[April 2023 Wrestling Discussion]

How many people that have been brought back are fucking kicking themselves today? Bronson Reed had a solid thing going with a New Japan push. Vince is back and he's certainly going to fade into a Main Event guy. Karion Cross better have had the foresight to write a no gladiator helmet clause into his deal. Regal is certainly not going to be Vince's Head of Talent Development. Vince says he's just going to be the overview guy and not get into the weeds. The overview guy doesn't get on the headsets. The overview guy doesn't order re-writes.

Triple H's WWE was a mirage. And anyone who jumped at the chance to go back had better have not burned any bridges to do so.

And since the Raw thread was closed I'm gonna throw some thoughts in here about that. There were a lot of poster getting mad at people watching the show that don't normally watch having opinions. The Raw after Wrestlemania has traditionally been (up until the past 4 or 5 years) been the most exciting episode of the year. That is the perfect jumping back on point to see if you enjoy the vibe. Getting mad that people who have tuned out have thoughts when they tune in is silly.

They had 2.3 million viewers. And what trended on Twitter? Worst Raw ever. They decided a few years back they don't want fly in smart mark crowds dictating who is allowed to get over, so they stopped the call ups and surprise returns. It's now a normal episode of Raw. And a whole bunch of people that aren't aware of that feel let down. I'm not even someone who was mad at Roman winning at WM. But that episode was the best follow up they could give us? A full on bait & switch of a match most people were probably intrigued to see. And a whole lot of absolutely nothing of note happening. Sorry but there's literally no reason to praise that episode or snap at people who didn't enjoy it.

WWE TV is mostly a content churn. And the post WM Raw used to be an exception to that. Not anymore. The sooner we all accept that's not the case anymore, the sooner we'll be better off.

[WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023]

14 hours ago, SirFozzie said:

Instead it's "Hey, it's "Bloodline saves Roman in a bullshit ending", part XXV!

Sorry for back to back posts here but this one is extra funny to me lol.

"I want wrestling to be more like the 80s!"

*Does modern day Horsemen with lots of fuck finishes to save Flair.*

"No not like THAT!"

Don't mean for that to suggest that you said that specifically, just seems like a lot of the same sentiment I'm seeing here. The Bloodline is just The Horsemen. That's literally all this is. They even call Solo The Enforcer. They have the generational tag team. They just replaced the boozing and parting with family pride & heritage. I think we all have to dial back our personal opinions and realize that's all they are, opinions. Not facts. There's been 39 Wrestlemanias. By my count there's been 26ish babyface wins to end the show with the happy ending. Just because the ratio is 70% that doesn't mean it HAS TO end that way every single time. And frankly if it does, the event loses it's impact (narrative speaking, financially they are set probably forever regardless).

[WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023]

20 hours ago, Thunder Down Under said:

The Rock story is obvious, but if it’s not him, Punk is the only big enough name that’s either not on the roster or that hasn’t already been tarnished by losing to Reigns.

I'm still catching up but waned to comment on this thought. I would tend to age with you. Except Sami started being with The Bloodline in what, May? Within 9 months he went from comedy jobber who got beat in a literal mouse trap to The Jackass Guy to the most over babyface in foreverrrr having one of the most memorable matches in a decade. I believe in Heyman and his storytelling. No one right now looks like much of anything. But Heyman can make anyone credible given enough time. And if lightning strikes just right he can create mega stars over night. Who knows maybe Montez Ford all of suden gets a deep rich story with The Bloodline that gets him just as over as Sami was.

And unrelated to the comment above... imagine how silly all this bickering about 'is Jey going to be the one to beat him' / 'who is ready to beat him now' will look in 4 more years... when Roman is still the champion. I think people really have to start getting their minds around the possibility they have cemented that they wanted him to beat Bruno's record. I keep beating on this horse. But this is literally the most likely chance of this happening in 40 years. It's something people have to start treating as totally possible.

