Pro Wrestling Thread

[pitchleague]

I'm driving up to Vegas today to attend Summer Slam with my brother. He is huge into wrestling, but I am not. I'm only going because his friend pffft-ed out on his ticket and my brother couldn't find anyone else to go.

 

I'm happy to have some bonding time with my brother--lord knows he does things with me that he probably isn't all that thrilled about (based on the time he spends on his phone during those times) so I guess turnabout is fair play--but this is 5-6 hours of wrestling.

 

I gotta imagine that I'll get bored after only 2 hours, but I'm trying to have an open mind about it and make it as fun as I can. I highly doubt that I'll become a full-time wrestling fan or anything, though.

 

Hey, at least I get to check out the new football stadium!

[TracyThom]

Pitchleague, your brother owes you big time having to sit through the 4+ hours of SummerSlam. It was not very good.

[jerichoholicninja]

Finally got around to watching Punk's return. I stopped watching wrestling around 2012 just because my life got crazy busy so I haven't been following WWE's dive into sub-mediocrity very closely. From the bits and pieces I do see though, it's crap now. I love AEW. It's gotten me back into wrestling. I love seeing the guys I used to watch and the guys that are new to me. I love the subtle digs they take at WWE but I really wish that everyone that was in WWE at some point prior would quit with the whole "the other place sucks that's why I'm here" schtick. I'm sure it's true but it just gets annoying to hear it constantly.

[nate82]

Finally got around to watching Punk's return. I stopped watching wrestling around 2012 just because my life got crazy busy so I haven't been following WWE's dive into sub-mediocrity very closely. From the bits and pieces I do see though, it's crap now. I love AEW. It's gotten me back into wrestling. I love seeing the guys I used to watch and the guys that are new to me. I love the subtle digs they take at WWE but I really wish that everyone that was in WWE at some point prior would quit with the whole "the other place sucks that's why I'm here" schtick. I'm sure it's true but it just gets annoying to hear it constantly.

 

So you are saying it is like WCW back in da day?

[jerichoholicninja]

Finally got around to watching Punk's return. I stopped watching wrestling around 2012 just because my life got crazy busy so I haven't been following WWE's dive into sub-mediocrity very closely. From the bits and pieces I do see though, it's crap now. I love AEW. It's gotten me back into wrestling. I love seeing the guys I used to watch and the guys that are new to me. I love the subtle digs they take at WWE but I really wish that everyone that was in WWE at some point prior would quit with the whole "the other place sucks that's why I'm here" schtick. I'm sure it's true but it just gets annoying to hear it constantly.

 

So you are saying it is like WCW back in da day?

 

Sort of, but AEW is building their own stars as well and Vince doesn't have a clue what he's doing anymore.

[jerichoholicninja]

I had read a lot of reviews of All Out and it was almost unanimous that it was one of the greatest wrestling PPV's ever. That's a lot of hype and hyperbole to live up to but I watched it this afternoon and I don't think that's far from wrong at all.

 

I never though Eddie Kingston was much in the ring but his match with Miro was fantastic. Lucha Bros/Young Bucks was one of the best matches I've ever seen. MJF totally got me with his trolling of Jericho's entrance and then he and Y2J put on a great match. Britt Baker was solid as always. Christian and Omega tore it down and then back to back surprise debut's to end the night brought down whatever was left standing.

 

WWE caters to kids and the pop culture crowd. They do a decent job of that and won't lose that demo. AEW caters to wrestling fans and the last couple weeks they have been giving them exactly what they want in heaps.

[adambr2]

If you were into 90s wrestling and have a subscription to Peacock, go back to the RAW episode mid summer 1994 championship match between Bret Hart and the 1-2-3 Kid.

 

IMO one of most underrated and best matches ever.

[Outlander]

The AEW PPV was okay, but more about hot shotting with a bunch of new people. Story line wise it didn't really do anything. In the moment it's a nice surprise but calling it one of the greatest PPV ever is hyperbole because nothing really happened. Time will tell what they do with these people.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm going to have to disagree with nothing really happened. I think it's pretty obvious this is the beginning of the fall of the Elite. Kenny already lost his Impact Title and the Bucks lost the tag titles. The last time Adam Cole was in the Elite he tried to break them up, which is why they killed him. There's no way that doesn't come up.

[jerichoholicninja]

Ring of Honor is releasing all of it's talents after their final show in December and going on hiatus until spring of 22 with the hope of "re-imagining" the promotion and then relaunching. This is almost certainly the end of ROH. They served a niche for a long time but there are so many other options for wrestling fans now.

[jerichoholicninja]

 

This is an absolute train wreck (in a good way) interview with Chuck Taylor, Trent, and Orange Cassidy.

[patrickgpe]

watched Johnny wrestling's farewell last night. He was truly Mr. NXT. I am surprised that Grayson Waller was the one that they decided to put over, but looks like him and Von Wagner will be the top heels in the promotion moving forward. The show is not as good as it used to be, but I still enjoy it over Raw or Smackdown.

