Wrestling Thread: the New Generation

[hummingofevil]

if I can pull my head out of my arse to appreciate it Rollins Lesnar could be a great match in-ring. They just need me to give a shit.

Broadly, I think this is the going to be the CM Punk Mania though; where his banging on at them for pushing guys on the way out over the roster talent finally reaches its bleak realisation. They've sacrificed building top tier drawing talent for years in order to push the WWE brand and we finally get a Mania that, the women's match aside, no-one gives two fucks about.

[hummingofevil]

Let's see. So far it looks like:

Ronda vs Becky vs Charlotte
Brock vs Seth
Bryan vs Kofi
Asuka vs Lacey Evans (god help us!)
HHH vs Batista
AJ vs Orton
Miz vs Shane (assuming a heel turn on Sunday)
and possibly Reigns vs Ambrose

No. Not very exciting.

Strowman, McIntyre, Lashley, Balor, Andrade, Rey, all the tag teams, Sasha and Bayley....

I'm not saying you are wrong for forgetting about them but it totally sums up the state WWE is in that when predicting a Mania card you've forgotten about all of these people who have (most within the last 2 years,)all been red hot with crowds as the next big thing.

[Delete Delete Delete]

R Truths open challenge gimmick is money.

[hummingofevil]

R Truths open challenge gimmick is money.

Mania open challenge. You know whose music is hitting. I approve.

edit:maybe not.

[ToneLa]

Asuka

Vs Lacey Evans

Now I like Lacey. More than I should but more than I expect.

But just what is this fucking obsession with making hot women wrestle. I sort of get it but surely Vince has evolved beyond such fratboy post-Borat urges

Lana was terrible. Selina Vega, yikes! But these ladies never set oot to be fuckin brawlers contending for Asuka's crown

Seriously. What is justification

[Ja'moke]

Let's see. So far it looks like:

Ronda vs Becky vs Charlotte
Brock vs Seth
Bryan vs Kofi
Asuka vs Lacey Evans (god help us!)
HHH vs Batista
AJ vs Orton
Miz vs Shane (assuming a heel turn on Sunday)
and possibly Reigns vs Ambrose

No. Not very exciting.

I'm expecting a ladder match for the SD Tag titles. They seem to building to that with the interaction between The Hardys, Rusev & Nakamura, The Bar and Ricochet & Black. Obviously I expect the Usos to retain on Sunday and defend at Mania.

I actually think match wise all the main title matches (Raw Women's, Universal, WWE) should be great. Also think Orton and AJ will put on a solid match in the undercard, like how Orton and Rollins did back at WM31.

Maybe Joe v Cena will happen for the US title too?

[madhair60]

Cannot WAIT for Mania weekend. Takeover Fri. G1 Supercard Sat. Mania Sun. Total mangrap fuckdown.

[Timothy]

Ah man. R Truth vs Cena at Mania would have been great.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Asuka

Vs Lacey Evans

Now I like Lacey. More than I should but more than I expect.

But just what is this fucking obsession with making hot women wrestle. I sort of get it but surely Vince has evolved beyond such fratboy post-Borat urges

Lana was terrible. Selina Vega, yikes! But these ladies never set oot to be fuckin brawlers contending for Asuka's crown

Seriously. What is justification

Aren't most of the women's roster at least in the category of "easy on the eye"? I mean, it's fantastic that we've got women that can put on matches and cut promos as good as any of the men now, but a large part of the attraction of Becky as a worker is that I absolutely fancy the arse off her. I'm not the only one thinking that, right?

And I'm not even going to pretend that the men's roster hasn't been graced by guys who can't wrestle for shit but look good and were pushed to the moon for that reason.

I wouldn't put Lacey in that category though. She can put on a decent match and Asuka can carry anyone. At the very least it'll be watchable and it won't overshadow the main event. Perversely, what you don't want at a show this long is some sort of Ember Moon-Asuka classic to burn the crowd out on halfway through the show.

[hummingofevil]

Cannot WAIT for Mania weekend. Takeover Fri. G1 Supercard Sat. Mania Sun. Total mangrap fuckdown.

THIS is a mangrap fuckdown! $160 for every (it's not every - no Stardom for a start) Mania week show.

http://www.wrestling-news.net/fite-tv-announce-details-of-fite-fest-package-featuring-live-streams-of-all-wrestlemania-week-events/119103/

[mikeyg27]

and possibly Reigns vs Ambrose

I don't know if you saw who Alvarez and Meltzer speculated Roman's WM opponent would be but it genuinely sent me into a two-minute giggling fit.

In less funny news, it seems Ciampa's about to have neck surgery.

[Mobius]

Really sucks about Ciampa :(

Jay White and Will Ospreay putting on a phenomal match currently

[Deanjam]

I don't know if you saw who Alvarez and Meltzer speculated Roman's WM opponent would be but it genuinely sent me into a two-minute giggling fit.

Do tell.

[mikeyg27]

Here you go.

I personally refuse to believe this is even an option.

[Mobius]

They reckon Corbin.

Just realised Fastlane is this weekend, man these PPVs come around fast and feel so pointless.

[mikeyg27]

Fastlane really is a no-mans land of a PPV. It's just hard to invest in the idea of any consequence coming out of it with Wrestlemania looming so close. When PPVs were brand-exclusive they just about got away with it because each show only had one PPV between the Rumble and Mania, but two is just treading water for the sake of it.

[Deanjam]

Corbin? I'd even prefer Jinder.

