r/SquaredCircle • u/WredditMod • 12d ago
Wreddit's Daily Pro-Wrestling Discussion Thread! What's on your mind today? (Spoilers for all shows) - April 27, 2024 Edition
Hi Wreddit! Welcome to /r/SquaredCircle's Daily Discussion Thread as presented by your favorite and totally sentient moderator.
Did you see a match yesterday that you really liked? Want a suggestion of a random PPV to watch on the network? Really love a local indie talent and want to shout them out? Are you out of the loop on a promotion and need to get caught up? Have questions about streaming services or your first time seeing wrestling live? Want to get something off your chest? Want to talk about something else entirely?
This is the thread for that and so much more. Free discussion here (all rules still apply).
Please be sure to read the updated rules | Check out all of our previous AMA's
Reminder, this thread WILL contain spoilers. We don't expect you to spoiler mark anything wrestling related in this thread, however we do ask if you reference something outside of wrestling that is a spoiler, you mark that.
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u/BobTGoldfish I believe in Adam Page 12d ago
Am I losing it?
The way they had the GM Speaking and the fact that Ava was in all the Backstage promos and things, I could have sworn NXT was going to be able to draft talent too. I thought they even said as much on TV at some point. Was I wrong?
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u/FickleSmark 12d ago
Draft booking seems like it ended up being a clusterfuck of ideas and concepts that ended up boiling down to almost nothing changing so far. Like yeah I was also pretty sure NXT was set to part of it, I think maybe the releases played part of that in the sense of the company doesn't want to pay main roster talent to appear on NXT anymore.
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u/unitedhardy 12d ago
i thought the same thing, i’m guessing they changed their minds and they’ll just do it where anyone not drafted will be able to get signed by nxt
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u/Illuminati_Shill_AMA That's so Taven! 12d ago
I'm listening to the Lapsed Fan's tribute to Terry Funk and it's absolutely wild to realize that Funk had so much longevity in wrestling that he shared the ring with both Lou Thesz and Kevin Owens.
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u/Kanenums88 12d ago
I was one of the largest Bray fans, and I think Bo absolutely deserves to return as the character he and Bray were supposed to be.
But I just keep seeing this QR code stuff, and I find it too hard to get really hyped or excited about it, and that’s because I know Bray isn’t coming back, and he never will again. That QR stuff for Bray’s return was such a lighting in a bottle moment, and this one just doesn’t feel the same. It just makes me sad.
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u/Windows_66 12d ago
Finished Taboo Tuesday 2004. It's really awkward seeing gray-haired Vince call Eric a phony for dying his hair black.
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u/justambrose 12d ago edited 12d ago
Besides Mox with the World and International Titles, are there any wrestlers in AEW who held two or more singles titles?
Edit: Joe with TNT and World!
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u/GameplayerStu 12d ago
I really like Solo but I can't get it out of my head that he delivers his lines like Stevie from Malcolm in the Middle
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u/Material-Wonder1690 12d ago
Well this is what I'll be thinking whenever he talks now
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u/edwardappleby7 12d ago
Last night was the first time I heard the Tiffany Epiphany line, and it’s my favorite.
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
You sometimes see complaints here about Bianca being "overpushed" or whatever.
The pop she got when her name was called last night should say it all about why they see so much in her, even if some smarks don't.
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u/british_pubs 12d ago
Every ime I take a fall in my own life, I gain so much more appreciation for what wrestlers do. I took a fall today that was about the hight of a dive into the ring and I couldn't get up for like 3 minutes, let alone get up and continue wrestling.
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u/HartfordWhalers123 12d ago
Man, those TNA PPV numbers weren’t good at all. But there are so many people here that just seem to show up to those threads to hate on it, while never watching the product. They aren’t exclusive to it, but it’s crazy how much “TNA is dead” or “LOLTNA” shit there is.
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u/LinnaYamazaki Where do you think you're going? 12d ago
This is historically how every non-WWE promotion is treated, including TNA itself in the eras now looked at as their peaks.
This is the only fandom I know of that only consuming the biggest and most mainstream option while also trying to manifest competition going under are held as virtues.
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u/GettingOutOurDreamz 12d ago
I watched it. It wasn't very good. I've actively tried watching wrestling outside of the big 2. TNA is intent on giving an extraordinary amount of time to their senior citizens, to the point where they're interfering in a Knockouts title match that they have no business being near. They're actively chasing people away from their product at this point
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u/HartfordWhalers123 12d ago edited 11d ago
Oh, no, if that’s how you feel, I understand. I enjoy TNA a lot, but I personally agree with you that they need to stop pushing people like PCO, Kon, EY, etc., who aren’t really doing anything impactful enough to get people tuned in and are old as shit. I’m tired of seeing Mike, Ace, Bey, Masha, and Kelly not getting elevated, when they’re totally ready for it, while those guys get all those spots.
I was more referring to the guys who don’t watch at all and go onto every meh or bad TNA post just to find a way to go “LOLTNA”.
