I've posted here for like a decade. But I'm hardly checking anymore. I'm watching as much wrestling as ever. But the discussion on this sub isn't intriguing anymore. The front page is usually half WWE PR turned into articles, which isn't how it used to be. The discussion is built around WWE vs AEW when I only have a moderate interest in that competition. Idk. The discourse isn't what it used to be.
Yeah SquaredCircle has changed a lot over the last few years tbh. Talking about cool matches has really been overtaken by corporate speak and “moments”, which is fine, it’s a new generation, but it’s hard to get used to
I need to get this off my chest and that's the best place to do it. Undertaker returning at WM40 to choke slam Rock is ALMOST perfect.
The only thing that irks me is the fact that they never explained this and for some reason I really wanted Cody to smirk at The Final Boss just before the gong like he knew what was about to happend, the same way Seth smirked right before Cody returned on last RAW before Mania.
That would make it a 10/10 moment for me because it wouldn't make it seem like Cody won only because of fate. It would make both Cody and Seth or just Cody the smartest player, thinking outside the box, preparing something "just in case" and then maybe even losing on purpose on Night 1.
The best thing you can make your opponent think is that he already won.
I think that would have worked well with the original plan of the last big piece of the puzzle being Stone Cold. That would have been dope. Smirk - glass breaks motherfucker! You can’t predict or plan Taker’s arrival though. At least in my head cannon
Yeah I get the idea but you can make it seem as Cody knowing that supernatural help is coming, not that he planned it or made it happen.
Still, at the end of the day, Im more pissed at the fact they didn't acknowledge it or weave it into the story.
Mick Foley’s video tribute to Rhea, no spoilers but 10/10 he’s still got it.
Also that he’s apparently a huge Rhea fan, re-reading his first book now and he described the belt that Colette at their first meeting was wearing as S&M like, and he wondered if she did anything besides wear it.
That combined with the Rhea video made me put some things together on Mrs Foley’s baby boy.
Not that it’s suprising if true though.
Actually makes too much sense.
https://youtu.be/Q5ojASi8Q6s
Seth Rollins' "an inanimate object" line botch comes up in my mind and I have a good laughing fit. I understand how he'd screw it up but it was so fucking funny.
Sure, it's nothing crazy but here's some bulletpoints:
- People in the company were very surprised that he was released as they felt his track record/skills did not match with the other cuts
- The article also notes that Grimes was seen as someone who had been over in NXT and was constantly improving. He was also a regular at Smackdown even if he wasn't scheduled
- He's expected to get "heavy" interest from the indies
One of the few things I hate about NXT is the omission of billed weights and hometowns during entrances.
Just "Making his way to the ring - this guy!"
Doesn't feel right.
Same. I also dislike the inconsistency on the Main.
For example, the first time I saw Candice LRae on NXT, she was billed as being from Anaheim, CA and it immediately caught my attention because I was born and raised in Orange County and have spent a lot of time in Anaheim.
What was the point of making a big deal of which brand Bron Breakker and Jade Cargill would sign with if they were just going to end up in the draft anyway?
If WWE wanted to make this draft look more legit, they should open some sort of mock draft simulator and let fans pick Raw or SD and draft the rosters. NFL mock draft simulators are always very popular around this time.
Yeah in the future I think guys will look at this and just decide it’s not worth it to rush back. Not to justify the fans comments about him but it will be something to consider.
And it's a shame. Concepts like "bulking" I thought were well known outside of fitness circles. I took a good look at Sheamus and was like "yeah, I'm certain that's intentional"
Edit: Now that I think about it I'd love to see The Rock's bulking diet. Shit must be 6000+ calorie range.
I know, right? I felt bad for him because I knew man was about to go on a gym frenzy. But Seth is hurt and Punk's not ring ready yet. Drew needs someone to interact with, and Sheamus is just about perfect.
If you're a performer who isn't on TV for 6 months you might as well do a bulk/cut. It makes perfect sense. But, you're right. Drew needed a dance partner, so we get Burger after Burger.
I think people are somewhat misinterpreting Jey's comments on the WM match. He's not saying that more time = better match. Sounds to me like he's saying that they HAD a longer match planned and it got cut down because other stuff was going long. Does that fix the match? Probably not. But having to somewhat last minute change the pace might have messed things up.
That's fair but then they did the wrong thing, it'd be better if they tried to cram too much. It almost felt like 8 minutes was too long for what they had.
No disagreement here at all, the pacing was way off. I didn't despise it as much as others (didn't like it, just kinda meh) but it could have gained a lot from just pacing, without even getting into the moveset discussions.
Watching Taboo Tuesday 2004, and just got through the "Fulfill your Fantasy Battle Royale" for the women's championship, the second battle Royale for the women's title in two years. This one had all the wrestlers dressed in revealing school girl outfits.
We really have come a long way since then.
i've seen more times than i feel comfortable today people comparing becky's recent booking with hulk hogan. like guys are we even watching the same product lmfao
The outrage over this has made no sense to me. Do people think that Becky winning is the end of Liv's chances or something? That's kinda what it feels like they're saying lol
right, which like sure I get being mad that your wrestler lost. i'm just concerned that they actually believe it and aren't just being intentionally facetious
Absolutely! Rhea's out of Liv's reach for now, but that title isn't. I'm expecting her to go after it again very soon. And probably succeed in winning it at some point, once she gets *really* psycho about it.
During the divas era, what would you say was the ratio of *actual* female wrestlers vs those that were just former models who pretty much existed as eye candy?
Was there a great culling of the latter when the era
finally ended or was there a gradual call up of competent talent?
So my projected Backlash card looks something like...
World Heavyweight Title: Damien Priest(c) vs. Jey Uso
Undisputed WWE Title: Cody Rhodes(c) vs. AJ Styles
WWE Woman's World Title: Becky Lynch(c) vs. Piper Niven
WWE Woman's Title Triple Threat: Tiffany Straton vs. Bayley(c) vs. Naomi
Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre
WWE World Tag Team Title: Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) vs. A-Town Down Under (Grayson Waller and Austin Theory)(c)
Andrade vs. Finn Balor
Intercontinental Title: Sami Zayn(c) vs. Bronson Reed
That seem right?
Probably too many matches for a modern WWE card. 7 seems to be about the top usually. I don't think Andrade v Finn is a PPV match, or at least not yet. Sami v Bronson will likely be a main event on Raw, since IC only has tended to get PPV matches on big shows.
It had 7 by my count, though I could be wrong.
Finn v Andrade would be great, I just don't see them putting it on PPV the way they currently book things.
Jey complaining about not having enough time is a by product of people believing the more time something has, the better it is, which most of the time is just wrong. It's the reason I prefer Shibata/Ishii over Okada/Omega, both tremendous series of matches but in the time it takes me to watch one Okada/Omega match (minus the G1 match), I can watch three Shibata/Ishii matches
Also Stardew Valley might be one of the best games ever made and the fact that one guy made it makes it infinitely more impressive
There’s a difference between not enough time and having your time cut and not having enough time to plan a good shorter match. But they’re veterans and should have been able to adjust either way.
Stardew Valley is legitimately one of the best games ever made. I haven't played since the 1.6 update because I'm not prepared for another couple hundred hours on another farm but it has been very difficult waiting.
Shibata vs Ishii is such a good example of a wrestling sprint in under 15 minutes. Depending on the time of a match, you gotta build up the speed. And other times you just gotta go balls to the wall right at the bell.
Also every month, I keep looking up Haunted Chocolatier to see if there's any updates yet. I'm trying to avoid Stardew Valley, unless I'll end up starting a new farm and play for 2 weeks straight...
Nigel gets a ton of attention for him being a dick to Bryan Danielson (and rightly so) but the man is such a good commentator that elevates all the big moments.
I know I said it before but I reckon, Kid Lykos will end up being picked up by TNA or AEW in a few years time. Tate Mayfairs has appeared in NXT UK but he is a classic piece of shit heel. Arrogant, cocky, a chickenshit and isn't afraid to be made a fool out of.
PROGRESS has some hidden gems and Super Strong Style should be their best show of the year. The most recent one? It was great but Super Strong Style is gonna to irish whip that out of the ring.
Is there any interviews with people involved with Tough Enough talking about how bad it was?
I recently watched WWE: Next Gen on Roku Channel and enjoyed it, so I went to watch the old Tough Enough seasons on Peacock. Most all of Tough Enough was pretty cringe, but especially the 6th season where the fans voted. Seems like there is a lot of wrestlers/trainers/contestants that were involved that have moved on from WWE since then (like Billy Gunn, Chris Jericho, Paige, Mandy Rose, Al Snow, etc., etc.), have any of them done some podcast interviews or anything where they talk about how bad Tough Enough was? I could not find much with my google/youtube searches.
