Arianna Grace match. I don't recall a previous instance of a low blow causing a DQ in a Woman's match. Saw some people call it stupid because they have actually come to buy the joke that women are immune to low blows. No, women in fact are not immune to low blows. It hurts them plenty too. Side note, I like how the heel, Arianna, keeps winning matches through DQs.

 

The Rock concert was quite something. The story at the top is big time.

 

Bate and Dunn... are everything I feared with HHH. Yeah yeah, I get it, they've tried to inject some levity to the team with Bate being goofy and Bate being serious, but I don't think it is over with anyone. Pretty Deadly on the other hand have a great theme/entrance, nice size, good look, talented as a heel tag team, and fun characters. Naturally they get beat.

[Rozalia1]

I've not mentioned it thus far as while it has gone badly, you got to give it some time, but AEW got yet another big free agent in Mercedes. Rumour has it she is getting silly money, 10 million a year (5 year contract, option for her to leave after 3 years), which could possibly make her the highest paid wrestler ever, at least in terms of base salary (additional revenue is much better in WWE).

 

If Tony Khan elected any sympathy I might feel sorry for him being taken for a ride by so many people, but as he doesn't, good on her for getting that money I guess sure. What is funny in all of this is how things have so heavily shifted on this subject. Before AEW and early on the narrative was always that people who went to WWE did it for the money and they were 'selling out'. Getting paid loads was seen negatively, and doing it for the love of the game was where it was at. Now with AEW as cold as it is and clearly getting people onboard by paying them huge sums of money, suddenly it is all about 'get that bag'. Sure, they could go to WWE for a better legacy and to become more famous, but smart people will go to AEW to get paid more.

 

Anyway, thankfully WWE shouldn't have to worry with the next big free agent, Giulia. Khan apparently has had a number of people in his ear burying her already, but beyond that he likely lost any hope of getting her the moment he made fun of, and likely was a reason to why her mentor got fired from his job. I look forward to her debut in the D'Angelo family.

[GoonerLukeThe]

when The Rock mentiioned the other week about the Cody Crybabys it did actually make me think of Inficted Elite

[SelectiveGamer]

He gets gassed in five fucking seconds. This is not an opinion... it was aired on television

[Don_Chipotle]

So weird to see the WM card and have Cody and roman wrestle in both nights, I hope they don't have any kind of injury or problem because people expect them to give everything and more at night 2, also, Rollins is doing the same, but I think everyone are creating this tag match just so can the rock appear and sell more tickets, but let's hope this doesn't affect anyone in anything because it's too risky, when you look situations like cm punk, many spots that don't look that dangerous can give you a hard time 

[Rozalia1]

5 hours ago, Don_Chipotle said:

So weird to see the WM card and have Cody and roman wrestle in both nights, I hope they don't have any kind of injury or problem because people expect them to give everything and more at night 2, also, Rollins is doing the same, but I think everyone are creating this tag match just so can the rock appear and sell more tickets, but let's hope this doesn't affect anyone in anything because it's too risky, when you look situations like cm punk, many spots that don't look that dangerous can give you a hard time 

 

There is always a risk, but no one can work safer matches than WWE. Expect a lot of staring, taunting, and the most basic stuff imaginable. Which will of course be all massively over. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to fool people with an injury to Cody though. Have him get 'injured' and taken out of the title match, it getting changed to Roman vs Rock, then Cody comes out to the massive pop.

[spectre51]

That shot behind Cody with Rock coming out was so epic. Been good watching Rock's entrance evolve each time can't wait to see the final evolution of Rock's entrance at Wrestlemaina.

 

Also loved Punk asking Drew who anointed him 'the chosen one'.

[willmill97]

Are they teasing Chad Gable to be inserted into the Wrestlemania match with Gunther or not? What's happening here?

[sk_lp_him]

7 hours ago, willmill97 said:

Are they teasing Chad Gable to be inserted into the Wrestlemania match with Gunther or not? What's happening here?

 

Gable would probably turn heel and cost Sami the win or help him win and then turn and beat him up. Wearing a suit is the first sign of incoming heel turn.

[willmill97]

40 minutes ago, sk_lp_him said:

 

Gable would probably turn heel and cost Sami the win or help him win and then turn and beat him up. Wearing a suit is the first sign of incoming heel turn.