[hummingofevil]

THIS is a mangrap fuckdown! $160 for every (it's not every - no Stardom for a start) Mania week show.

http://www.wrestling-news.net/fite-tv-announce-details-of-fite-fest-package-featuring-live-streams-of-all-wrestlemania-week-events/119103/

My mistake. Stardom is included and it's $120 if you order before March 11th.

https://www.fite.tv/watch/fite-fest-wrestlemania-weekend/2oi5e/

[hummingofevil]

Corbin? I'd even prefer Jinder.

At least Corbin seems to get legit booed off crowds and he's not interesting enough for a Mania crowd of smartarses to try to shit with the match.

Roman getting booed on Raw after mania was my prediction when he announced his illness and I stand by it.

[An Actual Propeller]

My mistake. Stardom is included and it's $120 if you order before March 11th.

https://www.fite.tv/watch/fite-fest-wrestlemania-weekend/2oi5e/

Imagine being the poor cunt who bought WrestlePro vs. CZW tickets cos ROH/NJPW had sold out straight away, only to find that ROH/NJPW tickets are rather cheap now on the reseller sites cos Omega and the Young Bucks left.

[Custard]

Rewatching the (pretty poor) Survivor Series 93 on the Network, I wondered who Shawn's team of masked Knights were. (Shawn had to replace Lawler in the team elimination match against the Hart family last minute, due to him getting in bother in regards to possibly doinking an underage girl. Bleurrrgghhgh).

Turns out one was Barry Horowitz, and one was Greg Valentine! The other was some bloke from Lawler's territory, who I'd never heard of

Hilarious colour from Heenan, though. His stuff about Stu and Helen in particular was dynamite.

There's some fud presenter from Family Feud also on commentary, and he's so diabolically appalling and annoying with it, that it quickly becomes hilarious. Vince keeps cutting him off before he even reaches the end of another inane sentence.

Well worth checking out! They don't make 'em like that anymore

[Timothy]

Interview with Cody about AEW.

Q: How do you avoid the "There are wrestlers running this company, they're pushing themselves. They're putting themselves over." Obviously, there's always that danger when the talent is also in charge.

A: In wrestling, some people tend to want it written and some people want it booked. I like wrestling when it's booked. That's the wrestling my father [Dusty Rhodes] was famous for, the territory era. I'm not trying to bring back that era, but I think it yielded really good content, versus sitcom writers writing a wrestling show. I know that sounds so anti-WWE, it's not. I'm just telling you from a standpoint of what we provide.

If you want heavily scripted TV, that's something WWE can do. If you want sports-centric booked wrestling, I think that's something we can do.

: You guys are working on a TV deal. In your opinion, what's at the core of a fresh wrestling television show?

A: To me it's treating it as live sports. The core to that is characters, and I think characters beam across your television set or devices in ways perhaps people have forgotten. Wrestling used to have these great enhancements matches, these squash matches where you would see these characters and the things he could do. He'd tell you what you had at the pay-per-view event and things of that nature.

At the core of all wrestling, when it's done right, is the characters and their connection to the audience. If you really think about it, we're the only thing out there — the pro wrestling genre in general — we are the only thing out there with that type of engagement with the audience, and that engagement somehow affects what happens in the ring, especially when you are someone like a Chris Jericho and you can hear it, feel it completely in your bone. It's really important that the character engage the audience. You don't just want to be watching a show, you want to be participating.

https://nypost.com/2019/03/06/cody-rhodes-on-aew-launch-mocking-wwe-and-why-chris-jericho-is-kind-of-a-d-k/

[An Actual Propeller]

Turns out one was Barry Horowitz, and one was Greg Valentine! The other was some bloke from Lawler's territory, who I'd never heard of

If memory serves me correctly, one of the knights was supposed to be Terry Funk, but he bailed out at the last minute by saying that his horse was sick.  Major levels of dog-eating-your-homework excuses there.

[ToneLa]

Hooray, the latest Lapsed Fan covers the death of Bruiser Brody

Which is the first time I've tuned into this World Class marathon

[Z]

Hooray, the latest Lapsed Fan covers the death of Bruiser Brody

Which is the first time I've tuned into this World Class marathon

You're missing out, it's probably their best run imo.

[ToneLa]

You're missing out, it's probably their best run imo.

Not too familiar with World Class but this episode is amazing. I'm gonna have to catch up on the Network and give these a real chance!

[Ja'moke]

Jeff Jarrett is on the WWE creative team now too, according to PWInsider.

[Custard]

If memory serves me correctly, one of the knights was supposed to be Terry Funk, but he bailed out at the last minute by saying that his horse was sick.  Major levels of dog-eating-your-homework excuses there.

Quality excuse there. Using that for work tomorrow

Watched a bit of Summerslam 91 earlier. Always liked the six man opener of Steamboat, Bulldog and Von Erich vs Warlord and Power and Glory. It hasn't aged that greatly, but it still had me smiling

Bret vs Perfect for the IC belt is still a cracker. I'm reading Bret's book at the moment, and he absolutely adored working with Hennig. Says it was so easy, creative and fun. And you can deffo see all that in this match, even though Hennig's back was mullered by this point. He did everything he could to put Bret over. Great stuff

[Ja'moke]

From Rousey's latest YouTube video:

"I'm not going out there and doing their f*cking act anymore. I'm going out there and doing whatever the hell I want. And they can explain it however they want, but ... f*ck em. Everybody. WWE Universe included. I meant that I'm going to disrespect the sport that they all love so much. 'Ohhhh don't break kayfabe Ronda!' Wrestling is scripted. It's made up. It's not real. None of those bitches can f*cking touch me. The end."

I get that it's storyline. But it's still shit.

[ToneLa]

From Rousey's latest YouTube video:

'Ohhhh don't break kayfabe Ronda!' Wrestling is scripted. It's made up. It's not real.