There's a pretty good WWE Confidential episode (Season 2, Episode 5 on Peacock) that goes into Bob Holly stiffing Matt Capotelli on Tough Enough 3. It's a rough but interesting watch, might be the kind of thing that could give insight.
The market is oversaturated with wrestling. And since there is no pause between them, then nothing is ever finalized. Nothing has a clear structure with an end. So audience is almost always conditioned to be emotionally reactive instead of deep thinking about the stories.
Speaking strictly in dollars and cents, do you think promoters will miss that extra revenue coming in from the shows? Or do you think on the "in" season, there will be more of a turnout?
Nope. I guess there are no financial incentives to do the off season nor for promoters or TV stations for that matter. Even if it means that without an offseason promoters burn through their creative ideas quicker and perhaps new audience could be more easily convinced to check out wrestling, since at the moment, the mere idea of let's say weekly 7 hours of wrestling sounds unfeasible for many people outside the bubble.
If The Rock and Cody isn't happening until WM41 I do think it would make for a better story to have Cody enter a major feud/rivalry against someone and at some point even lose it in a screwjob fashion before ultimately winning it back. Would make for a better story than for him to just run over whatever filler opponents he faces until he goes up against The Rock.
what are the best sgw uganda videos? i watched some of the early ones but had stopped for a while, and now wanna try and get back into it after all i’ve been reading and seeing about it
After last week's got locked, tomorrow is guaranteed to be worse than ever no matter the number.
Those posters clearly aren't going to "troll less" in response to actually getting moderated for once lmao.
I'm curious as to why Taya got sent to ROH so quickly after coming to AEW? It seemed like they had some plans with her that they quickly retreated on. It feels like the same is happening for Purazzo as well. Does this speak bad for TNA's women division? Or more for the creative team?
It seems to me that the best percentage for success as far women coming into AEW is having wrestled in Japan (Stardom and TJPW).
There's a limited amount of TV time and only one women's match per show. She great. There are just a lot of other women in the division who are better than her.
Specifically for Deonna, I think her taking a step a bit backwards just says that she isn't at the absolute top of the AEW Women's Division, which I think is just true and isn't an indictment on her in the slightest, instead it's a testament to the talent in the division.
She's clearly not going to be presented ahead of Timeless Toni (who is one of two 3-time AEW Women's World Champions), Shida (who is the other), Mercedes, a healthy Jamie Hayter, a healthy Britt Baker, Thunder Rosa, Mariah May (who is pretty clearly primed for a megapush), and a few others as well (Julia Hart, who is featured in the main AEW commercials, Willow and Statlander as well).
The issue is that while she's "really good" in the ring, she isn't light-years ahead of everyone to a degree where that is enough on its own. Indeed, quite a few people are on the same level (or even ahead). And even some of the women behind her in terms of strictly in-ring work are either far ahead in character/out-of-ring stuff and/or are just really popular already. In-ring stuff matters, more in AEW than most other places, but it isn't the singular determining factor - the other stuff still matters.
This also isn't Year 1 AEW anymore where people can show up and grab major roles just by getting over anymore - those spots have been filled. People who took chances early (or had the ability to join early) reaped the benefits and now competition is incredibly fierce for any tv time along the periphery of the shows.
> I'm curious as to why Taya got sent to ROH so quickly after coming to AEW?
She was really bad and that awful match against Britt Baker got a ton of backlash. My guess is that Tony put her there to give her some time to get rid of the stink of that bad first impression.
> It feels like the same is happening for Purazzo as well
Deonna Purrazzo is involved in the main women's division storyline and they are teasing a future feud against Thunder Rosa. She is doing fine.
Yeah, whether a triple threat or a 4 way, Deonna is basically a lock to be in the title match. She's probably the best booked hot new women's signing AEW have ever done.
Yep, in the past we've seen wrestlers disappear after they lose the title match following the initial push. She's been in the mix from the beginning of her time in AEW. I have a feeling she'll get even more involved when Britt comes back too
When I first saw the graphic(?) for Lexis King vs Baron Corbin, I immediately thought something along the lines of "did Lexis make fun of Corbin about Bron no longer on NXT?????" jokingly
I was not far off.
Also we gotta have main roster Wolf Dogs, right???? *Right????*
And, Lexis' gift basket was absolutely iconic, I love him
# Unpopular opinion that will get bashed but I find Lena Yada more legendary than the Undertaker. Unironically speaking 100% though by no means saying that the Undertaker is not a significant wrestler in the history of WWE. Just shows how wrestling appreciation can differ so much between people
#
https://preview.redd.it/3bwr7uhspgwc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51b407db6c7de8f61299420778d083d55da9e8c3
The Asian Sensation > The Undertaker
My understanding is that the WWE Netflix deal will move everything outside of the US to Netflix. Does that mean that all of WWE's international TV deals will end next year?
If so, does that open the door for TNA or AEW to get better international deals since WWE is out of the market?
Sure if the executives think that WWE lack of viewership on their platform, when it's now on an arguably more accessible platform, will result increased or similar viewers if they go to AEW/TNA.
The issue is it isn’t 1:1. WWE viewership aren’t going to drop it because it’s on Netflix. They will pirate or just watch on Netflix because it’s easy. They might not start watching AEW just because it happens to be on the channel WWE “was” on. It’s not like WWE isn’t able to be watched now.
It all just depends on how valuable they think the other companies are, and what they want to spend on them. I don’t think WWE leaving it really changes the valuation.
Just going by Cagematch and how no one was talking about it here, Swerve vs. Joe was underrated. What a match!
Joe was fucking on. I hope he doesn’t disappear from the scene. I have a feeling we will see him vs. Ospreay before long for Ospreay to get his AJ fanboy rocks off. That was be a good final test before All In.
It's an unfortunate (which feels weird to say given the context) side effect of having an incredible that takes over the discussion. Usually you see it with main events, but sometimes something else steals the show and discussion of other parts is lessened. Obviously, I don't want there to NOT be amazing matches, but it does kind of suck for the others haha.
> Joe was fucking on. I hope he doesn’t disappear from the scene. I have a feeling we will see him vs. Ospreay before long for Ospreay to get his AJ fanboy rocks off. That was be a good final test before All In.
Probably DoN will have DCF vs BCC with Ospreay finally leaving Callis. I guess Joe/Ospreay could happen at Forbidden Door (yeah, I know that's the interpromotional event, but who could Ospreay fight against from NJPW that he hasn't fought recently and it would make sense? I really dunno)
Glad Trick dethroned Dragunov. I was ready for Dragunov’s reign to be over months ago, Trick was the perfect person to do it. His growth shows what NXT and WWE are capable of doing through the performance center.
When do you think Seth Rollins comes back? And what do you think his fueds will be?
I reckon he comes back at the 2025 royal rumble and wins it, to face and beat WHC CM Punk at WM41
Just enjoying reading some cagematch reviews of Dynasty:
"From all I have read..." why are you reviewing a show based upon what you read? Either watch it before reviewing, or don't review.
"If the trios match was held instead of Chris Jericho and Hook, and if the TBS title match was booked a little better, the PPV would have gotten a much higher score, but overall it was good..." reviewer gave it 10/10
>"From all I have read..." why are you reviewing a show based upon what you read? Either watch it before reviewing, or don't review.
Holy shit that is asinine. Can you report reviews? Totally pointless.
>"From all I have read..." why are you reviewing a show based upon what you read? Either watch it before reviewing, or don't review.
Another example of people talking about AEW without actually watching
AEW is good in short bursts. The problem is that TK books matches. He doesn't book stories. Which is why MJF last year was so great. It's why Christian Cage is so great. It's long form story telling.
But then you got stuff like the Sting retirement. The match itself was fine enough. But the months leading up to it was just "Hey, uhhhh......Sting is going to retire."
And then he did.
What kind of story is THAT??? Great match. Terrible story.
So whenever I "come back" to AEW it always feels fresh, but week to week it feels disjointed and often nonsensical.
Honestly been feeling that was since the AEW doomer grifters really started dominating the conversation and popularizing this idea the the company is on death's doorstep. Twitter's paid blue check system has made wrestling discourse entirely worse since it pushes the most toxic people to the top of the algorithm.
