All Things Wrestling Thread

[beekay414]

6 minutes ago, The LBC said:

Honestly, I'm calling it now.  A flying knee floors him before his current Bellator contract is up.

I could see it but I think it'll be a very simple overhand right that floors him quick. It'll be a while cuz they are going to feed him a ton of local jobbers for the next 2 years.

[beekay414]

12 minutes ago, The LBC said:

I'm excited for Ricochet.  Trevor is just a flat out awesome cat, personally, and he's got the kind of special athleticism to trump Vince's general aversion to lack-of-size guys - not indifferent from Rey and Eddie.

Ricochet is one of the few small guys I can get behind (Ciampa is the other - Not a big fan of Johnny Wrestling tho). Never was much of a Rey fan. More recently, was never much of a Finn fan either. Ricochet is just badass unlike those other two. Black, though, is special. I hope they don't banish him to the mid-card too quickly.

I don't give two craps about Velveteen Dream though. He's solid but he's destined for the mid-card.

[beekay414]

Shayna won the women's NXT title back?

So we can count her out tomorrow, yeah? Looking like I'm going to have to DVR Raw.

[Dr LBC]

8 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Ricochet is one of the few small guys I can get behind (Ciampa is the other - Not a big fan of Johnny Wrestling tho). Never was much of a Rey fan. More recently, was never much of a Finn fan either. Ricochet is just badass unlike those other two. Black, though, is special. I hope they don't banish him to the mid-card too quickly.

I don't give two craps about Velveteen Dream though. He's solid but he's destined for the mid-card.

Dream can be great if he evolves.  The thing is his future, if he fully realizes it, doesn't center on being Velveteen Dream.  If he manages to make it, I'd be willing to bet it's as "The Dream" of something similar (maybe they use his real name or some offshoot of it with "The Dream" moniker involved).  He's extremely similar to Cena in that respect.  The current gimmick will get him over on the main roster and entrenched solidly in the main card and possibly even a main event look or two.  But if he's going to sustain in the main event, he'll have to evolve and he's capable of that (because he's got a knack for improvisation that not many have) and he sells believably in the ring (Cena was mediocre in terms of his offensive variety, but when he actually sold, when they let him, he sold like a damn champ).

Johnny I think had a far better future before Daniel Bryan made his comeback, now he's kind of redundant.  He's broke man's Shawn at this point (which is more a case of my massive respect for the height HBK reached), but he's basically IC champion Shawn.  He could stay in NXT and be a thing of legend (basically akin to an AJ Style in TNA or Christopher Daniels in ROH) or he can go t oteh main roster and be, likely, Dolph Ziggler 2.0 unless Vince suffers a stroke in the next couple years.

I honestly feel like Ric is closer to Eddie than Rey - he can work any style and get himself over.  He and Pete Dunne are the guys I feel like are size-proof on the main roster if they greenlight them.  That's your modern day Eddie and Benoit respectively.

[Dr LBC]

11 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Shayna won the women's NXT title back?

So we can count her out tomorrow, yeah? Looking like I'm going to have to DVR Raw.

Not back.  She retained.  And to be honest Bianca had no business winning.  Her UD streak is fine, but her character lacks depth thus far and will benefit from having to rebuild after a fall - plus, NXT is better for Asuka's undefeated streak being as far from touched as possible.  It makes it to where if they ever get a LEGIT talent (like if they ever get Tessa Blanchard back or a similar stature talent) they can actually have someone challenge it and could actually bring Asuka back to face that talent at a TakeOver right on the brink of the streak being broken (it's literally the one thing WCW was never able to accomplish with Goldberg and his streak, which can straight up make someone before they even hit the main roster).

[beekay414]

2 minutes ago, The LBC said:

Not back.  She retained.  And to be honest Bianca had no business winning.  Her UD streak is fine, but her character lacks depth thus far and will benefit from having to rebuild after a fall - plus, NXT is better for Asuka's undefeated streak being as far from touched as possible.  It makes it to where if they ever get a LEGIT talent (like if they ever get Tessa Blanchard back or a similar stature talent) they can actually have someone challenge it and could actually bring Asuka back to face that talent at a TakeOver right on the brink of the streak being broken (it's literally the one thing WCW was never able to accomplish with Goldberg and his streak, which can straight up make someone before they even hit the main roster).

