The Wrestling Thread

[Raging Justice]

Hangman giving off serious serial killer vibes:

[Reprise]

Hangman giving off serious serial killer vibes:

Is it me, or is Hangman's obsessive, almost unhinged yet weirdly justified hatred of Swerve similar to the storyline being told in WWE between Drew and Punk?

However I much prefer the way AEW have told their story.

[Reprise]

Can a lot of wrestling fans now just no longer suspend their disbelief anymore or something?

Clips and posts on the Hangman setting fire to Swerve's house on social media are full of posts along the lines of:

"This is so goofy. Arson is a serious crime, Hangman should be in jail. This story makes no sense"

"Committing serious felonies live on the air is AEW jumping the shark"

Etc.

It's professional wrestling ffs. The whole history of this form of entertainment is full of storylines that require you to suspend your disbelief somewhat and just go with it. People seriously think all the weekly instances of serious assault and grievous bodily harm without charges would also fly in the real world?

And what about all the supernatural stuff companies have always done?

What about Undertaker and Kane setting eachother on fire?

What about Triple H literally drugging the boss's daughter and tricking her into marrying him?

What about Rikishi attempting to MURDER Stone Cold with a fucking vehicle and there being no police investigation?

Come on...

[Raging Justice]

Nobody made those complaints about the TV constantly going black and white for Toni Storm

When WWE does stuff like this it's "cinema"

Okay but on a positive note, I did see a reddit thread that was largely positive. In fact, they were raving about this Swerve/Hangman angle. I've seen the Punk/Drew comparisons, but many people agree that this is way better. Punk/Drew is tiresome at this point. Drew murdered Punk on Raw and I rolled me eyes and thought, "Again? Haven't we done this already? Punk gets stretchered out AGAIN?!"

[Raging Justice]

Nothing can save Punk/Drew at this point except AJ Lee coming back and the audience realizing that Drew's hatred for Punk is ACTUALLY because Punk is married to her, while she's been banging Drew behind Punk's back.

Imagine Cyclops/Jean Grey where Drew is in the position of Wolverine, except in this scenario AJ Lee is sleeping with Drew, but won't divorce Punk. It's an affair.

That's how I would salvage that storyline, and AJ Lee doesn't even need to wrestle a single match. She can just be there for this story line.

Maybe that story would be better suited for when they're on the Netflix.

I personally like when people's relationships become part of a storyline, it's worked for Rhea/Dominick/Liv Morgan. I literally watched a kid cry when it was revealed that Dom had betrayed Rhea for Liv. That's a kid for chrissake. Even THEY understand how powerful these types of betrayals are. Everyone still remembers the Matt Hardy, Edge, Lita story line to this very day. Good storylines need to be personal.

[Reprise]

Yeah, most of the comments I have seen have been positive, but it's just the few I saw complaining it is "unrealistic" kinda threw me.

The Drew/Punk feud has for sure got pretty tired and played out at this point. It comes across as more petty now, rather than the vindictive and sinister tones the Hangman/Swerve feud has.

Adding AJ into the mix would certainly make it more interesting though.

[Raging Justice]

Hangman apparently brought in his own team of people to film this. That's amazing. Oh, and also amazing:



Recent quote from Tony Kahn, "It's been a long night keeping Hangman out of jail so he can have this match"

I think Hangman's been watching Perry and Darby Allin and went:

[Raging Justice]

I think AEW has successfully managed to completely overshadow Giulia's WWE debut this week.

[Reprise]

I saw that post about his titantron entrance video too. I love how they put little hints like that out there.

When AEW manage to nail something, they really nail it. All Out should be fun.

[Raging Justice]

Swerve/Hangman is what I mean when I talk about getting other people over. Timeless Toni Storm got no one over except herself. Mariah May is the women's champion right now and no one cares. No one is talking about her.

Hangman's feud with Swerve however, has elevated Swerve from lower mid-card guy to world champion. It also revitalized Hangman's career. Some people are calling Hangman the best heel in wrestling right now after that last episode of Dynamite. Hell, it even kind of helped Bryan Danielson. A side effect of Hangman's feud with Swerve is Danielson finally becoming a world champion.

I've complained about Timeless Toni Storm for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that it has done nothing for anyone.

Mercedes gets a lot of criticism, and it's not entirely undeserved. However, to her credit, she has elevated the TBS title. She also helped Willow become more of a star in AEW. Now Willow's getting regular screen time with a lot of the male talent in AEW. Willow's transcended the women's division. Toni Storm has buried her side of the women's division, while Mercedes has elevated her side. The TBS title has now leap frogged over the women's title in importance. Now we have Shida competing for the TBS title at All Out because no one gives a fuck about the women's title.

For the people who go on and on about how great Toni Storm's title reign and timeless gimmick were, I would ask them one simple question. Who did it benefit? From where I'm standing...absolutely no one. And on top of that it devalued the women's title. Every female who matters in AEW right now is going after the TBS title or revolving around it (including Kamile). The TBS champion is even fighting battles in other companies like Mone's recent defense of the NJPW Strong title against a member of Stardom.

It's sad what Storm has done to the women's title and the history surrounding it. It's a joke title now.