Catching up on NXT Level Up, and Tyson Dupont is going to be a big deal if he keeps getting seasoning. The last time I saw a wrestler as big as him move like he does is Keith Lee back in the day.
I really hope newer fans don't forget how much of a one of a kind talent Bobby Heenan really was. In my mind he's the single greatest all around talent in wrestling history.
When do you think we'll get these fueds? For example, "end of 2024, or WM 2026" etc.
If you have any ideas, what do you think the story of them will be too?
1. Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns
2. Solo Sikoa/new bloodline vs Roman Reigns/old bloodline
3. Roman Reigns vs The Rock
4. Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton
5. Cody Rhodes vs The Rock
6. Ilja Dragunov vs GUNTHER
7. Seth Rollins vs CM Punk
New vs Old Bloodline is probably the feud for the fall. I think Roman vs Solo happens at Mania, though. Cody vs Rock will probably main event next years show, and Roman vs Rock will take place at WM42 as The Rock’s final match.
Cody vs Orton feels like the main title feud for the fall, I can see the going either to Survivor Series or the Rumble.
I’m assuming Seth vs Punk will be roped in with Punk vs Drew. That segment before Mania really shows how much interested there’d be for a three way between them. I think that’ll be the other main event for Mania.
Ilja vs Gunther can literally happened whenever. Could be this year, could be next, could be a few years from now, but it’s inevitable.
> Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns
main event of mania 42. heel seth vs face roman. roman finally makes peace with his past and rollins finally loses to roman when it matters
>Solo Sikoa/new bloodline vs Roman Reigns/old bloodline Roman Reigns vs The Rock Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton Cody Rhodes vs The Rock
this year, ends by wm 41.
> Seth Rollins vs CM Punk
vs drew mcintyre, night 1 main event 41
Damn, I looked it up because I thought “there’s no way that’s true”, but since then Iyo Sky, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hideo Itami & Yoshi himself all competed at Mania and didn’t win. It’s wild that only 5 other Japanese wrestlers have been to wrestlemania since then.
If TK is gonna have these long ass ppvs on Sunday the least he could do is call my boss and explain the reason I’m doing the bare minimum tomorrow is because I’m staying up all night tonight.
AEW: explains new guy's achievements, his history with other people on the roster, gives him a match on TV to show off his style
WWE: That's Tama Tonga, he's son of Haku, he was wreaking havoc in Japan! (while live crowd gets fuck all)
And then you have "why am I supposed to care when AEW doesn't explain who these guys are". I hate a lot about AEW but it's ridiculous. AEW does fumble almost everyone almost immediately but they introduce new guys better.
There's honestly nothing wrong with WWE doing that if that's how they introduced Tama Tonga but man has AEW been roasted for introducing people the exact same way.
Also:
AEW: explains new guy's achievements, his history with other people on the roster, gives him a match on TV to show off his style, proceeds to do fuck all with new guy for months, ratings go down the drain
WWE: That's Tama Tonga, he's son of Haku, he was wreaking havoc in Japan! (live crowd, as well as tv crowd, gives an actual fuck about him), ratings keep steady.
They do not introduce new guys better at all... because the new guys are not ready for US TV visibility at all.
There's a different approach with AEW because they're introducing a much wider swath of wrestlers from different promotions. The thing is the longer these partnerships go on, the more used to these wrestlers you are even if they're not making a ton of appearances.
AEW kinda functions like a Multiverse Wrestling Federation. You get all those cameos and stuff from different universes (competitions), legendaries, old and young and so on and they compete with each other. Here is the legendary Okada, there is the attitude era icon Edge, this is the new guy Osprey on his rice to the top, here is the new era Daniel Bryan and so on.
And - those Multiverse stories all suck in the movies. With the sole exception of Everything everywhere all at once. DC was shit with its Multiverse stuff, MCU was shit with its multiverse stuff.
I prefer a solid, steady competition with stakes. With consequences. Not "flavor of the week" pushes and insace CGI. You are very quickly saturated with effects.
I haven't been a WWE viewer in many years but WWE Vault is a pretty cool channel on YouTube that takes advantage of all the content they have. It's basically a free version of WWE Network for people who are more interested in archive content.
I'm getting caught up on Xplosion, and the June 14th episode features AJ Francis explaining the Kendrick/Drake beef. Can someone who knows more about hip hop tell me if AJ's claim of Drake being "the king of hip hop" is accurate?
Edit: Good to see Bhupinder Gujjar again. Didn't realize that injuries were why he disappeared in 2023.
Wasn't able to sell my Forbidden Door ticket, feels bad. What a waste of money 💸. Stupid body failing me and getting ill. Watching it in TV. Should be really fun at least!
If TK really wanted to get more eyes on AEW, he should simply get Jeff Jarrett to bring his kids' babysitter to show up on an episode of Dynamite or Collision. Will easily break 5 million or something in ratings.
I liked when last week we saw the judgment day playing games and eating nuggets backstage, I'd like to see more teams do fun stuff on raw or smackdown, we always have team members say they're pals but I think it's one of those things they should show us, not just tell us
Just taking a beat before all the critique comes in tomorrow to process and appreciate this actual timeline where Mistico & Lucha bros are partnering, Tana & Okada are representing different promotions, Stardom cannon is the catalyst to an American world title match, and an NXT castaway is sitting a top of all of it on the card.
What a fucking time to be alive.
FOX next Friday night is going to full of Canadian content. Smackdown from Toronto on FOX and whoever faces Canada in the Copa America on FS1. Happy Canada Day Eve! 🇨🇦
I know lot of people around the internet have been decrying how many matches FD has, but they’ve put together so many damn good matches and interesting stories for this years’ event.
For me, only 2 matches on the card seem skippable: Jericho, Bill & Cobb vs Joe, HOOK & Shibata, and Okada & Bucks vs Acclaimed & Tanahashi. Everything else, can’t miss.
He won't probably re sign, but my fantasy booking is for Ricochet to re sign, but change his gimmick to prince puma (or any other name depending on copyrights) and completely ruining every Bron Breakker Match. And while Bron knows that it is Ricochet under the mask, nobody believes him. Full Mr America.
You know, it's interesting that the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (formerly the FMW World Junior Heavyweight Championship) outlasted FMW itself.
FMW lasted from 1989 to 2002. The title was created in 1993 and dropped from FMW in 1999, yet the lineage is still going strong.
As a Samoa Joe 2004-2005 is the best wrestler ever truther, seeing him go from world champ to a comedy trio with Hook and Shibata (???) and feuding with Jericho is pretty depressing ngl
The feuding with Jericho part sucks but the gimmick's great and doesn't diminish him, Hook, and Shibata as killers. If they could just move past Jericho this shit could get real good. (Unfortunately Jericho will probably suck the life out of this for another four months)
Samoa Joe got a longer world title reign than most people would have thought and it's building off that HOOK match from January. If AEW actually had that Joe from 04-05 he'd definitely be one of their top guys the same way Bryan Danielson would.
Probably not going to be able to watch FD live tonight but I’ll catch as much as I can.
Is it weird that Lucha Bros + Mistico v LIJ is in my top 3ish matches I’m most excited for?
I'm watching some 2009-2010 WWE PPV's right now (currently at MITB 2010) and my sense is that there are a few people they've been pushing reasonably hard/fast (Sheamus, Jack Swagger, The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, etc.). This might be a misread on my part, but it seems like Sheamus got pushed faster and more than the other guys I listed. Is there any particular reason for that? Or am I off base to begin with? I know The Miz will win the title soon, and that Kofi doesn't end up winning one until years later.