[patrickgpe]

Tomorrow is my favorite day in sports entertainment. It has been ruined with leaks and WWE announcing surprise entrants prior. Also the number of entries (especially on mens side) that are not on the main roster continues to decrease, which was the fun of it. Still its must see TV. I'll predict Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar are victorious this year.

 

If reports are accurate, there will be a lot of woman coming back from my youth (won't spoil it here). A few surprises on the mens side but haven't seen any WWE HOFers returning.

[LouisEly]

Tomorrow is my favorite day in sports entertainment. It has been ruined with leaks and WWE announcing surprise entrants prior. Also the number of entries (especially on mens side) that are not on the main roster continues to decrease, which was the fun of it. Still its must see TV. I'll predict Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar are victorious this year.

 

If reports are accurate, there will be a lot of woman coming back from my youth (won't spoil it here). A few surprises on the mens side but haven't seen any WWE HOFers returning.

The Rumble could be the best PPV of the year by far, but they ruined it years ago by guaranteeing the winner a shot at a championship title at Wrestlemania which eliminates all but about 4-5 entrants. There's an old saying in marketing that "predictability is the enemy of engagement", and when you know that 25 of the 30 entrants have no chance that increases the predictability. Can't really do anything about the leaks, that's the media doing their job. If you want to make money, bet on the favorite the morning of the event.

 

I think one of the best ones was in the late 90's when the tide was starting to turn from WCW to WWE and they grabbed a couple of guys who were just released from WCW the week leading up to the Rumble. They didn't even have entrance music for the WCW guys.

[patrickgpe]

To me it’s not the winner that matters rather it’s the surprise entrants that make the event. I think it has been ruined since most of it leaked out prior.

[jerichoholicninja]

Tomorrow is my favorite day in sports entertainment. It has been ruined with leaks and WWE announcing surprise entrants prior. Also the number of entries (especially on mens side) that are not on the main roster continues to decrease, which was the fun of it. Still its must see TV. I'll predict Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar are victorious this year.

 

If reports are accurate, there will be a lot of woman coming back from my youth (won't spoil it here). A few surprises on the mens side but haven't seen any WWE HOFers returning.

The Rumble could be the best PPV of the year by far, but they ruined it years ago by guaranteeing the winner a shot at a championship title at Wrestlemania which eliminates all but about 4-5 entrants. There's an old saying in marketing that "predictability is the enemy of engagement", and when you know that 25 of the 30 entrants have no chance that increases the predictability. Can't really do anything about the leaks, that's the media doing their job. If you want to make money, bet on the favorite the morning of the event.

 

I think one of the best ones was in the late 90's when the tide was starting to turn from WCW to WWE and they grabbed a couple of guys who were just released from WCW the week leading up to the Rumble. They didn't even have entrance music for the WCW guys.

 

Other than the times the winner wins a vacated championship hasn't it always been that way?

[patrickgpe]

Tonight was fine. Both winners were extremely predictable: the woman’s match continues to be better. On the mens side the biggest surprise entrant was Shane McMahon

[adambr2]

Tomorrow is my favorite day in sports entertainment. It has been ruined with leaks and WWE announcing surprise entrants prior. Also the number of entries (especially on mens side) that are not on the main roster continues to decrease, which was the fun of it. Still its must see TV. I'll predict Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar are victorious this year.

 

If reports are accurate, there will be a lot of woman coming back from my youth (won't spoil it here). A few surprises on the mens side but haven't seen any WWE HOFers returning.

The Rumble could be the best PPV of the year by far, but they ruined it years ago by guaranteeing the winner a shot at a championship title at Wrestlemania which eliminates all but about 4-5 entrants. There's an old saying in marketing that "predictability is the enemy of engagement", and when you know that 25 of the 30 entrants have no chance that increases the predictability. Can't really do anything about the leaks, that's the media doing their job. If you want to make money, bet on the favorite the morning of the event.

 

I think one of the best ones was in the late 90's when the tide was starting to turn from WCW to WWE and they grabbed a couple of guys who were just released from WCW the week leading up to the Rumble. They didn't even have entrance music for the WCW guys.

 

Other than the times the winner wins a vacated championship hasn't it always been that way?

 

Yeah, it's been that way at least since '94. And you've always been able to nail who had an actual shot to win it down to 4 or 5 guys and who was just there to get their hands dirty for 3 or 4 minutes and then head back to the locker room.

[LouisEly]

Other than the times the winner wins a vacated championship hasn't it always been that way?

The first five years of the Rumble weren't that way.

 

My point still stands with what happened yesterday - predictability is the enemy of engagement.

[LouisEly]

While we're on the Rumble, three past winners of the Rumble are no longer alive. Without looking, name them.

[jerichoholicninja]

Macho and Eddie. I don't think Benoit ever won it but that's my guess for the third.

[Vgmastr]

Macho and Eddie never won a Rumble. It's Benoit, Big John Studd and Yokozuna.

[superfly]

Worst rumble I’ve ever seen. At least they tried with Melina and Molly Holly, the men’s rumble was horrible.

[igor67]

Andre won a Rumble I do believe

[LouisEly]

Macho and Eddie never won a Rumble. It's Benoit, Big John Studd and Yokozuna.

Correct. Yokozuna was the easy one, thought the other two would be the hard ones.