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CI Wrestling Thread #56

I thought the episode on "Black Saturday" was really good. A lot of things I never knew for sure until now. Cornette was great, no surprise. I could listen to him talk about history of wrestling for hours. It's more interesting to me than him crapping on AEW every week.

Don't remember who said it yesterday but I didn't get cable until 1987 so I didn't get to see World Championship Wrestling unless I went to a friends house. We had one of those giant antennas so I got to watch World Wide and Mid-Atlantic every week from either Huntington or Cincinnati. Of course watched Memphis wrestling since it was on either WLEX or WKYT.
Meltzer and Cornette are tremendous as wrestling historians.
 
I know nobody saw it but sounds like the Chelsea green/roxanne match was pretty good - sadly she will just be a main roster comedy act.
Can’t say I’ve ever watched a match of hers but I think I’ve heard that Chelsea Green is supposed to be pretty good in the ring.
 
Thought the 4-way at All In with her, Tessa, Britt Baker, and Madison Rayne was really good
 
Was I not paying attention or did Jack Perry not say one word during that promo?
I was fiddling around the house doing things and had the show on in the background, so I'm not exactly sure what happened that segment so I'm no help on that.
 
Haven't watched AEW in about a month. Will check back in once MJF returns. I know they're hotshotting AEW vs the Elite, which would almost be like having WCW vs nWo after three weeks. The overall story feels weak and it's odd seeing AEW embrace an authority storyline when fans just went through several years of WWE doing similar. It's insanely refreshing to have two GM's who aren't evil and corporate whose decisions make sense. And here's AEW, having a tag team and a dude who weighs the same as Michael Jackson on his deathbed taking over the company. And apparently Swerve has been made out to be a chump the last two weeks? Not sure about that booking. Ratings are down but fairly similar from week to week and the attendance is usually the same 3500-4200. I dunno, just kind of disappointing to see the clear number two company just...there and not improving.

On the WWE side, Lashley is injured and out of King of the Ring. That makes three or four persons replaced after the matches were set. Not sure why we're seeing so many injuries but it's plaguing both companies at the moment.

Oh, and The Iron Claw will be available on Max beginning tomorrow. Fantastic movie minus the absurd Ric Flair cosplayer.
 
Better late than never Dynamite did 711,000 and a .24. Up slightly in viewers and same in demo.
NXT was up from last week and Raw was down.

Speaking of Raw WWE and NBC Universal worked out a deal where it will stay on USA through the end of 2024 before going to Netflix. I believe previously it was done at the end of September.
Smackdown will premiere on USA on September 13th.

To me would have made more sense to build Anarchy in the Arena to the Wembley show rather than in two weeks. But unfortunately that's what Tony does.

It's like in the Vince days when the first match in a rivalry was a Hell In A Cell match, then what do you do.
 
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WWE BACKLASH

Thumbs up 142 (99.3%)
Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
In the middle 1 (00.7%)

solo and tama Tonga vs Kevin Owens and RKO ****3/4
Bayley over Stratton and Naomi ****1/2
Damien priest over Jey USO ***1/2
Bel Air and Cardgill over Kabuki Warriors ***
Cody over Aj Styles *****
 
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Scheduled for Smackdown this evening

King of the Ring Tournament:
*Tama Tonga vs. Angelo Dawkins
*Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles
*Carmelo Hayes vs. Baron Corbin

Queen of The Ring Tournament:
*Bianca Belair vs. Candice LeRae
*Jade Cargill vs. Piper Niven
*Naomi vs. Nia Jax
 
Scheduled for Smackdown this evening

King of the Ring Tournament:
*Tama Tonga vs. Angelo Dawkins
*Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles
*Carmelo Hayes vs. Baron Corbin

Queen of The Ring Tournament:
*Bianca Belair vs. Candice LeRae
*Jade Cargill vs. Piper Niven
*Naomi vs. Nia Jax
Big Naomi fan tonight.
 
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Stole this but it’s true -

“Imagine going from main eventing the biggest wrestling show in the world against another talented young star for a prestigious title to only a few short years later finding yourself working for the other company, fighting for a championship named after a channel that just plays old reruns of Friends and Big Bang Theory.

She did this to herself, and she took Naomi down with her. At least Naomi had the sense to make things right, Mercedes is apparently too stubborn.

This is what happens when you believe you're a bigger star than you really are. Not a needle mover, not a ticket seller. I always enjoyed Sasha Banks matches but never felt like anything was missing with her gone.

Seriously though, good luck in her bid to win the Cartoon Network Championship though, or whatever channel they name their next title after.”
 
WWE BACKLASH

Thumbs up 142 (99.3%)
Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
In the middle 1 (00.7%)

solo and tama Tonga vs Kevin Owens and RKO ****3/4
Bayley over Stratton and Naomi ****1/2
Damien priest over Jey USO ***1/2
Bel Air and Cardgill over Kabuki Warriors ***
Cody over Aj Styles *****
Where’s this thumbs data come from?
 
Stole this but it’s true -

“Imagine going from main eventing the biggest wrestling show in the world against another talented young star for a prestigious title to only a few short years later finding yourself working for the other company, fighting for a championship named after a channel that just plays old reruns of Friends and Big Bang Theory.

She did this to herself, and she took Naomi down with her. At least Naomi had the sense to make things right, Mercedes is apparently too stubborn.

This is what happens when you believe you're a bigger star than you really are. Not a needle mover, not a ticket seller. I always enjoyed Sasha Banks matches but never felt like anything was missing with her gone.