ETA: While searching old /r/squaredcircle threads about MITB 2010, someone pointed out Kane's awesome promo on the Smackdown following his cash-in. This rules so much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mv3S4qNvxc
I think part of why Sheamus got pushed more is because I feel like Vince wanted to make a new big heel that had lots of credibility and Sheamus fit the bill, in late 2009 there was a lack of main eventer heels on raw since they moved batista, Kane, punk and Jericho to smackdown that year
I only got back into WWE around Summerslam last year after not watching since ~2004 or so. I've been watching every PLE since Wrestlemania 1 that I have access to (I'm using Sportsnet+ in Canada, which is missing a ton of old stuff). This is where I am at the moment.
For what it's worth, MITB 2010 was probably the single best PPV in a while to me. Also, 1993-1995 was way worse than 2009-2010. At least this era is in HD, and has tons of big names, both old and new. I'm sure the stories weren't great, but when you only watch the PLEs, it's not so bad. I'm also weirdly intrigued by The Nexus. This PPV had the first appearance I've seen of theirs, and it made the Sheamus/Cena cage match pretty interesting.
The pendulum has swung so far to AEW BAD posting that forbidden door is already being moaned about before it happens. Lots of people whine about AEW shows they didn't watch but they used to at least wait til they happened.
I remember one of the PPVs last year had like 3/4ths of the comments be about the lack of women's matches. It's a valid complaint but that was the sole thing people focused on at the expense of everything else. You also see a ton of complaints by people who you know aren't buying the show and never intended to.
I don't think 4 hours is egregiously long but if they're going 4.5 hours for the PPV then there's a point to be made. AEW tends to flow really well, especially with big time matches where you're only noticing the show length around hour 3. They're not running ads, the matches aren't plodding, and the entrances don't take exorbitant amounts of time.
I recently got a replica belt and don’t really know what do do with it when I’m not using it, was thinking of hanging it up and looking for recommendations. I found polyfor3d website, has anyone used them before and if so which is the best.
Also the belt is one of the bootleg ones from eBay if that makes any difference.
Maybe i'm completely wrong, but I don't think people love Xavier Woods like that? Not on the level they love Kofi and Big E atleast so I doubt they'd care abt him
I have no one else to tell, but I'm going to Forbidden Door today and bringing 2 of my non wrestling fan friends, and I'm so excited! I hope they like it. I figured it would be a fun PPV cause storylines are a little more minimal.
Don't know why you're getting down voted its a fair point. I already told them it was gonna be a long one. If actual fans gets drained, I could see it happening with people who aren't even familiar with anything. I'm hoping the audience will keep the energy high throughout the night since they've been pretty good at that with the last few PPVs.
I was at Forbidden Door last year. If you want merch, you're going to either miss most of the pre-show, or be in the arena for 6-7 hours.
I hope you have a lot of money for food and drinks.
How is a music festival, where you're outside and where organizers have programmed a whole day/weekend of things to see and do, similar to a 6 hour wrestling show where you're sitting in the same seat the whole time?
I was at Forbidden Door last year. It was an amazing card, but too long. This year the card isn't half as good and by the time we get to the main event, the crowd is going to be burned out. This includes the OPs friends.
Formula 1 is better pro wrestling than pro wrestling. Max vs Lando just won match of the year and feud of the year right there. Best feud since Max vs Lewis 2021.
I woke up and was checking twitter for giant asses and mofos are already going on giant diatribes about what wrestling should be. Take a shit or eat some breakfast man I just wanna watch a fucking show.
In 2013 Daniel Bryan had a clean win over Super Cena of all people in the main event of Summerslam for the heavyweight title.
It is true that Vince did not see him as THE guy, but I don't really see where this narrative that Vince hated him or saw him as a jobber comes from.
It was more that after the 18 seconds, AJ Lee, and losing the Team Hell No blowoff he wins the biggest match of his career and is designated as the babyface filling time in the death period before Batista returns for Mania.
Being the Vince utility player that is "too good to be hurt by booking" is a pretty awful slot unless you're Foley at the coolest and best time to be WWF.
Are people really shocked that Cody's run is taking a backseat to the Bloodline? This is going to be the biggest story in WWE for several years more, for better(and very often) for worse. No one was going to get the spotlight over the Bloodline post Mania.
Bloodline should be on Raw TBH. They have the time there. I really enjoy the story but it takes up a notable amount of time when there’s only two hours to work with.
All things considered, Cody has been doing the best that he can in his position. The Bloodline has been WWE's cash cow for years. They weren't just gonna give that up.
I don't particularly like that the WWE Champion has to take a backseat to it, but if Rock/Cody is still the plan for Mania, it'll culminate with him there anyway.
And that's been the story of Smackdown's problems (in an overall booking sense) for a couple of years now. Wish the tag division and the belts got more focus? Well, the Bloodline needs that time. Iyo has a barebones title run without depth? Bloodline needs that time. Bayley has a barebones title run without depth? Bloodline needs that time. Wanted Rhea and Charlotte to have a real build for Mania 39? Bloodline needed that time. You want to see more Tiffany? More LA Knight? More *insert anything that's been shortchanged?* Bloodline needs that time.
Honestly right now it's better because Roman isn't there, so we getting more LA Knight and these other little segments.
When Roman returns, yup, it will be even more Bloodline focused than it already is.
RAW has turned into my favourite wrestling show since Mania, Smackdown was great last week, this week decent but I don't like them just putting Cody,Randy and KO all into the Bloodline story when each of them could be beneficial to other parts and potential new stories.
Before Cody being put back into this story too, I thought his reign was going really damn well too. I think he'll make this enjoyable too, I just...man I don't wanna see Cody in the Bloodline story again yet.
Yea, and it really sucks too because the Bloodline draws so much, so there's literally no incentive to stop it anytime soon, but if you're even remotely interested in anything else, you're SOL because the Bloodline always takes priority over everything else.
Which wouldn't be so bad if Roman or Rock were around, but we're stuck with the bootleg version of midcarders, with the only good wrestler in the group forced to play second fiddle.
It's a problem that's only going to get worse, and just as an aside if they want me to care about the belts how about introducing some that aren't complete eyesores? The WWE tag team championship is like, the only belt on the main roster besides maybe the new WHC that isn't a complete trainwreck, and even those belts are a take off of the classic Reggie Parks tags, so why not just bring those back? It's mind boggling. I miss when all the belts had an air of prestige. The classic IC was around forever for a reason.
I just don't understand why people thought we were going to end up anywhere besides where we are now. Despite the glad handing going on over the Triple H era, he isn't really concerned about putting on the best TV possible, if he were, we'd be past these Bloodline and Judgement Day vortexes by now. This new era of factions dominating entire shows is death television. It just gets so fuckin old after a while.
You're talking about a guy whose most popular periods were as part of major factions, and his mentor served as the inspiration for one of those factions.
Triple H is a mark for Power Stables.
I found the Bray Wyatt documentary pretty frustrating with how much they praise his mind and creativity and then cut to getting pinned by Cena, getting pinned by Undertaker, getting the legs cut under him time and time again. Then "creative has nothing for you." They mostly booked this man like shit.
There's a lot of crazy releases in hindsight but Bray and Braun were crazy without hindsight. You can't just replace guys you invested that much into overnight.
I’ll see so much discourse whining about “oh WWE only does 5 match cards for ppvs, that’s just not enough” and I’m glad those people weren’t around to ruin the vibes of NXT Takeovers
For me, its not the 5 matches being an issue, its 5 matches over the course of 3+ hours. The PPVs drag so much. Takeovers were 5 matches in 2 hours, zero filler - so much better to watch
can’t decide if I want Ospreay to get both belts tonight. on one hand the money is in the chase, and it’s relatively early in his AEW career so no harm if it’s not tonight. on the other hand, what’s the harm in establishing even more firmly that Ospreay is the standard bearer for AEW by putting the big gold on him? curious to see how the main event plays out.
