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

[Mike E]

Christian returning. How do we fancy having him challenge Big E for the IC title?

A challenge for the deprived of him for the same title against the same guy in 2014 due to concussion...

Obviously to elevate Big E.

[DE.]

I'm not sure if Christian returning was a one time thing or whether he'll be a recurring character again. My only concern with him challenging for any title (24/7 aside) is that it's once again going back to older stars to carry the load, and if Christian ends up in a WM program that's taking a spot from a regular roster member who could have used that match to elevate themselves. For me I'd much rather see people from the current roster being put in good storylines and positions higher up the card, as WWE desperately needs to build their current crop of talent, rather than keep going back to the Attitude Era/Ruthless Aggression well. 

I feel somewhat the same about Edge winning the Rumble, but slightly less so as dude is clearly still in very good shape and after so long out over the past decade is in a lot of ways a fresh face. I think it was "The Death of WCW" book that said "TV age" is more relevant than actual age. If a 35 year old has been on TV consistently for 10 years then their "TV age" is older than a 45 year old who hasn't been on TV during that time. As long as the returning wrestler has been away from long enough, looks decent and can still go they have value, albeit not necessarily one you're going to build on long-term. They just have to be used in the right way. 

[Mike E]

10 minutes ago, DE. said:

I'm not sure if Christian returning was a one time thing or whether he'll be a recurring character again. My only concern with him challenging for any title (24/7 aside) is that it's once again going back to older stars to carry the load, and if Christian ends up in a WM program that's taking a spot from a regular roster member who could have used that match to elevate themselves. For me I'd much rather see people from the current roster being put in good storylines and positions higher up the card, as WWE desperately needs to build their current crop of talent, rather than keep going back to the Attitude Era/Ruthless Aggression well. 

I feel somewhat the same about Edge winning the Rumble, but slightly less so as dude is clearly still in very good shape and after so long out over the past decade is in a lot of ways a fresh face. I think it was "The Death of WCW" book that said "TV age" is more relevant than actual age. If a 35 year old has been on TV consistently for 10 years then their "TV age" is older than a 45 year old who hasn't been on TV during that time. As long as the returning wrestler has been away from long enough, looks decent and can still go they have value, albeit not necessarily one you're going to build on long-term. They just have to be used in the right way. 

That very nicely sums up the feelings I had when I thought Orton was going to topple Edge at the last hurdle!

[Bigdoggsteel]

Whats the point of Goldberg? Ok, I will expand on that. Whats the point of Goldberg now? He looks old and that matters with his character. He's clearly in unbelievable shape for his age and would kick my ass, but I just don't see how him putting Mcintyre over really helps Mcintyre. 

Goldbergs original run was one of my top 3 favourite things ever in wrestling.

That jackhammer on Mcintrye too.... 😳 It did not look good.

[DE.]

Big Show signs for AEW... words I never thought I'd write. Figured Show was a WWE lifer.

[DE.]

@Bigdoggsteel looks like NWA Powerrr is coming back next month...

https://apnews.com/article/billy-corgan-smashing-pumpkins-nwa-wrestling-company-0db57bbf1440b56b13e47abcaf173f52

I won't be paying to watch it, but good news nonetheless. A lot of their roster are now elsewhere though, so it'll be interesting to see who they bring in. Sadly Question Mark passed away recently so he won't be there. 

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by DE.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Ever see Tyler Bate? Spit of Adam Armstrong 😂

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

14 hours ago, DE. said:

@Bigdoggsteel looks like NWA Powerrr is coming back next month...

https://apnews.com/article/billy-corgan-smashing-pumpkins-nwa-wrestling-company-0db57bbf1440b56b13e47abcaf173f52

I won't be paying to watch it, but good news nonetheless. A lot of their roster are now elsewhere though, so it'll be interesting to see who they bring in. Sadly Question Mark passed away recently so he won't be there. 

 

I will have a gander alright. Aldis will have that title til he pops his clogs 😂 Fair play to him for doing things his way

[Mike E]

Paul Wight announced a 'hall of fame worthy' debutante at AEW Revolution...

Cody allegedly ruled out 'bait and switching' in AEW, so it better be good!

My suspicion is it's just Paul Wight himself.

[DE.]

