Dolfan in NYC Posted January 8 Posted January 8 So, last week we found out that Paul Ellering is still alive, so that's good. I think. But it appears they're turning Bobby Lashley face again. So that's bad. But the turn comes with a free frogurt! 4
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 8 Author Posted January 8 Oh and before I forget... 13 hours ago, odessasteps said: Sadly, a bitcoin/nft gimmick would likely be a face to large percentage of the audience. Yeah they already did this: DiBiase being part of a crypto/NFT gimmick is just... well, I'm sure a jury will figure out the right words.
Stefanie Sparkleface Posted January 8 Posted January 8 43 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said: But the turn comes with a free frogurt! That's good! 3 1
Curt McGirt Posted January 8 Posted January 8 (edited) Paul was on the Road Warriors Dark Side of the Ring so I dunno why anybody would be surprised he's alive. He also seems like the kinda dude that takes super care of himself, like a Jack Palance type that can do one-handed pushups in his 70s. Edited January 8 by Curt McGirt 1
Cobra Commander Posted January 8 Posted January 8 (edited) Yeah Ellering might be up there for smartest men in wrestling because his in-ring career was done 40 years ago and he’s kept appearing every decade or so even after the Road Warriors died Edited January 8 by Cobra Commander
HumanChessgame Posted January 8 Posted January 8 Is it just me or is this a lot more stuff announced than they normally do? Kofi Kingston vs. Ludwig Kaiser JD McDonagh vs. The Miz Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Cody Rhodes WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Katana Chance & Kayden Carter (c) vs. Piper Niven & Chelsea Green CM Punk returns to RAW Tommaso Ciampa vs. Finn Balor 6 hours ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said: That's good! The frogurt is also cursed 1
Stefanie Sparkleface Posted January 8 Posted January 8 42 minutes ago, HumanChessgame said: The frogurt is also cursed That's bad!
Greggulator Posted January 9 Posted January 9 We are all going to forget about Kofi/Kaiser in two weeks but WTF??? This is so good. I mean, Kofi and Ludwig are both top quality but I don’t really associate these guys with stuff, hate-filled brawls. I love Kofi but never really think of him as working the most tight style.They are really leaning into it. Great double countout brawl and I want 100 matches between them. 3
ChesterCopperpot Posted January 9 Posted January 9 (edited) Give R-Truth whatever he wants Edited January 9 by ChesterCopperpot 2 1 2
Phantom Lord Posted January 9 Posted January 9 12 hours ago, Curt McGirt said: Paul was on the Road Warriors Dark Side of the Ring so I dunno why anybody would be surprised he's alive. He also seems like the kinda dude that takes super care of himself, like a Jack Palance type that can do one-handed pushups in his 70s. Well apparently he is 70, but he's aging in reverse. Only caught half of RAW tonight. The R Truth Judgement Day video was hilarious. Finally a good use of AI generated photos. Otis vs. Ivar was awesome while it lasted. They need to do more with Otis. The street fight was lame for the first half and then they picked up when they realized "oh yeah, it's a street fight". I wish they would have done the bullrope match they had at MSG last week. That would have been a little more fun.
Eivion Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Ciampa/Finn was solid. DIY vs. Judgeday Day should be fun. Kofi/Kaiser was good. The countout was done well and the post match brawl turned murder attempt of Kofi by Kaiser was even better. KCs vs. Chelsea/Piper was solid. Hope the KCS show up on Smackdown soon. Looking forward to them vs. Kabuki Warriors or Fyre & Dawn. Becky's promo backstage was a solid comeback after her loss to Nia. Definitely feels like a match we will return to. The Nia/Rhea segment was decent though I wish it was building to a straight up title match at Royal Rumble instead of the Wrestlemania tease. Make that Becky/Rhea unless they will give them a PLE main event later in the year. Truth's Judgement Day video was spectacularly dumb in the best of ways. JD/Miz not long after was pretty solid and fun all around. Dug Miz using Truth to set up the crowd to boo JD and Dom even more. Ivar/Otis was short but sweet with plenty of good big men action. The Seth/Jinder segment was effective in setting up their match though Jinder is just not someone I have much interest in seeing in 2024. Cody/Nakamura took a bit to get going but was good by the end. Every match was solid at worst. Kaiser/Kofi and it's post match brawl was probably the standout. The segments were mostly decent though that R-Truth vid was the standout that deserves to be seen. Pretty solid show. 1
hammerva Posted January 9 Posted January 9 That Punk and Drew McIntyre segment really didn't do anyone any favors it seemed. Well except for the people who still think that Punk as the AEW Devil was the way to go. Was Drew basically saying that Punk could have saved his job and maybe himself the 1st time with his problems? Not sure how that logic works unless they are trying to make people think that Drew was considered part of the Straightedge Society which would have been a hell of an upgrade over Luke Gallows. And Punk just looking at this he would rather be anywhere but in that segment.