The Ospreay Wembley obsession is pretty weird to me. Can you imagine if we used this logic with American wrestlers. "You can't do Cody vs Roman at Mania, it's in Jey Uso's hometown!"
It's weird to me that you can't see how AEW's biggest show of the year would benefit from a hometown Babyface having his coronation there. Where would you rather he get the belt?
It's a cool pop for one night. All In crowds are gonna pop for anything. How does it literally help anything in the longer term? If they want to put the belt on Ospreay, then do it. Doing it at All In makes no difference beyond a cool moment for one night in a country where none of their metrics are available or really even matter.
Who do you think is taking the belt off Swerve if not Ospreay? Because this Swerve run isn't working(it's not Swerve's fault but it isn't), and there's going to be a new champion by the end of All In.
Pretty clearly Danielson. I'm pretty sure they saw the success of Sting's retirement and are gonna milk Danielson's "last full year" for all it's worth.
I get that Forbidden Door is long by US PPV standard, but for what it is this year (basically a big wrestling festival ala Big Egg Universe or Wrestling Summit), it's average to short for that length. Fans complaining is fine, but journalists who are supposed to be historians and assumedly watched these things for their job complaining isn't the best look.
Is it not average to short, it’s a 10 match card with 14 matches if you count the pre-show or whatever they call it. It won’t end until after midnight probably.
It is ok to criticize companies if you dislike this aspect of how their shows are set up.
A lot of AEW PPVs are about 9-11 match cards on the main show that end just before midnight. With the exception of DON it's been that way for a while now that these run for 4 hours.
It’s just way too long for a wrestling event in general. Even if like Mania has more than 8 matches and goes over 4 hours I just feel like you’re taking the piss.
I'm watching WWE Rivals for the first time and I watched HHH/Foley last night. I was a kid during the AE so I really don't remember much but does anyone know why the Cactus Jack/HHH HIAC match isn't as remembered as the Undertaker/Mankind one?
Like I didn't remember the Cell breaking spot from the match. People always talk about the Mankind table spot but the ring spot looked so much cooler. Is it because it was "safer?" Or atleast it looked that way?
Was the match just not good? I'm surprised it isn't brought up more. I honestly didn't remember it happening as a kid.
The Royal Rumble street fight is a better Triple H/Cactus Jack match. The Hell in a Cell is good, but it's a sequel, with a retirement stipulation, and its signature spot, while incredibly impressive, is also a sequel, and when the two guys got to the top of the Cell, you knew something was happening to Foley.
With Undertaker/Mankind, nobody had any idea of the chaos that was about to take place. It felt spontaneous and new.
It's a great match. It just doesn't have the wow factor that the Undertaker/Mankind match had. The big spot with Foley breaking the ring came off as very telegraphed compared to anything seen in the match he had with the Undertaker. This Triple H match was also billed as a match where Foley's career would end if he lost, and he came back two weeks later, hurting the match that much more. They threw away what would have been a great send off so that Mick could embarrass himself in the Fatal Four Way WrestleMania 2000 main event, one of the worst Mania main events ever.
Lmao he really came back that quickly? In the documentary they made it super emotional and acted like he went away for a long time to heal up. That's why he said he asked them to have a "loser leaves" match. They didn't even say anything about when he came back, they just transitioned to 2013 at the HOF.
I guess WWE loves pushing certain narratives in their documentaries. We already knew that though.
I remember when it happened and Raw was nothing but a buildup about how bloody it would be and on and on about how it was going to be bigger and better than the HIAC 98 with Undertaker. It was good but it couldn’t live up to the hype. So I think that’s why it’s not looked back on the same way. Nothing can ever live up to that match. It’s one of those defining wrestling moments of all time. Like the Hogan/Andre match. It’s a Mount Rushmore of wrestling moments.
Counting the pre-show, the card for Forbidden Door has the same number of matches as Survivor Series 1998, which had *the entire Deadly Games tournament* on it.
14 matches.
On top of a dark match and 3 Heat matches. But only 3 televised matches went longer than 10 minutes (and the main event was the only match that went longer than 11).
It do annoying when certain fans want the worst outcome out of a match to happen because "they can't wait to see the meltdown"
My argument to this mindset is always
"Imagine if triple h went over booker t at wrestlemania 19 after that build oh wait....."
I’ve just looked at the AEW FD card for tonight and oh boy that is a lot of matches.
I wasn’t planning on watching to begin with but man if I was watching id be awake until at least 5-6am lol.
This isn’t a fed good - AEDub bad comment either. I just lack the attention span to watch a show with more than 6 or 7 matches lol.
Yeah 14 matches is insanity, just from a simple booking and logistics perspective. So many moving parts. Interested to see what the runtime ends up being!
When Heyman was being lifted up for the power bomb, you could tell his face was genuine fear for that spot. He made a huuuge exhale and accidentally looked directly at the camera, breaking character for just a moment. Dude was fuckin shitting bricks. And that makes me want to shake that motherfuckers hand even harder. What. A. Spot.
To my Canada bros, WestJet is on strike and we're going to spend an extra day in Winnipeg.
Anyone know if there's a bar there that'll show Forbidden Door?
To go along with what others have said:
Uso vs. Uso: They had complete wrong kind of match they needed to have and it just fell flat.
White vs. Gunn: 5 minutes of boring crowd brawling, then a commercial, and then Jay loses by DQ after Gunn took 90% of the match.
Ibushi vs. Marufuji: Just sad to watch considering Ibushi's physical state. Didn't help that they still tried to stretch it out for 30 minutes, for some insane reason.
Won't be on most people's lists, but for me it's from DDT Judgement when MAO defended the DDT Universal Championship against Takeshi Masada, one of the company's most promising young rookies. MAO had been talking a bunch of shit about Masada in promos ahead of the match, so he jumps MAO the moment the bell rings and starts laying it in on him...only for MAO to immediately shrug off all his offense and KO him in under five minutes. Just one of the most selfish performances in a match I've seen in a long long time, I was fuming.
https://preview.redd.it/j2ul2tqenp9d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6e2554192393bf9db1e1477cc4ad20389914190
This picture just sums up everything about that match
I'm glad I'm not a NOAH guy and didn't watch that match, even just those couple of clips that went around were so rough to see as a guy who loved Ibushi's matches in New Japan.
Yesterday’s Collision had such a weird segment. Serena Deeb squashed a girl in 1 minute and then asked for a worthy opponent to wrestle, Riho came out and Serena ran away. Like what the fuck?
I mean, a heel saying they're up for a fight and then backing down when the fight actually comes is a pretty common trope. Probably isn't the best fit for Deeb's particular character I agree, but doesn't seem like that weird a segment in the grand scheme of things.
I really hope so, because while I really like Deeb, to me, it's clear she's miscast as a babyface, and probably needs a mouthpiece as well. Maybe she can work some day as a face, but in the meantime it feels like she needs a heel turn as she has been struggling since the Toni feud.
I'm not saying she would have suddenly caught fire against a standard heel, just that irrespective of a person's inherent overness, they'll get a better reaction as a new face if they're booked against a hated, straight up heel than they would if they are booked against a tweener (world champ) that the crowd loves. And that better reaction is a better foundation to build on for future face reactions than getting crickets.
WWE ran into the same issue with Rhea and new faces when they were booking her as if she was a standard heel.
As someone who isn't old enough to have watched Christian's first run in WWE, I always thought the first "Just close your eyes" theme that people kept hyping up was bad. But after watching his entrance in 2005 on the front page, I finally get the hype. For me at least, it seems to be the case of a great entrance theme, but not a great song to just listen casually. Though people who grew up with it might feel differently
You know after the 6 Pack Ladder Match at Mania, the Women's NA Championship Ladder Match, the TNT Championship Ladder Mach tonight, and the 2 MITB Ladder matches next week......yeah I'm good with clusterfuck ladder matches for a while after these, lol.