On 03/03/2021 at 12:41, Bigdoggsteel said:

I will have a gander alright. Aldis will have that title til he pops his clogs 😂 Fair play to him for doing things his way

Honestly I'm surprised Aldis has never been in WWE. His look and style seems like it would click there pretty quickly. I'm kind of glad he hasn't gone to WWE as there's a big chance they'd use him incorrectly, but McIntyre Vs Aldis would be a great feud imo. 

23 hours ago, Mike E said:

Paul Wight announced a 'hall of fame worthy' debutante at AEW Revolution...

Cody allegedly ruled out 'bait and switching' in AEW, so it better be good!

My suspicion is it's just Paul Wight himself.

To be fair to AEW, they usually deliver on their promises and rarely bait and switch on anything, so I expect it will be a big name 'legend' of some kind - not Big Show either. 

Long shots - Brock Lesnar, CM Punk, Batista, Kurt Angle. Batista has already ruled himself out I believe, and I don't see Lesnar moving anywhere without Heyman. Punk or Angle are more realistic possibilities though. 

[Mike E]

30 minutes ago, DE. said:

Honestly I'm surprised Aldis has never been in WWE. His look and style seems like it would click there pretty quickly. I'm kind of glad he hasn't gone to WWE as there's a big chance they'd use him incorrectly, but McIntyre Vs Aldis would be a great feud imo. 

To be fair to AEW, they usually deliver on their promises and rarely bait and switch on anything, so I expect it will be a big name 'legend' of some kind - not Big Show either. 

Long shots - Brock Lesnar, CM Punk, Batista, Kurt Angle. Batista has already ruled himself out I believe, and I don't see Lesnar moving anywhere without Heyman. Punk or Angle are more realistic possibilities though. 

I can't being myself to hope for Punk

[Dreyski]

It'll end up being someone like Christian. I heard someone mention Jim Johnston as a leftfield pick.

On Aldis, if his mrs and people like Stu Bennett have his ear, they'll be warning him off signing with WWE. If WWE have even approached him.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Dreyski

[DE.]

I don't think there's any chance it's Christian after hearing Khan speak about it. Definitely a bigger name than that. 

I think Kurt Angle is the best bet, based on all of the clues so far. Lesnar a possibility too as he's a pure mercenary and not under contract with WWE at the moment.

People are speculating Stone Cold and John Cena but I'd say both of those are close to 0% possibility. 

[Mike E]

A touch overhyped, but Christian was out of the blue and a great signing. No wonder they were so excited as I thought WWE had secured him.

[Dreyski]

On 06/03/2021 at 01:40, Dreyski said:

It'll end up being someone like Christian. I heard someone mention Jim Johnston as a leftfield pick.

😎

[DE.]

I'm watching through Revolution at the moment, apologies to @Dreyski, I was expecting a much bigger announcement from the way AEW hyped it. I'm enjoying Revolution so far but this was a TNA-esque disappointing reveal. In fact, keeping in mind Christian was one of TNA's first major ex-WWE signings it's a bit like history repeating itself. 

[DE.]

Just finished Revolution, spoilers ahoy...

Maki Itoh/Britt Baker Vs Thunder Rosa/Riho - fine as a pre-show match. The tiny Japanese female wrestler gimmick does nothing for me so Itoh and Riho don't hold my interest. Rosa is fantastic but should be in a program with Shida already. Britt Baker is a great heel.

Young Bucks Vs Jericho/MJF - I've been cold on this feud since the beginning due to AEW's bizarre booking of the Bucks. I have no idea what their motivations are or whether the audience is supposed to like them or not. They had a period of beating up/superkicking announcers and other face characters before they won the titles and since then have had an on again off again thing going with Omega which has been pretty confusing. They've been booked in storylines that are meant to get the audience to sympathise with them whilst ignoring their past and recent actions... I just don't get it. I'm also soured on Jericho due to him being a douche outside of wrestling. MJF is still great. The match itself was OK. 

Casino Tag Team Battle Royale - a bit of a cluster, but entertaining enough with the right team going over.

Shida Vs Mizunami - I know little to nothing about Mizunami, so I wasn't really invested as it was obvious Shida would win. AEW has an over-reliance on Japanese women when it comes to their women's division which leaves anybody lacking knowledge in Japanese women's wrestling feeling a bit left out. I didn't understand why all the heels ran away when Thunder Rosa appeared. She's not exactly a colossus so it's difficult to conjure a logical reason for their sudden panic. 

