Topic: Wrestling Thread (AEW, NJPW, WWE, etc) (*)

[tubby]

Action Bronson really attacked those ropes and it helped make his shoulder barges look legit, good for him.  He looked absolutely fucked after his hot tag though.

Muta was a nice surprise but kind of pointless and really only for the super nerds.  Glad to hear Julia is ok, that was a really bad looking bump.

Hobbs is starting to grow on me, Ricky is the undeniable star of that team but Hobbs is getting better and better.

[bird_lfc]

The stuff they’re doing with Sami Zayn and the Bloodline is tremendous. Real potential for him to a top tier babyface if they get things right.

It is. Smackdown in particular is very good right now but the ‘IWC’ are very reluctant to praise WWE it seems

AEW decision making still boggles me. Considering the bloated roster, why is Moxley still facing dudes from other feds? Yeah juice Robinson is a big talent but there’s others that deserve a shot

[NightDancer]

Horrible-looking apron bump for Julia Hart, clearly overshot the table, her head looked like it smacked the concrete past the mats and then bounced up into the bottom of the guardrail. Doc Sampson was clearly seen helping her post-match. Haven't seen any news on an injury yet.

Enjoyed this week's rasslin' overall. AEW dipping into their deep roster to cover for the 'instability' backstage and giving some decent spots and big wins to some favourites from here.

Yeah she took a really nasty shot to the head. Sting did as well when he cracked his head on the table that did not break. Both of them had the doc checking them after the match.

Was only recently that I twigged how young Julia Hart actually is. Still only 20, turning 21 later this year. Have to say her work on things like facials and little body movements  outside the ring are really good for how short a time she has been on tv. Her in ring work is pretty decent when her age is taken into account as well. Foundations could be there for a quality sadistic heel or a tough as nails face somewhere down the line.

Quite like her House of Black persona and she makes it work for her as well as the guys in teh faction make it work for them.

She kind of does a more restrained version of what the Bunny does outside the ring. She is more of a dark lurking threat to the Bunny's OTT stuff.

Think having someone who is good at doing that can add an awful lot of a match sometimes as it can distract from lulls in the ring or add to the story telling if the person outside the ring is good enough.

[tubby]

It is. Smackdown in particular is very good right now but the ‘IWC’ are very reluctant to praise WWE it seems

Years of treating their employees like shit and all that Saudi blood money might have something to do with it.

[CornerFlag]

Is Charlotte off trying for a baby or something?  She's been away for a long time given it was originally for her to get married, as the rumours went.

[please, I have my reasons for it but...]

Years of treating their employees like shit and all that Saudi blood money might have something to do with it.

It is not just that, since 2001 WWE did nothing but burn every ounce of good will a lot of their audience had with it. A couple of months with Triple H in charge won't change that for me. It's still a publicly traded company and the fact that they are still doing the Saudi shows and are thrusting Logan Paul into the title picture because a Saudi prince wants more legitimacy to their country makes it hard for me to check out their shows, no matter how good they are.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Is Charlotte off trying for a baby or something?  She's been away for a long time given it was originally for her to get married, as the rumours went.

Seems like she may have checked out a little bit on wrestling. Was never a huge fan of hers, thought she was massively overrated for being Ric's daughter, but even by my poor view of her, she seems to have been WAY worse the last few months she was around

[OsirisMVZ]

See now again, without wanting to trigger that Osiris guy.....thats a proper AEW signing, and not in a good way. I can't imagine she's better than many of the current AEW womens roster, she's not particularly charismatic (if she's not wrestling), she's had pretty well documented issues before (injury problems, retired, wellness violations etc). Just another 'sign her because we can sign her' situation where she comes in and takes the spot of someone already there, just cos she was in the 'E before and is pretty famous.

AEW could sign half of Stardom and their Womens division would still be crap because there's not much they can do with 15-20 mins a week across 3 hours of primetime TV.

That said, there's not really many freelance women out there that they should/could be hiring.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Action Bronson really attacked those ropes and it helped make his shoulder barges look legit, good for him.  He looked absolutely fucked after his hot tag though.

Muta was a nice surprise but kind of pointless and really only for the super nerds.  Glad to hear Julia is ok, that was a really bad looking bump.

Hobbs is starting to grow on me, Ricky is the undeniable star of that team but Hobbs is getting better and better.

Action Bronson looks great but he apparently made it very clear on a podcast before the show was aired (but after the match was done) that under no uncertain terms he is not taking a bump, and he didn't.

