Wrestling 2021: The Big Thread Machine

[Timothy]

Without spoilers, could someone tell me which bits of each night to watch? Ideally with rough timestamps

Night One

Rollins vs Cesaro
Bad Bunny and Priest vs Miz and Morrison
Belair vs Banks

Night Two

Owens vs Zayn
Sheamus vs Riddle
Asuka vs Ripley
Roman vs Edge VS Bryan

[Deanjam]

Without spoilers, could someone tell me which bits of each night to watch? Ideally with rough timestamps

Night one:

Lashley/Drew [40m]
Cesaro/Seth [1hr 30m]
Bad Bunny match [2hr 45m]
Sasha/Bianca [3hr 15m]

Night two:

Sami/Kevin [1hr]
Riddle/Sheamus [1hr 20m]
Reigns/Edge/Bryan [2hr 45m]

That was all the stuff I'd recommend.

[Deanjam]

Orton/Fiend starts off night two if you enjoy a bit of wrestlecrap.

[kitsofan34]

Who's excited to get back to the Thunderdomeeeeeee?

[Mobius]

Worst Raw After Mania Ever.

[Moribunderast]

Worst Raw After Mania Ever.

I try not to rag on WWE here too much because it's a tedious thing to do when I could instead be talking about the wrestling I like but... I did laugh when reading a Raw recap just then and seeing that WWE have now doubled down on The Fiend stuff, giving the gimmick to Alexa but splitting the pair, meaning Raw fans can enjoy TWO supernatural characters every week - AND the big show-ending angle is Mace and T-Bar joining the Hurt Business after a main event involving Braun Strowman and Randy Orton. A reminder: WWE have arguably the most talented roster in their history and the Raw after 'Mania consists of a big Charlotte "return", Orton and Braun Main Eventing and T-Bar and Mace being used in a top angle. Clap, clap, clap.

Watched the first half of today's Elevation. Konosuke Takeshita (apparently a DDT guy) debuted against Danny Limelight and looks pretty damn good. AEW have too many guys and can't feature the ones they have but I'd be happy to see Takeshita again. Also, despite my groaning at Matt Jackson: ACTOR, I can't wait for Pac/Fenix vs. Young Bucks this week on Dynamite and will be curious to see how Anthony Ogogo performs in his AEW debut. Christian Cage is set to be interviewed by Schiavone also, which will undoubtedly be interrupted by Taz. Will piss myself if that becomes a weekly angle in the same vein as the build with Sting and Team Taz.

[BeardFaceMan]

Worst Raw After Mania Ever.

How can you say that? The Viking Raiders are back!!!

[Ja'moke]

Yeah, definitely go out of your way to watch Danny Limelight v Takeshita on Elevation. Amazing match.

That's my first time seeing Takeshita and he blew me away. Only 25 too. Hope he sticks around in AEW.

There's TWO women's matches on Dynamite this week too!!! Kris Statlander v Amber Nova and Jade v Red Velvet.

[Gurke and Hare]

Kenny's promo with Takeshita and Nakazawa was great. "When I went to Japan, you put me up in your house and put money in my pocket, and I became the best in the world. Now it's time for you to pay me back!"

[Ja'moke]

NXT was really fun tonight, something I felt it hasn't been for a while. The show had become a bit samey and self serious the past few months. But this had a nice mix of great matches, surprises, and funny moments (that Lumis and Indi Hartwell spot was great). Kind of felt like NXT of old.

[MrMrs]

doubt it

[BeardFaceMan]

Stone Cold recorded an episode of Jericho's podcast talking about his classic matches, that should be good, must've done it at the same time as the Broken Skull session.

[Ja'moke]

First week unopposed for NXT: 805,000, 0.22 18-49, 8th overall for the night.

[Mobius]

That's roughly what they do every week isn't it? Doesn't sound great for running unopposed and coming off a huge PPV/week for WWE in general

[Ja'moke]

That's roughly what they do every week isn't it? Doesn't sound great for running unopposed and coming off a huge PPV/week for WWE in general

Nah usually to the low end of the 700s and sometimes been in the 600s. And, more importantly, the demo is usually around the 0.13 - 0.16 range.

[Mobius]

Ah fair enough

Fed still bad though.

