All Things Wrestling Thread

[Fresh Prince]

26 minutes ago, bcb1213 said:

i have no idea why they would do this triple threat and leave asuka with literally no one worth facing on the smackdown roster at WM

Maybe they do a smackdown womans ladder match for the title like they've down for the Intercontinental belt. I agree, other than Charlotte there is noone else.

[Dr LBC]

On 2/5/2019 at 11:41 PM, pwny said:

Charlotte being put into that match is just a way for them to get the belt off Rousey without her eating a pin. They’re going to protect Rousey for a long time, and no way are they going to let her eat a pin this early into her career. 

I actually don't think they have an issue with her eating a pin.  However, Becky's primary finisher is the Disarmer (it's what it's called, I get so pissed when Cole calls it the Disarm-Her) and what they don't want the "submission specialist" doing is tapping out.  Think of her like Bret Hart, Bret could eat a pin and not lose any heat, but when they finally had someone submit him after he was made a main eventer, it was Backlund... and they did it at a house show where they could control the footage and immediately move on into his pursuit back for the title the same night as they actually aired the footage of him losing the title.

However, Ronda's going over to part-time after Mania (or at least after May) so putting Charlotte in the match does give Becky an opportunity to get the belt off Ronda without Ronda having to tap out and then for a return match if Becky wins the title without actually getting the decision over Ronda.  Conversely, they could still, conceivably, go the Daniel Bryan route and have Becky "prove" she's not injured by going through Charlotte (the way DB had to go through HHH) at the top of the card before facing Ronda in the main event (boss fight).  Before we get to - probably even Fastlane - we're going to get Becky getting physical with every McMahon not Linda or a grandkid.  She's already checked Steph and Hunter off that list.  She'll likely have a run-in at some point with Shane, even though he's a tag-team champion right now, and eventually Vince (and we know Vince will sell).  It would also give Vince a reason to get a little comeuppance and pull his favorite underdog build maneuver (which in this case would make sense since the talent and Becky have unfinished history) book Becky vs the Beast (Nia... not Brock) at Fastlane.

And there's still plenty of time to build an opponent for Asuka, but like Truth, she's nursing a minor injury right now so they likely hold off until she's able to regularly be on TV again.

We'll get Ronda vs Ruby at Elimination Chamber.  And then once they've freed up more of the female talent from the Women's Tag EC, we'll get some sort of (likely multi-woman) match at Fastlane to crown a #1 contender to Asuka - and possibly an Asuka title defense on that card too.  I'd love to see them have Asuka do an open-challenge at Mania and let them usher in the arrival of a promoted NXT talent (Shayna or Kairi or even Rhea - though I think she does end up coming to Smackdown in the International Superstar Shakeup a week after Mania) but they aren't going to do that. 

[pwny]

Shocked this didn’t get posted. I’ll be watching AEW for sure now. 

[PARROTHEAD]

8 hours ago, pwny said:

Shocked this didn’t get posted. I’ll be watching AEW for sure now. 

Think we all figured that happening anyway.

What I find unique is the Usos seem to be letting their deals end so they can talk to AEW before signing anything with WWE.

[Dr LBC]

2 hours ago, PARROTHEAD said:

Think we all figured that happening anyway.

What I find unique is the Usos seem to be letting their deals end so they can talk to AEW before signing anything with WWE.

Seems similar with Orton.  The Usos aren't going anywhere - except to RAW if someone (I'm past expecting it from Vince, but there's hope for Triple H) is smart - they haven't been on the show in over 3 years.

Orton is another I had heard is willing to entertain an offer from AEW.  Granted, that may be just for added leverage since he's in the sort of position that he can take whatever they're offering him, turn around and talk to Triple H, and WWE will match it.  He's already one of their highest-paid guys and he's already working a part-time schedule, but if they're offering him a lighter schedule and full creative control, he can probably parlay that into a Cena-schedule and Cena creative control; his main priority right now appears to be spending as much time as possible with his wife and kids while not forfeiting earnings.

Also, pretty sure the AEW TV deal is with TBS (it won't be TNT because they run basketball on Wednesday nights on TNT way too many weeks out of the year - and the last thing AEW wants is getting pre-empted in its first year on television).  And if that's the case - they genuinely need to stop worrying as much about poaching WWE in-ring talent and back up the Brinks truck to Tony Schiavone or, if they really want to fire a shot across Vince's bow (and I'm not 100% sure he'd do it unless they were bringing him into a creative capacity as well), genuinely go get JR.

