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

[bigbadbuff]

This version of Edge with Damien Priest is going to be awesome

[Texansfan713]

somebody at the event when we were walking out after the match said roman injured his shoulder.  could explain the quick finish if true.

[wgbeethree]

Without sounding like too much of a mark the best match of the weekend was the FTR vs. The Briscoes right 

[MDY10]

I thought Pat was brilliant last night 😂Michael Cole couldn’t contain his excitement 

Edited April 4, 2022 by MDY10

[Edge]

I'm giving a quick update to a few shows over the last few weeks, that might be worth to check out.

 

TJPW Grand Princess 22 (19.03.2022)

It was a good show. It was the biggest TJPW show to date in the legendary Sumo Hall and it draw the biggest audience of a TJPW-only show. What is TJPW? It's the 2nd biggest joshi promotion in Japan and home promotion of some of the joshis people might be known, when they watch AEW. It's the home promotion of Yuka Sakazaki, Maki Itoh and Shoko Nakajima. Shoko had a great match with Miyu Yamash.ita (the ace of TJPW) in the main event and won the Princess of Princess Championship (TJPW main title) in a great match (****1/2). Yuka Sakazaki was part of another great match in the co main event for the Princess Tag Team Championship (****1/4). There were a lot of other matches in the ***-range, so overall it was a pretty fun and good show. AEW's Hikaru Shida also had a match on this card, as well als Mei Saint-Michel (Mei Suruga) and ASUKA, which AEW fans might remember as VENY from the Japanese Bracket of the Women's tournament last year. The entrances were tremendous for this show.

personal rating: 8/10, Cagematch: 8,8/10

 

DDT Judgement 2022 - 25th Anniversary Show (20.03.2022)

The partner promotion of TJPW also held their show in the Sumo Hall. People should know DDT from Kenny Omega's and Kota Ibushi's past. It offers a mix of comedy matches, often at the beginning of the card and serious matches as the main acts of the show. Konosuke Takesh.ita was the KO-D Openweight Champion (main belt) and lost the title in a tremendous main event against Tetsuya Endo (****3/4). AEW fans might remember him from his small stint in AEW for 2 matches on Dark / Elevation last year. He is coming back to AEW this year for an excursion, which is set to last for a year. He should come in, in 1-2 weeks from now, as his last show for now for DDT will be on the 10th of this month. I also liked the 3-way Hardcore match for the DDT Universal Championship, as well as the match between Maya Yukihi and Saki Akai and the KO-D Tag Team Championship match (all of them received **** from me). Noteable was also the match of Jun Akiyama and the announcement of the partnership between AEW and DDT, which will resolve in bringing in DDT talent to AEW. That's the reason we'll be able to see Takesh.ita soon in AEW.

personal rating: 8,5/10, Cagematch: 8,92/10

 

Stardom World Climax 2022 - The Top (26.03.2022)

Stardom had a double header in the Sumo Hall one week later to the above shows. This show was Day 1. Stardom is the biggest joshi promotion and biggest women's promotion of the world. They are also one of the biggest japanese promotions, coming in 3rd behind NJPW and Dragon Gate in overall audience last year and likely will end up as the runner-up to NJPW in this year. Their growth in the last couple of year is amazing. The matches delivered. In the main event Syuri defended her World of Stardom championship (main title) against Giulia. Both are in the same stable, wich Giulia beeing the actual leader. The match was great (****1/2). I also liked the co main event for the Wonder of Stardom championship (the other main belt) between Saya Kamitani and Utami Hayashish.ita and the Goddesses of Stardom Championship match, which is the Tag Team belt of the promotion (****1/4). Another very important part of the show was the return of KAIRI (previously known as Kairi Hojo in Stardom and Kairi Sane in WWE). She was part of a good tag team match, teaming up with Mayu Iwatani, who is the icon of Stardom. In contrast to the other 2 shows, these Stardom shows had no entrance stage, since they favoured for selling more tickets, which was a bit sad, as it didn't looked as big as the other 2 shows and felt more intimate compared to them.

personal rating: 8,5/10, Cagematch: 8,1/10

 

Stardom World Climax 2022 - The Best (27.03.2022)

