Dolfan in NYC Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Orange and blue, green and pink. I see you in everything. Don't need money, don't need wine, I've got better ways to spend my time. Well, we're at the precipice of another Royal Rumble. And it looks like everyone's new favorite thing is Jacob Fatu blossoming into a monster before our eyes. Let's watch the fun again: Yay! I'll see you around... Every hollow has its favorite sound and my heart is holding on... Of course, last week's best highlight was Kevin Owens continuing to show that he should be in charge of all WWE merchandise, for the rest of his life. AND IF YOU SHARE THIS OPINION... https://shop.wwe.com/en/mens-red-kevin-owens-cody-sucks-eggs-t-shirt/p-350079756672125020+z-92-1802711545 Purple, yellow, reddish brown... Once I felt you, I couldn't lay you down. Don't be shy, baby, don't be careful with me. Let it go, let it soak me down. Like I said, the Royal Rumble is Saturday! What's on tap for tonight though? Oh... and "The Raw debut of Logan Paul." Yippee. (Though that rumor with the other wrestler who's thinking about a retirement match at Mania... hmm...) (Her best album. Fight me.) Enjoy the week! 2
worldcupfever Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Not her best album, but definitely one of her two best songs. 1
The Natural Posted January 27 Posted January 27 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1bayjZQcx4A&pp=ygUTa2V2aW4gb3dlbnMgbWF0dGhldw%3D%3D Kevin Owens is the best. 1
blitzkrieg Posted January 27 Posted January 27 I hope the legends have chairs that spin around when they pick people for their teams. 1 1
username Posted January 28 Posted January 28 Jesus felt like WWE went full early AEW with not stopping the tag title match after JD ate all the shit in the world on that moonsault into the table. Hope he's okay, he's a really strong seller but... yeah, hope he's fine. 2
blitzkrieg Posted January 28 Posted January 28 Opening Seth regrettably wasn't as much of the serious Seth that we've had recently. Gunther was fine on the mic but boy do I not care about the prospect of Seth and Gunther. Logan Paul comes out and Atlanta hates him and it's great. Much like Gunther, I want Logan Paul to face Gunther so that I can watch him chop his soul out of his body. The Punk/Sami bit was a nice little followup from last week. Always appreciate Karrion as a truth teller. Also, bit awkward between Cody and Sami. God I hope that JD is alright. First Zoey tries to kill Dakota last night and tonight the announce table tries to kill JD. Amazing things went so well considering that. Thoughts and prayers for JD. I could get behind Kaiser and Dunne uniting up, when is Tyler getting back? Love the running shtick of "...even they don't like us?" Great bit with Cathy listing everyone from Atlanta except Xavier Woods as it's favorite son. Last week I wasn't so sure about Kofi losing to Rey so soon after the heel turn but I'm starting to dig the vision. Xavier's family showing up late AND then turning their back on him, while debuting the New Day Sucks shirt, was a great way to continue to build the disconnect between Xavier and Kofi and the rest of the world. As bad as what they did verbally to Big E was, I assume that they're eventually going snap and do something worse to someone physically. Also if Zelina has any doubts about moving to Smackdown, I have one word for her...tranquilo. Nice to see Lyra and have her declare for the Rumble. Totally down for Ivy being potentially her first challenger. There were a couple awkward moments but an overall enjoyable match between Belair/Naomi and Liv/Raquel. I don't know if Bianca and Naomi were totally comfortable with it but I do love that Raquel seems to kinda work a bit of realism into things even if it doesn't necessarily make for the prettiest stuff. Totally cool with Liv and Raquel going after the tag titles since that should keep them away from Rhea. Nice moment with Bayley and Iyo. They have history! Penta package was nice and still treated him like a big deal with his entry into the Rumble. The Bloodline Edition cover of WWE 2K25 is really cool. Drew calling Punk Paul's boy! Was surprised that they ran back Sami/Drew so quickly after SNME but felt this match tonight got to breathe a little bit more. The two of them know each other so well that they can probably put a great match together in their sleep. Liked the callback to Drew losing to Jey when Sami got him with the crucifix after the missed Claymore. Like that every time Sami gets a little bit closer to beating Drew but ultimately Drew finds a way. Like Drew and KO both having the MO at this point of just attacking their opponents after they win. Cody comes to Sami's defense despite the awkwardness earlier because that's just the guy Cody is. Course KO shows up. Chaos ensues and once again Sami hits the wrong man...or did he? Is Cody concussed from that Helluva Kick because he certainly sounds out of it. Punk comes out and they go back and forth amazingly because they have HISTORY~! The final bit with each other going, "I'm not done..." as each tries to get the last word was great. I want like 10 different people to the win the Rumble now but only one can! Probably not as good as the last two weeks but a really good "go home" show. The Rumble matches feel important and that's good. I imagine we'll get the last bit of build for the ladder match on Smackdown. Will say the last few weeks I've started the show late and as a result I'm honestly surprised when the show actually is over which is a feeling I don't hate. 2