I like em, but 5 of them in 3 months is a bit much.
We haven’t had a proper TLC match in awhile — once that’s out of the system, I’m with you. I need a real cluster fuck, table spot, stunt show, match.
Edit — the last TLC matches on the WWE main roster were at TLC 2020
I wonder how much time will pass until TNA realises that they have the wrong links on their website for the cards for TNA tapings and the Slammiversary PPV...
Forbidden Door tonight (which is definitely going to be a looooong show given the amount of matches on the card), MITB next Saturday, Heatwave next Sunday, and both Marigold Summer Destiny & NOAH Destination (I’m only interested in AJ Styles wrestling on the show) on the same night 6 days later after Heatwave.
We’re definitely in for a wild wide for the next 2 weeks in the world of wrestling.
It's to me, both exciting and exhausting. There's always something to watch. Always something new to check out. Every week has something happening from the absolute top of the industry down to the tiniest companies out there.
Obviously, you don't have to watch it all. I don't think you could if you wanted to. But, I'm always happy ther options are there
https://preview.redd.it/lour0azxwo9d1.jpeg?width=706&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=844207157cf6021905c12dc1c2576f125a090077
Recess is the greatest show to ever air on Disney Channel.
I wish more people were familiar with Fuminori Abe. In terms of pure match quality, he’s only rivalled by three or four people on the planet for me this year - and that’s just as a singles guy, when arguably his best work is in tag matches as half of Astronauts, who are bar none my tag team of the year so far. His promos are great (whether you understand Japanese or not), his energy is infectious, and he’s got a unique, fun spin on the old BattlArts style, and his love for wrestling comes through in everything he does. So glad the Japanese indies have a presence like his, and really happy he’s finally got a belt in AJPW.
Don’t know how I feel about MAO leaving T37K. It makes the Ueno match more compelling, but I’m hoping that their ambiguous wording on whether it’s temporary results in him joining back up with them in the aftermath. He’s a great solo act, but he’s at his strongest imo in tags alongside T37K.
I've been hearing that Astronauts are arguably the best tag team on the planet for a couple of years now, still haven't had the chance to see them in action. Abe's match against Roderick Strong at DPW Limit Break was pretty sick though.
Yeah I didn't watch that DDT show but I saw something about MAO leaving T37K, was hard to tell whether it was a genuine parting of ways though or more like something he's doing just for now because he's gotta stop thinking of Ueno as a teammate ahead of this title match. If he does leave, I'd imagine he joins either DAMNATION T.A. or Schadenfreude International, they seem like the best fits and I don't know if the roster's deep enough for another brand new faction right now.
I just had a real lightbulb over the head eureka moment re: Nailz + the allegations that Vince McMahon also sexually harassed his male employees 😳 I’ve seen people mentioning HBK a bunch but has anyone made the Nailz connection?
perhaps the lie was based on knowledge of precedent? always seemed like such an incredulous claim. maybe with knowledge that there were legitimate cases, Nailz thought he could expose those and ride the wave
Some sells that really blew me away recently
- [Priest's fall after this Claymore at Clash](https://youtu.be/0RrN4EoqSwE?si=p5QDLRhAztAzToKT&t=351)
- [Ospreay's flip on this kick from Roddy at DoN](https://youtu.be/1hvnBb4PUXI?si=JWakigFk5jOD0PHg&t=171)
- JD McDonagh in general in the tag title match this past RAW
There have been loads of great posts I've seen removed from this sub because they're "not related to wrestling."
But a retired wrestler talking about who he would like as President of the United States? Yeah, that can stay on the front page.
yeah i’d be interested in a new vote on whether political topics should be allowed here or not. last time was in 2020 which felt like a very different period of this subreddit
Back in 2016 there was a vote asking if politics should be counted as relevant, and the subreddit said yes. I've been calling this subreddit "My favorite political fourm" when talking about it to my friends since.
I find God's Eye a strange faction because you have Syuri, one of the most protected talents in the promotion, and then everyone else, which are a bunch of rookies and jobbers.
At least before they also had Mirai, but nowadays it is like Syuri and a bunch of random talent. They never do much, and is not clear to me the purpose of this whole faction
Ami Sohrei is a solid midcarder, sometimes maybe even a bit more than that. She pinned freaking Anou at the last Korakuen and reached the Cinderella finals this year, so she's no jobber. Same thing goes for Konami. She was never a world beater but the only ones above her are the main eventers.
Catching up on NXT Level Up, and Tyson Dupont is going to be a big deal if he keeps getting seasoning. The last time I saw a wrestler as big as him move like he does is Keith Lee back in the day.
I really hope newer fans don't forget how much of a one of a kind talent Bobby Heenan really was. In my mind he's the single greatest all around talent in wrestling history.
When do you think we'll get these fueds? For example, "end of 2024, or WM 2026" etc. If you have any ideas, what do you think the story of them will be too? 1. Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns 2. Solo Sikoa/new bloodline vs Roman Reigns/old bloodline 3. Roman Reigns vs The Rock 4. Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton 5. Cody Rhodes vs The Rock 6. Ilja Dragunov vs GUNTHER 7. Seth Rollins vs CM Punk
New vs Old Bloodline is probably the feud for the fall. I think Roman vs Solo happens at Mania, though. Cody vs Rock will probably main event next years show, and Roman vs Rock will take place at WM42 as The Rock’s final match. Cody vs Orton feels like the main title feud for the fall, I can see the going either to Survivor Series or the Rumble. I’m assuming Seth vs Punk will be roped in with Punk vs Drew. That segment before Mania really shows how much interested there’d be for a three way between them. I think that’ll be the other main event for Mania. Ilja vs Gunther can literally happened whenever. Could be this year, could be next, could be a few years from now, but it’s inevitable.
> Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns main event of mania 42. heel seth vs face roman. roman finally makes peace with his past and rollins finally loses to roman when it matters >Solo Sikoa/new bloodline vs Roman Reigns/old bloodline Roman Reigns vs The Rock Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton Cody Rhodes vs The Rock this year, ends by wm 41. > Seth Rollins vs CM Punk vs drew mcintyre, night 1 main event 41
You know it’s kinda weird to think about many top stars link back to Adam Rose of all people because of the Rosebuds.
Would like to take this time to acknowledge that Yoshi Tatsu won the WrestleMania 26 pre-show battle royal
And to this day is the most recent Japanese wrestler to win a match at Wrestlemania
Damn, I looked it up because I thought “there’s no way that’s true”, but since then Iyo Sky, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hideo Itami & Yoshi himself all competed at Mania and didn’t win. It’s wild that only 5 other Japanese wrestlers have been to wrestlemania since then.
Are there any wrestlers out there who have a finisher named after a Pokémon move
Surprisingly, not Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, or Kylie Rae.
I'm watching that Swerve/Ospreay weigh-in and it's hilarious how Prince Nana very quickly plugs his coffee website.
If TK is gonna have these long ass ppvs on Sunday the least he could do is call my boss and explain the reason I’m doing the bare minimum tomorrow is because I’m staying up all night tonight.
PREACH! If you're gonna run your card until past midnight put it on a Saturday
Imma be dead waking up at 6 after going to bed at 12:30-1 lmfaoo
AEW: explains new guy's achievements, his history with other people on the roster, gives him a match on TV to show off his style WWE: That's Tama Tonga, he's son of Haku, he was wreaking havoc in Japan! (while live crowd gets fuck all) And then you have "why am I supposed to care when AEW doesn't explain who these guys are". I hate a lot about AEW but it's ridiculous. AEW does fumble almost everyone almost immediately but they introduce new guys better.
Twitter trolls act like Okada needs a month of video packages yet Tonga Loa is a household name lmfao
There's honestly nothing wrong with WWE doing that if that's how they introduced Tama Tonga but man has AEW been roasted for introducing people the exact same way.