This show was Day 2 and for my taste slightly better than Day 1. The best match was the main event again. Syuri defended her title this time against Mayu Iwatani (****1/2). The best rated match on Cagematch of both shows was the Co Main Event on this show, where Saya Kamitani defended her belt against Tam Nakano. Personally i thought it was a bit worse than her title match on the previous day, but it was still a good match (****). KAIRI had her first singles match since her return against Starlight Kid. She had a better performance than pn the previous day (****1/4). Other matches i liked where the matches between Momo Watanabe and Hazuki, as well as the 8-man tag team match between Donna del Mondo and Prominence (both ****). In the match between DDM and Prominence you need to know the story. Giulia was in Ice Ribbon before coming to Stardom a few years ago. Her move was very controversial. She was friends with Suzu Suzuki, who is a great young wrestler and part of Prominence. Prominence left Ice Ribbon at the end of last year. They will be on their own, but came in to Stardom for this story, where Suzu and Prominence want to take revenge on Giulia and her faction Donne del Mondo. It's basically a rivalry between Giulia and Suzu and it's expected to result in a bigger singles match between these 2 in the future.

personal rating: 8,5/10, Cagematch: 8,56/10

 

GWF Light Heavyweight World  Cup 2022 (27.03.2022)

I'm leaving Japan for a second to give you a review of a show of the German Wrestling Federation, which was broadcasted for free on Youtube (Link to the video). I hope it's not geoblocked. As a german promotion, they spoke german in this show. That's something i have to mention. I have watched 2 previous show of them this until this show, but this one was the best. Like the title says it heavily concentrated on the Light Heavyweight World Cup featuring talent from Europe. The best match was the main event, which was a 4-way final of the World Cup. Michael Oku and Crowchester were the stars of this match and had a great finishing sequence. The match was great (****1/4).  I can also recommend the 1st round match between Michael Oku and Fast Time Moodo (who is one of the best german wrestlers). This one was also a good match (***3/4). The rest was decent/solid. Just the 8-man Battle Royale was bad and the injury of Senza Volto in another 1st round match was very sad. He's also a good wrestler, i just hope he's going to be fine and will return soon. Axel Tischer, who was also known as Alexander Wolfe in WWE, also appeared on this show to build up a match for his GWF World Championship.

personal rating: 7,5/10, Cagematch: not rated (2x 8,0)

 

What happened in NJPW? The New Japan Cup 2022

I also want to give a quick review on the New Japan Cup and will focus on the matches, starting in the quarter finals. The quarter finals took part on the 20th and 21th of march. We got Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb which Naito won and which was a great match (****1/4). The 2nd quarter final was a match between Kazuchika Okada and CIMA which was the worst of the matches i will review here, but still quite good (***3/4). Okada won this match and faced Tetsuya Naito in the semi final. The other 2 quarter finals were pretty great as well. The best match of the entire tournament was the quarter final between Will Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr. It was a tremendous match (****3/4). ZSJ won the match. He faced in the 2nd semi final Shingo Takagi who beat his stable mate in Hiromu Takahashi in another great match (****1/4). Day 13 of the New Japan Cup, were those 2 matches happened, was probably the best day of the entire tournament (8/10 from me). The semi finals happened on the 26th of march. ZSJ faced Shingo Takagi and beat him in another great match (****1/2). The second one was slightly worse, but still great in which Naito beat the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Okada. (****1/4). So on the 27th we got the final betweeen ZSJ and Naito. Yet, another great match (****1/4). To my surprise ZSJ won this match and therefore won the New Japan Cup 2022. I loved this decision, as he was the star of the tournament and also within the last months/years in New Japan, which weren't the best years of the company. I dunno if they give him the World Title, but i would absolutely love it, as he would deserve it for sure. We get the title match between Okada and ZSJ this weekend at Hyper Battle (09.04.2022). Hyper Battle is also one of the best cards of the last couple of years and offers top to bottom storys and interesting matchups, which has become very rare, almost to non-existent for the opening matches of any NJPW show. I can recommend to watch that show.

 

This gets me to Wrestlemania weekend (note: I haven't watched Wrestlemania itself).

ROH Supercard of Honor 2022 (01.04.2022)

