Pro Wrestling Discussion Number IV

[jellydonut25]

Raw has been really good for a while now, like REALLY good. I can’t remember the last time an episode didn’t have something pretty awesome happen during it.


Smackdown has been borderline unwatchable. The spotlight needs to get off of Shane. His character is the worst.

The Mixed Match Challenge is surprisingly a LOT of fun. Fun matches, hilarious promos, it’s every bit as good as if not better than I thought it COULD be at its best.

[Henry88]

WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino dead at 82
http://pix11.com/2018/04/18/wwe-hall-of ... ead-at-82/

[EricDent]

Yeah it was pretty sad that Bruno passed, but he did live pretty long for a pro wrestler.
Many many wrestlers never made it past 50...

RAW had a tribute to him.

The "Shakeup" happened again, and I think they might be switching brands for the US & IC titles soon.
Jeff Hardy won the US title & went to SD, Jinder (the former champ) is on RAW & has a rematch at The Greatest Royal Rumble.
Rollins is the IC champ on RAW, and is facing Finn, Miz, and Samoa Joe in a ladder match at the same event.
So there's a 50/50 chance the IC title goes to SD (maybe with The Miz tying Jericho & then hold it for about a week to beat Pedro for the longest combined time EVER).

[EricDent]

Money in the Bank is happening tonight.
Who knows who's gonna win...

I kinda suspect it's gonna be somebody on SmackDown, since Brock Lesner is kinda hard to cash in on.

NXT Takeover Chicago 2 was very good, still not sure why RAW or even SmackDown can't match that sort of storytelling/matches?

[EricDent]

Well I guess I guessed badly.
Still not sure when/who Braun Strowman will cash in on....

[jellydonut25]

I think Braun is gonna cash the instant Brock Lesnar appears.

[Henry88]

Vader Passes Away at Age 63

[Henry88]

One thing I've noticed with Raw nowadays, especially after watching older clips of Raw from the early 2000s, is there were a looooot of backstage segments. Yeah it ended up being a bunch of people staring up at a giant screen, but it helped set up all the conflicts that took place in the ring, and it helped getting all the talent air time that they couldn't fit in the ring and it helped further storylines. Today's product seems lacking of that extra environment that put emphasis on the matchups that are happening to keep people invested.

[UltramanGoji]

[jellydonut25]

[EricDent]

They still show backstage stuff often.
Of course if something "important" happens they HAVE to show it at least 3-4 times during the show.

I went to a RAW a few years back when HHH got attacked by Kevin Nash.
LITERALLY HALF the show was us watching the screen to see that attack FIVE TIMES!

I agree on the "too long" thing.
The last 2 PPVs both had segments that detailed what happened earlier in the PPV...like we weren't watching.
Yet they can't get people like Authors of Pain on the PPV...plus the pre-show is like 2 hours of them rambling on about the matches.
With maybe 2 "Kick-Off Show" matches. Why not just have those matches on the main show if you need to fill time?

[EricDent]

Still watch Raw & SD.
It seems to slowly going back to a bit of the "attitude" era with a few choice words.

Went to a recent (Dec. 4) episode of SmackDown, and it was pretty fun.

I recently re-watched every WCW Monday Nitro, and still miss that company a lot.

Really sad about the recent passing of "Mean" Gene Okerlund, he was a big part of WWF & WCW.

Just for fun, I started watching all the old Royal Rumbles on the WWE Network.
One thing that was kinda interesting is the fact they DID have Women's Tag Champs back in 1988.
Apparently they are trying to bring those titles back for the current ladies.

So Cody Rhodes & a few other wrestlers are trying to get a rival organization to WWE started up.
All Elite Wrestling with the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars on as a financial backer.
Who is apparently even richer than Vince McMahon.
Hopefully they do well, and make the WWE start caring again.

[Henry88]

word on the street is poor old Braun Strowman will be buried for good at the rumble sad that such a talented big man gets the shovel like this is a sham.

[EricDent]

Braun is still on the mend from his recent elbow surgery.
He's not even gonna face Brock now, that "honor" went to Finn Balor.
Wouldn't be surprised if he wins the Rumble though.

Seems that WWE is slowly testing the waters for "Attitude" stuff.

Recent stuff like Mandy Rose in a towel, Alexa Bliss covering herself up (topless), and the hotel "scandal" with Mandy & Jimmy Uso (Mandy lured him in and was wearing lingerie).
Plus apparently Becky Lynch used the Stunner (complete with salute) at a house show.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

So I think I'm pretty much done with WWE. They recently "took" Becky Lynch out of the main event and put Flair instead. I know Becky will get added back into the event but nobody wants a triple threat match they want a 1v1. I'm hoping AEW gets a TV deal and I'll just switch that.

WWE clearly has lost all touch with the fans and the end product is really starting to show that.