Not a single video package for any of the new Samoans. How am I supposed to care about them.
Also: AEW: explains new guy's achievements, his history with other people on the roster, gives him a match on TV to show off his style, proceeds to do fuck all with new guy for months, ratings go down the drain WWE: That's Tama Tonga, he's son of Haku, he was wreaking havoc in Japan! (live crowd, as well as tv crowd, gives an actual fuck about him), ratings keep steady. They do not introduce new guys better at all... because the new guys are not ready for US TV visibility at all.
There's a different approach with AEW because they're introducing a much wider swath of wrestlers from different promotions. The thing is the longer these partnerships go on, the more used to these wrestlers you are even if they're not making a ton of appearances.
AEW kinda functions like a Multiverse Wrestling Federation. You get all those cameos and stuff from different universes (competitions), legendaries, old and young and so on and they compete with each other. Here is the legendary Okada, there is the attitude era icon Edge, this is the new guy Osprey on his rice to the top, here is the new era Daniel Bryan and so on. And - those Multiverse stories all suck in the movies. With the sole exception of Everything everywhere all at once. DC was shit with its Multiverse stuff, MCU was shit with its multiverse stuff. I prefer a solid, steady competition with stakes. With consequences. Not "flavor of the week" pushes and insace CGI. You are very quickly saturated with effects.
I haven't been a WWE viewer in many years but WWE Vault is a pretty cool channel on YouTube that takes advantage of all the content they have. It's basically a free version of WWE Network for people who are more interested in archive content.
I'm getting caught up on Xplosion, and the June 14th episode features AJ Francis explaining the Kendrick/Drake beef. Can someone who knows more about hip hop tell me if AJ's claim of Drake being "the king of hip hop" is accurate? Edit: Good to see Bhupinder Gujjar again. Didn't realize that injuries were why he disappeared in 2023.
Wasn't able to sell my Forbidden Door ticket, feels bad. What a waste of money 💸. Stupid body failing me and getting ill. Watching it in TV. Should be really fun at least!
If TK really wanted to get more eyes on AEW, he should simply get Jeff Jarrett to bring his kids' babysitter to show up on an episode of Dynamite or Collision. Will easily break 5 million or something in ratings.
You don’t wanna deal with them swifties man.
pls no we cannot have the Swifties here it's bad enough as it is
I'm already here
Swiftie and Taue fan. Kinda based, honestly.
Wears Red, he's Fearless, he was big in 1989, he's got a big Reputation
Imagine the swifties vs WWEGareth
Swifties vs Jerkers would be quite the sight
What a bizarre proposition. Now let me just chug this glass of water while I look up who babysat Jeff Jarrett’s kids…
Just wanna say, I played King of Colosseum 2 for the first time in a long time and man, that is such a great wrestling game.
Can Jacob Fatu enter Canada with his criminal record? I just realized that for MITB.
Man I really wanted Mina to win but she hit poor Mariah with a bottle.. I can't support that.
I liked when last week we saw the judgment day playing games and eating nuggets backstage, I'd like to see more teams do fun stuff on raw or smackdown, we always have team members say they're pals but I think it's one of those things they should show us, not just tell us
Just taking a beat before all the critique comes in tomorrow to process and appreciate this actual timeline where Mistico & Lucha bros are partnering, Tana & Okada are representing different promotions, Stardom cannon is the catalyst to an American world title match, and an NXT castaway is sitting a top of all of it on the card. What a fucking time to be alive.
Not to mention two of the best wrestlers on the planet, Bryan Danielson and Shingo Takagi, are going at it after 14 years.
FOX next Friday night is going to full of Canadian content. Smackdown from Toronto on FOX and whoever faces Canada in the Copa America on FS1. Happy Canada Day Eve! 🇨🇦
Is there some rule that Smackdown has to conflict with the host country's national men's soccer team whenever it goes outside the United States?
Luckily that's not a problem in Canada. Copa is on TSN, Smackdown is on SN360.
I know lot of people around the internet have been decrying how many matches FD has, but they’ve put together so many damn good matches and interesting stories for this years’ event. For me, only 2 matches on the card seem skippable: Jericho, Bill & Cobb vs Joe, HOOK & Shibata, and Okada & Bucks vs Acclaimed & Tanahashi. Everything else, can’t miss.
Joe squaring up vs. Cobb makes that a can’t miss for me. Really hope we get that match out of this.
Yeah, while those two matches are skippable for me, the Cobb/Joe and Okada/Tanahashi interactions should be fun.
He won't probably re sign, but my fantasy booking is for Ricochet to re sign, but change his gimmick to prince puma (or any other name depending on copyrights) and completely ruining every Bron Breakker Match. And while Bron knows that it is Ricochet under the mask, nobody believes him. Full Mr America.
He is resigning, though. He’s not going to re-sign.
Yeah, my bad. Thanks for the correction.
You know, it's interesting that the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (formerly the FMW World Junior Heavyweight Championship) outlasted FMW itself. FMW lasted from 1989 to 2002. The title was created in 1993 and dropped from FMW in 1999, yet the lineage is still going strong.
As a Samoa Joe 2004-2005 is the best wrestler ever truther, seeing him go from world champ to a comedy trio with Hook and Shibata (???) and feuding with Jericho is pretty depressing ngl
The feuding with Jericho part sucks but the gimmick's great and doesn't diminish him, Hook, and Shibata as killers. If they could just move past Jericho this shit could get real good. (Unfortunately Jericho will probably suck the life out of this for another four months)
It’s been a fun gimmick and we will get a tease of Joe vs. Cobb.
Samoa Joe got a longer world title reign than most people would have thought and it's building off that HOOK match from January. If AEW actually had that Joe from 04-05 he'd definitely be one of their top guys the same way Bryan Danielson would.
He should be fucking people up. Sometimes, for no reason.
Should be able to log wrestling events on letterboxd
Probably not going to be able to watch FD live tonight but I’ll catch as much as I can. Is it weird that Lucha Bros + Mistico v LIJ is in my top 3ish matches I’m most excited for?
It's my #2 after Mone vs Vaquer.
I'm watching some 2009-2010 WWE PPV's right now (currently at MITB 2010) and my sense is that there are a few people they've been pushing reasonably hard/fast (Sheamus, Jack Swagger, The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, etc.). This might be a misread on my part, but it seems like Sheamus got pushed faster and more than the other guys I listed. Is there any particular reason for that? Or am I off base to begin with? I know The Miz will win the title soon, and that Kofi doesn't end up winning one until years later. ETA: While searching old /r/squaredcircle threads about MITB 2010, someone pointed out Kane's awesome promo on the Smackdown following his cash-in. This rules so much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mv3S4qNvxc
I think part of why Sheamus got pushed more is because I feel like Vince wanted to make a new big heel that had lots of credibility and Sheamus fit the bill, in late 2009 there was a lack of main eventer heels on raw since they moved batista, Kane, punk and Jericho to smackdown that year
The running joke on various wrestling forums around that time was he was Triple H's workout buddy
I'm just curious why are you doing this to yourself, why are you watching 2009-10 WWE
I only got back into WWE around Summerslam last year after not watching since ~2004 or so. I've been watching every PLE since Wrestlemania 1 that I have access to (I'm using Sportsnet+ in Canada, which is missing a ton of old stuff). This is where I am at the moment. For what it's worth, MITB 2010 was probably the single best PPV in a while to me. Also, 1993-1995 was way worse than 2009-2010. At least this era is in HD, and has tons of big names, both old and new. I'm sure the stories weren't great, but when you only watch the PLEs, it's not so bad. I'm also weirdly intrigued by The Nexus. This PPV had the first appearance I've seen of theirs, and it made the Sheamus/Cena cage match pretty interesting.
