Predictions time!

http://tinyurl.com/OKPWFastlane

For purposes of Batista "appearing" I'm counting anything live, whether he's in-person or via satellite. If they recap the Raw thing again or show a social media post of his Batista did not "appear".

fixed!

Just get rid of it and give yourself a couple more weeks to set up Mania.

That was always used to help further set up Mania.

>

Just enough to make sure Miz gets cheered vs Shane.

I wonder how Crippled Haitch is gonna do a match with a torn pec...maybe it was better than expected. Or it was a work all along. Imagine if other stuff got as much planning!

Couldn't really mess with tickets for anything else on Maina weekend, due to me BS'ing and missing out on some opportunities. I only have tickets to Roh/NJPW G1 Supercard of Honor.

I'm thinking about taking a bus up to NY from Maryland in the morning, enjoying the show, and hopping on a bus right back later that night around midnight.

Too much or worth it since I already have tickets? I could always sell the tickets but I'd rather not miss the show.

Taking buses to/from New York SUCKS but given those times it should work.

http://tinyurl.com/okpwleaders

y2 wins the event and is within 5 of Af-1 heading into Mania

I'm winning overall in match predictions, but my bonus answers are so bad.

Kiss that second place goodbye. Normally I'm a first place kinda dude, and I plan on taking AF's throne soon. Take a picture of it so you remember what that spot looks like when its all said and done, because I'm gunning for my position back, then I fully plan on taking first place where I belong!

*throws mic down*

you guess which match is on before the musical number/SNL Weekend Update segment. Everyone knows that's what really matters.

not that im complaining about her being on my TV. but whats the deal

She competed at the Rumble so must be cleared. Don't know what's going on there.

She wrestled at a house show the other day.

If I had to guess, she is cleared for very light contact. The rumble can work because you can get by doing very little in a rumble. Same with a house show, you can make more a fun laugh match than you can on Raw.

Obviously we don't know the diagnosis she has but it's clear they want to keep her on TV and use her but she can not do much physically. I think because it's head related and she is so young in her career combined with the fact that the women's division doesn't NEED her wrestling this second they are being extra precautious.

*jonah hill clapping dot gif*

https://uproxx.com/prowrestling/nikki-cross-alexa-bliss-internet-feud/2/

Wrestler gimmicks explained by John Mulaney quotes. Dude fucking nailed these.

https://twitter.com/chillhartman/status/1090415183237914624

https://twitter.com/chillhartman/status/1090758225849405442

I may be getting rid of 2 out of my 3 since I'm going alone.

Section 105

Let me know

Strowman is officially corny.

They've had him lift trucks, cars, skyscrapers, space shuttles and everything else...yet he can't win one match that matters. Now he's been turned into a side show act to engage Frick and Frack leading up to WM. How they botched his story so many times without any worthy payoff is pitiful on the part of the writers.

Along those lines, it's amazing how the best, most over storylines have been by accident. Lynch, Kingston, even Bryan (moreso the first time than this time) all blew up beautifully and organically, while they force feed Batista/Hunter, Styles/Orton, and the NXT tag team.

and they're different types of fuck-up.

They threw Braun out there as a big guy experiment. I was nothing for a while but then they magically stumbled onto the most over guy in the company. Now almost 2 years later and it's a big ol' dud. I even gave them a pas for their Mania shenanigans last year. It was fun for the live crowd and they didn't have anything better planned, so whatever, they could always fix things with him, right? Nah... just have him look unbeatable for a couple weeks at a time until he loses in a really dumb way. Rinse and repeat, never give him the title.

Asuka, on the other hand, they put a TON of work into building up, and then whenever they get the chance to capitalize on that work they simply don't. I didn't even mind her losing to Charlotte last year (though BOTH her and Shinsuke losing was BS), but they still could've built her back up and chose not to. Sure, they gave her the title eventually, but where the hell is she most of the time? She tapped out Becky and then disappeared from TV!!! Inexcusable.

You have to eventually let the monster win, or else no one's going to believe a fucking word they say. Him getting nerfed by Brock in 9 minutes after dropping the fucking stage on him a week earlier was the beginning of the end for him.

they wanted Brock vs. Roman at Mania 34 and they were dead set on it... we all saw how that went, but fine, I understand why that's what they wanted. That didn't mean they had to completely deny Braun his shot at the top though:

-Have Braun beat Brock at either Summerslam or Night of Champions.
-Brock gets his win and title back at the Rumble.

Braun and arguably Brock come out of that looking stronger and once Braun leaves you still have a credible monster... but no, they were completely entrenched in "We have to pretend that no one has ever kicked out of the F5" mode.

>they wanted Brock vs. Roman at Mania 34 and they were dead
>set on it... we all saw how that went, but fine, I understand
>why that's what they wanted. That didn't mean they had to
>completely deny Braun his shot at the top though:
>
>-Have Braun beat Brock at either Summerslam or Night of
>Champions.
>-Brock gets his win and title back at the Rumble.
>
>Braun and arguably Brock come out of that looking stronger and
>once Braun leaves you still have a credible monster... but no,
>they were completely entrenched in "We have to pretend that no
>one has ever kicked out of the F5" mode.

It seems like Braun ticked somebody off backstage so they cooled him all the way the fuck off ON PURPOSE. I don't understand really, but I almost hope that this is what really happened.

Other options:
- WWE screwed the pooch and are now shocked that he's cold.
- Brock doesn't like him and wouldn't lay it down for him, so WWE flaked on him.

It's crazy to think that Brock was fine looking like a bitch for Goldberg more than once to make the Mania rematch work better, but he couldn't see the value in doing a similar thing with Braun. But hell, maybe he got tender about that Braun green potato he got. Or maybe WWE never even asked him to do it.

>Asuka, on the other hand, they put a TON of work into building
>up, and then whenever they get the chance to capitalize on
>that work they simply don't. I didn't even mind her losing to
>Charlotte last year (though BOTH her and Shinsuke losing was
>BS), but they still could've built her back up and chose not
>to. Sure, they gave her the title eventually, but where the
>hell is she most of the time? She tapped out Becky and then
>disappeared from TV!!! Inexcusable.


EXACTLY

They finally put the belt on her just so they could use Lynch, Flair, and Meanie Face as the forefront women's storyline, and Asuka is the best of those available. Totally wasting her time and talents.

being thrown together more than most years?

Of course, the main matches have built over time, but others...man.

Angle vs Corbin? Styles vs Orton? Of course, since the men have done it, now the women are bringing back old-timers with Beth Phoenix getting a title shot with Natalya. I've seen rumors of Samoa Joe vs ....I can't say it...Cena.

You can't slow build everything, but some of this makes little sense, especially when there are quality guys that haven't got matches yet with three weeks left. I guess they have 4335 hours worth of PPV to fill.

Women's triple threat- Great and what you built to all year

Rollins vs Lesnar- Ok fine, you did a bad job building a credible Lesnar foe and Rollins is your top guy now, I'm not thrilled by this match on it's own but it's not bad

Bryan vs Kofi- Great, but definitely thrown together and just a rip off of the Bryan story from WM 30 with less build and time behind it

But yea, after those matches?

Just last minute BS as if this was Backlash, no building to anything at all...or a repeat of the same shit we've been watching for months already like Finn vs Lashley.

Where are the blood feuds, the risk it all matches? Anything with any meaning besides just a match at WM?

Somehow HHH vs Batista is one of the more intriguing matches.

I will also say I'm pretty sure we aren't getting Corbin vs Angle. They hinted last night a few times about how letdown the Universe was by Angles choice and Cole even said something about he wishes there was a dream match instead. I think we're getting a part timer vs Angle match instead. Taker? HBK? Who knows, but they'll all look old together.

I'd like to say Samoa Joe vs Angle due to their amazing TNA performance but since Angle can't really go at all like he used to then it would be a waste, and I'm sure the WWE Universe (lmao) wouldn't even have seen them fight before to understand why it would make sense now.

Cena faced Kurt during Cena's debut, would make a lot of sense for him to face him on the way out. I would even say Kurt could put some really good newer talent over on the way out also, but it seems like its too short notice for that to happen. At this point I'd rather see him face anyone but Corbin as I don't want Corbin anywhere near WM other than a pre show battle royal.

>Women's triple threat- Great and what you built to all year
>
>Rollins vs Lesnar- Ok fine, you did a bad job building a
>credible Lesnar foe and Rollins is your top guy now, I'm not
>thrilled by this match on it's own but it's not bad
>
>Bryan vs Kofi- Great, but definitely thrown together and just
>a rip off of the Bryan story from WM 30 with less build and
>time behind it
>
>But yea, after those matches?
>
>Just last minute BS as if this was Backlash, no building to
>anything at all...or a repeat of the same shit we've been
>watching for months already like Finn vs Lashley.
>
>Where are the blood feuds, the risk it all matches? Anything
>with any meaning besides just a match at WM?
>
>Somehow HHH vs Batista is one of the more intriguing matches.
>
>I will also say I'm pretty sure we aren't getting Corbin vs
>Angle. They hinted last night a few times about how letdown
>the Universe was by Angles choice and Cole even said something
>about he wishes there was a dream match instead. I think we're
>getting a part timer vs Angle match instead. Taker? HBK? Who
>knows, but they'll all look old together.

Taker showing up to tombstone Angle into retirement after Angle beats Corbin AND Cena? Maybe just maybe. I think Cena lands in the Andre OR somehow involved in Kofi/Bryan.

Maybe WWE is far too worried about killing the crowd emotionally. Maybe that's why they are trying to mix well-told, long-build stories with some 'spilled coffee' shit so that folks can calm the hell down for chunks of time during the show.

I still think they are majorly at risk of having another dead/tired/moody crowd by the time they get to the last 2 or 3 matches depending on how they order this thing.

I damn near don't want the women getting stuck at the end of this long ass double show.

Angle vs. Gable could be awesome if given time. I'm not a Corbin hater, and his moveset is sneaky good, but this is not the Mania match anyone wants.

>Angle vs. Gable could be awesome if given time. I'm not a
>Corbin hater, and his moveset is sneaky good, but this is not
>the Mania match anyone wants.
>

People shitted on WWE's hood over that match announcement. They're gonna have to moonwalk out of it.