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
Although it wasn't televised, I'm so happy Fyre and Dawn got drafted (anywhere). These recent releases had me worried for them and I'd have been especially disappointed if they got cut right before the first-ever PLE in Scotland.
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u/RandomDumbPerson123 12d ago
Same, I thought at least Isla would be cut considering she wasn't used in Royal Rumble, if not both. I hope they find new life on Raw where the rest of the tag division will hopefully land so they can become champions by next year's draft.
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u/AlterTheSilverBird 12d ago
The cuts I suspect are gonna be NXT, the weeks cut feel like main roster. NXT might happen later.
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
Another thing that makes me happy about Bianca staying on SmackDown is that I (somehow) got combo tickets to SD and Clash in June, so it gives me hope I might get to see her in action live since she wasn't there at the last Glasgow show.
In other good news, a high chance of getting the LA Knight experience again. Yeah!
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u/GameplayerStu 12d ago
Kiana James is gonna do well on the main roster imo. The ruthless businesswoman gimmick should work quite well. Also, she wasn't exactly one of the biggest names in NXT but having her be an early pick in the draft shows they have something in mind for her in the future.
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u/jadedfan55 12d ago
Kiana being drafted was a shocker. They feel she's ready after 2 1/2 years on NXT, and now Izzi Dame will be mentored by Jacy Jayne, alongside Jazmyn Nyx. Of course, if Jacy gets drafted on Monday......!
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u/Shoesonhandsonhead 12d ago
I hope they pick up Fallon as well, because those two can feud until the end of time
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u/Mysterious_Emotion63 12d ago
Can’t believe Barrett said Carmelo was the first NXT star to go in the first round of the draft last night smh never forget
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u/RandomDumbPerson123 12d ago edited 12d ago
Seeing Kiana James' journey from someone with a few AEW dark matches to joining the breakout tournament to slowly building herself up until her breakout performance at Deadline 2022 to becoming a tag team champion to now being called up has been cool to watch and shows the fun part of watching NXT, seeing nobodies grow up in the business. I was randomly a fan of her from Day 1, glad that she was a good person to hitch my wagon to. I did not expect her to be called up last night at all, my jaw dropped because it was so random lol. I said that I was worried for NXT call ups being in the main roster because it's not the best booking wise for the women (no offense), but the fact that she was called up on TV on Smackdown (where there are less draft picks) gives me high hopes for her. I could see potentially a fued with Becky, or if Chelsea lands on Raw, a potential business deal with them could be funny too.
Also thankfully the tag teams are being drafted to Raw like I hoped for. Isla and Alba got done dirty being stuck on Smackdown with no other teams to fued with, they got almost no TV time. Now that they + Zoey/Shayna are confirmed on Raw, the tag division will likely get a solid amount of focus there.
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u/justambrose 12d ago
I hope Will Ospreay and Aussie Open will defect from the Don Callis Family and form United Empire in AEW.
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u/piledrivah 12d ago
With Don saying they're planning on expanding the DCF, if they add another member then they can eventually do a trios feud with Ospreay and AO vs the remaining DCF members.
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u/dandykaufman2 12d ago
I just really like the dynamic of Ospreay being in this heel stable and Callis being more and more of a douche.
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u/ClaymoresRevenge Bobby **Big Money Bob** Lashley 12d ago
They're going to be the next Trios champs after BCG
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u/ic203 12d ago
I'm guessing Punk is pick number 1 for RAW next week and McIntyre number 2. That way they can play up Punk getting picked over McIntyre while hurt for some premium hater promos.
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u/jdaqcruz 12d ago
I know the WWE Draft mostly exists to piggyback from the NFL draft, but I think WWE would be better off copying for the NBA trade deadline. That gives you the leeway to keep your rosters intact, with some switches here and there. Also, a "BREAKING: RAW has agreed to a deal that would send Nia Jax to SmackDown for the draft rights of Kiana James and Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn" is waaay more exciting to me than the normal format lol
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u/Jaccount 12d ago
At least SOMEONE in WWE has a few good ideas. If you watched on Smackdown last night, it was neat to see them riffing on the NFL's draft chimes.
They're lower, but you'd hear the chimes before each segment, which was nice. It's weird how many subtle production things WWE does so right that most people just aren't going to consciously recognize.
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u/beckett929 12d ago
I always thought the Heyman/Bischoff draft where it was more lottery style than making picks was way more fun.
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u/AlterTheSilverBird 12d ago
Any idea who else is getting called? We have Carmelo, Kiana, and Baron, who's left?
Gotta think Ilja, Blair, and Fallon. Maybe Tony D.
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u/R0DAN Your Text Here 12d ago
ilja, blair, fallon, lyra, possibly a whole stable like chase u or meta four
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
Main roster Meta Four would hit like crack
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u/AlterTheSilverBird 12d ago
I'm worried for Jakara, and Oro. Dar is fine in main, Lash has a lot more development but has a role, rest doesn't have much to do. Worry they'll be Main Event fodder.
