The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

The only bit I didn't like about the Undisputed Kingdom segment, was when Cole said Wardlow would be going after the world title and then would surrender it to Cole once his ankle was healed.

1. We already have that dynamic with Christian and Luchasaurus. This is too similar.

2. It's a really cliched story in wrestling now. It worked (and is working) fine with Christian, because he is just so damn good and he is making the story work, but the same kind of cliched storyline being told in another faction/group? Come on...

3. The group is finally revealed as a new faction, this is their first promo and they are already planting the seeds for a break up? Really?

4. Are they going to start booking Wardlow better then? Because thanks to their crap booking, no one cares about him anymore and I am not sure being Cole's little servant is going to help with that, even when the inevitable break up happens and he turns on Cole (which is too predictable)

[Raging Justice]

The only bit I didn't like about the Undisputed Kingdom segment, was when Cole said Wardlow would be going after the world title and then would surrender it to Cole once his ankle was healed.

1. We already have that dynamic with Christian and Luchasaurus. This is too similar.

2. It's a really cliched story in wrestling now. It worked (and is working) fine with Christian, because he is just so damn good and he is making the story work, but the same kind of cliched storyline being told in another faction/group? Come on...

3. The group is finally revealed as a new faction, this is their first promo and they are already planting the seeds for a break up? Really?

4. Are they going to start booking Wardlow better then? Because thanks to their crap booking, no one cares about him anymore and I am not sure being Cole's little servant is going to help with that, even when the inevitable break up happens and he turns on Cole (which is too predictable)

Yeah, I don't like how the whole MJF story line ended to be honest. Not only was Cole predictable, but it's like they literally put everyone who had a problem with MJF together, including Wardlow and Samoa Joe (since he worked with Adam Cole in setting up MJF prior to the PPV). The reveal of who has been attacking MJF and everyone around him was about as boring as possible. It was basically just everyone who had an issue with him or, in the case of Samoa Joe, wanted something from him. I wanted it to be someone surprising and for that person to have a compelling reason for doing it. I also just kind of hate how people in wrestling backstab each other so often. Like we had a story between MJF and Adam Cole that was actually kind of uplifting and touching in a way, but in the back of your mind you're always thinking, "It's pro wrestling. 90% of friendships or romances inevitably lead to betrayal because...it's pro wrestling"

I think Adam Cole fighting Jay White for a while could be fun though. There's a link between them that runs through the Elite, which is partially why I found them fighting each other interesting.

So anyway, we had the biggest Japanese show of the year wrap up recently with Wrestle Kingdom 18. We have a new NJPW World TV Champion...who is also the president of the company. Some of the commentary for this match was funny because of the president thing. I think at one point they referred to him as "President Ace"



I think Okada/Danielson is done...for now

Supposedly Bryan is preparing for retirement.



Two of the greatest of all time being at 1-1 feels right.

New world champ too



I've always like Naito's laid back attitude, it almost reminds me of Cassidy. He always looks like he just doesn't care, but looking at his accomplishments that's obviously not true. I don't think I mention him much in this thread, but he's been super popular in Japan for some time and has some major accomplishments to his name

Sanada was shown a lot of respect as the former champ by the company, Naito, and the crowd too



I think I read somewhere that they preceded Wrestle Kingdom with a Stardom show which is pretty cool. Apparently Giulia just disbanded her own faction. So people are speculating that she's going to WWE. Kind of a big deal as Stardom is pretty much run by factions. Is Tam Nakano's biggest rival on the way out?

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1484885/ru ... l-disband/





I should remind everyone that I'm a casual NJPW/Stardom fan, so I may not have the most insightful comments. I can speak a lot more in depth about AEW/WWE

[Raging Justice]

Man, AEW sucks so much these days that Matt Riddle and Dolph Ziggler went to Japan instead

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/new-japa ... appearance

https://www.sescoops.com/news/matt-ridd ... -tanahashi





Seriously though, a few years ago you would have to imagine they would have jumped at a chance to be in AEW. Now working in Japan is a bigger deal than going to AEW, just ask Mercedes Monet

I can't believe it's 2024 and Dolph Ziggler is fighting the original Bullet Club and Matt Riddle is challenging the president of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Meanwhile, an NXT wrestler and the son of William Regal just recently challenged (and failed) for a title in a Japanese company (https://www.f4wonline.com/news/nxt/wwe- ... itle-match). Bryan Danielson and Moxley just wrestled in the biggest Japanese show of the year and rumors are surrounding a Stardom talent going to WWE

Crazy times. Japan is where it's at in pro wrestling.

