The Wrestling Thread

[Raging Justice]

This old Smackdown clip seems particularly relevant now:

[Reprise]

As of today, Okada is a free agent. Michael Cole might even say he's the hottest free agent in the business... (except Okada is probably AEW bound, so he probably won't get the chance)

[Reprise]

Rumour has it that AEW was about to announce Mercedes had signed this weekend just gone, but delayed the announcement due to all the Vince lawsuit news dropping.

Does AEW ever do surprise signings? Remind me, my memory is shit. Because I much prefer the days when you'd just watch a weekly wrestling show and then *bang* "holy shit, [insert big name here] just debuted!" Why announce Mercedes has signed, instead of, oh I don't know, having her come out unexpected in the middle of Dynamite or Collision (or better yet, a PPV) and have her do something fun.

I seem to remember Sting debuting was a surprise. To me at least. Possibly Matt Hardy too. Others though, like Punk, Christian, Danielson, Adam Cole, Paige (sorry, Saraya) and even Edge weren't really surprises, even when they were made to be surprises (if you know what I mean). Punk was announced well ahead of schedule to promote Rampage and ensure they get a massive ratings jump.

Maybe it was just a sign of the times and with our constant online culture and the need for instant gratification. There's no getting away from the fact dirt sheets talk about this shit and speculate about this stuff leading up to it happening anyways.

I just miss the days of when I watched the Royal Rumble in 2000 (my first PPV I watched as it happened, as it was the first one shown on free TV here in the UK) and Tazz debuted! As a kid I marked out massively for that. Nothing tops Jericho's debut though. I had no idea he was hopping over from WCW. It even resulted in him being in both WCW Mayhem and WWF Smackdown which released within a few months of eachother.

[Markies]

Rumour has it that AEW was about to announce Mercedes had signed this weekend just gone, but delayed the announcement due to all the Vince lawsuit news dropping.

Does AEW ever do surprise signings? Remind me, my memory is shit. Because I much prefer the days when you'd just watch a weekly wrestling show and then *bang* "holy shit, [insert big name here] just debuted!" Why announce Mercedes has signed, instead of, oh I don't know, having her come out unexpected in the middle of Dynamite or Collision (or better yet, a PPV) and have her do something fun.

I seem to remember Sting debuting was a surprise. To me at least. Possibly Matt Hardy too. Others though, like Punk, Christian, Danielson, Adam Cole, Paige (sorry, Saraya) and even Edge weren't really surprises, even when they were made to be surprises (if you know what I mean). Punk was announced well ahead of schedule to promote Rampage and ensure they get a massive ratings jump.

Maybe it was just a sign of the times and with our constant online culture and the need for instant gratification. There's no getting away from the fact dirt sheets talk about this shit and speculate about this stuff leading up to it happening anyways.

I just miss the days of when I watched the Royal Rumble in 2000 (my first PPV I watched as it happened, as it was the first one shown on free TV here in the UK) and Tazz debuted! As a kid I marked out massively for that. Nothing tops Jericho's debut though. I had no idea he was hopping over from WCW. It even resulted in him being in both WCW Mayhem and WWF Smackdown which released within a few months of eachother.

It's all about the TV Ratings.

I read somewhere that Turner wasn't exactly happy about Sting just randomly appearing on Dynamite. They said that if they knew ahead of time, they could have marketed it even further. So, for big debuts, they announce ahead of time to get as many eyes on the product as possible.

They still do unannounced debuts, but they are returns or smaller people that wouldn't pop a rating.

[Reprise]

It's all about the TV Ratings.

I read somewhere that Turner wasn't exactly happy about Sting just randomly appearing on Dynamite. They said that if they knew ahead of time, they could have marketed it even further. So, for big debuts, they announce ahead of time to get as many eyes on the product as possible.

They still do unannounced debuts, but they are returns or smaller people that wouldn't pop a rating.

Yeah, I do remember that about Turner and Sting and did mean to mention that... To respond to that theory though: Ok (and I do hate to sound like those toxic tribalistic fans online), but their ratings are still shit. None of their debuts or announcements pop ratings. The only person who ever popped a serious rating for them, that I can recall, was CM Punk.

You watch, they will announce Okada and Mone and still get between 700-900,000 for Dynamite and 300-500,000 for Collision.

I think it's a bit of a fallacy. Because you can also lead to a more sustainable ratings increase if you create the illusion of "hey, anyone could show up here at any time" and "who knows what will happen? If you don't watch, you might miss out" etc. You don't create 'must watch' tv by making announcements and keeping surprises to a minimum.

That's just my opinion though.

Edit: By the way, Meltzer reports that AEW were going to announce both Mercedes AND Okada had signed last weekend and the aim was to take attention away from the Rumble and put eyes on AEW.

[Raging Justice]

Like with everything in life, corporations and big companies ruin everything. It WOULD be more fun to see surprise returns, but of course the networks get all pissy that they can't market it ahead of time

[Raging Justice]

Meltzer has been claiming low attendance figures for a while now, so hopefully Okada and Mercedes will increase interest in AEW. It feels like they really need something big right now.

There's a lot of fun things you could do with Okada. Bring up his old alliance with Cassidy, revisit his NJPW feud with Omega when he returns, have him feud with Takeshita to have all the Japanese wrestling fans go crazy, maybe do something with him and Bryan again.

I think it'd make a big impact if he eventually takes the title from Joe, then Tony can brag all over Twitter that they have a Japanese world champion, unlike WWE.

