Godfrey

It was him overperforming against MJF iirc. People thought they should've pivoted to him as World champ from one or two promos. And then the Jericho happened...

Same here, unfortunately. Or a great fighting manager, maybe a Michael Hayes to a dope Freebirds. But I'd love to see him break out as a singles guy after all this and get that IC title run

Sink or swim time!

Not totally sure I get the joke but kudos to whoever held up a sign of Cena photoshopped to look like Mao with the words SHOW UP TO WORK, that got a laugh out of me

No, the same way Vince was a negative influence, pushing a style of presentation that focusses on cheap short term pops at the expense of other acts. Although to be fair to them, Tony took their lead and ran with it. Clearly you don't agree and that's fine but try not to dismiss someone's opinion as 'culty' just because they don't agree with you, it says a lot more about you than me.

Now that's where the Death Riders have an opportunity, give fans the payoff WCW never did. All for it!

Vince was successful too, doesn't mean he wasn't a negative influence on the overall presentation of pro wrestling

Well, that's the rub, being influential isn't necessarily a good thing. Many would argue the Bucks took a Vince McMahon approach to wrestling and decided to get themselves over at the expense of the rest of the business, I'm not sure that's something to be lauded.

I think the fact that having an opinion of Meltzer is characterized as 'picking sides' in some made-up wrestling war is the problem (and maybe one he's encouraged)

NXT was at its best when it was a super indie with more psychology and episodic TV. That was when they were promoting Owens, Zayn, McIntyre, Balor, Nakamura, Andrade, Dijak, Keith Lee, Roddy Strong, great talents like that. And they helped refine their characters and move sets more than held them back imo. Keep in mind that's where FTR made their name and had some of their best matches, that's where the Sasha/Bayley ironwoman match was, it wasn't all gloss and cookie cutter matches. Then Vince wouldn't be able to figure out how to use people who seemed can't miss in his clown show and the shine came of NXT a little (some he eventually got). When the black and gold was shut down in favor of the bad reboot that eventually morphed into the current version, it became more of a factory for generic fitness models wrestling the same way.

I don't think much went well for him in AEW either. He hasn't really done anything since he left NXT in 2018. That's 7 years of stagnation and most of it is on him

I'd seen Haku in passing but knew him mostly as Meng. My friends and I loved the Tongan Death Grip as a finisher, at least one person used it every time we jumped on the trampoline

Just watched some highlights and had some more thoughts Boy, that last bump from Owens was a thing of beauty (presuming he didn't really get hurt) Rollins stomping both feet on Roman's head looks like it sucked too The tag titles are in the death slot and that's a bummer, maybe a heel Street Profits can inject a little life into the division Charlotte stinks, boo this woman

And that's only going by people who only were in NXT, it's mostly been used to get already trained people used to the WWE style. In that sense, it's been a huge success.

I personally don't put it down to the WWE style. I think the reason Punk/Drew HitC was gnarlier was because they knew they were going there and held back in the first two matches to make the blowoff stand out which is smart booking. I think it's Cody. Part of the crowd was cheering for Kevin and there was a sign to END the story, maybe they're starting to turn on Rhodes again. It always happens over time, there's just something about him. And as a Cody detractor, I'm ready

I see, interesting. How does that connect to Jade and Omos?

What do you mean?

Had a great time watching this, it felt like it breezed by and the ads were relatively minimal, although I know far more about Indianapolis than I ever wanted to. I think this is the best women's Rumble ever, certainly the easiest to watch. Is anyone happy Charlotte won? Certainly not the wardrobe department having to figure out how to keep her tights up (maybe they can attach more rivets to it, that seems to be their go to move). Huge pop for Alexa Bliss, that had to feel good after 2 years. I hope they cut bait with Lyra soon, she brings nothing to the table. Good match but Cody and Kevin went a little too hard if you ask me. Some of those bumps looked a little rushed and off the mark and that's dangerous when it's your back or neck landing first. Legit hope both dudes came through unscathed. Men's Rumble started off pretty slow (and short, all the sub 6' dudes were out first) and didn't really pick up until Jacob Fatu entered. I didn't see Jey winning so this one had me guessing right up until the end, great long term move so it's not always the obvious guys (I was wrong about there only being a few viable winners if they're going to do shit like this). Short term, we'll see if he can carry it. They keep pushing Jey and people love him but I think he has to deliver in big singles matches to be top tier and he still doesn't, the Summerslam match against Roman was one of the worst main events of a Big 5 in years. Shout out to the Speed guy being the new Drew Carey and Cena's bald spot that they had to shoot around like it was its own wardrobe malfunction.

Also looking forward to the guest appearances tonight. Loved those 90s Rumbles with people like Tenryu or Mil Mascaras showing up, it really gave the match a big time global feel

Whoa, you think they'll really strap the rocket to someone that hard their first night as an official employee? That would truly mark a new era. Here for it

I think Cody is a lock, KO is that guy who challenges and loses at the Rumble so the champ can move on to Mania. At least he beat Roman that one year. To me, this is more about Owens and Zayn now. I can't see Sami turning so Kevin becomes champ but I guess that's why it would be a swerve. Maybe they can have some knock down drag out at WM41, imagine that hype video to Monster. Tag title match should be fun although it feels like the division is now in the cool down spot. I reckon it'll start slow and get the crowd by the end. I hope MCMG get the belts back for a good run while they can. Women's rumble is a toss up. Iyo seems like a favorite, that would be cool. Charlotte would be a snore for me and I don't trust her not to blow some joint or another between now and April. I really don't know, someone new? Even though it's stacked and could go a lot of different directions, the men's Rumble only has a few viable winners. I'll go with Punk or Roman with Heyman's favor leading to something at Mania, maybe a triple threat. Darkhorse pick is Priest so he can redeem himself against Gunther (although Damian's brand switch puts a damper on that).

Maybe Jade's back in training? I can imagine that if she was trained in a certain style and didn't get smoothed out in NXT that she'll need to get reps somewhere out of the public eye before going back to the main roster

Hope you feel better soon, bud

Had a blast watching SNME this morning on YouTube. I have no idea what show is carried on what platform anymore, sometimes Smackdown is on Netflix and sometimes YouTube Goddam, the pop for Ripley was huge. They built this up pretty well for a throwaway defense, Jax still has her moments but is much improved and I agree this was their best outing to date. Rhea switching up her offense against a bigger opponent and still being able to hit power moves is what makes her special I thought I was tired of Breakker/Sheamus then they go and have their best match yet Contract signing was great too, Kevin Owens is on top of his game right now Jacob Fatu is now my wife's favorite wrestler What do you do with Jey Uso? Dude hit a spear without leaving his feet, maybe it was to set up Gunther's powerbomb counter later but it looked like shit

Do you mean "the Pride", Lashley and Street Profits? I did forget they were there because they weren't called the Hurt Business but fair enough, Lashley was let go after that. However, I think MVP and Shelton were gone by WM40 1 - Maybe, because of the Rock and the Anoa'i family regularly appearing for decades, without them I'm fairly sure there wouldn't be that many Pacific Islanders in there today so I take your point 2 - There's also Damien Priest, world champ for half of 2024 3 - HHH being ignorant of street culture and not cool to Swerve doesn't make him racist though. Swerve is a particular talent, he thrives in a place like AEW and not in a heavily structured company like the WWE I agree there is too many generic white dudes on the roster but I think that's because they are underdeveloped too. It could be more a case of not building anyone properly for a long time under Vince and needing to make adjustments now. A company like WWE doesn't turn on a dime