It's the 1st show under the umbrella of Tony Khan. I didn't expect to much, as Tony Khan just took over and had to put up a card on short notice. Still i was super excited for the ROH World Tag Team Championship match between The Briscoes and FTR. They hyped this match for a few months on social media and we finally got it on this card. It was a tremendous match. One of the best Tag Team matches of all time (*****). I loved everything about this match. I loved the audience. They were on fire. I loved the intensity, the tag team action and the finish. FTR won the belts, which is fine, as the Young Bucks attacked the Briscoes and so it seems we might see the Briscoes again in ROH, which was a big question mark for me. And they also build up the 2nd match between the Bucks and FTR on this weeks Dynamite. Another great match was the main event between Jonathan Gresham and Bandido for the ROH World Championship (****1/4). Gresham defended the title and he got attacked by Jay Lethal who turned heel in his match against Lee Moriarty and teamed up with Sonjay Dutt to attack Gresham. In the end Gresham was saved by the return of Samoa Joe to ROH, who will also be in AEW. That was a great moment. I think the opener was also good between Swerve Strickland and Alex Zayne (***3/4). The other matches were pretty solid. Minoru Suzuki won his first championship in the US, when he beat Rhett Titus for the ROH Television Championship. Wheeler Yuta finaly got a big win against Josh Woods for the ROH Pure Championship, which will probably be a part in his AEW storyline with the Blackpool Combat Club. Mercedes Martinez won the Interim ROH Women's World Championship. Unfortunately Deonna Purrazzo couldn't be on this card due to her Impact commitments. Beginning in the pre show and continuing in the main show, we also saw the debut of Tully Blanchard Entreprises, a new stable, probably only within ROH. It considers of Brian Cage, Kaun and Toa Liona. Overall it was a good show. We got a few glimpses of the future of ROH, which seems to be some from of old NXT. We got some story developements to start weeklies, whenever that will be the case. I hope it will be a 1-hour show for a streaming service like HBO Max. The only downside of the event were all these title changes to AEW wrestlers or away from former ROH talent. Ofc it makes sense, as the future might still not be completely sure, so it's the safest way to have the titles in AEW and on AEW wrestlers, to keep them in the shows.

personal rating: 8/10, Cagematch: 8,9/10

 

Impact Wrestling Multiverse of Matches (01.04.2022)

So far it was the best Impact event in 2022. The 3 longest matches were the 3 best matches of the show. The best one was between Ishii and Eddie Edwards (****1/4). The other two matches were good matches between Mike Bailey & Alex Shelley (****), as well as Chris Sabin & Jay White (***3/4). Besides that it were decent to solid matches. We got a surprise appearance of Faby Apache against Deonna Purrazzo for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship. Deonna won that match and had a face-off with Taya Valkyrie to set up a title match at Rebellion (23.04.2022). Otherwise this show was good, but also was a build-up for Rebellion.

personal rating: 7,5/10, Cagematch: 7,29/10

 

NJPW STRONG Lone Star Shootout (01.04.2022)

This event was a short one, just barely above the 1h30minutes mark. It can also be considered as a build-up for NJPW Windy City Riot (16.04.2022). The only match i can recommend was the match between Jay White and Mike Bailey (*** 3/4). Mike Bailey was one of the workhorses of this weekend. I think he had 8 matches and at least his matches in Impact and NJPW were good ones. So it was an overall strong performance by him (no pun intended). The other matches were solid. Minoru Suzuki vs. Killer Kross was decent, but i was a bit disappointed in the performance of Killer Kross, who didn't had a good performance at all. Otherwise we got a good promo by Jon Moxley, building up the main event of Windy City Riot against Will Ospreay. After the main event between Ishii and Chris Dickinson, which was the 2nd best match of the show, we got a face-off between Ishii and Minoru Suzuki, who will also face each other in Chicago. So it was a solid show.

personal rating: 7/10, Cagematch: 7,08/10

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Edge

[MikeT14]

12 hours ago, Soggust said:

And McMahon followed it up with perhaps the #1 worst of all time lol.

I didn't see it. It was worse than this?

[Deadpulse]

1 minute ago, MikeT14 said:

I didn't see it. It was worse than this?

 

[MikeT14]

Oh my god, maybe it was.... hahaha

[Dr LBC]

7 hours ago, wgbeethree said:

Without sounding like too much of a mark the best match of the weekend was the FTR vs. The Briscoes right 

Everyone's a mark; there are some that are just too arrogant to accept the fact that they are.

[stl4life07]

My thoughts on night two of Wrestlemania:

Started off with Triple H doing his entrance and coming to the ring to basically retire from in ring wrestling. No matter how I think about the guy stemming from how he did the late great Chyna, I still think he was a great wrestler who has made a huge impact in the WWE both in the ring and outside of the ring. I wish nothing but the best for him health wise too. So must respect to him.

Best match of the night was RK Bro v Alpha Academy v Street Profits. I wasnt sure if RK Bro would win bc I was thinking maybe Orton turns on Riddle after they lost. Good thing they won but eventually I think Orton will turn on Riddle but seeing that they just got those titles back and this is their first Wrestlemania together as a tag team it made sense they won. Nice RKO by Orton. The stint in the end with Gable Steveson was nice and the celebration afterwards was cool too.

