Ziggy

If Yokozuna was around in the 00s, I wonder what his gimmick would be? I could see him being a Singles version of 3 minute warning because he was a huge hip hop fan. Nash always credits Yoko as his inspiration for alot of the NWOs presentation with the gang signs and the street clothes, listening to Mack 10 and west coast hip hop. According to Konnan, Yoko was the only person in wrestling with street credibility, I guess besides Ahmed Johnson after I saw that picture of him with some legit Blood members in his WWF logo shirt. Even towards the end of his WWF run Yoko was doing promos in his real voice so I could image him going with a completely different gimmick. I liked the Yokozuna gimmick but I often wonder if they didn't go with Sgt Slaughters Sumo idea how different would he be if he embraced his Samoan heritage. Maybe he wouldn't have been pressured to get so much heavier than he got being a Sumo

I think it was a defense mechanism for JR to legitimize whatever was going on in the ring. A way to add credibility to the presentation. JR always brings up his Dad grilling him about being a wrestling fan so I think that was just a defense mechanism he had to give credibility to what we a watching, especially when I guy had an eye rolling gimmick, probably someone he hired on. I remember he would put over Flash Funk/2 Cold Scorpio alot in WWF but he was stuck with a dumb gimmick. I think about how he had to feel about Austin or even Tracy Smothers, you recommend a guy you really believe in, they get signed and get stuck with a gimmick that is impossible to get over and you gotta put it over like you're into it.

His use of the sledgehammer was one of my biggest criticisms of him and I know he wasn't the first to use it, I think The Rock used it on Kane to his back or somebody like that in late 98. HHH brought it back in 01 on Austin to get heat in their feud.I thought it was such a cheap way to get heat. Disregard the fact that you really have to suspend disbelief, I always thought it discredited him as a dominant threat especially for someone who is supposed to be viewed on the same level as Austin or Rock. It would be one thing if your a lower card guy or complete underdog feeling the need to even the odds but not a top guy whose supposed to be booked as a superior wrestler than even Rock or Austin. Sting had a bat to fight off a whole gang of guys that most of them were bigger than him, it made sense. I'm glad that other main events in WWE didn't feel the need to have a signature foreign object that's out of the paradigm of Wrestling because it really takes me out of his matches

Steiner wasn't ready physically at that point for that spot but I believe it was a sabotage job by Hunter to Steiner and Goldberg. The Rock put Goldberg over huge in his first PPV, Christian and even Jericho who he has problems with personally put him over. Why is it so difficult when he gets with Hunter. That NWA world title main event style doesn't work with everyone. He's smart enough to know that. Even now, there is no reasonable explanation for him having the longest match on any card because he feels he must go over 20 minutes to have a good match.

I thought the Batista match wasn't bad, I didn't expect it to good at all but it was decent and according to Batista, they didn't go over much beforehand.

Was Grimes still under contract when Russo left or was He already apart of the Baldies in ECW. I wish he got a run in WWE, like I wish the Headhunters got a run in WWE because It would have been so cool to see super heavy weights flying around on WWF tv in the late 90s especially since I hadn't been exposed to anything like that. & ofcourse it would've added longevity to Grimes career

Didn't Roman tweet or Reply to a retweet as if he was going to eventually challenge For the Title? This was a few days ago IIRC

Joe Lanza on the Voices of Wrestling podcast Flaship show insist that Bryan is unhappy with his run and he only resigned because of Brie and considers WWE a Parody of Wrestling

Ryder is probably the best at getting himself over out of everyone. He'll knows how to keep himself relevant without having to be in the ring

Oh my bad. He hasn't

Andrade release is the most surprising so far, Rusev might be the bigger name but he wasn't being used since the Lana/ Liv angle and honestly they only used him because of the Lana affiliation. Andrade has been protected more than anyone other than Charlotte or Drew lately. He's obviously going to still be used on tv as will a few others. Even the talent that still get used that are contractually released they are working under alot of uncertainty. This is a crazy time. I wonder if we are seeing the end of Hunters version of Developmental. Vince could decide he'll just focus on the main roster and downside like they did in the mid 90s

Unless WWE comes to the realization that they really have to use for certain guys they're releasing, I expect most guys will get called back. There will probably be a few that decide to go to AEW if offered. There could be a few that they just forget about though sadly

I wouldn't be surprised if Lio Rush comes back if he doesn't break out in AEW. Maverick has a hot wife, he's winning still .

I believe the only thing getting in Roman's way is Vince McMahon's booking of him, he has everything you need in a top guy. He can go in the ring. He's got a great personality and can talk. He's a great babyface and probably a way better heel.

Bryan could,, its not like he was in a big spot before all this kicked off plus he was one of the first top guys to big vocal about not working the Saudi shows. He's got a pregnant wife and according to her he's got a Pre existing condition. I highly doubt Vince is making him work these shows, although I'm sure Vince would rather have him available to work. According to Certain people, he's been unhappy for a while now. I don't see the point in hin working right now other than maybe he feels like he's having fun working with guys like Gulak and freedom and the time to work matches he wouldn't have had under normal circumstances. Honestly I think most of the locker room probably expected Vince to be forced to shut it down by now, because I sure they knew Vince wasn't going to do it on his own. They probably thought to themselves ,"let me keep going till we are forced to stop", instead of just bowing out on their own. I'm sure there's a few people lower in the card that's thinking let me work through this and Win Vince over while I can and earn my spot for when ever this is over. I'm sure it's the same thought process for different guys about working the Saudi shows. In a way you cant really blame guys either way. It's still a risk for everyone but it depends on the outlook of the individual.

