CI Wrestling Thread #56

[Nightwish84]

I believe all the newest shows were up with NXT and Collision making the biggest jumps.

IMO Dynamite doesn't have an identity. Jericho and Mercedes want it to be WWE-lite with Sports Entertainment and scripted promos, Mox and Swerve wanna bleed so they want ECW and barbed wire, all the indy guys want an indy show with a large budget and expect the audience to be on that ride with them, Copeland and Black want an Attitude Era that doesn't exist anymore (Brood blood baths, chair shots, and Black believing he's Ministry of Darkness Undertaker), and the owner wants his show to be part NJPW, part WCW, part ECW, part Lucha, part WWF, part Sports Entertainment, and part realism and sports-based. For better or worse, there's a WWE style so their shows are uniform and mostly make sense. Dynamite is pulled in 20 diff. directions by several personalities and it leads to directionless content, random wrestlers and matches, and weird decisions like having someone stand on the stage with a flamethrower as if that makes any sense in this takeover storyline. It'd be like Cody appearing as The Bloodline is in the ring and he's holding a hunting bow.

 

[Col. Angus]

I watch videos like these all the time. To me, this was the golden age of rasslin. These videos take me back. I can wonder what it was like to be in the first 5 or so rows, smell that popcorn, see my heroes comin down the aisle all greased up and ready to whip some ass.

Gorilla Monsoon is the Cawood Ledford of WWF announcers of the 70s/80s. His voice sounds the same as how a warm bowl of chicken noodle soup tastes.

 

[UKWildcatT]

HHH just announced that the winners of King and Queen of the Ring will challenge the champion for their brand at Summerslam.

I may be in the minority, but I hated when they started this with the Royal Rumble, so definitely not a fan of this either

 

[Wesley91581]

I may be in the minority, but I hated when they started this with the Royal Rumble, so definitely not a fan of this either

Whoever it is it’ll be a better match than king Mabel and diesel.

 

[Wesley91581]

 

[MegaBlue05]

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That’s not good, but is understandable. That company is trending downward in terms of viewers and attendance. I mean everything is great.

AEW made a conscious choice to cater their product to a niche audience of indie marks and this is evidence the NJPW/indy style doesn’t resonate with American audiences.

Personal issues and larger than life stars draw. Long matches featuring 2-6 little dudes filled with high spots and moves stacked on moves doesn’t. It’s wrestling promotion 101 and has been proven true time and time again over decades.

 

[Nightwish84]

Maybe I'm just a Drew-like hater but I don't see how AEW gets hot again. There's room in a wrestling fan's life to check out Raw, SD, the occasional PLE, and Dynamite so saying AEW can't do better because WWE has been hot is a lame excuse. TK is just a polarizing guy, fans know he's got the pencil and the cash, and whatever he wants to do, AEW will do. You're either into it five years later or you've checked out. Either you like his idea of what a wrestling show should be or you don't. If you don't, sorry because there's no Triple H waiting to take over AEW's creative. It's TK's world and he listens to the Bucks, Omega, Jericho, and Danielson. I also think AEW is "smaller" than we even imagine. If Punk throws out a tiny jab for the insider fans, there's always crickets in the arena. If Swerve lost the title and showed up in a few weeks on Raw, most of the audience wouldn't be like, "OMG it's Swerve Strickland, former AEW world champion!" It'd be crickets. Same with Ospreay, Adam Page, Toni Storm, Cassidy, Jay White, Gunn Boys, Kingston, Pac, etc. Crickets across the board for many of AEW's most well-known stars.

 

[Wesley91581]

This is what we get for having the Rock return…

 

[Wesley91581]

 

[Nightwish84]

Would you give Logan Paul one of the two world titles within three years? You'd have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid on social media and he couldn't disappear for several weeks but I think I would.

 

[Wesley91581]

Would you give Logan Paul one of the two world titles within three years? You'd have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid on social media and he couldn't disappear for several weeks but I think I would.

 

[Wesley91581]

Would you give Logan Paul one of the two world titles within three years? You'd have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid on social media and he couldn't disappear for several weeks but I think I would.

I think so because he brings it every match and wwe for a long time has given us champs that are well into their 30s and 40s (brock/drew/cody/roman) and at 29 he’s someone that can be the new generation of world champs presumably steiner’s kid eventually as well.

 

[Wesley91581]

BREAKING NEWS: Bleacher Report recently shared a list ranking its top 40 "Greatest AEW Superstars Ever"

Agree? Disagree? How do u feel of the ranking?

40 - Dustin Rhodes
39 - Saraya
38 - Santana & Ortiz
37 - Ruby Soho
36 - House of Black
35 - The Acclaimed
34 - Claudio Castagnoli
33 - Kris Statlander
32 - Ricky Starks
31 - Wardlow
30 - Jack Perry
29 - Willow Nightingale
28 - Sammy Guevara
27 - Adam Cole
26 - Thunder Rosa
25 - Jamie Hayter
24 - Pac
23 - Brodie Lee
22 - Samoa Joe
21 - Eddie Kingston
20 - Swerve Strickland
19 - Lucha Bros
18 - Jade Cargill
17 - FTR
16 - Christian Cage
15 - Hikaru Shida
14 - Toni Storm
13 - CM Punk
12 - Darby Allin
11 - Orange Cassidy
10 - Sting
9 - Cody Rhodes
8 - Britt Baker
7 - Hangman Page
6 - Chris Jericho
5 - Bryan Danielson
4 - Young Bucks
3 - MJF
2 - Kenny Omega
1 - Jon Moxley

 

[Glenn's take]

Can they move Nia Jax back to Raw where I at least have a chance that she's on the half hour they cut on Hulu?

 

[Wesley91581]

Matt jones hanging out with maven?

