Wrestling 2021: The Big Thread Machine

[Ja'moke]

So Tony Khan has "accidentally" leaked the Full Gear card - he was  photographed at a Jaguars game with a piece of paper facing the camera supposedly showing it.

https://i.redd.it/vnh9ngaxbat71.jpg

Clearly, there's not actually any way in which he didn't know exactly what was going on there, and this isn't the full actual card, though I'm sure it's an approximation. Surprised to see

Spoiler alert

Jade vs Rosa

[close]

on there, although it does make some sense given recent angles, as I thought they were going to build to

Spoiler alert

Britt defending against Jade

[close]

at the PPV.

It looks like Jade v Rosa has an 'X' next to it and says (Jan) in brackets, so likely moved. Also it says a lot about the women's booking that Britt doesn't even have an opponent listed next to her.

[BeardFaceMan]

Jade is going to be the first TBS champ isn't she? I think they'll keep her away from Britt for now. It been clear for a while that they only have eyes for Britt when it comes to the women's division, they've totally forgot to build any women for her to wrestle against.

[Ja'moke]

Yeah, most likely Jade as first TBS champ, and Rosa taking the AEW Women's title off Britt in early 2022.

[letsgobrian]

Pretty much. Everyone knew what he prick was before then from his Twitter anyway, it changed nothing because, well, he can do a *really* good backflip. Gotta be honest and say I've never seen an Ospreay match, mainly because when he was getting hot all I'd hear was how was trying to kill himself in the ring, the ridiculous bumps he was taking, how he's not going to be walking by the time he's 30 etc. That type of thing may be thrilling to watch but I have no interest in encouraging guys to hurt themselves like that so I've never watched him.

An Ospreay match has never made me feel he's trying to kill himself, compared to watching a Hiromu, Naito or an Ibushi match. Nor have any made me as uneasy as watching dudes like Ishii, who I know can do a realistic safe worked headbutt instead choose to do shoot headbutts.

Now watch him do shoot headbutts with Shingo the moment they have a rematch...

[BeardFaceMan]

An Ospreay match has never made me feel he's trying to kill himself, compared to watching a Hiromu, Naito or an Ibushi match. Nor have any made me as uneasy as watching dudes like Ishii, who I know can do a realistic safe worked headbutt instead choose to do shoot headbutts.

Now watch him do shoot headbutts with Shingo the moment they have a rematch...

It's one of the reasons why I've never really watched New Japan, other than a few bits here and there, I'm not a big fan of the strong style. Make your shit snug and lay it in so it looks real, sure, but there's no art to just standing there and actually hitting someone. To me, the art of professional wrestling is making it look like it hurts much more than it does while not really hurting the other guy or yourself. I'll take one spot in a match where dudes stand there and chop the shit out of each others chests while not selling, or the odd stiff exchange to sell a bit of drama, but seeing that kind of thing for the whole match gets boring quickly for me. Not to mention what they're doing to themselves, it's just not for me. And as for shoot headbutts and the like, if you want to hit people for real, go fucking fight instead. Not impressive.

I'm only really aware of Ospreay through Reddit comments and gifs so I admit he's someone I have a bit of a blind spot with.

[Custard]

Sexy boyyyyyy
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVA4mqyFTqu

[BeardFaceMan]

I'm really loving No Fucks Given TK, he can talk some good shit when he wants to. Odd that WWE keep upping the stakes when they have no real need to, the only thing I can think is they're doing this to try and show they're still bigger and better than AEW so it wont affect their price when Vince sells.

It's just nice to be able to look forward to a weekly wrestling show again.

[up_the_hampipe]

Why the fuck is Bryan Danielson wrestling on the pre-show tonight?

[BeardFaceMan]

It is an odd choice, you'd think they would be stacking the Rampage card and while it's not bad, it could clearly be better. With the smack game TK is talking you'd think he'd go all out with it. Was the card announced before the 30 minute overrun was?

[Old Thrashbarg]

Tomorrow's card, with Danielson wrestling Bobby Fish, was already announced. And they obviously don't want to have him wrestling two TV matches on back-to-back shows when there's such a large roster to use. So putting him on a pre-show to clash with Smackdown and get viewers turning over from that to AEW makes sense I think.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I'm presuming they are doing it because even if Rampage gets tanked in the ratings by Smackdown as expected, they can point to the number of views on YouTube and still claim they've won.

[Ja'moke]

Why the fuck is Bryan Danielson wrestling on the pre-show tonight?

He wasn't scheduled to wrestle at all. Tony Khan announced an impromptu Buy-In for tonight's show after Smackdown announced the extra half hour commercial free. So I presume he's hoping Danielson v Suzuki will take some eyes away from Smackdown from 9-10 PM and get people ready for Rampage at 10.