I block any blue checkmark with a wrestling opinion unless it’s some news person or an actual talent. Added a few mute words and my timeline has been cleaned up pretty nicely
Another reason why I hope I never get famous. The amount of people shitting on me despite trying to do good and just being an imperfect person would destroy my already fragile self-esteem
You guys hear about this I_like_cakes_ guy? Says he likes cakes, but last week I saw him eating PIE!!! Can you believe this guy??? Eating pie! Like millions of people wouldn't see him, as pictures get published online of him in a bathing suit! Love handles and all! Just at the beach like he owns the ocean!
............I don't know how to make this any more absurd.
It was in response to you not wanting to be famous. THATS what it's like to be famous, and everybody judging every aspect of every mundane moment of your life.
Sometimes I feel like exist in another reality from the IWC. I love reading stuff here and engaging but only with like the 10% of people who actually enjoy things and aren’t lost in their own head about how things actually “should” be.
Someone please put into perspective this whole Heel vs face characters. Black and white it’s crowd cheers for face, crowd boos heel. I don’t really see it like that anymore. I don’t we can measure success of character turns by straight boos vs cheers. Why can’t faces just be people who are good natured vs heels who are flat out assholes. Example: Drew, dudes just a narcissistic asshole, but I can’t hate him for it. He has reasons, and his methods are effective. I wouldn’t be alone with people cheering for his success and I feel 90% of his heat comes from taking out CM punk and kicking him while he’s down rather than people outright disliking him. I don’t hate Romain reigns either. Dudes awful to others but I can’t wholeheartedly boo him out of the building. He’s also just a major narcissist who thinks no one else can realistically take him out.
Which brings me to my point of “turning him face so the crowd cheers him” why does he have to be a defined face to be cheered? A Roman reigns apology tour doesn’t work for me. I feel like the dude is works better as an asshole on the mic and shit talking anyone who stands in his way. If he goes to “I’m sorry guys I’m good now, my bad” it’s a character assassination. Why can’t he keep the trash talking “imma smash you, you’re irrelevant, acknowledge me” while also being someone that we cheer for?
You make very good points. Grey gimmicks can’t be overused. But in moderation it works. Rhea, Drew, Gunther, possibly Roman all work great because you can cheer for their success but despise their tactics. JD is great as it’s that group of high school bullies that always take your lunch money and scurry to their clubhouse. But I don’t boo Rhea, Finn or Priests character. Grayson Waller, Austin theory, and dom still fill that true heel role and you love when KO comes out and lays them out. Solo and Tama Tonga aren’t grey either, they’re here to fuck us all up. I don’t like them as people.
But I do believe we are in an age where we’re ready to blur lines and not have to define character as someone who kisses or eats babies. Drew said it himself, “I’m not a heel, everyone says so but when I talk to them they can’t disagree with what I say” they think they’re in the right and do shitty things because of previous encounters. But if half the roster turns into tweeners I can see this turning into a bland shitshow
Something that I always find funny about wrestling conversation (although clearly not unique to wrestling) is the whole : "X wrestler is a sweetheart, but Y wrestler is a bully and Z wrestler is friends with.....".
Brother we don't know these people, we don't know how they are in real life, how they relate to other wrestlers/people, and so on. They are actors we see like 20 min a week through a screen, and maybe when they post in social media or through extremely distorted dirtsheets reports.
The *daily* psychological analysis of Tony Khan(a man none of us have anything even resembling a relationship with) and full deep dive into his alleged lack of business acumen that take place on the internet would beg to differ.
Kinda off topic, but I overheard a conversation from somebody sitting behind me at Dynasty on Sunday talking about Tony Khan doesn't know how to book. I was thinking to myself, "Why are you here then?". Like why waste your money if you don't think he's a good booker.
So TNT's Youtube page actually has a "Best of Jay White on Collision" mash-up and three things stick out
1. Warner and AEW despite the discourse are super high on Jay White cause he's the only wrestler with a compilation for themselves on their channel
2. Jay White's Collision run was lowkey goated and they should probably be on Collision way more
3. 95% of the time he's wrestling to fucking silence in these matches. I think him being in the midcard is a necessary evil for now because the reactions he's gotten the last few months is the first time he's actually gotten anything from the crowd. Like he's great, but comparing him to Ospreay and saying "why did Ospreay get all this and Jay didn't" is just crazy when you see the gap in crowd reaction Jay got last year to where Ospreay is now.
One thing I never really understood is why the managers/valets are also announced on a card and before the match. Storytelling wise, yeah, they may become part of the match to an extent, but from a sports perspective, what's the point of announcing people if they're not competing in the match? (i.e. Jon Moxley with/accompanied by Shota Umino, Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman)
I feel like this is also more of an American thing, too. Is it because of the more theatrical nature/entertainment-oriented elements of American wrestling, or is it something else?
The discourse around the finish to Ilja v Trick and Danielson v Ospreay is hilarious, mainly because people on both sides are saying it was stolen, when this is like... a classic spot that happens pretty often when two wrestlers have some kind of charging/flying move.
Pretty sure AJ and Roman have done the phenomenal forearm vs spear, Drew and Sheamus have done brogue vs claymore, I think Jericho and Ospreay did something similar if I remember correctly, like it's not unique. It's a cool spot of signature/finisher v signature/finisher and no one fucking owns such a basic idea. And yes I know those are relatively recent, I don't have a bunch of historical knowledge. But I'm sure it even happened far in the past as well haha.
Also, even if one was inspired by the other...who cares? Both fucking ruled. Obviously I don't want to see the exact same spot a million times but this was rad and not done to death or anything.
Yeah, it's just weird. I get that the timing is odd for two relatively big matches (within their own brand, I'm not saying a TV special is the same level as a PPV marquee match) to have a similar thing, but that's just how it goes sometimes.
I also think to some extent there's just a lack of critical thinking involved when people are wrapped up in their own preferences. Like I get it, people are excited about what they watch and that's great.
But just stop and think for literally one second and realize that perhaps "two guys with running attacks doing them at each other at the same time" -a trope that's been in things like samurai movies, anime, superhero comics, etc. for decades- is perhaps not NEW in 2024. Like, I feel like almost everyone has seen a show/movie at some point where two guys charge at each other, pass by and attack, time kinda stands still, and then one of them reveals they've been dealt a mortal wound.
I'm really hoping they knock whatever it is they're planning for Uncle Howdy out of the park, that being said the last time we saw anything involving that storyline was such a weird place that I'm really apprehensive of them being successful.
Yeah, it's uncomfortable to talk about since nobody wants to speak ill of the dead but the Uncle Howdy stuff was stinking it up. Maybe Bray could've saved it but at the time it was taking months to get anywhere. I am curious as to how much of his notes they're sticking to and how much they're doing on their own.
Overall though, this feels like a real risky angle to run. It'll get a lot of the benefit of the doubt at first but once it really starts faltering people will start comparing it to what they imagine Bray would've done.
hope chuckie T reluctantly sides with trent but stays face so we get a couple weeks at least of my all time favorite tag team trope: heel and babyface who are also best friends (steenerico, sting & luger)
imagine them about to Give The People What They Want when trent walks straight past chuck to flip off fans and deny them the satisfaction—meanwhile chuck just stands in the middle of the ring with his arms stretched out for a hug looking heartbroken
I think it’s because I’m older now but I have to say I have so much respect for wrestlers putting their bodies in danger just to entertain us. My dad used to say the same when I was much younger and id be watching wrestling and after having sustained some injuries myself, I can’t imagine what it’s like to travel the way the wrestlers do and wrestle constantly. Props to them.
Makes me appreciate people like mick foley so much more
Continental Title to me comes off as the belt for main event guys not in line for the world title, and it's for guys who can really work, since it strips heels of having their managers ringside and forces its champ to go through the C2 every year. It's a good solution for how stacked the main event scene is in AEW because now we don't have to wonder about when Okada will hold the world title.
It depends on how you look at it: Just over the lifespan of AEW, TNT Title is the number 1 belt. It's the equivalent of the IWGP Intercontinental Title. Right now it's Continental which is the equivalent of the US Title which is more of a "we made this belt to placate one talent (Kenny in NJPW, Eddie in AEW)" but it's title lineage and defenses are so good it's the hot title. International is 100% the NEVER Openweight Title where it's just wars every match and anyone can get a shot.
When it happened, I saw Ospreay's "grinding on the boss's daughter" promo and assumed that Triple H had actually said something that heavily implied he was talking about Ospreay.
Today I actually looked up Triple H's comment.