Gotcha, I'm just more focused on Shayna getting the call up. She's legit the only female wrestler that I enjoy outside of, maybe, Becky. Sucks but it's the truth.

[hornbybrown]

8 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Gotcha, I'm just more focused on Shayna getting the call up. She's legit the only female wrestler that I enjoy outside of, maybe, Becky. Sucks but it's the truth.

Shayna is effing scary!!! Like legit holy crap. The move where she stomps on there elbow looks like it’s breaking stuff

[Dr LBC]

16 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Gotcha, I'm just more focused on Shayna getting the call up. She's legit the only female wrestler that I enjoy outside of, maybe, Becky. Sucks but it's the truth.

I think in this thread we hit the two options and the more likely is "not mine" at this point, since she retained tonight.  She'll be up after Mania or thereabouts.  I had thought that it could make sense to bring her up and elevate her as a possible Rumble winner because she could then challenge "Not Ronda" and immediately assume the Arn role on Smackdown (making it easier to bring Ronda, even if she works part time, over to Smackdown when the move to FOX goes through - because that's going to happen).

I have a connected friend who believes that she's still going to end up involved tomorrow and costing Sasha the title, to set up double-duty and facing Sasha at Mania, but I have my doubts on that since I have to believe that if they award the Womens' Tag Titles at Elimination Chamber they have the champs defend at Mania and that puts heavy odds on Sasha/Bailey being involved on one side or the other.

My gut tells me that Gargano turns on Ciampa and the TakeOver Brooklyn main event is Gargano finally going over Ciampa for the title.  What wouldn't shock me is if they double-down and put Candice LeRae over as Womens champ that night too.  (Note: It's Candice or Bianca as the next champ right now; I'm almost positive they pair Io and Kairi as a "Jumping Bomb Angels" type tag team and elevate them as such to the main roster - which is fine TBH).  A babyface Johnny makes for a way, way more sympathetic champ to get screwed over when Adam Cole eventually takes the title (which is going to happen).

Shayna will be up by Survivor Series this year regardless, but I think she could get held down longer than even I expect because her call-up might depend on the readiness of Duke and Shafir.  Duke is supposedly killing it at the PC (you could fool me from what we've seen on NXT TV, but we'll see in this next match with Kairi and Io that taped tonight) and is being talked up as a legit Barry Windham of the group.  Shayna, honestly, I expect to have a longer career than Ronda, but they're not going to blow the money-payoff in Horsewomen vs Horsewomen and if that means keeping Shayna down a little longer to make sure the other two can work well in the ring, that's that.

[Dr LBC]

3 minutes ago, hornbybrown said:

Shayna is effing scary!!! Like legit holy crap. The move where she stomps on there elbow looks like it’s breaking stuff

Fun fact: That's a variation on a military (Navy  for sure, since I know a shore patrol lock from my brother being Navy MP) hold with the wrist trapped... and it's damn painful even before there's additional pressure put to the elbow side.

[beekay414]

15 minutes ago, The LBC said:

Shayna will be up by Survivor Series this year regardless, but I think she could get held down longer than even I expect because her call-up might depend on the readiness of Duke and Shafir.  Duke is supposedly killing it at the PC (you could fool me from what we've seen on NXT TV, but we'll see in this next match with Kairi and Io that taped tonight) and is being talked up as a legit Barry Windham of the group.  Shayna, honestly, I expect to have a longer career than Ronda, but they're not going to blow the money-payoff in Horsewomen vs Horsewomen and if that means keeping Shayna down a little longer to make sure the other two can work well in the ring, that's that.

I wish the Four Horsewomen thing would just die. It wasn't cool in MMA and it's not really that cool now. Let Shayna do her thing considering she's the best of the bunch, including Ronda, and quit holding her back due to laggy talent connected at her hip.

However, you know the industry the best by far so I'll just defer to your judgement here.

[Dr LBC]

2 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

I wish the Four Horsewomen thing would just die. It wasn't cool in MMA and it's not really that cool now. Let Shayna do her thing considering she's the best of the bunch, including Ronda, and quit holding her back due to laggy talent connected at her hip.