Eivion Posted January 28 Posted January 28 Skipped around some of the opening segment, but it mostly went well. Gunther has gotten so much better talking as a heel, and Paul has been a natural since he started. The heat he got for even coming out while Seth and Günther were chatting was massive. Surprised he managed to get what he managed out and still play against the audience somewhat at the end. Still don't have a strong desire to see him so I hope the Paul/Gunther talk dies down unless WWE heads ot Germany or Austria again. JD/Dom vs. War Raiders was good despite scary bump JD suffered from the asai moonsault early on. JD was kind of insane to be able to continue, and I think the crowd was honestly a bit worried for a least a few minutes after until he was able to more or less go full tilt again. As good as it was I do wish the ref checked on JD a little longer and let him rest a bit more at least. Rey/Woods was fun. Particularly dug the finish with Woods on family turning on him for what he and Kofi did to Big E. Bianca/Naomi vs. Liv/Raquel was pretty nice. Both teams worked well together. Will be fun if they do a bigger rematch for the titles. Feels almost assured given the winners. The Heyman/Drew segment was good. Dug Heyman getting a bit of spirit at the end right before that last line from Drew about Punk. Sami/Drew was good. Sami got busted pretty bad here, but he continued on admirably, and I honestly think it helped kill the cheers Drew was getting from the hardcores. The Post match with Cody and KO was good. The final segment between Cody and Punk was a great setup for Mania if they go that route. All the wrestling was good, and the segments were solid or more. Still, 4 matches at 2 and half hours is still too few, especially given how well NXT tended to balance things the past 2-3 years. Even with that complaint I thought this was a good show for general build and the Royal Rumble itself. No apparent winner for the women's outside of Bayley, but it was good to see Lyra declare herself, Ivy target her for the Rumble and IC title, and that stare down between Io & Bayley keeping their history in mind. On the men's side its nice to see so many potential winners and general feuds going in. Hopefully they can properly use it all for interesting story and moments during the actual match. Good show overall even if a slight step down from the last 2. 2
Johnny Sorrow Posted January 28 Posted January 28 (edited) 15 minutes ago, DMN said: Jey Uso continues to be the modern day Jimmy Valiant. Since Jimmy Valiant is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, that makes me like Jey even more. But as a member of the Boogie Woogie Brigade and one of the Street People? I'm sorry, but Jimmy Uso is the current Jimmy Valiant. Big Jim is the mid card hero with three moves and it doesn't matter because he's over and charismatic and people love him. Wow, that show was weirdly timed out for Netflix. They had that super hot Atlanta crowd that had just gave Paul the loudest go away heat Ive ever heard. They gave him the Hogan in LA treatment. The show was cooking for awhile until they had the crowd sit and stare at videos on the screen forever, then sit though the Heyman video game bit in silence until he got them back. Then Drew comes out and the crowd is mad that no wrestling has happened to the point they're giving Drew some go away heat to just wrap it up. Drew and Sami had to fight to get the crowd back, and they did. And then they did that Cody/ Punk segment that was WAY too long and could have been great if it had been about five minutes shorter. Edited January 28 by Johnny Sorrow 1
username Posted January 28 Posted January 28 Apparently they had to take JD to the hospital afterwards, but "thankfully" it appears to be a rib injury they are concerned about as opposed to his head/neck. Of course my dad once got rushed to the hospital with his finger half torn off (they saved it) and everyone was so concerned with that no one realized for a day or two that he also legit cracked his skull, so the most pressing injury often isn't the only one so fingers still crossed. I do not envy JD when the adrenaline wears off. 2
The Natural Posted January 28 Posted January 28 4 hours ago, username said: Jesus felt like WWE went full early AEW with not stopping the tag title match after JD ate all the shit in the world on that moonsault into the table. Hope he's okay, he's a really strong seller but... yeah, hope he's fine. 2 hours ago, username said: Apparently they had to take JD to the hospital afterwards, but "thankfully" it appears to be a rib injury they are concerned about as opposed to his head/neck. Of course my dad once got rushed to the hospital with his finger half torn off (they saved it) and everyone was so concerned with that no one realized for a day or two that he also legit cracked his skull, so the most pressing injury often isn't the only one so fingers still crossed. I do not envy JD when the adrenaline wears off. https://twitter.com/WrestleOps/status/1884052163326009582 JD's tweeted, he's broken a couple of ribs and punctured his lung. Fuck. Get well soon. 2
