Steventon
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Posts posted by Steventon
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Yeah as much as the perception of Billy Gunn seems to have somehow been retconned to him now being a 'legend', the guy's always been a chud who was lazy, un-giving in the ring and big-leagued plenty of guys on the indies because of his size. Why he is getting the singles match here rather than Bowens or Caster is mind boggling.
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The lack of Mox/Claudio in the tourney is bizarre considering they just went over FTR clean on the PPV and the commentators were talking them up as a new force in the tag division.
hopefully there’s a curveball and we get something like the Best Friends winning it
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There's also the very real probably now (and we saw some of it last week) that heel Rock will be so fun people start to cheer for him and boo Cody in response. The more they can lean into Roman as the Big Bad the better.
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Okada vs Kingston is cool and Okada will surely go over, but seeing Eddie awkwardly stand there while Okada grabbed his wrist from behind to set up the Rainmaker looked hilariously forced. Like when Brock returned and F5'd Cena and Cena just looked like he was in the middle of shower thoughts.
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If they really wanted to have Seth and Cody torch Rock all they would have to do is bring up how much of a flop Black Adam and the XFL were. But that may cut too close to the bone.
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Things I liked:
- Everything about the main event, obviously. Not a lot else to add everyone hasn't already talked about. The video montage was wonderful. I'm a Bucks detractor but let's be honest, they were perfect foils here and deserve their flowers for the roles.
- Hangman going nuts on the ref and the finish to the world title match. Page is 100% going to claim he tapped out just to spite Swerve.
- BCC vs FTR was rad and better than their TV match, and it might have even been my favourite MOTN outside the emotion of the main event. Cool tag team spots, violence, some blood, heat, and I was surprised at the finish given how well protected FTR are generally. They seem to have cemented Mox and Claudio as players in the tag team scene going into the upcoming tourney.
- Roddy vs OC will be overlooked but was a super tight mid card match. Hyper-focused, some good spots (the backbreacker on the tunbuckle looking way better and being sold better than the Ospreay/Takeshita brainbuster) and Roddy winning clean without it making OC look weak. If Roddy is going to be the 'workhorse' having title defences regularly, this match bodes well.
- Kingston vs Danielson was probably the weakest of their 3 AEW matches but still really good. They laid in the stiffness and the stuff with Kingston's hand was done well. A 50-50 match like this doesn't play to Eddie's strengths and Danielson kinda felt like he was going through the usual spots (as much as a guy like Danielson does), but it was still a thumbs up. The handshake and show of respect was a brilliant, well-earned moment and would have been the highlight of the PPV if it wasn't for the main event.
Things I disliked:
- Ospreay vs Takeshita - Guess I'll be that guy, but this was the epitome of Big Dumb Dumb Wrestling. All big spots and kickouts and hulk ups but zero story or structure. Sure, some of the spots were cool, but they were forgotten about quickly, and yes there were some good shots thrown, but there was plenty of obvious thigh-slapping going on too and nothing felt long-lasting (especially after a match like Kingston vs Danielson where both dudes visibly had the wounds of war by the end). The brainbuster spot was a combination of being legit dangerous and looking shite.
Ospreay is undeniably talented and, like Jay White, I think he'll flourish in AEW away from sterile, workrate wankfest environment of New Japan, but these guys brought out the worst tendencies in each other. That said, I appreciate I'll be in the small minority on this one.
- Storm vs Purazzo was flat and showed that the face-heel dynamic is the wrong way around for these two
- Kyle O'Reilly making a big return and... doing nothing. Hopefully the guy's health is OK but if not, why do this. And if he is back in the ring, please no more storylines about who's friends with who. The times KOR has been best in his career were when he wasn't tethered to Strong/Cole/Fish and could forge his own path, putting him in an angle with these guys is the least interesting option.
- I'll be honest - Christian vs Garcia was pretty underwhelming for me. PPV openers are usually quite hot, but this didn't feel like there was much of a strong story in it or that they had much chemistry. This would have been a Rampage main event or Collision mid card bout and no one would talk about it a week later. Maybe they have better in them if they run it back.
- I'm not an Adam Cole guy, but where is he? This was meant to be a re-building of his faction with Wardlow and Strong winning, but having him absent makes this whole group feel solidly in the background.
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The Wardlow promo was pretty good. During the OC vs Bennett match I was thinking about how the Undisputed guys were the main event angle of the last PPV and are now focusing solely on a mid card feud, so hopefully they put some heat behind him and push him against Joe or Swerve next
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They are trying really, really hard to make Jey Uso, Singles Superstar, a thing. It's just a shame he's proven to be completely average whenever given the opportunity to show something. Some people are just better suited to being in a tag team.
Michael Cole's "OK" during Michael Chandler's promo killed me
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HHH babyfacing against a heel Rock could make for a pretty interesting direction (as long as it doesn't overshadow Cody and Roman)
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There's also degrees to this though right? You may know Vince is a sleaze and a old perv (frankly most CEOs of his generation probably are), you may not know he was an actual rapist and abuser
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13 minutes ago, jaedmc said:
That shit was awesome.