Cena still has nothing. Hell, a bunch of folks still have nothing. Maybe they're gonna make The Andre more of a thing with some of the names who could end up in.

This Mania is damn near gonna have to get watched in 2 sittings. I'm glad I'm not going to this long ass show. I wouldn't have the stamina to do it after a weekend of rasslin. I'm just hoping the length of the show doesn't kill the good matches later in the show.

I also hope the number of matches means we don't get 30 minutes of Haitch and Batista laying around making faces.

Okada

Now we get Okada vs. Jay White at Madison Square Garden.

I'm excited as fuck!

I was just flipping channels and saw him in there with Samoa Joe... Angle was great in his day for sure, but he can barely move. It was painfully obvious that Joe had his kid gloves on... barely even holding on with a sleeper. What is the point of this?

But man that was painful to watch and they've got him in there again next week?! Bruh.

>But man that was painful to watch and they've got him in
>there again next week?! Bruh.

Yeah. It’s the Ric Flair retirement angle with a much more beat up human being in the Flair role. And he’s not exactly getting HBK to carry him at Mania either.

There’s no telling what active injury Kurt is working with. Maybe a neck. Maybe a knee. Maybe an ankle. No telling. But yes, he looks openly done. And it’s more sad than the Flair one cuz he’s not as old and it’s clear it’s a ‘body is shot’ thing.

I’m glad Kurt is still with us. He was marked for death for more than a decade with the way he worked, pill abuse, and all of that. And somehow he’s still here.

And then went to YouTube to see.

SMH.

There is no way Kurt should’ve been doing that just 4 years ago, after all his body had been through. No wonder his body is wrecked. He’s only 50. Only a couple years older than guys like Jericho and HHH.

He’s gotta take care of himself.

Damn shame what it did to him though. Man was out there like he had something to prove.

But after ‘10-‘11 or so I stopped watching completely. Had no idea he was doing crazy stuff like that so recently.

https://www.njpw1972.com/47189

This is a pretty sick card for an american audience, since we're their secondary market I'm shocked we're getting some of these!

IMO not even close talent-wise or matchup-wise.

If you're talking in ring action it'll be between this and Takeover, but honestly I'm feeling this may edge out NXT as far as matches go. If you're heavily invested in the wwe drama then I could see someone preferring mania. Not gonna lie, I'm excited to see how the Kofi vs. Bryan and the Woman's main event is going to go, but if we're talking about match quality I'm super pleased I picked this one.

Or are we getting Charlotte/Asuka III with Charlotte losing, then shoehorning her way into the main any way?

They are just making the women's main event look as important as possible, now both champs are in it. Now Charlotte does not look like a random throw in either.

Ronda will eat the loss to Becky, the 2 will feud on Raw still. Charlotte will go back to SD And head up that division for a while, maybe lead to Charlotte vs Asuka 3 because they have fantastic chemistry.

And now we don't have a throw in SD women's match of Asuka vs some undeserving opponent at Mania. Sucks for her but better for the card overall.

2 weeks before Mania, with no build or storyline to the match w/ Asuka

WWE tweeted hours before SmackDown that there was gonna be a 4-way #1 Contender's match that night to see who would face Asuka at WM, so clearly this was a last minute decision.

The only reason to do this is if you are planning on unifying the titles and want to get it done at Mania. I really hope they do this (in fact, I wish they'd unify the WWE/Universal titles, and the Raw/SmackDown Tag Team titles as well) but I'm not sure why they would suddenly decide to do this, last minute, at this time. The only reason I can see them unifying the titles would be because they are putting the women all on one show.

They overbooked this main event really badly since the Rumble, so they had to do a couple things to build back up the hype. First was announcing it would be the main event, which we basically already knew, and the 2nd was throw the other title in there. It does build up the hype, and if anyone needed to look stronger it was Charlotte, but it absolutely sucks that Asuka had to lose her title to help this along. She'll probably be relegated to the battle royal now.

screw the foreign star in order to push the great white hope. There is NO WAY that, if the roles were reversed, that they would bury Charlotte after that streak, then give her a title just to bury her again with the Lynch hype, then make her dump the belt just before the biggest card of the year and essentially leave her off of it.

ZERO CHANCE.

They screwed Nakamura in similar fashion. When will it be ok that someone that looks different can be on top for more than 2 minutes? Then again, Vince is buddies with Trump, so...

Especially as a babyface. Asuka can get out a couple of somewhat understandable sentences at a time. Can you really blame Vince for wanting to go with the Charlottes and Beckys over Asuka?

Getting by on ringwork and a cool entrance works just fine in NXT where you don't have to be on TV every week and on the mic very often, but the main roster is a different kind of show/presentation.

>Especially as a babyface. Asuka can get out a couple of
>somewhat understandable sentences at a time. Can you really
>blame Vince for wanting to go with the Charlottes and Beckys
>over Asuka?
>
>Getting by on ringwork and a cool entrance works just fine in
>NXT where you don't have to be on TV every week and on the mic
>very often, but the main roster is a different kind of
>show/presentation.


Exhibit A: Brock Lesnar - no mic skills, barely competes, holds the belt for ages at a time.

Exhibit B: Rousey - stumbles through promos every week, has the personality of a piece of cardboard. Champion forever and headlines WM.

Need I continue?

>>Especially as a babyface. Asuka can get out a couple of
>>somewhat understandable sentences at a time. Can you really
>>blame Vince for wanting to go with the Charlottes and Beckys
>>over Asuka?
>>
>>Getting by on ringwork and a cool entrance works just fine
>in
>>NXT where you don't have to be on TV every week and on the
>mic
>>very often, but the main roster is a different kind of
>>show/presentation.
>
>
>Exhibit A: Brock Lesnar - no mic skills, barely competes,
>holds the belt for ages at a time.
>
>Exhibit B: Rousey - stumbles through promos every week, has
>the personality of a piece of cardboard. Champion forever and
>headlines WM.
>

>Need I continue?

2 folks are obvious exceptions to most rules. They are there to get non-rasslin fans to watch. The biggest problem with Brock is that he won last year at Mania/didn't leave. RR is basically chick Goldberg. She's not meant to last forever, but she's gonna pop both sets of Horsewomen then ride off into the sunset. She's a godsend for them and the women.

Has anyone been screwed worse than Rusev? He should be AEW's first champ. Instead, he's damn near Zach Ryder.

As for Nak and Asuka:

Is Nak not getting pushed because there were ALWAYS limits to his style and character and WWE isn't great at protecting folks with limits sometimes? IE: they've basically ruined most of the solo Shield runs and all 3 of those dudes are at least redeemable rasslers. They cooled off Braun.

OR

Is Nak supreme and just getting totally screwed here?

I'm guessing the truth is somewhere in between. A bunch of WWE's fanbase is Trumpy whether we want to admit it or not. But hell, I can't say I'm amped when Nak talks and it's not something funny. And I notice when he works his Ric Flair autopilot/template style cuz he doesn't exactly care. His age doesn't help either. In defense...I can say that they damn near Booker T/HHH'd Nak when he didn't ever manage to straight up beat AJ Styles during that series of WCW finishes they put out there with the nut shots.

As for Asuka, WWE fucked her off and they need their asses kicked for it. She's badass, beautiful by any reasonable standard, and over like rover in spite of basically being iced. She's like chick Rusev...inexplicably underloved. And she can fuggin work well enough to make good workers looks better and green workers look competent. She's the shit and she doesn't seem to do the autopilot thing that Nak has been accused of even during the later parts of his NJPW run.

if you cant speak clear english you may as well not bother coming to the E.

It's not like they didn't know that Nakamura and Asuka had limited English skills, so why bring them in, then prop them up just to bury them...unless that is the plan from the outset, which is the gist of my point. If you're not going to give them a fair and equal shot, then hey are tokens and quota-fillers.

>screw the foreign star in order to push the great white hope.
> There is NO WAY that, if the roles were reversed, that they
>would bury Charlotte after that streak, then give her a title
>just to bury her again with the Lynch hype, then make her dump
>the belt just before the biggest card of the year and
>essentially leave her off of it.
>
>ZERO CHANCE.
>
>They screwed Nakamura in similar fashion. When will it be ok
>that someone that looks different can be on top for more than
>2 minutes? Then again, Vince is buddies with Trump, so...

So I’m never mad at her winning a title.

>Or are we getting Charlotte/Asuka III with Charlotte losing,
>then shoehorning her way into the main any way?

Someone in the back knows that putting the women at the end of a ridiculously long show is VERY RISKY. I wish they understood that a long ass show in of itself is risky period, but oh well...

Now, they've overbooked the RR/SC Lynch angle. As a sad byproduct, they've cooled down Stone Cold Becky Lynch's once nuclear heat. So now, they're trying to jazz it all up with shenanigans WCW style.

But hey, I guess a surprise title change is cool enough? Okay okay, how about this: I'm all for this Mania show losing matches. I'd prefer that over the bullshit of someone getting on the show only to get a short ass match and/or a Raw/SD rollup finish. This is the type of show where you'd damn near WANT to go on early-ish. IE: first two hours of the real show.

This is also the type of show where someone is gonna job to a transition move and someone else is gonna kick out of 2 or more finishers. You know damn well Brock isn't going down off of one stomp/phoenix splash/whatever. And now that Roman is back, I'm not sure he's going down at all.

I wish Asuka could have fared better than basically getting bumped into a battle royal. Her and Nak aren't doing too great nowadays. It's a shame.

as the four horsewomen cry in the middle of the ring, embracing, while the crowd chants "YOU DESERVE IT"

Though, I would like it if you started of *next season* with all the Horsewomen holding the belts and the MMA Horsewomen plotting to take them all down.

That means you're likely unifying the titles

Which also means you're essentially eliminating a women's title during the first ever women's main event in a world where there is a title for everything.

I can't see it.

>That means you're likely unifying the titles
>
>Which also means you're essentially eliminating a women's
>title during the first ever women's main event in a world
>where there is a title for everything.
>
>I can't see it.

They aren't above doing that to give Becks the 2 title celebration picture.