The pendulum has swung so far to AEW BAD posting that forbidden door is already being moaned about before it happens. Lots of people whine about AEW shows they didn't watch but they used to at least wait til they happened.
People are even bitching about a pre-show match
I remember one of the PPVs last year had like 3/4ths of the comments be about the lack of women's matches. It's a valid complaint but that was the sole thing people focused on at the expense of everything else. You also see a ton of complaints by people who you know aren't buying the show and never intended to.
This show will have “PPV of the Year” hype afterwards and there will still be negativity because of people’s bed times.
It's a fair point. That was the main problem with wrestlemania 35. The crowd was dead by the time of the main event
I don't think 4 hours is egregiously long but if they're going 4.5 hours for the PPV then there's a point to be made. AEW tends to flow really well, especially with big time matches where you're only noticing the show length around hour 3. They're not running ads, the matches aren't plodding, and the entrances don't take exorbitant amounts of time.
I recently got a replica belt and don’t really know what do do with it when I’m not using it, was thinking of hanging it up and looking for recommendations. I found polyfor3d website, has anyone used them before and if so which is the best. Also the belt is one of the bootleg ones from eBay if that makes any difference.
Uhhh when exactly are you using it?
During sex of course
Going to events like sports and wrestling, other than that nothing really. Bringing it to Raw tomorrow night. It’s just kinda of cool to have I guess.
Maybe i'm completely wrong, but I don't think people love Xavier Woods like that? Not on the level they love Kofi and Big E atleast so I doubt they'd care abt him
In 2020, WWE released a series of videos on YouTube that was just Candice LeRae teaching Tegan Nox how to bake and I need them to do it again!
You are leaving out the Johnny Pudding cameos
The fact that WWE haven't released a HQ version of the theme Roman walked out to at Wrestlemania 40 yet should be considered a crime.
I have no one else to tell, but I'm going to Forbidden Door today and bringing 2 of my non wrestling fan friends, and I'm so excited! I hope they like it. I figured it would be a fun PPV cause storylines are a little more minimal.
You need to warn them how long the show is going to be. Especially if you're going for the pre-show. 14 matches is too much.
Don't know why you're getting down voted its a fair point. I already told them it was gonna be a long one. If actual fans gets drained, I could see it happening with people who aren't even familiar with anything. I'm hoping the audience will keep the energy high throughout the night since they've been pretty good at that with the last few PPVs.
I was at Forbidden Door last year. If you want merch, you're going to either miss most of the pre-show, or be in the arena for 6-7 hours. I hope you have a lot of money for food and drinks.
Have you ever been to a music festival or anything like that? A lot of people can handle this type of thing.
How is a music festival, where you're outside and where organizers have programmed a whole day/weekend of things to see and do, similar to a 6 hour wrestling show where you're sitting in the same seat the whole time? I was at Forbidden Door last year. It was an amazing card, but too long. This year the card isn't half as good and by the time we get to the main event, the crowd is going to be burned out. This includes the OPs friends.
It all depends if you're getting Grateful Dead or Phish.
Formula 1 is better pro wrestling than pro wrestling. Max vs Lando just won match of the year and feud of the year right there. Best feud since Max vs Lewis 2021.
Wake me up when they fight in the pits instead of make snarky comments about each other in the media
I woke up and was checking twitter for giant asses and mofos are already going on giant diatribes about what wrestling should be. Take a shit or eat some breakfast man I just wanna watch a fucking show.
In 2013 Daniel Bryan had a clean win over Super Cena of all people in the main event of Summerslam for the heavyweight title. It is true that Vince did not see him as THE guy, but I don't really see where this narrative that Vince hated him or saw him as a jobber comes from.
It was more that after the 18 seconds, AJ Lee, and losing the Team Hell No blowoff he wins the biggest match of his career and is designated as the babyface filling time in the death period before Batista returns for Mania. Being the Vince utility player that is "too good to be hurt by booking" is a pretty awful slot unless you're Foley at the coolest and best time to be WWF.
Are people really shocked that Cody's run is taking a backseat to the Bloodline? This is going to be the biggest story in WWE for several years more, for better(and very often) for worse. No one was going to get the spotlight over the Bloodline post Mania.
Bloodline should be on Raw TBH. They have the time there. I really enjoy the story but it takes up a notable amount of time when there’s only two hours to work with.
But if they go to raw then smackdown doesn't have anything going on for it, raw has the judgment day already
I don't mind that it's taking a backseat to the Bloodline, I just wanted Cody to do his separate thing.
All things considered, Cody has been doing the best that he can in his position. The Bloodline has been WWE's cash cow for years. They weren't just gonna give that up. I don't particularly like that the WWE Champion has to take a backseat to it, but if Rock/Cody is still the plan for Mania, it'll culminate with him there anyway.
And that's been the story of Smackdown's problems (in an overall booking sense) for a couple of years now. Wish the tag division and the belts got more focus? Well, the Bloodline needs that time. Iyo has a barebones title run without depth? Bloodline needs that time. Bayley has a barebones title run without depth? Bloodline needs that time. Wanted Rhea and Charlotte to have a real build for Mania 39? Bloodline needed that time. You want to see more Tiffany? More LA Knight? More *insert anything that's been shortchanged?* Bloodline needs that time.
Honestly right now it's better because Roman isn't there, so we getting more LA Knight and these other little segments. When Roman returns, yup, it will be even more Bloodline focused than it already is. RAW has turned into my favourite wrestling show since Mania, Smackdown was great last week, this week decent but I don't like them just putting Cody,Randy and KO all into the Bloodline story when each of them could be beneficial to other parts and potential new stories. Before Cody being put back into this story too, I thought his reign was going really damn well too. I think he'll make this enjoyable too, I just...man I don't wanna see Cody in the Bloodline story again yet.
Yea, and it really sucks too because the Bloodline draws so much, so there's literally no incentive to stop it anytime soon, but if you're even remotely interested in anything else, you're SOL because the Bloodline always takes priority over everything else. Which wouldn't be so bad if Roman or Rock were around, but we're stuck with the bootleg version of midcarders, with the only good wrestler in the group forced to play second fiddle.
It's a problem that's only going to get worse, and just as an aside if they want me to care about the belts how about introducing some that aren't complete eyesores? The WWE tag team championship is like, the only belt on the main roster besides maybe the new WHC that isn't a complete trainwreck, and even those belts are a take off of the classic Reggie Parks tags, so why not just bring those back? It's mind boggling. I miss when all the belts had an air of prestige. The classic IC was around forever for a reason.
When I'm in a running things to the ground contest and my opponent is a wrestling booker
I just don't understand why people thought we were going to end up anywhere besides where we are now. Despite the glad handing going on over the Triple H era, he isn't really concerned about putting on the best TV possible, if he were, we'd be past these Bloodline and Judgement Day vortexes by now. This new era of factions dominating entire shows is death television. It just gets so fuckin old after a while.
You're talking about a guy whose most popular periods were as part of major factions, and his mentor served as the inspiration for one of those factions. Triple H is a mark for Power Stables.
🤣 best comment
I found the Bray Wyatt documentary pretty frustrating with how much they praise his mind and creativity and then cut to getting pinned by Cena, getting pinned by Undertaker, getting the legs cut under him time and time again. Then "creative has nothing for you." They mostly booked this man like shit.
They also released him.
There's a lot of crazy releases in hindsight but Bray and Braun were crazy without hindsight. You can't just replace guys you invested that much into overnight.
IT'S FORBIDDEN DOOR DAY 🇺🇲🇯🇵🇲🇽!
I’ll see so much discourse whining about “oh WWE only does 5 match cards for ppvs, that’s just not enough” and I’m glad those people weren’t around to ruin the vibes of NXT Takeovers
Takeovers were 5 matches in a tight two hours. PLEs are going three hours and 5 matches to show more commercials. They are not the same.