 

Spoiler

This reign doesn't end a day before May 3rd, 2028.

 

[WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023]

2 minutes ago, Andrew POE! said:

Partially serious. But eventually whatever audience that is left for WWE won't be back to hear Reigns drone on and on every week. It's borderline HHH "Reign of Terror" territory.

You're a garbage person for suggesting that. The TV bad guy is mean and making my TV show not so fun, I hope people beat him up. Go back to Reddit or Twitter with that shit man.

[WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023]

I love Roman going over. I've thought this for a bit now, but I think the plan is for Roman to break Bruno's record. WWE prints money no matter who is positioned where. You make a legitimate monster mega star in Reigns doing something no one else has ever done. And you make a legitimate mega star with whoever beats him. I mean I could be wrong. But who is left? Cody & Sami were both INCREDIBLY over and could have been fitting caps to this run. No one else on the horizon is in their league. So it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

Feel for Shane. I tore my ACL on a top rope backflip. It's very similar to what happened to Shane. Landed flat footed but slightly hunched forward on the leapfrog and the ligament just popped. He tried to post off the hurt leg to get out and with no ACL the bone slid forward and gave out. I don't think Shane should be an onscreen performer at this point but man I hate to see anyone have to go through the hell that is ACL reconstruction. It fucking sucks.

Night 1 was better but Bianca vs Asuka, Cody v Roman, & IC triple Threat were all bangers.

[WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023]

1 minute ago, Andrew POE! said:

Not to be a jerk but fuck it....I hope fans at Raw tomorrow attack Roman Reigns. Don't give him a chance to speak and do his boring promos talking about how he won, etc....they should try to hurt him.

The fuck is this shit? Am I misunderstanding some hyperbole or are you actually asking for fans to physically attack a performer because you don't like the writing the company is giving him? What a garbage post.

[WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023]

First the good. Everything. All of it. That was a damn good show. Even the match I liked the least (Cena vs Theory) was still good. And some of it was downright fucking stellar. Rey vs Dom, Rhea vs Charolette, The Main Event.

The bad. The bullshit sell out sponsorship shit went too far. You have Rey & Dom, the culmination of a almost a yera long story with very adult tones and a realism to it you don't often get from WWE. And these two guys have to settle their blood feud in a neon zone of kid's cereal bullshit. I complained in a Dynamite thread about the ropes being distracting to me and taking me out of the presentation. This was that x500000000. I get you gotta make your money. But the trons being neon purple EVERYWHERE is too god damn much. I also don't know how a kid's cereal company would be cool with a delinquent petulant child being released from prison and accosting his sister and mother taking an ass whopping from his father. Screams great product placement to me

[April 2023 Wrestling Discussion]

55 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

That's fair. We've all got problematic friends, or are fans of people who have said some very dumb shit -  I'm not suggesting the guy's an irredeemable human being. I'm just, you know, 1000% sure people are also pretty offended by things like 'Youre a dude,' 'Youre a piece of trash,' 'You are filth,' 'Get the fuck out of here,' and 'faggot.' I wasn't trying to come across as morally superior, just as someone with morals.

No, don't back track. Doing one good deed doesn't make you a good person when you're publicly popping off at the mouth like the racist uncle of a generation gone by. Saying transphobic things like that negates good deeds. At heart he's a hateful garbage person and I would suggest his good deed was probably done as a way to over compensate for knowing deep down he's a garbage person.
 

1 hour ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

You’re entitled to your opinion.  I don’t really think you’re entitled to the morally superiority bs.  Like I said, he stepped up for some friends, so I’m more offended by your post them I normally would be.

If you think standing up for the equal ethical treatment of everyone is "morally superiority bs" then maybe this is a you problem and not a him problem. You shouldn't let one good deed of someone cloud your judgement. Bad people can do good deeds all day long. It doesn't erase nor exonerate them if they then go and do a shitty thing. And make no mistake about it this was a SHITTY thing.