Becky, BossHugs, and a reluctant Charlotte Flair all celebrating in the ring would be a sweet replacement for the WM 20 ending that can never be shown again (Benoit and Eddie hugging it out as champs to end the show then things went to the shittiest of shits in the years following).

>
>Becky, BossHugs, and a reluctant Charlotte Flair all
>celebrating in the ring would be a sweet replacement for the
>WM 20 ending that can never be shown again (Benoit and Eddie
>hugging it out as champs to end the show then things went to
>the shittiest of shits in the years following).

4 women, 4 belts

or they have to defend both in 2 separate matches at Summerslam (a la Seth Rollins) and lose one of those matches. They can find a way out and I think they will.

WWE is doing a YouTube livestream of the "20 best modern-day Wrestlemania matches" right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrdFunJYWKc

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2019/3/29/18287123/wwe-20-best-modern-day-wrestlemania-matches-video-angle-lesnar-rollins-triple-h-edge-hbk-stone-cold

https://www.cagesideseats.com/2019/3/29/18286585/rumor-roundup-mar-29-2019-wrestlemania-35-plans-title-situation-charlotte-flair-ms-wrestlemania

Rumors for the Day:
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes the plan for the main event of WrestleMania 35 is to “come out of this match with a clear direction for next year’s WrestleMania.”
It’s also noted that the idea isn’t to merge the titles but rather it’s likely they’ll announce that whoever gets pinned loses their title, be it Rousey with the Raw title or Charlotte Flair with the SmackDown title.
Speaking of Charlotte, she is going to be promoted as “Ms WrestleMania,” with merchandise calling her that already

it's purely quality of catalog. I think he might actually have a losing record at Mania.

>it's purely quality of catalog. I think he might actually
>have a losing record at Mania.

I don't think this nickname means anything. This is Becky's moment. Charlotte already has plenty of them and plenty more to come.

The fact that they've shoehorned her into this, overbooked the hell out of the build, is being said to be booked as a setup for next year's Mania, and are manufacturing the marketing behind it so heavily gives me pause enough to think they'd put her over strictly to make use of that marketing.

HBK sort built over a long stretch of time, and that rep was built organically. This is a far more overt branding.

It could mean the setup here is to build a Horsewomen vs Horsewomen next year.

He had the blueprint “steal the show” match with Steamboat. Ran the whole show at Mania 4. Carried Hogan and Warrior to the best matches of their careers, and tore the house down with Flair. And then he came back and made a horrificly stupid match with Crush entertaining.

Michaels....I mean, what good worker couldn’t put on a great match with prime Bret, Jericho, Angle, and HHH-Benoit? And Vince getting the shit kicked out of him in no DQ type matches is always a winner. Those late career Taker matches were something special, but the rest was handed to him on a platter by giving him the best worker at the time. Frankly, his first Mania run from 92-98 was underwhelming overall despite having the main event 3 different times.

>Michaels....I mean, what good worker couldn’t put on a great
>match with prime Bret, Jericho, Angle, and HHH-Benoit? And
>Vince getting the shit kicked out of him in no DQ type matches
>is always a winner. Those late career Taker matches were
>something special, but the rest was handed to him on a platter
>by giving him the best worker at the time. Frankly, his first
>Mania run from 92-98 was underwhelming overall despite having
>the main event 3 different times.


I'm trying to enjoy my Wrestlemania week and you spring this on me???

Becky is very good, but Charlotte is better IMO.

The story would seem to call for Becky winning, but if they mix it up and Charlotte wins, I won’t be mad.

As long as Ronda doesn’t win.

Personally I’d like to see Ronda get in a blood feud that doesn’t involve the title at some point soon.

* I still think Becky is winning though.

Charlotte is a top 3 talent on the roster male or female. If they had intergender wrestling and no mens/women's divisions I think she could be Universal champ honestly.

But this is Becky's Mania moment, Charlotte can lose this match and still be the GOAT female wrestler when all is said and done.

Either way Ronda is eating this L, so Charlotte can still come out looking great.

Not any 1 of them individually.

The UFC 4 horsewomen aren't ready yet for this big feud, maybe by Survivor Series, but for how Ronda and Shayna are the only 2that the main roster will care about.

The WWE 4 are too big at this point to not have all 4 UFC women at a high level too.

I think we just get a tease of that upcoming story in some way.

http://time.com/5560502/john-oliver-wwe-wrestlemania-last-week-tonight/

I need to read before I repost stuff lol

Coulda watched just 3 hours of that. Holy fuck Charlotte lit up Ronda with that knee.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/b8dgo9/raw_spoilers_benny_hill_music_added_to_classic/

>https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/b8dgo9/raw_spoilers_benny_hill_music_added_to_classic/

I'm not sure what her plan was when she clearly couldn't steer, but I lost it.

Didn't work on the steering wheel though

So many shenanigans

>So many shenanigans

It was already great at ringside and the cop car segment was 1000 times better

just to watch Wrestlemania. Been years since I saw one live, my kids might enjoy it.

If you include the pre-show (which will prob feature 3-4 matches), you're look at 6+ hours of entertainment (and I use that term loosely for a good portion of the broadcast lol)

Pre-show will go from 5pm-7pm (EST) with the main show kicking off at 7pm and recently has been ending around 11:30pm.

And it should be amazing.

I can't remember the last time NXT didn't steal the show from the main roster.

https://tinyurl.com/OKPMania

As I've said before, I'm retiring from the spreadsheet game after Mania. If someone else would like to take this over, let me know.

Probably all down hill from here

My only knock and this really just means I'm impossible to please

It was too consistently good. There is something to be said about the value of a cool down match. It doesn't have to suck, but something you can just relax a little bit during.

About 1/3 thought he main event I was just dragging, I got back up by the end, but also was ready for it to be over and didn't quite pop as hard as I was popping 3 hours earlier. I can't stay at a 10/10 for 3 hours in a row.

I get that is against what NXT does, but I definitely appreciated popcorn matches last night.

>My only knock and this really just means I'm impossible to
>please
>
>It was too consistently good. There is something to be said
>about the value of a cool down match. It doesn't have to suck,
>but something you can just relax a little bit during.
>
>About 1/3 thought he main event I was just dragging, I got
>back up by the end, but also was ready for it to be over and
>didn't quite pop as hard as I was popping 3 hours earlier. I
>can't stay at a 10/10 for 3 hours in a row.
>
>I get that is against what NXT does, but I definitely
>appreciated popcorn matches last night.

I watched it across two sittings. Problem solved.

Mania doesn’t even try to beat Takeovers at this point. There’s too much pressure to put almost everyone on a Mania. The event is worse for it, but I get it.

You can be dope af and get left off a takeover. And the show is usually still so good that you aren’t missed.

I hate that Ciampa got hurt l and ruined what would’ve been a holy shit level main event/match of the weekend shoe-in. But Adam Cole baby did well to show up and show out as a great foil for Jonathan Wrestling to deal with.

I love that Bro and Dream got a chance to go all out.

"We are here at hour 9 of Wrestlemania with no end in sight."

Longest Takeover so far I believe, yet still so much better and more succinct than anything the main roster can offer

>"We are here at hour 9 of Wrestlemania with no end in
>sight."
>
>Longest Takeover so far I believe, yet still so much better
>and more succinct than anything the main roster can offer

We've been saying high numbers for effect but shit...how long are we really talking about if we include preshow? 7? More than that? I don't know! LONG!

I'm gonna be playing WWE Champions or dabbling around on Fire Pro World for the first chunk of this Mania. There's no way to survive an event this long without breaks or something else eating a little of your attention. I'm actually glad I'm not going to this one.

Now lookahere! I'm sure there's gonna be goodness to be had. There's too many good rasslers on the roster for the event to be all bad. And there's some matches I'm legit excited for. The triple threat for instance. Kofimania certainly. I'm wondering what happens with Brock. I'm hoping like hell Haitch and Dave don't lay around making faces for 28 minutes when it should be a 16-minute Attitude Era 'everyone involved is hurt so let's walk around throwing punches and weapon shots' type of thing.

But fuuuuuuck is this thing gonna be crazy long. I remember 'feeling' the crowd get tired at 32(Jerryworld Mania in Dallas). By the time Rock came out with a flamethrower and shit, folks were damn near in a sleeper. At least Roman doesn't get stuck going on last for a tired crowd. I'm assuming he goes on early, hosses it up with Drew, and then comes back to FUCK OVER ROLLINS. It's gonna be so great if so..the crowd will LOVE IT.

>But fuuuuuuck is this thing gonna be crazy long. I remember
>'feeling' the crowd get tired at 32(Jerryworld Mania in
>Dallas). By the time Rock came out with a flamethrower and
>shit, folks were damn near in a sleeper. At least Roman
>doesn't get stuck going on last for a tired crowd. I'm
>assuming he goes on early, hosses it up with Drew, and then
>comes back to FUCK OVER ROLLINS. It's gonna be so great if
>so..the crowd will LOVE IT.

Every Mania since then is destined to be too long. At some point they have to split it into 2 nights, right? There's quite a few matches (Finn/Lashley for example) that are fine on paper, but are probably gonna be forgettable/annoying when the middle of a 7-hour card. Like you I'm REALLY fearful that shit like Aitch/Batista will drag on and on. I know they want to get everyone that Mania payday, but when it comes at the expense of the audience's patience they really gotta start rethinking things.

Holy shit that was horrendous.

https://youtu.be/BUzWsb5RlWs

This guy just stays getting fucked over

>

He deserved to catch some shots for that bullshit. I'm glad he did. And I'm glad the main dudes didn't even have to do it. It looks like one of the revival cats caught dude with an UGLY 1-piece. I smiled.

And TR will likely be welcomed as heroes tonight.

they jobbed to the biggest loser in WWE history and lost the belts to B Team 2.0...

There is no way that anything on the WrestleMania card can come close to Naito/Ibushi or Okada/White, or even Lethal/Taven/Scurll. Even Tanahashi/Sabre Jr was a quality match better than 90% of WWE fare. Takeove had a couple of very good matches for sure (War Machine vs Black/Ricochet and Gargano vs Cole) but I am seriously considering skipping Mania because IMO i can only ruin a weekend of great wrestling action.