Muta is something the super nerds would love, but it isn't for him, it is specifically for Moxley who asked for him to turn up live in the press conference after Forbidden Door. So considering what Moxley has done for the company, I am happy with it 

Hobbs and Starks are both fucking superstars, absolutely fantastic. Both now deserve mega pushes.

On the WWE tapping up stuff, more names have come out along with Malakai Black (who is gone but can't go to WWE, no one knows how long for maybe for just a long time, maybe for the rest of his AEW contract). Buddy Matthews may be going as well. Also sounds like Andrade may be itching to go as well.

It has however been kinda confirmed at this point now that Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Miro, FTR, and Bobby Fish were all contacted too, told to fight out of there contract to come back to WWE.

Keith and Swerve told HHH to fuck off as they hated how WWE treated them (Lee in particular with how they treated him and Mia Yim). I suspect one or both of these two told Tony about the tapping up.

Miro said he wasn't interested as he is happy and he has outside ventures he wants to do

FTR said not while they are under contract but they would be happy to negotiate afterwards but only for the Roman deal (big money and limited schedule)

Bobby Fish left and tried to convince Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly to end their contracts and go with him, to which Adam and Kyle told him to fuck off, and now instead Fish had ended up in TNA

[tubby]

Imagine thinking that Adam Cole would want to go back.  He's in a company with all his mates and his girlfriend and is allowed to do his Twitch thing.  Fish is a moron.

[NightDancer]

Action Bronson looks great but he apparently made it very clear on a podcast before the show was aired (but after the match was done) that under no uncertain terms he is not taking a bump, and he didn't.

Muta is something the super nerds would love, but it isn't for him, it is specifically for Moxley who asked for him to turn up live in the press conference after Forbidden Door. So considering what Moxley has done for the company, I am happy with it 

Hobbs and Starks are both fucking superstars, absolutely fantastic. Both now deserve mega pushes.

On the WWE tapping up stuff, more names have come out along with Malakai Black (who is gone but can't go to WWE, no one knows how long for maybe for just a long time, maybe for the rest of his AEW contract). Buddy Matthews may be going as well. Also sounds like Andrade may be itching to go as well.

It has however been kinda confirmed at this point now that Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Miro, FTR, and Bobby Fish were all contacted too, told to fight out of there contract to come back to WWE.

Keith and Swerve told HHH to fuck off as they hated how WWE treated them (Lee in particular with how they treated him and Mia Yim). I suspect one or both of these two told Tony about the tapping up.

Miro said he wasn't interested as he is happy and he has outside ventures he wants to do

FTR said not while they are under contract but they would be happy to negotiate afterwards but only for the Roman deal (big money and limited schedule)

Bobby Fish left and tried to convince Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly to end their contracts and go with him, to which Adam and Kyle told him to fuck off, and now instead Fish had ended up in TNA

He got on the mic at an indie event and more or less did what Black did and gave a "I need to recalibrate my life" speech and ended it with a similar "This is not a goodbye, it is until I see you again" comment. Was a strikingly similar speech to that of Black.

[tubby]

Just release Buddy, he's worthless without Black.  Pretty much worthless with him too, actually.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Just release Buddy, he's worthless without Black.  Pretty much worthless with him too, actually.

Well looks like he has already gone.

I heard someone make the comment that Buddy had a dull match with Okada, which is enough to show you that he isn't particularly great outside the WWE system. Was a terrible signing honestly

[NightDancer]

Just release Buddy, he's worthless without Black.  Pretty much worthless with him too, actually.

Probably in the minority but I rate him very highly.

Put him in against guys like Black, Pac etc and he can go and more than hold his own. Put him in with less talented guys and he does the lionshare of the work.

He has a good look, has a great mix of strength and agility, moves far quicker than he should with all that muscle, and comes across as being pretty safe for the most part despite some of the bumps he is involved in.

He is deadly dull on the stick but a good manager/valet could sort that.

[Riquende]

I do feel sorry for a few guys where the timing was just off. Malakai Black and Andrade are the most obvious - high profile arrivals just a short while before Punk, Danielson and Cole grabbed all the headlines and shunted the excitement about them downcard. Can't argue with either of them being disillusioned with where their AEW careers have gone since.

But it's the nature of the industry (when you have viable competition for employment). Back in the WWF/WCW days, midcard talent would hop between the companies all the time hoping to find the thing that got them over and hop back when it didn't. You can't push everyone, and sometimes it just doesn't happen for people through no fault of their own.

[Wild Romany Boy]

Probably in the minority but I rate him very highly.

Put him in against guys like Black, Pac etc and he can go and more than hold his own. Put him in with less talented guys and he does the lionshare of the work.