[Ja'moke]

Very good Dynamite tonight, from that insane tag title opener, a very fun Jade v Red Velvet match, Dax and Jericho slapping the shit out of each other, Hobbs laying out Christian, and a chaotic but entertaining Darby v Hardy main event.

And next week we're getting Shida vs Tay and Starks vs Hangman? Nice!

[Moribunderast]

Yeah, that Dynamite was good and showed a few minor tweaks responding to criticisms. You still had a big Dark Order vs. HFO fight and a big Pinnacle vs. Inner Circle brawl during two matches but nothing else felt overly cluttered. The opening tag title match was awesome, as expected, and the Bucks are already better as fully-fledged heels. Dax vs. Jericho was surprisingly good. I say surprisingly because Jericho hasn't been much in-ring lately but Dax has been awesome so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.

Velvet and Jade had a very fun little match and Jade continues to look good for her experience level. Having her beat people in matches like that which are a step beyond Goldberg squashes but still not asking too much of her seems the way to go for the time being. Statlander looked decent in her return (though I haven't missed JR burying her gimmick) and teaming her with Best Friends feels like a bit of a masterstroke. Christian and Taz's promo was really good and Hobbs looked like a beast. Ogogo's debut was nothing but we'll see if they can get that gut-punch over. It's a unique finisher to attempt to push.

I enjoyed the main event, mostly for Darby. I liked the continuation of Sting and Archer's story but I didn't love the implementation of Sky and Ethan Page. If you don't watch Elevation, you'd have no real knowledge of their team and I feel like they need to cut some more promos about being overlooked before they start trying to attack Sting. It would seem obvious it's building to a Sting and Archer vs. Ethan and Sky match but just showing Ethan and Sky standing in the cheap seats watching Sting segments isn't enough of a build, imo, and is a touch too subtle - and I say that as someone who likes subtler storytelling in wrestling. I just feel AEW sometimes confuse missing steps in the story with subtlety.

Still, that minor gripe aside, another good show. I love that they continue to feature Darby in the Main Event - you can't say they're not trying to go all the way with him. Next week's card looks pretty good. Now we just need to hope America continues to get vaccinated because all I want from wrestling in 2021 now is a full house for an AEW pay-per-view where Silver and Reynolds take the Tag Titles off the Young Bucks and Hangman unseats Omega as AEW Champion. I feel like doing that and culminating a show with a Hangman and Dark Order celebration would be an all-time feel-good moment if they can safely do it within the year.

[Gurke and Hare]

The whole Page/Sky being overlooked thing doesn't really work at all. For a start, Page has been here about 10 minutes so what is he supposted to have been overlooked for? And in the last 18 months Sky has been a tag team champion, had a world title shot against Jericho and has had TNT title shots against Cody and Darby. How is that being overlooked?

Lance Archer stomping off with a Private Party under each arm was funny. But boy, they need the second show to give all the talent space to do stuff in their own time - has there been any gossip about where the second show is, they previously said it would be early 2021 didn't they?

I don't think there's any great hurry to get back to a full arena, the Hangman story's got a way to go I think. [TW: fantasy booking] Personally, I'd have him lose his first challenge to Kenny on Dynamite, then have to work his way back to a subsequent challenge via an eliminator tournament, in the final of which he beats Jericho to bury the ghost of his first title match and propel him to win the belt at Full Gear.

[Gurke and Hare]

Also, do computer companies make special branded fake monitors for wrestlers to sweep off tables?

[gmoney]

Jade Cargill is incredible. How did WWE miss her?

[Moribunderast]

Jade Cargill is incredible. How did WWE miss her?

She had a tryout with WWE apparently. After that she trained at QT's school which obviously gave AEW a good look at her. If she continues to train and learn (and by all indications, QT and his team there seem to be very good trainers) then the sky is the limit for her. She has so much natural charisma and an insane physique. For me the real "How did WWE miss this?" is Tay Conti. She was in the Performance Centre for years and seemingly never got any better. Less than one year in AEW and she's improved leaps and bounds to the point where I'm kinda hoping she wins the title next week. I still feel like Britt ending Shida's reign is the obvious next storyline but Shida has had such a poor reign (all on the booking, not her fault at all) so I just want it to end so we can start something fresh and hopefully have a champion who is featured in storylines and gets regular Dynamite matches.

