The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

Legitimately one of the best Dynamite openings ever imo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta98t1Gn3Mg

I hope they scrap this Deathriders crap soon and pivot away from it HARD. Get rid of Cope ( ) and Mox from the main event scene and use them sparingly.

[Markies]

Apparently, the last Dynamite and Collision have been getting rave reviews.

But, it has been reported that WWE's interest in TNA is strictly to stick it to AEW. With Raw on Netflix, some of their TV deals in other countries are going to expire, so they are trying to move them to TNA. Also, they want to create a belief that TNA is the second largest wrestling company.

Even though TNA is cutting payroll and offering significantly lower contract prices to their talent. And they lost their best person, Scott D'Amore, because he didn't want to work so closely with WWE.

It really is a shame of what TNA has become. It was created by Jeff Jarrett, a man literally fired on WWE television, as an alternative to WWE. It was the original AEW. I used to love TNA back in the day. I liked it all until Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff took over and then I almost immediately lost interest.

[Reprise]

Apparently, the last Dynamite and Collision have been getting rave reviews.

Dynamite was awesome up until the last match between Cope and Pac and the Death Riders nonsense. Collision was great too.

Speaking of Scott D'Amore, he was apparently backstage at the recent Dynamite.

It really is a shame of what TNA has become. It was created by Jeff Jarrett, a man literally fired on WWE television, as an alternative to WWE. It was the original AEW.

Yeah, now it's basically just an NXT feeder and a way of WWE sticking it to AEW.

[Reprise]

So what did people think of the Rumble? Anyone still care about wrestling?

I thought it was mid and predictable. Cody vs KO was pretty fun. Jey Uso winning the Rumble was definitely shocking. Not in a good way and not in a bad way, but just a "oh... Ok then" way. I really thought they were going to go with Cena.

[Markies]

This has been my favorite image this past week.

https://x.com/SimpsonsWWE/status/1884702984321282323

Just reading the results and reactions, I thought the Royal Rumble winners were garbage.

I mean, WWE love to push Charlotte Flair.

Jey Uso is a terrible pick. Him and his brother had one of the worst Wrestlemania matches of all time last year and they reward him with a main event title match?? Also, he is basically a tag team wrestler and his most popular aspect of him is his entrance. That's it. I give them props that they chose a new star instead of retread like Punk, Cena, McIntyre, Rollins, Reigns or Rock, but it really shows that WWE has no stars at the moment.

[Reprise]

Agreed. The more I thought about it, the more terrible I think it is.

WWE just likes meme wrestlers these days with slogans like YEET they can shove on shirts to sell. That and celebrities and gross people like Logan Paul.

Charlotte winning was sooooo predictable. Both rumbles were fairly poorly booked to be honest and had few surprises. Alexa Bliss returning was apparently a shock. Not to me, but I apparently missed dirt sheets claiming she might not return?

Dynamite was also pretty bad this week (haven't seen Collision yet, as I watched the Rumble instead, so no idea about that), so sadly not a great week for either WWE or AEW. Mind you, WWE doesn't care what I think about their product. They have 70,000 people going to shows like the Rumble who are clearly REALLY into it. I have to give it to them, their crowds are so hot for what they are watching.

[Markies]

Oh yeah, that is WWE perfectly. Wrestling is like 4th or 5th of what is important on the list to them. They don't want wrestlers. They want performers or personalities who can put on a competent wrestling match like once a month.

Apparently, Alexa Bliss and WWE are in contract dispute. Many WWE stars see people like the Rock or Batista and are trying to use the WWE as a jumping off point to larger success. So, they are signing with talent agencies to help catapult them. Prime example of this is Jade Cargill. So, Alexa did that and she is also married to Ryan Caberara along with having a child a year ago, so she has this really old contract and she wanted to negotiate a new deal. I'm assuming WWE said no, so she has to work off the rest of her dates. Then, if she has enough outside interest, she could leave and do something else.

I felt bad for Dynamite/Collision this week because apparently it was going to be centered around Powerhouse Hobbs. But, his injury was much worse, so they had to scrap it all and that is why it felt very run of the mill. I liked the signing of Megan Bayne for AEW. She could be a real asset and a nice powerhouse worker for their women's division. I liked the turn back to Timeless Toni last week. That'll be a big match that they will run in Australia, which would mean a lot to Toni.

I hope that the Death Riders are turning around. They still feel a little directionless, but I think Adam Copeland could help out in that way. He's a great worker and I think him and Mox could do really well together. And I love to see Ospreay/Omega together. That has been awesome so far!

[Reprise]

I felt bad for Dynamite/Collision this week because apparently it was going to be centered around Powerhouse Hobbs. But, his injury was much worse, so they had to scrap it all and that is why it felt very run of the mill. I liked the signing of Megan Bayne for AEW. She could be a real asset and a nice powerhouse worker for their women's division. I liked the turn back to Timeless Toni last week. That'll be a big match that they will run in Australia, which would mean a lot to Toni.

I hope that the Death Riders are turning around. They still feel a little directionless, but I think Adam Copeland could help out in that way. He's a great worker and I think him and Mox could do really well together. And I love to see Ospreay/Omega together. That has been awesome so far!

Ah that sucks about Hobbs. I hadn't realised that. I know they had to change a lot the previous week because of the storm, so it's pretty frustrating for them that things had to change last minute again.

I hope the Death Riders story can be turned around, but I sadly don't have much faith. Maybe it will be one of those things where the conclusion (or the final half) is so good that I forget about the slow journey it took to get there, but I have doubts. It just feels directionless. Their interview with Renee that was uploaded to social media last week helped add meat onto the bone, but it feels like something that would have been more helpful 3 or 4 months ago and would have also be better placed on television.

[Raging Justice]

So what did people think of the Rumble? Anyone still care about wrestling?

Just barely. AEW has become background noise while I do other things, and I'm not getting Netflix to watch Raw or sit through boring, three hour Smackdowns.

I've been spending most of my time retro gaming with emulators on my Retroid Pocket 5. Modern games, modern wrestling, and modern TV holds very little interest to me right now. I just want to crawl into a time machine and head back to the 90s or even the early 2000s.

I'm hoping we see a culture shift in the next few years now that there's new leadership in my country, because the entertainment we have now is truly awful.

EDIT: I need to change my avatar. Cobra Kai's final season has been pure trash

[Reprise]

Interesting... Both WWE and AEW are going through a series of releases and cuts.

WWE released a bunch of names over the weekend and now AEW did the same. Interestingly, AEW has essentially released everyone who was being paid to stay at home and didn't want to be there anyways.

It was reported last month that Ricky Starks requested his release and was denied his request by AEW. Well now he has got his wish, as he has been released. Last year, it was reported Miro requested his release and it was allegedly denied and now he has been granted his wish. Malakai Black allegedly had issues in AEW and was recently written off tv and is now gone too.

Black and Starks are likely to be heading to WWE. No idea about Miro.

Out of the WWE releases, Cedric Alexander is a possibility to head to AEW. Other WWE releases are Sonya Deville, Akam
Rezar, Paul Ellering, Blair Davenport, Cedric Alexander, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Isla Dawn, Giovanni Vinci and Elektra Lopez.