Miro & Kip Vs Orange Cassidy & Chuck - Miro is really being wasted in this feud. His pushing Orange into Penelope is hopefully signalling the end of this storyline though. I couldn't care less about Chuck or Kip in all honesty, but Miro and Orange should both be doing better things.

Adam Page Vs Matt Hardy - A solid mid-card match which didn't overstay its welcome and had the right person going over. They need to move the Page/Dark Order story on a bit as it is going nowhere at present.

Face of the Revolution Ladder Match - I don't watch Impact, so the reveal of Ethan Page did little for me as I had no idea who he was. The match itself was fun with some great spots, although I was surprised to see Scorpio Sky going over. 

Christian Cage reveal

Hugely mixed feelings about this. Don't get me wrong, Christian is a very talented performer who has a good look, can still work and is excellent on the mic. He's a good get for AEW and will enhance their product. With that said... he simply doesn't live up to the hype. He is not a "game changer" and nobody is going to see this and say "wow, Christian is in AEW? I gotta check that out!". This kind of hype should be reserved for people who can genuinely move the needle - the likes of Jericho, Sting and Moxley fall into that kind of category. Christian falls into the Matt Hardy, Jake Hager, Miro, Brodie Lee, Pac category of "former WWE mid-carders who should have been used better". Worthy of a surprise reveal, sure, but not with this level of hype. Personally I was pretty disappointed and I'll take what AEW say in future a lot less seriously as a result.

Sting/Darby Allin Vs Brian Cage/Ricky Starks - I think the cinematic format works sometimes and not so much other times. For me this was more the latter. A lot of this could have been done in a non-cinematic match. The camerawork was more distracting than interesting to me, and the announcers playing it off like it was live when it was very obviously taped was weird. Darby being painted up like mini-Sting did nothing for him either. I don't really know how to rate something like this but it's not something I'd go back to watch again.

Moxley Vs Omega - the match itself was solid, although I find the "exploding" gimmick pretty laughable. Parts of this came off more like a comedy match to me, whilst other parts were more hardcore and gory. The pacing and flow of the match in general was good. The idea of the ring "exploding" after a certain amount of time was strange to me. Why would both wrestlers not just leave the ring before that happened? Why stay inside it at all when there were no count outs anyway? 

As for the ring "exploding" at the end... wow, they didn't half screw that up. I genuinely thought in the immediate aftermath that in storyline Omega had purposefully made the final explosion weak and silly to either cover himself in the event he was for some reason still in the ring, or just to troll everybody thinking there would be a huge explosion only to be greeted by sparklers and a couple of bangs. But no, it was played off as being something crazy when it very obviously wasn't. 

I liked Kingston coming out at the end to protect Moxley, but obviously it made no sense for him to appear KO'd due to a few sparklers going off at ringside which weren't even a tenth as powerful as Kane's usual in-ring pyro. I also thought it made the rest of the babyfaces look bad for not coming out to help. Granted this is a common problem dating back decades in wrestling, where babyfaces are suddenly nowhere to be found when a fellow face is taking a beating, but Kingston of all people being the only person to come out to try and help isn't a good look for the rest of the locker room. Some can be excused due to being involved in previous matches, but for the rest we're just expected to not think about it. That's the kind of lazy booking I hate about WWE, so I'm going to criticise AEW for it as well.

Overall the show was alright, but AEW could and should be doing much more with the talent they have. Ideally they should stop bringing in new face after new face and focus on the talent they do have, as too many are getting lost in the shuffle making it hard to care about anybody. 

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Seems like AEW are getting cluttered to me. Too many talents, particularly older guys. Building of stars seems to stagnate beyond the elite. Really though, they just have too many wrestlers. 

I think the announcement of Christian was a bit embarrassing. Should have been a surprise. An announcement like that should have been used for Lesner or Punk. Not as embarassing as the end of the barbed wire match though. Christ. If that was Impact people would be in hysterics. 

They just have too many mid carders and too many old WWE/WCW guys. It's seems their strategy is getting cluttered. Signing names for quick rating boosts. They could be doing a lot more with the product imo. 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Bigdoggsteel

[Bigdoggsteel]

Liking Omega though. He is actually a comedy heel,isn't he? I find him funny. His mannerisms and promos. 

