Your wrestling HOT TAKES

[just drew]

If I were TK, I would’ve let Jon Gresham run amok over ROH tv just so Jordynne Grace would’ve signed with AEW when her contract was up. She’s the goods. 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

12 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I would be down for a good old football tackle again too. The Pounce is kind of in the same fashion only it looks wild and out of control. You are putting your hands and arms up, you aren't aiming your head directly at someone, they can possibly control the bump some, etc. 

The Pounce is clearly the best spear variation to me, especially when Monty was doing it. I've seen some where it looks like "Oops, I bumped into you, my bad" but his were just so awesome. 

3 hours ago, FourPostMassacre said:

The problem with the spear is that the only way it looks good is to hit people with it while giving 0 fucks for your opponents safety like Goldberg was doing in his WCW days. 
 

In that sense it should just go away. 

Spears through tables don't look too bad but are way overdone. 

[BobbyWhioux]

3 hours ago, FourPostMassacre said:

The problem with the spear is that the only way it looks good is to hit people with it while giving 0 fucks for your opponents safety like Goldberg was doing in his WCW days. 
 

In that sense it should just go away. 

or your own safety, while we're talking about Edge and his history of neck injuries

[Curt McGirt]

Spear through a table is straight stupid since your basically running headfirst at a table. WHY?

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Gotta give the people what they want. It's like a post-modern chairshot. 

[twiztor]

i feel like "the spear (usually) sucks as a finisher" is/should be the standard take. A hot take would be "Edge's spear looks awesome and is credible on every level".

also, kudos to @RazorbladeKiss87, but i think more things should be referenced as "post-modern" in life. it's such a stupid, mean-nothing phrase. Anybody that uses it unironically just comes across as a yuppie. Perfect for a heel commentator, for example.

[Ramo2653]

My hot take about the spear is that if someone that's in shape charges their shoulder into our midsection, it's going to hurt a lot and may be enough for a 3 count. It's still a lot of weight and force!

[Shartnado]

4 hours ago, Ramo2653 said:

My hot take about the spear is that if someone that's in shape charges their shoulder into our midsection, it's going to hurt a lot and may be enough for a 3 count. It's still a lot of weight and force!

Plus, it's completely plausible to get the wind knocked out of you for three seconds on a move like that, even if it wouldn't actually knock you out! In fact, opponents gasping for air after the pinfall trying to get their wind back, would actually be a very nice touch.

[stuntmanc]

The storyline, the emotional investment, the hot crowd, the tension leading up to the first contact.

 

I think Roman v Sami for the belt during the height of the Bloodline was one of the greatest matches in WWE history and possibly wrestling as a whole because everything just clicked.  It's one of the few times I felt like a total kid again watching a big match where I was "There" in every aspect of emotion and the level of deflation and actual borderline heartbreak when Zayn lost.  It's just on another level

[Ramo2653]

Sami and KO getting their lick back at the Saudi show after WM39 was almost enough to make it feel better but not quite enough.

[SirSmUgly]

21 hours ago, twiztor said:

i think more things should be referenced as "post-modern" in life. it's such a stupid, mean-nothing phrase. Anybody that uses it unironically just comes across as a yuppie. Perfect for a heel commentator, for example.

I consider this take to be the hottest one in the thread, NGL.

[Cliff Hanger]

On 1/31/2025 at 12:11 PM, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

The Pounce is clearly the best spear variation to me, especially when Monty was doing it. I've seen some where it looks like "Oops, I bumped into you, my bad" but his were just so awesome. 

 

The Pounce is a move that was perfect for the hex ring but never works in a square one, IMO. Having him come from a crazy angle instead of 90 degrees MADE Monty's Pounce.

 

My timely hot take is that I've never loved the Rumble. It's too long and while it usually has some neat angles built and little character moments, I never get as hyped as a lot of people do. The best thing about the inevitable 2-night Rumble weekends of the future will be not having 2 of them on one day.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

12 minutes ago, Cliff Hanger said:

The Pounce is a move that was perfect for the hex ring but never works in a square one, IMO. Having him come from a crazy angle instead of 90 degrees MADE Monty's Pounce.