 

No-one wants a heel Gable, everyone wants a face gable getting his mania moment by winning the title. I hope they don't go down that route

[Maxximum]

Bro that had to be the one of best produced Raw episodes in the history of the show since its inception in 1993. It's honestly hard to believe that we're still witnessing the "PG Era" to the fullest capacity, especially after all the insider scandals in the last couple of years that have come out of the deepest vaults to see the light of day. Not only that but in the last few weeks (including Raw last night) we have pretty much seen and heard foul language (bleeped/censored or not) used throughout the shows. That F bomb that The Rock dropped at the end of the show was probably solid proof as such. I have also seen all over social media about reports of "double standards" and The Rock not sticking to PG guidelines but in hindsight I think they were fake, not to mention that the programming is also transitioning to Netflix in 10 months from now.   

[Dauersack]

12 hours ago, willmill97 said:

Are they teasing Chad Gable to be inserted into the Wrestlemania match with Gunther or not? What's happening here?

To me it looks that they are playing into Gable's gimmick as a teacher/mentor sharing his experience with Sami, at least that is the obvious part of it to give him something to do for Wrestlemania. A heel turn is teased here, Gable being shoehorned into the match is also technically possible, it all keeps things a bit more interesting, though I have a hard time imagining them actually turning him heel, people like him too much and he pretty much has an entire group of dunces he carries around that would all have to be changed up, or abandoned, and I can't see any of them doing well without Gable, they'd likely just fall down the card entirely except for the blonde who is just on the main roster for her looks anyway.

 

3 hours ago, Maxximum said:

Bro that had to be the one of best produced Raw episodes in the history of the show since its inception in 1993. It's honestly hard to believe that we're still witnessing the "PG Era" to the fullest capacity, especially after all the insider scandals in the last couple of years that have come out of the deepest vaults to see the light of day. Not only that but in the last few weeks (including Raw last night) we have pretty much seen and heard foul language (bleeped/censored or not) used throughout the shows. That F bomb that The Rock dropped at the end of the show was probably solid proof as such. I have also seen all over social media about reports of "double standards" and The Rock not sticking to PG guidelines but in hindsight I think they were fake, not to mention that the programming is also transitioning to Netflix in 10 months from now.   

Not gonna lie, I still have some hope that this whole PG shit will eventually die the death it so obviously deserves given that the lowlife behind it and his corrupt wife in politcs (who both obviously deserve a similar fate) are finally no longer involved with this company directly. Had AEW not turned out to be such a failure then there might have actually been more of an incentive for this to happen sooner to stay competetive, but if anything the goofs bleeding buckets on a weekly basis to a diminishing audience is probably seen as a sign that the rougher presentation would be a bad thing if it means being closer to the trashy product.

 

There is still a chance that some people in charge see the massive pops and reactions to Rock/Rhodes insulting each other, Punk/Mcintyre going below the belt verbally teasing that they would love to go further with it, and Rhea Ripley rubbing her damn near naked sweaty ass into other peoples faces during house shows being the talk of the week and realize that they could get a lot more attention if they loosened up and made these kinds of things, which were pretty standard in the early 2000s, a somewhat regular thing again.

Edited March 26 by Dauersack

[Rozalia1]

An all timer in a lot of ways. The wrestling was secondary, as it often is during this time as you get cold matches and them not wanting guys getting hurt, but the promos brought it. Which for those who think that is a bad thing... the point of weekly TV is to build up the big events. Not have the main event of Wrestlemania every week.

 

The CM Punk/Drew McIntyre/Seth Rollings promo segment was fantastic. Something I have to admit is that I have been liking Punk's work since he has returned. I put it down to others being able to tear him down and it isn't just him shooting on people. A lot of great stuff that I'm not even going to point anything out.

 

The Rock beatdown was also great. Yeah yeah, he did the 'Look at you know now' comment a lot, but that isn't unrealistic. Cody getting bloody also made the moment even more big time. Naturally AEW fans are in a tizzy saying how hypocritical those who liked the blood are and... no. As has been made clear many times. If blood is kept rare then it means something when it happens. If someone is getting colour every show even against job guys then it becomes meaningless. The same of course applies to the move set. Ricochet hit a (smooth) Canadian Destroyer on JD and the people were amazed. If every other match had Canadian Destroyers then the reaction would go down.

[Maxximum]

On 3/27/2024 at 12:15 AM, Dauersack said:

On 3/27/2024 at 7:39 PM, Rozalia1 said:

An all timer in a lot of ways. The wrestling was secondary, as it often is during this time as you get cold matches and them not wanting guys getting hurt, but the promos brought it. Which for those who think that is a bad thing... the point of weekly TV is to build up the big events. Not have the main event of Wrestlemania every week.