[Ring of Honor - 2023]

14 minutes ago, Dolphman 3000 said:

Yeah but you have to tell that story and not just Calvinball everything after the fact - the Jay Briscoe Memorial Ladder Match should have had Mark on commentary so he could raise the winner's hands to put a cap on his tag-team career (since reports are that's what he wants to do). Leaving him alone in the ring with the tag belt after losing to Joe was just depressing.

Yeah I agree with you there. The storytelling wasn't there. At the very least if you're dead set on him working Joe as the lead in, have him have both belts with him and leave them set up in the center as he walks out. As a visual tribute to Jay and a passing on of the lineage thing. Anything other than him just leaving with one belt and no real segue into the next segment he's supposed to have a had a large part in creating (story wise).

Ultimately I think the sheer volume of content that he's producing is causing TK to lose the little details that used to be there and make things make a little more sense. Gonna be even worse with another in ring show on the way. For all the great things about AEW / ROH, I am not at all a fan of the WWE-ifying of their identity. Multiple brands. Too many hours of product to follow. Too many titles. Turning into quantity over quality.

I mean hindsight and all, but to me the real emotion fueled way to book Mark was to let him go on the most epic tag title run of all time. He does promo after promo about how he loves his brother and this is the last time they will ever hold tag titles together. How he's not ready to let that part of his life go and how he can't let go of Jay. Not without a fight. Then you send him on the most epic 2 on 1 run of all time. He defends the tag titles alone. Against all of The Briscoe's classic rivals. Have him beat SCU. Have him beat The Bucks. Have him beat The Kingdom. Just let that shit be the thing legends are made of. When the time is right someone eventually beats him. And you have (hopefully) created the hottest star in the company and he is ripe to get a world title run. But that's just where my creative juices go to.

[Ring of Honor - 2023]

I am so bummed about Dante's injury. It was almost as bad as Sid. A very talented young man may have just lost his career and his quality of life going forward. My thoughts go out to him. AEW / ROH need to do something about the chaos of their ladder match structures. This is second time there has been catastrophic injury in one. The other being Fenix snapping his arm on an apron chokeslam. The agents need to find a way to reign in the chaos and bring a little more safety to the dangerous spots.

I understand the booking in hindsight. Think when Angle worked Benoit at the 2003 Royal Rumble. That loss is what catapulted him into his run to the title next year. With that in mind a stand out performance loss for Mark can make sense, if that's where they're going. Doubly so if they keep filling the heat balloon with Claudio. Giving some bad finishes in service to an ultimate great finish is definitely acceptable. But I am not at all confident that is where it's heading.

And if not just baffling to have two giant heel finishes like that. Even more baffling is whatever that ending was. Shibata giving no shits and wanting nothing to do with a run in. Kingston kind of just swearing for the sake of it. Just odd and in no way did it reinflate the crowd to send them home in an okay mood. Heel endings are necessary. But sometimes it's better to end with the heat than try to send the crowd home happy and miss the mark.

To end on a positive note I do like the simplistic title designs they've introduced. Just gotta get new TV & Six Man belts made. The titles all being silver is a nice touch for the number two company under the TK Umbrella.

[WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023]

The set is dope this year. Really like how it's incorporated the theme instead of just being the normal screens with extra lighting. Up there with the best looking / most creative of all the Wrestlemania sets.

[AEW Dynamite - 3/29/2023]

Ahh so those stupid ropes are here to say. Ugh hope they grow on me.

[2023 NFL OFFSEASON]

5 hours ago, Kevin Wilson said:

I kinda miss that guy, I hope he makes a new account and just eases into it again and we don't realize its the same person until a few months in and suddenly we all go ITS THAT GUY and roll our eyes.

