The Wrestling Thread

[Raging Justice]

My reaction every time WWE calls John Cena the Greatest of all Time



What it makes me want to do to Michael Cole

[Reprise]

*Turns on Collision*
*Sees Jon Moxley in the first match*
*Turns off Collision"

Well, it was good while it lasted. Wonder why a show that showcases different talent, since they have a bloated roster, needs a man who already hogs the limelight on Dynamite and Rampage. Guessing they are just turning Collision into Dynamite 2.0, since last week's episode was also weak.

Ugh and now I see the Hardys are booked for tonight's Collision. It's 2023, why do I need to see the Matt and Jeff Hardy?

#BringBackPunk'sBanList

Speaking of it being 2023, I hear the Rock is back and that's "exciting", apparently...

[Raging Justice]

*Turns on Collision*
*Sees Jon Moxley in the first match*
*Turns off Collision"

Well, it was good while it lasted. Wonder why a show that showcases different talent, since they have a bloated roster, needs a man who already hogs the limelight on Dynamite and Rampage. Guessing they are just turning Collision into Dynamite 2.0, since last week's episode was also weak.

Ugh and now I see the Hardys are booked for tonight's Collision. It's 2023, why do I need to see the Matt and Jeff Hardy?

#BringBackPunk'sBanList

Speaking of it being 2023, I hear the Rock is back and that's "exciting", apparently...

I was actually surprised they didn't take the opportunity to have LA Knight share the ring with The Rock. Instead, we had antics with that doofus Pat McAfee.

You know I actually thought of you when Dynamite started. Mox was in the first match, and within like 3 minutes he was bleeding. I didn't even pay attention to the match after that. I do like what they are doing with Cassidy. He is selling how depressed he is after losing his title, while also STILL talking about how tired he is from that long reign full of endless title defenses. Instead of appreciating the break and the chance to heal up, he misses his title. One thing AEW seems to always get right is the presentation of Cassidy. He has been one of the best examples of how to do a title reign right, and now how to also handle the LOSS of a title. Great stuff. I marked out a bit at the backstage segment with him and Hook as I always thought a pairing of those two could be seriously entertaining. One thing AEW is doing that I'm kind of hyped about:



Stardom has had some fun shows recently. They had a show full of tag team matches with odd pairings, including Tam Nakano pairing up with former Cosmic Angel turned bitter rival Mina Shurakawa against Tam's friends (and current tag team champions) Natsupoi and Saori Anou. I love some of the psychology in the match including Tam and Mina fumbling a tag team sequence, then Tam and Natsupoi instinctively doing a tag team sequence later in the match that led to Tam accidentally attacking her own partner. We got a tease post match of Tam and Mina maybe putting their issues with each other aside, while still reminding fans that Mina has not given up her goal of defeating Tam (and taking her title). Tam and Mina pinning the tag champs is interesting too.

Kairi had an in ring segment setting up what I guess will be her final match in Stardom, and hinting at her return to WWE. Man, I hope they do something interesting with her in WWE. Both the Smackdown and Raw women's rosters could use a bit of a shake up. Theoretically I guess they could send her to NXT as well, though I don't think that NXT needs her. Becky versus Kairi for the title could be interesting though. Fun thing I just recently realized, Asuka has the longest single reign with the NXT Women's title and was NEVER beaten for it (she relinquished it due to injury). In my eyes, Asuka is STILL the NXT Women's champion.

We also had a pretty great tournament match between Suzu Suzuki and Tam, with Tam taking a crazy bump on the ring apron for a mid thirties woman

https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_s0y6 ... ynxlwx.mp4

and Suzu getting the victory. Stardom has had a sort of generational battle going on with younger talents trying to upstage vets like Tam, so this was a meaningful win for Suzu. A lot of people are really hype about Suzu and her future. Stardom is setting up a bunch of people to challenge for Tam's title it seems.



Here's a little shout out for people interested in Japanese wrestling who also appreciate the long lost art of making magazines (you know those things us old timers used to get shipped to our houses to actually hold in our hands and read). Monthlypuroresu covers all things Japan for us English speakers. You can learn a lot there believe me. Also, they have physical magazines they can send to your house if you are interested in that sort of thing

https://monthlypuroresu.com/

[Reprise]

You know I actually thought of you when Dynamite started. Mox was in the first match, and within like 3 minutes he was bleeding. I didn't even pay attention to the match after that.

Haha I forgot to watch Dynamite this week. Mind you, I never did watch Collision last week either. I meant to go back to it, but forgot.

Moxley really needs to tone it down and do fewer matches. It was revealed this week he has some pretty major health issues.

[Raging Justice]

"John Cena is the greatest of all time!"

"Introducing, the greatest of all time, JOHN CENA!!!!"

"John Cena, the greatest of all time, is teaming up with AJ Styles"

I really hate WWE right now.

Raw sucked this week, felt like a Vince McMahon episode. Smackdown sucked too except for a pretty good match between Iyo Sky and Asuka. There was a cool spot backstage involving AJ Styles, Solo Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso, but I'm so over The Bloodline shit now. It's like they are trying to still milk something out of a dead corpse at this point. The story jumped the shark when Jimmy turned on his brother. They have a decent story going for Jey on Raw, as he deals with all the people he screwed in the past not trusting him or wanting revenge on him, but the stuff with Jimmy and the rest of The Bloodline on Smackdown is pretty lame.

