The Wrestling Thread

[Raging Justice]

My prediction is it's all just a storyline and that it isn't leading to either a hard brand split or two separate world championships. AEW doesn't recognise the title (although they looked dumb by having the graphics for a title match, the ref holding up the title and announcing it as a title match, but I digress...) and Punk's title is not legitimate. He was stripped due to injury and his actions at All Out 2022. AEW both kayfabe and in real life seems to be sticking to that narrative that they don't recognise Punk's "X" title.

I don't know where they are going with it, but I think it will probably just lead to Punk vs MJF again at either All Out or Full Gear to decide who is the "real" champion. I also think Punk will turn heel at some point over the next few months.

Or if you wear a tinfoil hat and think Tony Khan is some kind of genius playing 4D chess, then you think everything is a work and we're actually leading towards CMFTR vs The Elite, which will culminate with Punk vs Kenny. Those guys got very excited in the last week as The Elite teased appearing on Collision and because we're getting FTR vs Bucks in a few weeks lol.

I guess time will tell. AEW is still keeping my interest, but barely. MJF/Cole and the Orange Cassidy title run are the main points of interest for me right now. I hope Tony builds up some excitement for this upcoming pay per view, but I'm skeptical. Man, there was a time not long ago when people unironically called Tony Kahn booker of the year, now people say it as a joke. His reputation has gone down a lot.

I actually skipped Raw last night. Summerslam really killed my interest in WWE for the moment. I'm tired of the never ending Bloodline story now that it's clear as day that they plan on dragging it out forever. Heyman has gone on record saying that we're not even close to seeing it end. Now it's becoming like the Simpsons, just a pointless thing that continues to exist season after season after season. Jimmy turning on Jey just completely undoes everything they've accomplished in the past couple of weeks. It's so stupid.

I'm also tired of the endless Cody push. If it was like 10-15 years ago, he wouldn't be so over, but today's WWE fan is very different. They're very complacent and will eat whatever WWE puts on their plate. The forced push he's getting is one I've seen backfire in the past, but seems to work nowadays.

I was excited for Kairi coming back to WWE, but now I wonder if she's the reason Asuka's title reign ended in such pathetic fashion. Was it just so they can eventually pair her up with Kairi again? You know there's speculation now that Kairi coming back to WWE is mainly because New Japan and Stardom kind of lost interest in her once Sasha Banks decided to wrestle in Japan. They basically just took all their plans for Kairi and transferred them to Sasha a.k.a Mercedes Monet. I always wondered why Kairi's reign with the New Japan women's title was so short and I guess that's why. So she sort of gets screwed by Sasha, and now maybe Asuka gets screwed by Kairi LOL. That's just pro wrestling I guess. You're only as valuable as you are until a wrestling company finds a new shiny toy to replace you with.

Maybe now's a good time to watch some older stuff. I've been for the longest time wanting to check out some old WCW, ECW, and TNA stuff as I was not watching those companies during their prime. I missed out on a lot.

[Reprise]

Maybe now's a good time to watch some older stuff. I've been for the longest time wanting to check out some old WCW, ECW, and TNA stuff as I was not watching those companies during their prime. I missed out on a lot.

I was actually going to do the same a few weeks back. I happened to notice that a seller I purchased a couple of video games off was selling some old ECW DVDs. I was thinking of buying some, just as something nice to have (I am such a physical collector for some reason) and so I could watch through some. I didn't in the end though.

I happened to notice TNA have some full PPVs up on their Youtube channel too. I started watching Bound for Glory 2010 the other day.

[Raging Justice]

This was awesome. My girl Natsupoi's levelling up.





This tournament's getting fun. Man, I'd give anything to see this kind of action in WWE or AEW's womens divisions.

















Mayu Iwatani makes basic wrestling moves look amazing, like this drop kick

[Raging Justice]

I hate that WWE had Jimmy turn on Jey Uso, but my God did the follow up to that make Jey look like the baddest motherfucker in the company. He super kicked Roman Reigns, super kicked Solo, super kicked his brother Jimmy, then basically went, "Fuck this. I'm out. Screw all you bitches. Screw the Bloodline. Screw WWE. Peace out". Then went into the crowd and left. THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!

I'm sure however they follow this up will suck but Jesus, I swear him and LA Knight are the best things going in WWE at the moment. Screw Cody Rhodes. I miss BADASSES. That's what made the Attitude Era so great

[Raging Justice]

My girls had a good night on the Stardom PPV















I love that this comes right after Natsupoi pinned the New Japan champ Mayu Iwatani in their tournament match. To me, she should be in line for an eventual shot at that title since she proved that she can pin Mayu.