Then, do an Okada/Hangman world title feud. You can keep them both as faces. I'd have their first encounter be a time limit draw or something on a big PPV. Make Okada/Hangman become this big rivalry that can be revisited regularly like Okada/Tanahashi was in NJPW. A rivalry over who is AEW's top dog.

AEW has enough talented women on the roster now for a great division if they do bring in Mercedes. First and foremost, you gotta focus on promos. She has to have some verbal jousts with the likes of Baker, Mariah May, Taya Valkyrie, Purazzo, Serena Deeb, etc. You gotta give people a reason to care about the matches. Do some awesome sit down interviews or something too with Jim Ross or Schiavoni

I'm also a strong believer in doing some type of deal with Stardom to get some of those ladies on TV here, even WWE wants to court Stardom right now.

[Raging Justice]

So kind of interesting that TNA had a whole segment on their show last night about Jordynn Grace being in the Royal Rumble. It was a little surreal randomly seeing a picture of Roman Reigns on a TNA broadcast. Triple H in a recent interview threw shade at the "Forbidden Door" concept though he didn't say it by name. Maybe WWE is no longer going to be an isolated island that ignores the existence of other companies. I have been noticing in the past year or so that Cole actually talks about Japanese companies on commentary. NJPW and Stardom are both canon in WWE land now

Apparently, so is TNA

Also, MLW has been doing some segments in Boyle Heights with Selina de la Renta. I haven't been following MLW but it seems like she's looking for "El Jefe". Man if MLW did more references to Lucha Underground I'd actually start tuning in regularly. Check out the first 5 seconds of this clip, man I felt the nostalgia

[Reprise]

Mick Foley has said he is training and trying to get cleared for one final match, which he wants to be a bloody death match. There's already rumours (baseless ones I think) that he could face Jon Moxley.

No wrestler ever truly retires, do they?

[Reprise]

Caught up on the Smackdown highlights. I get it, promotions have to adapt and change storylines. Brock being named in the lawsuit means they cancelled his plans and Punk being injured means his match against Seth is off.

That said, I know Raging would rather see Rock vs Roman than Cody, but I am just not buying it. That whole speech on Raw, as brilliant as Seth is on the mic and in the ring, was lame. It IS a consolation prize because the WWE wants Boring Reigns to surpass Hogan's and god knows what other records. End of. There is no storyline sense for any of this. If this was a novel or a movie, it would be atrocious. There's no beginning, middle or end, just endless filler and nonsensical detours. And fuck the Rock. Nobody needs to see him take yet another Wrestlemania headline slot. You have guys who crazy over and crazy good, like Seth, like Gunther, like LA Knight, like Drew, and yes, like Cody and though I am not personally a huge fan and the WWE once again lets Roman Reigns and the fucking Rock hog the spotlight.

No doubt the clapping seals and sheep that currently make up the WWE fandom will be celebrating this bollocks, like they always do now. It's going to the best Mania yet, I am sure

These promos on Raw and now Smackdown are there to convince the fans that the match they really want is Seth vs Cody. Of course it isn't. We have already had that match three times. It's boring. The WWE will now spend the next 60 days trying to convince us that this is actually all part of Cody's story, which it definitely isn't, while The Rock tries to convince fans that his family feud, which is now FOUR years late, is what they would rather have. The Bloodline story, which is barely even a story at this point, should have ran its course a long time ago.

At least the break up of Damage CTRL has been done well and Bayley was the right choice to win the Rumble.

Finally, off topic, but speaking of Drew who I mentioned above, his mocking of CM Punk is hilarious

On to AEW. I marathoned my way through the latest two Dynamites last night (now I just need to at least watch the cage match from last week's Collision). I fell asleep during the second Dynamite during the RVD vs Swerve match (was that the main event?), so I need to rewatch the last bit. AEW has had a really mixed 2023. At times it bas been pretty bad, but it feels like they are in the process of collecting themselves and making some changes to improve their shows. Watching the two Dynamites, it was sad to see just how bad their attendance was. I hope they can then that around.

They have me excited for Revolution next month. The women's division already seems to getting better and I think they are preparing for Mercedes to come in soon (rumour is she will debut in early March). I am really looking forward to Swerve, Hangman and Joe have a triple threat at Revolution. Speaking of that, I think one complaint I have with AEW is how predictable it is right now. Swerve and Hangman are wrestling next week to determine the number one contender, but we all know that it will end in a draw and we will get a triple threat.

Also, the Bucks' new gimmick seems like a flop. Nick and Matt Jackson do nothing for me right now and it seems like the crowd doesn't care either. No heat, no cheers, no boos, nothing. Just crickets. They come across as naturally unlikeable and petulant, but this heel persona they have right now is just boring. Still, their match against Sting and Darby should be fun.

Anyways, what I am saying is even though AEW has come off of a very mixed year and has had plenty of issues, it is still more interesting to me. WWE will always be WWE and will always do WWE things, with or without Vince. Yeah, it's cool he's gone, it's cool Triple H is just better at creative and it's cool they are working with/acknowledging other promotions ("BuT tHe TeRm FoRbIdDeN dOoR iS sTuPiD"). But they will always rely on guys like the Rock and Cena and they will always do that to the detriment of their actual full-time roster. At least AEW doesn't do that and through the bad you know they will always try to climb out of whatever hole they put themselves in, so it's more exciting seeing what they are going to do.