The Wrestling Thread

[Gamerforlife]

Royal Rumble - while I would have liked to see the Triple Threat match and Bray's early match domination I'm very happy I didn't spend the $9.99 to see the rest of this. From following it the rest of the matches were uneventful and the Royal Rumble match itself sounds like a total disaster. I didn't like Reigns before and I like him even less now that he's being pushed down our throats. Short of a couple jobbers I would have been ok with almost anyone else winning it. It just confirms what I've felt for a long time that creatively they've lost it.

I'm very happy that I can watch TNA and ROH every week because they are at least entertaining. ROH gave us a fun Daniels vs El Patron match. That was free and worth watching with the Lethal storyline. I wish Lucha Underground was on Charter. It sounds like something I'd enjoy.

Lucha Underground is the best wrestling show on TV in my opinion, and several wrestling websites are started to back up that opinion. Here's a great article fully laying out every single reason Lucha Underground is better than WWE's current product:

http://whatculture.com/wwe/7-reasons-wh ... an-wwe.php

In fact, their Aztec Warfare match puts both Royal Rumble 2014 and Royal Rumble 2015 to shame and it was on free TV.



I won't knock Ring of Honor, but I think Lucha Underground and AXS TV's New Japan show are the creme of the crop of wrestling TV. Check out the latest episode covering the fourth match in the Okada/Tanahashi feud:



Five star match right there, with commentary that would make even Jim Ross jealous, and I say that with the utmost respect to JR.

So, here's a fun fact. WWE's network cancellation page crashed after the Rumble. I happen to know some people who went and cancelled it myself.

WWE is complete and utter crap right now, and it's NOT getting better. You can already see them setting us up for another 10 years of Cena style bullshit with Roman Reigns, and last night's Rumble just confirms that. I don't know why WWE won't just accept that Daniel Bryan is the Hulk Hogan/Austin of this era. I mean, people BOOED THE ROCK. That's how pissed they were about Bryan's Rumble elimination. Bryan is a megastar...yet WWE refuses to treat him like one. It's so bizarre and surreal.

[SNESdrunk]

The best part of this whole thing is that despite how mad everyone is, these same people will watch the next show wondering if their anger will be acknowledged. Classic Stockholm Syndrome type stuff.

I don't understand why people can't just stop watching. I was a ginormous wrestling nerd (to this day I can still rattle off every Wrestlemania card up to 20, every Royal Rumble winner, etc.) but around 2007 I just stopped. It wasn't fun anymore. I have a hard time understanding why more people don't just stop.

[Gamerforlife]

Well tonight, everyone has the option of watching Lucha Underground, as they are re-airing their best episodes due to inclement weather while Raw is being cancelled.

So basically, everyone can re-watch or watch for the first time the Aztec Warfare match that is about 100 times better than last night's rumble.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/201 ... w-tonight/

[jmbarnes101]

I watched that Aztec Warfare match last night, thanks to the link in this thread, and was pulling for Johnny Mundo or Chavo and his "partner". Not sure I cared much for the cross dresser but the match itself was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys wrestling. Makes me long for WCW and ECW though as some of these guys could be the next Benoit/Jericho/Mysterio types but likely never will be with WWE being the only really big player.

As for WWE they should let creative go and just let whomever runs NXT run the whole thing. They might just be able to save it from itself.

[samsonlonghair]

I never thought I was going to see Bubba Ray Dudley again, or Diamond Dallas Page for that matter.

[Gamerforlife]

Bizarre that WWE is replaying the Rumble match and main event on Raw for free from what I'm reading online. Course 0 dollars is about what that Rumble match was worth. And it's surreal that the Royal Rumble from last night was airing on TV tonight opposite Aztec Warfare from Lucha Underground. You could actually switch back and forth between both channels and see how dramatically better Aztec Warfare was.

If Lucha had a bigger audience this would almost feel like the Monday Night Wars

[Gamerforlife]

Finally saw the best 2 out of 3 series between Team 3D, The Hardy Boys and The American Wolves from TNA. Awesome stuff. Some fantastic matches between 6 talented guys.

[Mad_Hatter]

Bought tickets to Fast Lane! Going with my 2 brothers. Probably won't see Lesnar which sucks, but Sting is guaranteed to make an appearance.

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[Gamerforlife]

I don't think Fast Lane will be very good from what I'm hearing. No Lesnar. Bryan in a match with one of the worst workers in WWE (Roman Reigns)where Bryan will probably do a lot of selling for him as Reigns does the same 4 or 5 moves of doom over and over. Then Bryan will likely lose so Vince can really give the Daniel Bryan fans the finger, since he apparently didn't piss them off enough at the Rumble.

This will suck, but I'd like to be wrong. It'll be interesting to hit up the wrestling sites after the pay per view and see if I was right.

I caught some of Stone Cold's interview with Triple H on Austin's postcast and essentially all I heard was Hunter just giving bullshit excuses for why the product sucks so much right now. I fucking hate the whole "heel crowd" myth. That when a guy like Reigns gets booed it's because the crowd likes heels. No, it just means you have a smart crowd that cheers for the most talented, hard working guys. If most of them happen to be your heels, that's just a coincidence.

On a positive note, Lucha Underground kicked ass this week with the return of John Morrison and the debut of Albert Del Rio. The crowds are starting to get really lively and I'm hearing that's it hard to even get into their taped shows since so many people buy tickets. There was a hilarious "You fucked up" chant at one point in the show done completely in kayfabe towards Son of Havok after his match where he accidentally knocked his valet Ivalisse off the apron, which led to her storming off in anger after the match. I've heard "you fucked up" chants before but usually for botched moves, not for an actual storyline reason.

It's little moments like those that make this show so awesome on a weekly basis. And the storyline stuff, so far ahead of what you expect from wrestling. Character development, teases, mysteries, heel/face turns that actually make sense, pre-show recaps establishing a sense of continuity, video packages showing wrestlers in fights that look right out of an action movie. This is fucking quality stuff.

I caught Ring of Honor too this week and thought the debut of "The Peacock of Professional Wrestling" Dalton Castle was really fun. On par with how awesome NXT entrances for Fin Balor and Adam Rose have felt in the past.

I'm kind of glad WWE sucks so hard right now as it finally pushed me to start devoting more time into other wrestling promotions and Christ there's a lot of quality stuff out there.

[RCBH928]

I didn't read anything above because I don't want to read any spoilers, I just want to know was the Royal Rumble 2015 ppv good or lousy ?