Rough night for Tam, getting the stuffing beat out of her by a Greek goddess, but you can't keep this cosmic angel down

[Raging Justice]

Someone did a nice write up on the CM Punk problem based on recent events. Calls Punk a ticking time bomb:

https://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2023/ ... nning-out/



EDIT: One more article:

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2023/08/14 ... cal-tweet/

EDIT2: More Punk problems

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/repo ... -collision

[Reprise]

Unfortunately AEW has a lot of issues. Hopefully they can move past it and move on in a positive direction, but frankly I feel this goes way beyond just Punk and Tony's inability to control him or be a boss in a general frankly. At the moment Punk is the convenient scapegoat (and that's not me defending him, although fuck Jack Perry; what an idiot), but even if the man was fired tomorrow, it's not going to be the rainbows and sunshine that some people delude themselves into thinking it will be

AEW has had months to build something huge for Wembley and develop compelling storylines. They have failed. Dynamite has been getting worse and worse week in and week out. The women's division is still booked like utter garbage. Moxley and the BCC still suck, Jericho is still the massive snorefest he has been for ages now. What compelling storylines do we have tonight to build to "the biggest wrestling event of all time" (is that the official tagline? I think it is right?) Oh yeah, that oh so exciting storyline about Jericho and Don Callis. Woop-de-doo. Oh and we get the exciting sit down interview with Omega, so he can just announce his match for wembley like every other match has just been announced like it's nothing. It's a real shame we didn't get Omega vs Danielson, which was leaked as a match that was going to happen

And Collision isn't getting let off the hook. What are Jay White and Juice Robinson doing at Wembley? Where's Bullet Club Gold's big feud? I don't quite get why we are getting Samoa Joe vs Punk again either and why that seemingly pauses the feud with Starks (perhaps? Might have to wait until Saturday to see where that angle is going)

These issues have existed for a while. The builds to Double or Nothing and Forbidden Door were both really weak. Is it really that hard to generate real heat between performers, come up with a decent set of storylines and build towards a PPV?

Going back to All In, what's up with MJF and Cole going for the RoH tag belts on the pre-show? Another amazing booking decision there.

[Raging Justice]

In some weird WWE news, Asuka went on a rant about Stardom, saying that the company was created, "to defeat her". She also bashed the Japanese media

I guess in her defense I should say that she was talking about a time BEFORE she came to America, so her comments may not reflect what the company (and Japanese media) is like now.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/asuk ... personally

The timing of this is weird, given that Michael Cole name dropped Stardom when Iyo won the title and the fact that everyone is reporting that Kairi has signed a new contract with WWE

Also interesting is an interview Shida did, where she actually speaks well of Asuka

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1367423/ae ... ion-asuka/

Unfortunately AEW has a lot of issues. Hopefully they can move past it and move on in a positive direction, but frankly I feel this goes way beyond just Punk and Tony's inability to control him or be a boss in a general frankly. At the moment Punk is the convenient scapegoat (and that's not me defending him, although fuck Jack Perry; what an idiot), but even if the man was fired tomorrow, it's not going to be the rainbows and sunshine that some people delude themselves into thinking it will be

AEW has had months to build something huge for Wembley and develop compelling storylines. They have failed. Dynamite has been getting worse and worse week in and week out. The women's division is still booked like utter garbage. Moxley and the BCC still suck, Jericho is still the massive snorefest he has been for ages now. What compelling storylines do we have tonight to build to "the biggest wrestling event of all time" (is that the official tagline? I think it is right?) Oh yeah, that oh so exciting storyline about Jericho and Don Callis. Woop-de-doo. Oh and we get the exciting sit down interview with Omega, so he can just announce his match for wembley like every other match has just been announced like it's nothing. It's a real shame we didn't get Omega vs Danielson, which was leaked as a match that was going to happen

And Collision isn't getting let off the hook. What are Jay White and Juice Robinson doing at Wembley? Where's Bullet Club Gold's big feud? I don't quite get why we are getting Samoa Joe vs Punk again either and why that seemingly pauses the feud with Starks (perhaps? Might have to wait until Saturday to see where that angle is going)

These issues have existed for a while. The builds to Double or Nothing and Forbidden Door were both really weak. Is it really that hard to generate real heat between performers, come up with a decent set of storylines and build towards a PPV?

Going back to All In, what's up with MJF and Cole going for the RoH tag belts on the pre-show? Another amazing booking decision there.