He has a good look, has a great mix of strength and agility, moves far quicker than he should with all that muscle, and comes across as being pretty safe for the most part despite some of the bumps he is involved in.

He is deadly dull on the stick but a good manager/valet could sort that.

I think he had the right role in the cruiserweight division. He sure as sugar wasn't under 205 but the story worked well.

He might have had something working with Seth, but they kind of rolled that one down and, importantly, this was a long way before Seth was the all rounder he is now.

[bird_lfc]

From what I’ve seen, black has said he won’t actually be leaving and will be back. Murphy may go join his lady in wwe but personally I’ve been most impressed with Brody king anyway

[please, I have my reasons for it but...]

Neither Black nor Murphy are gone. Black said he is taking personal time off but will be back in two months, and apparently Murphy needs to go back to Australia to renew his visa anyways.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Dynamite felt like a show that knows it is losing viewers to the weather news so not massively much going on.

Whatever that women's/Saraya segment was, fucking none of that. It was horrendous. I am glad they are trying to introduce more stories into the division, but not that. Without sounding harsh, that felt like Madison Raynes influence (not sure if it is or not but that was a TNA as fuck segment). If Saraya isn't wrestling then what the fuck are we doing here with her signing. Also Jamie Hayter is the one. Get that turn on Britt now, it's already months too late but you can still do it if you do it now. Then get her that title by early next year at the latest.

Bandido vs Jericho was fucking awesome however, just brilliant. Bandido wrestled like a guy looking to get an All Elite graphic on Twitter and fucking hell does he deserve one. Get him, Vikingo, and keep Ray Fenix and that's possibly the best young Luchadors around right now on your roster.

It's still probably Moxley, but shockingly Jericho is making something of a last minute run for wrestler of the year, since coming back slimmer and getting back into the groove of things, he's just hand fucking bangers week on week.

So yeah not the most exciting show but not bad, that main event is something not to be missed, and the women's segment is the same but for all the wrong reasons.

Push Jamie Hayter for fucks sake, she's beyond ready for it now.

[NightDancer]

Dynamite felt like a show that knows it is losing viewers to the weather news so not massively much going on.

Whatever that women's/Saraya segment was, fucking none of that. It was horrendous. I am glad they are trying to introduce more stories into the division, but not that. Without sounding harsh, that felt like Madison Raynes influence (not sure if it is or not but that was a TNA as fuck segment). If Saraya isn't wrestling then what the fuck are we doing here with her signing. Also Jamie Hayter is the one. Get that turn on Britt now, it's already months too late but you can still do it if you do it now. Then get her that title by early next year at the latest.

Bandido vs Jericho was fucking awesome however, just brilliant. Bandido wrestled like a guy looking to get an All Elite graphic on Twitter and fucking hell does he deserve one. Get him, Vikingo, and keep Ray Fenix and that's possibly the best young Luchadors around right now on your roster.

It's still probably Moxley, but shockingly Jericho is making something of a last minute run for wrestler of the year, since coming back slimmer and getting back into the groove of things, he's just hand fucking bangers week on week.

So yeah not the most exciting show but not bad, that main event is something not to be missed, and the women's segment is the same but for all the wrong reasons.

Push Jamie Hayter for fucks sake, she's beyond ready for it now.

More Hayter.


More of Julia's hat. She is like a tiny undertaker in it. 


More Brody King.


More Britt.


No Saraya.


Still a bit gutted that the House of Black is no more as a trio, at least for now anyway. Their entrances were always so well done and I am a sucker for a bruiser faction that has a great look and can go as a unit.

[NightDancer]

I think he had the right role in the cruiserweight division. He sure as sugar wasn't under 205 but the story worked well.

He might have had something working with Seth, but they kind of rolled that one down and, importantly, this was a long way before Seth was the all rounder he is now.

To be fair Pac never looked under it either when he was a cruiser.

Think Buddy was/is wasted on AEW at times in terms of air time as the guy can go with anyone.

[bird_lfc]

https://twitter.com/poisonouspixies/status/1575296366930034689?s=48&t=4CJPL0vXxbuyi-wuh9IVng

Yeah i hope she’s been brought in to wrestle and not just as a mouth piece as she’s bloddy awful on the mic, couldn’t watch this video without dying inside a little bit

[Stockholm Syndrome]

More Hayter.


More of Julia's hat. She is like a tiny undertaker in it. 


More Brody King.


More Britt.


No Saraya.