)I realize my perspective is in the minority)

>There is no way that anything on the WrestleMania card can
>come close to Naito/Ibushi or Okada/White, or even
>Lethal/Taven/Scurll. Even Tanahashi/Sabre Jr was a quality
>match better than 90% of WWE fare. Takeove had a couple of
>very good matches for sure (War Machine vs Black/Ricochet and
>Gargano vs Cole) but I am seriously considering skipping Mania
>because IMO i can only ruin a weekend of great wrestling
>action.
>
>)I realize my perspective is in the minority)

The challenge with Mania is that it's too comfortable being a long ass and average Wrestle Kingdom. AKA they'll knowingly waste time on matches that 'don't matter' just to get folks on the show. With WK, folks seem to be more accepting because those 6-man whatevers with old dudes and low-card folks are clearly not meant to be important.

But WWE has NXT as proof that they can make the best indy PPVs whenever they feel like it. So they do a ridiculously grand Takeover then turn around and give us a 7-hour Mania with 4.5 hours of stuff that isn't gonna age well even over the course of the night. And they do it in the same damn weekend!

As for NJPW, their best stuff is pretty clearly amazing. But they aren't above falling into formulas and 'match templates'. And again, they'll waste major chunks of cards on shenanigans just like WWE does.

Hulkster.

Haven’t watched Raw in forever. Opening with Hulk and the title match....they’re coming out swinging.

Just hoping the crowd is still hot for the main event later.

>Just hoping the crowd is still hot for the main event later.

Can't imagine sitting in a stadium for 5-6 hours...

I’ll be doing dishes, cleaning my car trunk out, checking emails, doing some laundry, eating, checking every interesting internet site, on YouTube, etc. in the next few hours.

I’ve got a friend who had an extra ticket and was already driving to this, and I turned it down. No way in hell.

I will be paying rapt attention to the main even from my couch. That’s all Ive got.

4 minutes of pummeling
bell
2 minutes of pummeling
nutshot
3 stomps
title change

unbelievable

Too much effort?

That was some bullshit.

like...why?

just all around, why??

from Lesnar and someone that is supposed to be an elite talent...thats an unacceptable comparison result

Most of Lesnar's title defenses the last two years have been sub-10 minute sprints, and they're usually pretty good if he's willing to play ball with the opponent, but that needed another 3 minutes or so to really work. Felt too quick to beat someone built up as a mostly invincible monster.

It was the biggest thing ever to elementary school me and my friends. Everybody took sides. And the crowd stayed HOT the whole match.

5 minutes long and it turned on a nutshot

ive only seen 20ish WMs, but that was easily the worst title match of all of them

it was my understanding that Seth Rollins was capable of having great matches whenever? that wasnt really even a match

Are you in any way familiar with his matches?

Are you in any way familiar with Seth's current health?

Are you in any way viewing this match in the context of the rest of the show?

Are you in any way familiar with the way any of this actually works?

If so, it's difficult to see how you arrive at the implication that this match went the way it did because Seth can't put in that work.

This was what most Brock matches are.

Seth has some lingering injuries, and they worked him minimally leading into this match to make sure he was healthy.

This card was as packed at the top as any in recent memory, with Kofi and Becky overshadowing everything else.

We also had two McEgos to stroke, what with Shane and Hunter getting their McMania on.

This match wasn't a short, one sided mess because Seth can't put in high level work. Brock's best matches have been against AJ and Bryan, and both got solid time to build on Survivor Series, which has become a B list show. What we saw tonight was a VERY abridged version of those two matches, and closer to the Balor match at Rumble.

This was Wrestlemania, and for ONCE, they actually built up other stars to a degree that they were capable of carrying the top.

This match could have been so much better, but Seth's ability to put in stellar work is last on the list of reasons why it wasn't

>Are you in any way familiar with Seth's current health?
>Are you in any way viewing this match in the context of the
>rest of the show?
>Are you in any way familiar with the way any of this actually
>works?
>If so, it's difficult to see how you arrive at the implication
>that this match went the way it did because Seth can't put in
>that work.

thats the opposite of what im saying. Seth Rollins rep is too big as someone who CAN put in the work, for this to be satisfying.

>This was what most Brock matches are.

yeah but hes the most credible shooter of all time. its fine for him to *win* that way.

>Seth has some lingering injuries, and they worked him
>minimally leading into this match to make sure he was
>healthy.

for him to take bumps, give a nutshot, and then 3 stomps? it feels like a waste.

>This card was as packed at the top as any in recent memory,
>with Kofi and Becky overshadowing everything else.
>We also had two McEgos to stroke, what with Shane and Hunter
>getting their McMania on.

i dont see the correlation btwn any of that, and them not being able to have a good match.

>This match wasn't a short, one sided mess because Seth can't
>put in high level work. Brock's best matches have been against
>AJ and Bryan, and both got solid time to build on Survivor
>Series, which has become a B list show. What we saw tonight
>was a VERY abridged version of those two matches, and closer
>to the Balor match at Rumble.

Im saying, i already know that about seth. My problem isnt with him, its what they were produced to do. I fully realize nobody called that on the fly a la Harley Race or some shit.

>This was Wrestlemania, and for ONCE, they actually built up
>other stars to a degree that they were capable of carrying the
>top.

i agree 100%. that doesnt mean they couldnt make better use of the time they did have.

>This match could have been so much better, but Seth's ability
>to put in stellar work is last on the list of reasons why it
>wasn't

Again, I know. All im saying is that Rollins rep makes this mess all the more confusing. Im NOT saying Rollins is incapable of more than a nutshot. Im saying that telling him to do that is asinine.

Yeah Seth got screwed here.

Vince, for whatever reason, wants Brock to be a caricature; an over the top, overpowered end-boss that you can only beat with some boring, cheap ass tactic.

It's one of Vince's more damaging inclinations over last few years.

Rollins cheated to win so theres a legitimacy pall on it

your analogy on Lesnar is perfect. move all the way to the left of the screen and jump and shoot every 2 seconds.

and the idea that no one ever just said fuck it and hit this big scary dude in the balls makes all of Lesnar's vanquished foes look like suckers lol

the women's fatal 4 way made me forget about the match before Kingston-Bryan even had the chance to

... is in a tag team clusterfuck.

i dont understand what it did for anyone else

... but the Usos (and I guess the Bar) were the only true tag teams in it.

And I’m not talking face/heel Kayfabe stuff.

Stephanie has been the infinitely more entertaining and charismatic on screen performer over the years. Shane sucks at everything.

Just something they were born with. Genetic.

Like, I read the twitter and message board stuff. There’s been people legit mad for years at Stephanie’s position in the company, who think Shane should be Vince’s successor. They’re super passionate about it too.

It’s weird.

by Jericho, the Rock, and just about every face the company has, while Shane got to be the avenging angel who'd check Vince whenever he went overboard.

I mean, if I had to venture a guess.

That's pretty much it.

I forget what match it was though I’m thinking Undertaker? But he was legit lights out in that match. I can’t applaud that on any level at this point. It’s just dumb.

This clown goes toe to toe with Angle, Taker, Kane, etc. Everybody. It’s ridiculous.

Even when Stephanie is getting the best of people on the mic....1) It’s words. 2)She’s kayfabe and reality in charge and the scales are tipped to where she has an unfair advantage. That makes sense and it’s about the only way to get heel heat these days.

Shane straight up whups the best wrestlers asses. It’s so dumb.

He was presented as a non-wrestler who was able to catch the real athletes off-guard by being willing to put his body on the line in a way you wouldn't expect from the boss's son. But somewhere along the line we were supposed to accept him as an actual wrestler who can hang with, like, AJ Styles and it got so much more annoying to see him inserted into matches.

>He was presented as a non-wrestler who was able to catch the
>real athletes off-guard by being willing to put his body on
>the line in a way you wouldn't expect from the boss's son. But
>somewhere along the line we were supposed to accept him as an
>actual wrestler who can hang with, like, AJ Styles and it got
>so much more annoying to see him inserted into matches.

It’s always gonna work better when he’s a heel. Because the chickenshit nature of him Haitching his way into matches can be leaned into. And he becomes the guy who eats big spot damage instead of being sold as Rob Van McMahon.

all we ever see of stephanie is her being a longwinded grade A cunt *on screen* for the last 20 or so years. she NEVER gets her comeuppance for it either.

shane actually allowed us to miss him by going away for so long. and he's actually been part of iconic action moments. it makes total sense

and helped get Bryan over.

She does her job IMO. Someone has to be a real heel, since the cool kid fans gotta cheer every other heel. I generally have no problem with how they use her.

Shane is boring as shit and it completely takes me out of things when he has legit matches with the best wrestlers of all time.

i started laughing when he won tonight because thats the only way he should ever win: accidentally falling top of the guy who hurt himself delivering Shane's ass-whipping


>Shane is boring as shit and it completely takes me out of
>things when he has legit matches with the best wrestlers of
>all time.

and every time they get bumped my soul smiles

>

Yeah. I was horrified of shenanigans. I’m glad they played it straight and gave a longtime guy like Kofi a big win. And he had to earn it. An NXT agent must’ve booked that match.

He’s gonna get screwed somehow. Maybe soon, but hey. They got it right tonight.

kind of a chicken shit way to win if so

the boss/hug - natalya/phoenix submatch was pretty good

But I have been PPV only for awhile now, and even then I mostly only watch the big PPVs.

it's very 90s high school cheerleader villain. i could see someone not liking them though.

not knowing them, i was confused about that

>kind of a chicken shit way to win if so
>
>the boss/hug - natalya/phoenix submatch was pretty good

Peyton is flaming hot but they’re heels. But of course mania crowd cheers heels on the reg.

also not heelish

to ride the Old Town Road hype.

instead they herb elias out in an even worse bit

>

It would be so fun and awesome.

I convinced myself it was a swerve to introduce Cena as Angle's actual opponent. Guess they still could but that feels like a waste of a surprise.

Breh is so extra with THIS entrance compared to everyone else's 😂😂😂

Who wanted that match? Waste of a half hour.

>Who wanted that match? Waste of a half hour.

If he would’ve just gotten the hell out of there, it would’ve been more than good. But nope. Them mofos were out there laying around making faces. 25 minutes.

Post match stuff felt rushed.

7 hour show and they can’t even do that right.