For Great Justice Posted January 9 Posted January 9 (edited) Truth is a shoe-in WWEHOF of course, but I strongly believe he also deserves WONHOF consideration. Former world champion, main evented against John Cena, 54 time 247 champion…. But more importantly, with a shout out to Yano, Truth’s been the best comedy worker on TV for over a decade. Rey Mysterio was the best flyer in the world for a decade and he’s in. Mick Foley was the best brawler in the world for a decade and he’s in. Ric Flair was the best main event epic worker in the world for a decade and he’s in. Why shouldn’t the best comedy worker also be in? If you’re pulling from the past 30 years of wrestlers to book a 3 hour TV show…I kind of feel like Truth has a role on that show? To make a baseball HOF analogy, I get that this is kind of like talking about relievers (comedy) vs starters or position players (main event acts, workrate guys) in WONHOF criteria, but insofar as he’s a reliever Truth is Trevor Hoffman out there. Dude is awesome. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. Edited January 9 by For Great Justice 9
Godfrey Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Couldn't catch everything this week, what I saw I liked I thought Punk and Drew delivered in the RAW Opening Promo, a lot of it felt real while playing into both guys current arcs. Drew turned half-face by saying he wants a redo at main eventing Mania after 2020 and I don't blame him. Crowd wasn't sure how to react when Punk mentioned Cody, should be an interesting showdown Production was a little tighter this week and I dug the presentation of Ciampa's walk and talk promo. Hot crowd too Kaiser and Kingston tore it up. Kofi is showing a meaner edge in his later years so bring on his grumpy old man phase, while Kaiser is coming into his own as a heel. Post-match was awesome cause God damn it looked like Ludwig took Kofi's head off with that office chair and the dropkick was totally dickish Ripley is awesome, Nia will be a good test for her I guess they're running with anti-USA Jinder, hope it's going somewhere and it's not just a cheap excuse to beat up a brown person on TV. Rollins' promos aren't bad once he gets through the preamble Ivar and Otis had some big lad fun. Do not mourn for Ivar's knees, they will live forever in Valhalla. Haha, "I'm big, little man!" Cody/Nakamura Street Fight was okay. Cody is a decent seller and a top notch panderer and cornball
The Natural Posted January 9 Posted January 9 10 hours ago, ChesterCopperpot said: Give R-Truth whatever he wants Truth's a treasure. 1
Greggulator Posted January 9 Posted January 9 5 hours ago, For Great Justice said: Truth is a shoe-in WWEHOF of course, but I strongly believe he also deserves WONHOF consideration. Former world champion, main evented against John Cena, 54 time 247 champion…. But more importantly, with a shout out to Yano, Truth’s been the best comedy worker on TV for over a decade. Rey Mysterio was the best flyer in the world for a decade and he’s in. Mick Foley was the best brawler in the world for a decade and he’s in. Ric Flair was the best main event epic worker in the world for a decade and he’s in. Why shouldn’t the best comedy worker also be in? If you’re pulling from the past 30 years of wrestlers to book a 3 hour TV show…I kind of feel like Truth has a role on that show? To make a baseball HOF analogy, I get that this is kind of like talking about relievers (comedy) vs starters or position players (main event acts, workrate guys) in WONHOF criteria, but insofar as he’s a reliever Truth is Trevor Hoffman out there. Dude is awesome. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. I'm absolutely with you on comedy workers and premier "mid-card" people getting into the WONHOF. Not everyone is supposed to be a main event talent. But not everyone is also built to be a comedy guy or entertaining non-main event star, either. What's a more important slot on Raw: the main event at 10:40 pm you've been building to all night or the 9:15 slot where there's a bigger audience (due to more kids being awake) and you're trying to keep people invested in staying tuned for what's next? The R-Truth's and Santino's are such a huge part of the show. You absolutely need people like that. John Cena and Roman are the stars, but the best middle card guys are the staple. I kthink the MVPs of the WWE this century have been The New Day. Those three dudes have done everything on the shows for a decade. Comedy heels. Comedy faces. Dominant tag team. From hosting WM to winning the world title at a WM. Even something like Kofi/Ludwig's awesome 15-minute match/segment on Raw last night is so insanely valuable. 3
