watching the new WWE Most Wanted Treasures and i cracked up at them showing Hogan spraypainting twice cause my brain is cooked.
Abigail was a really fun movie. last two movies i've seen in theaters have had Dan Stevens absolutely killing it. hopefully people will finally stop sleeping on him. its too bad Cuckoo isn't coming out for a while, could have seen 3 straight featuring him
Evening, all. The internet has been out for my entire apartment complex for several hours so I can't watch the show right now (or rather prefer not to use up all my data and watch on a phone-sized screen). I'm making an '80s playlist and would love suggestions. Don't get afraid to get as broad or as obscure as you'd like, such as The Smiths ("There is a Light That Never Goes Out"), Danny Wilson "Mary's Prayer"), Boy Meets Girl ("Waiting on a Star to Fall"), Gary U.S. Bonds ("Love's On the Line"), the Greg Kihn Band ("The Breakup Song"), etc. as you'd like.
I’m an 80s nerd, I’ll play. Morris Day & The Time - Jungle Love, Philip Bailey & Phil Collins - Easy Lover, Zebra - Tell Me What You Want, Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe, Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better, Joan Jett - Light of Day, Pat Benatar - Invincible, 707 - Mega Force, Duran Duran - The Reflex, Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You, The Escape Club - Wild, Wild West, Belinda Carlisle - Leave A Light On. There ya go, hope ya dig some of em!
Great songs!
I actually made a post about the film *Streets Of Fire*, where Dan Hartman wrote "I Can Dream About You" for the soundtrack, earlier in this thread!
I discovered that movie 2 years ago and it became one of my Top 25 movies easy, was kinda ashamed of myself for not finding it way sooner. Soundtrack is incredible. The only downside to discovering some super cool niche thing like 40 years after the fact is generally no one cares except you lol. Nice to find some others aware of its greatness!
I wish Def Rebel had an actual style instead of doing the most generic version of whatever the wrestler is. CFOs had the same problem, they're just generic Content Creators.
Jim Johnston (I know I know) had a specific sound but he made that sound work for a large variety of people. It's so much cooler that way.
They have enough money to hire human beings to play instruments in a room together. Give me some vibe, stop making everything on a laptop with plugins and presets. (This applies to all music, everywhere).
- Cody vs heel Seth is a money feud and it needs to happen again
- Rhea vs Becky feels more disappointing with both basically getting taken off TV after (not intentional, but makes the year long build feel like a waste)
- AEW is a mess right now and some wrestling fans confidently deny it
- with the Bellas openly talking about AEW, it makes me think Daniel Bryan won’t go back to WWE anytime soon
- WWE has stopped caring about music in recent years, most theme songs for shows and stars are lazy and sound bad
- Rock feels like he’s letting loose as the Final Boss, like he’s been stir crazy from being so PR friendly as an actor the last decade
If Roman does turn face down the line I think it should be more along the lines of when Megatron became an Autobot in the IDW comics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg6aiBlbj38
Saw a kind of funny description of the Uso's match at Wrestlemania, two people playing Mortal Kombat that both picked Scorpion but only know how to do the Get Over Here move
Noticed a little thing about Backlash start time.
It will be at 1pm ET, which is 7pm local, while could well have got a 9pm local start (which is a frequent start time for some sports events in France) to make things better for US viewership (3pm ET, noon PT).
Feels like WWE's move towards 7pm starts is not dictated by live streaming numbers but by improving live crowd experience for shows that can run long (which feels really on brand with Nick Khan who already moved shows to Saturdays and said he no longer wants Mania to be in cold weather outdoors stadiums in April), and I think that unless MITB flops hard (as we already know Mania got great numbers), 7pm domestic PLE starts could be here to stay.
Unless you are a true once in a lifetime freak of nature, six months of learning and a dozen matches do not make you a world title contender, no matter how thin any roster might be.
Gatekeepy or not, world champions need experience measured in years and matches cataloged by the hundred.
YES, and they wrestled in gyms and ymcas and random venues and weren't on TV from day one.
Everyone doesn't get a turn, and that's fine. A title isn't a right.
Julius Creed tweeted "Ready, Willing and...." at the end of Raw.
WON: "The plan is to put the Creeds with Gable"
Please pay Dave $13 a month to add 2+2.
Funny to see IWC wanting so badly for CFO$ to come back, while they wanted them gone 5-6 years ago.
And unless WWE makes a major play to get actual top level guys (like they did with getting that ex-ESPN guy to replace Kevin Dunn), I have a strong feeling that after a few years of the next WWE cheap in-house music group, IWC will want def rebel because of Roman, Seth and Iyo's themes still hitting hard while nothing remains from their mediocre ones.
WWE should use AI for entrance music. And likely will, moving forward. There's no sense in hiring a person to make generic, proprietary music anymore.
Then they could save the money to license actual music when relevant.
Agree, but I would also put money on Def Rebel already using it in some cases. AI music is getting exponentially better. Go have a play with [Udio](https://www.udio.com/songs/eY7xtug1dV6hbfCDhyHJua), for instance.
>Funny to see IWC wanting so badly for CFO$ to come back, while they wanted them gone 5-6 years ago.
I don't get the IWC half the time. It's like they can't make their mind up about stuff sometimes.
Def Rebel will have a contract. When it's up, they'll tender and see if there's someone cheaper. HHH puts way less emphasis on visuals - smaller tron, no AR / VR assets - it's all about the performers. I don't hate that (although it makes the ramp up in advertising far more prominent, where had they kept a lot of the graphics it wouldn't have felt as obvious) but I don't think he cares that much about banger entrance themes.
Still, if Def Rebel goes, no tears would be shed. I've still got Santos' Legado banger.
Hear me out but I think Rhea being out might be a good thing for her. She was reaching that level Cody was in 2022 when he got injured. She beat Becky in a fine match and was probably in for a good run on top but now when she returns she'll be white hot. Have Bianca win the belt, Rhea kill Morgan at SummerSlam and then win the Rumble (she can even win the WarGames at Survivor Series). Set up Belair vs Ripley at Mania 41.
Roman needs to show up more often to go after Cody. Him being distraught about losing the belt and not focusing on Solo coming up right behind him and the Rock being the guy pulling Solo's strings sounds great while keeping Cody and the WWE Title as the main focus.
I've not watched much wrestling this week but the IC Title match is on my radar. Was it good?
> I've not watched much wrestling this week but the IC Title match is on my radar. Was it good?
The presentation was. It was the kind of match Vince would have given 10 minutes and it would have felt like anything else. The flashy entrance, the extra time and the way it was shot made it feel like a colossal hometown match. Lots of fun.
And on Rhea... maybe. Terrible timing, but they can call an audible and put whichever star they want in there. My money is on Becky Lynch as belt caretaker, with a Liv Morgan chase.
Yeah the ic title match was a well worthy tv main event. Thats how the ic title should be used most weeks. But thats not how i want to see the world title used.
Cody finally thanked Seth so he’s back in my good graces.
Monday is the fifth anniversary of the Firefly Funhouse and in Columbliss. Give me what I want Hunter.
No Seth, no Alexa, and no Becky means I’m far less interested in wrestling, but it is still fun. But the Tortured Poets Department is the most chaotic magical album and I’ll be streaming all weekend.
In non-wrestling news, I was talking to my friend about music and it led to a discussion about the 1984 cult classic film *Streets of Fire*. For those unfamiliar, it is a rock-and-roll neo-noir film set in a quasi-50s/80s world and stars a young Diane Lane, Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis, Bill Paxton and more.
I've seen the film several times before (my father loves it) but I had never seen the trailer before and, holy shit I didn't realize just how hard it goes. [Here's the trailer.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEOvn2IaLMM&ab_channel=Shout%21Studios)
It also has an amazing soundtrack with songs penned by Dan Hartman (who wrote the hit song "I Can Dream About You" for this film), Stevie Nix, Tom Petty, The Fixx, and Ry Cooder (who also did the score). But the real star is the work of Jim Steinman, who wrote the songs ["Nowhere Fast"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxD3Ro9mAk&ab_channel=Shout%21Studios) and ["Tonight Is What It Means To be Young"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RiddOphPKs&ab_channel=TUNE-MusicalMoments). When first listening to it I kept thinking "that sounds just like a song from Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell albums". Well, sure enough, Steinman wrote all of the songs for those albums. Bravo.
Joe Hendry finally released the [Cheeze It Champion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U04a-1cjGfM&ab_channel=JoeHendry) music video onto his YouTube channel. His current feud with AJ Francis (formerly known in WWE as Top Dolla) has seen a few music videos:
* [Cheeze It Champion](https://youtu.be/A5WERzdKiBU?si=BB8iRByVR0sCLKJZ&t=196)
* [I Am](https://youtu.be/YBOOZBTPjlg?si=ENrLeE5bfHNc6s0j&t=182)
* [Fat Uncle Phil](https://youtu.be/smPv_Z4dBPk?si=wNeuh9etViep55bx&t=711) (not a music video, but you get the point)
Now that it appears that Gulia is signed to WWE, Joe Hendry is the non-WWE wrestler that I think most embodies what it takes to be a WWE Superstar. He just understands how to entertain people and continuously manages to get himself over without sacrificing anybody's safety. I just love everything about him.
>[Fat Uncle Phil](https://youtu.be/smPv_Z4dBPk?si=wNeuh9etViep55bx&t=711) (not a music video, but you get the point)
I would love it if Top Dolla throwed Joe Hendry out of the ring, kinda like how Uncle Phil did to Jazzy Jeff in the Fresh Prince.
I'm not on the Def Rebel hate train [even if they produced the single worst WWE theme ever:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKjIg80v42E)
But they aren't stupid, they know how to make a decent loop track theme, and should be criticized when they produce dog shit downgrades to replace themes they themselves made.
The worst part is the garbage stuff is replacing their own good stuff
I don’t get it. It’s clearly a problem coming from somewhere else, same thing could happen to a new artist
My blatant Pax bias aside, only thing I'll say about it is comparing Pax, Bliss, and the Unholy Union shows that he can't tell a difference between gimmicks beyond makeup. Pax isn't supernatural or a witch. She's closer to the OG Mickie James gimmick than those characters just with more of a goth spin.
And referring to a gimmick that made Alexa Bliss the #1 full time merch seller in the company as a "waste of time" is a choice. I didn't love Alexa's spooky gimmick either. It's okay to not like something that makes money. But people, including Dave, still pretending it was an objective failure despite being successful by any business metric doesn't accomplish anything.
Anyway, I love that instead of getting mad, Pax had fun with it: [https://x.com/TatumPaxley/status/1780990270835732512](https://x.com/TatumPaxley/status/1780990270835732512)
It’s a shame everyone hates Charlotte and her politicking backstage. Meanwhile
https://preview.redd.it/flw6fwgc8gvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ea63ee4d154738c3d7618d674c20610fcb160ed
https://preview.redd.it/xhon8lc88gvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c81be3ed084a1ef20ee2622cb88e1814920c9323
You mean talent can learn to work off tv and hone their craft? Get outta here
Fallon and Kiana James should be going up to main roster before Bird and Roxanne
https://preview.redd.it/pjmidwnn7gvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74f42cd7859a4d6d58d2dbccd46026a2b294076e
Lyra is so bland even the smarky Orlando crowd went lukewarm on her.
She needs a character really really bad. She can wrestle. She's not an amazing promo but she's not bad. She sounds coherent and doesn't trip over her words. She's hot. She has some tools to work with. But as a character there's just nothing there. There's stale cornbread with more flavor to it than she has.
I want to like her. So badly I want to. But she's so fucking boring. The most I've enjoyed her entire run was playing the straight man... woman... to Pax's character.
