Wrestling Entertainment - we know, you don't have to tell us!

[DE.]

A lot of rumours swirling that Wrestlemania won't be on the WWE Network this year, instead potentially being on ESPN or traditional PPV. I certainly won't be paying for it! 

[Miller11]

I wouldn’t be at all surprised. To be honest I’ll be unlikely to watch it even if it is on the network. Totally unenthused by Wrestlemania right now.

For me the tape library is far more appealing than any of the current product and well worth the subscription. I’m currently watching early 80s mid-south. 

[DE.]

Yeah the tape library is pretty much what I have the Network for. Love watching old Nitro/Raw episodes especially, and they still hold up today (for me anyway). I will usually watch the current PPVs but more out of a sense of obligation/getting my money's worth than because I really want to. For the most part they are boring as shit, like most of WWE's modern product. 

Couldn't really care less about WM but if it was on the Network I'd still watch it. If not then meh, there are other ways. 

Scott Steiner apparently having a heart operation after collapsing recently. Fingers crossed the genetic freak comes through it alright!

[Guest]

Has to be said, I caught some WWE re-runs on BT Sport and the entire thing is much better than the old Sky Production. BT are advertising it, showing all three shows in much better time slots, have WWE branded opening and closing cards for Ad breaks. All round much better feel to the whole thing. 

[Guest]

Yet again, WWE's unwavering insistence on having the women go on last at every event possible these days ruined what was a decent PPV last night with Elimination Chamber. The SD Tag Match was awesome and I thought Lucha House Party stole the show 100%. The storyline with Heavy Machinery and Dolph/Roode embedded into the match was great too.

The "main event" was a dud. Women's chamber match for me has always been an under-performer, and having it go on last was such a waste.

Undertaker looked in REALLY good shape, didn't botch anything and I'm genuinely quite excited to see him and Styles face off at Mania, Black came across as a star too which is really great.

What could've been a solid 8/10 PPV probably dropped to a 6.5 or 7/10 because of the order of the matches here.

[Mike E]

1 hour ago, JoeH said:

Yet again, WWE's unwavering insistence on having the women go on last at every event possible these days ruined what was a decent PPV last night with Elimination Chamber. The SD Tag Match was awesome and I thought Lucha House Party stole the show 100%. The storyline with Heavy Machinery and Dolph/Roode embedded into the match was great too.

The "main event" was a dud. Women's chamber match for me has always been an under-performer, and having it go on last was such a waste.

Undertaker looked in REALLY good shape, didn't botch anything and I'm genuinely quite excited to see him and Styles face off at Mania, Black came across as a star too which is really great.

What could've been a solid 8/10 PPV probably dropped to a 6.5 or 7/10 because of the order of the matches here.

Have to agree that it needn't have gone on last, as imo it wasn't THE main event. For me, swap the Chamber matches round and highlight the first ever tag team Chamber match.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Mike E said:

Have to agree that it needn't have gone on last, as imo it wasn't THE main event. For me, swap the Chamber matches round and highlight the first ever tag team Chamber match.

Honestly, they could've booked that Women's Chamber match so well.

Have everyone fight it out for a while, no eliminations. Then Shayna Bayzler comes in last and eliminates every single competitor, one by one, in the space of three minutes.
Put her over as unstoppable before Mania.

[DE.]

I wasn't hugely enamoured with Elimination Chamber, although a distinct lack of strong build to the event was a big part of the reason why. The show itself was OK, but I wouldn't recommend anybody to go out of their way to watch it.

Bryan/Gulak was a great opener, as I expected it would be. Some of the bumps DB took did bother me though, particularly the one they kept replaying where he got dumped on the back of his head and neck. There is no way to take a bump like that safely and DB especially really shouldn't be taking those kinds of risks. It made me a bit uncomfortable and seemed reckless. Gulak looked strong in defeat, but you know WWE won't do anything with him so it doesn't really matter. 

Andrade/Carillo was alright, but Carillo has lost so many times in these types of matches that he just looks like a loser now. Also lacks charisma to me. Always enjoy seeing Zelina at ringside though, so it's not all bad.

The tag team elimination chamber match was decent, but I could only be so interested in it as I didn't care much for most of the teams participating. Roode/Ziggler are boring as shit. Miz/Morrison are from 2010. Lucha House Party are jobbers. The Usos and New Day are both great but stuck in limbo going nowhere. Heavy Machinery were the best of the bunch, but you knew they weren't winning this one with Miz and Morrison only recently winning the belts. No idea why they didn't do the title change here instead tbh.

