Wrestling

[6666]

2 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

The woman's divison is such a mess outside NXT it's borderline funny. Shayna Baszler lost to a male gymnast last week, Eva Marie is making a return, The Bellas kicked Bayley down a stage at Wrestle Mania and both Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose are still employed.

Eva Marie and Mandy Rose are there for other, non-wrestling reasons... although Mandy actually looked a lot better in the ring than Eva Marie when she was teaming with Sonya Deville (who's now an authority figure for some reason).

The women's scene on SmackDown isn't too bad (apart from the Bellas/Bayley thing).

[Dave]

Cody licking his lips and the thought of somebody else to squash.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

1 hour ago, The Palace Fan said:

Cody licking his lips and the thought of somebody else to squash.

A nasty mexican to crush while wearing the US flag

[Dave]

Samoa Joe back in NXT in an enforcer role for William Regal.

I imagine his release was part of a contract restructure if he's unable to wrestle but WWE seem to be controlling the media narrative by suggesting Triple H was unhappy with his release and rehired him. 

[Dave]

WWE monthly cuts coming through. So far I think they all make sense...

- Fandango

- Tony Nese

- Ariya Daivari

- Ever-Rise

 

Fandango's been handicapped by his gimmick, Ever-Rise have been doing good stuff but they're MSK lite, Nese is a weird one as he's good with a good look for his size, Daivari is a good hand but not a stand out.

I'd quite like to see how they'd all do in Impact.

[6666]

I always thought that they could've done more with Fandango but with where he was actually positioned, his release isn't a massive surprise. Same with the rest. Nothing really that surprising.

[Dave]

Further Releases....

- Tyler Breeze

- Killian Dain

- Samir & Sunil Singh

- Marina Shafir

- Arturo Ruas

- Curt Stallion

 

Again no surprises. 205 live is pretty much over now albeit I don't think anybody's actually watched it for about four years. Allegedly Nick Khan is willing to 'take the heat' for releasing people that are in relationships.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

Breeze and Fandango were very decent wrestlers. Glad they won an NXT title before dipping. Neese could have been used surely. 

[6666]

On 26/06/2021 at 09:38, The Palace Fan said:

205 live is pretty much over now.

It was over when they decided that they no longer wanted the cruiserweight title or wrestlers in the cruiserweight title picture to appear on the show exclusively for cruiserweight wrestlers.

[Dave]

JR called it WWE Dynamite again .

[Dave]

The Chyna documentary on Vice is must watch.

[Dave]

[Devil-Dick Willie]

Malakai black 

Fuck me it's still second to dash hardwood and cash wheeler though 

[6666]

On 08/07/2021 at 21:47, The Palace Fan said:

One problem for AEW is that they can't push all of these guys at the same time. Christian already feels like a nothing signing and Brian Cage must want out. WWE creating an unsettled roster for AEW just like their own.

[Dave]

@Devil-Dick Willie found my favourite Cornette rant 

[Dave]

WWE are sure pulling out the stops for fans coming back...

- First 15 minutes was entrances.

- Tamina final entrant in Money In The Bank.

- Goldberg returning for one more title match.

 

[6666]

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan both reportedly joining AEW.

[Dave]

4 hours ago, 6666 said:

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan both reportedly joining AEW.

Yeah I wasn't posting that spoiler intentionally (laughing emoji).

I'm interested to see how far apart they debut and what it does for live viewers.

I'm more interested in AEW than WWE at the minute. No idea if its Vince, Khan or Laurinitus but WWE have seemingly gone full circle and are focusing on recruiting/pushing the larger than life characters. There's little to no point watching NXT now as they change everything about them when they get called up. Personally I prefer watching people in the mould of Styles, Jericho, Bryan, Angle, Guerrero and Benoit so AEW has my attention. 

[6666]

17 hours ago, The Palace Fan said:

Yeah I wasn't posting that spoiler intentionally (laughing emoji).

I'm interested to see how far apart they debut and what it does for live viewers.

I'm more interested in AEW than WWE at the minute. No idea if its Vince, Khan or Laurinitus but WWE have seemingly gone full circle and are focusing on recruiting/pushing the larger than life characters. There's little to no point watching NXT now as they change everything about them when they get called up. Personally I prefer watching people in the mould of Styles, Jericho, Bryan, Angle, Guerrero and Benoit so AEW has my attention. 

WWE have those guys. Vince is just looking for those one or two wrestlers that can "break out" into the mainstream. Doesn't seem to care that much about anything else. Everything else is repetition or some mad experimentation.

[JoshBRFC+]

If Punk returned to WWE it would be arguably the best return and biggest return pop of all time... shame. Absolute massive signings for AEW if true. Best yet?

Edited July 28, 2021 by JoshBRFC

[Dave]

5 minutes ago, JoshBRFC said:

If Punk returned to WWE it would be arguably the best return and biggest return pop of all time... shame. Absolute massive signings for AEW if true. Best yet?

All Out is in Chicago so the pop he gets in AEW could be something really special.

I'm really intrigued to hear his first promo and see who can step up to his level.

[Guest]

@The Palace Fan  looks like cm punk will be debuting in the first episode of rampage. Very good marketing by aew to show that it isnt just a sister show. 

[Dave]

On 29/07/2021 at 18:25, Gunnersauraus said:

@The Palace Fan  looks like cm punk will be debuting in the first episode of rampage. Very good marketing by aew to show that it isnt just a sister show. 

Yes. AEW want to promote Rampage as an A show. Brilliant move in retrospect but long term it will be very, very hard to make there main players look appealing 9 times a month. Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Sting etc were great because of the intrigue. In my lifetime I only think The Rock is the only baby face that can handle that mad schedule.

When Bischoff was told Nitro would go head-to-head with Raw  in 1996 he realised the next six months would define his legacy for his lifetime and he was spot on. He's still making six-figure money 25 years later because of Lex Luger and nWo. This is Tony Khan's moment right now and its really exciting as a wrestling to see how it plays out.

I don't care if AEW folds in five years time or if WWE becomes bigger than Marvel. AEW are making life exciting so let's see how it plays out.

[UNORTHODOX]

To be honest they wont do this but a Punk vs Bryan feud right off the bat would be amazing for me. They will probably want to keep them away from each other for a while though. Obviously depending  on if the rumours are true that they have signed both, if it is true that is massive for AEW and the TV war will officially begin.

[Dave]

On 29/07/2021 at 21:09, UNORTHODOX said:

To be honest they wont do this but a Punk vs Bryan feud right off the bat would be amazing for me. They will probably want to keep them away from each other for a while though. Obviously depending  on if the rumours are true that they have signed both, if it is true that is massive for AEW and the TV war will officially begin.

I don't think the "TV War" exists any more to be honest. 

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer promote it to remain relevant but nobody cares about the Neilsen estimate. Its just an estimate based on a small amount of households watching TV across America last.

There's streaming, external websites, twitter clips, podcast reviews, YouTube reviews etc. So many other ways to judge the size of your audience. 

I hope Dynamite beat Raw in the live raitings for the story, but in the long term Vince McMahon can sack 30% of his work force during covid whilst putting out a poor product and still turn a huge profit without the peacock debacle. The state of history changing in his  upcoming documentary is astounding but people will still watch it and nobody cares enough in the long run.

It is exciting though. Take it for what it is. If Tony runs it like WCW who cares. WCW 1997 was awesome.