Still a bit gutted that the House of Black is no more as a trio, at least for now anyway. Their entrances were always so well done and I am a sucker for a bruiser faction that has a great look and can go as a unit.

Agree on Hayter

Not too sold on Julia yet but I hope she isn't dead after last week

Brody king is FUCKING AWESOME. He's a big scary dude doing big scary things, I love it

Britt is always great, I want to see her put over Toni and Jamie now though (which she will, she always jobs)

Work with Saraya but better than last night, and have her wrestling or what's the fucking point of even signing her

[NightDancer]

Agree on Hayter

Not too sold on Julia yet but I hope she isn't dead after last week

Brody king is FUCKING AWESOME. He's a big scary dude doing big scary things, I love it

Britt is always great, I want to see her put over Toni and Jamie now though (which she will, she always jobs)

Work with Saraya but better than last night, and have her wrestling or what's the fucking point of even signing her

Technically I said it was Julia's hat I wanted to see more of     Think the hat and coat is a really cool look and she works the look so well.

She appears to be ok. She posted online after the nasty fall that she and her hat were fine. I had a good chuckle at the fact she mentioned how the hat was after the fall.

In ring she is green as hell, but think there might be something there in time.  Think in the short to medium term she might be better served in short brawl type fights or gimmicky ones  until she is smoother in terms of technique.

For some reason I could see her and the Bunny having a good gimmick match (a no rules type thing) if an angle between the House of Black (need Buddy back for that though) and Butcher, Blade and the Bunny could be made (no mixed matches though as I hate those with a passion)


The hat though is awesome. 


Brody King is stupidly entertaining and really really good to watch. Not many really big guys move like he can. Great mix of raw power, size and deceptive agility. He is fantastic at working with small fast guys too. Is as good with the small speedy guys as he is in hoss fights.

Had never seen him in a ring before he came to AEW do he was brnd new to me. Love his war/battle chants before the cannonballs too. Do not think he has looked anything other than excellent be it in singles, tag or trios bouts.

Yeah Britt is pretty great at putting others over and eating pins to give others a rub. Seems a very solid pro in that respect. She will get her time at the top again and until then she is doing her bit t build others who in turn will then be elevated when the time comes for Baker to get the belt again.

[tubby]

That was maybe the worst AEW segment I've ever seen.

[damomad]

Could have posted this in the books thread but probably more appropriate here: Finished a good book recently on The Original Sheik.

Having been sheltered from nearly all wrestling pre WWF as a viewer, it's always fascinating to learn how different the business was in the territory days. I didn't know before reading it that Vince wasn't the first promoter to try and go national, he was just the most successful. If it hadn't of been him, it would have been someone else.

Also how much of what The Original Sheik did, paved the way for the violent style of wrestling we say in the 90's and still see remnants of in AEW and WWE today. He could wrestle, he chose not to though and focused on drawing an emotional reaction out of the crowd.

Recommended if you want to learn about a legendary character and also if you want to paint the picture of how we got from the territories to the 90's scene.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Fire-Unbelievable-Real-Life-Wrestlings-ebook/dp/B09MXGR9WV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NRTE3HSHJROV&keywords=the+sheik+wrestling&qid=1664478375&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjU3IiwicXNhIjoiMC42NSIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=the+sheik%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1

[damomad]

That was maybe the worst AEW segment I've ever seen.

Ah I didn’t think the promo was as bad as the reaction it has got. It is clear though that the relaxed nature of promos in AEW can lead to some gold/absolute shockers. An unscripted promo only works if the person delivering it has a knack for them.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

I will give Saraya credit - she is reflecting on the promo by saying on Twitter "Yeah that was really bad" and making a joke of it (after a passive aggressive tweet mind but still)

To the shock of no one, Bandido was apparently offered a contract immediately after the Main Event - as I said he wrestled like someone looking to get a graphic right away.

Andrade has seemed to have tweeted out indicating RUSH has been signed full time too - I like RUSH a lot, he brings a certain energy and dynamism, something different in how he wrestles and carries himself, even if by all accounts he very much a loose canon and to be treated with care in backstage politics

[tubby]

I wasn't sure about Bandido having never seen him wrestle, but he had some really nice spots and the crowd (who were shit all night) were right into it at the end, despite everyone knowing he wasn't going over Jericho.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

I wasn't sure about Bandido having never seen him wrestle, but he had some really nice spots and the crowd (who were shit all night) were right into it at the end, despite everyone knowing he wasn't going over Jericho.

I remember All In PPV when the Bucks went WELL out of their way to make him look like a million bucks, around about the time he had options to sign around all promotions - they really wanted him, he went ROH.