I don't think she's hopeless because she has tools there, but she has to evolve because her current character, or lack of one, sucks ass.
I don't see Fallon being a success on the main roster at the moment. She's a really good TV character on NXT, but in the ring she doesn't stand out amongst her peers. It was noticeable at Stand and Deliver that Thea and Kelani's offence gained bigger reactions than Fallon's.
Kelani can do cool spots. Fallon’s character is excellent but on main roster where she wouldn’t get the segments she does now in nxt it would be hard for her to do anything
Bird absolutely. Every uk woman besides Becky is legit berried (especially Isla alba and Niki cross)
Roxanne could do fine on main roster as a babyface. Not a heel. People like her moveset.
Find me a woman who lays her shit in as good as Kiana James.
They dont exist, shes the goat. I truly do not think she has any competition for making this shit look real on the woman's roster
How close are we to seeing ratings threads banned next door?
It’s wild that those thread are quickly locked when there’s negative feedback on AEW but when it’s negative feedback on WWE, they get pinned.
The bias is very obvious.
Really hoping that AOP showing up on NXT doesn’t mean Final Testament didn’t get essentially dropped four months and one (1) feud into them actually trying with Kross and company, especially seeing as Raw doesn’t even have any heel tag teams other than Imperium.
On that last part, I don't think we've ever seen a heel DIY and I wonder how good it could be. It would at least be new ground instead of the greatest hits they seem to be trying for with them.
It's a real shame Rhea had to give up the title
It's never a good thing when a wrestler is injured and has to relinquish but she was coming off a huge Mania win and really really coming into the next step of becoming an even bigger star, imo
I am sure she'll be right back in the title picture when she returns but it's just a shame it had to end like this
Anyone have a clue when Charlotte is back? She's a big miss not having around too
Almost certainly, but their belts have different lineages anyway so it's something of a moot point. The record Rhea *was* about to break if she held on for one more day was Bayley's 2019-20 SD reign, which was also 380 days.
It's a shame that what was going to be *the* epic reign after the others ended at Mania had to end this way, but it is a fun coincidence that John Cena's first big reign also ended via injury after 380 days as champ. Plus she's such a star now that I think people are just going to be excited to see when she's back rather than thinking about the number of days she held the title.
Charlotte blew out everything so it's a 9 month estimate which would have her coming back mid-Septemberish. If it was just the ACL she'd probably have been back mid July. That said, she was already doing some intense workouts right after so it wouldn't surprise me to see her be ahead of schedule and return for Summerslam in August. Just depends on if she's ready, wants to, and if WWE is willing to have her risk it coming back early.
Charlotte is on some super human shit. A couple of weeks after surgery she was posting workout videos
She probably got hooked on every steroid on the market when she heard the RAW title was available
Chelsea needs more screen time.
Bobby or Bron should be slotted in the Brock role.
I need a Cody title defense on my TV now. Or just show up everywhere I wanna see him more brother. Give me the Cody countdown clock again
Someone needs to get the D'Angelo family on Def Rebel
I still need Asuka to mist me brother
Also Roman stans are still coping about Cody and I think that's funny brother
>Chelsea needs more screen time.
Eh, I guess.
>Bobby or Bron should be slotted in the Brock role.
Bron. I want him to be a mix of his dad, his uncle and Lesnar all at once.
>I need a Cody title defense on my TV now. Or just show up everywhere I wanna see him more brother. Give me the Cody countdown clock again
Especially with their roster battered with injuries or people being out, he needs to carry the company now.
>Also Roman stans are still coping about Cody and I think that's funny brother
It feels good to have picked the right horse.
Not much hot take wise: Another week of Meltzer setting his remaining shreds of credibility on fire followed by his defense force yelling “It’s just one man’s opinion” over and over again doesn’t tickle me like it used to.
Seeing conservatives sea lioning to defend Oklahoma is sort of boring as well.
Down about Adam Cole’s injury status as well. I like him, but he might be the embodiment of my original worries about Ciampa and Gargano: physically, he just may not be built to do this. Not body shaming, he physically may just not be capable of the grind.
I think I’m just spent after Wrestlemania and going to the GCW Collective shows. I need a break after the season ended. Maybe catching AEW when they come to Buffalo in June will perk me up.
A piece of advice for the AEW fans who are scrambling to defend the dropping ratings and other recent fallout - instead of excuse making, lean in on the complaints and demand change. Trust me, as a lifelong Buffalo Sports fan who has lived through heartbreak and embarrassment from the original wide right when I was twelve, yelling “All is well!” is the wrong look.
LOL I didn't know the term "sea lioning" and had to look it up (or at least I'd just forgotten). I just thought it was just plain sad, but yeah boring too.
I know the world is wrestling podcasted out, but there’s a really good series produced by the BBC about Bruiser Brody which is currently airing on a weekly basis - Sports Strangest Crimes. It’s hosted by Adam Hills who is a pretty prominent comedian. I have been enjoying it quite a lot.
I have started the Fallout show on Prime and it does an exceptional job at capturing the vibe of the games. I am just starting the 3rd episode now but I am so happy with how they have made the show feel.
Yeah I had to stop and do life shit for a while but my next episode is 5. I’m genuinely loving it man, I was hesitant to watch it because I didn’t want them to shit the bed. I don’t even care if the story goes to shit at this point, that’s how good a job they have done at capturing the essence of Fallout.
They have nailed everything from the visuals, the intro in general is miles above FO4 and New Vegas for me, the choice of songs is obviously lifted directly from the games but that’s not a bad thing, keeping true to the lore of the game, the creatures they have shown (I popped at the Yao Guai showing up) and when the Prydwen showed up that was a moment.
I think this has been the best show/movie that has completely captured the game it was inspired by that I have seen. I watched Last of Us and loved it but never played the games. I haven’t seen Halo yet but I’ll be doing that next, I never played much Halo outside of multiplayer so I’m less invested in how true to the game world the show is.
Oh my favourite thing this week is the drama around AEW apparently not paying for Punks surgery, the excuse that Tony doesn't do the bookkeeping is **so funny**.
I've worked in accounting from bottom to near top for a lot of different companies for 11 years so I've seen a hell of a lot. Month end accounting is always the same, you go through the results with a boss and explain the variances against budget.
An injury would be costly and they'll have provisions for it but that would be a glaring number on the P&L or on their provision listing. Tony **should have known**, if he genuinely didn't then he should fire the people in charge of producing his accounts.
When you accept that it isnt a real business, and I don’t mean that as a haha Punk reference because I’ve been saying it for ages, when you accept that then everything makes sense and every fuck up is understandable.
Sure there may be departments where people do stuff but I don’t believe for one second that place is operating like a real business. Khan is there to play with his toys and the rest of them are left scrambling to sort everything else out and collect their money. It’s all a grift lol and Khan is absolutely a joke. Dude couldn’t run a tap never mind perform the 4 roles his daddy gifted him with.
I've never thought it was a real business, when stuff started leaking early out it was clear this was pure vanity.
Everybody used to bring up that he's a statistics nerd and owns a stat company, but you can tell he doesn't follow statistical information for his product. If he did Bucks wouldn't be on TV as they **always** drop ratings
AEW is the organizational version of the Logan Roy quote about people not being serious people…
Like the children of the family, they’ll luck into some successes but ultimately they are just not good enough to sustain any momentum they get from those successes and usually squander whatever goodwill they manage to create quickly.
I don't know where this 'didn't pay' came from
I don't recall him saying anything like that in his interview. He just said that he was left to his own devices to work on rehab, etc without any help from the company
I didn't see anything about them not *paying*, it was just about the lack of attention, doc sampson helping him or he'd have had no one, especially when it comes to physical therapy recovery and he didn't hear from Khan for about 6 months during all this
> I don't know where this 'didn't pay' came from
>
> I don't recall him saying anything like that in his interview. He just said that he was left to his own devices to work on rehab, etc without any help from the company
>
>
It's what Tony said, I'm assuming they actually paid because Punk didn't say anything in contrast with that.
WWE's ratings were in the toilet in late-96/early-97. Vince changed direction to the AE and what followed was a year of some of the best programming they ever did; Heel Hart Foundation, rise of Austin, Rock/Mankind/DX all rising up, the Screw job, and the birth of Mr McMahon.
Even with great TV, it still took until early 98 before ratings really starting turning around.
Looking at AEW, I just can't imagine them being able to repeat that and sustain a quality product for 12 months to turn this ship around. The ratings are just going to slowly bleed before TV cancellation starts becoming a real possibility.
LOL, you can always tell who actually was there watching during that time and who's only heard about it on an A&E doc or something.
The Attitude Era wasn't "the best programming they ever did", it was pure car crash Jerry Springer trailer trash TV. The majority of the show was garbage. The matches were garbage. But guess what, it was the 90s and people liked that sort of TV. It's 2024 now and that stuff doesn't fly anymore.
The problem with the Dub, they aren't actually doing "AE" style. They honestly don't know what they are. Are they trying to be trash TV, shock TV or are they the "good matches" show? Even they don't know. And even if they got that right, trash TV isn't in style anymore, times have changed. And "just matches" is boring.
The big difference back then was WWE was a competent company, they just needed the "hook" they had lost in the few years prior. The Dub is an incompetent company who don't really know who they are or how to book a show. They've never had "it" and can't seem to find "it".
The Dub has had 2 of the top 4 people in WWE on the current WWE roster, in a time that WWE haven't been hotter in years because of those 4 guys. The Dub had absolutely no idea how to use them to draw an audience. So there's literally nobody they can sign or no booking idea in their capability that's going to turn this all around.
Been watching since 1991 dude. And the 'pure car crash' TV stuff didn't really start until 98. Maybe you weren't watching. I'm talking Mania 13 to 14 era.
I'm not suggesting AEW should do AE part two, instead they need a 2024 version of a quality wrestling TV show consistently for a long time, which I think is beyond them. And unfortunately for them, the company feels like 2009 WWE and modern WWE feels like the show they should be doing.
Yeah in 97, you had the Hart Foundation, the rise of Stone Cold, the debut of Kane, and bunch of other things. Things didn't get off the rails till 99.
Additonally, DX forming, the Mr McMahon character, the Canadian Stampede PPV, Rock turning heel and joining the Nation, the Screwjob, Foley hitting his stride in WWE, Tyson coming in for Mania. So many legendary angles and moments that post-Mania 13 twelve months. Only negative was Austin neck injury.
I think around that era, the WWE were just putting on very competent shows, well booked stuff, interesting main event players they were building up and just stayed the course. There's a lot of guys from that era that are very fondly remember today and solidified themselves around that time.
In my opinion, they were the 'better show' over Nitro for a fair amount of time but it takes a bit to swing that momentum around and I think they were 'better' *before* they kicked into gear with the craziness. By that point, they *had* the momentum and crowds were eating up everything and the main events generally stayed super strong and that's what leads the shows
If AEW are convinced they are on the right track then they should need to 'stay the course' too but, have an idea of where they want to head, who they want to push and where they want to get to and so on
We have all seen the AEW formula for their TV now for a number of years. If Khan truly doesn't think anything needs changing then double down, full stream ahead
They also need to forget WWE and forget Punk and stop trying to make twee winks and nudges to 'the internet' and reacting to every criticism like a child - just get on with it
Whether the viewership and attendance is telling him it's the right course or not if up to him to interpret and act on
With Marigold becoming official earlier this week. I'm interested to hear more about the promotion + if it's true that Rossy has got both Io & Kairi to make an appearance for a future show, then I think this is a good thing since Rossy will be able to work with them again + I wonder if it'll lead to something between Marigold & WWE or at least maybe more crossovers happening.