When I heard about the Edge faction rumor I figured he would win against AJ at Wrestlemania. He won. I do think this is a multi match feud so AJ will definitely get his opportunity to win. Edge now has Priest. It would be nice if AJ could go get Finn since they have the Bullet Club connection. I wonder if Edge is going to get more guys too. If he does Id love to see Ciampa. He has the look and with Edge, Priest, and Ciampa they could be scary. Then Im think way down the road when the WWE decide to split the belts up again that Edge could get the Raw title and be on top of Raw with his faction helping him keep it from all other opponents. Oh the possibilities if the WWE does right by this with Edge. 

I knew Sasha and Naomi would win the women tag titles. Sasha has never won at Wrestlemania so it was a lock she was going to win. Id love to see them keep the belts for a while until Bayley comes back and then lets see them tease Bayley and Sasha getting back together in which Sasha turns on Naomi they lose the women tag titles and then Sasha and Bayley once again go try to get them.

I thought the most fun and crazy match of the night was Knockville vs Sami. I will admit that Ive never seen Jackass even though I know about it. I dont know the people involved other than Knockville. I laughed seeming Wee Man beat up Sami though. That big hand that smacked Sami was the best spot bc nobody saw it was there lol. Then of course Knockville trapping Sami the big mouse trap for the win was funny. I knew Knockville would win as soon as Sami lost the IC belt. Had Sami walked into Wrestlemania as the IC champ he wouldnt have lost.

I thought Omos would beat Lashley to continue to build him up as a dominant force. Plus I didnt think Lashley was still healthy. Lashley winning now makes me think they are building him back up by defeating an unstoppable guy in Omos so Lashley can potentially make another run at Roman.

The New Day losing to Rich Holland and Sheamus was ridiculous in the fashion they lost. It was a very quick match too. Maybe the WWE is thinking that when Big E comes back to make it an even 3 on 3 match possibly next Wrestlemania is when the New Day will get their big win over these guys thus revisiting this feud down the road. Like idk what the thinking truly is but I just thought the New Day losing like they did was ridiculous.

We got to see Vince wrestle which was a mild shocker. Many thought Vince would wrestle Pat at first but then Austin was his opponent. Pat handled himself well in the match against Austin and beat him. Then Vince got in the ring and beat Pat. I was looking for Shane to come out and help Pat but when Stone Cold came out I knew what was going to happen lol. Him stunning Austin was well deserved. Austin shouldve got stunned twice. Vince getting stunned never gets old even though it was the worst stunner sell ever. Then when Pat got stunned I saw it coming too. He sold that stunner great. Austin over sold it but Pat selling was great. Then he was on the floor still drinking and looked happy lol. Great moment.

The Brock and Roman match was less than to be desired. I expected blood bc Brock was talking about making Roman bleed just like he made him bleed. No blood at all. I did think Brock hurt Roman shoulder. Maybe it was just a great kayfab sell but I knew Roman was going to win and he did. Again the Usos kept their titles which is always a sign Roman is going to keep his. Then Roman said he never beat Brock at Wrestlemania. That was another sign that suggest Roman would win. I wanted to see if the Rock would come out to basically setup a match at Wrestlemania next year in LA but it didnt happen. Maybe it will eventually between now and the road to Wrestlemania next year. I think the next opponents for Roman should be Lashley (since he is a face now) and Drew. I think Brock will probably show up on tonight Raw and still get back into the picture but ultimately I think it should be Lashley and Drew right next up for Roman. 

[Dr LBC]

3 hours ago, stl4life07 said:

My thoughts on night two of Wrestlemania:

Started off with Triple H doing his entrance and coming to the ring to basically retire from in ring wrestling. No matter how I think about the guy stemming from how he did the late great Chyna, I still think he was a great wrestler who has made a huge impact in the WWE both in the ring and outside of the ring. I wish nothing but the best for him health wise too. So must respect to him.

Best match of the night was RK Bro v Alpha Academy v Street Profits. I wasnt sure if RK Bro would win bc I was thinking maybe Orton turns on Riddle after they lost. Good thing they won but eventually I think Orton will turn on Riddle but seeing that they just got those titles back and this is their first Wrestlemania together as a tag team it made sense they won. Nice RKO by Orton. The stint in the end with Gable Steveson was nice and the celebration afterwards was cool too.