They said, "Just because you're on the board, doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want."
Rock said, "That's exactly what it means."
So that is probably how we clarify Cody bringing the Rock out on Friday night. Board Member Rock had a convo with Cody the Company Man, and said this is what was best for business. Cody stepped aside, and then the fans made him realize, as he put it, "This is bullshit."
And I'm glad. Similar to how people responded to Becky Lynch finally standing up for herself when she became The Man, Cody is at his best when he's fighting back.
I think reactions will be mixed all the way through Wrestlemania. Rocky Sucks in one town, Cody Sucks in another. And I don't think it's going to matter. Based on the Rock slipping on the heel shoes last night, it could be an incredible ride.
We need a redux of the "from undesirable to un-goddamn-deniable" promo
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54 minutes ago, Eivion said:
Roman/Rock is way past the point where its worth pursuing. The Rock is in no shape for that type of match. Roman also doesn't need two main events. No reason someone else can't have the other night like originally planned.
Sure, fully agree, just saying they could have made it work if they really wanted it, which is what we all thought like 48 hours ago. Hopefully the change of direction is for the better but who the hell knows with this company, it’s a lot of flip flopping in the space of a week or so
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Certainly didn't come away feeling like Roman vs Rock was on the cards, they were on the same side. The thing is, with Wrestlemania being a 2 Night event, they could have easily had their cake and eaten it too by having Roman vs Rock and vs Cody on different nights. Sure, some other may get bumped down the card for 2 Roman main events, but thats probably worth the sacrifice if its gives you both those matches.
Interesting to see where they go. Perhaps the traditional 3 way is happening after all.
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Have they done any follow up to Jade Cargils debut at the Rumble? Feels pointless to have given her that moment then cycle her back into development for another 3-6 months
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I'll probably be in the minority but didn't care for the Hangman vs Swerve match, but I also didn't care for their first match and it was mostly the violence of the death match I enjoyed. Called the triple thread weeks ago but still a decent way to get there. Double turn is interesting though it doesn't feel quite consistent with either guys characters - Swerve hasn't done anything to 'redeem' his scumbag actions, he's just won matches, and the Hangman we've seen through his AEW career wouldn't pussy out. Oh well, at least we get an Evil Moustache so that's something.
I really hope against odds Sting & Darby win at the PPV and Sting goes out on top. Having the Bucks ruin the title celebration AND having Sting lose his final match just feels like two downers in a row. The beatdown was well done and added some much needed heat into the match, but yeah I feel like I need to be 'sent home happy' now.
Money on Banks and Okada double debut at the Boston show it seems.
I have no idea where this BCC vs CMLL feud has come from, but I am here for it. Thought the trios was a total blast and even better than Danielson vs Hechicero. It's been a long time since I've followed lucha that closely, is this the same Dorada who was in WWE? He was awesome.
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4 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:
This is the reason that I'm trying to give a bit of grace to your Nashes and Foleys saying things like "I mean, I wasn't there..." or "I don't know all the facts." The entire situation has got to be hard to reconcile for any performer who was part of the machine at the level they were. I think Dolfan was on the money when he used the phrase "bite the hand that feeds" - if you take someone like Nash, who went from bouncing at nipple clubs to main eventing the Garden, or Foley, who grew up in NY with Vince calling matches, I can see the idea of hesitancy or resistance to admitting to one's self "A violent rapist enabled me to buy this house and send my kids to this really good school" or whatever it is - for others it may be a movie career, for some it could be like "I get to charge $5 more for an 8x10 since I was on WWE TV"
Edit: This is all, of course, setting aside the ingrained "One more run" or "Defend the business" aspects we discussed pages back
I think we also have to understand its VERY hard for most people to be objective and detach themselves from a situation when it's so close to home and related to someone they've known, worked with and/or been friends with for decades, which is how I read Foley's comment.
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What's the age difference between Hogan in 2002 and Rock in 2024? Because Hogan looked in better ring shape than Rock does now, and despite working 30 minute long matches Roman ain't exactly a workhorse who does the physical heavy lifting in his matches.
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Considering everything in WWE-land has been absolutely miserable the last few weeks, Collision continues to be the best wrestling show going. Just keeping giving guys like Kingston, Danielson, FTR and Garcia big spotlight matches every week and you can't NOT produce an awesome show. It feels like those periods when Smackdown was the 'B Show' that didn't have the top tier megastars but had all the workrate guys tearing shit up every night.
I haven't seen anything from Keith before tonight that made me buy into the hype around him, but he stepped up in his biggest showcase so far and looked like he belonged. Credit to Kingston for shining him up too, just a really good match that made both guys better and felt like a hard fought match.