AEW and WWE are both kind of shitty at the moment. It doesn't help that all the recent firings are a good reminder of how shitty WWE can be to its employees.

[Raging Justice]

I don't consider PWInsider a credible source of wrestling news due to the biases they have shown in the past (especially during all of the Punk drama in AEW), and I also don't agree with all of the things that Solomonster says. All that said though, this rant of his based off of a report from PWInsider is interesting, as it may offer insight into the kind of man Vince McMahon really is. It also touches on a lot of the behind the scenes power plays that seem to have been going on within WWE for quite some time now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApH1pES632U

I don't know Vince McMahon personally. All I know is what I hear from so called pro wrestling insiders. I'll say this though, if all of the awful things that he has been accused of doing throughout his life is true, it just goes to show you that in life it doesn't matter whether or not you are a good person. All that matters is how much power you have and how you wield it. Vince seems like the kind of guy who will go to Hell one day and demand that the devil get off his throne and accept that Vince is now running things down there. The man just seems to do whatever he wants and expects everyone to accept it.

WWE has never been about the fans. It's always been about Vince. He pushed John Cena to the moon when half of the fans hated him, and now Cena is regularly referred to as "The Greatest of All Time". After The Shield stopped being a thing, Vince started mega pushing Roman Reigns as the next top guy after Cena at a time when many fans weren't into it, yet he kept going with it. Now Roman is in the midst of a historic and seemingly never ending reign with TWO world titles, all while being a part timer. I just list these two examples to show that Vince pushes who he wants, not who the fans want. This is why I roll my eyes when guys like Cody Rhodes and Cena go out and do these lame promos about how everything they do is about the fans because WWE is all about the fans

[RCBH928]

I disagree with Vince on a lot of things on things like many other people, but the truth is this guy came from the many wrestling federations filling the US to be the dominant and only one, and the only one to reach billionaire status. Maybe he knows a thing or two about pro wrestling and doing business. No matter how much people disagree with him, the seats are always full.

I guess its true, nice guys finish last. That being said, from the interviews though they seem to agree that Vince is a man of his word. So even if he is not nice guy, he is at least not sleazy.

Although, of everything that Vince has done in his life, the worst thing I can think of is firing Jim Ross. This guy literally made WWE a success and have given his life to the company, they fired him over some none sense on stage interview with other wrestlers. Sure the guy probably got ton of money in compensation for his work in the company, but show some appreciation do not treat him like the new guy who just signed up for the job

[Reprise]

Vince is the kinda person who will get the Jimmy Savile treatment once he's dead. The allegations against him are probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Speaking of AEW and WWE both being pretty weak at the moment, I wonder if I should watch some AEW again. I haven't watched any in a couple of weeks now, but I am looking forward to Wrestledream. Some stuff I have seen online looks cool too, like the Samoa Joe and MJF match from last week. Danielson and Starks' matches seem cool too, although I am not quite sure why they needed a death match on Collision at the weekend.

[Reprise]

This sounds way too outlandish to be true, but it's rumoured that Tony Khan is about to purchase either NJPW, Stardom or potentially both.

[Raging Justice]

This sounds way too outlandish to be true, but it's rumoured that Tony Khan is about to purchase either NJPW, Stardom or potentially both.

I haven't seen any real sauce on this, other than speculation on forums and one person on Twitter who claims to have some sources indicating that this is what some people think Tony Kahn is referring to regarding his big announcement at WrestleDream

It's hard to take Kahn seriously, as he teases big announcements like this ALL THE DAMN TIME. He's a promoter, and they are often full of shit. That's reality. Still, occasionally he does deliver on his teases of something big and newsworthy so we will see. I'm doubtful his announcement has anything to do with buying NJPW or Stardom. I just can't imagine them wanting to sell to anyone unless they are doing poor business. I don't know about NJPW and their parent company Bushiroad, but everything I've heard leads me to believe that Stardom is actually doing quite well. In fact, they got so big in the last two or three years that NJPW finally had to take notice of them and has treated them like a sibling company ever since. I think Stardom was getting attendance figures second only to NJPW in recent years, which some people thought was unheard of for an all women promotion.

Money talks, and to all the people who say women's wrestling doesn't draw, Stardom has proved otherwise. I think there's a lot of stuff Stardom does that promotions like WWE, AEW, and Impact could learn from. One thing being that Stardom doesn't care about being politically correct (they have no problem promoting their women in swimsuit calendars and stuff like that). Plus, the women over there have the most awesome entrances and outfits when they come to the ring. It just makes them feel like a big deal. Plus, they actually have ongoing (and consistent) story lines and characters.

Anyway, I could be wrong though and maybe Kahn is buying one or both companies, and I'm perfectly okay with that. I just don't know if Tony Kahn needs any more projects as he seems too busy already, unless he where to just let the people running NJPW and Stardom keep doing what they are doing, under his ownership.

It may not be good though for too many companies to be under one roof. That creates monopolies. This has been the goal of WWE for years, they've wanted to buy out or kill other promotions. I read something recently from Will Osrey saying that WWE tried to buy RevPro at one point, and one of the goals of NXT was to expand globally and steal all of the talent from companies around the world. They had even planned on having a Japanese NXT brand just to pilfer as much talent from there as possible. These things didn't come to pass though, fortunately.