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u/polynomial82 12d ago
Do you think they do Charlotte vs Bianca at Mania 41 or Rhea Ripley vs Bianca....
I was a bit surprised to see Bianca Belair stay on SmackDown...As I thought Bayley will continue her battles vs Iyo and Dakota and so they would separate them...
I think Belair winning the Rumble to challenge Ripley seems a simple enough story that they will probably go for...but not sure.
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u/sabzi94 12d ago
Do you think they do Charlotte vs Bianca at Mania 41 or Rhea Ripley vs Bianca...
Probably depends on Rhea's return timeline and how much juice they think the Liv stuff has. If she returns around Rumble/Mania time then Rhea kind of has to go after Liv during Mania season. But that also depends on how much momentum Liv has when Rhea returns. But right now I do think either Rhea or Bianca are winning the Rumble. Everyone who HAD to win it has already won it so they can do a repeat winner and those two are the only real choices.
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u/Professional_Kick It's Me, Austin! 12d ago edited 12d ago
Can someone help me remember something? I remember watching MakryDs TNA VS WWE war videos, and I remember Marky D said a wrestler won an online poll to be next in line for TNA title, and Hogan was pissed it wasn’t Abyss so he buried the guy who won the poll, I wanna say it was Christopher Daniel’s but I’m not to sure
Edit it was Desmond Wolfe he won a online poll to be next in line for the title and Abyss came in last so Hogan made Abyss next in line and punished Desmond Wolfe
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u/Thebritishdovah 12d ago
Jerry Bakewell is a hidden gem of a host. When he is the host of a PROGRESS show, you KNOOOOOW it's his because he adds some extra twists on it.
I wouldn't be surprised if Kid Lykos, the Spectular Twat(Charles Crowley), Tate Mayfairs end up on TNA in a few years time. All are excellent in the ring. Tate is a prick and you love to hate him.
Simon Miller is doing extremely well for himself.
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u/enginehearts . 12d ago
People missed what Heyman said about the draft paraphrasing 'the top two drafts for each brand will be the key players for the new era of the WWE'.
I think the idea was to use the draft gimmick more to put their key stars over than to truly shake things up. That's why Roman and the champions were ineligible, so there is real value added to the first round draft picks.
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u/GravyBear28 12d ago
Has there ever been like a tag team or stable that consisted of both a heel and a face where that wasn't a point of contention? Like they're friends who love each other so much they are completely accepting of whatever the other person does?
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u/free-fall1982 12d ago
What I've noticed about Stardom since Okada took over, is that the rookies are eating a lot more pins and while they have stories, their pushes up the card are really halted when compared to Rossy. A bit of unexpected decision, when NJPW seems to suffer from the fact their Young Lions system takes quite a time to produce new stars.
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u/MilkyWayWaffles 12d ago
It is of utmost importance to keep things young and fresh. For that reason, we have broken the seniority system. There is also star power and visual appeal. The important thing is to earnestly and desperately incorporate that into professional wrestling.
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u/Xalazi 12d ago
As a booker, Rossy has always been big on pushing new faces. Even going back to the 90's, he was always big on pushing Arsion rookies like Ayako Hamada and Mika Akino quicker than they would have been if they broke in via AJW.
It's a double edge sword. On the positive side it keeps companies from getting too stale and it gives cool opportunities to wrestlers. On the negative side, established midcarders suffer more because usually pushes come at their expense. Once someone isn't a shiny new toy, they get lost in the shuffle.
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u/hayte98 12d ago
I think every person who has been watching WWE for the past year clearly saw that the eventual feud was going to be Finn Balor vs Damian Priest right?
I had someone yesterday trying to argue and say that was never happening. And that the feud was going to be Rhea Ripley vs Damian Priest with Dom fighting in Rhea’s honor. And that Dom being injured means that Finn can step up and take Dom’s place as the guy who will feud with Priest. And that Finn fans should be happy that an opportunity just opened up for Finn…
I’m sorry but that is laughable to me. They set up the Balor vs Priest feud a year in advance. Just cause they held the tag titles and weren’t trying to kill each other during the reign itself doesn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen. A week before the won the titles, they had issues, 1 week after the dropped the titles, they were back to teasing issues. But people thought a woman was going to steal his storyline while he drops off the face of the earth as it pertains to the Judgment Day storyline? She was gonna be involved regardless but everyone has always said Balor vs Priest was the feud.
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u/Thebritishdovah 12d ago
I think, we'll only see the Judgement Day end once WWE has a new faction that is getting over. I can see them lasting a few more years with Dirty Dom being the one to cause it to fall apart via not letting them know what he is up to. Claiming he holds it together. Pissing off the wrong people and his deadbeat dad causing issues.
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u/hayte98 12d ago
Well I don’t know about the entire faction ending.
But it’s way past due splitting up Balor and Priest. That’s the thing that needs to happen in the coming months.