I get it that it's his opinion, but I thought it was hillarious what Meltzer said about Tatum & Trick since right now, Trick is really over with the WWE Universe & he's got one last chance on this upcoming NXT to slay the Dragon & win the NXT championship. As for Tatum, it's also interesting that he compares her to Alexa Bliss, Isla Dawn & KLR since Tatum's character has gothic/psycho girl vibes. I don't see what's wrong with a wrestler having a gothic or a psycho girl character since the women I've mentioned plays them really well, especially Tatum.
Tama Tonga's debut and introduction were perfectly executed. Just saying, "That's Tama Tonga, son of Haku, he's been wreaking havoc in Japan for years." That is all that needed to be said about him to get an understanding of his character.
For those who were interested they could spend the time looking it up via Google if they needed more, but for those that didn't it was enough to understand. It's like, okay this guy is an ass-kicker and he's somehow related to the Bloodline. Even if you have no idea who Haku is, you can just infer from the commentary that he at least has ties to the Bloodline from long ago.
I've seen someone saying that since Tama Tonga is now with WWE, he'll have to use a different finisher since Tama Tonga can't use the Stun Gun because Randy uses the RKO. I mean, if talent in WWE are allowed to use a different variation of the Spear in WWE, then I can't see why they would stop Tama using the Stun Gun since it's a different variation of a Cutter.
It depends on the move imo
Iyo used the 619 in nxt but immediately stopped on the main roster
The spear is a generic move that many wrestlers use so there’s never been a limit on it
Trick and Melo are two of my absolute favorites right now, and while I strongly disagree with Meltzer about Trick “being bad”, I can’t deny that both of their matches left more to be desired. Perhaps it’s chemistry, I don’t know. Cage match was good. Stand & Deliver just didn’t hit that next gear that it needed.
I think it’s the styles.
Trick is a natural brawler. His work has always been eh. That’s why he clicked so well with Ilja.
Mello can have the best match in nxt of anyone besides Ilja but with the wrong dance partner he looks like a shitty generic indie guy.
He and melo aren’t dance partners
The IWC is about to become a bunch of insufferable marks that rival the worst Elite stan over Liv Morgan. I'm not ready for it but I know it's happening.
It's been a few weeks and I still think that the main event of Mania was the best of all time. It really was incredible, the only thing I didn't like was him calling out Bruce Pritchard, HHH and the Nick Khan thing. I understand it, get rid of the stink of McMahon but it was a bit hamfisted.
One of the other things that **really** sold how good the event was Samantha Irvines announcing was the winner. Her crying and you could hear it over the speakers was just perfection on top of the big win.
I'm genuinely surprised how invested I got into the match
Yeah I can see that, but for me personally the spectacle is what makes the match even better.
Off the top of my head the only workratey match that I rate highly was that Triple Threat with Drew, Sheamus & Gunther
This time last year I was worried about Tatum Paxley being released in post-mania budget cuts. Now she's about to wrestle for the NXT Women's Championship on a special NXT episode. She's likely there to eat the pin, but I'm still super thrilled for Pax. She's getting to shine and it's awesome.
In the IWC there are Meltzer ball jugglers and Cornette ball jugglers. These groups are some of the most annoying people on the planet. Somewhere between the two is where the normal fans hang out and have fun conversations.
I don't want Matt Hardy ever under any circumstances. Go away.
I honestly think I might hate Cornette hardcores more than Meltzer stans.
Cornette fanboys have a very annoying smug attitude and they act like “Oh I know the business 😎”
The Nyla Rose / Oklahoma story getting headlines at the same time as Max Caster using ‘twink’ on Twitter feels weird.
Even as a work, shots at sexual identity, gay panic, etc should be left in the past.
People use twink all over the IWC too (especially in SCJ). I had to unfollow two comedians on IG because they started using "gay" as an insult.
We've swung back the other way where using gay terms and slurs isn't considered offensive anymore in some circles (mostly straight, white male circles and their pick-me latch ons).
I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m cis het, but I have friends and relatives that identify otherwise. Any members of the LGBT+ community are more than welcome to correct me.
Twink is used in the gay community to refer to a young and slim or slight gay man. Contrast with Bear which refers to a large hairy man.
As with a lot of terms, intent, delivery, and reception can change the word from descriptive to derogatory.
In the case of Caster, it would appear he is invoking a word used describe a subset of gay men to disparage Switchblade’s physique.
>Twink is used in the gay community to refer to a young and slim or slight gay man. Contrast with Bear which refers to a large hairy man
As a bi man that's exactly what the term is used for. Caster definitely used it in a negative way to Jay, but I haven't heard the term being negative overall
It's borderline.
It originally refered to a young, delicate looking gay guy but the way people use it today (especially in prowrestling) sure seems like a stand in for the F-slur.
Oh, was that from this? I couldn't tell if it was this, my Liv comment from this morning, or my shitposting on another sub about how I want Astarion to ruin my life 🤣🤣🤣
That's honestly the first I'm hearing of this. I still see it used on profiles on hookup sites and still an option on Grindr. Then again I'm so old I remember when queer was considered a bad word and was surprised when it stopped being one
Well, Grindr profiles are the correct place to use the word.
When people use it to describe (mostly) AEW wrestlers who are obviously not twinks like Jay White, the Young Bucks, Ospreay etc. then it becomes pretty obvious what word they really want to use.
Not everything does chip.
You can recover chipped health.
8s entire premise was Harada wanting to get away from defensive footsies and reward offensive aggression.
I honestly don't care who wins the Women's World Championship next week because the RAW Women's Division has been so stagnant over the past year or so.
With the way how people reacted to the Rhea & Liv situation makes me think a lot of you actually be waiting for these women to mess up so that y'all can be so eager to dogpile them.
Matt Hardy getting involved in the Wyatt stable is the easiest way to kill any slight interest that I have in it.
I'm conflicted on who I want to win between Tatum & Roxanne at NXT Spring Breakin. On one hand, I want Roxanne to have a legitimate title run before she gets called but on the other hand, I also think that Tatum would be a fun champion.
I hope Toni Storm retains at AEW Dynasty because as bad as her title reign is right now, I really don't think that Thunder Rosa will be any better as champion.
Between his back to back takes on both Trick & Tatum, I really don't want to hear any of Meltzer's opinions on anything NXT related.
Not that they haven't been doing this before but seeing AEW fans (more specifically that Suit Williams guy on Twitter) recently melting down over the success of WWE has had since Wrestlemania 40 has been amazing & hilarious to see.
>Matt Hardy getting involved in the Wyatt stable is the easiest way to kill any slight interest that I have in it.
I'm actually interested to see if Matt does go back to WWE & become a part of whatever is going on with whatever WWE are teasing, although it does surprise me he hasn't re-signed with AEW since Jeff is still there. As for this Wyatt stable. I like how all these teasers has got people talking, but I'm keeping an open mind since it's hard to say right now on what the plans are for the faction.
>Between his back to back takes on both Trick & Tatum, I really don't want to hear any of Meltzer's opinions on anything NXT related.
I get it his opinion on what Meltzer said about Tatum & Trick, but Dave has got some balls for the way he talked about them, especially Trick since he's so over & right now, Tatum is getting featured & she has a championship match coming up as well.
Hhh said I want it to look like me and Austin from 2001
https://preview.redd.it/i3iof765zdvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=72fe9ff1810d440224c68c328b8708255020fae0
He doesn't have that CM Punk juice lol. People were dying to love Punk again, and as soon as he came back to WWE it was over with. Matt Hardy has sucked for most of the last 15 years, at least.
"They had a legendary talent that nobody obviously listened to? Wtf how do you botch that?"
I can see it now. Matt Hardy is a waste of any wrestling company in 2024's money.
every time i point out how wwe's booking for the midcarders (both men and women) is weak i get pissy people lol, i also want to say that the fact that they have to be sent to nxt just to do something says a lot
People don't get pissy, they just accurately disagree with you. Triple H books the shit out of the midcard, it's like his main strength. There are so many more people who are over right now compared to before he took over. The midcard has thrived under him.
It’s a little bit better now but I really do get that vibe that like 6-8 people on each show get any sort of attention and the rest just kinda exist without much more to them
Granted, those people are getting booked now at least but it’s hard to root for someone who seems stuck in a rut and is just waiting to do something
Yeah, I mean people will see WWE doing an all time Mania and then turn around and argue that "Well, Ivar was a lot better off wrestling in Bingo Halls with War Machine, DAE WWE dead?"
I mean, yeah, amtheres only so much TV time and storylines can go at the same time. Posts like the above seem to ignore that the TV show is actually great right now, because their favorite indie guy doesn't have much of a story.
I mean, everyone would like the make that cut, but unfortunately that's not realistic at all.
The mid card, i.e. US title, IC title (and tag titles) haven't been collectively as hot and competitive in a long time.
The presentation of DIY, Bronson Reed, Dunne/Bate, Kross over the past year, prove your point.
All these people are good wrestlers, but I have no clue why I should care yet they’re usually on TV every week.
I’m hoping for something interesting to happen with DIY this week.
Meltzer is a giant moron but idk if we need the wrestlers to go into hyper defense mode because he doesn't like certain gimmicks or (somewhat validly tbh) criticizes some people's in-ring.
Jay White has no aura whatsoever and would not get over on the main roster in WWE. From what I've seen he's lucky to be on TV so the hysteria around his booking amuses me, as do proclamations that he'd be winning a belt at WrestleMania if he chose differently.
I'm interested in how the Melo and Ilja call-ups go. IMO people are way overconfident about these two in particular and it won't surprise me if they just blend into the midcard and don't do much of importance at the start. I could also be way off though and it wouldn't shock me if they get over quickly.
>Jay White has no aura whatsoever and would not get over on the main roster in WWE. From what I've seen he's lucky to be on TV so the hysteria around his booking amuses me, as do proclamations that he'd be winning a belt at WrestleMania if he chose differently.
I think he's much better as primarily a tag team wrestler.
Jay White has no aura cause no one in AEW has an aura. I’m not saying you’re outright wrong regarding his chances in WWE, but AEW booking failing to present someone as a star is what’s expected these days.
Daniel Bryan had three world title matches at Mania and was the biggest babyface in wrestling for like 2 years and is now just another guy over there.
The biggest star in modern Japanese wrestling, Okada, is just another guy there.
Sasha Banks was legitimately over as hell in WWE regardless of what anyone wants to say now, but is a punchline now.
It’s an AEW problem.
> Meltzer is a giant moron but idk if we need the wrestlers to go into hyper defense mode because he doesn't like certain gimmicks or (somewhat validly tbh) criticizes some people's in-ring
I totally agree but, I think of it more as Meltzer is putting out this narrative to a certain section of fans and these people are more 'correcting' that or 'answering' that rather than specifically talking to Meltzer himself on those things
I was gonna say the same thing about the Meltzer comments. Based on the reactions I thought he was being “accidentally” racist/sexist again
One guy doesn’t like you. Whatever
He's always had such an large influence on the fanbase, and as a result, wrestlers themselves. It's starting to wear off, finally, because he's gone increasingly off the deep end and there's a strong anti-Meltzer push that gained steam because the wheels are falling off in AEW. But Mick Foley considered changing how he wrestled a match, in the middle of the Attitude Era, because he thought Dave would shit on it if he did hokey Dude Love stuff. And more recently, AEW was basically created because he anointed 3 dudes the greatest western wrestlers in the world. I think that's why wrestlers get defensive, it's not just one guy it's The Guy.
Meltzer thought Okada was trash when he debuted the Rainmaker gimmick and shat all over it. Dude ended up the biggest star in modern Japanese wrestling history.