Gorman Posted January 28 Posted January 28 When my daughter came home, I gave her a "hip-hop quiz" on some of the rappers who kept showing up. She knew Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and Quavo, but not Killer Mike. If ever there were a year to do my Rumble finish (29 guys in and out, No. 30 walks in and wins the Rumble), it's this year. Logan Paul is the man for the job ... or maybe even Jake Paul. 1 2
hammerva Posted January 28 Posted January 28 3 hours ago, odessasteps said: How he did not break his neck is a miracle. The only thing I can figure after watching that was all of those years of being joked after having a huge head actually paid off on him. I am sure there is no correlation but it is the only thing I can think of to explain how his head wasn't in the ring. Everything about that was disgusting
The Natural Posted January 28 Posted January 28 (edited) 6 hours ago, Gorman said: When my daughter came home, I gave her a "hip-hop quiz" on some of the rappers who kept showing up. She knew Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and Quavo, but not Killer Mike. If ever there were a year to do my Rumble finish (29 guys in and out, No. 30 walks in and wins the Rumble), it's this year. Logan Paul is the man for the job ... or maybe even Jake Paul. It's one of the only firsts left in the Royal Rumble match. It's one to do and I like you, mate...but I really don't want it to go on two POS. Edited January 28 by The Natural 1
The Natural Posted January 28 Posted January 28 https://twitter.com/RonKillings/status/1884014197400637462 R-Truth is a treasure. 1 1
Doragon Posted January 28 Posted January 28 I like the WWE logo on the mat, AJPW does something similar. 1
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 28 Author Posted January 28 7 hours ago, The Natural said: https://twitter.com/WrestleOps/status/1884052163326009582 JD's tweeted, he's broken a couple of ribs and punctured his lung. Fuck. Get well soon. You know it was bad when Cole dropped 'announcer voice' and all the talent went to check on him. 3
Peck Posted January 28 Posted January 28 "You all think I'm racist? Well, here's 19 rappers crammed in to a 2.5 hour show." - H, probably. 2 2
Craig H Posted January 28 Posted January 28 Every Netflix Raw is a parade of celebrities, mostly rappers. Which is...weird? I guess? I know WWE has done this before the Netflix era, but it's every episode now and they're doing it like how UFC does it. I suppose that makes sense given the TKO ownership. Whatever. They should have contacted Killer Mike to use a RTJ song for Raw instead of shitty as hell Travis Scott. Anyway, the Cody and Punk segment felt like something they clearly took out of a comic book. You could easily tell that those two huddled together to come up with the content for the interview from whatever comic book they both love. Punk has done this before, essentially quoting an entire Cyborg Superman monologue before Cyborg Superman destroyed Coast City. So, you can practically feel the Punk turn coming. He's the Lex Luthor in this scenario I suppose. Or really, any major comic book villain that's not just about "RAWR DESTROY!" Really awesome segment though that was tense and finally showed the wear holding the title is having on Cody. I think Cody either dropping the title on night 1 to Punk or retaining it on night 2 against Punk works and then I'm still fully on board the have Jacob Fatu shock everyone and beat the ever-loving shit out of Gunther, but I think the plan is probably Jacob vs Roman. If that's the case, you gotta do Jey vs Gunther. Poor Gunther. Destined to always lose at WM.
Bustronaut Posted January 28 Posted January 28 Looking at the JD video, his arms are above the top of the desk, so the fulcrum of his movement is his back (thus the broken ribs and punctured lung) his head didn't actually hit the table, because they new table top moves *very* easily, so an impact would have moved it out of position. It likely saved his life, if he had been a couple inches lower he probably would have broken his neck and fractured his skull, likely immediately dying. 3
HarryArchieGus Posted January 28 Posted January 28 15 hours ago, DMN said: Jey Uso continues to be the modern day Jimmy Valiant. I like that comparison in ring, but Valiant was a unique and often interesting promo. Uso is not a unique nor interesting promo.
dogwelder Posted January 28 Posted January 28 For those who care in the US, WWE set up a dedicated NXT Youtube channel and has started putting up the old NXT episodes that were taken down when NXT moved to the CW: https://www.youtube.com/@WWENXT 1 3
DMN Posted January 28 Posted January 28 8 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said: I like that comparison in ring, but Valiant was a unique and often interesting promo. Uso is not a unique nor interesting promo. Oh, Valiant was definitely the better talent, and, admittedly, my brain does most of its wrestler comparisons off vibes, and they both have similar vibes to me. Same as how my brain wants to compare Damien Priest to Kevin Nash. 1
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 28 Author Posted January 28 Very good character work by Bron(!) here. You can see the palpable worry behind that fake smile. Especially when he loses it for a sec, then goes back to putting up the facade. He knows he's going to have to work to win this one. (Solid work by the agent.) 3
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