KING & QUEEN OF THE RING XII - 5/25/2024

[Ziggy]

This was an okay PLE. Nothing really special but nothing bad. I thought the 3 way IC title match was the best match on the show. I don't really watch the weekly TVs so this show was my first time seeing Nia Jaxx since she's been match and I'm surprised how much better she is than last time. Because of her Cousins she can get away with being bad although dangerous for whomever she works against. She was really good in her match. That finish to the men's KotR was a little sloppy with Ortons shoulder not being completely down during the finish.

I didn't think the Cody vs Paul match was bad but I started to get tired Logan Paul. Every match seems repetitive of his. Brass knuckles , one of his entourage gets involved. I understand they have to do alot of heel heat tropes to help get him through a 20 minute matches.

[TheVileOne]

A decent enough show. I guess the finish of Orton/Gunther was botched and they are simply acknowledging it and moving on, referees' decision is final blah blah blah. Orton vs. Gunther was match of the night though.

IC title match was fine. I do think they need to pull the trigger on whatever they are doing with Gable/Otis and split Alpha Academy and give Gable his new stable. 

I really hope WWE knows what it's doing with this Uncle Howdy thing. The viral campaign is neat and all, but when it comes time to actually put whatever this is on TV, will they be able to follow through? And will it actually work?

I still think these shows could use one or two more matches. I get that Triple H likes to have only about five matches for a PLE, but it still felt rather light. Just seems like they aren't economizing their ring time as well as they should. They don't need two hours for Countdown shows either. That said, they should have some sort of midcard match in the back half of every Countdown or Kickoff show, like the women's tag team titles

I thought the finish to Nia Jax vs. Lyra Valkyria is neat. However, they've had Nia Jax playing this role for a while. If she doesn't win the title at some point, her winning this tournament will be a bit of a waste. Not saying she has to win at SummerSlam, but she should eventually beat Bayley. 

Edited May 26, 2024 by TheVileOne

[ReiseReise]

. Honestly, Orton vs Gunther was one of the best matches I've seen in years. Botched finish, acknowledged as a controversial call, gives Orton an out, albeit a mini-out. But the way they worked was just perfect, involving the crowd at the right points with both guys playing their part perfectly. Gunther's short promo was really good. King General for the win! 

I will never understand how WWE got behind Liv the way they did. Good for her though. 

Logan Paul is an amazing athlete, but what really makes him stand out is his personality. He has the mannerisms down aswell. The match between him and Cody was just right. 

I don't think Nia has gotten significantly better since her first push. And Lyra Valkerie hasn't done anything to convince me she is above NXT level right now. That being said, the match was fine and a really great and great looking finish. 

It's weird how different the Saudi shows are from how they went down at first. Remember when the first few rows were filled with beduines? 

Edited May 26, 2024 by ReiseReise

[The Natural]

All hail King Guntha!

[The Natural]

Crucifix is cursed in wrestling: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania XXXV and Gunther vs. Randy Orton at King and Queen of the Ring 2024.

[The Natural]

16 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

I honestly don't remember the last time Cody used a vertebreaker.  Certainly not since he's been in WWE. 

Wonder if Logan specifically asked for that spot or if Cody's test driving a new super finisher.

 

15 hours ago, Eivion said:

Show looked good in clips. Surprised Nia won. She felt like one of the women who needed this the least.

Never saw Cody use the Vertebreaker in WWE before this match. Was that a thing he started doing on the indies and in NJPW?

 

13 hours ago, EVA said:

Yes, and it looked like absolute ass every time.

This one looked a lot better, presumably because Shane Helms is around to show him how it’s supposed to be done.

Yeah, Cody used it before. Hit it on Dustin Rhodes at AEW Double or Nothing 2019 and I think Anthony Ogogo at AEW Double or Nothing 2021. First time in WWE.

[The Comedian]

17 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Crucifix is cursed in wrestling: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania XXXV and Gunther vs. Randy Orton at King and Queen of the Ring 2024.

Nobody can do it like Davey Boy did ...

[Craig H]

Jesus H. Christ there is a lot of fucking wrestling this weekend. I was chatting on the Discord about the show as it happened, but the standout match for me was Orton vs Gunther. I know this will sound crazy, but this felt like a 90s AJPW match, minus the head dropping. Just a lot of struggling to pull off what were essentially simple moves, like a vertical suplex. What made that struggle even better was Randy’s selling. This was one of those matches where Randy was fucking on and you can see what the whole roster says about him when he’s motivated. 110% from Randy and it would have been fucking rad if late stage career Randy was what he was doing his whole career.

Like, this match was damn near a 5 star match if not for Randy’s shoulder being a foot up off of the mat right in front of the ref. I get that it was the planned finish and all, but they could have just audibled to, and this was Dolfan’s suggestion, just powerbomb the shit out of Randy or half crab him, or my suggestion, stretch muffler Randy if Randy’s knee and back could take it. As it was, I’m ultimately fine with it given how great the match was. It was also another example of what Punk was doing in AEW, with doing more with less. I mean, this match was making simple suplexes and body slams, the most vanilla of moves in 2024, look devastating. Just excellent work and pacing.