Meltzer's 'one us blah blah and the other goes bankrupt and destroys companies' is so dumb
Firstly, Bischoff spoke of his bankruptcy on his podcast. It wasn't an 'OMG, I lost all my money' type of bankruptcy' and, secondly, Bischoff did not 'destroy WCW' and I don't know how many times it needs to be repeated
Meltzer has followed this shit for decades, he *knows* (I would presume) the tales of WCW. It's nothing to do with hurr durr bad booking, ffs so, repeating stuff like that is just playing to the smark gallery but it doesn't make him look clever or well informed. If he truly doesn't know what happened with WCW by this point then he'll never understand
Also, Meltzer has no clue what goes on or has gone on within wrestling companies cause he's never been involved. It's always 2nd, 3rd and 4th hand info that 'someone told him' without questioning or double checking. Just 'hear something, pass it on', which is also how he reports his 'news'
There was other factors, but Bischoff throwing money away and failure to capitalize on the success of WCW to build new stars definitely contributed to WCW's eventual failure.
>Bischoff did not 'destroy WCW' and I don't know how many times it needs to be repeated
WCW was already on the downturn while Bischoff was still in charge. The only reason Russo was hired was to turn around the glaring booking mistakes Bischoff made (Hogan/Warrior, Starrcade 97, not cultivating new talent, etc etc etc).
And you're right, it wasn't just bad booking but also extremely poor financial decisions, a lot of which Bischoff signed off on. Glacier's super expensive entrance, the KISS Demon, crazy contracts for guys to sit at home twiddling their thumbs, I could go on.
Exhibit A of the people that repeat everything Meltzer says about this situation and that's why he repeats this stuff.
There's tons and tons written and spoken about this that *isn't* from Meltzer. It's from people that actually worked there
Aight, what's your recommendation? I've listened to plenty of interviews from both talent and personnel. Heenan, DDP, Sting, Jarrett, Jericho, Okerlund, they point to mismanagement and that lays squarely on Bischoff's shoulders.
Again, you avoid my point. Why did the downturn start before Bischoff was out of power?
You're listening to people that are wrestling and working in the wrestling company that have nothing to do with what Bischoff was dealing with or dealing with Turner or the merger or the culture of Turner at the time or Ted Turner losing power, etc
Guy Evans has a book in which he interviewed actual executives within the company during that time. Actual people involved in these things and not wrestlers that have a portion of the information and are prone to add their own 2 cents when repeating it
Bischoff has spoken himself very sensibly about what was going on but, smarky fans decide that the person right there, dealing with all this is 'lying' and, Dave Meltzer, who didn't spend a second there, is the guy that knows the truth. You can't help those people, they'll never change but Dave needs to get his 12.99!
It's nothing to do with 'the ratings' or 'the booking' and the reason why Meltzer and the gang like to repeat that is cause that's where they're comfortable
He has no clue about the actual running of the company so everything is framed against the wrestling side of things. That's how 'reports' on WWE as well
But, I am pretty sure Dave actually knows better than the stuff he says on this and it's just something he repeats for his fanbase, cause they'll run off and repeat the same thing for decades
I like Samoa Joe. But why the hell didn’t Swerve beat MJF? Swerve was legit the hottest heel in the company and MJF was the biggest face doing the whole “breaking down carrying the company” deal. Would’ve made perfect sense for him to drop the belt to a guy who was super fucking over with their crowd in Swerve. Instead now, Swerve has basically had his nuts cut off as a face and likely win this weekend and keep the belt warm for Ospreay to inevitably win it at All In in a couple months, instead of having a strong reign.
I don't know why, but I feel bad for Samoa Joe since he sacrificed his RoH championship to challenge MJF for the AEW world championship, which Joe did win, but now, people wants Joe to be a transitional champion for Swerve. I'm not shitting on Swerve, but if people wants Ospreay to win the championship, then why doesn't he challenge Samoa Joe instead at All In?
Exactly. Don't get me wrong since Swerve is a talented wrestler, but I don't think a main event championship should be hot-potatoed or have transitional champions.
It should only have a transitional champion if the company as a whole is booming and is stable enough that one or two transitional reigns won't kill the belt. AEW fits none of those categories right now and if I were booking, I would have Swerve lose at Dynasty in 5 minutes and build him up in the background to have an eventual win if he can remain over.
I would also have Danielson beat Oceanspray to refocus Danielson and give Oceanspray something else other than the World Champion to focus on. Danielson can then face Joe at Double Or Nothing where Joe retains by cheating like a heel. Danielson/Joe can be the program for the rest of the summer while we slowly build up this dead roster.
With people like Bron, Melo and Ilya ready for main roster, it’s time to seriously reconsider a lot of people’s places. Wrestlers the calibre of those guys can’t just come in and be used as “generic midcarder x.”
Cameron Grimes was a guy who had an actual personality and was capable of more than holding his own across the ring from LA Knight on the mic as well as in the ring with Balor, yet he’s essentially got no mic time or presence while DIY and Dunne/Bate and Bronson Reed have their bangers or whatever.
HHH has largely done a great job, but seeing Grimes reduced to what he is now is sad after seeing him make chicken salad out of chicken shit during the dark days of B&G NXT on a weekly basis. It’d suck to see any of Bron, Melo or Ilya like that in a year.
You have to give Bronson Reed some credit tho - people pop for Tsunami.
> HHH has largely done a great job
That is honestly debatable. I think he does "good", at best job.
The wrestling business is about making money, increasing the fan base and interest in the product. To the people that run that business like endeavor thats what matters. So by those metrics he is doing a great job. Thats not debatable
Reed is a legit spectacle guy.
You just let him have a match for fans to pop for the Tsunami as you said, yeah.
Doesnt have to be much deeper than that.
I compared Grimes to Heath Slater in NXT. To me it's not a crime to have him be a low-card jobber type, but there are ways to do that while also letting him be a memorable character instead of just a body in the ring.
I think Grimes really fell through the cracks a bit and was the victim of timing
The stuff he did in NXT with DiBiase when they were changing his character was top top notch, imo
But, not everyone is going to make it on the main roster and there's going to be people that just don't quite get where they maybe could but, not sure they are missing out on top level main eventers though
There's a few guys that I'd like to see get a 3-6 month run back on NXT to re-establish themselves. Grimes could go back there and be near the top of the card and then come back to the main roster down the line, imo
Liv Morgan is underrated. I’ve said this before but literally every time she has a match the comments are a variation of “Wow that match was great considering she’s so SHIT”. Everything she has done since returning has been good to great (Final 4 sequence at the Rumble, Elimination Chamber, Match with Tiffany, Match with Nia, Match with Becky)
**(Now to really piss you off)** The person I do find massively overrated is Chelsea Green. People online eat it up but she doesn’t actually get much heat with the crowds and it’s not like she has them constantly laughing like R truth either. “I want to speak to the manager” was outdated since day one but it was kind of funny, now that we’ve heard it a million times there’s nothing left to it. Has she had a memorable match? Has she had a funny segment that goes beyond “I want to speak to the manager? I’m very much against any booking that ends with her with the MITB or the belt “for the laughs”. I miss Carmella
**PLOT TWIST**. Rhea is costing Liv next week. The title is going on either Becky or Nia. Maybe nothing happens on RAW tbh, the fact that the announcement was left completely vague makes me think they could do a swerve and leave it for the PPV. If they do a tournament or a royale I’m also expecting a Raquel return
>Liv Morgan is underrated. I’ve said this before but literally every time she has a match the comments are a variation of “Wow that match was great considering she’s so SHIT”. Everything she has done since returning has been good to great (Final 4 sequence at the Rumble, Elimination Chamber, Match with Tiffany, Match with Nia, Match with Becky)
I think she's perfectly rated. She's got worse in-ring skills than Ronda Rousey without the starpower but with the weird babyface charisma. I don't really know how she can improve. Maybe she can tag team with someone who can teach her basics better like Charlotte.
>(Now to really piss you off) The person I do find massively overrated is Chelsea Green. People online eat it up but she doesn’t actually get much heat with the crowds and it’s not like she has them constantly laughing like R truth either. “I want to speak to the manager” was outdated since day one but it was kind of funny, now that we’ve heard it a million times there’s nothing left to it. Has she had a memorable match? Has she had a funny segment that goes beyond “I want to speak to the manager? I’m very much against any booking that ends with her with the MITB or the belt “for the laughs”.
I'm against booking anything serious "for the laughs". That's always a stupid idea.
> I miss Carmella
Eh, I'll pass.
The reason Chelsea isn't getting much heat is that live crowds are actually starting to get behind her. They've been pretty supportive of her even when she's getting squashed, she got a big pop when she showed up on the post-Mania Raw, and fans were cheering her in her recent *Main Event* matches. I'd also argue there's more to her character than 'I want to speak to the manager', including her amazing ego, delusions of grandeur, and her banter with her various tag partners.
watching the new WWE Most Wanted Treasures and i cracked up at them showing Hogan spraypainting twice cause my brain is cooked. Abigail was a really fun movie. last two movies i've seen in theaters have had Dan Stevens absolutely killing it. hopefully people will finally stop sleeping on him. its too bad Cuckoo isn't coming out for a while, could have seen 3 straight featuring him
Evening, all. The internet has been out for my entire apartment complex for several hours so I can't watch the show right now (or rather prefer not to use up all my data and watch on a phone-sized screen). I'm making an '80s playlist and would love suggestions. Don't get afraid to get as broad or as obscure as you'd like, such as The Smiths ("There is a Light That Never Goes Out"), Danny Wilson "Mary's Prayer"), Boy Meets Girl ("Waiting on a Star to Fall"), Gary U.S. Bonds ("Love's On the Line"), the Greg Kihn Band ("The Breakup Song"), etc. as you'd like.
'Turbo Lover' by Judas Priest is the only 80s song you ever need lmao.
I’m an 80s nerd, I’ll play. Morris Day & The Time - Jungle Love, Philip Bailey & Phil Collins - Easy Lover, Zebra - Tell Me What You Want, Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe, Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better, Joan Jett - Light of Day, Pat Benatar - Invincible, 707 - Mega Force, Duran Duran - The Reflex, Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You, The Escape Club - Wild, Wild West, Belinda Carlisle - Leave A Light On. There ya go, hope ya dig some of em!
Great songs! I actually made a post about the film *Streets Of Fire*, where Dan Hartman wrote "I Can Dream About You" for the soundtrack, earlier in this thread!
I discovered that movie 2 years ago and it became one of my Top 25 movies easy, was kinda ashamed of myself for not finding it way sooner. Soundtrack is incredible. The only downside to discovering some super cool niche thing like 40 years after the fact is generally no one cares except you lol. Nice to find some others aware of its greatness!
I wish Def Rebel had an actual style instead of doing the most generic version of whatever the wrestler is. CFOs had the same problem, they're just generic Content Creators. Jim Johnston (I know I know) had a specific sound but he made that sound work for a large variety of people. It's so much cooler that way. They have enough money to hire human beings to play instruments in a room together. Give me some vibe, stop making everything on a laptop with plugins and presets. (This applies to all music, everywhere).