I laughed at the Britt segment re: rankings as you could see everyone's W/L record for 2021 and there you have champion Hikaru Shida sitting at 2-0. It's mid-April and she's had one singles match on Dynamite and one on pay-per-view! 4 televised (non-YouTube) matches in total. That's ludicrous for the champion.

[Gurke and Hare]

For me the real "How did WWE miss this?" is Tay Conti. She was in the Performance Centre for years and seemingly never got any better. Less than one year in AEW and she's improved leaps and bounds to the point where I'm kinda hoping she wins the title next week.

From what I've seen, it seems to be that she didn't fit into the WWE "This is how wrestlers wrestle when they're doing the wrsetling" training style, whereas in AEW she's been allowed to do her own thing much more and it's paid dividends. I wouldn't have her win next week, as I want Rosa to take the belt off her and then have Britt chase her for it leading up to Full Gear, which would be amazing if they'd just let me book it. Then they put the newly introduced women's tag title on Tay and Shida.

[Ja'moke]

It's just great that we now have multiple women contenders to talk about and different women's feuds happening.

I agree that Jade Cargill is a star in the making. Obviously still green, but for her FOURTH match ever, she looked very good. And Red Velvet played a big part in making Jade look so good. Velvet was bumping like Darby in that match. She's ace too and I hope she can get some wins on Dynamite soon.

Tay vs Shida could main event next week easily. Or, if not, it should open and get the non-commercial match. Tay has come on leaps and bounds this past year and this could be her best match yet. I expect Shida to retain though and then be ambushed by Britt Baker who finally lays down the challenge for Double or Nothing (or maybe even for the May 5th Blood and Guts show).

Also, not sure if this is hinting at anything or just Britt being Britt, but she responded to this recent Jamie Hayter tweet. If AEW can get Hayter back on a permanent (or even semi-permanent basis like PAC) that'd do even more for the women's division. Hayter's fantastic. https://twitter.com/RealBrittBaker/status/1382356148054077441?s=20

[BeardFaceMan]

So is Miro going solo and is done with Sabian now? Lets hope so.

[Ja'moke]

So is Miro going solo and is done with Sabian now? Lets hope so.

It seems so. I enjoyed that promo.

If I was booking it, I'd have Miro to be the one to beat Darby for the TNT title at Double or Nothing. They've built Darby up as his scrappy, death-defying, indestructible fighter. He can take all this punishment but still finds a way to survive. Let Miro be the one to kill him. Miro beats him so bad that for the first time ever, Darby isn't able to get back up. I can just picture a bloody faced Darby passed out in the camel clutch with Miro screaming like a mad man.

[BeardFaceMan]

It seems so. I enjoyed that promo.

If I was booking it, I'd have Miro to be the one to beat Darby for the TNT title at Double or Nothing. They've built Darby up as his scrappy, death-defying, indestructible fighter. He can take all this punishment but still finds a way to survive. Let Miro be the one to kill him. Miro beats him so bad that for the first time ever, Darby isn't able to get back up. I can just picture a bloody faced Darby passed out in the camel clutch with Miro screaming like a mad man.

If they booked it right he could be an absolute monster heel, and he'd be over as fuck too, the crowds love him. I'm really enjoying Darby's matches but he can't keep up this kind of thing forever, he's taking too much punishment on a regular basis, that's not going to end well.

[Enzo]

From the latest Popbitch:

The latest internal numbers at WWE suggest the average wrestling viewer is aged somewhere in their 60s. Oddly similar to the audience profile for Fox News, in fact.

[up_the_hampipe]

Billie Kay and Mickie James released! Wtf?!

There's no way a huge WWE fan like Billie requested her release, right?

[Ja'moke]

YOU'VE GOT TO BE JOKING ME?!

Seriously, though, what the fuck. Billie Kay was on just on WrestleMania and she's a bloody fantastic character. Yeah she isn't that good in ring, but she makes up for that it being one of the funniest personalties. How hard is it to have her as a manager for someone?

And Mickie is a veteran that can still go. And I know the "WWE to AEW" thing gets old, but she is exactly the kind of veteran their women's division needs.

Kalisto, Tucker, and Wesley Blake gone too.