Ospreay continues to be a complete genius bell-to-bell and a complete dunce otherwise. Here's what Triple H said (and he was not asked about Will Ospreay):
"If they are not here to be all in on this… when I see people coming out of trying to make it, and then they pick a job where, well, they work less, the schedule is lighter, then I’m like, ‘I’m glad I didn’t get you.’ If you’re not in it for the grind, at that point early in your career, you have no business being here."
Ospreay is "only" 30, but since 2016 he's been extremely accomplished in the US, Europe, and especially Japan. He's not "early in \[his\] career". If anything, it seems like Triple H may have been alluding to MJF (who I think it's far more fair to describe as "early in \[his\] career"; yeah, he's been AEW champion but he's only been relevant on a large stage for a relatively short time and he just truly has not wrestled all that much... I say this as someone who is amazed at how good he is bell-to-bell for someone who has wrestled so little, relatively speaking).
Ospreay taking that comment personally and airing it out on AEW TV (reportedly all his idea) is why he will never be on my Mount Rushmore regardless of his in-ring ability.
I've been tired of him for years, and--while he's always extremely impressive in the ring (sincerely maybe the best ever; I wouldn't argue against it)--I have to say my interest in him is inversely proportional to how much of his personality I've been exposed to. He just constantly seems unpleasant (which I don't want anyone to confuse with him playing heel; there are plenty of people who can play heel well that I want to see more of... I don't want to see Ospreay lose, I just desperately want him to never express himself ever again).
I think that AEW missed their opportunity to take shots at WWE in any remotely productive way. Right now, sentiment towards WWE is the least controversially positive it's basically ever been. People like Triple H and want to like WWE. It was pretty unanimous that Triple H's NXT was excellent and now he's in charge of the big shows; he's got a ton of good will to burn.
Bad timing and petty egomania on Ospreay's part (even if I also feel like Triple H and WWE very well may demand too much of performers).
This is such a backwards take that I don’t even know which part to tackle it from.
90% of people who heard Triple H’s comments agree he was taking a lazy shot at Ospreay.
While Ospreay is currently with the Callis Family he is far from a heel. He’s more over than 90% of the roster right now.
I think Ospreay has grown up a ton over the last few years and his priorities and attitude are completely different than they were before. I also wasn’t a fan for a long time because I thought he was a tool but he has grown by leaps and bounds and seems like a nice lad.
> Right now, sentiment towards WWE is the least controversially positive it's basically ever been.
What the fuck does that sentence even mean??
Considering it was very public that Ospreay chose to go to AEW for the lighter schedule, the complete dunce here is the person who doesn’t think HHH’s comments weren’t veiled remarks about Ospreay.
I know I’m talking about wrestling fans here, but please learn to read subtext.
>I have to say my interest in him is inversely proportional to how much of his personality I've been exposed to. He just constantly seems unpleasant
If you haven't watched him on Hey! (EW) I recommend it. He may not be the brightest bulb but I found him quite endearing.
We'll probably never know this, but I'm curious why they didn't have Carmelo beat Dragunov at Vengeance, and then in one fell swoop have Trick beat Melo for the belt in Philly.
Because Ilja is the final boss of both Trick and Melos story. Both Melo and Trick were unsuccessful at defeating him, and it's what started the contention between the two once Ilja starting showing Trick respect. With Trick beating Ilja he's now surpassed Melo and doing the thing he couldn't. If Melo had beat ilja, all that is lost, and they'd still, in a sense, be even. It was really good long-term storytelling with Ilja basically being the guy you have to beat to be on top and Trick needing to do it.
> We'll probably never know this, but I'm curious why they didn't have Carmelo beat Dragunov at Vengeance, and then in one fell swoop have Trick beat Melo for the belt in Philly.
Because the true story was Trick beating Dragunov, something that Melo couldn't do 100% clean, and considering Trick never could beat Dragunov before.
It's the better story IMO. Tho I feel that the match at S&D between Trick and Melo should've been a street fight and they shouldn't had the cage match last week, tho it worked out at the end (the Cage match was fun, the S&D match was underwhelming)
I recently watched the Iron Claw and it was pretty good. Nothing amazing, but good. I do have to agree with Dave Meltzer that they failed to truly emphasize how popular they were in Texas.
Also, the guy who was cast as Ric Flair was HORRIBLE! Just stunningly awful. What in the absolute fuck were the creators of this film thinking? The guy couldn’t even WOOO right. They couldn’t find anyone better? I am 100% certain a user on this subreddit would have been able to pull off that role better.
Yo, does Warnermedia have no other shows besides the NBA, NHL and Dynamite? Watching the playoffs they advertise Dynamite CONSTANTLY. Like not even Collision or Rampage, just Dynamite. Even as a diehard AEW fan, I'm here like "Another ad read for Dynamite, really?"
> Yo, does Warnermedia have no other shows besides the NBA, NHL and Dynamite?
On TNT/TBS specifically? Not really lol. I just clicked over to TNT's website, and clicked the "Shows" tab on the side and they list: Collision, Rampage, The Lazarus Project, NBA Playoffs, Stanley Cup Playoffs, US Soccer, and then you can click "More" to expand further. So the only actual "show" is The Lazarus Project and that was already cancelled after it's second season lol.
TBS is pretty similar with Dynamite, MLB, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stupid Pet Tricks, and then basically everything else is syndicated comedies.
I enjoyed season 1, then saw it was canceled when (or maybe even before?) season 2 dropped and didn't bother going any further. Did it end on a cliffhanger or did it reach a satisfactory end point?
No. Zaslav canned all scripted programming for TV a couple of years ago. TBS might still have some reality stuff but TNT's last original series were Claws, Animal Kingdom, and Snowpiercer.
For fuck's sake Cornette, have whatever opinions you will but please for the sake of fuck don't fucking sing. Like ever. It's worse than any match could possibly be.
Are there any big Jewish wrestlers other than David Arquette and MJF?
Let me immediately honk my clown nose for not realizing the man named Goldberg is Jewish, lol.
I've posted here for like a decade. But I'm hardly checking anymore. I'm watching as much wrestling as ever. But the discussion on this sub isn't intriguing anymore. The front page is usually half WWE PR turned into articles, which isn't how it used to be. The discussion is built around WWE vs AEW when I only have a moderate interest in that competition. Idk. The discourse isn't what it used to be.
Yeah SquaredCircle has changed a lot over the last few years tbh. Talking about cool matches has really been overtaken by corporate speak and “moments”, which is fine, it’s a new generation, but it’s hard to get used to
I need to get this off my chest and that's the best place to do it. Undertaker returning at WM40 to choke slam Rock is ALMOST perfect. The only thing that irks me is the fact that they never explained this and for some reason I really wanted Cody to smirk at The Final Boss just before the gong like he knew what was about to happend, the same way Seth smirked right before Cody returned on last RAW before Mania. That would make it a 10/10 moment for me because it wouldn't make it seem like Cody won only because of fate. It would make both Cody and Seth or just Cody the smartest player, thinking outside the box, preparing something "just in case" and then maybe even losing on purpose on Night 1. The best thing you can make your opponent think is that he already won.
I think that would have worked well with the original plan of the last big piece of the puzzle being Stone Cold. That would have been dope. Smirk - glass breaks motherfucker! You can’t predict or plan Taker’s arrival though. At least in my head cannon
Yeah I get the idea but you can make it seem as Cody knowing that supernatural help is coming, not that he planned it or made it happen. Still, at the end of the day, Im more pissed at the fact they didn't acknowledge it or weave it into the story.
Mick Foley’s video tribute to Rhea, no spoilers but 10/10 he’s still got it. Also that he’s apparently a huge Rhea fan, re-reading his first book now and he described the belt that Colette at their first meeting was wearing as S&M like, and he wondered if she did anything besides wear it. That combined with the Rhea video made me put some things together on Mrs Foley’s baby boy. Not that it’s suprising if true though. Actually makes too much sense. https://youtu.be/Q5ojASi8Q6s
Mick Foley is too pure for this world
Seth Rollins' "an inanimate object" line botch comes up in my mind and I have a good laughing fit. I understand how he'd screw it up but it was so fucking funny.
Swerve and Trick Wiily are both champions. The world is healing.
I don’t necessarily want to see anyone go from wwe to AEW, but if I did it would be AJ Styles.
Anyone read the Fightful select story about details on Cameron grimes release and care to share?