I also think Bandido was one of the group (with Dragon Lee and RUSH I believe) who had offers for WWE back in 2019/20, and Andrade told them all not to join WWE because it was shit for him.

[tubby]

Don't remember that All In match at all, will go have a look back.  He's got a really niche look with that mask and a nice mix of power and agility, think he would be a good pick up.  Still not convinced by RUSH, and Andrade is really floundering right now too.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Don't remember that All In match at all, will go have a look back.  He's got a really niche look with that mask and a nice mix of power and agility, think he would be a good pick up.  Still not convinced by RUSH, and Andrade is really floundering right now too.

As d I said earlier, I really like RUSH.

They need to find something with Andrade, he unfortunately fell in a weird time before the big signings, and at a point where he wasn't very good (he gained weight but hadn't figured out how to work with it yet). I hope he can get back on track as he has bags of potential.

I wonder where he is at the moment as he seems away from everything for a bit now. I know he got married but I can't remember him anywhere else either since then

[LiverLuke]

so many things wrong with that saraya segment.

[NightDancer]

so many things wrong with that saraya segment.

It was so so bad.

Felt along with Saraya being awful at delivering what was a pretty cringeworthy promo, the segment kind of shit on the womens division more than a little bit.

The match itself between Storm and Deeb was good, hard to have a bad match with Deeb in it, but the promo and build to the lumberjack match was just terrible.

And is Saraya trying to say he is an authority figure or is she saying she is what made the women's division in AEW (her use of the word HERE made it sound that way intentionally or not). It felt like the shit that often came out of Stephaine McMahon's mouth to be honest.

Terrible promo, terrible delivery, terribly mixed messages followed by a good match (the in ring part anyway)


The women's division in AEW needs work. But what it needs more than anything to get that work done and be more over is a lot more TV time minutes and not shit promos that patronise more than they inspire.

 I like the women's division on AEW a lot to be honest, and there are plenty of women there that I would watch in the ring or doing promos over an awful lot of the men. They need to be pushed though. Five minutes here or there is pretty useless.  Get the good talkers on screen more, get the good workers on screen more and get the ones that are too green for more technical matches working solid gimmick matches. Even 30 minutes of Dynamite a week and 10 of Rampage being dedicated to the women's division would be a good start, and make Dark a close to even split of minutes.

If they think they are struggling to find minutes, then keep the ROH stuff on ROH, keep guys coming from other organisations to a minimum and use the saved minutes to push those they already have.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1575888565031927820?t=NCIgNE2bHvua0DQwyH0AbA&s=19

There you go then, RUSH officially signed

[Malaysian Kopite]

AEW have no idea how to book their women.

The TNT title also got really devalued after Miro lost it with that Sammy - Cody - Scorpio reigns. That's where they should have focused the upper mid card and the other ex-WWE stars, there's no reason Andrade/Malakai/Adam Cole/Hobbs/Starks/Kingston,etc haven't properly challenged for it yet.

[Riquende]

AEW have no idea how to book their women.

The TNT title also got really devalued after Miro lost it with that Sammy - Cody - Scorpio reigns. That's where they should have focused the upper mid card and the other ex-WWE stars, there's no reason Andrade/Malakai/Adam Cole/Hobbs/Starks/Kingston,etc haven't properly challenged for it yet.

I'd agree with both points - the womens devision occasionally makes good strides forward, but the lack of TV time stops whatever momentum a particular storyline might have and then they seem to drop back to square one. How long has it been since Nyla Rose was on TV? I know she's been tagging with Marina Shafir on Dark for months, racking up wins, but even I've stopped watching any of that since they just never bother making any of it connected to anything.

[bird_lfc]

Andrade and Guevara have a backstage fight. Andrade suspended and sent home.

Company is a bit of a train wreck at the moment isn’t it. Khan seems like a passionate guy who loves wrestling but he has no control over these guys whatsoever.

[NightDancer]

I'd agree with both points - the womens devision occasionally makes good strides forward, but the lack of TV time stops whatever momentum a particular storyline might have and then they seem to drop back to square one. How long has it been since Nyla Rose was on TV? I know she's been tagging with Marina Shafir on Dark for months, racking up wins, but even I've stopped watching any of that since they just never bother making any of it connected to anything.

Tony Khan read your post   

Looks like she is getting a programme with Jade Cargill.

[Sheer Magnetism]

So that's two backstage fights in a month for Sammy? Oof. Agree that Tony needs to get someone with authority in to run the personnel side though, he's just too thinly stretched.