[NcFinest9erFan]

31 minutes ago, The LBC said:

Seems similar with Orton.  The Usos aren't going anywhere - except to RAW if someone (I'm past expecting it from Vince, but there's hope for Triple H) is smart - they haven't been on the show in over 3 years.

Orton is another I had heard is willing to entertain an offer from AEW.  Granted, that may be just for added leverage since he's in the sort of position that he can take whatever they're offering him, turn around and talk to Triple H, and WWE will match it.  He's already one of their highest-paid guys and he's already working a part-time schedule, but if they're offering him a lighter schedule and full creative control, he can probably parlay that into a Cena-schedule and Cena creative control; his main priority right now appears to be spending as much time as possible with his wife and kids while not forfeiting earnings.

Also, pretty sure the AEW TV deal is with TBS (it won't be TNT because they run basketball on Wednesday nights on TNT way too many weeks out of the year - and the last thing AEW wants is getting pre-empted in its first year on television).  And if that's the case - they genuinely need to stop worrying as much about poaching WWE in-ring talent and back up the Brinks truck to Tony Schiavone or, if they really want to fire a shot across Vince's bow (and I'm not 100% sure he'd do it unless they were bringing him into a creative capacity as well), genuinely go get JR.

Orton: I want even lighter schedule on top of how light it is already and a pay pump.

Vince: Done.

Yeah, Orton to me is one of those that I don't think would really leave. He's pretty much embedded into WWE.

As for the Usos, I for one would like to see them leave. 

[Dr LBC]

14 minutes ago, NcFinest9erFan said:

Orton: I want even lighter schedule on top of how light it is already and a pay pump.

Vince: Done.

Yeah, Orton to me is one of those that I don't think would really leave. He's pretty much embedded into WWE.

As for the Usos, I for one would like to see them leave. 

Orton''s one of the few ones I can see that, if he were to leave, could probably walk back in the door at a later date without much issue.  That said, I'm not sure I see him as the type that is all that keen on still being in the ring when he's 50+.

The other thing to consider on certain folks (and the Usos are definitely in this bunch) is when you're effectively WWE-made (i.e. didn't do a lot of time on the indies before coming into the WWE fold - I'm talking more than just wrestling schools), there are a lot of trademarks related to all your branding that you don't own and thus can market or make money off of without going grassroots.  It took Cody that whole first year touring the independents to create a merch brand that sold.  And yes, they could go to the "Fatus" or "Fatu Brothers," but their brand is built off of Usos.  And, if I'm being honest, they're more than a bit redundant of the Jacksons/Bucks (particularly when the reinvented themselves, moving away from the facepaint and hakas and going with the more street look and gimmick).

[bcb1213]

usos won't leave.  That family is WWE through and through

[EaglesFan5-36-81]

Usos vs the Bucks or the Lucha Bros would be so much fun to watch, but they aren't going anywhere. Doesn't hurt for them to talk to AEW though and get more of uncle Vinny's money

[Troy Brown]

Double or nothing tickets are pretty cheap. I've signed up for presale but so did the rest of the world so we'll see 

[Fresh Prince]

Love becky make they make her look dumb sometimes. Asks to only apolgize, rants about her they're trying to steal her match away from a simple apology.

[Troy Brown]

@The LBC I know you got the scoop, are there even any tickets left for Wednesday or was the presale a big ol booming success for the secondary market? WhatCulture reporting over 11k tickets were sold today which seems like a dumb presale but what do i know

[PARROTHEAD]

Watching an old match. This popped up at the end as coming up next. Them career highlights.

[PARROTHEAD]

Dean asked. EC3 answered...

[Dr LBC]

5 hours ago, Troy Brown said:

@The LBC I know you got the scoop, are there even any tickets left for Wednesday or was the presale a big ol booming success for the secondary market? WhatCulture reporting over 11k tickets were sold today which seems like a dumb presale but what do i know

I actually have no clue.  But I did see people in-the-know speculating a rough over/under of 45 minutes before they sold out on presale alone.  I mean, granted it was a way smaller capacity venue, I tried to get tickets the the second New Japan show in Long Beach last year and it legitimately sold out in under 5 minutes.

You can probably find some resale tickets from resale vendors who purposefully just bought up blocks of tickets figuring they could mark them up following the sellout, but you're probably looking at Coachella or similar music festival prices.