The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

Joe Hendry's debut on NXT got 3.5 million views on Youtube. That's crazy!

It's more views than Mercedes', Okada's and Ospreay's debuts got. I only know that, because WWE fans are making sure they point it out repeatedly.

I honestly don't get the Hendry hype. Dude is basically a meme. It's ridiculous how over he is though considering the promotion he wrestles for. He stuck his song on Spotify recently and I think he actually charted in the UK.

Good for him.

And yeah, WWE knows how to tell a story. The issue with AEW is they don't, like, at all. Sometimes they do, sometimes I even really appreciate their more subtle ways of storytelling and how they do longterm stuff and callbacks. But generally, it can often feel like someone playing Universe mode in a WWE 2K game.

Heel Okada is still hilarious though.

But seriously, do better, AEW. Level up. Get out of first gear already.

[Reprise]

Oh and there's a rumour going around that Shane McMahon actually has reached out to AEW about potentially working for them

[Raging Justice]

I'm not a huge mark for Joe Hendry or anything, but I do think he's pretty funny. I think he's been in TNA for a while, but he's obviously getting more attention now. NXT is kind of interesting to watch lately. They have so much talent there, especially on the female side of things. I'm still not totally familiar with all of the people I see over there.

Okada was hilarious last night. I don't know if you saw this

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... ap_during/

I think I've said this before, but one thing AEW does better than WWE is integrating Japanese talent. Both Okada and Mina seem to be VERY comfortable in AEW in front of American audiences. Speaking of which...

I think Mina could do the sexy actress thing WAAAAAAY better than Toni Storm. I'm not saying that I want her to have that gimmick, but Mina totally gives off sexy, Marilyn Monroe vibes. She has a sexy, sultry voice, even with the Japanese accent. "I want Mina. YOU want Mina. EVERYONE wants Mina".

Me:



Mina Shirakawa looked hot as fuck last night! Toni Storm and Mariah May looked like idiots like they always do. Mina was speaking English and getting reactions from the crowd. Impressive. I hate this whole Toni Storm gimmick, but it's interesting how they've worked Saraya and Anna Jay into it. Saraya kind of seems motivated lately. Maybe she still has something to offer. I wish her the best.



It's not perfect, but AEW's women's division is getting more interesting than it's been in quite some time. I think Mercedes is starting to "get it". She had a nice video package last night and we're starting to see that great Sasha Banks that we've seen in WWE. I think she even teased that she might show up at an upcoming NJPW show where Stephanie Vaquer will be defending her title.

Swerve and Ospreay had a nice promo battle. I really like Swerve right now. He's giving off really good tweener vibes. He's a face, but one who values that title so much he seems willing to do whatever it takes to hold on to it, even mentioning Ospreay's family to piss him off. I also like that, much like Mercedes, Swerve is kind of a minor celebrity and doesn't mind reminding us of that every now and then. Former military and current rap mogul celebrity, he's one of the most interesting characters in wrestling. I've never liked squeaky clean baby faces, so I find myself rooting for Swerve in this title match. He's got layers to his character right now, Ospreay has none. I respect Ospreay as a talent, but I find him to be a rather boring face. The weird thing is, Otis in WWE is kind of a squeaky clean babyface and I really him. I don't know, maybe Otis just pulls it off better.

[Reprise]

Yeah, I know Hendry from TNA and like him. I think he used to wrestle for WCPW a while back too. I just don't know how he got so crazy over. All of a sudden I started seeing memes and gifs of him everywhere. It's kinda mad, fair play to him.

Okada was hilarious last night. I don't know if you saw this

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... ap_during/

I did see that. It made me laugh out loud

It does help that I can't stand Max Caster's goofy cringe 'edgelord' raps anymore.

I am definitely more interested in the women's division right now.

And I agree about Swerve, I prefer my faces to be a little rough around the edges and be closer to tweeners.

It has been confirmed Hangman will be back soon, by early July I believe, so I wonder if he will be the wildcard in the Owen Hart cup. Speaking of which, is it me or have they made it too obvious Danielson is winning that thing? I mean it's not going to be Pac, Jay White, Jeff Jarrett, Ray Fenix or Shingo, is it? So unless Ospreay is the wildcard, it is surely Danielson who is winning.

My prediction is Swerve retains at Forbidden Door, Bryan Danielson wins the cup and then gets the win at All In for the title in a major upset, Bryan holds the title until Wrestledream where he drops it to Ospreay in a retirement match. Maybe haha.

[Raging Justice]

Sums up how I feel about a lot of things surrounding Timeless Toni Storm:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AEWOfficial/co ... /confused/

It's like I'm Nostradamus, people are starting to like The Learning Tree:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... e_brother/

I said not long ago that I felt he had turned a corner with it

[Reprise]

I recently mentioned how obvious it is that Danielson is winning the Owen Hart Cup and main eventing All In for the title, unless Ospreay loses Forbidden Door and is the wild card entry.

Meltzer highlighted the main issue that demonstrates that Danielson is winning: The total lack of star power.

Where is Okada? Where is MJF? Where is Christian?

You should be booking your biggest stars for this thing and Khan isn't for whatever reason (probably because he doesn't want those guys taking losses )

[Raging Justice]

I recently mentioned how obvious it is that Danielson is winning the Owen Hart Cup and main eventing All In for the title, unless Ospreay loses Forbidden Door and is the wild card entry.

Meltzer highlighted the main issue that demonstrates that Danielson is winning: The total lack of star power.

Where is Okada? Where is MJF? Where is Christian?

You should be booking your biggest stars for this thing and Khan isn't for whatever reason (probably because he doesn't want those guys taking losses )

I like the idea behind the Owen Hart Cup, but it never feels like a bid deal to me. If it's going to be around Forbidden Door season every year, why not have some non-AEW stars compete for it? I'm sorry, I just love international tournaments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUanKzytWZ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_9Bo26aKVM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNK0GI6aEA

I know people complain about complete unknowns competing in AEW, but a tournament is a perfect excuse for that. These aren't people getting randomly thrown into AEW's ongoing creative. They are just there for a special event. We got a little taste of that with the Casino Gauntlet match.

[Reprise]

I like the idea behind the Owen Hart Cup, but it never feels like a bid deal to me.

I agree, but I figured they realised that this was a problem this year and so introduced the idea of having the winners compete for the world titles at All In this year. I thought it would be treated as a bigger deal.

They only have 8 entries. Personally I would add extra brackets and make it a bigger deal. EVERYONE should want a shot at the World Title. It should be the very reason they became a wrestler. I would have MJF in it, Samoa Joe, Hook, Malakai Black, Ricky Starks, hell stick Cash Wheeler in there in his first go at being a singles star.

And yes, have some guys from other promotions too.

I haven't even looked at the Women's, but it's probably going to be Mariah May or Kris Statlander, I guess.

[Reprise]

In fact, we're going to see him this week on Smackdown attempting to get his own back on CM Punk. It's obvious.

[Raging Justice]

In fact, we're going to see him this week on Smackdown attempting to get his own back on CM Punk. It's obvious.

Yeah, you were right.

In a perfect world this would be the end of the feud as it looked like Drew murdered him last night.

The Bloodline got another new member and...



In slightly more interesting news, Stephanie Vaqer and Mercedes had an in ring physical altercation down in CMLL. Vaqer does wicked head buts