You shut your dirty mouth lol. We don't need him to show up for a third time. He was also banned for slut shaming Britt Baker / demanding Sammy & Tay publicly apologize for hiding their relationship from him at an autograph signing / trying to fight posters under his first incarnation. The NFL is fixed was his second account gimmick but he was also saying more gross women's wrestling stuff. Don't you make that monkey paw curl damn you.

[DYNAMITE - 3/22/2023!]

The red white & blue fit 80s WWE. It fit their brand and identity. And it fit the time. 80s WCW didn't have a singular identiy. Thir scheme seemed to change a bunch.

Idk I have always seen AEW's production as the spiritual successor to early Nitro. Regular rails. Black ropes that don't steal your attention visually. But the new bright logo filled rail lining. The new colored rope scheme. It's not what I associate with AEW. I had always associated them letting the wrestling stand out vs the gaudy bright colors and shiny shit everywhere and the excessive branding. Times are a changing. And I'm just one person. But this one person probably won't be paying as much attention going forward if it's going to be WWE-lite visually.

I chalk up being okay with it in the 80s to TVs not being HD. Now the contrast is jacked up so much and everything is hyper lit and hyper bright. That color scheme seriously clashed with me watching the action.

[DYNAMITE - 3/22/2023!]

I only skimmed through the first 4 or 5 pages so apologies if this was brought up already. But I am shocked not to see much talk on the rope color. It actively took away from my enjoyment of the show. It was distracting and off putting. It felt like a low rent flea market independent that tries to pretend like they are WWE from the 80s. It doesn't fit AEW's brand. It's like some try hard shit. I guess I'm probably the only one that feels this way.

I'm starting to feel like man yelling at clouds. But I like traditional guard rails. I like simple black ropes. I'm not a fan of AEW WWE'ing their on screen presentation. I hate the look of WWE shows. Everything is so gaudy and over produced. And it seems like AEW is starting to do that. It's starting to turn me off. Maybe I'm alone in that. Maybe I'm gonna go full Drew here and the production look will be my Young Bucks lol.

Yes, yes, Vikingo & Kenny was fucking awesome. I loved it. But I would have loved it way more if I wasn't so distracted by the new aesthetics. Thanks for reading my rant. Now get off my lawn.

[2023 NFL OFFSEASON]

Is The Super Bowl winning QB Jeff Hostetler in this conversation ? *Greatest Giants player of all time!

*Only backup QBs that win in a Super Bowl are eligible in this particular post

[AEW DYNAMITE!- 3/15/2023!]

8 minutes ago, Andrew POE! said:

My problem is more the booking for all three of those guys doesn't lead me to believe they are world title material more so than that they are small or aren't big dudes. By that logic, Miro and Brian Cage should be in the World title picture because they are big dudes and look like main eventers....it's just that no one wants to see them.

I don't have a problem with Darby having a World title reign although I have a hard time buying it personally. I mean Tony Khan gave a World title reign to MJF so he can give it to Darby.

My comment wasn't related to size at all. Notice my MJF / Darby / Sammy / Jungleboy comps were Triple H, Mick Foely, Austin & The Rock. It's not about size or look as much as just having new fresh guys at the top. But you have to pick the right guys for that to work. And they have to get over. I'm on board with 3 out of the 4. But I don't see it for Sammy. I think Starks def belongs in that 4h spot. And all 5 of these potential options are up for debate. Some people thought Test was a better choice for the top of the card than Triple H back in the day for example.

My greater point tho was you can't stick to what you've been doing if you want to grow. What you're doing gets you to where you're at. Then you level off. You have to mix in some new faces and take a few gambles to see if it can get you beyond where you're at. Get to the next level. Sicking with Mox & Jericho as world champions here feels like a mistake and going with new acts on top is the right call. It's just which new acts are right for it. I know you're not an MJF fan. So maybe if it wasn't MJF & it was someone like Starks that got the MJF run you'd have a different opinion?

[AEW DYNAMITE!- 3/15/2023!]