[Reprise]

Man, AEW sucks so much these days that Matt Riddle and Dolph Ziggler went to Japan instead

Eh, if I was AEW I wouldn't want those guys anyways. I haven't cared about Dolph in about 10 years. Actually time flies. It has been just over 9 years since he was the final man standing at Survivor Series and got the pin (admittedly with Sting's assistance) for the win in the faces vs Team Corporate faction, and then WWE did nothing with him for nearly a decade.

[Reprise]

WWE is apparently interested in working with NJPW.

I saw a funny post on Facebook about how the conversation probably went down

WWE: “We would like to explore a working relationship together.”

NJPW, in their classically overly cautious approach: “Okay. What did you have in mind?”

WWE: “Well, we’d like to have Roman Reigns win the IWGP title by beating Naito. He should also beat Okada, Tanahashi, all of the remnants of Bullet Club, and The Usos should hold all your tag belts. Reigns will wrestle maybe five times a year, and only in the U.S. We also want our relationship to be exclusive, so cut ties with every other company you work with right now, even the Japanese ones. Charlotte should beat everyone in Stardom when her knee heals. We would also like you to let us take over your dojo and rename it NXT Japan. In return, you can have your one of your midcarders beat Miz on Raw.”

NJPW: ::hangs up the phone::

[Raging Justice]

WWE is apparently interested in working with NJPW.

I saw a funny post on Facebook about how the conversation probably went down

WWE: “We would like to explore a working relationship together.”

NJPW, in their classically overly cautious approach: “Okay. What did you have in mind?”

WWE: “Well, we’d like to have Roman Reigns beat Tanahashi....”

NJPW: ::hangs up the phone::

[prfsnl_gmr]

Alright guys! What should I be watching for at AEW Collision on Saturday?

[Raging Justice]

Alright guys! What should I be watching for at AEW Collision on Saturday?

FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) vs. House of Black (Malakai Black & Buddy Matthews will probably be a great match. House of Black is good in tag and trios matches and FTR is viewed as one of the best tag teams in the world. House of Black usually has great entrances. I think if FTR loses they have to disown their family and join House of Black.

AEW Continental Crown Championship: Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Trent Beretta - I don't like Eddie Kingston. He is popular though. This good be a good match, hard to say because Eddie is limited in the ring. Trent is great though, I don't even understand what the hell the "Continental Crown Championship" even is. Eddie is a good talker so maybe he'll cut a great promo before the match.

Sting will wrestle in the city of Charlotte for the final time. Sting is a legend and always popular with the crowds and you never know when you may be seeing hist last match as he's on a retirement tour, so try and appreciate this one. Darby will take some crazy bumps as he has no regard for his body. Watch for him to dive through the ropes outside of the ring at some point. He does it better than most people in the business, it's like seeing a bullet fired from a gun. JD Drake will be in his home town so the crowd might cheer for him



I don't know what else will happen on the show

Samoa Joe is the new world champ, I don't know if he'll be on the show. He just beat MJF for the title and put him out of action. Joe is a badass heel and AEW presents him as someone you don't want to mess with. Some times fans like to chant "Joe is gonna kill you"

Christian is the TNT champ. He likes to talk about people's dads LOL. He's got a 'family' surrounding him in his surrogate son Nick Wayne and Nick's mom. He also has a story line where he's using Luchasaurus, who he renamed Killswitch. We're all waiting to see if Killswitch turns on him. Christian is kind of feuding with Adam Copeland.