And yeah, the card for Rampage and Dynamite was already announced before Smackdown announced the extra half hour.

If I was AEW, I'd end the Buy In on some sort of surprise or tease that leads right into Rampage. Keep people tuned in. Not sure what mind. I suggested on reddit that they could maybe have Lana turn up right at the end of the Buy In and tell Schiavone she has an announcement to make on Rampage. Stick her with Miro, seeing as he talks about her every week, and use her to refocus Miro and claim their spot in the upcoming Eliminator Tournament.

[BeardFaceMan]

The way things are they could probably end up doing more views live on YouTube for the buy in than for Rampage itself. Not sure what the numbers are for their other YouTube shows but there are going to be a lot of international eyes wanting to see Bryan v Suzuki.

[Ja'moke]

I'm quite enjoying the back and forth between the wrestlers on both sides today. I saw Thunder Rosa tweeting "ready for war" earlier, and Sasha Banks just tweeted "It's Clobberin' Time."

I think both shows will be pulling out all the stops tonight.

[up_the_hampipe]

Okay, now I'm hyped. Cheers guys!

[Custard]

Reigns really doesn't like Punk, does he?
https://www.sescoops.com/2021/10/roman-reigns-goes-off-on-cm-punk-a-step-or-two-has-been-lost/

[BeardFaceMan]

He usually does talk a load of horseshit like a company mark but I actually agree with him here. Well, the first paragraph, anyway. Still amusing how so many WWE people talk shit about AEW while still claiming they're not on their radar.

[Spiteface]

Reigns really doesn't like Punk, does he?

Probably can't stand that Punk got more over as a babyface by himself in 2011 than Reigns ever did with the WWE machine behind him.

[up_the_hampipe]

Punk pretty much set in motion the backlash against Reigns back in 2014. The tide was turning, but then Punk did the famous podcast in which he detailed WWE's intense favour for Reigns, insisting on him to be in The Shield instead of Punk's pick of Chris Hero, then all the "Make Roman look really strong" stuff that haunted Reigns for a long time. It's not Punk's fault, he never said anything personally against Reigns, I don't think he ever has, but I can see why Reigns bristles when Punk comes up.

Either that or he's a BeardFaceMan mark.

[Ja'moke]

Reigns really doesn't like Punk, does he?
https://www.sescoops.com/2021/10/roman-reigns-goes-off-on-cm-punk-a-step-or-two-has-been-lost/

He seems to be in kayfabe in that interview to be fair.

[Deanjam]

He seems to be in kayfabe in that interview to be fair.

He pretty much always is. He's just like Cena was when he was top dog, which is one of the reasons WWE loves them both.

I do enjoy the reactions to this stuff on Twitter though. Calm down lads!

[BeardFaceMan]

Punk pretty much set in motion the backlash against Reigns back in 2014. The tide was turning, but then Punk did the famous podcast in which he detailed WWE's intense favour for Reigns, insisting on him to be in The Shield instead of Punk's pick of Chris Hero, then all the "Make Roman look really strong" stuff that haunted Reigns for a long time. It's not Punk's fault, he never said anything personally against Reigns, I don't think he ever has, but I can see why Reigns bristles when Punk comes up.

Either that or he's a BeardFaceMan mark.

Definitely the latter.

But yeah, it's easy to see why he's not Punk's biggest fan. He's right though, a match with Punk wouldn't elevate him at all.

He pretty much always is. He's just like Cena was when he was top dog, which is one of the reasons WWE loves them both.

It's the same thing Becky Lynch is currently doing, and she's just as bad at it.

[Ja'moke]

That was fucking immense.

[Moribunderast]

That was fucking immense.

Unbelievable. Suzuki is a treasure and Danielson outside of WWE limitations may just be the best going at the moment.

[Ja'moke]

Man that was dope too. I like how each of Punk's matches so far have been different styles and told different stories.

[Ja'moke]

I wasn't sold on the American Top Team/Inner Circle stuff until now. That was just chaotic fun.

Inner Circle need to make Thunder Rosa an honorary member though, so that they have someone to deal with Paige Van Zant.

[Timothy]

Absolutely brilliant match between Suzuki and Danielson and a great match between Punk and Sydal.

Looking forward to Dynamite tonight.

[BeardFaceMan]

Maybe it's because I'm unfamiliar with Dan Lambert, never saw him in TNA, but I've been really enjoying him in AEW. He's solid on the mic and can handle a live crowd, he's been really good so far.

[gmoney]

Yeah I think he's a fantastic character, treads the right line very well.

[Ja'moke]

Early Friday ratings:

Smackdown on FS1 793k 8pm start , Rampage on TNT 549k 10pm start.

No demo numbers yet or the exact ratings for the 10-10:30 PM head-to-head. MLB crushed both again but Rampage viewers were up on last week.