Also, Christian challenging for the title I could get behind. Loved him in TNA on that singles run. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Bigdoggsteel

[Chernosamba]

I was baffled that adults still watched this , however I listened to a podcast recently ( blindboy ) he was taking about the ‘kayfabe’ in wrestling . The way that the fans accept what is presented to them as a truth and how it’s mirrored in Modern politics particularly since 9/11 ( when irony disappeared) and how Donald trump is a master of kayfabe . Ironically There is a terrific story that there was a line in the wresting where something happened to the main man , vince something , he was a friend of trump who called the wwf to check he was ok . 
blind boy podcasts are great by the way . Some would say it’s conspiracy theory , firstly I don’t think many people can distinguish between conspiracy and conspiracy theory , secondly all he does is present factual situations and suggests you consider them differently . 

[DE.]

Kayfabe has been dead for years. Everyone's in on the act nowadays. Most adults watch it because it's simple, fun, doesn't take itself seriously and has some amazing feats of athleticism.

It's no different to asking why people watch movies or TV shows. It makes as much sense to ask the "don't you know it's fake?" question about those these days as wrestling. 

[DE.]

On 11/03/2021 at 17:09, Bigdoggsteel said:

Liking Omega though. He is actually a comedy heel,isn't he? I find him funny. His mannerisms and promos. 

Also, Christian challenging for the title I could get behind. Loved him in TNA on that singles run. 

There's definitely a large element of comedy to Omega's heel persona. The big difference between him and comedy heels in other companies, particularly WWE, is that he actually has credibility and is presented as a genuine threat as well as being a comedy heel. By comparison Miz, for example, is not presented as a serious threat and is just a comedic heel who you would fully expect to lose handily against any decent opponent. 

[Chernosamba]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

Kayfabe has been dead for years. Everyone's in on the act nowadays. Most adults watch it because it's simple, fun, doesn't take itself seriously and has some amazing feats of athleticism.

It's no different to asking why people watch movies or TV shows. It makes as much sense to ask the "don't you know it's fake?" question about those these days as wrestling. 

You could argue that it’s still there , there is always a story and there’s never a 4th wall it peaked with the first gulf war possibly ? 
but anyway kayfabe is there in modern politics . Eg did bhoson really have the virus bad ?

[DE.]

25 minutes ago, Chernosamba said:

You could argue that it’s still there , there is always a story and there’s never a 4th wall it peaked with the first gulf war possibly ? 
but anyway kayfabe is there in modern politics . Eg did bhoson really have the virus bad ?

You could literally apply kayfabe to anything by that logic, including movies and TV shows. Kayfabe is at its core 'protecting the business' by making it seem real to everybody outside the business. Beyond children there is no kayfabe anymore*, wrestlers are more akin to incredibly athletic soap opera actors nowadays and the vast majority of people watching it know that. The only 'real' part of the business has always been backstage politics, which have often been more fascinating than the show itself.  

As for peaks, wrestling has had two. The Wrestlemania/Hogan years in the 80s and the Monday Night Wars boom in the mid-to-late 90s. I doubt we'll ever see it become that popular again. 

*Exceptions for places like India where a significant amount of people are still wrapped in the innocence of kayfabe.

Edited March 13, 2021 by DE.

[Bigdoggsteel]

19 hours ago, Chernosamba said:

I was baffled that adults still watched this , however I listened to a podcast recently ( blindboy ) he was taking about the ‘kayfabe’ in wrestling . The way that the fans accept what is presented to them as a truth and how it’s mirrored in Modern politics particularly since 9/11 ( when irony disappeared) and how Donald trump is a master of kayfabe . Ironically There is a terrific story that there was a line in the wresting where something happened to the main man , vince something , he was a friend of trump who called the wwf to check he was ok . 
blind boy podcasts are great by the way . Some would say it’s conspiracy theory , firstly I don’t think many people can distinguish between conspiracy and conspiracy theory , secondly all he does is present factual situations and suggests you consider them differently . 

I used to listen to every episode, but he can be a bit pontificating, but he's good craic alright.  Very, very intelligent guy. Even though he wears a plastic bag on his head.