The Wrestling Thread

[Raging Justice]

I am quite happy at how the Bloodline story line ended. I was worried when they shoehorned Cody Rhodes into it, but I am happy to see that they came to their senses and removed him from the story line and put the focus back on Sammie, Kevin, and the Usos. The story was always about them and never about Cody. Having Jey be the final note in this story is perfect since I feel like this whole thing all started with conflict between him and Roman, and it pays off what Sammie has said for months about Jey wanting to turn on Roman. I don't think things are over between Roman and the Usos, but the Bloodline as we knew it is done.

I am also happy that Cody did not end Roman's championship reign and that Seth Rollins (the most over guy in WWE) got the new world title. I've actually enjoyed watching Brock Lesnar beat the living crap out of Cody as his consolation prize

Cody has the lamest catchphrase in pro wrestling today by the way. "What do you wanna talk about?"

I loved when Brock threw that stupid catchphrase in his face while utterly destroying him. "LET'S TALK ABOUT ME CODY!!!! LOOK AT MY FACE!!!!"

Brock's a legend.

I haven't watched Collision on principle, but I read reports that there were people booing Punk. Yes, he got cheers as expected given it's Chicago, but he didn't have the entire crowd with him. I read that people in attendance at the last episode of Dynamite also heard people booing when Punk was shown onscreen to promote Collision. I wonder if AEW is playing with the audio for the TV broadcasts. I know WWE is infamous for doing this to protect certain wrestlers, but there have been reports of AEW occasionally doing this as well, usually on Rampage.

You're right. Wrestling is generally great right now. There are TONS of options for every type of fan, including people who are into weird and hilarious stuff like you see in DDT where they literally have matches with a sex doll. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5pR_0Rq8mY). You haven't lived until you've seen a Yoshihiko match. Women's wrestling is getting better than ever, largely due to Stardom (their matches blow away the stuff we see from the women in AEW/WWE every week). Plus, WWE for all its flaws has had one of the best story lines in the company's history with the Bloodline, and AEW is having one of the best title reigns in the company's history right now with Orange Cassidy. Bring on Forbidden Door! God, I hope they get Mayu Iwatani on the show somehow.

[Reprise]

I haven't watched Collision on principle

[Reprise]

Not sure if this is the best thread or if perhaps it should have its own designated thread, but the new AEW game Fight Forever finally comes out next week. The gameplay looks great and it seems like there's a ton of variety in terms of weapons and things you can do. I am pretty excited for the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch. Supposedly the creative suit is fairly primitive and it lacks all the content the WWE games have, but I am not too concerned about that.

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

Also, this is in the story mode...

[Raging Justice]

Not sure if this is the best thread or if perhaps it should have its own designated thread, but the new AEW game Fight Forever finally comes out next week. The gameplay looks great and it seems like there's a ton of variety in terms of weapons and things you can do. I am pretty excited for the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch. Supposedly the creative suit is fairly primitive and it lacks all the content the WWE games have, but I am not too concerned about that.

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

Also, this is in the story mode...

Well that's definitely going to re-ignite all of those, is the Punk/Elite drama a work debates. I think they're probably just having fun with it because they know everybody knows about it

Anyway, I think there's a Switch version, which surprised me. I'll probably check it out as I find all of my gaming lately to be on that device. I haven't actually played a wrestling game in ages so it should be fun.

Kind of off topic, but you mentioned the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch. Ever see the one between Combat Toyota and Megumi Kodo? It's pretty amazing, particularly if you also watch all of the pre and post match happenings. There's a story being told there and it's pretty great. I don't want to oversell it, but some people consider it one of the greatest matches of all time. Actually, I think it's on youtube. Here we go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmw3TyNtZhE

[Reprise]

Not sure if this is the best thread or if perhaps it should have its own designated thread, but the new AEW game Fight Forever finally comes out next week. The gameplay looks great and it seems like there's a ton of variety in terms of weapons and things you can do. I am pretty excited for the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch. Supposedly the creative suit is fairly primitive and it lacks all the content the WWE games have, but I am not too concerned about that.