When I heard about the Edge faction rumor I figured he would win against AJ at Wrestlemania. He won. I do think this is a multi match feud so AJ will definitely get his opportunity to win. Edge now has Priest. It would be nice if AJ could go get Finn since they have the Bullet Club connection. I wonder if Edge is going to get more guys too. If he does Id love to see Ciampa. He has the look and with Edge, Priest, and Ciampa they could be scary. Then Im think way down the road when the WWE decide to split the belts up again that Edge could get the Raw title and be on top of Raw with his faction helping him keep it from all other opponents. Oh the possibilities if the WWE does right by this with Edge. 

I knew Sasha and Naomi would win the women tag titles. Sasha has never won at Wrestlemania so it was a lock she was going to win. Id love to see them keep the belts for a while until Bayley comes back and then lets see them tease Bayley and Sasha getting back together in which Sasha turns on Naomi they lose the women tag titles and then Sasha and Bayley once again go try to get them.

I thought the most fun and crazy match of the night was Knockville vs Sami. I will admit that Ive never seen Jackass even though I know about it. I dont know the people involved other than Knockville. I laughed seeming Wee Man beat up Sami though. That big hand that smacked Sami was the best spot bc nobody saw it was there lol. Then of course Knockville trapping Sami the big mouse trap for the win was funny. I knew Knockville would win as soon as Sami lost the IC belt. Had Sami walked into Wrestlemania as the IC champ he wouldnt have lost.

I thought Omos would beat Lashley to continue to build him up as a dominant force. Plus I didnt think Lashley was still healthy. Lashley winning now makes me think they are building him back up by defeating an unstoppable guy in Omos so Lashley can potentially make another run at Roman.

The New Day losing to Rich Holland and Sheamus was ridiculous in the fashion they lost. It was a very quick match too. Maybe the WWE is thinking that when Big E comes back to make it an even 3 on 3 match possibly next Wrestlemania is when the New Day will get their big win over these guys thus revisiting this feud down the road. Like idk what the thinking truly is but I just thought the New Day losing like they did was ridiculous.

We got to see Vince wrestle which was a mild shocker. Many thought Vince would wrestle Pat at first but then Austin was his opponent. Pat handled himself well in the match against Austin and beat him. Then Vince got in the ring and beat Pat. I was looking for Shane to come out and help Pat but when Stone Cold came out I knew what was going to happen lol. Him stunning Austin was well deserved. Austin shouldve got stunned twice. Vince getting stunned never gets old even though it was the worst stunner sell ever. Then when Pat got stunned I saw it coming too. He sold that stunner great. Austin over sold it but Pat selling was great. Then he was on the floor still drinking and looked happy lol. Great moment.

The Brock and Roman match was less than to be desired. I expected blood bc Brock was talking about making Roman bleed just liAustin has ke he made him bleed. No blood at all. I did think Brock hurt Roman shoulder. Maybe it was just a great kayfab sell but I knew Roman was going to win and he did. Again the Usos kept their titles which is always a sign Roman is going to keep his. Then Roman said he never beat Brock at Wrestlemania. That was another sign that suggest Roman would win. I wanted to see if the Rock would come out to basically setup a match at Wrestlemania next year in LA but it didnt happen. Maybe it will eventually between now and the road to Wrestlemania next year. I think the next opponents for Roman should be Lashley (since he is a face now) and Drew. I think Brock will probably show up on tonight Raw and still get back into the picture but ultimately I think it should be Lashley and Drew right next up for Roman. 

Austin has always sold Stunners/Ace Crushers like that.  My friend Jon, who now works for Conrad's podcast network as a host/mediator, managed a match against Theory in Limitless Wrestling (a Maine-area independent promotion) and Austin did that exact same sell-job.

If New Day is still feuding with Sheamus/Ridge/Pete by the time E comes back (if he comes back) I don't know what to think, cuz E won't be back until Christmas at the earliest.

Edge's new faction is pretty clearly, at least to me (the clues were there), a New Brood.  Don't know that they're going with the vampire theme, but they'll definitely be playing up the goth-ish, metal aesthetic.  The principal rumor being thrown around for their 3rd member has been Ciampa, but I'll throw another out there who is being criminal misused, is a great worker who isn't given the chance to show it, and who they could finally help reclaim the NXT name he had and ditch the doofy moniker they gave him when he was brought to the main roster: Dijakovic.  Give him his first name back, as Donovan has a name that thematically fits with Damian, and let the two of them be Edge's twin enforcers the same way Harper and Rowan were for Bray.  Ciampa still very clearly can work, but because of his size (regardless of how great a worker he is) if Ciampa's going to get over where it matters (with Vince, which is the only way he ever gets a push of any note) he's going to have to do it with his promo and his character - and I get the feeling that Edge is going to be far and away the predominant mouthpiece in this faction.