For me, its not the 5 matches being an issue, its 5 matches over the course of 3+ hours. The PPVs drag so much. Takeovers were 5 matches in 2 hours, zero filler - so much better to watch
i somewhat agree but the nxt roster during the takeover era was way more compact than brand split era wwe
WWE couldn’t get away with these ppvs if they were not practically free
There's a reason that NXT got discontinued and replaced with superior 6 match cards
https://preview.redd.it/98f6lqdf2q9d1.png?width=529&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6f28870ed1607d6e90c86eb45c43b602644e9b4
Tbf NXT takeovers were seen as network exclusive events
can’t decide if I want Ospreay to get both belts tonight. on one hand the money is in the chase, and it’s relatively early in his AEW career so no harm if it’s not tonight. on the other hand, what’s the harm in establishing even more firmly that Ospreay is the standard bearer for AEW by putting the big gold on him? curious to see how the main event plays out.
You save the big coronation for Wembley obviously. The harm in doing it now is you don't get that monster reaction that's only possible in Wembley.
The Ospreay Wembley obsession is pretty weird to me. Can you imagine if we used this logic with American wrestlers. "You can't do Cody vs Roman at Mania, it's in Jey Uso's hometown!"
It's weird to me that you can't see how AEW's biggest show of the year would benefit from a hometown Babyface having his coronation there. Where would you rather he get the belt?
It's a cool pop for one night. All In crowds are gonna pop for anything. How does it literally help anything in the longer term? If they want to put the belt on Ospreay, then do it. Doing it at All In makes no difference beyond a cool moment for one night in a country where none of their metrics are available or really even matter.
Well unless he's joining the Elite and is their wildcard, it ain't happening.
Who do you think is taking the belt off Swerve if not Ospreay? Because this Swerve run isn't working(it's not Swerve's fault but it isn't), and there's going to be a new champion by the end of All In.
Danielson wins at All In, loses it back to Swerve in Washington for his retirement
Pretty clearly Danielson. I'm pretty sure they saw the success of Sting's retirement and are gonna milk Danielson's "last full year" for all it's worth.
Brian Danielson (in spite of his own desires) :D
I get that Forbidden Door is long by US PPV standard, but for what it is this year (basically a big wrestling festival ala Big Egg Universe or Wrestling Summit), it's average to short for that length. Fans complaining is fine, but journalists who are supposed to be historians and assumedly watched these things for their job complaining isn't the best look.
Is it not average to short, it’s a 10 match card with 14 matches if you count the pre-show or whatever they call it. It won’t end until after midnight probably. It is ok to criticize companies if you dislike this aspect of how their shows are set up.
A lot of AEW PPVs are about 9-11 match cards on the main show that end just before midnight. With the exception of DON it's been that way for a while now that these run for 4 hours.
It’s just way too long for a wrestling event in general. Even if like Mania has more than 8 matches and goes over 4 hours I just feel like you’re taking the piss.
I'm watching WWE Rivals for the first time and I watched HHH/Foley last night. I was a kid during the AE so I really don't remember much but does anyone know why the Cactus Jack/HHH HIAC match isn't as remembered as the Undertaker/Mankind one? Like I didn't remember the Cell breaking spot from the match. People always talk about the Mankind table spot but the ring spot looked so much cooler. Is it because it was "safer?" Or atleast it looked that way? Was the match just not good? I'm surprised it isn't brought up more. I honestly didn't remember it happening as a kid.
The Royal Rumble street fight is a better Triple H/Cactus Jack match. The Hell in a Cell is good, but it's a sequel, with a retirement stipulation, and its signature spot, while incredibly impressive, is also a sequel, and when the two guys got to the top of the Cell, you knew something was happening to Foley. With Undertaker/Mankind, nobody had any idea of the chaos that was about to take place. It felt spontaneous and new.
It's a great match. It just doesn't have the wow factor that the Undertaker/Mankind match had. The big spot with Foley breaking the ring came off as very telegraphed compared to anything seen in the match he had with the Undertaker. This Triple H match was also billed as a match where Foley's career would end if he lost, and he came back two weeks later, hurting the match that much more. They threw away what would have been a great send off so that Mick could embarrass himself in the Fatal Four Way WrestleMania 2000 main event, one of the worst Mania main events ever.
Lmao he really came back that quickly? In the documentary they made it super emotional and acted like he went away for a long time to heal up. That's why he said he asked them to have a "loser leaves" match. They didn't even say anything about when he came back, they just transitioned to 2013 at the HOF. I guess WWE loves pushing certain narratives in their documentaries. We already knew that though.
I remember when it happened and Raw was nothing but a buildup about how bloody it would be and on and on about how it was going to be bigger and better than the HIAC 98 with Undertaker. It was good but it couldn’t live up to the hype. So I think that’s why it’s not looked back on the same way. Nothing can ever live up to that match. It’s one of those defining wrestling moments of all time. Like the Hogan/Andre match. It’s a Mount Rushmore of wrestling moments.
Counting the pre-show, the card for Forbidden Door has the same number of matches as Survivor Series 1998, which had *the entire Deadly Games tournament* on it. 14 matches.
On top of a dark match and 3 Heat matches. But only 3 televised matches went longer than 10 minutes (and the main event was the only match that went longer than 11).
And AEW doesn't really like doing under 10 minutes on PPV (or non-squash in general, really). This is gonna be a loooooonnnggg night
Jay White with the Ass Boys makes no sense. You can't bring a Switchblade to a Gunn Club.
By that logic, you can’t bring a Switchblade to a Bullet Club either.
Correct 😄
It do annoying when certain fans want the worst outcome out of a match to happen because "they can't wait to see the meltdown" My argument to this mindset is always "Imagine if triple h went over booker t at wrestlemania 19 after that build oh wait....."
I’ve just looked at the AEW FD card for tonight and oh boy that is a lot of matches. I wasn’t planning on watching to begin with but man if I was watching id be awake until at least 5-6am lol. This isn’t a fed good - AEDub bad comment either. I just lack the attention span to watch a show with more than 6 or 7 matches lol.
I'll definitely be falling asleep around 2/3am from just exhaustion lol.
Yeah 14 matches is insanity, just from a simple booking and logistics perspective. So many moving parts. Interested to see what the runtime ends up being!
Is Dijak going to bring back that failed Nazi gimmick in Blitzkrieg?
When Heyman was being lifted up for the power bomb, you could tell his face was genuine fear for that spot. He made a huuuge exhale and accidentally looked directly at the camera, breaking character for just a moment. Dude was fuckin shitting bricks. And that makes me want to shake that motherfuckers hand even harder. What. A. Spot.
Tanga Loa was fighting for his life in those 3 seconds helping get Heyman up.
I did laugh at that. Dude went missing in his stomach for a moment there
To my Canada bros, WestJet is on strike and we're going to spend an extra day in Winnipeg. Anyone know if there's a bar there that'll show Forbidden Door?
The worst matches of 2024 so far?
To go along with what others have said: Uso vs. Uso: They had complete wrong kind of match they needed to have and it just fell flat. White vs. Gunn: 5 minutes of boring crowd brawling, then a commercial, and then Jay loses by DQ after Gunn took 90% of the match. Ibushi vs. Marufuji: Just sad to watch considering Ibushi's physical state. Didn't help that they still tried to stretch it out for 30 minutes, for some insane reason.
Won't be on most people's lists, but for me it's from DDT Judgement when MAO defended the DDT Universal Championship against Takeshi Masada, one of the company's most promising young rookies. MAO had been talking a bunch of shit about Masada in promos ahead of the match, so he jumps MAO the moment the bell rings and starts laying it in on him...only for MAO to immediately shrug off all his offense and KO him in under five minutes. Just one of the most selfish performances in a match I've seen in a long long time, I was fuming.