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

Also, this is in the story mode...

Well that's definitely going to re-ignite all of those, is the Punk/Elite drama a work debates. I think they're probably just having fun with it because they know everybody knows about it

Anyway, I think there's a Switch version, which surprised me. I'll probably check it out as I find all of my gaming lately to be on that device. I haven't actually played a wrestling game in ages so it should be fun.

Kind of off topic, but you mentioned the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch. Ever see the one between Combat Toyota and Megumi Kodo? It's pretty amazing, particularly if you also watch all of the pre and post match happenings. There's a story being told there and it's pretty great. I don't want to oversell it, but some people consider it one of the greatest matches of all time. Actually, I think it's on youtube. Here we go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmw3TyNtZhE

Yeah, the Switch version actually looks pretty decent. The game has leaked early on Series X, PS5 and Switch, and the Switch version seems to run well enough from footage I saw on Youtube. Not as smooth (think it might be 30fps, whereas PS5 is 60fps, but I am just guessing) and not as pretty, but seems to play and look fine all things considered.

No, I have never watched that match actually! Thanks for the youtube link, I'll give it a watch this afternoon.

[Raging Justice]

I haven't watched Forbidden Door yet, but Stardom also had a show this Sunday which I did watch. People had wondered if any Stardom talent would be on AEW's Forbidden Door, but since this event took place on the same day that didn't happen, or at least that's what people like Dave Meltzer claimed. Man, the main event was wild. It was a crazy cage match where two of Stardom's factions fought each other. Queen's Quest versus Oedo Tai. To win the match every member of one faction had to escape the cage. The last person in the ring for the losing team would get eliminated from their faction. Going into this match, the leader of the baby face faction (Utami Hayashishta) and one of its other members (Saya Kamitani) had been having issues with each other. The way the match ended and the post match fall out was really memorable. This is the kind of stuff that makes me love Stardom. There are some amazing screen shots people have posted online for this match, but they're spoilerish. There are some fun gifs I wanna post though:




Cage matches are a fairly recent addition to Stardom and it's been fun seeing what they do with them. There was another one on the card featuring Mayu Iwatani who literally had to be carried by her team to the ring as she seems to really not like cages It was pretty hilarious



One thing I didn't understand is that some of the girls on this show didn't have their traditional outfits and were kind of wearing casual clothes. I don't know if there was an actual reason for this or did some of these girls get their luggage stolen or something? A lot of the girls in Stardom usually come to the ring wearing some of the most awesome outfits you'll ever see in women's wrestling.

Anyway, fun show. Now I hope Forbidden Door was awesome too. Some more fun gifs

[Raging Justice]

Okay, seems like Forbidden Door was a pretty nothing show from what I'm hearing. Great matches sure, but nothing of note happening other than a Jungle Boy heel turn, which might have been more shocking had it not already leaked online that he might go heel before the show happened. The only title change was a meaningless one that we all knew was coming with Osprey, so nothing shocking or newsworthy there. Given that Omega is an AEW guy, if feels like that title was meant to be on Osprey in the first place.

Stardom had a newsworthy show with some great matches. They win the weekend for me, because STUFF ACTUALLY HAPPENED on their show, and that main event was amazing. I feel like they took away some of my interest in Forbidden Door, cause I knew nothing would actually happen on that show. If all you care about is match quality and getting to see certain stars get in the ring together, then I imagine there will be people who will rate Forbidden Door higher, but it feels like AEW is kind of treading water at the moment. I want something exciting and newsworthy to happen. We didn't get that from their last PPV. Statlander coming back was a cool and fun moment, but not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things given how little AEW's women's division means these days. Speaking of which...

The fact that we didn't get any Stardom talent, and the fact that Mercedes Mone was not available due to injury makes Forbidden Door a very nothing show as far as the women are concerned. Tony Storm losing and making Willow a double champion could have been interesting and newsworthy, especially with Julia from Stardom gunning for Willow's New Japan Strong women's title, but alas nothing happened.