Adam Cole, who betrayed MJF, is now leading the "Undisputed Kingdom" and kind of feuding with Bullet Club Gold led by Jay White

The Acclaimed seem to kind of have a feud with the Undisputed Kingdom and maybe some kind of alliance with Bullet Club. Expect to hear "scissor me daddy" a lot if they are on the show and Max usually does a rap when he comes to ring where he'll make some topical references regarding either what's going on in the real world or whatever is the current buzz in pro wrestling. You never know exactly what's gonna come out of his mouth which is fun

Deonna Purrazo just joined AEW. She's "the Virtuosa". She may be feuding with Mariah May who is the lackey of women's champion Toni Storm. Storm has this dumb classic, black and white, movie star gimmick she's doing. Some people like it.

Julia Hart is the TBS champion, she is part of House of Black and has this black witch, goth thing goin on. Sky Blue seems to be forming a partnership with her. Goth girl duo.

Orange Cassidy is the International Champion. He has maybe the best win streak in AEW right now. Watch for him putting his hands in his pockets or doing fake kicks. The crowds love that shit

Hangman Adam Page is feuding with Swerve Strickland. Remember one thing when you see Swerve. When he asks whose house is it? The crowd says Swerve's house!!!! And when you see Hangman expect "Cowboy Shit!" chants

Don Callis is the big heel manager in AEW. He gets booed a lot and has a stable including Powerhouse Hobbs and Konosuke Takeshita. They were feuding with Jericho, Kenny Omega, and Sammy Guevara before Jericho had people making some sort of sexual allegations against him. We may not see Jericho for a while and Omega is on the injured list.

Maybe reprise can mention anything else going on that I forgot

[prfsnl_gmr]

Awesome. Thanks, RJ! I follow wrestling only through this thread; so, I really appreciate this. I’ll enjoy the show so much more with this background info.

[Raging Justice]

Awesome. Thanks, RJ! I follow wrestling only through this thread; so, I really appreciate this. I’ll enjoy the show so much more with this background info.

I don't know if you'll see this before the show but here's a few more things as there's so much to keep track of in AEW

Miro just recently aligned with his wife CJ, who betrayed her client Andrade El Idelo. There were rumors that Andrade's heading to WWE after this. Miro plays this crazy religious character who talks about "his god" a lot. He also plays up a bit of an old fashioned "toxic male" sort of character in contrast to CJ's rather modern woman vibe. Opposites attract I guess. I should note that CJ tends to dress rather...provocatively. So that's something to look forward to.

The Blackpool Combat Club is a big deal in AEW and consists of Claudio Castignoli, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Wheeler Yuta. Bryan just lost a big match in Japan against Kazuchika Okada on a major NJPW pay per view. Okada is one of the biggest stars over there and often gets brought up in "best in the world" conversations (so does Bryan). Bryan has been teasing that he'll be hanging it up as a full timer some time in the near future and the story line surrounding him right now is that he has a lot of injuries, particularly one to his orbital bone (he has this eye patch on his face). So that comes into play in some of his matches. Even all banged up though, he is still portrayed as one of the most dangerous guys in AEW to be in the ring with. They don't call him The American Dragon for nothing. Sometimes you'll hear the crowd bust out "yes, yes, yes," chants when he starts kicking the crap out of someone. Those chants go all the way back to his WWE days.

Daniel Garcia is part of this group that used to be led by Chris Jericho. He's a great technical wrestler and he has this stupid looking, hilarious, gyrating dance that everybody loves (myself included).



If you see Julia Hart and Sky Blue on the show, I think they are in a feud with Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander

Saraya and Ruby Soho are Toni Storm's former running mates...before she lost her mind and decided she's a classic movie star. They have this new blond girl in the group who I think wants to prove herself, and Rubi was in some sort of romance angle with one of the guy's from Daniel Garcia's group

AEW has a lot of awesome luchadors right now, so you may see one or more of them in action. Sometimes they come to the ring with Alex Abrahantes, who is sort of the de facto translator for a lot of these guys it seems. If you get a match with El Vikingo or Kommander then expect some wild high flying and crazy athletic shit.





Pentagon is also a long time luchador favorite in AEW, along with his brother Fenix (who is currently injured). Penta's not quite as athletic as some of the others, but he's crazy popular and everyone knows his "CIERO MIEDO!!!" chant. Bandido is cool too, though I don't think I've seen him in AEW in a while.