[jellydonut25]

I actually think a triple threat makes a wild amount of sense, but they're not going about it organically, which is irritating. The wrestlers should have their own agency instead of the McMahons just doing it "because reasons"

Build it organically. It's the culmination of a year of storytelling by WWE. Rhonda comes in, avoids Flair, so Flair has beef with her, Rhonda and Flair's only match ends in essentially a no decision, they're not done with each other, Becky and Flair have had issues going back to Summerslam (or earlier), and their blow off match got interrupted by Rhonda, so Becky has beef with Rhonda. It's one of the few extremely natural to build itself Triple Threats I can think of, and it would also help take some of the weight off Rousey both in-ring and from the fans. In-ring do you really want the first time a Women's match is ever going to HEADLINE WrestleMania to be a woman who's wrestled a handful of matches and is possibly leaving soon? No, you want it to be the two pillars of your show. The ones who have gotten you to this point and will carry you beyond. And you also need to give casuals something. AND if this is going to be Rhonda's farewell match, even if it's just for a little while so she can be with her family, you want her to go out with the crowd at least somewhat amicable and you don't want a repeat of Lesnar-Goldberg. So it all makes sense, but just...do it in the ring. Have Flair screw with Rhonda in a match and so Rhonda asks for a Triple Threat, or Flair screw Becky out of something so she adds Flair, or Flair just do...SOMETHING that allows her to put herself into the match - Hell, throw into question the validity of Becky's Rumble win since she wasn't in the match and added herself...then she and Flair fight to a bunch of no contests so it's a triple threat....SOMETHING. There's a dozen ways to do it....Having Vince just shuffle things around because "random villainy" is the laziest one.

It's the right move, but the wrong way to get there.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Its just not the Becky thing either for me. They turned Elias and Rusev face and then turned them both back to heels in a short span of time? It makes not logical sense then again its that lack of organic storytelling you're talking about Jelly.

Also I'm a huge fan of Brock Lesnar but I don't think he should be the universal champion. To me the champion should be someone who defends the title on a monthly basis not once in a blue moon. WWE has just gotten so stale due to the lack of any real competition and I'm glad that they're getting it in the likes of AEW.

Hopefully this causes the product to get better but until Triple H has full control over creative I don't see that happening. So that being said depending on WM is going to be whether I stick with WWE or not.

[jellydonut25]

I hate Brock Lesnar, Universal Champion.

I like Brock Lesnar, the character, but the two years or so he's been champion have sucked. Even if the champ doesn't DEFEND regularly (as many heel champs don't) he should at least BE ON THE SHOW.

I'm just really hoping that between now and WM, we find a way to break up "The Greatest Tag Team in the World" and get the Daniel Byran-Miz WWE Championship match we all want.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

I'd like to see that too but knowing WWE they'll make a match of Shane vs Miz at WM

[jellydonut25]

I love The Miz, but after the past few weeks, I would be kinda thrilled with Kofi vs Daniel Bryan for Mania...

...of course, WWE needs to realize they're playing with fire and if they're not planning on giving Kofi an actual push and even a short title run (just to like...let him have it once in his career) then they need to put an end to this brief main event push NOW, because the fans have already begun building up behind Kofi and if this goes on much longer, he'll be the new Daniel Bryan, where he's so popular, they'll have no choice but to alter their plans and give him a push anyway.

But yeah, if there's one person/group in WWE that's basically the exact opposite of Daniel Bryan other than The Miz, it's the goofy guys who wear neon colors and waste food and tell jokes and act like goobers and shill merch every chance they get: New Day/Kofi.

[EricDent]

Maybe Kofi will win at Fastlane?

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[EricDent]

Well maybe not, since Vince came out and subbed in Kevin Owens...
So maybe Kofi (and Becky) will get WM moments soon?

So DX (including Chyna) & Honky Tonk Man going into the WWE Hall of Fame.

[jellydonut25]

It's pretty obvious that Kofi is being pegged for Mania, as is Becky. The Becky one is SUPER obvious, and I kinda wish they'd get on with it already, because nobody actually believes she won't be in the main event.

Kofi is a little more questionable just because, I feel like this can't have been their PLAN heading into things...Kofi wasn't even supposed to be at Elimination Chamber, but Mustafa Ali got hurt.

[EricDent]

Well here we are on WM35 Weekend!
As usual NXT Takeover NY was amazing!

WM35 will have to seriously step up, but with an absurd number of matches, not sure if that is gonna happen...

Here are those matches:

Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair (winner takes all) so whomever wins will be both SD & RAW Women's Champ

Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesner for the Universal Title

Finn Balor vs Bobby Lashley for the Intercontinental Title

Rey Mysterio vs Samoa Joe for the US Title

The Bar vs Rusev/Nakamura vs Black/Richochet vs The Uso's for the SD Tag Titles

Ryder/Hawkins vs Revival for the RAW Tag Titles

IIconics vs Nia/Tamina vs Phoenix/Natyala vs Sasha/Bayley for the Women's Tag Titles

Women's Battle Royal

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal (featuring Micheal Che & Colin Jost of SNL)

Batista vs HHH No Holds Barred (if HHH loses he retires from in-ring)

Miz vs Shane McMahon Falls count anywhere

Buddy Murphy vs Tony Neese for the 205 Live Cruiserweight Title

Kurt Angle vs Baron Corbin (Angle's Farewell Match)

Alexa Bliss is the hostess

Elias is gonna be the musical performance