Curt McGirt Posted January 9 Posted January 9 (edited) 3 hours ago, Godfrey said: Cody is a decent seller and a top notch panderer and cornball This (not Cody, but Truth) brings up the subject of who are the best comedy workers of all time. Obviously Heenan is #1 (and altogether might just be the best worker ever period) but there's room for a lot of others on that ballot. Just recently we've got Santino, Yano, Truth. Porky has to go on. Who else? Edited January 9 by Curt McGirt
odessasteps Posted January 9 Posted January 9 (edited) Stoker. are we talking in ring only or including promos? Then, you presumably include Lawler, JC, Heyman, Arn maybe, Percy. can’t forge5 this Edited January 9 by odessasteps
TheVileOne Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Drew McIntyre utterly eviscerated CM Punk with his promo last night, and frankly, CM Punk sounded bored and directionless. He struggled to get his comments back on track, and it was the same old tired schtick from him. He's done nothing of note since he returned. Is Kofi wearing new ring gear that doesn't look like New Day ring gear signifying that New Day is winding down? Not sure why Jinder Mahal is all of the sudden in a title match against Seth Rollins, but hey why not. Never been a Jinder hater, and it's a fairly fresh matchup at least. I realize that WWE wants Cody to continue looking strong going into the Rumble, but what the hell do you do with Nakamura now? He's pretty much just good hand or good heel at this point. He hasn't won a major feud since like 2021. Just seems like this is his destined role at this point. That aside, I do like how they've incorporated the cool anime clips into his promos and amped up his heel character. I simply wish he could win an important match. Not sure where they are going with the R-Truth/Judgment Day stuff, but it's funny at least. Got to hand it to R-Truth. It's 2024. He's 51 years old. Wrestled his first WWE match over 23 years ago, and he's in WWE now, getting TV time and being every entertaining and part of a top angle. Good for R-Truth. 1
Curt McGirt Posted January 9 Posted January 9 I meant primarily in-ring workers who do comedy matches, not necessarily good workers that are also incidentally good at comedy. Regal is incredible at comedy but comedy wasn't his exclusive domain; Porky wasn't really a full comedy worker until he dropped the Brazo de Oro name entirely, but once he did it would apply. It's kind of a fine line? Where you draw it is the issue.
DMJ Posted January 10 Posted January 10 I hate to say it because I know he's proven to be a total dweeb...but Disco Inferno was a terrific comedy wrestler for a time there. He took a really silly gimmick and played it for laughs, but most importantly to me, he incorporated that comedy and gimmick into his in-ring style and let those quirks cost him matches. He wasn't a guy who just loved disco dancing but was a serious competitor. He was so in love with disco dancing that he forgot he was wrestling a match at times. This is why I still think Seth Rollins has no gimmick. Yes, he dresses wild. He wears garish sunglasses. He struts around. But when the bell rings, he instantly turns into serious competitor Seth Rollins, workrate machine. Yes, he'll pause to let the crowd sing his music and "conduct," but there's nothing original to any of it. Kevin Nash said he was "doing Macho" at one point and that's just such an insult to Randy Savage, whose promos, ring gear, motivations, fighting style, mannerisms, etc. blended so seamlessly to create a multi-faceted, larger-than-life character that has stood the test of time. Seth is just nowhere even close. Turning back to comedy, I think one would have to mention The Bushwhackers (WWE run specifically) as being in the top 10 for WWE. They may have been legit tough guys elsewhere, but for many of us who grew up only seeing their WWE careers, Luke and Butch were outrageous Aussies that did wacky, disgusting things and they were great at it and had a very long run in that role. 1
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