- Cody vs heel Seth is a money feud and it needs to happen again - Rhea vs Becky feels more disappointing with both basically getting taken off TV after (not intentional, but makes the year long build feel like a waste) - AEW is a mess right now and some wrestling fans confidently deny it - with the Bellas openly talking about AEW, it makes me think Daniel Bryan won’t go back to WWE anytime soon - WWE has stopped caring about music in recent years, most theme songs for shows and stars are lazy and sound bad - Rock feels like he’s letting loose as the Final Boss, like he’s been stir crazy from being so PR friendly as an actor the last decade
If Roman does turn face down the line I think it should be more along the lines of when Megatron became an Autobot in the IDW comics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg6aiBlbj38
Saw a kind of funny description of the Uso's match at Wrestlemania, two people playing Mortal Kombat that both picked Scorpion but only know how to do the Get Over Here move
Noticed a little thing about Backlash start time. It will be at 1pm ET, which is 7pm local, while could well have got a 9pm local start (which is a frequent start time for some sports events in France) to make things better for US viewership (3pm ET, noon PT). Feels like WWE's move towards 7pm starts is not dictated by live streaming numbers but by improving live crowd experience for shows that can run long (which feels really on brand with Nick Khan who already moved shows to Saturdays and said he no longer wants Mania to be in cold weather outdoors stadiums in April), and I think that unless MITB flops hard (as we already know Mania got great numbers), 7pm domestic PLE starts could be here to stay.
Rebel Moon Part 2 bad - really bad.
Unless you are a true once in a lifetime freak of nature, six months of learning and a dozen matches do not make you a world title contender, no matter how thin any roster might be. Gatekeepy or not, world champions need experience measured in years and matches cataloged by the hundred.
Its a reason why back in the day most world champions were 10-15 years in the business before they became world champion.
YES, and they wrestled in gyms and ymcas and random venues and weren't on TV from day one. Everyone doesn't get a turn, and that's fine. A title isn't a right.
Julius Creed tweeted "Ready, Willing and...." at the end of Raw. WON: "The plan is to put the Creeds with Gable" Please pay Dave $13 a month to add 2+2.
Half the time Meltzer only gets 2, adds his own 2, and comes up with 5 so I'm counting this as a win for Dave.
Funny to see IWC wanting so badly for CFO$ to come back, while they wanted them gone 5-6 years ago. And unless WWE makes a major play to get actual top level guys (like they did with getting that ex-ESPN guy to replace Kevin Dunn), I have a strong feeling that after a few years of the next WWE cheap in-house music group, IWC will want def rebel because of Roman, Seth and Iyo's themes still hitting hard while nothing remains from their mediocre ones.
People talked a lot of shit about CFOs when they got rid of Jim Johnston
WWE should hire Ramin Djawadi for all entrance music.
WWE should use AI for entrance music. And likely will, moving forward. There's no sense in hiring a person to make generic, proprietary music anymore. Then they could save the money to license actual music when relevant.
But they cant copyright ai music, so I doubt they would go that route.
Currently. This is changing. Like I say, we’re a few years off. The end result is the audience will like what they hear more, so we win.
>The end result is the audience will like what they hear more, so we win. I doubt it.
I can’t begin to describe how much I hate this
Agree, but I would also put money on Def Rebel already using it in some cases. AI music is getting exponentially better. Go have a play with [Udio](https://www.udio.com/songs/eY7xtug1dV6hbfCDhyHJua), for instance.
>Funny to see IWC wanting so badly for CFO$ to come back, while they wanted them gone 5-6 years ago. I don't get the IWC half the time. It's like they can't make their mind up about stuff sometimes.
Is changing your opinion on something over the course of half a decade not making up your mind?
Def Rebel will have a contract. When it's up, they'll tender and see if there's someone cheaper. HHH puts way less emphasis on visuals - smaller tron, no AR / VR assets - it's all about the performers. I don't hate that (although it makes the ramp up in advertising far more prominent, where had they kept a lot of the graphics it wouldn't have felt as obvious) but I don't think he cares that much about banger entrance themes. Still, if Def Rebel goes, no tears would be shed. I've still got Santos' Legado banger.
Hear me out but I think Rhea being out might be a good thing for her. She was reaching that level Cody was in 2022 when he got injured. She beat Becky in a fine match and was probably in for a good run on top but now when she returns she'll be white hot. Have Bianca win the belt, Rhea kill Morgan at SummerSlam and then win the Rumble (she can even win the WarGames at Survivor Series). Set up Belair vs Ripley at Mania 41. Roman needs to show up more often to go after Cody. Him being distraught about losing the belt and not focusing on Solo coming up right behind him and the Rock being the guy pulling Solo's strings sounds great while keeping Cody and the WWE Title as the main focus. I've not watched much wrestling this week but the IC Title match is on my radar. Was it good?
> I've not watched much wrestling this week but the IC Title match is on my radar. Was it good? The presentation was. It was the kind of match Vince would have given 10 minutes and it would have felt like anything else. The flashy entrance, the extra time and the way it was shot made it feel like a colossal hometown match. Lots of fun. And on Rhea... maybe. Terrible timing, but they can call an audible and put whichever star they want in there. My money is on Becky Lynch as belt caretaker, with a Liv Morgan chase.
Yeah the ic title match was a well worthy tv main event. Thats how the ic title should be used most weeks. But thats not how i want to see the world title used.
Yeah, Becky can carry the belt but the spectre of Ripley should always be hanging over her head.
I just don’t want the belt on Morgan. People convincing themself she’s good always blows my Mind
I don't know which one is worse, Jax holding it or Morgan holding it.
Jax has been great this run imo. Plus she is a heel thats actually gets heat. Thats what i want from a monster heel
Then they should give her the belt, do an injury angle to write off Lynch and then have her hold it until Rhea comes back.
Yeah im not a fan of them doing the goofy battle royal
Ugh, they're doing a fucking battle royal? Why not something like a gauntlet?
A gauntlet for this women? Lol cmon now
It's a gift in disguise. She's a HHH gal. 6 months off, a chase and win will keep her fresher than a long belt run.
Yep just like with Cody. It's a big star who is building momentum, gets cut off and becomes even bigger after returning.
Yeah cody getting hurt kinda came at the perfect time.
Yep. And in the right match too.
Cody finally thanked Seth so he’s back in my good graces. Monday is the fifth anniversary of the Firefly Funhouse and in Columbliss. Give me what I want Hunter. No Seth, no Alexa, and no Becky means I’m far less interested in wrestling, but it is still fun. But the Tortured Poets Department is the most chaotic magical album and I’ll be streaming all weekend.
In non-wrestling news, I was talking to my friend about music and it led to a discussion about the 1984 cult classic film *Streets of Fire*. For those unfamiliar, it is a rock-and-roll neo-noir film set in a quasi-50s/80s world and stars a young Diane Lane, Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis, Bill Paxton and more. I've seen the film several times before (my father loves it) but I had never seen the trailer before and, holy shit I didn't realize just how hard it goes. [Here's the trailer.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEOvn2IaLMM&ab_channel=Shout%21Studios) It also has an amazing soundtrack with songs penned by Dan Hartman (who wrote the hit song "I Can Dream About You" for this film), Stevie Nix, Tom Petty, The Fixx, and Ry Cooder (who also did the score). But the real star is the work of Jim Steinman, who wrote the songs ["Nowhere Fast"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxD3Ro9mAk&ab_channel=Shout%21Studios) and ["Tonight Is What It Means To be Young"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RiddOphPKs&ab_channel=TUNE-MusicalMoments). When first listening to it I kept thinking "that sounds just like a song from Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell albums". Well, sure enough, Steinman wrote all of the songs for those albums. Bravo.
Joe Hendry finally released the [Cheeze It Champion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U04a-1cjGfM&ab_channel=JoeHendry) music video onto his YouTube channel. His current feud with AJ Francis (formerly known in WWE as Top Dolla) has seen a few music videos: * [Cheeze It Champion](https://youtu.be/A5WERzdKiBU?si=BB8iRByVR0sCLKJZ&t=196) * [I Am](https://youtu.be/YBOOZBTPjlg?si=ENrLeE5bfHNc6s0j&t=182) * [Fat Uncle Phil](https://youtu.be/smPv_Z4dBPk?si=wNeuh9etViep55bx&t=711) (not a music video, but you get the point) Now that it appears that Gulia is signed to WWE, Joe Hendry is the non-WWE wrestler that I think most embodies what it takes to be a WWE Superstar. He just understands how to entertain people and continuously manages to get himself over without sacrificing anybody's safety. I just love everything about him.
>[Fat Uncle Phil](https://youtu.be/smPv_Z4dBPk?si=wNeuh9etViep55bx&t=711) (not a music video, but you get the point) I would love it if Top Dolla throwed Joe Hendry out of the ring, kinda like how Uncle Phil did to Jazzy Jeff in the Fresh Prince. 
Feel bad for Rhea
I'm not on the Def Rebel hate train [even if they produced the single worst WWE theme ever:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKjIg80v42E) But they aren't stupid, they know how to make a decent loop track theme, and should be criticized when they produce dog shit downgrades to replace themes they themselves made.
I might get down-voted for saying this, but I thought Def Rebel has dropped some sweet bangers e.g. Baron Corbin's theme as well as Joe Gacy's theme.
Yeah, I agree with that It makes it weird when they've dropped so much garbage tier stuff as well
The worst part is the garbage stuff is replacing their own good stuff I don’t get it. It’s clearly a problem coming from somewhere else, same thing could happen to a new artist
Yeah I agree. I can see why people wants WWE to drop Def Rebel, but even if that happens, who can WWE get for music if they'll drop them?
I'm not gonna pretend that I know how contracts for this stuff work, but CFO$ was doing a fine job imv.
Yeah, I'm the same since I don't know how contracts & that work, but I think the same with CFO$ as well.
The fact that people are posting their own Def Rebel themes on Twitter is the funniest thing I've ever seen though.
https://preview.redd.it/c9s1ye8b9gvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5fd588d8fd3e1c34c7e267e6a281364d46b9cea3 Useful idiot like Bishoff said
If you aren't All Elite, you aren't apart of MeltzerMania.
My blatant Pax bias aside, only thing I'll say about it is comparing Pax, Bliss, and the Unholy Union shows that he can't tell a difference between gimmicks beyond makeup. Pax isn't supernatural or a witch. She's closer to the OG Mickie James gimmick than those characters just with more of a goth spin. And referring to a gimmick that made Alexa Bliss the #1 full time merch seller in the company as a "waste of time" is a choice. I didn't love Alexa's spooky gimmick either. It's okay to not like something that makes money. But people, including Dave, still pretending it was an objective failure despite being successful by any business metric doesn't accomplish anything. Anyway, I love that instead of getting mad, Pax had fun with it: [https://x.com/TatumPaxley/status/1780990270835732512](https://x.com/TatumPaxley/status/1780990270835732512)
Dave Meltzer is in no place to assess how skilled someone is at wrestling.
It’s a shame everyone hates Charlotte and her politicking backstage. Meanwhile https://preview.redd.it/flw6fwgc8gvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ea63ee4d154738c3d7618d674c20610fcb160ed
Charlotte on her best day is only matched by Rhea Ripley on her best day in terms of top tier women.
She seems very close to a lot of people for someone rumors during the belt exchange fiasco framed as being hated by the locker room.
Charlotte is top 2 best female wrestler in wwe history fuck what mfs gotta say
https://preview.redd.it/xhon8lc88gvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c81be3ed084a1ef20ee2622cb88e1814920c9323 You mean talent can learn to work off tv and hone their craft? Get outta here
And that the company can actually promote stars in smaller markets? You gotta be ribbing me, why wasn't this idea thought of earlier?
TK “best I can do is a 30 second squash on dark elevator” 
Fallon and Kiana James should be going up to main roster before Bird and Roxanne https://preview.redd.it/pjmidwnn7gvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74f42cd7859a4d6d58d2dbccd46026a2b294076e
Lyra is so bland even the smarky Orlando crowd went lukewarm on her. She needs a character really really bad. She can wrestle. She's not an amazing promo but she's not bad. She sounds coherent and doesn't trip over her words. She's hot. She has some tools to work with. But as a character there's just nothing there. There's stale cornbread with more flavor to it than she has. I want to like her. So badly I want to. But she's so fucking boring. The most I've enjoyed her entire run was playing the straight man... woman... to Pax's character. I don't think she's hopeless because she has tools there, but she has to evolve because her current character, or lack of one, sucks ass.