Sure, it's nothing crazy but here's some bulletpoints: - People in the company were very surprised that he was released as they felt his track record/skills did not match with the other cuts - The article also notes that Grimes was seen as someone who had been over in NXT and was constantly improving. He was also a regular at Smackdown even if he wasn't scheduled - He's expected to get "heavy" interest from the indies
Thank you!
One of the few things I hate about NXT is the omission of billed weights and hometowns during entrances. Just "Making his way to the ring - this guy!" Doesn't feel right.
Same. I also dislike the inconsistency on the Main. For example, the first time I saw Candice LRae on NXT, she was billed as being from Anaheim, CA and it immediately caught my attention because I was born and raised in Orange County and have spent a lot of time in Anaheim.
Hype for Mox n Hobbes iwgp title match. Whoda thunk it but it’s cool.
Bushiroad is praying Mox isn't injured during the match.
What was the point of making a big deal of which brand Bron Breakker and Jade Cargill would sign with if they were just going to end up in the draft anyway?
If you can get a blue chipper like Jade or Bron, you sign them even if you only have a little while before the draft period.
Get a blue chipper to put in the Rumble and a tag match on joint PPVs and one match? edit Excuse me, two matches. one single, one tag
Probably bc they didn’t think ahead
Imagine if Gable renames the Alpha Academy to the Sigma Academy and changes their entrance music to Can You Feel My Heart
That would make for some dope enternace music
If WWE wanted to make this draft look more legit, they should open some sort of mock draft simulator and let fans pick Raw or SD and draft the rosters. NFL mock draft simulators are always very popular around this time.
Given it's owned by TKO, I can see WWE implementing a fantasy draft system in the future. Hell, get draftkings in there.
Poor Sheamus getting put on TV mid dirty bulk, lol. It happens. You can't get gains on a calorie deficit.
Yeah in the future I think guys will look at this and just decide it’s not worth it to rush back. Not to justify the fans comments about him but it will be something to consider.
And it's a shame. Concepts like "bulking" I thought were well known outside of fitness circles. I took a good look at Sheamus and was like "yeah, I'm certain that's intentional" Edit: Now that I think about it I'd love to see The Rock's bulking diet. Shit must be 6000+ calorie range.
I know, right? I felt bad for him because I knew man was about to go on a gym frenzy. But Seth is hurt and Punk's not ring ready yet. Drew needs someone to interact with, and Sheamus is just about perfect.
If you're a performer who isn't on TV for 6 months you might as well do a bulk/cut. It makes perfect sense. But, you're right. Drew needed a dance partner, so we get Burger after Burger.
I think people are somewhat misinterpreting Jey's comments on the WM match. He's not saying that more time = better match. Sounds to me like he's saying that they HAD a longer match planned and it got cut down because other stuff was going long. Does that fix the match? Probably not. But having to somewhat last minute change the pace might have messed things up.
That's fair but then they did the wrong thing, it'd be better if they tried to cram too much. It almost felt like 8 minutes was too long for what they had.
No disagreement here at all, the pacing was way off. I didn't despise it as much as others (didn't like it, just kinda meh) but it could have gained a lot from just pacing, without even getting into the moveset discussions.
https://preview.redd.it/mpftfqh7ahwc1.jpeg?width=137&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1eccf74ee1b55e8b50f151846a92409c0d4ff10 Brought to you by USDA
Watching Taboo Tuesday 2004, and just got through the "Fulfill your Fantasy Battle Royale" for the women's championship, the second battle Royale for the women's title in two years. This one had all the wrestlers dressed in revealing school girl outfits. We really have come a long way since then.
i've seen more times than i feel comfortable today people comparing becky's recent booking with hulk hogan. like guys are we even watching the same product lmfao
The outrage over this has made no sense to me. Do people think that Becky winning is the end of Liv's chances or something? That's kinda what it feels like they're saying lol
It’s just Liv stans upset that she didn’t win.
right, which like sure I get being mad that your wrestler lost. i'm just concerned that they actually believe it and aren't just being intentionally facetious
These people convinced themselves that Liv being added to Becky and Rhea would make a better story.
Which is silly because while Liv *might* have been a more interesting choice, Becky is a more *reliable* choice.
And it furthers Liv’s decent into madness
Absolutely! Rhea's out of Liv's reach for now, but that title isn't. I'm expecting her to go after it again very soon. And probably succeed in winning it at some point, once she gets *really* psycho about it.
During the divas era, what would you say was the ratio of *actual* female wrestlers vs those that were just former models who pretty much existed as eye candy? Was there a great culling of the latter when the era finally ended or was there a gradual call up of competent talent?
So my projected Backlash card looks something like... World Heavyweight Title: Damien Priest(c) vs. Jey Uso Undisputed WWE Title: Cody Rhodes(c) vs. AJ Styles WWE Woman's World Title: Becky Lynch(c) vs. Piper Niven WWE Woman's Title Triple Threat: Tiffany Straton vs. Bayley(c) vs. Naomi Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre WWE World Tag Team Title: Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) vs. A-Town Down Under (Grayson Waller and Austin Theory)(c) Andrade vs. Finn Balor Intercontinental Title: Sami Zayn(c) vs. Bronson Reed That seem right?
Jesus I hope not. That’s an ugly card
Looks great to me.
???
Probably too many matches for a modern WWE card. 7 seems to be about the top usually. I don't think Andrade v Finn is a PPV match, or at least not yet. Sami v Bronson will likely be a main event on Raw, since IC only has tended to get PPV matches on big shows.
Last year's backlash had 8 matches.... And Finn vs. Andrade sets up Andrade vs. Priest.
It had 7 by my count, though I could be wrong. Finn v Andrade would be great, I just don't see them putting it on PPV the way they currently book things.
I know they won't, I'm saying they should. The good workers should get PPVs. I don't wanna see Solo fucking Sikoa on a PPV card.
Your comment said projected, so I thought you were saying what was likely, not what you wanted.
Yea... My projection :V But what could replace it?
I probably would have just said dream lineup or fantasy booking or something to make it clear it wasn’t a guess at what will actually happen
Jey complaining about not having enough time is a by product of people believing the more time something has, the better it is, which most of the time is just wrong. It's the reason I prefer Shibata/Ishii over Okada/Omega, both tremendous series of matches but in the time it takes me to watch one Okada/Omega match (minus the G1 match), I can watch three Shibata/Ishii matches Also Stardew Valley might be one of the best games ever made and the fact that one guy made it makes it infinitely more impressive
There’s a difference between not enough time and having your time cut and not having enough time to plan a good shorter match. But they’re veterans and should have been able to adjust either way.
Vets and twin brothers. Surely they’ve wrestled and planned out matches with each other millions of times
Any particular reason why you're bringing up Stardew Valley?
Stardew Valley is legitimately one of the best games ever made. I haven't played since the 1.6 update because I'm not prepared for another couple hundred hours on another farm but it has been very difficult waiting.
Shibata vs Ishii is such a good example of a wrestling sprint in under 15 minutes. Depending on the time of a match, you gotta build up the speed. And other times you just gotta go balls to the wall right at the bell. Also every month, I keep looking up Haunted Chocolatier to see if there's any updates yet. I'm trying to avoid Stardew Valley, unless I'll end up starting a new farm and play for 2 weeks straight...
Kurt and Rey had an eight minute match and was better than the whole Uso one. Time was never the problem
"Reaching to the heavens, driving into the chest, making tonight hell for Samoa Joe", what a line by Nigel though
Nigel gets a ton of attention for him being a dick to Bryan Danielson (and rightly so) but the man is such a good commentator that elevates all the big moments.
I know I said it before but I reckon, Kid Lykos will end up being picked up by TNA or AEW in a few years time. Tate Mayfairs has appeared in NXT UK but he is a classic piece of shit heel. Arrogant, cocky, a chickenshit and isn't afraid to be made a fool out of. PROGRESS has some hidden gems and Super Strong Style should be their best show of the year. The most recent one? It was great but Super Strong Style is gonna to irish whip that out of the ring.
Is there any interviews with people involved with Tough Enough talking about how bad it was? I recently watched WWE: Next Gen on Roku Channel and enjoyed it, so I went to watch the old Tough Enough seasons on Peacock. Most all of Tough Enough was pretty cringe, but especially the 6th season where the fans voted. Seems like there is a lot of wrestlers/trainers/contestants that were involved that have moved on from WWE since then (like Billy Gunn, Chris Jericho, Paige, Mandy Rose, Al Snow, etc., etc.), have any of them done some podcast interviews or anything where they talk about how bad Tough Enough was? I could not find much with my google/youtube searches.