 

The CM Punk/Drew McIntyre/Seth Rollings promo segment was fantastic. Something I have to admit is that I have been liking Punk's work since he has returned. I put it down to others being able to tear him down and it isn't just him shooting on people. A lot of great stuff that I'm not even going to point anything out.

 

The Rock beatdown was also great. Yeah yeah, he did the 'Look at you know now' comment a lot, but that isn't unrealistic. Cody getting bloody also made the moment even more big time. Naturally AEW fans are in a tizzy saying how hypocritical those who liked the blood are and... no. As has been made clear many times. If blood is kept rare then it means something when it happens. If someone is getting colour every show even against job guys then it becomes meaningless. The same of course applies to the move set. Ricochet hit a (smooth) Canadian Destroyer on JD and the people were amazed. If every other match had Canadian Destroyers then the reaction would go down.

Not gonna lie, I still have some hope that this whole PG shit will eventually die the death it so obviously deserves given that the lowlife behind it and his corrupt wife in politcs (who both obviously deserve a similar fate) are finally no longer involved with this company directly. Had AEW not turned out to be such a failure then there might have actually been more of an incentive for this to happen sooner to stay competetive, but if anything the goofs bleeding buckets on a weekly basis to a diminishing audience is probably seen as a sign that the rougher presentation would be a bad thing if it means being closer to the trashy product.

 

There is still a chance that some people in charge see the massive pops and reactions to Rock/Rhodes insulting each other, Punk/Mcintyre going below the belt verbally teasing that they would love to go further with it, and Rhea Ripley rubbing her damn near naked sweaty ass into other peoples faces during house shows being the talk of the week and realize that they could get a lot more attention if they loosened up and made these kinds of things, which were pretty standard in the early 2000s, a somewhat regular thing again.

 

I have also noticed that they didn't use black and white visuals of that video on their weekly YouTube highlights to highlight the 'blood'. You can clearly see Cody Rhodes covered in crimson and in plain color as such, the rain and everything else going on in the background. Something unusual because they always go black and white when there's blood. Just like the John Cena & Stone Cold Steve Austin cameos on the production truck in the background, the 'no black and white visual' was in no way shape or form, a coincidence. 

 

The ridicule that AEW gets is because of how they overuse their resources by overdoing it. The blood every week (or often occurrence thereof) turned into a meme, where Jon Moxley is the center of it all. Also the no-selling of moves has become very annoying. Back to back Canadian Destroyers kills its purity and crowd reaction all together. I saw something similar on ROH which was trending as well. Ricochet vs JD was amazing, match of the night for sure.

 

Speaking of overdoing, just so I don't get called out for calling the kettle black, WWE had a period where they often had the wrestlers use the word "bitch" on promos just to get cheap pops. I'm glad that promos have gotten a more creative approach to them where they can just improvise and shoot from the hip where necessary. An example pf this is the CM Punk/McIntyre/Seth promo on Raw. It felt so real, like there was legit tension in the arena and I think it's the first time it's felt that way since the Matt Riddle/Seth Rollins promos. 

Edited March 28 by Maxximum

[Rozalia1]

17 hours ago, Maxximum said:

I have also noticed that they didn't use black and white visuals of that video on their weekly YouTube highlights to highlight the 'blood'. You can clearly see Cody Rhodes covered in crimson and in plain color as such, the rain and everything else going on in the background. Something unusual because they always go black and white when there's blood. Just like the John Cena & Stone Cold Steve Austin cameos on the production truck in the background, the 'no black and white visual' was in no way shape or form, a coincidence. 

 

The ridicule that AEW gets is because of how they overuse their resources by overdoing it. The blood every week (or often occurrence thereof) turned into a meme, where Jon Moxley is the center of it all. Also the no-selling of moves has become very annoying. Back to back Canadian Destroyers kills its purity and crowd reaction all together. I saw something similar on ROH which was trending as well. Ricochet vs JD was amazing, match of the night for sure.

 

Speaking of overdoing, just so I don't get called out for calling the kettle black, WWE had a period where they often had the wrestlers use the word "bitch" on promos just to get cheap pops. I'm glad that promos have gotten a more creative approach to them where they can just improvise and shoot from the hip where necessary. An example pf this is the CM Punk/McIntyre/Seth promo on Raw. It felt so real, like there was legit tension in the arena and I think it's the first time it's felt that way since the Matt Riddle/Seth Rollins promos. 

