Dolfan in NYC Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 It's a new year, yes it is! I wonder what he means by this... Guess we'll find out tonight on Raw! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Announce teams have been tweaked - both shows will now be 2 man booths Per PWI - only thing known so far is Michael Cole will only work RAW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 I want to see if the camera presentation is devoid of Dunn-isms tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Becky/Nia was really good. Rhea/Ivy was better. Rhea’s now out here giving NXT call-ups high-end debut matches and making them look like world beaters. What an absolute star. The tag match with New Usos was getting good until Vinci got his bell rung. The main event was certainly a Seth Rollins/Drew Mac match as those two guys I enjoy only when they’re in the ring with people I enjoy more. Seth redid the “pulled my foot to the rope inadevertantly out of overexcitement” thing that he had in a damn great match against PAC when Seth was in his first heel champ run. I loved it in that match but not tonight — it’s a great spot for a heel to worm his way out of victory and a confident veteran like Drew who has been there before should know better. I have no idea if it is a Kevin Dunn thing but they really did some fun presentation I may have missed earlier with the anime-influence for the Sinsuke/Cody promotion and the weirdly enjoyably club celebration for the KCs. Also, wrestling will never cease to get me. I thought the HHH tease was Andrade (but was hoping for Sasha.) I laughed at the Jinder bait and thought he did decent enough anti-American heel heat and was wondering who was going to intervene and was not expecting The Rock. Then my mind briefly wondered why The Rock was out there to destroy the remnants of the career of Jinder and then I just got caught up in the moment. Totally got me with the Head of the Table reference at the end. Spectacularly done on every level in that they set some expectations and flipped the script a few times before teasing the beginning of the biggest possibly match they can build to. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RazorbladeKiss87 Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Well, it looked like Raw. I was in and out depending on the segment. Rhea/Ivy was good! I want them to give Ivy some wins and run it back at a PLE. I was fresh from work when the show started and kept delaying getting ready for bed but I saw Jinder was (as far as I knew) the returning champ and didn't let that hinder me from getting cleaned up. Oh, hey, I hear the Rock's theme. It's crazy how badly he can outshine the show even when he's not doing anything special. Looks like Cody's not finishing the story this year. The main was good and I don't like Rollins much, outside of that shirt he put out with the Black Flag font. Priest is never cashing in, is he? Also dug the women's tag title vignette. It was silly and I support that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octopus Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Maybe The Rock will be for Elimination Chamber: Perth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Yeah I don’t think Rock is main eventing WrestleMania. The path seems pretty clear, to me. Punk wins the Rumble, and challenges Seth for the title at WrestleMania Night 1. Cody wins Elimination Chamber and challenges Reigns at WrestleMania Night 2. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 AJPW news Charlie Dempsey Spoiler Pinnned Triple Crown champion Nakajima in the preview tag match. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octopus Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Just think: at Wrestlemania, Cody is gonna pin a guy who pinned The Rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Becky/Nia decently good overall. Really dug the finish and that Nia beat Becky clean. It will be a fun challenge for Becky to climb when they presumably run it back during Becky's WM build for the Rhea match. Kofi/Jey vs. Kaiser/Vince was good up until poor Vinci was knocked loopy. Good on the ref catching it so fast and stopping the match. Still a shame to see it end that way. The Miz TV segment and subsequent Awesome Truth vs. Dom/JD match was super fun all around. truth was a goofy treasure not sure where to tag and trying to tag in from the Judgement Day side at one point. Was a perfect way to perk the crowd up. Rhea/Ivy had its rough moments but built into something good and was a great showcase for Ivy despite the loss. Ivy always showed potential in NXT, but she never really got matches that tested her outside of a match against Meiko for the UK women's title a couple years back. Was worried to see Ivy thrown out like this with so little build against Rhea but she stepped up well and developed some solid chemistry with Rhea as the match went on. Ivy had a nice mix of power and athleticism and it was nice seeing built to and shown off here alongside Rhea's reactions whenever Ivy got one over on her. Hopefully Ivy gets more build and chances to show off like this. Skipped most of the Rock/Jinder segment. It felt kind of predictable, and I lost interest in a Rock/Roman match years ago. Shayna/Zoey vs. Nattie/Tegan was kind of blur for me as I was eating at the time. Seemed ok but nothing noteworthy. The club scene building to the KCs rematch with Chelsea and Piper was fine. Seth/Drew was pretty good. Dug the pacing with a bit of extra desperation from both guys. It made the finish work out alright