I’m legit annoyed.

Why didn’t they just have Joe beat Angle, since Joe-Rey was a squash anyway? Get Rey and Corbin off the card, give us a last Angle match with meaning, and have him lose to someone legit.

It sucks that he lost to someone as creatively wayward as Corbin though. But I blame that on Creative. I think I side with those who think he could actually be pretty decent if they knew what to do with him.

That being said, Samoa Joe-Angle would have been much better.

Sort of like passing the torch.

Now, why Corbin is a legit question...

(and I like Corbin)

This would have been a perfect time for him to debut new gear, rather than heading out there dressed like a Sexy Waiter (c) Mero.

at least not in any kind of visually impressive way. They should’ve learned that from that Sasha-Charlotte match a few years ago.

Just make a women's version that is thinner or a different material but outwardly make it look the same. They would just need to know which one to grab when going under the ring. It would also make it easier for them to set up. This seems like it should be really easy to solve without losing the possibility of the table spectacle in women's matches.

The passion this crowd showed during this match elevated something that was very good, to an all-timer.

I don't do stars or points ornwhat have you, but this had me completely engrossed like few other Mania matches. Very well paced, with minimal bells & whistles, and what extras it did have, were deftly utilized.

Top-tier Mania matches capitalize on the momentum of the moment and tell captivating stories.

This did both, in addition to both wrestlers putting in quality work.

actually peaked my emotions too soon and I fell asleep as bobby lashley made his ring entrance :/

>actually peaked my emotions too soon and I fell asleep as
>bobby lashley made his ring entrance :/
>
>

Charlotte is the best seller in the company, by FAR

shes the only wrestler ive seen that progressively sells throughout the match, even on offense, and her facial expressions actually go beyond the standard adrenaline anger face

for me, shes carrying the story of the match 15 minutes in

what a novel concept

no limp whatsoever lol

dont think they would have shown the replay like that if it were a botch, but the lack of a crystal clean finish is a slight bummer

Strowman? McIntyre?

guess they wanted to get folks that didnt watch mania used to the new champs

WWE is missing a huge trick w/ him.

and i enjoyed him just now before what literally appeared to be a corpse just squashed him

That was so funny. I do need him to get some wins though. Christ!

NXT was fire as always. At this point I'll just keep calling it it's own promotion and right now it's the hottest North American promotion out there for constantly putting on quality major shows. Gargano vs. Adam Cole (Bay Bay) was fantastic. My only gripe was how many finishers Gargano kicked out of at the end especially after being attacked by Undisputed Era. He took the 3 count for the first pin fall after a finisher but kicked out of multiples at the end? Anyway I was super happy at the entire card.

I was in attendance for the G1 Supercard and it was the hottest live wrestling event I've ever been to! All the matches involving the NJPW guys were fucking great and I got to witness a true classic between Ibusi vs. Naito and Okada vs. Jay White. The crowd erupted in fuck you's when Enzo and Cass jumped the barricade, we all thought it was them just being assholes but I think RoH may have employed them. Funny because they cut the video feed right when they jumped in.

Wrestlemania is too damn long! What we did get is a fucking fantastic match between Kofi and Bryan. This was the WM match of the night for sure. Thank god the belt is off Brock! I keep hearing people say they need a long show to showcase all of their talent for the biggest PPV of the year. Wrestle Kingdom is only 4 hours or a little longer and they still can squeeze just about everyone in and also showcase some epic matches. No excuse why WWE can't do the same. Shit should be no longer than 5 hours at the max.

https://youtu.be/eN81n6wN2Xk

Change my mind

first thing she asked was "where's the character? he's just a guy" when seth was out first lol

she liked the new day, elias. really liked alexa surprisingly

we kinda came to a conclusion that it cant decide if it wants to be the ufc actually be a good wrestling show.

>first thing she asked was "where's the character? he's just a
>guy" when seth was out first lol

i dont understand why im supposed to care about 99% of these dudes, because i dont understand who they *are*

>she liked the new day, elias. really liked alexa surprisingly

all people with personality that i too enjoy.

>we kinda came to a conclusion that it cant decide if it wants
>to be the ufc actually be a good wrestling show.

100% cosign. WWE is now a UFC simulation the same way FIFA is a soccer simulation.

>first thing she asked was "where's the character? he's just a
>guy" when seth was out first lol
>

and everyone who has caught a glimpse of Velveteen Dream falls in love and asks why he isn't their biggest star.

>first thing she asked was "where's the character? he's just a
>guy" when seth was out first lol
>
>she liked the new day, elias. really liked alexa surprisingly
>
>we kinda came to a conclusion that it cant decide if it wants
>to be the ufc actually be a good wrestling show.

Athletic but generally regular dude rassler IS a heavily used ‘character’ now. It’s a necessity tho. That’s what makes the Velveteen Dream really pop. He’s basically WWE’s Okada if they handle this properly.

If everyone was more of a character, we’d be stuck in New Generation Era WWF methinks. And it would NOT be favorable for our viewing pleasure. We have plenty of characters. They just need to do right by more of their amazing ass roster.

http://tinyurl.com/okpwleaders

Af-1 wins of course. Paps moves to 2nd with the Mania win (that is shared with Oak).

My attempt to go against the grain ended in a dreadful showing. I've gotten or tied for last place in 4 of the last 6 events. If this thing continues I arguably should be banned for my performance the past few months.

Haha

Preciate you managing this over the last year as we all do.

So no, you have no idea how Kofi and Becky feel. Ya see, when it comes to matches and matches alone I take the cake and I'm the rightful champion, so enjoy your title that was handed to you purely from taking a lucky guess at what the first matches would be, who would show up unscheduled, and how many fingers your favorite wrestler was holding up behind his back. When it came down to what really should matter, the matches, there was only one true King, and that was me!

Now onto Y2Flound, the person who really gave me some competition. It was close, but like I said before in this same exact post, you didn't cut it kid. You had it, you had it RIGHT there, and you couldn't pull the trigger. I'll be the self proclaimed prediction champion of 2018. You should all be thanking Pretentious for not wanting to continue this, because next season would have been a land slide victory for sure. Burn the kingdom to the ground just so Paps can't rightfully rule it, that's what's happening.


lol for real for real congrats Af-1 and everyone else who hung in there it was fun. Wish this could continue. I'm half tempted to take it over myself because I do enjoy it, seems like a lot of work though.

Week after week after week after week, you come out here and you run your mouth "I'm the best", "I'm number 1" so let's settle this right here and right now... Googledocs on a poll match. First to snag this hemp-made sheet can claim to be the undisputed best.

Want me to predict how I'll win, in which minute and the colour of the guy's shirt third seat in the front row? I can do it yo. (haha)

we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

But I guess you guys don't care about having Saudi blood on your hands.

Laughable, HA!

Sure, we can sit here all day and listen to that spiel about how you didn't want to watch Crown Jewel so you didn't do your predictions. In actuality all you had to do was take a lucky guess, ya know, kinda what you've always done. You could have still not watched the PPV, just got lucky like the rest of em. But no, you let your pride and your false moral high ground fool you into thinking you were doing the smart thing, and ended up dumber than the rest of em!

Ya see, while you were out here making excuses as to why you didn't do better, I was busy doing the math. Busy doing the math between my time celebrating being the true uncrowned champion. See, even IF you would have participated in Crown Jewel, my other numbers would have put me ahead of you anyway, and if its any indication of how you performed this season, you would have been just another annoying yet easy obstacle for me to get around.

The numbers don't lie Oak27, and they spell disaster for you in predictions.

That plus JR gives me hope that we'll get a legit product.

>That plus JR gives me hope that we'll get a legit product.

I’m lightweight horrified that folks are building expectations that can’t be met with what we actually end up with.

I’m currently trying to settle in on expectations between better than TNA in general and not as good as WCW when it would be good. And trust me, I’d take that! But I hope they’re not thinking too much of anyone they have on the roster. I like their main guys mostly but would we really be krunk about Cody vs Jericho on a reg?

I AM interested in how they’ll throw their money around to lure in free agents and mildly discouraged WWE folks who could use the space. I’d love to see a Rusev or Cesaro thrown into their mix for instance. Even give me a victory lapping AJ Styles or Smo joe. The good brothers are a guarantee and the Revival are a no-brainer that could earn main events with the Bucks of Youth.

I'm also not raising my expectations so high to the point that they won't meet them. The good thing is they're not trying to be competition to the WWE, they're just trying to be an alternative. This is good because so many other promotions have failed because they wanted to be a competitor to a giant that can't be stopped. I hope that some people who are casual wrestling fans (the "I only watch WWE" type) will get to witness this and see that there is other wrestling out there and its really fucking good.

Don't get too hung up on JR either. He's kinda past his prime if you ask me and although I absolutely loved him through some eras of wrestling, I've seen his more recent commentary, it's not good. NJPW fans went nuts on the internet until they finally decided to remove him from calling their U.S. shows, it was that bad.

Everyone is so hungry for a US based, legit alternative to WWE and for them to have real competition but it's not going to happen right away.

We live in such an instant hot take era that I'm worried people will bail and call it a failure within 3 months if they aren't stealing big name stars and competing in the ratings.

it was easy to watch Lucha because it came on wednesday nights.

Basically the only night WWE doesn't have something on.

>it was easy to watch Lucha because it came on wednesday
>nights.

This is their shoot interview after Cass and Enzo interfered in the tag match without RoH letting them know it was going to happen.

https://youtu.be/FzRuVH8Ygh4

LOLOLOLOL

I was there live, this wasn't shown on tv, they cut it to make it seem real.

This is a swipe from WON:

Mark Briscoe started swinging wildly with a fan out of the crowd, which turned out to be the former Enzo Amore. Amore was sitting with the former Big Cass, at ringside, surrounded by some planted fans and kept disguised. The idea was to make this look like it wasn’t part of the show. Those at ringside could immediately tell it was planned because security did nothing. Security was alerted ahead of time that an angle was being planned and to let it happen but weren’t told exactly what it is. The punches being thrown were really stiff because they wanted fans at ringside to think it was real. The idea was to fool everyone but as it turned out, while some fans were, most saw through it. They went so far as to keep this a secret from almost everyone. Tonga & Loa, who had just won, were not told, nor was anyone from the New Japan side told. They saw it, looked like they were mildly disgusted by it, didn’t fall for it and just walked away. Multiple sources have confirmed nobody in New Japan was told about it ahead of time. Tonga even tweeted sort of about it, just saying Enzo & Cass jumped the losers of the match not the winner and called it “ROH booking at its finest.” A number of people complained that this angle being booked at this time took away from the impact of the double title change.