Some of the championships very clearly weren't going to change at Mania, but that doesn't mean they aren't moving.  Because they're still so hellbent on doing Backlash as heavy Mania rematches rather than actual fallout from Mania stuffs.  Dunno/doubt Brock wins there either, and in fact, smart booking would be for Roman/Bloodline to kayfabe injure Brock to put him out until anywhere near the next of the big 4 supercards - or, realistically, till September (I believe) when they go to Saudi again.  For instance, up until I read the story about Ronda apparently throwing a fit backstage and threatening to quit, I was 100% convinced that the ending to the match between her and Charlotte happened the way it did so that they could book the return match at Backlash and put Ronda over.  Also of another reason I'll get to in a second.

The money, if pops last night were any indication, is in Sasha vs Rhea; which is part of why i don't want to see Sasha/Bailey reunite on Bailey's return but rather for Bailey to produce her own tag partner and go up against Legit Glow.  But they're on separate brands right now (Rhea and Sasha), so it's likely a slow-burn toward a post-draft feud where there can be some intermittent butting of heads with Sasha being a tag-team champion and those inter-brand.

With MITB coming fairly soon, just looking at things (and depending on how hard certain debuts go and look to lead into pushes tonight and Friday) , my odds on favorites for the cases are either Rhea or Charlotte (if they take the belt off her; but she's never had the case and it's a way to keep her in/around the Championship picture constantly without having to pinball a title on/off her constantly) for the women and... I'm still up in the air on the men: There's a ton of promise, draw, and ability to build not just his character but the guys supporting him if you give Edge the case (and making an already-HOF the first 2x mens - Alexa being the first womens, I believe - MITB winner doesn't honestly hurt any other potential main eventer they could want to build up; I'll believe Vince goes all-in on giving Cody the case when I see it - I do think they may not have an issue with Cody main eventing some shows but  the MITB case is by-and-large a guaranteed World Title reign and I don't think Vince pulls the trigger on that unless NBC/USA or Fox start needling him to do it.  Also with the damn habit that they feel the need to book the case-holder to lose constantly, that avenue does Cody no favors, and it could largely be evaded/circumvented by putting it on a heel who loses because his faction keeps interfering on his behalf and he still ends stands strong, laughing, while holding the case high.

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Dr LBC

[stl4life07]

49 minutes ago, Dr LBC said:

Austin has always sold Stunners/Ace Crushers like that.  My friend Jon, who now works for Conrad's podcast network as a host/mediator, managed a match against Theory in Limitless Wrestling (a Maine-area independent promotion) and Austin did that exact same sell-job.

If New Day is still feuding with Sheamus/Ridge/Pete by the time E comes back (if he comes back) I don't know what to think, cuz E won't be back until Christmas at the earliest.

Edge's new faction is pretty clearly, at least to me (the clues were there), a New Brood.  Don't know that they're going with the vampire theme, but they'll definitely be playing up the goth-ish, metal aesthetic.  The principal rumor being thrown around for their 3rd member has been Ciampa, but I'll throw another out there who is being criminal misused, is a great worker who isn't given the chance to show it, and who they could finally help reclaim the NXT name he had and ditch the doofy moniker they gave him when he was brought to the main roster: Dijakovic.  Give him his first name back, as Donovan has a name that thematically fits with Damian, and let the two of them be Edge's twin enforcers the same way Harper and Rowan were for Bray.  Ciampa still very clearly can work, but because of his size (regardless of how great a worker he is) if Ciampa's going to get over where it matters (with Vince, which is the only way he ever gets a push of any note) he's going to have to do it with his promo and his character - and I get the feeling that Edge is going to be far and away the predominant mouthpiece in this faction.

Some of the championships very clearly weren't going to change at Mania, but that doesn't mean they aren't moving.  Because they're still so hellbent on doing Backlash as heavy Mania rematches rather than actual fallout from Mania stuffs.  Dunno/doubt Brock wins there either, and in fact, smart booking would be for Roman/Bloodline to kayfabe injure Brock to put him out until anywhere near the next of the big 4 supercards - or, realistically, till September (I believe) when they go to Saudi again.  For instance, up until I read the story about Ronda apparently throwing a fit backstage and threatening to quit, I was 100% convinced that the ending to the match between her and Charlotte happened the way it did so that they could book the return match at Backlash and put Ronda over.  Also of another reason I'll get to in a second.