AEW needs something buzzworthy, like that awesome moment WWE had when the Usos finally turned on Roman after 3 years of being his stooges. I'm actually interested in the new direction of the Bloodline storyline now with this "Civil War".

Stories man. I feel like storytelling is kind of dead in AEW these days. There's not one single story line that they have to get heavily invested in. Stardom excels at storytelling, and WWE has at least had the Bloodline thing carrying the company for months now. AEW once had one of the best story lines in wrestling with Hangman dealing with his demons and working his way towards becoming AEW champion, then after he won the title they sort of didn't know what to do with him anymore. That's the last time I feel like AEW actually had a great storyline.

[Reprise]

Okay, seems like Forbidden Door was a pretty nothing show from what I'm hearing. Great matches sure, but nothing of note happening other than a Jungle Boy heel turn, which might have been more shocking had it not already leaked online that he might go heel before the show happened. The only title change was a meaningless one that we all knew was coming with Osprey, so nothing shocking or newsworthy there. Given that Omega is an AEW guy, if feels like that title was meant to be on Osprey in the first place.

It was a nothing show. I just finished watching and honestly I was disappointed. I kinda expected it to be a nothing show, but a small part of me wondered if we might get some big moments, since AEW's last PPV was a bit of a nothing show and because TK has been talking about how he wants to generate a huge build towards All In. I guess the fact just under half the card was kinda thrown together with no real build should have been a hint.

Speaking of All In, All Out has now been confirmed for the week after, which makes no sense to me. So what, they are going to build to two PPVs and the UK and European crowd aren't going to get half the wrestlers they expect (I am guessing) as they will be at All Out. I really hope they have something huge planned and some great stories planned, but ehhhh, I have my doubts.

We are having awesome shows at the moment. Dynamite the last couple of weeks has been incredible, Collision is fantastic so far and even Rampage has been good, which I hadn't bothered with in over a year. But they're missing the storylines. Wrestling needs good stories to keep people invested. To keep me invested at least. I stopped watching AEW some point in 2022 because they weren't keeping me interested and only started tuning back in around Revolution time earlier this year. Skye Blue being elevated up the roster is great, the Blackpool Combat Club vs the Elite stuff is fun, CMFTR vs Bullet Club is brilliant, Adam Cole vs MJF has been fun to watch as well, but AEW is definitely lacking in the storytelling overall.

Also, I hate to say it, but MJF's shtick is wearing thin and he needs to become more versatile. He's predictable in the ring and on the mic. He's a star and probably the best one they have right now, but they need to find a way to stop him getting stale and to elevate him further.

Edit: Also, maybe it's just me, maybe it's because I didn't see their previous bout and maybe it's because I don't watch NJPW, but I didn't really think the Osprey vs Omega match was as great as everyone is saying it is. The false finishes were just getting ridiculous towards the end and the pacing was a bit weird at times (to me anyways).

[Raging Justice]

Okay, seems like Forbidden Door was a pretty nothing show from what I'm hearing. Great matches sure, but nothing of note happening other than a Jungle Boy heel turn, which might have been more shocking had it not already leaked online that he might go heel before the show happened. The only title change was a meaningless one that we all knew was coming with Osprey, so nothing shocking or newsworthy there. Given that Omega is an AEW guy, if feels like that title was meant to be on Osprey in the first place.

It was a nothing show. I just finished watching and honestly I was disappointed. I kinda expected it to be a nothing show, but a small part of me wondered if we might get some big moments, since AEW's last PPV was a bit of a nothing show and because TK has been talking about how he wants to generate a huge build towards All In. I guess the fact just under half the card was kinda thrown together with no real build should have been a hint.

Speaking of All In, All Out has now been confirmed for the week after, which makes no sense to me. So what, they are going to build to two PPVs and the UK and European crowd aren't going to get half the wrestlers they expect (I am guessing) as they will be at All Out. I really hope they have something huge planned and some great stories planned, but ehhhh, I have my doubts.