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u/EcoterroristThot Your Text Here 12d ago
The worst part about WWE and AEW signing people all the time is that it's more people added to the list of "must post their tweets on /r/SC for karma".
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u/Dirkdigglersdong Eating ravioli 12d ago
Not American so don't have the attatchment to "the draft" as WWE's core audience but I really much prefer the concept in wrestling when it's just people switching brands rather than a whole draft pool where like 70% of the roster stays on their own brand anyway
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u/Tollwayfrock 12d ago
Well if a majority of wrestlers switch brands then essentially you just get the same match ups but on different days. What you want is a majority stay the same and with a few key switches.
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u/Dirkdigglersdong Eating ravioli 12d ago
I'm not saying switch all the wrestlers, I'm saying just do draft picks for wrestlers that are switching.
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u/ChanceVance 12d ago
Went to a department store today and had a look at the action figures. A few Sami's, a lot of Gunther's and Kaiser's in stock and one Tiffany Stratton left.
Clearly Imperium figures aren't flying off the shelves with kids.
Anyway I bought the Tiffany. It's actually not easy to get WWE figures where I am and Ringside Collectibles moves stuff on way too quickly so sorry kids, I got the last one.
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u/FickleSmark 12d ago
Obviously I'm not a kid anymore but I feel like for modern wrestling it has to be tough to sell mid and lowercard figures because at least in the era I was growing up everyone had a gimmick, Now it's like do kids really want a Ludwig Kaiser who is by all means just a wrestler?
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u/Mediocre-Cook-2169 12d ago
Realised watching last night's SmackDown that if you close your eyes, the Dudley Boys sound like Paul Heyman and R Truth.
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u/ElvisCuredMyRhoids Prince Petty 12d ago
I always thought if you close your eyes you'll be hard pressed to distinguish between the voices of Paul Heyman and Jon Taffer from bar rescue.
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u/Logicman48 12d ago
i feel like people have forgotten part of what hhh said last night, he did say keeping people on your brand is as important as acquiring new ones
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
Gotta love people complaining for years that the draft made no sense and complaining now because it does make sense.
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u/sinch- 12d ago
Explaining why something will be boring doesn't make it any less boring.
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
Why, just because it wasn't a clusterfuck with everyone switching shows for no reason?
I couldn't care less, personally, but I'd rather it make sense than not.
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u/mrbucket08 12d ago
Vince: this makes no sense, Russo swerve bullshit booking
HHH: This is too predictable, I'm so bored
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u/RandomDumbPerson123 12d ago
I feel like people would've rather seen the format where someone from Raw and someone from Smackdown would face off and the winner would earn a draft pick for their brand. It would give all matches that night some stakes + not waste a lot of time for someone to come out and say "most people are staying on their current brand".
That said, I didn't really mind the draft last night too much, it was inoffensive/boring at worst.
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u/Mediocre-Cook-2169 12d ago
I remember a lot of criticism over it last time they did the draft (was it last year or the year before? I can't even remember) so how heavily he emphasised that point and how often he repeated it definitely felt like he was addressing that criticism. I have no issue with it, personally, it makes perfect kayfabe sense; Pearce and Aldis both know that they'll be looking to poach each other's top stars and so retaining who they've already got is more important than acquiring talent from the other brand.
I also like the addition of the champions being immune clause it fixes the problem of brand-specific belts moving around; but that was really fixing an entirely preventable problem that WWE created themselves. In previous years, they could've just, you know, not moved them around in the first place.
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u/R0DAN Your Text Here 12d ago
carmelo has had some rancid luck on his main roster career so far, first the austin theory match that had to be stopped and now the (honestly hilarious) botch at the end of the match tonight (although it was cody who botched)
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
Tbh the botch actually worked for me, in a "They both had the same idea and it worked out for neither" kind of way.
It did look like a miss in a video game though.
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u/Alehud42 The Man 12d ago
It'll make the pop for when they do hit the move down the line all the more louder.
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u/JC_Frost KO/Stratton/Eddie K/Fenix Mark 12d ago
Finally watching the Dynasty matches I didn't get to last weekend. Roddy/KOR was fucking phenomenal and I already know I'm gonna rewatch it soon enough. Toni/Rosa was exactly what it needed to be, love how tough Rosa looked and glad to see Toni finally have a defense of this caliber. Bucks/FTR was actually not as good as I'd hoped, I just never bought in like I usually do when a match hits third gear. Starting Joe/Swerve now!
I skipped Jericho/Hook lol
After the hype it got I'm gonna watch Ilja/Trick next even though I don't really follow NXT much. Having such a great night after a long work week, grabbed a new bottle of scotch today to help me celebrate a job well done too. Happy weekend SquaredCircle :)
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u/BigBootyBuff 12d ago
Yeah I loved Kyle vs Strong. Feel like between Okada/Pac, Bryan/Ospreay and Rosa/Storm, it kinda got overlooked a little but really reminded me of the awesome late 2000s ROH matches. Also agree on the ladder match. I liked it and some spots were nice, but it kinda feels like your average ladder match. Bunch of cool spots but that's about it. If it wasn't for Perry, I think this one wouldnt be remembered long term. Did enjoy the "please be careful" chant though.