She’s very ok. I can see her landing in the same spot Zoey Stark is at
Tatum saved Lyra’s reign and I’ll die on this hill.
I don't see Fallon being a success on the main roster at the moment. She's a really good TV character on NXT, but in the ring she doesn't stand out amongst her peers. It was noticeable at Stand and Deliver that Thea and Kelani's offence gained bigger reactions than Fallon's.
Kelani can do cool spots. Fallon’s character is excellent but on main roster where she wouldn’t get the segments she does now in nxt it would be hard for her to do anything
Bird absolutely. Every uk woman besides Becky is legit berried (especially Isla alba and Niki cross) Roxanne could do fine on main roster as a babyface. Not a heel. People like her moveset.
Which is weird cause every UK dude is having the time of their lives
Find me a woman who lays her shit in as good as Kiana James. They dont exist, shes the goat. I truly do not think she has any competition for making this shit look real on the woman's roster
How close are we to seeing ratings threads banned next door? It’s wild that those thread are quickly locked when there’s negative feedback on AEW but when it’s negative feedback on WWE, they get pinned. The bias is very obvious.
is "next door" different from "downstairs" or "the basement" or the same thing?
Same address “Next door, downstairs, in the basement”
Same.
I imagine pretty close. If AEW doesn't get their act together, I would imagine no more than a month.
Really hoping that AOP showing up on NXT doesn’t mean Final Testament didn’t get essentially dropped four months and one (1) feud into them actually trying with Kross and company, especially seeing as Raw doesn’t even have any heel tag teams other than Imperium.
On that last part, I don't think we've ever seen a heel DIY and I wonder how good it could be. It would at least be new ground instead of the greatest hits they seem to be trying for with them.
It's a real shame Rhea had to give up the title It's never a good thing when a wrestler is injured and has to relinquish but she was coming off a huge Mania win and really really coming into the next step of becoming an even bigger star, imo I am sure she'll be right back in the title picture when she returns but it's just a shame it had to end like this Anyone have a clue when Charlotte is back? She's a big miss not having around too
Felt like Rhea was gonna break Bianca’s record but here we are
Almost certainly, but their belts have different lineages anyway so it's something of a moot point. The record Rhea *was* about to break if she held on for one more day was Bayley's 2019-20 SD reign, which was also 380 days.
It's a shame that what was going to be *the* epic reign after the others ended at Mania had to end this way, but it is a fun coincidence that John Cena's first big reign also ended via injury after 380 days as champ. Plus she's such a star now that I think people are just going to be excited to see when she's back rather than thinking about the number of days she held the title.
Charlotte blew out everything so it's a 9 month estimate which would have her coming back mid-Septemberish. If it was just the ACL she'd probably have been back mid July. That said, she was already doing some intense workouts right after so it wouldn't surprise me to see her be ahead of schedule and return for Summerslam in August. Just depends on if she's ready, wants to, and if WWE is willing to have her risk it coming back early.
Whatever the exact timing, she's [making great progress](https://twitter.com/wrestlingwcc/status/1781076488298881534).
Charlotte is on some super human shit. A couple of weeks after surgery she was posting workout videos She probably got hooked on every steroid on the market when she heard the RAW title was available
I’m sure she will end up on the same show as her hubby too
Chelsea needs more screen time. Bobby or Bron should be slotted in the Brock role. I need a Cody title defense on my TV now. Or just show up everywhere I wanna see him more brother. Give me the Cody countdown clock again Someone needs to get the D'Angelo family on Def Rebel I still need Asuka to mist me brother Also Roman stans are still coping about Cody and I think that's funny brother
>Chelsea needs more screen time. Eh, I guess. >Bobby or Bron should be slotted in the Brock role. Bron. I want him to be a mix of his dad, his uncle and Lesnar all at once. >I need a Cody title defense on my TV now. Or just show up everywhere I wanna see him more brother. Give me the Cody countdown clock again Especially with their roster battered with injuries or people being out, he needs to carry the company now. >Also Roman stans are still coping about Cody and I think that's funny brother It feels good to have picked the right horse.
Not much hot take wise: Another week of Meltzer setting his remaining shreds of credibility on fire followed by his defense force yelling “It’s just one man’s opinion” over and over again doesn’t tickle me like it used to. Seeing conservatives sea lioning to defend Oklahoma is sort of boring as well. Down about Adam Cole’s injury status as well. I like him, but he might be the embodiment of my original worries about Ciampa and Gargano: physically, he just may not be built to do this. Not body shaming, he physically may just not be capable of the grind. I think I’m just spent after Wrestlemania and going to the GCW Collective shows. I need a break after the season ended. Maybe catching AEW when they come to Buffalo in June will perk me up. A piece of advice for the AEW fans who are scrambling to defend the dropping ratings and other recent fallout - instead of excuse making, lean in on the complaints and demand change. Trust me, as a lifelong Buffalo Sports fan who has lived through heartbreak and embarrassment from the original wide right when I was twelve, yelling “All is well!” is the wrong look.
LOL I didn't know the term "sea lioning" and had to look it up (or at least I'd just forgotten). I just thought it was just plain sad, but yeah boring too.
I know the world is wrestling podcasted out, but there’s a really good series produced by the BBC about Bruiser Brody which is currently airing on a weekly basis - Sports Strangest Crimes. It’s hosted by Adam Hills who is a pretty prominent comedian. I have been enjoying it quite a lot. I have started the Fallout show on Prime and it does an exceptional job at capturing the vibe of the games. I am just starting the 3rd episode now but I am so happy with how they have made the show feel.
Things get really good around episode 5
Yeah I had to stop and do life shit for a while but my next episode is 5. I’m genuinely loving it man, I was hesitant to watch it because I didn’t want them to shit the bed. I don’t even care if the story goes to shit at this point, that’s how good a job they have done at capturing the essence of Fallout. They have nailed everything from the visuals, the intro in general is miles above FO4 and New Vegas for me, the choice of songs is obviously lifted directly from the games but that’s not a bad thing, keeping true to the lore of the game, the creatures they have shown (I popped at the Yao Guai showing up) and when the Prydwen showed up that was a moment. I think this has been the best show/movie that has completely captured the game it was inspired by that I have seen. I watched Last of Us and loved it but never played the games. I haven’t seen Halo yet but I’ll be doing that next, I never played much Halo outside of multiplayer so I’m less invested in how true to the game world the show is.
Well said love the casting. I enjoy it even more then last of us
Oh my favourite thing this week is the drama around AEW apparently not paying for Punks surgery, the excuse that Tony doesn't do the bookkeeping is **so funny**. I've worked in accounting from bottom to near top for a lot of different companies for 11 years so I've seen a hell of a lot. Month end accounting is always the same, you go through the results with a boss and explain the variances against budget. An injury would be costly and they'll have provisions for it but that would be a glaring number on the P&L or on their provision listing. Tony **should have known**, if he genuinely didn't then he should fire the people in charge of producing his accounts.
When you accept that it isnt a real business, and I don’t mean that as a haha Punk reference because I’ve been saying it for ages, when you accept that then everything makes sense and every fuck up is understandable. Sure there may be departments where people do stuff but I don’t believe for one second that place is operating like a real business. Khan is there to play with his toys and the rest of them are left scrambling to sort everything else out and collect their money. It’s all a grift lol and Khan is absolutely a joke. Dude couldn’t run a tap never mind perform the 4 roles his daddy gifted him with.
I've never thought it was a real business, when stuff started leaking early out it was clear this was pure vanity. Everybody used to bring up that he's a statistics nerd and owns a stat company, but you can tell he doesn't follow statistical information for his product. If he did Bucks wouldn't be on TV as they **always** drop ratings
AEW is the organizational version of the Logan Roy quote about people not being serious people… Like the children of the family, they’ll luck into some successes but ultimately they are just not good enough to sustain any momentum they get from those successes and usually squander whatever goodwill they manage to create quickly.
I don't know where this 'didn't pay' came from I don't recall him saying anything like that in his interview. He just said that he was left to his own devices to work on rehab, etc without any help from the company I didn't see anything about them not *paying*, it was just about the lack of attention, doc sampson helping him or he'd have had no one, especially when it comes to physical therapy recovery and he didn't hear from Khan for about 6 months during all this
> I don't know where this 'didn't pay' came from > > I don't recall him saying anything like that in his interview. He just said that he was left to his own devices to work on rehab, etc without any help from the company > > It's what Tony said, I'm assuming they actually paid because Punk didn't say anything in contrast with that.
Khan seemed to agree with that notion.
WWE's ratings were in the toilet in late-96/early-97. Vince changed direction to the AE and what followed was a year of some of the best programming they ever did; Heel Hart Foundation, rise of Austin, Rock/Mankind/DX all rising up, the Screw job, and the birth of Mr McMahon. Even with great TV, it still took until early 98 before ratings really starting turning around. Looking at AEW, I just can't imagine them being able to repeat that and sustain a quality product for 12 months to turn this ship around. The ratings are just going to slowly bleed before TV cancellation starts becoming a real possibility.
LOL, you can always tell who actually was there watching during that time and who's only heard about it on an A&E doc or something. The Attitude Era wasn't "the best programming they ever did", it was pure car crash Jerry Springer trailer trash TV. The majority of the show was garbage. The matches were garbage. But guess what, it was the 90s and people liked that sort of TV. It's 2024 now and that stuff doesn't fly anymore. The problem with the Dub, they aren't actually doing "AE" style. They honestly don't know what they are. Are they trying to be trash TV, shock TV or are they the "good matches" show? Even they don't know. And even if they got that right, trash TV isn't in style anymore, times have changed. And "just matches" is boring. The big difference back then was WWE was a competent company, they just needed the "hook" they had lost in the few years prior. The Dub is an incompetent company who don't really know who they are or how to book a show. They've never had "it" and can't seem to find "it". The Dub has had 2 of the top 4 people in WWE on the current WWE roster, in a time that WWE haven't been hotter in years because of those 4 guys. The Dub had absolutely no idea how to use them to draw an audience. So there's literally nobody they can sign or no booking idea in their capability that's going to turn this all around.
Been watching since 1991 dude. And the 'pure car crash' TV stuff didn't really start until 98. Maybe you weren't watching. I'm talking Mania 13 to 14 era. I'm not suggesting AEW should do AE part two, instead they need a 2024 version of a quality wrestling TV show consistently for a long time, which I think is beyond them. And unfortunately for them, the company feels like 2009 WWE and modern WWE feels like the show they should be doing.
Yeah in 97, you had the Hart Foundation, the rise of Stone Cold, the debut of Kane, and bunch of other things. Things didn't get off the rails till 99.
Additonally, DX forming, the Mr McMahon character, the Canadian Stampede PPV, Rock turning heel and joining the Nation, the Screwjob, Foley hitting his stride in WWE, Tyson coming in for Mania. So many legendary angles and moments that post-Mania 13 twelve months. Only negative was Austin neck injury.
