Wrestling 2021: The Big Thread Machine

[Custard]

Dreamer, probably sensing he's dropped a right bollock and probably ended his career, has issued a brief apology

https://www.sescoops.com/2021/09/tommy-dreamer-speaks-on-dark-side-of-the-ring-comments/

[Ja'moke]

This could be cool... AEW partnering with The Owen Hart Foundation to run an annual Owen Hart Cup Tournament (as well as putting Owen in the upcoming video game!):

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and The Owen Hart Foundation (OHF), a nonprofit charity which provides a vast range of assistance and opportunities to individuals in-need across the world, are collaborating to honor the legacy of late wrestler Owen Hart, a beloved figure in the professional wrestling community and beyond.  This collaboration includes launching the annual Owen Hart Cup Tournament within AEW, which will see the winner receive a Cup known as "The Owen," as well as the production and distribution of unique and original Owen Hart merchandise, including specified retail goods as well as the upcoming AEW console video game.

This alliance incorporates opportunities to develop Owen Hart action figures via AEW's partnership with Jazwares, apparel, posters, and additional collectable merchandise.  Owen Hart is survived by his wife, Dr. Martha Hart, who spearheads The Owen Hart Foundation with a mission of providing global aid to at-risk communities (e.g., scholarships, housing, various forms international assistance, food drives, backpack giveaways and Christmas projects).

https://www.allelitewrestling.com/post/aew-the-owen-hart-foundation-enter-into-a-relationship-to-honor-world-renowned-wrestler-owen-hart

[up_the_hampipe]

Great news and will hopefully shut up those who think she's trying to stop his wrestling legacy being celebrated.

[Ja'moke]

Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss are lowkey having the best feud in AEW at the minute. Great match on Dark tonight.

[up_the_hampipe]

Lashley vs. Reigns vs. Big E on RAW tonight. Sounds tasty.

[BeardFaceMan]

I see that Ricky Starks is replacing Mark Henry full time on Rampage commentary, which makes sense, really, it wasn't a good fit. It's nice that when things don't work in AEW they don't continue to try and ram it down your throat, they adapt and change.

[cliggg]

Ric Flair has released two statements.

"Every person that I've worked with, from my lawyer to my publicist to my friends have said not to post a response; but I've never run from past behaviors before and I'm not going to start now.

    I want to clarify a few things:

    About four years ago, I gave ESPN full access to my life for a "30 for 30" special. They covered taxes, financial issues, adultery, divorces, the passing of my child and drinking/partying AT LENGTH.

    Rory Kampf, desperate to matter for another 15 minutes, did an interview about it this morning. When Rory's lips are moving, he's typically lying, but one part of what he said was the God's honest truth:

    "I'd never heard that he had forced someone to touch his genitals," Karpf admitted. "Everything with Ric that was construed as negative I tried to address in the 30 for 30. His drinking, his philandering, his adultery, his money problems, there's quite a bit, but never, at least in the people that I spoke to, no one ever brought up that he would force himself on somebody."

    I allowed my personal life and the lives of my wife and children to be turned upside down for one reason: Whether it's good or bad, even the really bad, the truth has to matter. Even in wrestling.

    My issues have been well documented over my 40+ year career. The impact of drinking too much (which nearly killed me 5 years ago) has been told time and time and time again. The reason Rory (or anyone else for that matter) never heard stories of me forcing myself on ANYONE is simple: it never happened."

   

"To clarify, the "helicopter" as it was called, is accurate. I wish I could blame it on youth, but it was a case of drinking too much and being inappropriate and I apologize for that (and have countless times over the years).

    I made some bad decisions during dark periods in my life, and it is something I've spent a significant part of years I was given by the doctors in 2017 trying to make right.

    I condemn sexual assault in any way, shape or form. I could (and have) written books (as have others) that have covered my transgressions. I've made some terrible decisions, but I've never forced myself on anyone in any way. Period."