 

My timely hot take is that I've never loved the Rumble. It's too long and while it usually has some neat angles built and little character moments, I never get as hyped as a lot of people do. The best thing about the inevitable 2-night Rumble weekends of the future will be not having 2 of them on one day.

Seems like as good a time as any to drop this video again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya_Es72axgw

Every Pounce Monty did in TNA

[SirSmUgly]

24 minutes ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

Seems like as good a time as any to drop this video again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya_Es72axgw

Every Pounce Monty did in TNA

I just want wrestling to go back to primarily courting football washouts and letting them do pounces and spears and shoulderblocks and meaty forearms and all manner of suplexes.

Give me a company with a roster of eighty percent football players, most of whom didn't give a fuck about pro wrestling growing up, and then the other twenty percent can be smaller indie workers there to mostly take bumps and occasionally overcome the odds.

[Cliff Hanger]

7 minutes ago, SirSmUgly said:

I just want wrestling to go back to primarily courting football washouts and letting them do pounces and spears and shoulderblocks and meaty forearms and all manner of suplexes.

Give me a company with a roster of eighty percent football players, most of whom didn't give a fuck about pro wrestling growing up, and then the other twenty percent can be smaller indie workers there to mostly take bumps and occasionally overcome the odds.

This ties in to something I've been rolling over in my head for a while and almost posted in this thread and few times but never actually done it. Old heads in cape comics fandom will talk about the ways the genre changed when the people making them changed from writers who'd wanted to do prose SF and artists who wanted to work in advertising (but didn't make it, or were slumming between legit jobs) to people who'd grown up dying to work in comics, and how it preceded the decline of the American comics industry. When Bart Sawyer died a while back and Meltz was talking about the old days, and your average wrestler was a high school or college football player or wrestler who wasn't going to make it at the next level and was plied by a local promoter with promises of money, groupies and such, it struck a nerve. I love my indy geeks, but it makes me think about what we lost without realizing it.

[HumanChessgame]

I don't know if this counts or not given as I've never taken the board's belt discourse temperature, but the Winged Eagle belt is the best WWE/F belt.

[zendragon]

I think Bret's belt is the best belt is the general agreement 

[supremebve]

After watching the Rumble, I think its safe to say that the spear is not the issue.  It is the fact that all these dudes are using the spear and making it look like shit.  Then Bronn Breaker spears a YouTuber into dust and you realize that the move works if you are willing to turn your opponent into a corpse.  

[Curt McGirt]

1. I agree with the 6-sided ring being waaaay more conducive to the Pounce

2. Seeing Monty do that celebration every time is awesome

3. AJ flipping was awesome, he gets gold while Eric Young gets silver in bumps

4. Scott Hall falling over like a statue was goofy

5. Poor refs. Poor Normal Smiley. Meanwhile, FUCK YOU DISCO

6. God I (WE) miss you Don West. 

And yes I watched all 10+ minutes of that. 

Edited February 3 by Curt McGirt

[odessasteps]

Imagining what an 8 sided ring would be like 

[BobbyWhioux]

10 hours ago, zendragon said:

I think Bret's belt is the best belt is the general agreement 

Bret's Rope is also the best rope.  Bring second rope moves back to wrestling (so top rope moves can be properly escalated to)
 

[zendragon]

Speaking of seconds ropes (and Bret), I was watching Invasion 92 on the Vault and Flair does all the feet on the second rope spots for leverage on pinfalls and grabbing the second ropes for leverage on the figure four. Talk about spots no one seemingly does and should be brought back!

[Curt McGirt]

4 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Imagining what an 8 sided ring would be like 

Goddamn you

[TheVileOne]

I hope John Cena continues losing big matches and that makes him crack and finally turn heel. Cena's final year should be about him turning heel and then he finally turns babyface again right before he calls it quits. His so-called statement after Royal Rumble had all the makings of a perfect heel turn.

Do it, Paul.

[supremebve]

9 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

I hope John Cena continues losing big matches and that makes him crack and finally turn heel. Cena's final year should be about him turning heel and then he finally turns babyface again right before he calls it quits. His so-called statement after Royal Rumble had all the makings of a perfect heel turn.

Do it, Paul.

I looked at my friend during the after match hug spot and said, "This would be the single best time to turn him heel."  I don't think it will happen, but I would love if they finally turned him heel for his farewell tour.