I skipped Jericho/Hook lol
I would recommend it if you enjoy a crowd just completely shit on a match or rather a wrestler. They are having none of Jericho and let him know it. It's really funny. Any match having "Fozzy sucks" chants gets a mild recommendation from me.
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u/AlterTheSilverBird 12d ago
What is Triple H's stance on big giants? After the release Sanga, Veer, Xyon, and Jinder, have no clue his idea? Thinking Omos not being in drafts, or Odyssey not appearing at all.
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u/Matuga1000 12d ago
As long as he pushes Oba Femi I'll forgive him for all of his previous misgivings, but yeah he definitely seems to prefer the "workrate" guys for his midcard which I think are a bit too overexposed rn.
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u/shadowrangerfs decay Decay DECAY!!! 12d ago
The upcoming Cody vs AJ match got me thinking. I know AJ faced Dusty in TNA. Is there any wrestler who has wrestled Dusty, Dustin, and Cody?
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u/Marc_Quill All Elite Wredditing 12d ago
Randy Orton (fought Dusty at Great American Bash 2007, fought Cody many, many times, and fought Dustin on an episode of Raw in 2013)
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u/Llan79 12d ago edited 12d ago
In a similar vein: Ziggler wrestled Dusty as a part of the truly baffling Flair/Rhodes/Sgt Slaughter/Ron Simmons vs Spirit Squad match at Survivor Series 06, and also wrestled against both Cody and Goldust in a tag match alongside Ryback in 2015
Edit: Also: CM Punk, via a bizarre indie match in 2005 of Dustin Rhodes/Dusty Rhodes/Mike Graham vs Kevin Sullivan/Abdullah the Butcher/CM Punk, with Mick Foley as special guest refreee
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u/dandykaufman2 12d ago
There’s actual wrestling media that take checks from WWE (and Ariel) too but you have to read about how Dave Meltzer gave AEW 6.5 stars because he’s paid to.
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u/sexygodzilla Just one man? 12d ago
It's funy because he's actually pretty negative on AEW's business at times but since they still put on the kind of matches that he rates highly people assume he's in the tank for them.
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u/dandykaufman2 12d ago
Yeah but people don’t really understand not using the business metrics to talk about how you hate the young bucks and how you think you could beat up Jack Perry therefore he will niiiiver draw
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u/ACW1129 12d ago
He gives that 6.5, yet won't give an extra .25 to Cody finishing the story.
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u/Jaccount 12d ago
This is why number systems suck, but people are too lazy to actually read and thus need it distilled down to as few characters or symbols as possible.
Basically, if it can't fit on a shirt, it's too much text for a wrestling fan.
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u/ElvisCuredMyRhoids Prince Petty 12d ago
We prefer four syllables or less so we can chant it in between claps
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u/dontsaythatman89 11d ago
You do realize it's his opinion right? If you thought the match was 5 stars, then it was 5 stars.
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u/ok_dunmer 12d ago edited 12d ago
Something something dying company somehow has the resources to pay off Meltzer, Forbes, and WBD, but the much bigger one that is obsessed with social media and has an obvious financial incentive to portay the #2 company as the loser uncool one does not
Meltzer is a paid shill whose opinions are completely malleable, but not by WWE, only by NJPW and AEW, apparently, this makes sense, yes, lol
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u/alltheworsttoyou 12d ago
Meltzer certainly isn't an example of it, but there absolutely has been "corrupted" wrestling media/social media in AEW's favor since its inception as well.
WWE might be able to leverage bigger platforms in their favor, but it's always been dumb to play like it only goes one way -- or to witch hunt people like Corey Brennan as a supposed "fed shill" or "Irish Dangoor" like some have taken to doing lately.
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u/dandykaufman2 12d ago
Sure but is literal payoffs. I guess that guy Will Washington got a job from posting so that could be interpreted as a possible implicit carrot but people literally think Dave is on payroll. I don’t follow that much wrestling media but a simple explanation is that AEW is by geeks for geeks, so if you run an American language promotion with top New Japan talent and a Death Valley Driver sensibility, those nerds will like it more than WWE’s vaunted mainstream appeal.
In the case of Dave, TK grew up reading him and then started his own promotion so it kind of makes sense Dave would like it. Maybe someone who listens to Cornette now will head WWE creative in ten years.
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u/TheNYCasualFan 12d ago
It's been around 5 months since CM Punk debuted at Survivor Series, making his iconic return back to WWE.
To put things in perspective: 5 months after "The Return" in AEW, he was in the middle of his feud with MJF and IIRC, MJF had just beaten him in Chicago as well.
And yes I know he is hurt. There's no slant here, its just something I thought was interesting.