The two will use the names nZo and CazXL and their tag team name will be the Free AgentZ. A big brawl ensued, none of which was shown to the streaming/PPV audience with the idea of presenting it like it wasn’t supposed to happen. In addition, they sent Bully Ray out there with the idea that he’s a big tough guy and would be the guy who would handle things for ROH if it was a real fight. Security when it was over got Enzo & Cass out. The key thing is they weren’t handcuffed or kicked out. Cass looked very out of shape, and was blown up with bloodshot eyes. He may have gotten hurt because the punches being thrown were very real because they wanted the ringsiders to believe it was a fight and he got several potatoes from the Briscoes.

May as well come to the ring with a knee-length Looney Tunes "homeboy" tee.

https://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/1079175-dominik-dijakovic-white-nationalist-gimmick#u0iaI3EtCbgpOBf1.99

>https://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/1079175-dominik-dijakovic-white-nationalist-gimmick#u0iaI3EtCbgpOBf1.99

Is this why they made his name unnecessarily long?

I'd hate to see them ruin him with this gimmick.

On top of it being a bad idea in general, it would derail a very promising talent.

and so glad it was Kofi. I remember we used to call him "Kofi Coolrunnings" when he first came out... now he's the CHAMP!!

about the loss to the Iiconics.

I believe she's more upset that they didn't get to do much with the titles while they had them. All her title reigns have been extremely short. Sasha and Bayley haven't really been played up to their strengths on the main roster. Look at how amazing their NXT runs have been compared to this.

They're friends with the IIconics, and honestly there was no other team on the woman's roster that deserved to be the next woman's tag champs other than them.

They're not using her properly though, at least not as well as they should. I'm almost starting to think Vince hates wrestling and would rather just have a show full of acting eventually.

Every picture of them hanging out after their match is a happy one. I honestly think they're getting railroaded here. I have a tough time believing that they acted any differently than The Revival, Neville, or any guy wrestler that wasn't pleased with their place in the company and I haven't seen any of those dudes get criticized nearly as much if at all.

Why does Vince hate NXT so much?!

They should have kept the name War Machine, but I get it. But the fucking Viking Experience?!?!? Does Vince think no one watches NXT?!?! They're the fucking NXT tag champions, they even renamed the members of the team like people would just forget?

Between this and shortening people's names because they think we are too stupid to remember it is infuriating.

At this point I really wish AEW just comes in strong and kills it. Vince gotta go. Makes me wonder if HHH gets pissed when these guys he brings in and are proud of gets this kind of treatment.

I really don't get WWE thinking. Half of the time they act like everyone has the Network and they neglect to develop main roster characters, then they do this...a team that most wrestling fans know from either Ring of Honor, NJPW, or NXT, lets them hold the NXT tag belts a whole week previous, then completely reinvents them for RAW - new name, new individual names, new gimmick. That makes no sense at all.

My guess is that they et the tag belts for a couple of months, then become yet another afterthought tag team on the roster. I guess I should be happy that they didn't give them blonde wigs and horned helmets...SMH.

To so boldly make such "bitch, because I can" moves is an inspiration.

I imagine success at his level can get rather boring. A guy like that has to find ways to entertain himself that us mere mortals can only imagine in our most morally flexible fantasies.

We can only dream of the power and wealth it takes to tell grown men to ditch the very things that have made them successful, in favor of some shit nobody believes is anything but a practical joke....and then they actually do it.

That's a real Murrican right there.

Sure, it makes the terrorists hate us, but that's the sort of boss-tier swag that keeps Putin's dick hard.

This is an excellent heel authority character.

It kills me to admit it, but yeah. He has potential to be stellar with this and Miz is a quality opponent to work out the kinks.

Certainly not in a traditional sense, but they're aesthetically and functionally complimentary in a way I didn't anticipate.

I liken them to the members of a larger superhero team who happen to have particularly good chemistry apart from the rest.

creepy puppets? cmon man.

>creepy puppets? cmon man.

Even Luke Harper is trying to get out of that shit. It’s gonna be DOA by the time Bray shows up. They need to back out of that shit and make someone else eat this puppet bullshit.

They certainly fucking paid off though. Cannot wait to see more of this incarnation.

>They certainly fucking paid off though. Cannot wait to see
>more of this incarnation.

They take every good heel that can stand alone on their heel work and turn them cartoon character...hopefully Lars Sullivan will get my by until God knows when....

>...hopefully Lars Sullivan
>will get my by until God knows when....

and he found a way to make it work. Aw-shucks KO can be a lot of fun; I'm sure there's going to be some good work with him going overboard and Kofi and Xavier checking him, and eventually he'll powerbomb Big E or someone onto the HARDEST PART OF THE RING and go back to his heeldom.

I loved the segments on Tuesday.

not mad at it.

Also I'm surprised they'd take Elias off Raw. His block was a guaranteed 10-15 mins they could count on in a. 3 hr show

Reigns getting the belt is the first thing I thought of when his entrance came...now will they turn him as I predicted a few months ago? We shall see...

Apparently FOX wanted more Latino presence on SMACKDOWN so Andrade returns, as does Zelina Vega.

Also, the Bar is split (Boooo), Roode dumped Chad (Hooray), and Ricochet and Black are no more (don't know how I feel about that)

was that it was too bad that we wouldn't get a full feud with them after seeing their match on Raw. I hope it continues on Smackdown now.

I never saw Bob...uh...Robert Roode on NXT but the whole time that's he's been on Raw I've thought he would be a much better heel.

https://youtu.be/JHkiVa-FYvo

This is either gonna be Curry from 3 or Ben Simmons beyond 15 feet.

But an intriguing start.

Those teasers sucked, but this Wonder Showzen-type shit is awesome

He should have been the one to end the Undertaker, they missed that mark. Not too late with Finn though.

Honestly I'd rather see Finn lose his title to Cien Almes first, then get into a program with Bray where he channels the Demon. They couldn't do it the last time because Bray got sick and they did that silly Sister Abigail nonsense that we should all have forgotten about now.

I'm thinking have him be the one to finally beat Finn in Demon form, then have Finn come out in his normal gear the next night but with no smiles this time, just a depressed look like he's finally been broken. This could continue for awhile. Broken Balor who seems soulless.

But, what the fuck do I know about long term booking that would make sense?

True, injuries played their part, but Gargano and Ciampa built up their tag team from being thrown together for the Dusty, brought down the fucking house with the Revival and AOP, did the turn, AND THEN had the whole Ciampa toying with Gargano thing. And sure, it'll be delayed a year, but they could pick it right back up when Ciampa comes back from his neck injury and everyone would love it.

Raw and Smackdown can't wait three weeks to pay off a story.

this "Viking Raiders" gimmick is beyond terrible.

Oh, is Miz/Shane gonna last forever?

So says Dana White...is he coming back to Vince...if he ever left...


https://sports.yahoo.com/dana-white-brock-lesnar-retired-moving-in-new-direction-with-cormier-012037559.html

Brock Lesnar will not be making his return to the Octagon after all. The former UFC champion has instead elected to retire, according to UFC president Dana White.

“He told me he's done, he's retired,” White told ESPN. “We're going to move in another direction with Cormier."

Lesnar (5-3) was projected to take on Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title later this summer. However, that will no longer be happening.

Instead, Cormier will likely be involved in a rematch with Stipe Miocic, per White. The two met at UFC 226 in a first-round loss for Miocic.

Following Cormier’s win, Lesnar confronted him in the Octagon. The two exchanged words and a shove for a would-be buildup to a later match.

At the time, Lesnar said, “I’m coming for you mother-!”

Lesnar has not fought in MMA since July of 2016 at UFC 200. Lesnar defeated Mark Hunt, but the decision was later overturned to a no contest due to Lesnar failing two drug tests.

In November, Cormier retained his heavyweight title by way of submission against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230.

It's not even fun watching youtube recaps anymore. That's how bad this show has gotten.

pure garbage. not a single redeeming segment.

>It's not even fun watching youtube recaps anymore. That's
>how bad this show has gotten.

I'm basically reading recaps to fill in the blanks if I don't get hooked in on any of the 2-4 'flip to USA and see what's going on' shots I give Raw when I'm at home on a Monday. Last night, I turned just in-time to see Vince, Burn It Down, and They Don't Want None in the ring. I don't remember turning back again until the 2nd half of the Kofi/DB match. I watched the rest of that hoping Kofi wasn't about to get hot-shotted.

I also make sure I see every new Bray segment (for now).

This is a delight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl7oIm9TkEQ

d

I'm guessing in the fall, but anything is better than the crap that has been on Monday and Tuesday nights recently...

They'll be on TNT.

Double or Nothing is on the 25th of May. If you're in the U.S. you can watch on cable PPV or order it on https://live.bleacherreport.com/

Kinda sad

That I won't be schooling any of you from now until next Wrestlemania. You should all be so grateful.

Anyway I'm watching GoT finale tonight and go back and watch MitB later. That's where I'm at with this company right now.

I know they’re that petty.

this bullshit tonight.

Fu Manchu Fuck Rey Mysterio

The rumored legends belt that Mickey Foley could be announcing for the Taker/Goldberg match should

"Ashley Massaro recently died. Her affidavit when she sued WWE includes her being encouraged by Vince McMahon not to report that she was drugged and raped by US military staff while on tour in Kuwait. Content warning - this is sickening reading. "
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/bqx13k/?utm_content=title&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_name=1963a58c227f4cba84f858903149d33f&utm_source=embedly&utm_term=bqx13k

Details of Massaro's abuse at the hands of WWE: Sexual assault, told to "shake it off" after being knocked unconscious, and having a plaster cast protecting her broken hand being sawed off on Vince McMahon's orders weeks before it was scheduled to be removed
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/bpti28/?utm_content=title&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_name=13d75be17fb1428098dc7b4e06ff937d&utm_source=embedly&utm_term=bpti28

it would not surprise me if Vince was on that particular degree of "support the troops" though

why not trot it out again??