 

[TheBlueCat]

Maybe. But I think he usually uses a random photo from his phone for those type of posts.

I'm sure most on here are aware, but Maven has a Youtube channel that is worth checking out.

 

[Col. Angus]

Maybe. But I think he usually uses a random photo from his phone for those type of posts.

I'm sure most on here are aware, but Maven has a Youtube channel that is worth checking out.

Wonder how much he makes from that. His videos get millions of views.

 

[K-mac18]

My new favorite wrestling move...

 

[Nightwish84]

So the insane drone shot flog splash Wesley posted yesterday was Logan Paul's idea. No doubt saying this to Vince or Dunn would've gotten a "what do you think this is pal, the year 2185?" And then Paul's name would've been changed to Logan Jetson.

 

[Wesley91581]

So the insane drone shot flog splash Wesley posted yesterday was Logan Paul's idea. No doubt saying this to Vince or Dunn would've gotten a "what do you think this is pal, the year 2185?" And then Paul's name would've been changed to Logan Jetson.

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And that right there is the difference between the Vince and hhh era - Vince and Kevin Dunn kept status quo and with hhh there people feel more empowered to be creative and push boundaries. That clip was everywhere on x/twitter and everyone’s response was overwhelmingly impressed.
A lot of people Saturday were complaining about the quality of the card on paper but it sure exceeded those expectations b/c of moments like that.

 

[Crystalglass]

At one point Kevin Dunn actually wasn’t bad at his job. Even during the bad wrestling and booking times from the 80s to the early 2000s, it always looked great on TV. Then he lost his mind and started demanding that people look at monitors sideways and use a million camera cuts a second

 

[Wesley91581]

 

[Nightwish84]

She was apparently cleared in Dec. but I don't know if that means cleared to work out and take bumps or to actually wrestle. Big difference there. Best move for her is Willow wins and Mone turns heel after the match. At least then we'd have heel Mercedes who occasionally wrestles. Worst move would be giving her the title and keeping her as this tweener that the fans are already annoyed by.

 

[Wesley91581]

 

[Nightwish84]

Nod to Hunter

 

[GeraldV]

Ospreay almost died once but he and Roddy put on a great match.

MJF has reappeared!

 

[Wesley91581]

Ospreay almost died once but he and Roddy put on a great match.

MJF has reappeared!

Ya that coulda been a really bad injury

 

[GeraldV]

Very impressed Roddy could still put on a banger like that as long as he’s been around.

 

[TheBlueCat]

 

[GeraldV]

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That’s almost Cody neck tattoo bad.

 

[Nightwish84]

It ain't great. The war in 2024 or whatever always felt forced. MJF was heelin' and teasing so much that you knew he was staying put. I still believe he'll go to WWE when his newest contract is up but if it happens he'll take the Cody route and only heap praise on AEW, which he should. But in three or four years what would MJF have left to do in AEW?

 

[Col. Angus]

Watchin “The Iron Claw” right now. An hour in. Pretty happy.

 

[Nightwish84]

It's still on btw. I know TK is Mr. PPV but he doesn't know when to end these shows and it doesn't help that every wrestler feels they need a 20 minute match.

From what I've seen online, we've got MJF back, the devil storyline looks to be dead for good, Juice Robinson returned, Gangrel appeared, and Mercedes looked great. Ratings are probably baked in at this point so I'm not expecting massive gains but hopefully with guys back and Mercedes not losing a step this can be a fresh beginning heading into Wembley.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Watched the show. Thought it was an overall good show, but ran a little long for my liking.

Found it interesting that the TBS title gets higher billing than the women’s title.

Really liked Osprey/Strong

Would’ve preferred Takeshita over Mox.

Storm/Deeb had no heat

Nobody cares about Trent Baretta, Jericho or the WTF title.

Don’t like putting the world title match in the sub-main event slot.

Anarchy in the Arena was overbooked and stupid as hell, but the audience it was intended for will love it.

I’ll give it 8/10. Entertaining night.

 

[UKWildcatT]

Mjf, maybe the last holdout of being a clown threw that out the window tonight.

Good lord. Was he trying to be Al Jolson?!

 

[GeraldV]

Takeshita could have used the win much more than Mox, agree 100%.

The OC and America latches didn’t do anything for me, either.

Sabrina Deeb’s negative charisma pulled down that match as well, I thought. Everything she does is boring.

Generally speaking, I liked everything else, though.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

So hanging with my nice and nephew all weekend. My nephew is 12 and HATES the Paul brothers. He told me if Mike Tyson didn’t beat Jake Paul he’d go in and finish the job.

 

[RMP82]

I cannot stress enough how awful Sasha Banks is. I don’t see it in the ring. Cool she can do moves but she seems like a miserable person to work with and always comes off as a total bitch when the cameras are off. She needs to retire and go back to letting the Star Wars nerds lust over her.

MJF is still young so probably made the right move resigning. Make some money, continue to build yourself for another 2 years and then make the jump to the majors once some room on the roster opens up. Not saying he wouldn’t have a main event spot right now, he certainly would. I think 2-3 years from now he will really be able to make a big splash and will only be early 30’s.

I liked Edge and Dave throwing it back to the 90’s. I just wish Christian was there. The Brood was so short lived but underrated. How a mid level faction that lasted only a few months can be so memorable 30 years later speaks volumes.

 

[Wesley91581]

Bold prediction

Mariah may wins Owen hart cup and beats Toni storm in wembley for the title

 

[Nightwish84]

Not sure how bold that is. Just looked it up and she's from London lol. That's TK's MO. It's why Swerve is transitional and Ospreay will be the new company spokesman, beginning in London. Saraya had her moment there too which didn't make a lick of sense but it made for a good photo-op.