[BeardFaceMan]

So "I still don't see doing the helicopter as forcing myself on people and this has all been well documented before, so what the fuck?", essentially. He should have stopped at that first semi-colon, really.

[Ja'moke]

I watched my first bit of Raw in about a year! The six-man between New Day vs The Bloodline. Good stuff.

EDIT: Bryan Danielson pens thank you to WWE - https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/bryan-danielson-wrestling-wwe-aew

[Ja'moke]

After being unsure of new NXT last week, I quite enjoyed what I saw this week. It reminds me of how NXT originally was (not the game show version, but how it was when it first started doing weekly episodes from Full Sail), back when it used to have a lot of unknown developmental guys doing larger than life gimmicks (your Bo Dallas's, Tyler Breezes, Vaudevillains, Enzo & Cass, original Wyatt Family etc).

They're perhaps introducing a bit too many new faces all at once, but I do like the focus on gimmicks and characters. That is what NXT really got away from in recent years. There was a time when it had this perfect balance of unknowns doing big gimmicks alongside your popular indie stars like Owens, Zayn, Balor, PAC, etc. But as time went on, those sorts of sillier gimmicks went away and they just started signing every indie name out there. And they became overly reliant on the "hottest indie free agent" trope, to the point where nobody had much of a character anymore... it was just "this guy's a good wrestler."

So, yeah, if they can tap back into a bit of that old school NXT magic, maybe the rebranding won't be too bad after all.

[Mobius]

Agreed really. NXT was stale as shit and what they did offer (indie style workrate matches), you can find pretty much anywhere nowadays

It's really colourful and mental and there's new faces every 2 minutes and some of the promos and gimmicks are awful and hilarious but at least it's different.

I really wanted it to be shite and for everyone to make fun of it, but it's not that bad. That Steiner kid is pretty sick to be fair.


Big AEW show today!

[Ja'moke]

Big AEW show today!

Can't wait! They opened up more seats too, so it should be over 20k people in there. The biggest non-WWE crowd for a televised wrestling show since 1999.

[Mobius]

I swear Reddit shits the bed whenever there's a big AEW show. Fucking Vince!

[Custard]

Yeah, I keep wondering when he's gonna pull out some big fuck off spreadsheets

[Ja'moke]

This crowd is molten hot!

[Ja'moke]

What a match. And I'm fine with the time limit draw.

[Ja'moke]

Sting is an anomaly to science. Crazy he can still go like that at his age and after the injuries he's had.

[Mobius]

Another great show.

That Omega Bryan match felt special, and wow did it deliver. Loved the ending too.

Sting is indeed a madman. The fact he can go at all, let alone put on really good matches and take big bumps and hit big spots. Grateful we've got old guys who aren't pieces of shit, and everyone can get behind.

Holy shit the boos for Cody! Black is just too cool to hate. Arn falling over was hilarious. Curious to see where Cody goes from here.

Just awesome stuff all around. Punk, Cole and Suzuki to come on Rampage!

[elliszeroed]

Bryan looked as good as he's ever done, maybe better- more ripped?

[BeardFaceMan]

Only watched the first match so far but everything about Danielson's debut has been far better than Punk's, he's the real reason to get excited.

[BeardFaceMan]

Holy shit the boos for Cody! Black is just too cool to hate. Arn falling over was hilarious. Curious to see where Cody goes from here.

Cody finally getting the reaction he deserves, that was fucking beautiful. And Arn trying to stay on the apron was the indeed fantastic. That even made up for another segment from CM 'happy to be here' Punk, the show is getting better and better.

[Timothy]

Only watched the first match so far but everything about Danielson's debut has been far better than Punk's, he's the real reason to get excited.

In what way was Bryan's debut far better? They were completely different, but equally great imo.

That said, I do get a bit tired of the ''I'm so happy to be back lovefest'' promo every week.