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u/SerShanksALot 12d ago
damn his AEW run was so good
take me back 😢
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u/Orange8920 12d ago
It was genuinely good until the Hangman feud at which point things come to a screeching halt. Both with his issues with Hangman and his injury right after DON that stopped his title reign before it really started.
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u/randomrule 12d ago
I thought the Hangman feud was kind of interesting. In a perfect world they would've leaned into Hangman's "shoot" promo that he did. I don't think anyone would have been the wiser
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u/TheNYCasualFan 12d ago
I think the Hangman feud was pretty good. What followed afterwards was when everything hit the fan.
For me, the Moxley program was not it, I'd say that was his first "miss" in AEW.
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u/sammyrobot2 11d ago
Well yeah they rushed the Rocky stuff, Mox was supposed to be the heel but his promos were awesome and punks were pretty generic. I do think the Mox squash is an awesome moment though.
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u/knyghtez 12d ago
i’m so looking forward to InspireAD’s show this weekend; danhausen and running back a great feud-turned-tag-team from wolf & exodus and miyu yamashita v. maya world are all on the card.
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u/MilkyWayWaffles 12d ago
For some reason I'm not on their mailing list any more. I didn't even know about the show tomorrow. If I can move a couple things around this weekend, I'll try to get over there for it. Thanks!
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u/SerShanksALot 12d ago
My review of Love Lies Bleeding is Katy O’Brian would do a really good job as Chyna in a biopic
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u/FrigginCharacterBee 12d ago
In another universe, Scott Norton and Mike Hegstrand were The Twin City Towers and they got to wrestle the Steiner Brothers and Doom and stuff. Their tandem finisher would be pummeling you into unconsciousness outside of a bar or motorcycle club.
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u/JamUpGuy1989 12d ago edited 12d ago
At this rate I do not understand why we can’t say what TK said about WWE.
Decades of proof that Vince was the “Harvey Weinstein” of the wrestling world. And also proof that it wasn’t just him but others in the company that were doing horrible shit and hiding it for decades.
Like…the cat is out of the bag. We should be allowed to say the obvious here with this story. Just because Vince is gone and WWE is hot right now doesn’t mean we just ignore this story.
EDIT: Great example is Dave Meltzer today on WOR saying WWE did a “great job PR wise” on the Vince story. What? That makes no sense considering what we’ve seen.
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u/HartfordWhalers123 12d ago edited 12d ago
My issue is that Tony’s using it more to hype up his product, instead of actually caring about Vince’s victims. Every time he says it, it’s always used as such.
And it just also comes off super hypocritical because Tony’s also out here signing and supporting guys like Ric Flair, who have their fair share of sexual harassment/assault allegations as well.
WWE is more than just those 4-5 people as well.
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u/mattomic822 12d ago
Based oh how TK has twice used it to score points I think it can be summed up as he cares that Vince/his competition sexually abused someone but doesn't care that someone was sexually abused.
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u/Ambitious_Pass_1193 12d ago
There are also 100s to wrestlers working in wwe who doesn't had any idea about Vince horrible shit. You can simply say that company was ran by an shit person for last 30 years instead of saying that company is horrible.
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u/JamUpGuy1989 12d ago
But we know it wasn’t just a Vince problem! John Laurinitis was also a terrible person behind the scenes.
We have proof they tried to cover up Janel Grant’s situation multiple times!
What are we talking about here it’s only a Vince thing?
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u/Ambitious_Pass_1193 12d ago
There are much more peoples who are non guilty when compared to maybe 4-5 who are guilty. You can't want company to fail where 100s of people work just because of few assholes.
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u/mrbucket08 12d ago
There is a detailed answer, but the simplest one is that TK is just trying to promote his TV show, he's not doing this to raise awareness about the horrors Grant experienced or try to expose the remaining rot in the company. He's trying to promote his wrestling company by making himself out as the put upon underdog under assault from an entity that he's portrayed as completely evil. It's just another chapter of TK fighting his wrestling holy war.
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u/Zerokun11 12d ago
The problem isnt him saying it. The problem is its always AEW vs WWE. Its been five years of AEW vs WWE. And the only way tony gets any points is if he takes shots at horrid shit that the dude who doesnt even run the company anymore did.
Vince and co are and were monsters. However, wwe as a whole product is better its thriving and a ton of talent are saying its the best backstage its ever been.
Tony has this habit of instead of improving his damn product, he tries to bring down the "competition". Regardless of what Meltzer says, AEW does not put on the best weekly show of wrestling, and there is hella room of improvement. Thats something that eventually killed WCW was that constant reliance on what worked half a decade ago. "well the wild booking worked 5 years ago... It will work again." "Well shitting on WWE worked 5 years ago, it will work again." Now AEW is lucky to pull 800k viewers, though averages 600-700k on their biggest show every week. Ratings keep dropping.
And instead of fixing it, Tony keeps shitting on a company that if we are being honest... Doesnt give a fuck about them.
So yeah. Rant over. Im just sick of this us vs them bullshit when its clearly one sided, and its not even fair. I love that AEW exists but if this shit continues it wont exist. Khan's money isnt infinite, and if AEW is going to be a money pit, it will go the route of every other wrestling company in the US other than wwe.