Styles/Black started off really slow, but got better as the match went on and was actually pretty good by the end. Undertaker appears for the second PPV in a row and downs AJ with a single chokeslam. Still not making me want a match between the two, as AJ in no way looks a threat to Taker. I also have no idea what Undertaker's motivation is for attacking Styles and the OC. To my knowledge they don't really have a history, so what's the beef here? Will it be explained? Undertaker himself looks much better than he has in previous years, but I doubt he can move much anymore. Wish he'd stick to one off appearances rather than having WM matches at this point in all honesty. His time has passed and his entrances are usually more entertaining than anything that happens afterwards.

Street Profits/Rollins & Murphy was a Raw match. We literally saw this on last week's Raw, complete with Kevin Owens interfering. Creative on this has been out of ideas for weeks now. Then on Raw it's straight back to an eight-man tag with these lads, Viking Raiders, etc... feels almost as drawn out as Reigns and Corbin. Also I have to ask, again, why do the title change on Raw as opposed to the PPV? Talk about backwards booking. They threw the random "Street Profits can never challenge for the titles again" stipulation on Raw for no clear reason - why not have the Profits lose on Raw then have a verbal exchange with Rollins/Murphy afterwards agreeing never to challenge for the belts again if they get one more chance at the PPV. WWE just has zero logic with storytelling.

Strowman Vs Nakamura, Cesaro, Zayn... honestly who cares? 

The women's chamber match kind of sucked. The women worked hard but hardly any of them are over which meant the match had a tepid atmosphere throughout. The booking of the match itself was baffling, with huge amounts of dead time between Shayna eliminating people and then waiting for the next person to come out of their pod. The final part when she was waiting for Asuka felt like it went on forever. Stupid layout. The only part of the match that was memorable to me was when Liv got swung into the side of the pod, that spot looked brutal. Not much else that was interesting and definitely should not have been the main event. The tag team chamber match 100% should have gone on last, although that was nothing special either. 

So yeah, overall pretty sub-standard for me and way below the benchmark set by AEW and NWA in recent months.

[Mike E]

No matter what, how, or why, WWE need to do a vignette of R-Truth walking out at Mania not realising it's been cancelled!

On a serious note, as bad as the working situation might get, I'd hate to be an mindy wrestler or promotion right now. I suggest that if anyone was wavering on buying merch, do it to support them.

[Bigdoggsteel]

35 minutes ago, Mike E said:

No matter what, how, or why, WWE need to do a vignette of R-Truth walking out at Mania not realising it's been cancelled!

On a serious note, as bad as the working situation might get, I'd hate to be an mindy wrestler or promotion right now. I suggest that if anyone was wavering on buying merch, do it to support them.

OTT are an Irish company. Had an amazing show coming up. Pac, Moxley and others were due to appear. It was March 17th I think. Had to cancel it because of the gov directive on outdoor events of plus 100. That's devastating for a company like that. 

It's gonna be a rough time for them alright 

[Blue blood]

On 07/03/2020 at 19:24, DE. said:

A lot of rumours swirling that Wrestlemania won't be on the WWE Network this year, instead potentially being on ESPN or traditional PPV. I certainly won't be paying for it! 

Not sure. The advertising still says on the WWE site, that the Network is the only place you can stream it for free. Given that's their advertising I can't see them not having it on the Network. That said whether WM goes ahead is a different matter in the current climate.   

On 07/03/2020 at 23:34, Miller11 said:

I wouldn’t be at all surprised. To be honest I’ll be unlikely to watch it even if it is on the network. Totally unenthused by Wrestlemania right now.

For me the tape library is far more appealing than any of the current product and well worth the subscription. I’m currently watching early 80s mid-south. 

NXT is the other main thing for me. The tape library is also excellent, but NXT consistently delivers, especially their Takeovers. There's much better story lines,matches and the general product feels better too. I also watch NXT UK although that is admittedly a step down from standard NXT. Their Takeovers are still great though.   

On 09/03/2020 at 08:28, JoeH said:

Yet again, WWE's unwavering insistence on having the women go on last at every event possible these days ruined what was a decent PPV last night with Elimination Chamber. The SD Tag Match was awesome and I thought Lucha House Party stole the show 100%. The storyline with Heavy Machinery and Dolph/Roode embedded into the match was great too.

The "main event" was a dud. Women's chamber match for me has always been an under-performer, and having it go on last was such a waste.

Undertaker looked in REALLY good shape, didn't botch anything and I'm genuinely quite excited to see him and Styles face off at Mania, Black came across as a star too which is really great.

What could've been a solid 8/10 PPV probably dropped to a 6.5 or 7/10 because of the order of the matches here.

 

On 09/03/2020 at 10:24, Mike E said:

Have to agree that it needn't have gone on last, as imo it wasn't THE main event. For me, swap the Chamber matches round and highlight the first ever tag team Chamber match.