SMH

Also, so much doe the "separate" brands with this corny as all hell wild card rule...what the top guys really needed is to double their work rate. It's truly amazing how a company with so many bad ideas continues to make buckets of money.

The answer is: Goldberg and The Undertaker.



*BUZZ*


What is two decrepit dudes I never wanted to see in a ring again?

Correct!!

and body in their right fucking minds is gonna waste their time watching one of those shows again.

Best of the Super Juniors tournament has been really good.

Went to an NXT house show Saturday night and I believe they filmed some matches for the network. Was in the front row and had Shayna almost thrown right into my lap by Io.


lol wwe
shit is a mess.

and if its more people in the room than people that ask for inboxes i'll have to shut it down since I'm not trying to get in too much trouble lol.

I personally can't wait! Pre Show starts at 7pm

Wanted to know who is checking it out because I may do something really cool for yall.

$50 is kind of ridiculous for a wrestling PPV in 2019, but I want to support and it's not like I can't afford it. I doubt I'll order the next few though, unless this one blows me away. Really excited for the weekly TV to start in the fall.

Heading to a friend's house to check it out in a few

Pros:
I’m very intrigued by the event and want to see it.
I want to support. Want an alternative company to make it.
I’m home sick and not going anywhere and am bored.

Cons:
$50 is insane. Seems like a dumb move on the surface.
The basketball game is on.

>Pros:
>I’m very intrigued by the event and want to see it.
>I want to support. Want an alternative company to make it.
>I’m home sick and not going anywhere and am bored.
>
>Cons:
>$50 is insane. Seems like a dumb move on the surface.
>The basketball game is on.

Yeah. I made a face when i clicked the button to order. That price was crazy. But I get it. They have to bring some dollars in early to validate the venture. They need positive momentum all around. That show should be good enough. Only those who are dedicated to not liking stuff should’ve had major issues with the show. Everyone was pretty much on-brand. And Cody might’ve had the best match on the show, so hey.

It’s cool as hell that Dustin proved he could still go. Most of us knew that but he was locked in a cave so much in wwe that it was easy to forget.

And, as much as it sucks to say, they needed a not old WWE person to come over and do well. They could do worse than Dean. It’s cool that he wanted to do it. Now let’s hope it works out.

and if its more people in the room than people that ask for inboxes I'll have to shut it down so don't share with your friends or the entire damn internet.

Good God

At one point I was legit concerned.

Amazing on the mic like a fuckin natural.

Now I can't wait to see more of him.

He's what Miz wants to be.

Holy shit what a show!

This is going to be something special.

Can't wait for October.

in a potential Kenny Omega feud. I'll take it.

This is what real competition looks like.

It's one show, but this is absolutely competition WWE should be concerned about.

The presentation and production quality itself is a home run. Their ring announcer is Michael Buffer steeze.

But they also have a roster of stars.

Jericho was the perfect get for this.

Hart was a big deal.

Jim Ross calling this shit?

Mox looking like a dangerous motherfucker?

This is a threat. As a fan, this is the most exciting night I can remember in a very long time.

>This is what real competition looks like.
>
>It's one show, but this is absolutely competition WWE should
>be concerned about.
>
>The presentation and production quality itself is a home run.
>Their ring announcer is Michael Buffer steeze.
>
>But they also have a roster of stars.
>
>Jericho was the perfect get for this.
>
>Hart was a big deal.
>
>Jim Ross calling this shit?
>
>Mox looking like a dangerous motherfucker?
>
>This is a threat. As a fan, this is the most exciting night I
>can remember in a very long time.

This is why WWE had to go back to holding folks hostage when they wanted out. DON was a blast and it could’ve had even more random show up outta nowhere shit if WWE would’ve let it happen. Cody and the boys put on a damn good show.

I hope like hell Moxley can pay off. They probably gave up their ass for him just to make sure they got somebody. We’ll see!

WWE has a huge lead but it’ll be fun if rasslin fans just give AEW a real chance. Aka don’t hold it against them that WCW died 20 years ago. Don’t hold TNA’s dedication to fucking up against them. Don’t call them ROH. Let’s see what they have!

I have no idea what their respective contract situations are like, so that could be impossible, but if any other big names are going to defect early, those are the ones I'd guess. Honestly, I can't imagine any creatively stifled mid-carder—of which there are tons right now—not raising their eyebrows in AEW's direction right now.

My only question about AEW's success is if any new wrestling company in 2019 can rope in the super-casual fans—the ones who heard Sami Zayn name-drop the company tonight and had no idea what they were talking about. Obviously, having Jericho and Ambrose gives them a head-start there, but you've also got rope in kids, and I don't know if that's at odds with the "serious" presentation they seem to be going for.

But hey, it's gonna be interesting!

I believe it's on June 5th

What a time to be alive.

I really wonder if Vince is pissed.

Imagin Moxley takes the US Title off of Juice and walks around as a champion already lol.

A few of you joined in for Double or Nothing. Now I'd like to see how it would go with a few other streams to shows that are non WWE. A place where we can watch and chat if you want to.

Of course this is a link that can't be shared with friends or the whole internet just something for the people who request it and want to chill. Since I watch a lot of wrestling and have access to it when people don't feel like paying (I would end up paying to watch either way).

I'm thinking about doing the final night of Best of Super Juniors and then Dominion live with a replay later for folks that can't watch live. Need to see if there is a decent interest before I bother.

But if you want to schedule a replay I'd be down

Around a time people would normally be home from work. I'm thinking around 7 or 8pm EST the same day of the event for the people that can't stay up overnight to watch.

I'm pretty inconsistent with my NJPW watching and tend to only watch specific matches if I hear something about them afterwards. Of course, that's also because of the time difference, not wanting to fight with a shitty stream and not wanting to test my fiancée's limits.

But I'm definitely interested.

this mf has no limits.

in a storyline...that's why when it was announced I thought it was a work. Even with it being real I am surprised it wasn't used.

It's not just that he went to the closest thing the company has to competition, but his tweet about Brock after MITB, and now this—though he lets Moxley do most of the talking, he chimes in to co-sign all the backstage micromanaging and how exhausting it was to deal with.

He was always viewed as a great company guy who might come and go but would never burn the bridge between him and Vince, but now I wonder if we'll ever see him in WWE in any context down the line.

“Awesome to see @BrockLesnar win the #MoneyInTheBank match...even though he wasn't officially entered! Brock is the future of the biz and this perfect example of genius booking shows why @WWE will remain on top FOREVER! #GoBrockGo"

Couldn’t somebody say the same about Jericho main eventing (and winning) the first AEW PPV? Talk about Brock not being the future of the biz....Chris is damn near a decade older.

Now I will say that I personally don’t feel that way. I actually hope Chris wins the title. Because it’s not ALWAYS the right time to push the future. I’d like to see Chris as the veteran heel champ, who eventually puts over the hot face they want to push when the timing is right to do so. And I’ve got no problem with Brock winning it and staying in the title picture if he’s still in WWE. It’s the safe move, just like Jericho main eventing Double or Nothing was and like him winning the title, would be.

AEW is in the position of having to draw eyes to a completely new product and reel in casual viewers who don't currently know who Kenny Omega or the Young Bucks are. Having a super-recognizable name like Jericho as the champ once weekly TV starts is the way to capture that audience and grow from there.

On the other hand, WWE's big problem right now is that they've failed to make any new stars precisely because they've insisted on playing it safe and keeping a part-timer on top rather than as a special attraction.

Was Jericho's tweet petty? Possibly. But he wasn't wrong.

on someone new when they should. I mean, they’ve done that more than enough times the last 5 years alone.

Just not sure this was one of those times? Who else was in that match that you can say this really should’ve been their time?

They can be criticized for not having somebody ready and built, I guess.

Just felt like he was forcing it a bit, there. Maybe that was the point to an extent too. Maybe he just wants all the smoke with WWE right now and is stirring the pot.

He's a top tier worker with solid mainstream cross over appeal, an established audience for his podcast, and works in a way that's right in line with the current talent and branding of AEW.

Jericho's presence arguably contributed to getting a deal with TNT.

Jericho's presence is a key cog in elevating an entire company at a critical time into a platform that could become the first viable mainstream competitor to WWE.

As was noted in today's podcast, a lot of these guys, such as Omega himself, don't have the weekly live TV experience, and he helps there as well.

Jericho will help elevate a critical piece like Hangman into a bigger mainstream star. He has a history of reinventing himself, and has a lot to offer AEW in every aspect of the company that deals with wrestling. He serves as a foundational piece who is not likely to bigfoot that roster to death. He's well respected.

The list of ways that Jericho benefits AEW is pretty long.

What's the objective benefit to WWE to get again go to the well of Brock Lesnar, particularly when one of their biggest issues is their refusal to create new stars at a top level, which creates a need to keep the same old same on top?

There's nothing about the two that's remotely the same, and like the long list of reasons why Jericho working on top early in AEW's growth is beneficial there's similarly long list of reasons why Brock's win here is indicative of the problems that plague WWE at every level.

Brock is the bigger star, and yet he could disappear tomorrow and it would only benefit wwe. There would be ZERO negative impact.

Despite being a lesser overall star, Jericho inarguably, tangibly beneficial to AEW. Brock has been a net negative for at least two years already.

As for Brock though...who should’ve won? I admittedly haven’t been following real close, but from what I can tell it wasn’t necessarily anyone else’s “time” and WWE failed to pull the trigger.

In addition, I personally feel the MITB holder works better when it’s a heel. It’s a different look to have Brock holding the briefcase. If there’s someone new they’re going to push to the moon, I’d rather have them win the title straight up. Brock lurking with MITB might actually be a good use of him. We’ll see.

Particularly with Vega as his mouthpiece?

There's a ton that could be done with him and that briefcase.

IMO he's actually a pretty clear cut option there. It doesn't matter of the guy they pick is ready for a primetime spot when he wins MITB, because MITB is/should be used to put someone *into* that spot.

Granted, WWE is and has been trash, and would have just kicked that guys ass all year, so it's all moot.