 

They're cutting on the headshots with objects still. Not sure if the censoring of blood in that way applies to YouTube. If they show what happened on the next show and it is there in colour then something will have changed yes.

 

I think they might have cut back (still doing it too much) lately after being mocked enough, but we'll see if it can stick. I saw this song and dance early on with them. I recall a stretch of time where post-match attacks were absolutely crazy, the culmination being an episode where there was an attack on every segment and that included the promo segments in the back. They were called out big time for it so you had a few weeks after where it was kept to a minimum, before they went right back to overusing it. On ROH you saw the guy cartwheeling a guy up the ramp and then the other guy cartwheeling him down the ramp and into a Canadian Destroyer I take it. As for no-selling. I don't think there is going to be a cure for that over there. In WWE no selling is usually reserved for giants, to sell how big and powerful they are. In AEW the 'stand in the middle of the ring trading strikes while no-selling them' is constant, due to the Japanese wrestling obsession. Also constant kick outs at 1 (back to back even) after big moves because FIGHTING SPIRIT! Even on cold matches on Dynamite with job guys. Imagine being a casual viewer, being told about the hot new signing of Ospreay, and then seeing his big moves getting kicked out at 1 by a barely seen jobber. Oh, but 7 years ago in Japan the jobber beat Ospreay so... no one cares or knows.

 

That is why I'm against just allowing everyone to swear, because like with that and constantly on AEW, people start using it simply for the reaction... which gets smaller every time. That is why I can believe that story about WWE sending that memo around, reminding talent that the show is PG and not all just start swearing on social media. Double standard because the Rock can do it? No, it is so guys across the card aren't doing it, so that a main eventer doing it means something. I agree on the matter of the promos. Scripting stuff too hard (same with not scripting at all) unless the talent is really good on dealing with it (Owens can make it sound more natural) or needs it, is bad, but some scripting while allowing talent to diverge a bit as long as they hit the main points, is golden.

Edited March 29 by Rozalia1

[Rozalia1]

The Bloodline is getting a lot of heat. Payoff is going to be big. Babyfaces getting whipped by the heels is a classic. I wonder if Rock is getting whipped with the belt he loves to talk about. With all this Mama Rhodes stuff going on though... are we going to get Brandi involvement at Mania too? Roman has done the taunting the opponent's wife bit before. Maybe he'll offer Brandi the opportunity to have 'tribal combat' with the tribal chief after he is done destroying her man.

---

CM Punk did a big time interview with Ariel Helwani (a designated enemy of AEW) where the AEW stuff came up. It was as damning as expected. What I and others have said about Tony Khan and AEW was said here. No competence, no leadership, no structure, just spending money. The always fun thing is that some of this stuff is things that even AEW fans will say themselves, but if anyone else says it, then suddenly they leap to the defence. The 'AEW not being a business because they don't care about making money' bit especially.

 

Afterwards we got the announcement that AEW is making cuts. Unfortunate timing? Or little Tony being mad and needing to do something as he can't tweet his displeasure, be it due to fear (you'll notice Khan never shoots in the direction of Cornette most notably because he knows he'd be ripped to shreds with ease) or because he has it in his head that lawyers wouldn't want him too (or at least that'll be his story to sell it to his fans why he isn't shooting back). Now realistically it should be unfortunate timing as these things are done way in advance... except two things. The first is the fact that AEW is not a professional company. The second is the fact that we had to endure 'knowing Vince' for decades over every little thing, so why not 'knowing Tony'? Of course, just because Tony isn't going to react himself doesn't mean that the word isn't go out to the wrestlers on the payroll that they need to take to the internet to defend the honour of princeling Tony. After all, 'being AEW is to be constantly under attack', because WWE apparently hasn't gotten attacks constantly itself for decades.

 

Anyway, these cuts are thus far light (considering the sheer bloat of the AEW roster). Some 10 people, some of which even the AEW faithful are all 'who?' More might be coming though, so we'll see. One thing that I'm finding interesting is how the event swiftly destroyed the campaign against the 90 day non-competes that WWE (NXT is 30 day) uses. With those they tell you when you're going and you're getting paid until that point. AEW? You just get fired instantly with no payment. That certainly doesn't sound better to me. Another big deal in this was that one of the fired, Anthony Henry, was fired while he was out with a broken jaw. Again, the big bad 'Fed', that these people claim is pure evil, is known to not do that. They'll keep injured guys on until they're good and then get rid of them. Common courtesy. Side note. I had no idea who the guy was, but AEW fans are saying that he was a good 'young talent' and that maybe he could have a shot in NXT in future? Man is 40 and could be in witness protection and he'd be safe. Come on now. I've been seeing chatter about that Chief operating officer that got promoted recently, that used to work for WWE, getting blamed for this already. It can't be that their boy Tony is a hypocrite and a liar, no, the evil ex-fed guy is ordering Tony to make the cuts and Tony is simply powerless to stop him.