I actually was a bit underwhelmed by Danielson vs Hechicero. It's been a few years since I've seen Hechicero, but from memory he's either at his best against smaller guys who he can base for, or in matches that get heated. This felt too much like an exhibition with Danielson allowing him to show off a lot of his cool spots and holds, which are cool, but I wish there was a bit more spice. Still, great to see him get his dues and hopefully we get more of this crossover.
Main event was another homerun from FTR. I am here for FTR/DG, and all the heels played their respective roles very well and differently which kept things interesting even when it was all go-go-go. Cage vs Garcia should be a lot of fun.
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AHAHAHAHAHA.
Just shows even with Vince gone, Wrestlemania is still an event for chasing mainstream clout rather than putting on an actual good show.
I'm not a massive Cody guy, but seeing him get cucked so hard is mental.
It's a secondary brain explosion after the Roman vs Rock whiplash, but Cody vs Seth in yet another tediously boring workrate finisher fest that WWE will try to present as some sort of 'classic rivalry' nonsense is a massive 'tap out' moment for me.
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Moxley getting built up on a win streak has to be leading to him vs Okada at the PPV, right? Otherwise not sure what the direction of his run here is.
I liked the Hangman vs Swerve death match fine but I am over this feud, and these below mid promos are not doing anything to make me care about this rematch or either dude vs Joe.
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3 minutes ago, odessasteps said:
I did wonder about just being a normal tech guy doing his job and all the sudden you have Vince showing people on his phone the type of things we’ve heard in the last week. Just how weird that would be.
And how many of them really were 'please get me involved in this' rather than just humouring Vince and hoping he'd leave them alone and they'd never have to do anything with this information. Guys in tech or production are regular folk presumably, not mutants who have had their brains and morals destroyed from years in the industry.
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10 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:
Anyways if you count the Women’s Rumbles, they’ve had over 40 Royal Rumbles on Rumble shows since 1988, so if you’ve watched long enough, there’s probably not a lot of good things that you haven’t seen and if they play the hits, that’ll burn itself out too.
Also having two rumbles will dilute things but they really don’t have a way out of that which wouldn’t miff some people.
2 Rumbles on one show has been exhausting since they started doing it. I think it'd be better to either do the Women's Rumble on a separate PPV later in the year (maybe do it a Summerslam shot instead?) or even give the women their own gimmick match entirely.
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This may be the first year where the Women's Rumble was easily better than the men's. Even with about half the women being visibly sloppy and un-polished. But it was much better paced and had much more entertaining content in the filler parts in between the big moments with Jordynn Grace showing up and doing the strength stuff with Nile, Chelsea being a delight, and the Jade debut. I am not someone who thinks Nia is completely useless, but she looked terrible (showing that not everyone who is big is also strong) but everything around Jade was a hit.
I skipped most of the four-way because the interference and schmozz is just so tired and predictable.
Paul vs Owens was a REALLY good match with a terrible finishing sequence. Hopefully there's an even better rematch.
Men's Rumble was a bore. Guy who commented on the entrance music all being samey is right. I'd also say most of these guys just have zero character outside of their costumes (ditto the women). Bron looked great but doing the Omos elimination as someone was making their entrance was typically awful timing. There is always one jarringly bad timing flub in a Rumble. R-Truth is a treasure and the only thing particular interesting about Judgement Day right now, I could get behind him vs Priest in some sort of comedy gimmick at Wrestlemania.
Cody HAS to win at WM now or have his whole career undermined by being the biggest choke artist ever. I am ready and here for Cody to finally dethrone Roman.
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Did any of the people who covered up Weinstein's assaults and helped him get away with it for years ever face any consequences? Obviously Weinstein was the focal point for all of that, but I can't remember if anyone else was publicly spotlighted or faced any charges related to his crimes.
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WRESTLEMANIA XL - 4/6 & 4/7/2024
in WWE PROGRAMMING
Posted
Pretty standard WM show, in the current era it's more about the pomp and circumstances and the entrances rather than good wrestling so I can't say I was disappointed.
Becky vs Rhea was fine. Becky hasn't been anything special since pre-pregnancy but atleast she put Ripley over clean.
There is a world where Rey/Andrade vs Dom/Escobar is a banger, but not here. It was a fine WM highlight reel.
My expectations for Uso vs Uso were low so I wasn't too bothered by their match, but can we put to bed the idea that either of them are any good as singles, because they are not. Put them back together as faces to carry on the Yeet thing which is popular for some reason.
The women's 6-man wasn't good but I agree Jade has It and can be a mega star if they treat her right. That said it was only a couple years ago Bianca was It and now she's well down the pecking order.
Gunther vs Sami was the only really strong match and pretty satisfying. They probably have a better match in them away from all the WM schmozz and melodrama, but seeing the Brainbustahhh on GUNTHER of all people was pretty sick.
The main was fine, no need for it to be so damn long, but credit to Rock for stepping up. This type of match def helped him keep up with everyone els, def a better showing the Cena matches. Could have cut it down to 20 minutes though and nothing would have been lost. I will find it mad we get a bladejob in a segment leading up to this match, but no blood in the match itself. That's when it counts!