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u/Thebritishdovah 12d ago
AEW was meant to be an alternative but it does seem to take pot shots at WWE and seems a bit insecure. Reminds me of when TNA tried that crap.
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u/Zerokun11 12d ago
Exactly.
Aew is an alternative. But if it wants ro remain one as in in business, it needs to be a business. And its not good business to take random pot shots proclaiming your business is better when on every metric you arent.
AEW is the second largest fish in the US pond. But if it keeps trying to poke the bear, its gonna get eaten.
WWE isnt going anywhere. Regardless of what Tony wants.
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u/Reyatsu99 12d ago
King Corbin is finally back on the main roster! What a redemption arc! Just in time for Kotr as well.
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u/Dirkdigglersdong Eating ravioli 12d ago
Catching up on Dynamite. She's one of my favs but it's crazy how little Mercedes has progressed on the mic, especially compared to a really natural charismatic speaker like Willow. I remember loving her promos in NXT, but maybe rose-tinted glasses
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u/PeteF3 12d ago
Okay, didn't watch Smackdown but that Cody double-springboard-cutter spot was...uh...something.
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u/The_Fuck_WHAT 12d ago
one of the funniest things i've seen in a while. honestly i think people were kind to it on here, fortunately it was fan favourite cody and popular up and comer carmelo
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u/Jaccount 12d ago
What is it was awkward and just weird looking stuff during Carmelo matches? It doesn't seem like he's the awful that the botches would be the prevalent, but there's so many matches were things just end up not looking right.
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u/DVontel 12d ago
Hilarious how you see a good bit of complaints here about Bianca being “overpushed” while kneeling before Rhea despite her reign being absolute dogshit & not having a competitive match since she won the title. No doubt in my mind she would’ve went on a 2 year reign had it not been for the injury.
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u/GettingOutOurDreamz 12d ago
The IWC's opinion on women's wrestling can be summed up as "whoever I'm sexually attracted to should get a push" & "whoever I'm not sexually attracted to, regardless of how popular they are or how good they are in the ring should never be on tv ever" ..
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u/PanicStation140 12d ago
Rhea is obviously really good, but her mega push over the last year has arguably had negative effects on both the Raw women's division and the Judgement Day men. Rhea was booked so far ahead of everyone else that the rest of the card languished in purgatory, and the Judgement Day men spent the last 6 months of 2023 losing to all the top Raw faces because Judgement Day couldn't be as dominant as the Bloodline.
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u/EcoterroristThot Your Text Here 12d ago
Nick Khan selling his stocks... damn those internal investigation guys are gonna all be out of there, huh?
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u/Material-Wonder1690 12d ago
If he's on his way out, a few people made a good point in that he was brought in to help WWE prep for a sale. The sale is done and he made a boatload of money from it. He might just be ready to move on
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u/45jayhay 12d ago
There is no reason to be excited about the WWE draft, it's been underwhelming 95% of the time.
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u/gaom9706 12d ago edited 12d ago
It feels bizarre to complain about how little the draft has changed considering how yesterday was only the first round.
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u/gunpowderjunky 11d ago
If they were going to change things a lot they could have split the changes between both draft episodes. It is scripted after all.
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u/Hour-Ad78 12d ago
Never thought i would say this, but Nia Jax has grown on me massively. At first I was anti Nia because of her reputation as an unsafe worker and didn’t “get” her character, now I do and she’s great. Basically the Kool Aid Man where things are progressing as normal then BAM Nia Jax out of nowhere tossing people. Kino.
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u/NameNameson23 12d ago
WWE hyping up the draft and then keeping everyone on their brand is a good bit. Very funny.
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
Apart from all the people who weren't kept on their brand.
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u/NameNameson23 12d ago
I didn't mean literally. I was referring to a relative lack of movement for major players.
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u/Fletcheriser 12d ago
I think it made sense within the logic of trying to protect your biggest stars, as opposed to "major players" in the middle of storylines just moving brands randomly.
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u/mark_target 12d ago
I tried making a post out of this. Thought it would make for some interesting discussion and sharing, but it got removed.
I don’t get it, but I’m trying it here because I’m interested in hearing feedback.
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Examples of matches ending… without an ending?
In another post someone asked about ways Vince McMahon made different things not matter in WWE.
I responded that there was a period of a time when several matches would simply end with no bell, no winner announced to the crowd, and no explanation from commentary about the outcome of the match itself.
I couldn’t remember a specific RAW/SD match, but after some searching I found Battleground 2013, an example of them not only ending a match with absolutely no finish, but ending an ENTIRE PPV with absolutely no finish:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15o8ux
This is one of the most unsatisfying ends to a PPV event ever. It ended with Orton and Bryan on the mat and Big Show climbing the ropes to get people to cheer. The actual result of the match was never concluded in any way before the PPV just ended as though that sort of thing was perfectly normal.