From what we know about Vince, I dont think he has a problem with running live shows for TV. Alot of talent feel like this is their chance to get tv time that they wouldn't have gotten under normal circumstances, guys are probably winning him over by working through this especially given Vince's views on being sick. I dont see Vince selling this Covid19 deal like most CEOs. He made it past Mania so he's not under the same pressure as he was a few weeks ago. The next Big Event is Summerslam so he wont be under the same pressure outside of just his ego. Knowing him its probably more about not letting Dana White out do him as far as running shows and to a lesser extent Tony Khan.

When Sasha, Charlotte and Becky move up from NXT, I believed that NXT was gonna start a tag team Revolution like the Women's Revolution. The matches the Revival was having against American Alpha and Enzo and Cas was headlining NXT following the first crop of modern NXT guys getting called up. I thought it was a no brainer for NXT to really build up their Tag team division like they did for the womens division especially in a time where it felt like HHH really was trying to differentiate NXT from WWE and create demand for WWE to eventually emphasize Tag Team wrestling outside of just 2 teams at a time. I really believed that the Revival was going to be the team to create that demand. Dont get me wrong, New Day and Usos have had some of the best tag matches in the history of the company and I'd say both teams could be in the conversation of best modern era team with the Bucks but outside of Da Bar who else is there in WWE. The Revival have had a decent run on the main roster, but I don't think they believed that they could help to make WWE become more of a tag team territory than they have been, They've got AoP, Heavy Machinery, Viking Raiders and a few others but they insist on putting atleast one of the belts on a Makeshift team. These guys have already created waves for themselves outside of WWE even before AEW was thought of so I think they'll get over very well. I've seen WWE apologists saying they shouldn't be Marks and resign and that they wont get over. These guys are smart guys , they are just guys that are just going to get off WWE tv and show up 90 days on someone else's tv. Theys guys know how to create a buzz around them. And honestly AEW needs another tag team with the Bucks level of overness to work with.

So did they do Alternate finishes for Every match, its almost like he was watching to make sure it was the finish of him Winning. Was the Alternate finishes done just incase the intended winner got Sick before the airing of Mania. I know Vince is very indecisive and changes his mind out the blue these days but I don't get why you'd have guys do matches with different outcomes for most of the card, maybe one or two.

I never knew that was some peoples logic behind that, Beside Hunter and Shawn and Taker too they probably were the only ones that could get away with using it at the time, which is probably why they even used it. It shocked me, but I wasn't offended by it but when Bryan got fired for choking Cole with a tie, I was furious at the fact that people defended his release because the used of the crossface so soon after the incident came to mind real quick. It's like when Batista and Jericho got fined for getting color while Taker and HHH was hitting eachother the chsirshots to the head after that was banned

We like in this snowflake era where people can point out something that comes across even remotely insensitive and a large number of people will run with a particular narrative. I don't know if they wanted to subliminally hit that nerve but honestly, It didn't cross my mind till I logged into Twitter. Both Orton and Edge worked closely with Benoit in some of his most higher profile matches in WWE so when I think in hindsight it's hard to believe it didn't cross their minds especially when they were working a match that they had all they time in the world to brainstorm and even do over and post produce. It doesn't really bother me like alot of people because the match sucked but I understand the circumstances. Under normal circumstances this would've been a completely different match in front of a live crowd. I really feel sorry for Edge and even Drew because they would've had the biggest most organic moments at Wrestlemania this year. Tell me this though how is this any less offensive than Shawn Michaels and HHH doing Crossfaces literally months after the incident in main event matches on PPV, guys that don't even do submissions.

I agree, but I've actually really turned the corner in liking Charlotte in the past year and a half or so. I think NXT would give her fresher talent to work against instead of waiting for them to move up. Most the women are victims of 50/50 booking before they get a meaningful match

I think they should air the Edge or the Undertaker documentary or one of their better recent network specials that could probably gauge the interest of ESPN veiwers. Something that is fairly recent, maybe even the Bret or Undertaker Broken Skull sessions. One of the recent WWE 24 documentaries that feature behind the scenes from the bigger shows like RR or Wrestlemania that could get people familiar with the modern guys and have people like Goldberg or somebody like that that those veiwers are familiar with.

That first Smackdown with No crowd, Bryan seemed the most at home. Not just because of less crowd experience but just his ability to adapt, he's wrestled in Europe in front of the same fans every night, and Japan and Mexico. Most the other guys feel like they instinctively do things as if they are working for the audience in the crowd, it's no necessarily a bad thing because you can understand why.

This was the second show I've watched with no crowd and I thought it was Decent under the circumstances. I with Bryan and Zayn had more time and the Women's tag match was good. Everyone seemed to really work hard, I didn't I fell asleep at the Rollins vs Owen's match though, it was really good what I did see of that.

I dont see why people so bugged my McMahons inclusion either was, They are spectating in front of thousands of fans in domes an stadiums no matter if it's a known work. The common ground is the live areas and stadiums why split hairs on the classification.