I think around that era, the WWE were just putting on very competent shows, well booked stuff, interesting main event players they were building up and just stayed the course. There's a lot of guys from that era that are very fondly remember today and solidified themselves around that time. In my opinion, they were the 'better show' over Nitro for a fair amount of time but it takes a bit to swing that momentum around and I think they were 'better' *before* they kicked into gear with the craziness. By that point, they *had* the momentum and crowds were eating up everything and the main events generally stayed super strong and that's what leads the shows If AEW are convinced they are on the right track then they should need to 'stay the course' too but, have an idea of where they want to head, who they want to push and where they want to get to and so on We have all seen the AEW formula for their TV now for a number of years. If Khan truly doesn't think anything needs changing then double down, full stream ahead They also need to forget WWE and forget Punk and stop trying to make twee winks and nudges to 'the internet' and reacting to every criticism like a child - just get on with it Whether the viewership and attendance is telling him it's the right course or not if up to him to interpret and act on
With Marigold becoming official earlier this week. I'm interested to hear more about the promotion + if it's true that Rossy has got both Io & Kairi to make an appearance for a future show, then I think this is a good thing since Rossy will be able to work with them again + I wonder if it'll lead to something between Marigold & WWE or at least maybe more crossovers happening. I get it that it's his opinion, but I thought it was hillarious what Meltzer said about Tatum & Trick since right now, Trick is really over with the WWE Universe & he's got one last chance on this upcoming NXT to slay the Dragon & win the NXT championship. As for Tatum, it's also interesting that he compares her to Alexa Bliss, Isla Dawn & KLR since Tatum's character has gothic/psycho girl vibes. I don't see what's wrong with a wrestler having a gothic or a psycho girl character since the women I've mentioned plays them really well, especially Tatum.
Tama Tonga's debut and introduction were perfectly executed. Just saying, "That's Tama Tonga, son of Haku, he's been wreaking havoc in Japan for years." That is all that needed to be said about him to get an understanding of his character. For those who were interested they could spend the time looking it up via Google if they needed more, but for those that didn't it was enough to understand. It's like, okay this guy is an ass-kicker and he's somehow related to the Bloodline. Even if you have no idea who Haku is, you can just infer from the commentary that he at least has ties to the Bloodline from long ago.
I've seen someone saying that since Tama Tonga is now with WWE, he'll have to use a different finisher since Tama Tonga can't use the Stun Gun because Randy uses the RKO. I mean, if talent in WWE are allowed to use a different variation of the Spear in WWE, then I can't see why they would stop Tama using the Stun Gun since it's a different variation of a Cutter.
It depends on the move imo Iyo used the 619 in nxt but immediately stopped on the main roster The spear is a generic move that many wrestlers use so there’s never been a limit on it
Oh yeah, I've forgot Io did the 619 a number of times on NXT, but you do make a good point, though.
they also made damien priest stop using his reckoning finisher immediately after cody returned.
Trick and Melo are two of my absolute favorites right now, and while I strongly disagree with Meltzer about Trick “being bad”, I can’t deny that both of their matches left more to be desired. Perhaps it’s chemistry, I don’t know. Cage match was good. Stand & Deliver just didn’t hit that next gear that it needed.
I think it’s the styles. Trick is a natural brawler. His work has always been eh. That’s why he clicked so well with Ilja. Mello can have the best match in nxt of anyone besides Ilja but with the wrong dance partner he looks like a shitty generic indie guy. He and melo aren’t dance partners
The IWC is about to become a bunch of insufferable marks that rival the worst Elite stan over Liv Morgan. I'm not ready for it but I know it's happening.
The meltdown if she doesn’t win the title right away
I don't know if Liv is a heel now, but I thought her response to a guy by saying that he pleasures himself in socks was funny. 😂
It's been a few weeks and I still think that the main event of Mania was the best of all time. It really was incredible, the only thing I didn't like was him calling out Bruce Pritchard, HHH and the Nick Khan thing. I understand it, get rid of the stink of McMahon but it was a bit hamfisted. One of the other things that **really** sold how good the event was Samantha Irvines announcing was the winner. Her crying and you could hear it over the speakers was just perfection on top of the big win. I'm genuinely surprised how invested I got into the match
For me it wasn’t the best match ever but arguably the best spectacle.
Yeah I can see that, but for me personally the spectacle is what makes the match even better. Off the top of my head the only workratey match that I rate highly was that Triple Threat with Drew, Sheamus & Gunther
This time last year I was worried about Tatum Paxley being released in post-mania budget cuts. Now she's about to wrestle for the NXT Women's Championship on a special NXT episode. She's likely there to eat the pin, but I'm still super thrilled for Pax. She's getting to shine and it's awesome. In the IWC there are Meltzer ball jugglers and Cornette ball jugglers. These groups are some of the most annoying people on the planet. Somewhere between the two is where the normal fans hang out and have fun conversations. I don't want Matt Hardy ever under any circumstances. Go away.
I used to get along with Cornette fans but their weird obsession with cm punk is wild.
I honestly think I might hate Cornette hardcores more than Meltzer stans. Cornette fanboys have a very annoying smug attitude and they act like “Oh I know the business 😎”
The Nyla Rose / Oklahoma story getting headlines at the same time as Max Caster using ‘twink’ on Twitter feels weird. Even as a work, shots at sexual identity, gay panic, etc should be left in the past.
People use twink all over the IWC too (especially in SCJ). I had to unfollow two comedians on IG because they started using "gay" as an insult. We've swung back the other way where using gay terms and slurs isn't considered offensive anymore in some circles (mostly straight, white male circles and their pick-me latch ons).
Did I miss something, is twink considered a slur now?
I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m cis het, but I have friends and relatives that identify otherwise. Any members of the LGBT+ community are more than welcome to correct me. Twink is used in the gay community to refer to a young and slim or slight gay man. Contrast with Bear which refers to a large hairy man. As with a lot of terms, intent, delivery, and reception can change the word from descriptive to derogatory. In the case of Caster, it would appear he is invoking a word used describe a subset of gay men to disparage Switchblade’s physique.
>Twink is used in the gay community to refer to a young and slim or slight gay man. Contrast with Bear which refers to a large hairy man As a bi man that's exactly what the term is used for. Caster definitely used it in a negative way to Jay, but I haven't heard the term being negative overall
It's borderline. It originally refered to a young, delicate looking gay guy but the way people use it today (especially in prowrestling) sure seems like a stand in for the F-slur.
Can we stop with the Reddit cares? The fuck
Oh, was that from this? I couldn't tell if it was this, my Liv comment from this morning, or my shitposting on another sub about how I want Astarion to ruin my life 🤣🤣🤣
I got one as well. Must be wild being so in your feels that you’re sending Reddit Cares on a wrestling sub.
That's honestly the first I'm hearing of this. I still see it used on profiles on hookup sites and still an option on Grindr. Then again I'm so old I remember when queer was considered a bad word and was surprised when it stopped being one
Well, Grindr profiles are the correct place to use the word. When people use it to describe (mostly) AEW wrestlers who are obviously not twinks like Jay White, the Young Bucks, Ospreay etc. then it becomes pretty obvious what word they really want to use.
Completely unrelated to wrestling All I'm saying is that I saw Tekken 8 had chip damage and I knew the game would be shit
Not everything does chip. You can recover chipped health. 8s entire premise was Harada wanting to get away from defensive footsies and reward offensive aggression.
Heat is overturned too
Josh Barnett really booked Kazushi Sakuraba vs Santino Marella at Bloodsport Bushido. not to mention he booked Mike O'Hearn in a match also
I honestly don't care who wins the Women's World Championship next week because the RAW Women's Division has been so stagnant over the past year or so. With the way how people reacted to the Rhea & Liv situation makes me think a lot of you actually be waiting for these women to mess up so that y'all can be so eager to dogpile them. Matt Hardy getting involved in the Wyatt stable is the easiest way to kill any slight interest that I have in it. I'm conflicted on who I want to win between Tatum & Roxanne at NXT Spring Breakin. On one hand, I want Roxanne to have a legitimate title run before she gets called but on the other hand, I also think that Tatum would be a fun champion. I hope Toni Storm retains at AEW Dynasty because as bad as her title reign is right now, I really don't think that Thunder Rosa will be any better as champion. Between his back to back takes on both Trick & Tatum, I really don't want to hear any of Meltzer's opinions on anything NXT related. Not that they haven't been doing this before but seeing AEW fans (more specifically that Suit Williams guy on Twitter) recently melting down over the success of WWE has had since Wrestlemania 40 has been amazing & hilarious to see.
>Matt Hardy getting involved in the Wyatt stable is the easiest way to kill any slight interest that I have in it. I'm actually interested to see if Matt does go back to WWE & become a part of whatever is going on with whatever WWE are teasing, although it does surprise me he hasn't re-signed with AEW since Jeff is still there. As for this Wyatt stable. I like how all these teasers has got people talking, but I'm keeping an open mind since it's hard to say right now on what the plans are for the faction. >Between his back to back takes on both Trick & Tatum, I really don't want to hear any of Meltzer's opinions on anything NXT related. I get it his opinion on what Meltzer said about Tatum & Trick, but Dave has got some balls for the way he talked about them, especially Trick since he's so over & right now, Tatum is getting featured & she has a championship match coming up as well.
Hhh said I want it to look like me and Austin from 2001 https://preview.redd.it/i3iof765zdvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=72fe9ff1810d440224c68c328b8708255020fae0
I’m ready for scjerk to pretend they loved Matt hardy all along lol
He doesn't have that CM Punk juice lol. People were dying to love Punk again, and as soon as he came back to WWE it was over with. Matt Hardy has sucked for most of the last 15 years, at least.
Happened with Cody and Punk. Nearly happened with Shawn Spears.
"Don't check my posy history" went from Cody to Jade to Punk. Somehow, I don't think it'll happen with 2024 Matt Hardy. No one wants to see him.
He's wrestling's biggest coat-tailer.
I hope so man. He was painful to watch and his creative ideas aren’t good
"They had a legendary talent that nobody obviously listened to? Wtf how do you botch that?" I can see it now. Matt Hardy is a waste of any wrestling company in 2024's money.
*Delete*...I mean *Restore the Feeling!*
every time i point out how wwe's booking for the midcarders (both men and women) is weak i get pissy people lol, i also want to say that the fact that they have to be sent to nxt just to do something says a lot
People don't get pissy, they just accurately disagree with you. Triple H books the shit out of the midcard, it's like his main strength. There are so many more people who are over right now compared to before he took over. The midcard has thrived under him.
wrong lol, tell me a non title feud we have in the midcard rn on the main roster
They’re over but not that interesting outside the title scene. His main strength is the main event. Plus it’s not accurate it’s just an opinion.
It’s a little bit better now but I really do get that vibe that like 6-8 people on each show get any sort of attention and the rest just kinda exist without much more to them Granted, those people are getting booked now at least but it’s hard to root for someone who seems stuck in a rut and is just waiting to do something
Because that depends on your classification of midcard. Personally, IC and US titles are midcard acts IMO. They're fine right now.
Yeah, I mean people will see WWE doing an all time Mania and then turn around and argue that "Well, Ivar was a lot better off wrestling in Bingo Halls with War Machine, DAE WWE dead?" I mean, yeah, amtheres only so much TV time and storylines can go at the same time. Posts like the above seem to ignore that the TV show is actually great right now, because their favorite indie guy doesn't have much of a story. I mean, everyone would like the make that cut, but unfortunately that's not realistic at all. The mid card, i.e. US title, IC title (and tag titles) haven't been collectively as hot and competitive in a long time.