The money, if pops last night were any indication, is in Sasha vs Rhea; which is part of why i don't want to see Sasha/Bailey reunite on Bailey's return but rather for Bailey to produce her own tag partner and go up against Legit Glow.  But they're on separate brands right now (Rhea and Sasha), so it's likely a slow-burn toward a post-draft feud where there can be some intermittent butting of heads with Sasha being a tag-team champion and those inter-brand.

With MITB coming fairly soon, just looking at things (and depending on how hard certain debuts go and look to lead into pushes tonight and Friday) , my odds on favorites for the cases are either Rhea or Charlotte (if they take the belt off her; but she's never had the case and it's a way to keep her in/around the Championship picture constantly without having to pinball a title on/off her constantly) for the women and... I'm still up in the air on the men: There's a ton of promise, draw, and ability to build not just his character but the guys supporting him if you give Edge the case (and making an already-HOF the first 2x mens - Alexa being the first womens, I believe - MITB winner doesn't honestly hurt any other potential main eventer they could want to build up; I'll believe Vince goes all-in on giving Cody the case when I see it - I do think they may not have an issue with Cody main eventing some shows but  the MITB case is by-and-large a guaranteed World Title reign and I don't think Vince pulls the trigger on that unless NBC/USA or Fox start needling him to do it.  Also with the damn habit that they feel the need to book the case-holder to lose constantly, that avenue does Cody no favors, and it could largely be evaded/circumvented by putting it on a heel who loses because his faction keeps interfering on his behalf and he still ends stands strong, laughing, while holding the case high.

 

Ok so Austin sold a stunner like that once before. Im sure then that he probably was thinking about selling the exact same way then. 

Well I dont necessarily think New Day and Seamus/Holland/Butch should still be feuding that long. I think they could just revisit it down the road and then have a legit 6 man tag match where the New Day get the big win. I dont know when Big E will come back but again whenever he comes back they can just revisit this feud. 

That would make sense about not having Ciampa and having someone who has the size to be like Rowan and Harper and even Braun was for Bray in the Wyatt Family. Im not real familiar with NXT these days but its going to be interesting to see this faction with Edge. I do think its going to be the new Brood type of faction. The WWE hate doing factions though. They had the perfect faction of the Undisputed Era but they literally didnt have any good stint on the main roster outside of a Survivors Series match. Then they had Sanity and I thought they would be interesting on main roster but again nothing from them. When the WWE want a faction to work though it works. The Blood Line, The Shield, The Wyatt Family. But I agree Edge is going to be the predominant mouthpiece of the faction as the leader. 

You are right about the WWE still has Blacklash in which they will treat like Wrestlemania so we can see Ronda still win the title from Charlotte. Interesting about what you read on Ronda bc I didnt know that at all. Also I agree that I dont think Brock will win the title from Roman. I dont think he need to either. As long as he is around he can get the title at any point and time and the logic will be is that he is Brock Lesnar. We have seen it to many times. I think Roman keeping the title gives WWE a reason to have him often on Raw as well as Smackdown so USA can get their wish of having more of Roman. And you can add Cody to the list of guys who are coming for the title from Roman. 

Well you could be right with Sasha v Rhea just bc Rhea walked out on Liv tonight. I just want the women tag division to be organized and make sense. I dont mind Sasha and Bayley back together bc it made sense. It made sense with the Iconics back in the day and for whatever reason the WWE just let both of them go and they are doing great things on Impact. It made sense with Asuka and Kairi back in the day too. WWE is so great at throwing random tag teams together and sometimes they stick but for the most part it doesnt. Id love to see Sasha and Naomi be a tag team for a good bit though. Let Charlotte have a legit feud with Ronda and then when Ronda win the belt have Shayna challenge her. That would be a great feud too between two great friends. Then on Raw Id love Bianca having a great feud with Alexa. Not this version of Alexa but the old version. The one that at least I took alot seriously as one of the top women wrestlers in WWE. 

Yeah for me MITB Id love to see Alexa win it but I could also see Sonya winning it and then abusing her power as co-GM on bending all the rules as it applies to cash in attempts and stuff like that. Then with the men to me Austin since he is Vince hand pick guy. Id love for Cody to do so but for me Id rather Cody to win the Rumble. Either him or Riddle. I just want surprises and great storylines to come out of it. I dont want no Otis or Nikki or even Carmella type of wrestler winning and storyline leaving MITB.

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by stl4life07

[Dr LBC]

A few random and assorted thoughts from the RAWM:

- All in all, good promo from Cody.  I appreciate that it was left as a fairly simple thing as to why he came back.  There was an obvious "know your worth" angle he could have gone, but it wasn't really necessary.  I get that he was emotional, but dude does need to work on not crying quite so much.