Brock having a full year to fuck with Seth, and the Brock Party Boombox gimmick has actually been quality TV, but it's still indicative of the broader issues within WWE right now. Brock is such a cheat-code required level video game boss and it's clear that they have no intention of *actually* elevating anyone by his presence.

So I think the question of "who then?" is a red herring overall, because while I believe Andrade to be a no-brainer here, because WWE's use of both Brock and the briefcase is a showcase of just how stagnant they are creatively.

so I guess that could affect my thinking. And when I say “kinda stupid” I’m referring to being able to cash in right after the champion just had a match. Like, that worked the first time with Edge. That’s where it should’ve ended. Close that loophole and make it where you have to get the match planned beforehand, so that it’s a legit match and I’d take it more seriously.

As it is, you can only have so many cheap cash in new champions. It’s been done to death and I don’t care anymore.

I like the 'anytime, anywhere, under any circumstance' element of it.

The problem, as with nearly everything in WWE, is the complete lack of imagination in the execution.

A guy like Andrade should cash in at a very opportune time IMO. Champ has a grueling match that left him depleted, Andrade comes out and beats him unconscious, to the point where officials and refs have to come out and stop him.

Then he cashes in, and all he does is pin the guy.

He gets the strap, former champ gets written off for three months, and suddenly we have 6 months of TV in the can.

Particularly with Vega as his mouthpiece?

There's a ton that could be done with him and that briefcase.

IMO he's actually a pretty clear cut option there. It doesn't matter of the guy they pick is ready for a primetime spot when he wins MITB, because MITB is/should be used to put someone *into* that spot.

Granted, WWE is and has been trash, and would have just kicked that guys ass all year, so it's all moot.

Brock having a full year to fuck with Seth, and the Brock Party Boombox gimmick has actually been quality TV, but it's still indicative of the broader issues within WWE right now. Brock is such a cheat-code required level video game boss and it's clear that they have no intention of *actually* elevating anyone by his presence.

So I think the question of "who then?" is a red herring overall, even though I believe Andrade to be a no-brainer here, because WWE's use of both Brock and the briefcase is a showcase of just how stagnant they are creatively.

Putting the two together puts a giant exclamation point on how dead they are from a creative standpoint, and I think that's the (lion!)heart of Jericho's tweet.

If Lesnar fought more than 3 times per year, he would be a great lead heel, but the absentee heel champion role takes away from his appeal.

him acting like it's a boombox is very entertaining, but typically the briefcase for someone who wouldn't otherwise have a clear path to the title. Brock can be in the title picture by announcing when and where he wants a match so that part of it is annoying booking.

I'd say he should research it when he knows his client will be in that match, but he probably should've just picked it up from watching any WWE in the past 15 years.

so jericho could def come back if he ever wanted to

I'll try to respond to everyone today that is interested. I'll be showing Best of the Super Jr Finals tomorrow at 7pm est.

Dominion will be live this Sunday at 3am est with a replay later that day.

June 5th's main matches are
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White
Juice Robinson vs. Jon Moxley (US Heavyweight Championship)
Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi (BotSJ Final Match)


June 9th so far is
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi (Never Openweight Championship)
Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito (Intercontinental Championship)
Kazuchika Okada vs. Chris Jericho (IWGP Heavyweight Championship)

Jesus!

People in the crowd crying after the main event! Will and Shingo showed their ass on that one!

The Mox vs. Robinson match was great too. It's so refreshing seeing what dude can do out here without the restraints of the WWE.

The only thing that really took me out of it was all the false finishes, at some point it just becomes too much. Otherwise really great match, and Shingo still looks really strong coming off a sweep of his block and Ospreay needing to pull out literally everything in his arsenal to beat him.

I unfortunately got the finish to Mox/Juice spoiled but still want to go back and watch to see how Mox looks. I caught his entrance and I'm not sure how I feel about him in trunks yet, but I guess it works for NJPW.

The false finishes were a lot more than I'm used to in NJPW but Shingo was a fucking Terminator throughout this whole thing. The only option Will had left was to shoot him in the middle of the ring to beat him, that's how he was portrayed so I'm not mad at it at all.

I can see why they made that decision with Mox, it was a very smart move on their part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FRuBM0Y6AI

Juice and Mox after their US Title Match.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Chris Jericho

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Dragon Lee (c) vs. Will Ospreay

IWGP Tag Team Championships: Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga) vs. EVIL & SANADA

NEVER Openweight Championship: Taichi (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Bullet Club (Jay White, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori)

Jushin Thunder Liger & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.)

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shingo Takagi

Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino


I'd say this is a pretty stacked card and I'm hyped as shit for this on Sunday!

Gotta make sure I'm home by 7 for this

And only 1 of those matches is a multi man tag match.

These matches are about to fire!

It's free if interested in an alternative to support the ladies.

www.facebook.com/evewrestling

Didn't watch but I've seen the clips... holy shit they're lucky neither of them is paralyzed. I know that Saudi money talks, but for a publicly-traded company that likes to stress the safety of their performers it is getting WILDLY irresponsible in putting these old dudes out there.

Say what you want about Hunter, but at least I know he can handle himself in the ring and probably will be able to for a while. Taker has had trouble picking people up for his SIGNATURE moves for at least 3 years and Goldberg has never had a reputation for safety. They gotta stop this shit.

but from what I gather from a couple of my friends, it was a disaster.

One of my friends said the best match was Revival vs Usos - which was on the kickoff show. That is all I needed to know.

WWE won't stop trotting out old-timer's matches until one of then has a coronary in-ring or one gets paralyzed. To continue to trot out a guy like Undertaker- who can barely walk much less work effectively - is a testimony to the blatant greed and non-caring attitude of Vince. I now believe that nothing will change until he is dead and gone.

>but from what I gather from a couple of my friends, it was a
>disaster.
>
>One of my friends said the best match was Revival vs Usos -
>which was on the kickoff show. That is all I needed to know.
>
>WWE won't stop trotting out old-timer's matches until one of
>then has a coronary in-ring or one gets paralyzed. To
>continue to trot out a guy like Undertaker- who can barely
>walk much less work effectively - is a testimony to the
>blatant greed and non-caring attitude of Vince. I now believe
>that nothing will change until he is dead and gone.
>

If they'd at least saddle a younger/better worker to these old horses, then maybe we could avoid disasters like a mostly done Taker vs Goldberg, a lifelong stiff. Bill did well to come back into the fold and do that program with Brock, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's been an injury-causing machine his whole career.

I have only seen the gif of Bill trying to do his finisher. Yikes.

I can buy that Bill was somehow out of it (after hurting himself), but it still proves the point that these old dudes need to cool it. And they have no business main eventing any network shows.

>Didn't watch but I've seen the clips... holy shit they're
>lucky neither of them is paralyzed. I know that Saudi money
>talks, but for a publicly-traded company that likes to stress
>the safety of their performers it is getting WILDLY
>irresponsible in putting these old dudes out there.
>
>Say what you want about Hunter, but at least I know he can
>handle himself in the ring and probably will be able to for a
>while. Taker has had trouble picking people up for his
>SIGNATURE moves for at least 3 years and Goldberg has never
>had a reputation for safety. They gotta stop this shit.

The same company put on Gargano/Cole the week before. That's two dudes in their primes wrestling their asses off at a real no-bullshit pace with multiple crazy sequences that would not be possible with out of shape folks.

I don't know how WWE can continue to operate well with their 'minor league' brand being far and away the best thing they put out on a regular basis.

>
>The same company put on Gargano/Cole the week before. That's
>two dudes in their primes wrestling their asses off at a real
>no-bullshit pace with multiple crazy sequences that would not
>be possible with out of shape folks.
>
>I don't know how WWE can continue to operate well with their
>'minor league' brand being far and away the best thing they
>put out on a regular basis.

As much as I love huge, muscular, monster heels, he is just....nothing. Doesn't move the needle a bit. A gimmick that should be the easiest to put over is completely flat-lining.

Any idea why?

>As much as I love huge, muscular, monster heels, he is
>just....nothing. Doesn't move the needle a bit. A gimmick that
>should be the easiest to put over is completely flat-lining.
>
>Any idea why?

He's not that tall. AKA he's got a Rhyno problem. Now sure, folks are generally less concerned with rassler size nowadays than ever. But when Cole and them are acting like Lars is Strowman and he's clearly not that, it's kinda silly.

Also, he struggled on the lift with a couple of those early confrontations. That didn't help. Cole and them don't lose their whole shit every time Cesaro does some 'damn, he's actually strong' stuff. So listening to them lose their mind over a guy struggling with basic slams is also silly.

And if that's not enough, he got caught out there with the shaky/racist-y tweets from years ago.

Aaaaaaaand, he might have some kind of anxiety issue so WWE probably doesn't wholesale trust him to be always around. And you know how Vince tends to hate that.

Him throwing around Lucha Party or whatever isn't gonna help either.

Last thing for now: WWE has a huge problem with building up monsters only to have them get slapped into obscurity as soon as they take on a real challenge from someone high up the card. IE: Hulk would no-sell a monster's finish and the dude would never be the same again. Years later, Austin/Cena/Reigns/whoever were usually a lock to overcome the big ugly monster guy. AKA WWE has programmed the audience to assume that the average monster isn't winning when it counts so wet farts abound when another one shows up.

Inbox if you still need a link and are interested.

https://streamable.com/hqdqy

Shit was nasty I was legit scared when I saw this. It was just a normal day for Ibushi.

of working inanimate objects.

Who else got tickets?

I was on that site and hour before they went on sale. Then when they started the que I was there as soon as it opened. I ended up at like 24,000 in line. Apparently they randomly assign you a number.

I'm happy as fuck they sold out that fast and WWE gotta be getting a bit nervous about how things are going to go this fall.

I hope Cody plans on doing the next major show at a way bigger venue though, he can defiantly sell the tickets.

Could have actually got another set to resell but I'd rather let another fan get em at retail price.

https://clips.twitch.tv/CrackyTentativeShrimpGOWSkull

Also can we get a new post?

https://lordsofpain.net/backstage-updates-on-the-new-wwe-roles-for-eric-bischoff-and-paul-heyman-heymans-gig-with-brock-lesnar-more/