for me since a big part of Drew's recent story has been being his own worst enemy yet unable to realize/admit it. 1 hour ago, Greggulator said: I have no idea if it is a Kevin Dunn thing but they really did some fun presentation I may have missed earlier with the anime-influence for the Sinsuke/Cody promotion and the weirdly enjoyably club celebration for the KCs. The anime style stuff with Shinsuke has been going on since the Seth feud. His whole presentation has changed and just been wonderful for months now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVileOne Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 The Rock just finished the story. They aren't booking Roman Reigns vs. The Rock at Elimination Chamber. There is only one place they are doing that matchup, and they are doing it at WrestleMania. Nick Khan doesn't give a shit about "finish the story." Ari Emanuel doesn't give a shit about "finish the story." Triple H didn't care enough to do it when the iron was hot to do it, and Triple H wants to make his bosses happy. They aren't going to blow off The Rock wrestling Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber: Perth. That's not frelling happening. They will do everything they can to make this year's WrestleMania 40 the biggest WrestleMania of all time. And you do that by putting Roman Reigns vs. The Rock in the final Night 2 headlining spot. Stockholders don't give a shit about finish the story either. They want numbers and milestones and accolades. Finish the story doesn't do that. The Rock at WrestleMania versus Roman Reigns does that. This was the final trump card to play for Reigns and the Bloodline, and WWE has clearly been waiting patiently to play this. They aren't playing it at an Elimination Chamber show in Perth. They are serious about having Roman Reigns' title run surpassing Hogan's in the 1980s. And they just might do it now. Everyone who claimed Cody Rhodes didn't have enough adversity last year are going to be eating their words soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steventon Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Could they do Cody vs Roman Night 1 and Rock vs Roman non-title Night 2? Seems unlikely. Cody getting cucked and going back to AEW would be a hell of a thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 6 hours ago, TheVileOne said: The Rock just finished the story. They aren't booking Roman Reigns vs. The Rock at Elimination Chamber. There is only one place they are doing that matchup, and they are doing it at WrestleMania. Nick Khan doesn't give a shit about "finish the story." Ari Emanuel doesn't give a shit about "finish the story." Triple H didn't care enough to do it when the iron was hot to do it, and Triple H wants to make his bosses happy. They aren't going to blow off The Rock wrestling Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber: Perth. That's not frelling happening. They will do everything they can to make this year's WrestleMania 40 the biggest WrestleMania of all time. And you do that by putting Roman Reigns vs. The Rock in the final Night 2 headlining spot. Stockholders don't give a shit about finish the story either. They want numbers and milestones and accolades. Finish the story doesn't do that. The Rock at WrestleMania versus Roman Reigns does that. This was the final trump card to play for Reigns and the Bloodline, and WWE has clearly been waiting patiently to play this. They aren't playing it at an Elimination Chamber show in Perth. They are serious about having Roman Reigns' title run surpassing Hogan's in the 1980s. And they just might do it now. Everyone who claimed Cody Rhodes didn't have enough adversity last year are going to be eating their words soon. Look no further than the Saudi shows to see that money matters to these people above everything else. If the Australian tourism board or whatever is willing to back a Brinks truck up to WWE for a Rock match, they’re going to do it. WrestleMania sells itself. Elimination Chamber at 3am US time doesn’t. This would sell it immediately - and they also no longer really care about immediate views, but what social media does and the first 24 hour coverage of the event. I think you’re wrong. There’s a possibility Rock might only be free for the next month and some change, and will be busy come spring possibly with the Smashing Machine. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterien Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 The ‘head of the table’ line and the reaction to it was great. Just simple and effective, job done. Let the hype begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godfrey Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Becky and Nia ended up better than I thought it would be. I missed when the blood happened the first time and they really got me with it, when I went back I saw the hand off and that the ref hadn't put gloves on. I'm pretty sure Becky bit the capsule too early, I think it was supposed to be from the punch or getting Yokozuna'd. Jax took a heck of a bump when Bex dodged the cannonball against the barricade and she nailed all her power moves this time so that's something. Becky had some nice submissions and took quite a beating, not sure why she's losing right now but I don't think Jax should have a job so I'm biased Cody Rhodes happened at me Kofi and Jey/Imperium was really good until the match was stopped. Safety first, of course, but it's too bad because Kaiser and Vinci had real evil F1 driver vibes going. Kofi's dropkick is usually pretty light so that was some bad