[BeardFaceMan]

In what way was Bryan's debut far better? They were completely different, but equally great imo.

That said, I do get a bit tired of the ''I'm so happy to be back lovefest'' promo every week.

That would be the main reason. Bryan came out, got his pop and went right to work. He went right into a story, he got physical straight away and his match with Omega was far better than Punk v Darby, both in terms of action and the story (I usually hate time limit draws but it made perfect sense here). I'm not a fan of the bland, babyface promo so while people were praising Punk for how raw and honest his promo was (after he'd milked his entrance so much his song ran out, thankfully he's started to tone that down a bit), all I could hear was him dropping clunkers like "I know Darby is as tough as everyone here in Chicago", going for the cheap pops that he really didn't need to get. And dragging it out is getting really tedious now.

And I also think its more exciting to see Bryan in AEW than Punk for what it means to the business, its definitely a bigger deal to have someone who recently headlined Wrestlemania and is going out of his way to say nothing but positive things about WWE go to AEW, instead of someone who has well-documented problems with WWE and doesn't see it as a viable place to work. Bryan chose to work at AEW, Punk had no choice but to work there, that's why I think it means more.

[Ja'moke]

I for one am still enjoying happy Punk. It's just great to see him falling back in love with pro-wrestling again. Thought his promo last night was ace too, how he used the "happy Punk" stuff to transition into the Team Taz feud and how they were trying to deprive him of this feeling.

Great show top to bottom.

[BeardFaceMan]

AEW continue to use Sting perfectly, too. This is definitely now *the* place to want to work if you're a wrestler, surely? It makes you think, if AEW are this successful now, imagine what they could have been doing if there hadn't have been a pandemic? The fact that they were not only able to hang with WWE during that period but actually out-perform them, as a start up company, it's pretty remarkable.

[Moribunderast]

Man, what a fantastic Dynamite. Bryan/Omega was fucking awesome. Rest of the matches delivered, loved the heat for the Soho/Britt match. These shows just fly by and are always good but this one felt epic, mainly due to the main event. Now to stay off social media for two days to remain unspoiled for Rampage. Can't wait for the Lights Out match.

Also, STARDOM's tournament has yielded many great matches, as has the G1 already. Great time to be a wrestling fan, if you have the time. I've prioritised AEW and STARDOM over New Japan these days so I'll miss a lot of the G1 but there's just so much good shit (pal) to watch. I'm loving that Alvarez and Filthy Tom have started reviewing STARDOM because it deserves more coverage. Just an excellent pro-wrestling production with some of the best wrestlers going around. If you can find a way to watch some matches, just seek out Syuri, Maika or Mayu Iwatani. They're the people who made me an instant fan.

[BeardFaceMan]

Now to stay off social media for two days to remain unspoiled for Rampage. Can't wait for the Lights Out match.

I know they keep saying Rampge isn't a 'B' show, that it's on par with Dynamite, but not having it live is a pretty big indicator that it isn't. And if it is your 'A' show, should Fuego Del Sol really be main eventing it?

[Ja'moke]

January 5, 2022 the confirmed premiere date for Dynamite's move to TBS. Rampage, however, will now be staying on TNT on Fridays.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/aew-dynamite-tbs-premiere-date-rampage-tnt-1235072280/

Andrew Zarian also reporting a TBS Championship will be introduced for the women's division.

[BeardFaceMan]

It would be nice if they could regularly feature the women's championship they already have every week, never mind introduce another one. No point giving people another reason to moan that the women aren't on tv enough so hopefully this is pointing to a bit of a shift in that department.

[Spiteface]

It's shocking how someone like Hikaru Shida has been relegated to Dark/Elevation since losing the title to Britt Baker, and other talented women also hardly getting TV time, also reduced to squashes on YouTube.

Another belt by itself isn't necessarily answer. But if it does give another spot on the main TV shows and PPVs to the women's division then it should hopefully be worth it.