Lets Discuss All Things Wrestling - Even The T-Shirt Company AEW!

[Dr LBC]

Highlights of the night from NXT:

- The "Please don't die" chant that broke out several times.  (I'll admit, I was mildly entertained by it)

- Someone get Mia Yim some Ibuprofin and a big pat on the back.  She definitely earned her pay tonight - color the hard way, the ladder she went through was gimmicked but she didn't hit it clean (it bent and broke but she didn't hit right at the gimmicked portion like was intended).  Io was fantastic in her commitment to selling in that match, too.

- Ciampa all night long.  He's the best promo and ad libber on the brand by a country mile.

- Keith Lee getting to promo was needed and went over well.

Lowlights:

- For me personally, injecting Priest into the Dain/Dunne stuff was unnecessary and unwanted.  I'm a Punishment Martinez fan, but I thoroughly enjoy watching Pete Dunne work much larger opponents and I feel a little cheated getting what's undoubtedly going to be an eventual Triple Threat as opposed to a straight up Dunne/Dain match.

 

Other:

- Given that TakeOver will be a Network Special and not a PPV, and that guys like Roddy and Cole are going to end up pulling double-duty later in the weekend at Survivor Series, they can afford to pull at-TakeOver changes and the crowd won't feel cheated about not getting "what was sold coming in."  There's a part of me that thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea for Riddle to pull the ol' swerve on Finn and queue in Gargano, while he goes on to rejoin Ciampa's War Games team.  Conversely, I do think they have some concerns about Riddle working a cage match, given the chain link type fences WWE uses, since he competes barefoot.  I also think they're probably going to try and stretch Gargano/Finn out till at least the TakeOver ahead of the Rumble if not till the Mania TakeOver (which I still think they'd be smart to scrap and instead break Mania into two nights and just incorporate NXT into it as a recognized brand).

- There's a part of me that thinks that if they're going to pull any last minute changes, even though they've booked the UE strong coming into SS, they might take the NA Title off Roddy at TO in order to get someone else who could really shine (Roddy can and would too, but he doesn't quite have the name recognition and would almost certainly be the one expected to eat the pinfall) against AJ and Shinsuke.  If we assume (I'm 50:50, myself), that the plan all along had been to incorporate NXT into Survivor Series, this would have been a clear showcase spot intended for Dream given that he'd be given two veteran workers who could both help accentuate his charisma.  I struggle to think who that would be considering everyone who is already booked though.

[beekay414]

15 minutes ago, Troy Brown said:

If he's going to wrestle which I'll believe when I see, and sure, call me an aew mark, but I'd have much preferred to see punk come in and talk about how he laid the foundation for aew years before etc etc etc and see him unscripted and being part of the creative and see him against cody or kenny or even moxley. 

I think WWE would give him everything he ever wanted before they let him do that.

[Dr LBC]

15 minutes ago, Troy Brown said:

If he's going to wrestle which I'll believe when I see, and sure, call me an aew mark, but I'd have much preferred to see punk come in and talk about how he laid the foundation for aew years before etc etc etc and see him unscripted and being part of the creative and see him against cody or kenny or even moxley. 

If he's going to work he's not going to work PWG style matches anymore - his body can't take it.  And that's the type of matches that people would be expecting (even demanding) in AEW.

Cody's doing fine there doing the booking and creative (and I'm fairly confident it's mostly him, Arn, and JR doing the majority of the main event stuff at this point - or at minimum the Cody/Jericho/MJF stuff is definitely Cody and Arn because that was trademark Dusty booking).  Like I said, if Punk works he'll be an extreme part-timer (basically Taker schedule - which wouldn't be a terrible trade-off if Taker does finally opt to hang them up).  It'll be 2-3 matches/yr max.  Actually, the thing I'm most disappointed in this whole thing is that we likely won't get to see Punk beat the crap out of Logan Paul.

[Dr LBC]

26 minutes ago, Troy Brown said:

can't wait for someone to call him out for being a part timer in a worked shoot. but i don't think he's wrestling and if he does, there's really nothing wwe can put him in that would interest me. i'm sure it would be rollins and jesus, i can't imagine a way to push the fans further from rollins. 

"i been here prevailing and burning it down, where have you been" "i went on vacation finally!!!!" 

I'd have interest in seeing him against AJ and possibly him against Joe (they had some wicked chemistry back in the day).  No real interest in seeing him vs Rollins, though Rollins needs a heel turn more than Roman did at this point.  Roman it would have benefited him in an eventual organic babyface build, Seth just plain needs it because the only thing that left that's over about him is fans liking to yell out "Burn it down!" at the start of his entrance (meaning the phrase is over, not him).  And he'll put them off that soon enough with how much Vince keeps pushing him to use that to close his promos (it's Roman and "Believe that!" all over again).

I do agree in sentiment that Punk's best role at this point is as a Jesse Ventura, Macho Man doing commentary (or if we're being realistic, Attitude Era Jerry Lawler - in the sense of a former world champion with major credibility).  In that sense, I could see him being worked once in a blue moon like Lawler did, but it would/should largely be as a device in a storyline, not as the storyline itself.