luck, even working safer won't protect you 100% of the time Ripley rules, this one was a little heatless since it was never in doubt and Ivy Nile is so new that their timing was off on a couple of things at the start. They pulled together some nice stuff down the line though. Loved the finishing sequence. Today is the day I learned Rhea is half a foot shorter than I thought, she's got reverse Billy Gunn Syndrome and looks way bigger on TV than she really is, that's real star power. And as for Rhea being called the Eradicator, I guess it's been over 30 years and she can take it from the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbC5YQ_oJoA&ab_channel=ClipsintheHall Jinder going full anti-American was unexpected, he cut a little close to the quick on some of those comments. All in the service of future President Camacho, er, Johnson. Oh, this is why Jax got the win... Sorry to say I had to skip the tag, I can't get into Tegan and Natalya anyway Rollins and McIntyre tore it up. Commentary agreed that McIntyre is living with "dystopian injustice" from his loss, that's the most dramatic way of saying "disappointment" I've ever heard. The Mulkeys must have had apocalyptic despondency for years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steventon Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 33 minutes ago, Casey said: Look no further than the Saudi shows to see that money matters to these people above everything else. If the Australian tourism board or whatever is willing to back a Brinks truck up to WWE for a Rock match, they’re going to do it. WrestleMania sells itself. Elimination Chamber at 3am US time doesn’t. This would sell it immediately - and they also no longer really care about immediate views, but what social media does and the first 24 hour coverage of the event. I think you’re wrong. There’s a possibility Rock might only be free for the next month and some change, and will be busy come spring possibly with the Smashing Machine. I guess you could flip this round a bit though. Why would the Australian tourism board or whoever need or want to spunk money on a Rock match when getting a PLE is a big win on it's own? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVileOne Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 46 minutes ago, Casey said: Look no further than the Saudi shows to see that money matters to these people above everything else. If the Australian tourism board or whatever is willing to back a Brinks truck up to WWE for a Rock match, they’re going to do it. WrestleMania sells itself. Elimination Chamber at 3am US time doesn’t. This would sell it immediately - and they also no longer really care about immediate views, but what social media does and the first 24 hour coverage of the event. I think you’re wrong. There’s a possibility Rock might only be free for the next month and some change, and will be busy come spring possibly with the Smashing Machine. The Rock at 51 years old is not coming back for his long-awaited prophesied match, his first actual match in over 10 years, with his family member Roman Reigns for it to happen at Elimination Chamber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Martin Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1lTL11MlpV/?igsh=MTRnNDNocDRxNjNoNg== Edited January 2 by Joel Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 The reaction to one line from The Rock about being the Head of the Table shows why him vs. Roman is the biggest match they've had in ages -- possibly since Rock/Hogan I want to say? Any feud involving the biggest movie star in the world trumps everything else no matter what. Tying it into a deeply personal family feud with the defining star of the decade? It's an absolute no-brainer. You have to drop literally anything else you have going on to run that story when you can run it. Cody can wait. He knows that, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For Great Justice Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) Yeah, you ain’t running the biggest match in decades at 3am a month before Wrestlemania Edited January 2 by For Great Justice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 It really comes down to what will be a less of a disaster. The Rock blown up at about the 3 minute mark and Roman Reigns trying to carry him in a 20+ minute main event match or Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes trying to re-do the shit storm that was Reigns vs Brock in New Orleans WM because I am positive that is what that match will be. At this point the Undisputed title is meaningless until around Summerslam 2024 so what is a more entertaining situation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 It's already further confirmed Kevin Dunn is done with WWE. The email to employees about Kevin Dunn's departure was sent to many. They took Dunn off the WWE corporate website today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I’m surprised the PIF doesnt offer a brinks truck worth of cash to have Rock v Roman in KSA. It’s not like they would care about the bad PR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 2 minutes ago, odessasteps said: I’m surprised the PIF doesnt offer a brinks truck worth of cash to have Rock v Roman in KSA. It’s not like they would care about the bad PR Rocky might. He's still got movies to sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Wouldn't be surprised Rock Vs Roman becomes a triple threat. With Cody in it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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