However, you know the industry the best by far so I'll just defer to your judgement here.

You and me both, but ultimately it helps her.  The big thing will be if/when Ronda decides that she's not willing to commit to the schedule that the other 3 are (Shafir's married to Roddy, so she's in this for as long as he is and he'll, at minimum, achieve Buddy Murphy status; Duke's not going back to MMA and, again, I've heard she's actually coming along really well as a worker).  Shayna should be the eventual one to overthrow Ronda, but if it were me, I'd just book it to where there's a settling where there ends up being only one Horsewomen faction.  Let Shayna and Charlotte (and eventually them feuding, making up, feuding, whatever...) be the heads of the faction and let Becky play Dusty (specifically Dusty, not Sting, because Dusty was always at odds with Flair)l and as to whose the Sting... who knows.  It could be Bailey, but I don't know that Pam has the diversity of character in her or that, depending on how long Vince is responsible for the booking, she'll be given rope to run with.  Ultimately though, Ember can be the Sting.  Or honestly, things could die out with women's wrestling if Vince lives to 90 and eventually burns out on cashing in on the draw of women main eventing.

Random thought: If they signed Rosemary (she's Sara Del Ray's former tag partner, and trained by Del Ray, so it is actually possible), that's your Sting.  But, that said, Chelsea Green (Ryder's girlfriend, trained by Lance Storm, recently signed to NXT, and formerly Laurel Van Ness) can likely evolve into that role.

[beekay414]

8 minutes ago, The LBC said:

You and me both, but ultimately it helps her.  The big thing will be if/when Ronda decides that she's not willing to commit to the schedule that the other 3 are (Shafir's married to Roddy, so she's in this for as long as he is and he'll, at minimum, achieve Buddy Murphy status; Duke's not going back to MMA and, again, I've heard she's actually coming along really well as a worker).  Shayna should be the eventual one to overthrow Ronda, but if it were me, I'd just book it to where there's a settling where there ends up being only one Horsewomen faction.  Let Shayna and Charlotte (and eventually them feuding, making up, feuding, whatever...) be the heads of the faction and let Becky play Dusty (specifically Dusty, not Sting, because Dusty was always at odds with Flair)l and as to whose the Sting... who knows.  It could be Bailey, but I don't know that Pam has the diversity of character in her or that, depending on how long Vince is responsible for the booking, she'll be given rope to run with.  Ultimately though, Ember can be the Sting.  Or honestly, things could die out with women's wrestling if Vince lives to 90 and eventually burns out on cashing in on the draw of women main eventing.

Random thought: If they signed Rosemary (she's Sara Del Ray's former tag partner, and trained by Del Ray, so it is actually possible), that's your Sting.  But, that said, Chelsea Green (Ryder's girlfriend, trained by Lance Storm, recently signed to NXT, and formerly Laurel Van Ness) can likely evolve into that role.

You ever think about trying to get into the industry, creatively speaking?

I'd watch whatever the hell you wrote tbh. Some masterclass stuff.

[Dr LBC]

7 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

You ever think about trying to get into the industry, creatively speaking?

I'd watch whatever the hell you wrote tbh. Some masterclass stuff.

I off-and-on advise (that overdoes what I actually do, I bounce ideas off of friends who have money involved with local promotions that book some of the top indy talent - Pentagon, Fenix, Cage, Strickland, Ace Romero, Ethan Page - if he breaks, I might stand a chance since I text with him pretty much weekly; and very rarely do I actually get a chance to talk to the actual talent), but that's about it.

Weird thing is, I think like a screenwriter (which I am), so I kind of come from that same background that Kevin Dunn and the Netherdemon (Russo; not that he's ever actually written anything worth a damn) come from.  Mostly, what I tend to work with guys from the local indy feds with is their promos.  (Sadly enough) I used to write for pro wrestling online RPG's when I was in high school and college, so some of thisstuff comes a bit naturally for me.

[twslhs20]

Johnny Gargano and Ricochet match was one of the best I've seen in awhile. Admittedly I didn't see the clinic Rey and Andrade put on a couple weeks ago.

[tom cody]

Royal Rumble tonight, will be interesting to see who wins. I got Rollins for the men's Rumble, Lynch for the women's Rumble.