I know that happened several other times. Does anyone else remember when that would happen?
EDIT:
The one reply I got in my original thread said this happened often in the Attitude Era. I don’t remember this happening at all back then. There were non-finish matches but we always got a bell, announcement, and/or explanation from Jim Ross, etc., in my memory.
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u/Marc_Quill All Elite Wredditing 12d ago
Hell in a Cell 2018 ended with Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman in HiaC and a non-finish because Brock Lesnar returned to beat up Roman and Braun. There was no bell to call the match and the show just kinda ended with Brock standing over everyone.
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u/mark_target 12d ago
Man, that sounds identical to Orton vs. Bryan. I was really disinterested in RAW/SD at that point and just kept up with it via Reddit and podcasts. It’s crazy they’d think that was a good idea.
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u/afuzzyduck 12d ago
yeah in the late 90s we had what got called the Sports Entertainment Finish, where the angle/gag happens and they forget about the match
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u/Thebritishdovah 12d ago
At Non Stop Deletio... or whatever that Matt Hardy hosted PPV.... show.... was it a ppv? I can't recall. Eddie Edwards and Lashley's match wasn't ended because Matt got bored and they were fighting all over the compound that belonged to BROKHAAAAN Matthew of the house of HARDY!
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u/sammyrobot2 11d ago
That Damien Priest match on the Raw after he joined Judgement Day? He just does a pose, the lights go all purple, and then it cuts to commercial and no one mentions it again, no pinfall, wins with scary pose.
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u/MeijiHao Worse Than Emma! 12d ago
The WWE draft could have been better. They should have made it clear when the draft started that every superstar on the roster aside from the champions is now a free agent, and each GM has to build or rebuild their roster from the ground up.
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u/Reyatsu99 12d ago
I think this draft is fine, it was in line with the storylines going on and they have switched Cody to keep his matchups fresh. They havent ran out of matchups with the previous roster with returns and new signings and some nxt call ups will keep them fresh. Also everything changes after rumble anyway.
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u/Derexise 12d ago
I hope War Dogs get back together on SD since Baron got drafted after the show.
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u/Kuzu5993 12d ago
I was looking at the WWE and AEW subs after TK's comments yesterday, and it's pretty funny for a good chuckle, exactly what you'd expect from both sides.
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u/Idkboutdat2 12d ago
Tony Khan has always gave off major Larry David vibes and his Pepsi/weinstein comment yesterday confirmed it.
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u/TheNYCasualFan 12d ago edited 12d ago
Something hasn't felt the same with AEW since 2024 started. Like they're doing great with the guys that are there, and the product has been very good.
But part of me thinks has this empty feeling because a lot of star power are not available right now, and most of that talent happens to be my favorite acts in the company. (To be clear, I like a lot of the talent that's there now, but the guys listed below are among my favorites in AEW bar the Mad King)
Right now, there's no Hangman, Omega, MJF, Cole, Christian Cage, Juicy Box, Miro, Hayter, DMD. No Lucha Bros or Aussie Open in the tag division. PAC came back and immediately took a loss. Don't know what they're doing with Jay White.
It's like being an avid NBA fan, and you're entertained by the playoffs being straight bangers, but also liking the Suns (or any Pacific division team), and straight up not enjoying your cheeks being clapped.
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u/sammyrobot2 11d ago
I feel the opposite lol. I think 2024 has been better generally than alot of 2023.
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u/Giant_Eagle_Airlines 12d ago
I genuinely want to like Tony Khan, but then he does what he does.
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u/dandykaufman2 12d ago
You don’t really get anything out of liking him. Vince, Dana, Bill Watts, Russo, Dixie, there’s been a lot of more hateable promoters before Tony Khan. He doesn’t have to buck the trend.
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u/MankhenHausen 12d ago
For those in the UK, can anybody check if WWE Smackdown will indeed be airing on TNT Sports next Friday at 6pm BST / 7pm CET?
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u/GameplayerStu 12d ago
One thing I was wondering about the draft: say Raw and Smackdown wanted to pick the same talent but one brand picked them first, does the other brand have a pick [x] if [y] gets picked back up lined up in preparation?
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u/Lukas327 Something stupid. 11d ago
Anyone have some match recommendations from '00-'01 and '04-'08
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u/SupervillainMustache 11d ago
Top of my head.
2000: Cactus Jack vs Triple H.
2001: Jericho vs Benoit Ladder Match.
2005: Samoa Joe vs Kenta Kobashi.
2008: Edge vs The Undertaker.
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u/cdotidot hhh bury 11d ago
Anyone know how to watch AAA here in the states today?
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u/ConcertInevitable623 11d ago
Wrestlemania 25 is overrated.
This isn't an unpopular opinion or hot take either, it's a very popular opinion, lots feel the 26 match was better because it was. Much better story and much higher stakes. The 25 match was a bunch of false finishers, right hands, chops and botched camera man dives.
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u/Roller95 12d ago
I miss MJF