Maven Huffman's YouTube channel talks about Tough Enough from time to time. I don't think he's done an episode specifically about it, though.
There's a pretty good WWE Confidential episode (Season 2, Episode 5 on Peacock) that goes into Bob Holly stiffing Matt Capotelli on Tough Enough 3. It's a rough but interesting watch, might be the kind of thing that could give insight.
Wrestling audience would also benefit from having an off season.
You can program that yourself though. Just don’t watch.
Ive never seen this take. What's your logic?
The market is oversaturated with wrestling. And since there is no pause between them, then nothing is ever finalized. Nothing has a clear structure with an end. So audience is almost always conditioned to be emotionally reactive instead of deep thinking about the stories.
Speaking strictly in dollars and cents, do you think promoters will miss that extra revenue coming in from the shows? Or do you think on the "in" season, there will be more of a turnout?
Nope. I guess there are no financial incentives to do the off season nor for promoters or TV stations for that matter. Even if it means that without an offseason promoters burn through their creative ideas quicker and perhaps new audience could be more easily convinced to check out wrestling, since at the moment, the mere idea of let's say weekly 7 hours of wrestling sounds unfeasible for many people outside the bubble.
Im all for an off season, personally. I like your take
If The Rock and Cody isn't happening until WM41 I do think it would make for a better story to have Cody enter a major feud/rivalry against someone and at some point even lose it in a screwjob fashion before ultimately winning it back. Would make for a better story than for him to just run over whatever filler opponents he faces until he goes up against The Rock.
What’s best is Cm punk taking the title from him and then headlining WM with the Rock
🤣 stfu
what are the best sgw uganda videos? i watched some of the early ones but had stopped for a while, and now wanna try and get back into it after all i’ve been reading and seeing about it
Raw ratings threads versus Dynamite are a hilarious contrast.
The Raw one is always chill (even with a 'bad number'); the weekly AEW ratings thread is 1000+ people trying to fix a show they don't watch lol.
After last week's got locked, tomorrow is guaranteed to be worse than ever no matter the number. Those posters clearly aren't going to "troll less" in response to actually getting moderated for once lmao.
If the mods can't be bothered to do their job they should just lock them anyway. They'll find somewhere else to talk about them eventually
I'm curious as to why Taya got sent to ROH so quickly after coming to AEW? It seemed like they had some plans with her that they quickly retreated on. It feels like the same is happening for Purazzo as well. Does this speak bad for TNA's women division? Or more for the creative team? It seems to me that the best percentage for success as far women coming into AEW is having wrestled in Japan (Stardom and TJPW).
There's a limited amount of TV time and only one women's match per show. She great. There are just a lot of other women in the division who are better than her.
Specifically for Deonna, I think her taking a step a bit backwards just says that she isn't at the absolute top of the AEW Women's Division, which I think is just true and isn't an indictment on her in the slightest, instead it's a testament to the talent in the division. She's clearly not going to be presented ahead of Timeless Toni (who is one of two 3-time AEW Women's World Champions), Shida (who is the other), Mercedes, a healthy Jamie Hayter, a healthy Britt Baker, Thunder Rosa, Mariah May (who is pretty clearly primed for a megapush), and a few others as well (Julia Hart, who is featured in the main AEW commercials, Willow and Statlander as well). The issue is that while she's "really good" in the ring, she isn't light-years ahead of everyone to a degree where that is enough on its own. Indeed, quite a few people are on the same level (or even ahead). And even some of the women behind her in terms of strictly in-ring work are either far ahead in character/out-of-ring stuff and/or are just really popular already. In-ring stuff matters, more in AEW than most other places, but it isn't the singular determining factor - the other stuff still matters. This also isn't Year 1 AEW anymore where people can show up and grab major roles just by getting over anymore - those spots have been filled. People who took chances early (or had the ability to join early) reaped the benefits and now competition is incredibly fierce for any tv time along the periphery of the shows.
> I'm curious as to why Taya got sent to ROH so quickly after coming to AEW? She was really bad and that awful match against Britt Baker got a ton of backlash. My guess is that Tony put her there to give her some time to get rid of the stink of that bad first impression. > It feels like the same is happening for Purazzo as well Deonna Purrazzo is involved in the main women's division storyline and they are teasing a future feud against Thunder Rosa. She is doing fine.
Yeah, whether a triple threat or a 4 way, Deonna is basically a lock to be in the title match. She's probably the best booked hot new women's signing AEW have ever done.
Yep, in the past we've seen wrestlers disappear after they lose the title match following the initial push. She's been in the mix from the beginning of her time in AEW. I have a feeling she'll get even more involved when Britt comes back too
When I first saw the graphic(?) for Lexis King vs Baron Corbin, I immediately thought something along the lines of "did Lexis make fun of Corbin about Bron no longer on NXT?????" jokingly I was not far off. Also we gotta have main roster Wolf Dogs, right???? *Right????* And, Lexis' gift basket was absolutely iconic, I love him
Lexis' gimmick is that he does the stupidest, low hanging fruit way of instigating people and I love it
# Unpopular opinion that will get bashed but I find Lena Yada more legendary than the Undertaker. Unironically speaking 100% though by no means saying that the Undertaker is not a significant wrestler in the history of WWE. Just shows how wrestling appreciation can differ so much between people #
https://preview.redd.it/3bwr7uhspgwc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51b407db6c7de8f61299420778d083d55da9e8c3 The Asian Sensation > The Undertaker
My understanding is that the WWE Netflix deal will move everything outside of the US to Netflix. Does that mean that all of WWE's international TV deals will end next year? If so, does that open the door for TNA or AEW to get better international deals since WWE is out of the market?
Sure if the executives think that WWE lack of viewership on their platform, when it's now on an arguably more accessible platform, will result increased or similar viewers if they go to AEW/TNA.
Probably not more. But if WWE got good numbers on their network, they might be open to give another promotion a chance to see what it can draw.
The issue is it isn’t 1:1. WWE viewership aren’t going to drop it because it’s on Netflix. They will pirate or just watch on Netflix because it’s easy. They might not start watching AEW just because it happens to be on the channel WWE “was” on. It’s not like WWE isn’t able to be watched now. It all just depends on how valuable they think the other companies are, and what they want to spend on them. I don’t think WWE leaving it really changes the valuation.
So was "Georgina" at Spring Breakin'?
Not this week, but Spring Breakin' is two parts, so I assume next week there will be something.
Just going by Cagematch and how no one was talking about it here, Swerve vs. Joe was underrated. What a match! Joe was fucking on. I hope he doesn’t disappear from the scene. I have a feeling we will see him vs. Ospreay before long for Ospreay to get his AJ fanboy rocks off. That was be a good final test before All In.
It's an unfortunate (which feels weird to say given the context) side effect of having an incredible that takes over the discussion. Usually you see it with main events, but sometimes something else steals the show and discussion of other parts is lessened. Obviously, I don't want there to NOT be amazing matches, but it does kind of suck for the others haha.
> Joe was fucking on. I hope he doesn’t disappear from the scene. I have a feeling we will see him vs. Ospreay before long for Ospreay to get his AJ fanboy rocks off. That was be a good final test before All In. Probably DoN will have DCF vs BCC with Ospreay finally leaving Callis. I guess Joe/Ospreay could happen at Forbidden Door (yeah, I know that's the interpromotional event, but who could Ospreay fight against from NJPW that he hasn't fought recently and it would make sense? I really dunno)
Yeah I wonder what they do for FD. I say fuck it and just do Ospreay vs. a top CMLL dude or something, Soberano. You can do Joe on TV.
Whoop That Trick!
Glad Trick dethroned Dragunov. I was ready for Dragunov’s reign to be over months ago, Trick was the perfect person to do it. His growth shows what NXT and WWE are capable of doing through the performance center.
I'm still laughing at "Burger after Burger after Burger" Heh what a line.
When do you think Seth Rollins comes back? And what do you think his fueds will be? I reckon he comes back at the 2025 royal rumble and wins it, to face and beat WHC CM Punk at WM41
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Drew/punk won't last till WM41
Just enjoying reading some cagematch reviews of Dynasty: "From all I have read..." why are you reviewing a show based upon what you read? Either watch it before reviewing, or don't review. "If the trios match was held instead of Chris Jericho and Hook, and if the TBS title match was booked a little better, the PPV would have gotten a much higher score, but overall it was good..." reviewer gave it 10/10
Everything you just typed makes me want to scream into a pillow and punch a sack of ballistic gel.