 

That brings us to another matter. Injuries and contact. Punk stated that when he was out in AEW he got silence for months and no help whatsoever, so he had to find a professional to help him out. In WWE the company handles that stuff for you and sets it up for you and contact is of course there. On the matter of contact. No one ever enjoyed getting the call from the likes of Johnny Ace no, but that is you getting contacted. AEW? Guys wake up one day and see on the internet that they're fired.

 

Anyway, I got it all correct again, but of course it is no real achievement. For a lot of people all they need is to be honest and not afraid of the truth, and they'll work all of this out easily. I and others from the start saw Tony Khan's weakness and knew that no good was going to come from it. Guys like that tend to make all the wrong moves because charlatans are going to see that weakness and cash in on it. Bucks? Best paid tag team according to them and they also got all their buddies jobs paying them more than they have ever earned in their life, some of them for essentially no work as they barely ever feature. Jericho? Massive contract, I recall hearing it was like 10 years, that is going to have him backstage even once he can no longer go, earning massive amounts of money still. Moxley? Gets to do all of his mudshow stuff be it in AEW or outside of it, getting paid massive amounts, oh, and he gets to be booked like the 'badass' he thinks he is as he does barely any jobs (them, the heels, doing the double choke out on FTR and then not being in the tournament because Moxley didn't want to do the job is comedy). Company is full of guys taking him for a ride while telling him he is doing everything correct and that the 'haters' (those who tell him the truth) are just being unfair/lying.

Edited April 2 by Rozalia1

[spectre51]

The NXT North American Championship match was pretty great, my favourite match of Day 1.

Biggest disappointment, the entrances, most didn't feel Wrestlemania Big, like comparing Gunther's this year to last years, Jade's smackdown entrance was cooler looking as well.

[Dauersack]

Heymans introduction into the Hall Of Fame was weird. Why would they give the speech to Reigns, who fumbled his way through and made a nonsense point with some generic story that he himself disproved seconds after with his own words, if you have good talkers like CM Punk or Bully Ray who could have given much better speeches, the crowd being audibly rowdy during his attempt at a speech certainly didn't help.

Heyman himself did a good job, even mentioned Brock Lesnar, who was missing from all the tribute clips even though he is what kept Heyman relevant and pulled him back into employment with WWE, and he was not there either, so that sullied the thing for sure. Dumbest part is, Lesnar was getting the Vince treatment when he was named indirectly in a weird but non criminal context, Stephanie McMahon meanwhile who was named directly several times in far worse context than not named UFC guy was allowed to be there and hold her signature psychotic grin into the camera, even being adressed by Heyman, certainly a very obvious double standard it seems to me. Didn't watch any of the others, neither Rocks nepotism introduction nor any of the other people I never heard about.

 

As for the day 1 matches. Rhea vs Becky. I love how the singer that sang Rhea's entrance basically looked like a crackhead version of her, easy to see where she stole her more recent look from. The guys voice was terrible, some singers just sound much better on tape than they do live, this one certainly falls into that category for me. Match itself was pretty good, nowhere near the level of Rhea's last match Wrestlemania, but I wasn't bored, they went with a good angle working the arm, and I was satisfied with the result. Ironically, after trying to shame Rhea for "posting her ass online" after she got some attention for a stinkface spot during a house show, Becky showed as much of her tiny ass as she could get away with, basically looked like a thong, presenting much more than Rhea this time around.

 

Six pack tag team ladder match. You see that they just wanted to include as many people for a WM payday as possible. Well I didn't mind much, they made it a ladder match, and funnily enough after Rhea got her massive live band entrance the other two judgement day members just casually walked in with their normal entrance, except that they added gimp masks, puts things into perspective really. Match itself was chaotic as hell, good kind of chaotic, a few big stunts, and R-Truth of all people getting the win. I wonder if they let Damien Priest cash in now that they got the belt off of him in a somewhat non damaging fashion with so many people involved.