- Elias, you shaved that magnificent beard for this?  So that you can be future endeavored by July?  At least Aron Steven waited until they gave him the axe to shave the beard.

- The completing of the Lashley turn by having MVP flip on him is a good touch.  Omos, dear God did he, need a mouthpiece if only so that we don't have to see his teeth on the regular.  Also, Lashley can/should be a great badass babyface that's been needed on that program for a while - that said, just pray that Vince doesn't get bored and lose any idea of what to do with him otherwise Bobby's bound for Drew territory.  Call me nuts, but Lashley needs to go to Smackdown in the next draft.  There's a ton of good programs for him to work with guys there (Lashley/Sheamus could be a really underrated feud).  If it were me, I'd have MVP reform the Hurt Business, but, I'm sorry, Cedric needs to go; he was always take-pin fodder in that faction.  Either have MVP recruit Commander Azeez/Dabba-Kato away from Apollo Crews, and make him (MVP) like an early Teddy Long when he managed the Skyscrapers.

- I actually get and can get behind Bianca, but she's not a natural babyface to me; or at the very least, she is soooo much better as a mean girl type.  I'm not saying the Profits need to go full-blown heel, but they and Bianca need to be booked with a bit more intensity and edge and she could be an outright heel while they're more the opportunistic tweeners that pal around with her for obvious reasons.  With all due respect to Dawkins and what he's capable of, there's a visible future if they wanted to set out a long-term plan to present Montez and Bianca as a power couple, in a King Booker/Queen Sharmell-ish dynamic except where both can work.  And, to the was Dawkins presents himself, he has fantastic emotes that he could pull of the surprised "What do you mean you're messing me over?" look perfectly.  Slow burn, but learn from history and recycle some stuff that worked before - just present it differently.  In layman's terms: Eventually Jannetty Angelo.

- After last night, I can see the path they may be steering to align Rhea with Edge's new faction - and it would be a good thing.  Raquel's ready to come up - even though I shudder at hearing Cole do the "Big Mami Cool" thing to death - but most NXT call-ups almost always come up at babyfaces - especially when they left as such. And the writers/Vince/Bruce have managed to make nearly every big brawler on the main women's roster into a relative softie (even Tamina is doing comedy crap and now kayfabe engaged to Akira Tozawa?!).  Give Rhea back her groove (or her damn edge that got her hugely over to begin with).  And hold off on any, any contact or confrontation between Rhea and Raquel until the Rumble next year - they're best friends, they have great chemistry and know how to work well together.  Literally, old school book it... keep it simple and it writes itself.

- People need to give up the ghost that Vince is going to do anything significant with Finn.  He isn't.  Finn's going to be that guy that they know they can throw out there for good work, to get some crowd response and help get guys over, but that Vince just plain doesn't see what the big deal in him is - so he's not going to be getting major programs.  Basically... he's Christian in Vince's eyes.  There was a time when Vince likely thought he could have the draw that Jeff Hardy did as a single star and saw him as that sort of character, but now he's more the way Jeff was being booked by the E for the year prior to his release than anything else.  In fact, having Finn under contract was probably one of the reasons why they felt fine giving Jeff his release and Finn's been shoehorned into some programs that likely would have gone to Jeff.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Dr LBC

[Deadpulse]

3 minutes ago, Dr LBC said:

- After last night, I can see the path they may be steering to align Rhea with Edge's new faction - and it would be a good thing.  Raquel's ready to come up - even though I shudder at hearing Cole do the "Big Mami Cool" thing to death - but most NXT call-ups almost always come up at babyfaces - especially when they left as such. And the writers/Vince/Bruce have managed to make nearly every big brawler on the main women's roster into a relative softie (even Tamina is doing comedy crap and now kayfabe engaged to Akira Tozawa?!).  Give Rhea back her groove (or her damn edge that got her hugely over to begin with).  And hold off on any, any contact or confrontation between Rhea and Raquel until the Rumble next year - they're best friends, they have great chemistry and know how to work well together.  Literally, old school book it... keep it simple and it writes itself.

If they bring a female into Edge's faction, sign me up for Io Shirai 

[Dr LBC]

10 minutes ago, Deadpulse said:

If they bring a female into Edge's faction, sign me up for Io Shirai 

Fits the look, but doesn't fit the angle (i.e. "sacrificed my nature to be a people pleaser, but eff them now") they're working with it.  If anyone that isn't Rhea, the one that would fit it the best would be to bring back a dark (not just in persona, but far less colorful) Asuka.