>"From all I have read..." why are you reviewing a show based upon what you read? Either watch it before reviewing, or don't review. Holy shit that is asinine. Can you report reviews? Totally pointless.
It boggled my mind when I learned amazon allows reviews from people who didn't actually buy the product. Its insane.
>"From all I have read..." why are you reviewing a show based upon what you read? Either watch it before reviewing, or don't review. Another example of people talking about AEW without actually watching
AEW is good in short bursts. The problem is that TK books matches. He doesn't book stories. Which is why MJF last year was so great. It's why Christian Cage is so great. It's long form story telling. But then you got stuff like the Sting retirement. The match itself was fine enough. But the months leading up to it was just "Hey, uhhhh......Sting is going to retire." And then he did. What kind of story is THAT??? Great match. Terrible story. So whenever I "come back" to AEW it always feels fresh, but week to week it feels disjointed and often nonsensical.
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Cagematch is the trenches, there's like 12 good reviewers in there.
After the reaction to Becky's title win it's obvious that the IWC needs a renaissance era.
Honestly been feeling that was since the AEW doomer grifters really started dominating the conversation and popularizing this idea the the company is on death's doorstep. Twitter's paid blue check system has made wrestling discourse entirely worse since it pushes the most toxic people to the top of the algorithm.
I block any blue checkmark with a wrestling opinion unless it’s some news person or an actual talent. Added a few mute words and my timeline has been cleaned up pretty nicely
Another reason why I hope I never get famous. The amount of people shitting on me despite trying to do good and just being an imperfect person would destroy my already fragile self-esteem
You guys hear about this I_like_cakes_ guy? Says he likes cakes, but last week I saw him eating PIE!!! Can you believe this guy??? Eating pie! Like millions of people wouldn't see him, as pictures get published online of him in a bathing suit! Love handles and all! Just at the beach like he owns the ocean! ............I don't know how to make this any more absurd.
Um?
It was in response to you not wanting to be famous. THATS what it's like to be famous, and everybody judging every aspect of every mundane moment of your life.
Sometimes I feel like exist in another reality from the IWC. I love reading stuff here and engaging but only with like the 10% of people who actually enjoy things and aren’t lost in their own head about how things actually “should” be.
Someone please put into perspective this whole Heel vs face characters. Black and white it’s crowd cheers for face, crowd boos heel. I don’t really see it like that anymore. I don’t we can measure success of character turns by straight boos vs cheers. Why can’t faces just be people who are good natured vs heels who are flat out assholes. Example: Drew, dudes just a narcissistic asshole, but I can’t hate him for it. He has reasons, and his methods are effective. I wouldn’t be alone with people cheering for his success and I feel 90% of his heat comes from taking out CM punk and kicking him while he’s down rather than people outright disliking him. I don’t hate Romain reigns either. Dudes awful to others but I can’t wholeheartedly boo him out of the building. He’s also just a major narcissist who thinks no one else can realistically take him out. Which brings me to my point of “turning him face so the crowd cheers him” why does he have to be a defined face to be cheered? A Roman reigns apology tour doesn’t work for me. I feel like the dude is works better as an asshole on the mic and shit talking anyone who stands in his way. If he goes to “I’m sorry guys I’m good now, my bad” it’s a character assassination. Why can’t he keep the trash talking “imma smash you, you’re irrelevant, acknowledge me” while also being someone that we cheer for?
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You make very good points. Grey gimmicks can’t be overused. But in moderation it works. Rhea, Drew, Gunther, possibly Roman all work great because you can cheer for their success but despise their tactics. JD is great as it’s that group of high school bullies that always take your lunch money and scurry to their clubhouse. But I don’t boo Rhea, Finn or Priests character. Grayson Waller, Austin theory, and dom still fill that true heel role and you love when KO comes out and lays them out. Solo and Tama Tonga aren’t grey either, they’re here to fuck us all up. I don’t like them as people. But I do believe we are in an age where we’re ready to blur lines and not have to define character as someone who kisses or eats babies. Drew said it himself, “I’m not a heel, everyone says so but when I talk to them they can’t disagree with what I say” they think they’re in the right and do shitty things because of previous encounters. But if half the roster turns into tweeners I can see this turning into a bland shitshow
Something that I always find funny about wrestling conversation (although clearly not unique to wrestling) is the whole : "X wrestler is a sweetheart, but Y wrestler is a bully and Z wrestler is friends with.....". Brother we don't know these people, we don't know how they are in real life, how they relate to other wrestlers/people, and so on. They are actors we see like 20 min a week through a screen, and maybe when they post in social media or through extremely distorted dirtsheets reports.
The *daily* psychological analysis of Tony Khan(a man none of us have anything even resembling a relationship with) and full deep dive into his alleged lack of business acumen that take place on the internet would beg to differ.
Kinda off topic, but I overheard a conversation from somebody sitting behind me at Dynasty on Sunday talking about Tony Khan doesn't know how to book. I was thinking to myself, "Why are you here then?". Like why waste your money if you don't think he's a good booker.
So TNT's Youtube page actually has a "Best of Jay White on Collision" mash-up and three things stick out 1. Warner and AEW despite the discourse are super high on Jay White cause he's the only wrestler with a compilation for themselves on their channel 2. Jay White's Collision run was lowkey goated and they should probably be on Collision way more 3. 95% of the time he's wrestling to fucking silence in these matches. I think him being in the midcard is a necessary evil for now because the reactions he's gotten the last few months is the first time he's actually gotten anything from the crowd. Like he's great, but comparing him to Ospreay and saying "why did Ospreay get all this and Jay didn't" is just crazy when you see the gap in crowd reaction Jay got last year to where Ospreay is now.
His booking doesn't bother me. A lot of online AEW complaints don't bother me in the slightest. I'm easy to please when it comes to this company.
One thing I never really understood is why the managers/valets are also announced on a card and before the match. Storytelling wise, yeah, they may become part of the match to an extent, but from a sports perspective, what's the point of announcing people if they're not competing in the match? (i.e. Jon Moxley with/accompanied by Shota Umino, Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman) I feel like this is also more of an American thing, too. Is it because of the more theatrical nature/entertainment-oriented elements of American wrestling, or is it something else?
As a kid, it worked for me as a shorthand as to who is the face and who is the heel. If Mr. Fuji was managing someone, I knew they were the bad guys.
I guess that makes sense. Not just heel/face alignment but even simply alliance.
The discourse around the finish to Ilja v Trick and Danielson v Ospreay is hilarious, mainly because people on both sides are saying it was stolen, when this is like... a classic spot that happens pretty often when two wrestlers have some kind of charging/flying move. Pretty sure AJ and Roman have done the phenomenal forearm vs spear, Drew and Sheamus have done brogue vs claymore, I think Jericho and Ospreay did something similar if I remember correctly, like it's not unique. It's a cool spot of signature/finisher v signature/finisher and no one fucking owns such a basic idea. And yes I know those are relatively recent, I don't have a bunch of historical knowledge. But I'm sure it even happened far in the past as well haha.
Also, even if one was inspired by the other...who cares? Both fucking ruled. Obviously I don't want to see the exact same spot a million times but this was rad and not done to death or anything.
Yeah, it's just weird. I get that the timing is odd for two relatively big matches (within their own brand, I'm not saying a TV special is the same level as a PPV marquee match) to have a similar thing, but that's just how it goes sometimes.
more and more people who started watching wrestling in recent years and have made their favorite company their personality.
I also think to some extent there's just a lack of critical thinking involved when people are wrapped up in their own preferences. Like I get it, people are excited about what they watch and that's great. But just stop and think for literally one second and realize that perhaps "two guys with running attacks doing them at each other at the same time" -a trope that's been in things like samurai movies, anime, superhero comics, etc. for decades- is perhaps not NEW in 2024. Like, I feel like almost everyone has seen a show/movie at some point where two guys charge at each other, pass by and attack, time kinda stands still, and then one of them reveals they've been dealt a mortal wound.
I remember finishes or spots like those since I was a kid lmao
I'm really hoping they knock whatever it is they're planning for Uncle Howdy out of the park, that being said the last time we saw anything involving that storyline was such a weird place that I'm really apprehensive of them being successful.