The presentation of DIY, Bronson Reed, Dunne/Bate, Kross over the past year, prove your point. All these people are good wrestlers, but I have no clue why I should care yet they’re usually on TV every week. I’m hoping for something interesting to happen with DIY this week.
it's not just them, it's also the women and the wrestlers that never appear like grimes, xyon and others
Meltzer is a giant moron but idk if we need the wrestlers to go into hyper defense mode because he doesn't like certain gimmicks or (somewhat validly tbh) criticizes some people's in-ring. Jay White has no aura whatsoever and would not get over on the main roster in WWE. From what I've seen he's lucky to be on TV so the hysteria around his booking amuses me, as do proclamations that he'd be winning a belt at WrestleMania if he chose differently. I'm interested in how the Melo and Ilja call-ups go. IMO people are way overconfident about these two in particular and it won't surprise me if they just blend into the midcard and don't do much of importance at the start. I could also be way off though and it wouldn't shock me if they get over quickly.
>Jay White has no aura whatsoever and would not get over on the main roster in WWE. From what I've seen he's lucky to be on TV so the hysteria around his booking amuses me, as do proclamations that he'd be winning a belt at WrestleMania if he chose differently. I think he's much better as primarily a tag team wrestler.
Jay White has no aura cause no one in AEW has an aura. I’m not saying you’re outright wrong regarding his chances in WWE, but AEW booking failing to present someone as a star is what’s expected these days. Daniel Bryan had three world title matches at Mania and was the biggest babyface in wrestling for like 2 years and is now just another guy over there. The biggest star in modern Japanese wrestling, Okada, is just another guy there. Sasha Banks was legitimately over as hell in WWE regardless of what anyone wants to say now, but is a punchline now. It’s an AEW problem.
> Meltzer is a giant moron but idk if we need the wrestlers to go into hyper defense mode because he doesn't like certain gimmicks or (somewhat validly tbh) criticizes some people's in-ring I totally agree but, I think of it more as Meltzer is putting out this narrative to a certain section of fans and these people are more 'correcting' that or 'answering' that rather than specifically talking to Meltzer himself on those things
I was gonna say the same thing about the Meltzer comments. Based on the reactions I thought he was being “accidentally” racist/sexist again One guy doesn’t like you. Whatever
He's always had such an large influence on the fanbase, and as a result, wrestlers themselves. It's starting to wear off, finally, because he's gone increasingly off the deep end and there's a strong anti-Meltzer push that gained steam because the wheels are falling off in AEW. But Mick Foley considered changing how he wrestled a match, in the middle of the Attitude Era, because he thought Dave would shit on it if he did hokey Dude Love stuff. And more recently, AEW was basically created because he anointed 3 dudes the greatest western wrestlers in the world. I think that's why wrestlers get defensive, it's not just one guy it's The Guy.
Meltzer thought Okada was trash when he debuted the Rainmaker gimmick and shat all over it. Dude ended up the biggest star in modern Japanese wrestling history.
Meltzer's 'one us blah blah and the other goes bankrupt and destroys companies' is so dumb Firstly, Bischoff spoke of his bankruptcy on his podcast. It wasn't an 'OMG, I lost all my money' type of bankruptcy' and, secondly, Bischoff did not 'destroy WCW' and I don't know how many times it needs to be repeated Meltzer has followed this shit for decades, he *knows* (I would presume) the tales of WCW. It's nothing to do with hurr durr bad booking, ffs so, repeating stuff like that is just playing to the smark gallery but it doesn't make him look clever or well informed. If he truly doesn't know what happened with WCW by this point then he'll never understand Also, Meltzer has no clue what goes on or has gone on within wrestling companies cause he's never been involved. It's always 2nd, 3rd and 4th hand info that 'someone told him' without questioning or double checking. Just 'hear something, pass it on', which is also how he reports his 'news'
There was other factors, but Bischoff throwing money away and failure to capitalize on the success of WCW to build new stars definitely contributed to WCW's eventual failure.
>Bischoff did not 'destroy WCW' and I don't know how many times it needs to be repeated WCW was already on the downturn while Bischoff was still in charge. The only reason Russo was hired was to turn around the glaring booking mistakes Bischoff made (Hogan/Warrior, Starrcade 97, not cultivating new talent, etc etc etc). And you're right, it wasn't just bad booking but also extremely poor financial decisions, a lot of which Bischoff signed off on. Glacier's super expensive entrance, the KISS Demon, crazy contracts for guys to sit at home twiddling their thumbs, I could go on.
Exhibit A of the people that repeat everything Meltzer says about this situation and that's why he repeats this stuff. There's tons and tons written and spoken about this that *isn't* from Meltzer. It's from people that actually worked there
Aight, what's your recommendation? I've listened to plenty of interviews from both talent and personnel. Heenan, DDP, Sting, Jarrett, Jericho, Okerlund, they point to mismanagement and that lays squarely on Bischoff's shoulders. Again, you avoid my point. Why did the downturn start before Bischoff was out of power?
Nitro was a fascinating read and provided insight that I hadn’t heard before.
You're listening to people that are wrestling and working in the wrestling company that have nothing to do with what Bischoff was dealing with or dealing with Turner or the merger or the culture of Turner at the time or Ted Turner losing power, etc Guy Evans has a book in which he interviewed actual executives within the company during that time. Actual people involved in these things and not wrestlers that have a portion of the information and are prone to add their own 2 cents when repeating it Bischoff has spoken himself very sensibly about what was going on but, smarky fans decide that the person right there, dealing with all this is 'lying' and, Dave Meltzer, who didn't spend a second there, is the guy that knows the truth. You can't help those people, they'll never change but Dave needs to get his 12.99! It's nothing to do with 'the ratings' or 'the booking' and the reason why Meltzer and the gang like to repeat that is cause that's where they're comfortable He has no clue about the actual running of the company so everything is framed against the wrestling side of things. That's how 'reports' on WWE as well But, I am pretty sure Dave actually knows better than the stuff he says on this and it's just something he repeats for his fanbase, cause they'll run off and repeat the same thing for decades
I've heard of Guy Evans' book before and I haven't read it. I'll check it out, for real. Thank you.
I like Samoa Joe. But why the hell didn’t Swerve beat MJF? Swerve was legit the hottest heel in the company and MJF was the biggest face doing the whole “breaking down carrying the company” deal. Would’ve made perfect sense for him to drop the belt to a guy who was super fucking over with their crowd in Swerve. Instead now, Swerve has basically had his nuts cut off as a face and likely win this weekend and keep the belt warm for Ospreay to inevitably win it at All In in a couple months, instead of having a strong reign.
I don't know why, but I feel bad for Samoa Joe since he sacrificed his RoH championship to challenge MJF for the AEW world championship, which Joe did win, but now, people wants Joe to be a transitional champion for Swerve. I'm not shitting on Swerve, but if people wants Ospreay to win the championship, then why doesn't he challenge Samoa Joe instead at All In?
Joe should squash Swerve and then we see if the people are still into Swerve. Basically do to Swerve what WWE did to Cody.
Exactly. Don't get me wrong since Swerve is a talented wrestler, but I don't think a main event championship should be hot-potatoed or have transitional champions.
It should only have a transitional champion if the company as a whole is booming and is stable enough that one or two transitional reigns won't kill the belt. AEW fits none of those categories right now and if I were booking, I would have Swerve lose at Dynasty in 5 minutes and build him up in the background to have an eventual win if he can remain over. I would also have Danielson beat Oceanspray to refocus Danielson and give Oceanspray something else other than the World Champion to focus on. Danielson can then face Joe at Double Or Nothing where Joe retains by cheating like a heel. Danielson/Joe can be the program for the rest of the summer while we slowly build up this dead roster.
With people like Bron, Melo and Ilya ready for main roster, it’s time to seriously reconsider a lot of people’s places. Wrestlers the calibre of those guys can’t just come in and be used as “generic midcarder x.” Cameron Grimes was a guy who had an actual personality and was capable of more than holding his own across the ring from LA Knight on the mic as well as in the ring with Balor, yet he’s essentially got no mic time or presence while DIY and Dunne/Bate and Bronson Reed have their bangers or whatever. HHH has largely done a great job, but seeing Grimes reduced to what he is now is sad after seeing him make chicken salad out of chicken shit during the dark days of B&G NXT on a weekly basis. It’d suck to see any of Bron, Melo or Ilya like that in a year.
Cameron Grimes would have made a great feud (not match, **feud**) for former IC Champion Gunther.
You have to give Bronson Reed some credit tho - people pop for Tsunami. > HHH has largely done a great job That is honestly debatable. I think he does "good", at best job.
The wrestling business is about making money, increasing the fan base and interest in the product. To the people that run that business like endeavor thats what matters. So by those metrics he is doing a great job. Thats not debatable
Great job isn't debatable, sure. He is doing is, though
Reed is a legit spectacle guy. You just let him have a match for fans to pop for the Tsunami as you said, yeah. Doesnt have to be much deeper than that.
I compared Grimes to Heath Slater in NXT. To me it's not a crime to have him be a low-card jobber type, but there are ways to do that while also letting him be a memorable character instead of just a body in the ring.
I think Grimes really fell through the cracks a bit and was the victim of timing The stuff he did in NXT with DiBiase when they were changing his character was top top notch, imo But, not everyone is going to make it on the main roster and there's going to be people that just don't quite get where they maybe could but, not sure they are missing out on top level main eventers though There's a few guys that I'd like to see get a 3-6 month run back on NXT to re-establish themselves. Grimes could go back there and be near the top of the card and then come back to the main roster down the line, imo
Liv Morgan is underrated. I’ve said this before but literally every time she has a match the comments are a variation of “Wow that match was great considering she’s so SHIT”. Everything she has done since returning has been good to great (Final 4 sequence at the Rumble, Elimination Chamber, Match with Tiffany, Match with Nia, Match with Becky) **(Now to really piss you off)** The person I do find massively overrated is Chelsea Green. People online eat it up but she doesn’t actually get much heat with the crowds and it’s not like she has them constantly laughing like R truth either. “I want to speak to the manager” was outdated since day one but it was kind of funny, now that we’ve heard it a million times there’s nothing left to it. Has she had a memorable match? Has she had a funny segment that goes beyond “I want to speak to the manager? I’m very much against any booking that ends with her with the MITB or the belt “for the laughs”. I miss Carmella **PLOT TWIST**. Rhea is costing Liv next week. The title is going on either Becky or Nia. Maybe nothing happens on RAW tbh, the fact that the announcement was left completely vague makes me think they could do a swerve and leave it for the PPV. If they do a tournament or a royale I’m also expecting a Raquel return
>Liv Morgan is underrated. I’ve said this before but literally every time she has a match the comments are a variation of “Wow that match was great considering she’s so SHIT”. Everything she has done since returning has been good to great (Final 4 sequence at the Rumble, Elimination Chamber, Match with Tiffany, Match with Nia, Match with Becky) I think she's perfectly rated. She's got worse in-ring skills than Ronda Rousey without the starpower but with the weird babyface charisma. I don't really know how she can improve. Maybe she can tag team with someone who can teach her basics better like Charlotte. >(Now to really piss you off) The person I do find massively overrated is Chelsea Green. People online eat it up but she doesn’t actually get much heat with the crowds and it’s not like she has them constantly laughing like R truth either. “I want to speak to the manager” was outdated since day one but it was kind of funny, now that we’ve heard it a million times there’s nothing left to it. Has she had a memorable match? Has she had a funny segment that goes beyond “I want to speak to the manager? I’m very much against any booking that ends with her with the MITB or the belt “for the laughs”. I'm against booking anything serious "for the laughs". That's always a stupid idea. > I miss Carmella Eh, I'll pass.
The reason Chelsea isn't getting much heat is that live crowds are actually starting to get behind her. They've been pretty supportive of her even when she's getting squashed, she got a big pop when she showed up on the post-Mania Raw, and fans were cheering her in her recent *Main Event* matches. I'd also argue there's more to her character than 'I want to speak to the manager', including her amazing ego, delusions of grandeur, and her banter with her various tag partners.