Yep, agree the main event meant the show ended on a low note. Swapping the chamber matches round would have been a huge win as the tag team one was excellent. (To be pedantic I think it was the 2nd ever tag chamber match, sorry.) But it was a quality match and would have let things go on a high. Still didn't rate the show that highly. For starters the women's match was poor - and that's difficult to do in a Chamber match. The nukber of participants, random entries and the environment all give the match a boost. I get that it was meant to make Shayna look a monster but there are still much better ways of doing it then what was produced. A higher calibre of opponents and some double teaming for starters. I'm always reminded of the Sting-Vader matches where Sting made Vader look a monster, yet the match still be engaging. (Am sure there are other examples too,) This however was just a boring squash. 

Add in the fact that the Prophets - RollinsMurphy match was just solid, the handicap match boring, the lack of main champions defending the belts (the top 3 belts weren't defended) and the lack of grudges/long term story lines in the show and it would struggle to get above a 6 for me. The men's chamber match was good and I really liked the Bryan-Gulak match (albeit it had an obvious ending) but overall that's not enough for a PPV in my opinion. Contrast this to the Takeovers, which (generally) provide excellent matches and better developed stories, and yeah, it just wasn't enough. 

To me there's been a number of shows where the main event just hasn't delivered. Hell in a Cell being another one which started off strongly, with an excellent Cell match between Banks and Lynch, and another strong match, before slowly fading into mediocre, and then utter farce at the end. There's been a large number of main events which have felt flat to me (HIAC from the year before that also immediately springs to mind) which suggests that WWE have a real issue on delivering on what they promise. It's a shame as the main roster can produce excellent matches, as evidenced by the men's chamber match.        

 

 

 

[DE.]

NWA Powerrr and the Crocket Cup are unfortunately cancelled due to the coronavirus. I imagine Wrestlemania will soon follow suit.

[Bigdoggsteel]

That's a pity. WWE looks so odd in front of no crowd. Like stage actors during the promos. 

[Mike E]

TMZ reporting that WM36 will be at the performance center in an empty arena.

[Miller11]

14 minutes ago, Mike E said:

TMZ reporting that WM36 will be at the performance center in an empty arena.

This has actually peaked my interest. Wasn’t planning on watching, but I will now.

[DE.]

The novelty will wear off very quickly imo. A 6 hour empty arena show is going to be shit.

[Miller11]

57 minutes ago, DE. said:

The novelty will wear off very quickly imo. A 6 hour empty arena show is going to be shit.

Probably right after America the Beautiful!

[DE.]

Have to admit this part of empty arena Raw was pretty funny. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

27 minutes ago, DE. said:

Have to admit this part of empty arena Raw was pretty funny. 

I think it all looks gas. Like a school play ?

Edited March 18, 2020 by Bigdoggsteel

[DE.]

2 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I think it all looks gas. Like a school play ?

Yeah it does look shit in general. Vince evidently agrees as NXT will feature 0 new matches on Wednesday, just promos and old footage. 

[DE.]

AEW did a much better job than WWE at putting on an empty arena show. Having the wrestlers in the audience helped a lot, as well as not showing the empty seats in the audience. The crowd being missing is obviously still a big negative, but I thought all things considered AEW did a really good job. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

2 hours ago, DE. said:

AEW did a much better job than WWE at putting on an empty arena show. Having the wrestlers in the audience helped a lot, as well as not showing the empty seats in the audience. The crowd being missing is obviously still a big negative, but I thought all things considered AEW did a really good job. 

Must watch tonight. I have seen some exciting developments on social media! 

Wrestlemania a 2 day event, in the PC, hosted by the GRONK

SUCH.GOOD.SHIT 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Bigdoggsteel

[Miller11]

Just finished watching the first series of Dark Side of the Ring. It’s a series of documentaries by Vice. I’d been hoping to see them for ages and never had a clue they were on All 4 until someone said on Twitter the other day.

The episodes are:

Murder of Bruiser Brody, Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, Fabulous Moolah, Death of Gino Hernandez, Montreal Screwjob and the Von Erich family.

They were all really good! If you are stuck for something to watch while confined to the house I definitely recommend them.
 

New series starts in the states on Tuesday, so hopefully it’s not too far behind on All 4. Some absolute belters to look forward to by the looks of things with Episodes on Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, New Jack, Dr D David Schultz, Jimmy Snuka, Dino Bravo, The Road Warriors, Herb Abrams and the UWF, and the Brawl for All!

[DE.]

Yeah Dark Side of the Ring is pretty cool. Also Wrestling with Wregret's review of Herb Abrams' UWF is one of my favourites. 

[Miller11]

35 minutes ago, DE. said:

Yeah Dark Side of the Ring is pretty cool. Also Wrestling with Wregret's review of Herb Abrams' UWF is one of my favourites. 

I’d been wanting to see them since I first heard about it. Pretty glad I remained blissfully unaware until now!

For me Wrestling with Wregret has gone down hill a bit lately. That was a belter though, more like that please Brian!