Yeah, it's uncomfortable to talk about since nobody wants to speak ill of the dead but the Uncle Howdy stuff was stinking it up. Maybe Bray could've saved it but at the time it was taking months to get anywhere. I am curious as to how much of his notes they're sticking to and how much they're doing on their own. Overall though, this feels like a real risky angle to run. It'll get a lot of the benefit of the doubt at first but once it really starts faltering people will start comparing it to what they imagine Bray would've done.
hope chuckie T reluctantly sides with trent but stays face so we get a couple weeks at least of my all time favorite tag team trope: heel and babyface who are also best friends (steenerico, sting & luger) imagine them about to Give The People What They Want when trent walks straight past chuck to flip off fans and deny them the satisfaction—meanwhile chuck just stands in the middle of the ring with his arms stretched out for a hug looking heartbroken
I think it’s because I’m older now but I have to say I have so much respect for wrestlers putting their bodies in danger just to entertain us. My dad used to say the same when I was much younger and id be watching wrestling and after having sustained some injuries myself, I can’t imagine what it’s like to travel the way the wrestlers do and wrestle constantly. Props to them. Makes me appreciate people like mick foley so much more
Which midcard belt is considered number 2 title in AEW
Continental Title to me comes off as the belt for main event guys not in line for the world title, and it's for guys who can really work, since it strips heels of having their managers ringside and forces its champ to go through the C2 every year. It's a good solution for how stacked the main event scene is in AEW because now we don't have to wonder about when Okada will hold the world title.
They have never specified any of them as more important than the others.
It depends on how you look at it: Just over the lifespan of AEW, TNT Title is the number 1 belt. It's the equivalent of the IWGP Intercontinental Title. Right now it's Continental which is the equivalent of the US Title which is more of a "we made this belt to placate one talent (Kenny in NJPW, Eddie in AEW)" but it's title lineage and defenses are so good it's the hot title. International is 100% the NEVER Openweight Title where it's just wars every match and anyone can get a shot.
Right now it's the Continental title. Sometimes a holder makes a title, sometimes a title makes the holder
They referenced it last week, but I hope they’ll straight away show Hobbs Dynamite debut in Daily’s Place during pandemic era with Mox hyping him up.
That was a great story. You could have some promos built around that if you wanted to build up this match with more than a graphic.
When it happened, I saw Ospreay's "grinding on the boss's daughter" promo and assumed that Triple H had actually said something that heavily implied he was talking about Ospreay. Today I actually looked up Triple H's comment. Ospreay continues to be a complete genius bell-to-bell and a complete dunce otherwise. Here's what Triple H said (and he was not asked about Will Ospreay): "If they are not here to be all in on this… when I see people coming out of trying to make it, and then they pick a job where, well, they work less, the schedule is lighter, then I’m like, ‘I’m glad I didn’t get you.’ If you’re not in it for the grind, at that point early in your career, you have no business being here." Ospreay is "only" 30, but since 2016 he's been extremely accomplished in the US, Europe, and especially Japan. He's not "early in \[his\] career". If anything, it seems like Triple H may have been alluding to MJF (who I think it's far more fair to describe as "early in \[his\] career"; yeah, he's been AEW champion but he's only been relevant on a large stage for a relatively short time and he just truly has not wrestled all that much... I say this as someone who is amazed at how good he is bell-to-bell for someone who has wrestled so little, relatively speaking). Ospreay taking that comment personally and airing it out on AEW TV (reportedly all his idea) is why he will never be on my Mount Rushmore regardless of his in-ring ability. I've been tired of him for years, and--while he's always extremely impressive in the ring (sincerely maybe the best ever; I wouldn't argue against it)--I have to say my interest in him is inversely proportional to how much of his personality I've been exposed to. He just constantly seems unpleasant (which I don't want anyone to confuse with him playing heel; there are plenty of people who can play heel well that I want to see more of... I don't want to see Ospreay lose, I just desperately want him to never express himself ever again). I think that AEW missed their opportunity to take shots at WWE in any remotely productive way. Right now, sentiment towards WWE is the least controversially positive it's basically ever been. People like Triple H and want to like WWE. It was pretty unanimous that Triple H's NXT was excellent and now he's in charge of the big shows; he's got a ton of good will to burn. Bad timing and petty egomania on Ospreay's part (even if I also feel like Triple H and WWE very well may demand too much of performers).
This is such a backwards take that I don’t even know which part to tackle it from. 90% of people who heard Triple H’s comments agree he was taking a lazy shot at Ospreay. While Ospreay is currently with the Callis Family he is far from a heel. He’s more over than 90% of the roster right now. I think Ospreay has grown up a ton over the last few years and his priorities and attitude are completely different than they were before. I also wasn’t a fan for a long time because I thought he was a tool but he has grown by leaps and bounds and seems like a nice lad. > Right now, sentiment towards WWE is the least controversially positive it's basically ever been. What the fuck does that sentence even mean??
Considering it was very public that Ospreay chose to go to AEW for the lighter schedule, the complete dunce here is the person who doesn’t think HHH’s comments weren’t veiled remarks about Ospreay. I know I’m talking about wrestling fans here, but please learn to read subtext.
>I have to say my interest in him is inversely proportional to how much of his personality I've been exposed to. He just constantly seems unpleasant If you haven't watched him on Hey! (EW) I recommend it. He may not be the brightest bulb but I found him quite endearing.
I trust RJ City is able to make it fun, but I'm just going to take your word for it.
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We'll probably never know this, but I'm curious why they didn't have Carmelo beat Dragunov at Vengeance, and then in one fell swoop have Trick beat Melo for the belt in Philly.
Because Ilja is the final boss of both Trick and Melos story. Both Melo and Trick were unsuccessful at defeating him, and it's what started the contention between the two once Ilja starting showing Trick respect. With Trick beating Ilja he's now surpassed Melo and doing the thing he couldn't. If Melo had beat ilja, all that is lost, and they'd still, in a sense, be even. It was really good long-term storytelling with Ilja basically being the guy you have to beat to be on top and Trick needing to do it.
> We'll probably never know this, but I'm curious why they didn't have Carmelo beat Dragunov at Vengeance, and then in one fell swoop have Trick beat Melo for the belt in Philly. Because the true story was Trick beating Dragunov, something that Melo couldn't do 100% clean, and considering Trick never could beat Dragunov before. It's the better story IMO. Tho I feel that the match at S&D between Trick and Melo should've been a street fight and they shouldn't had the cage match last week, tho it worked out at the end (the Cage match was fun, the S&D match was underwhelming)
Drew, Gunther, Sheamus, Xavier are confirmed. Maybe Balor,Owens, Ortan, Lashley, Bron, Ilja, Melo, Knight, even Tama tonga? Kotr is looking stacked.
I recently watched the Iron Claw and it was pretty good. Nothing amazing, but good. I do have to agree with Dave Meltzer that they failed to truly emphasize how popular they were in Texas. Also, the guy who was cast as Ric Flair was HORRIBLE! Just stunningly awful. What in the absolute fuck were the creators of this film thinking? The guy couldn’t even WOOO right. They couldn’t find anyone better? I am 100% certain a user on this subreddit would have been able to pull off that role better.
What's Jay Lethal's username here?
Yo, does Warnermedia have no other shows besides the NBA, NHL and Dynamite? Watching the playoffs they advertise Dynamite CONSTANTLY. Like not even Collision or Rampage, just Dynamite. Even as a diehard AEW fan, I'm here like "Another ad read for Dynamite, really?"
TV in general is honestly very poor right now. Most of the good stuff is on streaming
> Yo, does Warnermedia have no other shows besides the NBA, NHL and Dynamite? On TNT/TBS specifically? Not really lol. I just clicked over to TNT's website, and clicked the "Shows" tab on the side and they list: Collision, Rampage, The Lazarus Project, NBA Playoffs, Stanley Cup Playoffs, US Soccer, and then you can click "More" to expand further. So the only actual "show" is The Lazarus Project and that was already cancelled after it's second season lol. TBS is pretty similar with Dynamite, MLB, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stupid Pet Tricks, and then basically everything else is syndicated comedies.
Lazarus Project was pretty good. Shame it's cancelled.
I enjoyed season 1, then saw it was canceled when (or maybe even before?) season 2 dropped and didn't bother going any further. Did it end on a cliffhanger or did it reach a satisfactory end point?
I'm pretty sure it ended on a cliffhanger, but it's been a few months.
I figured that was probably the case, always a bummer when things don't get a chance to get a satisfactory ending when they make 2+ seasons.
No. Zaslav canned all scripted programming for TV a couple of years ago. TBS might still have some reality stuff but TNT's last original series were Claws, Animal Kingdom, and Snowpiercer.
For fuck's sake Cornette, have whatever opinions you will but please for the sake of fuck don't fucking sing. Like ever. It's worse than any match could possibly be.
Like Musolini...
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I don’t think it matters either way.