I also dug the shit out of Cody vs Logan. It’s worth repeating what so many others have said, but man, can you imagine how fucking good Logan would be if he did this full time? Like, Will Ospreay good probably. And Cody…the ultimate how can you not be romantic about wrestling guy. Everyone everywhere loves him. Even with the super jingoistic attire, he’s loved everywhere.

There is something super cool with having this brand split where on the one hand you have a top title run that is similar to Hogan’s 80s run and another top title that is similar to modern day WWE. 

And to turn this into a review of WWE in general, they have similar issues, but different strengths to AEW. I think there is just way too much wrestling programming for both companies. It’s just too much to watch. The other weakness is that on the whole, I just don’t think the wrestling is consistently that good in WWE. People show out on PLEs, and that’s fine, but there’s so much that is that vanilla WWE style. Thankfully they’re building a really great roster with wrestlers like Gunther that can even break someone like Randy Orton out of his mold. And the storytelling, at least at the upper mid card and top of the card, is quite good. I was thinking about Drew’s story and how he’s being positioned to almost be the top babyface in the middle of a heel run and he’s likely going to win the title and then be a Stone Cold esque face where if it was anyone else they’d get booed but he’s so magnetic that he’s going to get massively cheered…until Punk is healthy. And then who knows what happens then. Maybe you get something like Austin and Taker’s feud heading into Summerslam where they were both faces…I think they are both faces because that was pre Ministry. And what do you even do with Gunther on the horizon for Summerslam? Like in baseball where you have so many excellent players for the same position, these are good problems to have.

[Niners Fan in CT]

11 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

I really hope WWE knows what it's doing with this Uncle Howdy thing. The viral campaign is neat and all, but when it comes time to actually put whatever this is on TV, will they be able to follow through? And will it actually work?

Probably not?  I don't want to speak badly about Wyatt's return to WWE really, it seemed like they certainly had some ideas but it went on for a number of weeks with nothing happening.  

The viral campaigns have been cool but now you have Uncle Howdy who is not even really a developed character and I can't help but think this will all come off as second rate.  

[EVA]

Man, there is 0% chance the Wyatt 6 stuff is going to be any good whatsoever. I mean, even stuff that Bray was directly involved with was only good about 30% of the time, and he had a singular creative vision for this stuff that most everyone in WWE creative (*especially* Triple H) never seemed to get. So the idea that those same people are going to dream up some fugazi Bray stuff that’s any better than pure, uncut schlock seems highly unlikely to me.

Best case scenario is that hopefully the people involved who were close to Bray can get some meaningful catharsis from doing it, at least.

[DMJ]

2 hours ago, EVA said:

Man, there is 0% chance the Wyatt 6 stuff is going to be any good whatsoever. I mean, even stuff that Bray was directly involved with was only good about 30% of the time, and he had a singular creative vision for this stuff that most everyone in WWE creative (*especially* Triple H) never seemed to get. So the idea that those same people are going to dream up some fugazi Bray stuff that’s any better than pure, uncut schlock seems highly unlikely to me.

Best case scenario is that hopefully the people involved who were close to Bray can get some meaningful catharsis from doing it, at least.

Yup. 

I'm not looking forward to any of it, but I think it is going to die a fairly quick death so whatever. They can barely get their most over acts on PLEs consistently and those are the only things I watch regularly so its not like I'm going to have to go out of my way to avoid seeing Bo Wyatt and the New Bludgeon Brothers doing midcard stuff on SmackDown.

I also think they've been building it up for so long that the buzz is nowhere as strong as it might've been had they pulled the trigger on the RAW after Mania or closer to when the Bray Wyatt documentary dropped. Seems like there was a window when Bray was on people's minds because of the Hall of Fame and the documentary and that window closed a few weeks, if not months ago. Not dissimilar to the Bloodline stuff. Without Roman or Rock around, there's no star power to carry it.

Edited May 26, 2024 by DMJ

[odessasteps]

If they are doing it for closure, both diegetically and in real life, I’d be okay with it. Otherwise, no thanks, since I didn’t like it apart from the original Wyatt family stuff. 

[Eivion]

I actually think the Uncle Howdy stuff has gained more buzz in the last 2-3 weeks than it had when it started 7-8 weeks ago. In general though its a terrible idea because everything beyond the original Wyatt Family is just hard to work in wrestling promotion like WWE. There have been tons of interesting aspects and ideas, but they are the type of stuff entering closer to HUSTLE and Broken Matt Hardy territory even with the more serious foundation.

[The Natural]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkRUz4t99g&pp=ygURY29keSB2ZXJ0ZWJyZWFrZXI%3D

Cody Rhodes Vertebreaker.