On 3/16/2023 at 7:09 AM, Andrew POE! said:

Read the results and...I would give none of the wrestlers (including MJF) a World title at this point. Sammy Guevara is known for trying to beat Jeff Hardy to a wheelchair with stupid spots. Jungle Jack Perry is essentially midcard for life after his feud and promos with Christian. Darby Allin, while he has a following and fans actually like him, has lost too much to be effective (to me, if his TNT title reign was longer and lasted until AEW Revolution, I would have argued that would help his case). And we know my feelings about MJF so I won't go over that.

Claudio, Moxley, Hangman Page, Jericho, Danielson (if he ever comes back) and Omega are the main event/World title material.

Let me put this in my 1997 filter hold on a sec.

Yeah! Hunter, Mankind, The Rock, & Austin don't deserve the world title! Stupid mid carders! It should be for Taker, Bret, & Shawn only!

Listen it's not apples to apples but they are going with a youth thing on top. I'm not saying you're wrong with the guys you're listing for who you want on top (just as Bret Shawn & Taker aren't wrong). But you gotta try new things to get new people over and catch that spark. If the same thought process you have now existed in 1997 they wouldn't have tried any of the new guys that made the business go boom. Bret & Shawn on top hit their popularity ceiling. There's no way WWE goes to that next level sticking with them. And I'm willing to be that's the thought process here.

You can debate if they have the right guys slotted in or not. But they're shooting their shot. In my opinion Darby could win the title tomorrow and not a single person would complain. But I bet a bunch of people would complain if Mox or Jericho got the title back. Been there done that vibes. Wrestling fans always want new. And if you ride the horse a year too long that's wayyyyy worse than getting off the horse a year too soon.

[March 2023 AEW Discussion]

Thats not how this works tho. To construct a coherent story weaving through multiple television programs you don't outsource the writing for the other shows to someone else. For instance let's just use MJF vs Danielson here. Say TK has the book for Dynamite. He's doing the run the gauntlet gimmick. But Jarrett has the book for Collision. And Jarrett just does his own story for MJF & Danielson that doesn't fit the narrative.

You can't really farm out entire TV shows like that. Now your greater point tho if TK delegated hat he would be booking the world title, the womens world title and the tag title programs, then he delegated Trios, TNT, & TBS to someone else, then delegated International and the non title women to someone else. And Drak / Elevation & under card men to someone else. That's a structure that could possibly work.

I just think TK is very picky & very controlling. And I get it. Vince is that way too. Nothing got on TV without his approval. It's like it takes a certain personality type to get this kind of venture to the dance. But once you're at the dance, that same personality type is a detriment.

Personally I wish he'd structure the booking somewhat like I laid out. And just straight up separated ROH and let someone like Dustin Rhoads or Christopher Daniels book that. I just don't think that's in the cards tho.

[March 2023 AEW Discussion]

Sorry to double post but I just realized exactly how much TV AEW are producing and it's mind boggling.

-AEW Dynamite -2 Hours
-AEW Rampage -1 Hour
-AEW Dark -1.5 Hours
-AEW Elevation -1.5 Hours
-AEW All Access -1 Hour
-AEW Collision -1 Hour
-ROH Weekly TV -2 Hours

-AEW Battle Of The Belts -1 Hour per quarter

-8 PPVs a year now counting Forbidden Door & ROH -4 to 5 Hours Each

If TK really is booking it all he's going to burn out. I believe Shawn Dean & QT do the booking for Dark & Elevation at the very least. But still. Just SO MUCH CONTENT. too much for one man, or even one team. It's even more than WWE is producing per week.

[March 2023 AEW Discussion]

This will be the sixth AEW show WBD pick up. Dynamite, Rampage, Battle of The Belts, All Access, Collision, Rhoads To The Top.