[Deadpulse]

Really enjoyed Dynamite last night. Going to watch NXT tonight. Really like the projection of MJF. The will he wont he of the inner circle hopefully gets drawn out. He went toe to toe with Y2J on the mic. It might not have been adversarial but they played off each other really well. He legit could be the next Jericho. Scorpio Sky pinning Jericho is amazing. I hope he gets a title shot, it would be so unexpected but SS has the chops for the ME scene. Pac vs Hangman continues to rock the ring but the story line is getting a little stale. I hope the return of Luchasaurus means no more Marko Stunt in the ring, he is worse than hornswaggle. At least the Swaggle was supposed to be a joke and not put forth has legitimate competition. Side note, that standing spanish fly from Guervo was dope. 

[PARROTHEAD]

4 hours ago, Deadpulse said:

 I hope the return of Luchasaurus means no more Marko Stunt in the ring, he is worse than hornswaggle. At least the Swaggle was supposed to be a joke and not put forth has legitimate competition.

*Reads post.

*Looks at avatar

[Dr LBC]

1 hour ago, PARROTHEAD said:

*Reads post.

*Looks at avatar

There's a huge difference between Cole and Stunt, and not just size.  Marko botches on the regular - including during the comeback in his match last night.  Cole is short, but he's actually filled out.  Marko looks like he hasn't hit puberty.

[Dr LBC]

Also, props to Io Shirai - or whoever from WWE is helping her handle her social media - because she went in on Mia Yim after a "botch" (not a straight up one, but she botched how she was holding the ladder last night and it resulted in her getting color the hard way via a laceration on the bridge of her nose) last night.  Again, it's these "blurring the lines between reality and show" that can help pique interest as that was ultimately what helped birth the Monday Night Wars and also helped propel guys like Edge to higher strata.

[Mox]

9 minutes ago, The LBC said:

There's a huge difference between Cole and Stunt, and not just size.  Marko botches on the regular - including during the comeback in his match last night.  Cole is short, but he's actually filled out.  Marko looks like he hasn't hit puberty.

I don't like the way he and Johnny Gargano no-sell in big matches but there is no denying Adam Cole is an elite talent.

[Dr LBC]

13 minutes ago, Bullet Club said:

I don't like the way he and Johnny Gargano no-sell in big matches but there is no denying Adam Cole is an elite talent.

They aren't the only ones (there are guys in NJPW, AEW, ROH, MLW, etc. who wall do this), but I agree.  I hate this and that crowds let talent get away with it, much less crowds tend to encourage if not outright demand it.

As much as people want to insist that the industry/crowds have evolved since the territory days, I watched the series from Hannibal TV recently where Al Snow is a guest speaker/coach at a wrestling school and damnit if everything he says doesn't make absolute sense and doesn't get you amped up to want to see it.  And it comes through clear as day that that's stuff that Jim Lancaster imparted to him firsthand, along with the likes of Arn and Ole, **** the Bruiser, Bill Watts, and Cornette.

[Mox]

2 minutes ago, The LBC said:

They aren't the only ones (there are guys in NJPW, AEW, ROH, MLW, etc. who wall do this), but I agree.  I hate this and that crowds let talent get away with it, much less crowds tend to encourage if not outright demand it.

As much as people want to insist that the industry/crowds have evolved since the territory days, I watched the series from Hannibal TV recently where Al Snow is a guest speaker/coach at a wrestling school and damnit if everything he says doesn't make absolute sense and doesn't get you amped up to want to see it.  And it comes through clear as day that that's stuff that Jim Lancaster imparted to him firsthand, along with the likes of Arn and Ole, **** the Bruiser, Bill Watts, and Cornette.

Oh, they definitely aren't the only ones but they have some egregious examples. A ton of people work that way now.

[Dr LBC]

3 minutes ago, Bullet Club said:

Oh, they definitely aren't the only ones but they have some egregious examples. A ton of people work that way now.

A lot of them need to go watch some damn Terry Funky tape.  The guy was outstanding at still getting in believable offense spots while incorporating selling off his arse into the gimmick.

[Mox]

Just now, The LBC said:

A lot of them need to go watch some damn Terry Funky tape.  The guy was outstanding at still getting in believable offense spots while incorporating selling off his arse into the gimmick.

Selling is super underrated these days. That's why I like what AEW is doing. Mox, Kenny, Cody and MJF all clearly understand pro-wrestling.

[Dr LBC]

2 minutes ago, Bullet Club said:

Selling is super underrated these days. That's why I like what AEW is doing. Mox, Kenny, Cody and MJF all clearly understand pro-wrestling.

I know you're a huge Kenny mark.  I still think he doesn't do selling justice because he dramaqueens stuff to the point where it comes across like it's satire or parody.  it a tough eval because his selling and some of his more-than-necessary theatrics are great for a live crowd and for the people in the cheap seats to still be able to see.  But in an era where the TV portrayal (and that the folks sitting in the cheap seats in most venues larger than a high school gym or an American Legion hall are watching the match on a big screen anyway), they just seem overdone.

[Mox]

1 minute ago, The LBC said:

I know you're a huge Kenny mark.  I still think he doesn't do selling justice because he dramaqueens stuff to the point where it comes across like it's satire or parody.  it a tough eval because his selling and some of his more-than-necessary theatrics are great for a live crowd and for the people in the cheap seats to still be able to see.  But in an era where the TV portrayal (and that the folks sitting in the cheap seats in most venues larger than a high school gym or an American Legion hall are watching the match on a big screen anyway), they just seem overdone.

He's overly silly on TV (which bugs me) but when he needs to get serious I think he's a great seller. His matches against guys like Okada/Naito/Jericho and Mox show that.