 

Rey Mysterio & Andrade vs Santos & Dominik Mysterio. Yay, another tag match. Didn't care much for this one so I skipped through, expected some Carlito heel turn but instead two clowns I didn't know came in to interfere after everyone from every team already interfered and gave the babyfaces the dirty win by outnumbering the heels. Weird match, bad kind of chaotic I'd say, no stakes anyway so who cares, they will feud for months to come.

 

Uso vs Uso. I skipped that one, no stakes, no impact, last minute build up, still have a hard time seeing these as two individual performers, match could have been great if they have good chemistry, or bad if they only have team chemistry.

 

Six Women Tag match. Hell no, already watched two chaotic tag team matches, main event is a chaotic tag team match, last thing I need is a chaotic womens tag team match between all of this, no stakes anyway, skip.

 

Zayn vs Gunther. This one pissed me off. It was a generic Gunther vs underdog match, which normally is a good thing as Gunther has good matches, this time they put in on a bit thick though, and they presented Gunther as someone who loses focus to provoke someone elses wife when his entire gimmick is about being all business when the bell rings, which was also the talking point of the feud. They made Sami kick out of finisher type move spam, someone who lost match after match to most wrestlers one finishing move, both top stars as well as mid carders, suddenly becomes invincible to Gunthers usually lethal moves done despite it being several in a row.

Worst of all they dethroned Gunther, ending the longest, historic IC title reign for... lukewarm Sami. Not someone red hot like LA Knight, not fresh future megastar Bron Breakker, not "never won a singles title in WWE but certainly deserves one finally" master technician Gable who had this long road to beating Gunther, just Sami, and they even stole Gables story of not wanting to make his family cry on the PPV. I give the IC title 4 to 6 months to be considered as worthless at this rate. The good thing that could come of that would be if Gunther moves on to the main event from here on, here is to hoping.

 

Main event. This went on for twice as long as it needed to, it was so boring in the first half I couldn't believe it. Had some good moments, had some eye rollers, like old rusty Rock kicking out of the number one champion wrestlers big spear finisher followed up by (likely) future number one champion wrestlers big finisher, give me a break you insecure baby looking man. I have to say I laughed often about Rock looking so winded from not being in ring shape, and I'd like to believe that some if not all of the draumatic pauses were to let him catch his breath, bit all cynical shit aside, Rock didn't perform terribly for someone so out of practice, and from what I know he didn't even tear something this time, that deserves some respect with the amount of juice he is obviously on.

Ending result was to be expected, unexpected was that there was no interference, normally that would be cause for celebration as it deviates a bit from the overused formula, but I will give it no such credit because A, Reigns is blueballing himself with the bloodline interference now but they will be putting it on quadruple thick tomorrow for it, and B, I deem it likely that Rock didn't want to look like someone who needed help coming out of the retirement home to defeat two top stars in a tag match, so that was probably the main reason the bloodline didn't try to find some way for a sneak interference.

 

A few matches left for day 2 that I care about, and some I really don't, likely gonna skip a few of them because Raw is following up the next day and there is too much wrestling, four days in a row would definitely be over the top for me if I had watched all of it, I ain't a young man anymore after all.

 

[SelectiveGamer]

Last year... sexual predator Vince and his BS with the Raw after WM is what caused me to 'quit' (really go on hiatus but you get my point) for 6+ months.

 

I'm hoping the Raw after WM (tonight) is better than it was last year. I'm not going to get my hopes up... but even if it's not... with Vince gone for good (hopefully) it really won't matter all that much honestly.

 

We'll see obviously but I'm just saying.

[Dauersack]

14 hours ago, SelectiveGamer said:

I'm hoping the Raw after WM (tonight) is better than it was last year. I'm not going to get my hopes up... but even if it's not... with Vince gone for good (hopefully) it really won't matter all that much honestly.

I felt like it was kinda crappy, for various reasons. I had a lot of text written out already for Day 2 of WM, which was really bad compared to Day 1, and started writing some for Raw which, while not being nearly as bad, doubled down on some of the crap. Decided not to finish my writing though because that would have been a lot of text, and what for really, thread here is mostly dead since Elite was banned for hurting a mods feelings, takes us way over a month to fill up a single page here. I don't buy Vince being gone for good quite yet, Stephanie and Triple H are still around after all even though it is obvious that they knew what Vince was doing, wrestling is notorious for nepotism so I would not be surprised if that old cockroach finds a way to sneak back in with the help of his family members before he dies, if he follows the example of his mother then he has over 20 years left to find a way, a lot can happen during that.

Edited April 9 by Dauersack