There's no justifiable way to say WBD are looking to get rid of AEW. They are ordering more more more shows from them. And I totally get why. We can micro-analyze the ratings every week til we are blue in the face. But the price point (even factoring in a fee increase) is still better than first run scripted television and even sports. What's the deal as of now? It's like 43million a year? Divided by a lottttt of hours of TV. Wy better value for WBD than paying for expensive scripted shows.

It's a good fit. I know that crushes a lot of poster's narratives. But it's a good match that is going to continue for years to come.

For me, it's just too much. I'm not going to watch all of it. I'm going to watch Dynamite and continue to DVR the rest of the shows and will check out the stuff that gets good reviews or just skip it. More wrestling programming is a good thing for AEW's health. But at a certain point it tips and there's just too much and I lose interest. And that's where we are at. But that's just me.

[2023 NFL OFFSEASON]

2 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Well, Scott Fowler is now reporting that Carolina is looking into trading down from #1.

Yes, for real.  

Yes, lol is an appropriate response.

Could this be how they go after Lamar? A deal with The Ravens for number one? But even then it doesn't make much sense because they gave up DJ Moore and their one next year (plus 2 twos). Do they give The Ravens the number one pick (not a swap, The Ravens keep their own one), and a one in 2025? Then sign Lamar? Idk. Seems like a simpler route would have been just signing him to an offer sheet and giving away two ones if that was the case.

Do they think they can trade down to like 2 or 3 and get back everything they gave the Bears and still get their guy at 2 or 3? That seems risky AF. Like a kid fucking around on Madden franchise mode.

[2023 NFL OFFSEASON]

Yeah The Bears won this one. While it may not be as much as others have gotten for the Number One pick, it's far more than I expected a team with limited leverage to get. They have their QB and in a QB heavy draft it's not like The Panthers HAD to move up to get one of the top 5.

DJ Moore is the perfect fit for The Bears in a way Claypool isn't. They get a solid above league average number 1 WR now and can use that 9th pick on a different position than WR. For their wants and needs this is a great deal.

For The Panthers if the QB hits this is still a win for them. It's just a roll of the dice. If the QB doesn't hit they are pretty bad off. But they must be pretty confident in the guy they want being a hit. We shall see.

[2023 NFL OFFSEASON]

I feel for Lamar, but I also don't. His talents and abilities more than warrant a huge price tag. But his stubborn ass acting as his own agent is truthfully what's hurting him here. He's compounding the collusion. The NFL absolutely does not want fully guaranteed contracts to be the norm. The NFL absolutely do no want athletes acting as their own agents to become the norm. No one is going to set both of those precedents at the same time.

That's what all the Twitter hot takes slamming Daniel Jones' deal in comparison are missing. Front offices have a lot of give and take with agents. We'll give you a little more here than we'd like but you're giving up a little leverage on the next client we're working with you on kind of thing. He wants to keep every penny and not pay out a percentage to an agent. He wants to keep every penny and have it all fully guaranteed. He wants a lot. And all together it's just too much.

I also think Dashawn looking like dog shit this year really soured any movement that had been made with the fully guaranteed deals. He looked badddddd. And I bet every GM went, well shit glad we didn't sign that guy to that deal. The Browns are fucked. And no one else wants to do that to themselves. Basically the sexual deviant and The Browns ruined it for the rest of the league.

[2023 NFL OFFSEASON]

Right. The way it's structured there's a ripcord after two years, in both cases. They are paying above what the tag is but taking less of a cap hit this way each of the first two years.

Daniel Jones is absolutely better than Geno Smith. In a similar situation in New York (with a worse coach but better receivers as a Giants QB) Geno tanked. Geno had a very good year this year. Geno also had Lockett. And DK. And Noah Fant. And Kenneth Walker. He had options. He had weapons. Yet The Seahawks won zero playoff games. The Giants won one.

It's not all about stats. Intangibles play a factor here. Jones isn't top tier by any means. But he's way under rated at least in this conversation. Give Jones DK & Lockett & Fant. Then let's see what those numbers say.