Seriously though, good luck in her bid to win the Cartoon Network Championship though, or whatever channel they name their next title after.”
You know what else is true?

Mercedes is currently the highest paid woman in professional wrestling.

You know, the whole point of having a job

And she gets to run her businesses that she wouldn’t have been able to do in WWE (according to herself).

And more freedom to do her “acting” and modeling stuff that she wouldn’t have been able to do without it having to get WWE to approve it, which isn’t a guarantee by any means as WWE doesn’t exactly like it when talent tries to sidestep the E for outside ventures because the E wants to get their hands in making money off of it.
 
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You know what else is true?

Mercedes is currently the highest paid woman in professional wrestling.

You know, the whole point of having a job…
That’s b/c TK went into a bidding war with himself - just b/c he overpaid doesn’t mean it was a good “business” decision which in a real corporation or publicly traded company is important and thus wwe didn’t match the money.
 
That’s b/c TK went into a bidding war with himself - just b/c he overpaid doesn’t mean it was a good “business” decision which in a real corporation or publicly traded company is important and thus wwe didn’t match the money.
WWE was bidding for her before AEW. She didn’t sign with AEW until she rejected WWE’s offer, which would have also made her the highest paid women’s wrestler.
 
In unfortunate news, Kentucky’s own Chuck Taylor’s career-ending injury angle on TV is true and it just storyline according to Fightful

Chuck Taylor's career may be over.

Recently, Trent split from Best Friends, and it was revealed that Chuck Taylor's injuries that have kept him sidelined may be career ending. On the Fightful Select discord, we revealed that this isn't just kayfabe, and there are no plans for Chuck Taylor to wrestle again at the moment. However, we've learned more.

Taylor had his first match in six months on an April edition of AEW Rampage against Trent in a Parking Lot Brawl, and we're told he was well aware of the extent of his injuries at that point. Sources on the roster said that Chuck wanted to have the match, as it could have been his last. In addition, Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp has learned that Chuck Taylor has been training as a coach/producer for months.
 
- TK could give Baron Corbin a five year, $40M deal and not miss a beat. Mone probably turns heel, wins that random title, and wrestles a couple times a month soon. So it's not like she's gonna be a failure but you can't deny her booking, promos, not promoting her properly, and not making it clear whether or not she's able to wrestle yet has been a trainwreck. Somehow if you point this out, you want AEW to die. That's how sensitive the IWC has become. WWE doesn't need to outbid anyone. "AEW has Mone? Cool, we'll just bring up NXT talent, make Stratton a star, continue making Rhea into a future HOFer, push Jade and Bianca as Mega Powers, and we have Charlotte and Bliss coming back in short order. Oh, and Sasha will be back home in three years anyway at a lower price." They're playing a long game while Tony wants instant gratification.

- Jade looked...decent tonight?

- Cody vs Paul with Cody alluding to it being title vs title? Wild shit but that match will be great. Wouldn't like it for a normal PLE this soon but the Arabian shows are so random that it doesn't really matter unfortunately. That show will always feel like an outlier to the rest of the PLE's.
 
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WWE was bidding for her before AEW. She didn’t sign with AEW until she rejected WWE’s offer, which would have also made her the highest paid women’s wrestler.

- Per SRS, there was a tentative plan for Mone and AEW to work together. It's why she allowed them to film her at All In in August.
- Triple H takes over and she flirts with WWE on social media near the end of 2023.
- WWE recently made Charlotte the highest paid female wrestler within the company. They also signed Jade and Punk and 2024 is a big year for new deals (Cody, Drew, Seth, Becky).
- WWE and Mone were reportedly far apart on money which lead WWE to walk away. She and WWE like each other but paying her what she wanted wasn't best for their business.

AEW has the dream roster they want and things still aren't clicking like they should be. Some currently in AEW will eventually be in WWE. Starks, Hook, Black, Buddy, MJF, Mercedes, Hobbs, Wardlow, White, Dustin, Gunn and his sons, and Ospreay (years from now). TK can celebrate these little victories against the Evil Empire but his roster sees what Cody has become. Some of these talents aren't going to spend the next decade having matches in front of the same 3,500 pasty dudes who know the Cagematch rating to a match from Kyoto in 2007. Having said that, I can also see guys like Styles and Nakamura finishing their careers in AEW. Owens, Sami, and DIY too if Triple H wasn't in control.
 
I guess they are just going to give Cody a bunch of filler feuds until he faces the Rock at WrestleMania


Always take the blood money show booking with a grain of salt. Logan Paul faced Reigns for the Undistputed title last year at one of the Saudi shows. The Saudis have a hand in who goes on the card. They apparently really like Paul. Probably will see some old guy and Strowman in a prominant spot on the card.

I refuse to watch the blood money shows, which is disappointing because I'm a mark for KOTR going back to the 90s.
 
AJ Styles rewarded for his 5-star job to Cody at Backlash with...(checks notes) a job to Orton in the first round of King of the Ring?

Also felt Jade Cargill was booked very weak tonight against Piper Niven. They should be booking her as dominant, not 50/50 with the artist formerly known as Duodrop. If tonight is any indication, she's jobbing to Nia Jax next week.
 
Always take the blood money show booking with a grain of salt. Logan Paul faced Reigns for the Undistputed title last year at one of the Saudi shows. The Saudis have a hand in who goes on the card. They apparently really like Paul. Probably will see some old guy and Strowman in a prominant spot on the card.

I refuse to watch the blood money shows, which is disappointing because I'm a mark for KOTR going back to the 90s.

But Saudis are so progressive! They let women drive*

Eventually
 
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