All I can say is that it seemed like the company was much better in its first two years. Things were being run differently behind the scenes back then, maybe Tony needs to think about that. Or maybe he's just taken on too much. Too many shows. Plus, running ROH and now having to deal with Punk and Collision. Jesus

AEW started out as just one show on Wedneday nights, and it was awesome back then. No Rampage. No Collision. No ROH. It also had a smaller roster that were better utilized, and EVPs actually had power back then (now all of that power has clearly been given to Punk).

I also think Kahn is too focused on the corporate side of things now. He's doing everything to please the network, sponsors, etc. and some of the things he's doing to please them is hurting the product.

AEW is a mess right now. There's some good stuff in that mess, but it's still a mess. WWE has got some issues they need to sort out too, but AEW seems to have more problems than they do right now.

[Reprise]

maybe Tony needs to think about that. Or maybe he's just taken on too much. Too many shows. Plus, running ROH and now having to deal with Punk and Collision. Jesus

I think he definitely has.

I also think Kahn is too focused on the corporate side of things now. He's doing everything to please the network, sponsors, etc. and some of the things he's doing to please them is hurting the product.

Is that why we have a Texas Chainsaw Deathmatch or something weird between Jeff Jarrett and Jeff Hardy tonight? I think I read that it's something to do with a video game.

In other news, I am seeing more and more noise coming from the media and dirt sheets that Goldberg could be a possibility for All In. That one has been rumoured for months, although it has seemingly always been speculative rather than there actually being anything substantial there. Just the other day Dave Meltzer was saying he has heard nothing, but more noise is gathering. I'm not sure if there is any substance to the rumours, or if enough people got bored with the Punk stories so the wrestling tabloid rags had to move onto more pointless rumours and gossip.

I have seen a few articles now state that he could face Wardlow (and that's another thing I don't get. Sorry, off topic rant incoming, but why do they constantly basically just write guys off TV and have them disappear for weeks if not months at a time? Where has Wardlow been since he lost the TNT title? It's ridiculous).

I think bringing Goldberg in would be dumb as hell. Talent are already allegedly pissed off about All In, with them not knowing if they are going to be on the card or not, or what's going on (supposedly it's not just chaotic from a public perspective, with so few matches having been announced, but also chaotic behind the scenes, with talent also being in the dark. Perhaps Tony doesn't even know the full card they are going to put on, which is worrying... )

Anyways, I guess I will have to watch Dynamite later and maybe more pieces will start to come together.

AEW is a mess right now. There's some good stuff in that mess, but it's still a mess.

Yeah, definitely.

I think ultimately the issue with AEW is they are just happy to do their thing, satisfy their existing fans and coast by. I am a minority in many of my opinions. I think Moxley bleeding every week and constantly doing spots with dumb weapons is stupid, but loads of the fans love it. I am just tired of it, I thought the brutal hardcore matches were fun 2 or 3 years ago, but I am numb to it now. I think the Elite haven't done anything of interest in probably over a year (although their feud with the BCC was interesting for the first month or so), but most people. I think MJF was getting stale and failing to evolve... until the stuff with Cole became really entertaining. Now I am worried they are going to drop the ball. Otherwise, I am just not that interested in the stuff going on with everyone else. The JAS stuff was cringe and that segment last week where they broke up was awful.

At least Collision has been better and more enjoyable for me. I enjoy seeing Hobbs, The House of Black, Andrade, Starks, Joe, FTR, Punk, Darby, Christian and Luchasaurus, Adam Cole and MJF. I expect the show will continue to struggle even more with the competitive nature of the Saturday night slot and all the Punk controversy going on though.

[Reprise]

Haven't watched it yet, but another few matches announced. Basically everything that leaked in the dirt sheets a few weeks ago is coming to fruition.

Stadium Stampede 3 is happening, which is a bit weird. It made sense in the pandemic, but when you have 80,000 people going to Wembley Stadium... Erm what are you doing? It's Moxley's dumb group of screwdriver weilding morons against Orange Cassidy, Eddie Kingston, Lucha Bros and Best Friends. I remember when Moxley used to wrestle, I quite liked him then. Oh well, it might be fun, but as the BCC is involved it will probably be stupid, just like the Blood and Guts match and the parking lot match from Rampage a few weeks ago.

Omega and Hangman (?) announced the trios match against Bullet Club Gold and Takeshita, which is happening, for some reason... It will be a good match, but seems like a waste of the talent involved. An Omega vs Jay White match could have been incredible. I believe they have wrestled before in New Japan?

Ospreay vs Jericho is happening... Lol.

The Texas Chainsaw Deathmatch looked like something from late era TNA or WCW.

Speaking of TNA, apparently Joker Sting returned.

Oh well, might catch up later.