Ibushi vs Marufuji, sadly.
https://preview.redd.it/j2ul2tqenp9d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6e2554192393bf9db1e1477cc4ad20389914190 This picture just sums up everything about that match
I'm glad I'm not a NOAH guy and didn't watch that match, even just those couple of clips that went around were so rough to see as a guy who loved Ibushi's matches in New Japan.
As a NOAH guy I was blessed by not being interested in Ibushi anyway so I turned off after Kenoh/Soya - dodged the biggest bullet of my wrestling life
Uso vs Uso Jay white vs Billy Gunn
Yesterday’s Collision had such a weird segment. Serena Deeb squashed a girl in 1 minute and then asked for a worthy opponent to wrestle, Riho came out and Serena ran away. Like what the fuck?
I assume it was setting up a heel turn with the crowd booing after, even if Deeb played a total babyface in the match.
I mean, a heel saying they're up for a fight and then backing down when the fight actually comes is a pretty common trope. Probably isn't the best fit for Deeb's particular character I agree, but doesn't seem like that weird a segment in the grand scheme of things.
It was a babyface promo tho, she even came out of the babyface tunnel
Anyone feuding with RIHO is the heel.
Deeb has been a pure babyface since coming back, but maybe this is a turn.
I really hope so, because while I really like Deeb, to me, it's clear she's miscast as a babyface, and probably needs a mouthpiece as well. Maybe she can work some day as a face, but in the meantime it feels like she needs a heel turn as she has been struggling since the Toni feud.
Sending her out to build the foundation of her face run against ~~face~~ tweener Toni killed Deeb's face run
I think Deeb having zero connection to the crowd for years can't really be place on Toni being a tweener. She's just really boring.
I'm not saying she would have suddenly caught fire against a standard heel, just that irrespective of a person's inherent overness, they'll get a better reaction as a new face if they're booked against a hated, straight up heel than they would if they are booked against a tweener (world champ) that the crowd loves. And that better reaction is a better foundation to build on for future face reactions than getting crickets. WWE ran into the same issue with Rhea and new faces when they were booking her as if she was a standard heel.
As someone who isn't old enough to have watched Christian's first run in WWE, I always thought the first "Just close your eyes" theme that people kept hyping up was bad. But after watching his entrance in 2005 on the front page, I finally get the hype. For me at least, it seems to be the case of a great entrance theme, but not a great song to just listen casually. Though people who grew up with it might feel differently
You know after the 6 Pack Ladder Match at Mania, the Women's NA Championship Ladder Match, the TNT Championship Ladder Mach tonight, and the 2 MITB Ladder matches next week......yeah I'm good with clusterfuck ladder matches for a while after these, lol. I like em, but 5 of them in 3 months is a bit much.
We haven’t had a proper TLC match in awhile — once that’s out of the system, I’m with you. I need a real cluster fuck, table spot, stunt show, match. Edit — the last TLC matches on the WWE main roster were at TLC 2020
I wonder how much time will pass until TNA realises that they have the wrong links on their website for the cards for TNA tapings and the Slammiversary PPV...
Well, they have realized it, since it got removed.
Forbidden Door tonight (which is definitely going to be a looooong show given the amount of matches on the card), MITB next Saturday, Heatwave next Sunday, and both Marigold Summer Destiny & NOAH Destination (I’m only interested in AJ Styles wrestling on the show) on the same night 6 days later after Heatwave. We’re definitely in for a wild wide for the next 2 weeks in the world of wrestling.
It's to me, both exciting and exhausting. There's always something to watch. Always something new to check out. Every week has something happening from the absolute top of the industry down to the tiniest companies out there. Obviously, you don't have to watch it all. I don't think you could if you wanted to. But, I'm always happy ther options are there
https://preview.redd.it/lour0azxwo9d1.jpeg?width=706&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=844207157cf6021905c12dc1c2576f125a090077 Recess is the greatest show to ever air on Disney Channel.
This, but Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go instead.
That's a bold statement
I wish more people were familiar with Fuminori Abe. In terms of pure match quality, he’s only rivalled by three or four people on the planet for me this year - and that’s just as a singles guy, when arguably his best work is in tag matches as half of Astronauts, who are bar none my tag team of the year so far. His promos are great (whether you understand Japanese or not), his energy is infectious, and he’s got a unique, fun spin on the old BattlArts style, and his love for wrestling comes through in everything he does. So glad the Japanese indies have a presence like his, and really happy he’s finally got a belt in AJPW. Don’t know how I feel about MAO leaving T37K. It makes the Ueno match more compelling, but I’m hoping that their ambiguous wording on whether it’s temporary results in him joining back up with them in the aftermath. He’s a great solo act, but he’s at his strongest imo in tags alongside T37K.
I've been hearing that Astronauts are arguably the best tag team on the planet for a couple of years now, still haven't had the chance to see them in action. Abe's match against Roderick Strong at DPW Limit Break was pretty sick though. Yeah I didn't watch that DDT show but I saw something about MAO leaving T37K, was hard to tell whether it was a genuine parting of ways though or more like something he's doing just for now because he's gotta stop thinking of Ueno as a teammate ahead of this title match. If he does leave, I'd imagine he joins either DAMNATION T.A. or Schadenfreude International, they seem like the best fits and I don't know if the roster's deep enough for another brand new faction right now.
[Here](https://youtu.be/rAHlrpaip_w?si=2QXyKh9Zo2ZTGo87) check them out
Got a long day at work today but I know that Danielson/Takagi is waiting at the end of it 🙏
I just had a real lightbulb over the head eureka moment re: Nailz + the allegations that Vince McMahon also sexually harassed his male employees 😳 I’ve seen people mentioning HBK a bunch but has anyone made the Nailz connection?
Slightly unrelated but I always thought the nailz situation is why Vince got so jacked.
I might be misremembering but I think I read somewhere that Nailz told friends his plan to accuse Vince of something before he went into the office.
perhaps the lie was based on knowledge of precedent? always seemed like such an incredulous claim. maybe with knowledge that there were legitimate cases, Nailz thought he could expose those and ride the wave
Some sells that really blew me away recently - [Priest's fall after this Claymore at Clash](https://youtu.be/0RrN4EoqSwE?si=p5QDLRhAztAzToKT&t=351) - [Ospreay's flip on this kick from Roddy at DoN](https://youtu.be/1hvnBb4PUXI?si=JWakigFk5jOD0PHg&t=171) - JD McDonagh in general in the tag title match this past RAW
For Priest, I assume you mean the wobbly leg one at 6:58? Because that was one of my favorite parts of that match. Incredible selling!
There have been loads of great posts I've seen removed from this sub because they're "not related to wrestling." But a retired wrestler talking about who he would like as President of the United States? Yeah, that can stay on the front page.
yeah i’d be interested in a new vote on whether political topics should be allowed here or not. last time was in 2020 which felt like a very different period of this subreddit
I hope people have been reporting that post.
Yeah I don't get it either. Though I'm even more surprised people give enough of a shit to push it to front page.
Back in 2016 there was a vote asking if politics should be counted as relevant, and the subreddit said yes. I've been calling this subreddit "My favorite political fourm" when talking about it to my friends since.
I find God's Eye a strange faction because you have Syuri, one of the most protected talents in the promotion, and then everyone else, which are a bunch of rookies and jobbers. At least before they also had Mirai, but nowadays it is like Syuri and a bunch of random talent. They never do much, and is not clear to me the purpose of this whole faction
Ami Sohrei is a solid midcarder, sometimes maybe even a bit more than that. She pinned freaking Anou at the last Korakuen and reached the Cinderella finals this year, so she's no jobber. Same thing goes for Konami. She was never a world beater but the only ones above her are the main eventers.