We are having awesome shows at the moment. Dynamite the last couple of weeks has been incredible, Collision is fantastic so far and even Rampage has been good, which I hadn't bothered with in over a year. But they're missing the storylines. Wrestling needs good stories to keep people invested. To keep me invested at least. I stopped watching AEW some point in 2022 because they weren't keeping me interested and only started tuning back in around Revolution time earlier this year. Skye Blue being elevated up the roster is great, the Blackpool Combat Club vs the Elite stuff is fun, CMFTR vs Bullet Club is brilliant, Adam Cole vs MJF has been fun to watch as well, but AEW is definitely lacking in the storytelling overall.

Also, I hate to say it, but MJF's shtick is wearing thin and he needs to become more versatile. He's predictable in the ring and on the mic. He's a star and probably the best one they have right now, but they need to find a way to stop him getting stale and to elevate him further.

Edit: Also, maybe it's just me, maybe it's because I didn't see their previous bout and maybe it's because I don't watch NJPW, but I didn't really think the Osprey vs Omega match was as great as everyone is saying it is. The false finishes were just getting ridiculous towards the end and the pacing was a bit weird at times (to me anyways).

Yeah, I don't think there's much for me to disagree with here. I particularly like your points about MJF. He does have some flaws but people rarely ever want to be critical of him. He's something of an internet darling and people always rave about him.

And yeah, to touch on AEW's story telling issues again. The competition has really stepped it up in that department with the Bloodline stuff, and bringing up Stardom again. The reason I've been going on and on about them lately (aside from them being able to out wrestle probably 90% of the women in WWE and AEW), is that they are really good at telling a simple story and then delivering a nice, oftentimes emotional payoff. I wanna stress that last part. A lot of girls in Stardom are REALLY good at expressing emotion and it makes some moments feels so much bigger because of that. I'm not ashamed to say there have been moments where I got a bit misty eyed watching something play out in Stardom.

I mentioned before how two of the baby faces going into the main event of this weekend's show had been having issues with each other for weeks. These images are spoilery, but this is what I mean when I say I want good story telling in my wrestling

There was also some amazing post match drama involving the heels. That stuff was great too

I should probably mention that the babyfaces ran in at one point to help this girl out after she got beat down, which was pretty amazing watching them help out a former enemy, but she still ended up walking out of the arena alone trying to maintain what little she could of her dignity and pride. That's just super dramatic stuff. I felt like I had just watched a cool season finale to a TV series or something

So yeah, cool PPV

[Raging Justice]

Well, I guess the Forbidden Door is not quite closed yet. It's official now. I think all of this is really about Sasha Banks a.k.a. Mercedes Mone. I don't know how soon she'll be back from injury, but it goes without saying that her versus a former Stardom world champion is a big money match

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQMS0G6VVKw

https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1 ... 7812957185

This has the potential to be one of the best women's matches we've seen involving an AEW talent, assuming Willow can keep up in the ring with one of Stardom's best. Giulia's super popular and a faction leader so this is kind of a big deal, they could be wanting to use her to push the Stardom brand overseas. Personally, I'm more of a Tam Nakano guy, (who just so happens to be Stardom's top dog at the moment). I'm not super into Giulia but I recognize that she's a hell of a performer. She's been quite the vicious fighter of late, so I expect Willow to be on defense for most of this match.

Given how things are shaping up, it looks like the top 3 women of Japan are gonna be:

Tam Nakano (who has the Stardom White belt AND the world title)
Mayu Iwatani (the New Japan women's champion)
and Probably Giulia as the New Japan STRONG women's champ (at least until Mercedes comes and possibly takes it from her)

It's interesting that Toni Storm had some comments about a match with Giulia herself.

AEW's women's division kind of sucks, bringing in some Joshis tends to liven it up a bit though. Shida and Riho always deliver, and AEW could do some amazing things with some Stardom talent, easily outshining anything WWE has going on (poor Iyo Sky is just being wasted over there)