So, we're getting Reigns vs. Rhodes II after all.
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[Other Sport] The Wrestling Thread
- Thread starter ElectricNaz
- Start date
Call me a cynic, but there's still a while to go. They might be doing this just to quiet down the complaints. Have Seth attack him at elimination chamber out of anger and jealousy that no one is taking his title seriously, maybe have him do something with Brandy to 'make it personal' and Cody needs to do his duty as a husband and take on Seth instead, leaving the space for Rock to take on Reigns after all...
Last week reports that Rock was locked in as wrestling Reigns at mania as part of the deal to bring him onto the TKO Board. If they really do stick with Cody/Reigns, it'll be interesting to see what make good the give Rock.
Last week reports that Rock was locked in as wrestling Reigns at mania as part of the deal to bring him onto the TKO Board. If they really do stick with Cody/Reigns, it'll be interesting to see what make good the give Rock.
HangletonGull
Well-known member
- Apr 10, 2023
- 2,386
Got it on while getting ready to go the Amex
HangletonGull
Well-known member
- Apr 10, 2023
- 2,386
stewart12
Well-known member
- Jan 16, 2019
- 1,949
only watched a bit of it so far so haven't got to the main event yet. I almost always enjoy AEW ppv's and they very, very rarely miss the mark.
Bryan Danielson vs Eddie Kingston (obviously, when has Danielson ever had a below par match?!) and Will Ospreay vs Takeshita both brilliant
Garcia/Christian
Eh, fine. I can't really bother with Garcia. He looks like he has been invited to the party of a friend of a friend so he's gone in and is desperately looking around the party for someone familiar and is starting to worry he's at the wrong party.
Bryan Danielson/Eddie Kingston
Of course danielson is great. Especially if you keep him away from the BCC. I like Kingston. He's treats wrestling seriously, to the point you often wonder if he realises it's a work. I'm not a fan of the overused 'let's stand here and repeatedly hit each other without defending ourselves' spot, but other than that, it was a really good match.
6-man
Eh. Not a big fan of multiman matches like this (though oddly, I do like a Rumble or a Battle Royal).
Cassidy/Strong
I really can't be doing with orange cassidy. Barely had any interest in this one.
That's as far as I've got so far. Still watching. Up next FTR v BCC. I really have zero interest in moxley. Don't understand his appeal at all, and find comparisons to Steve Austin to be laughable. I like castignoli and FTR, but I don't know if that is enough of a counter to Mox. Let's see...
Eh, fine. I can't really bother with Garcia. He looks like he has been invited to the party of a friend of a friend so he's gone in and is desperately looking around the party for someone familiar and is starting to worry he's at the wrong party.
Bryan Danielson/Eddie Kingston
Of course danielson is great. Especially if you keep him away from the BCC. I like Kingston. He's treats wrestling seriously, to the point you often wonder if he realises it's a work. I'm not a fan of the overused 'let's stand here and repeatedly hit each other without defending ourselves' spot, but other than that, it was a really good match.
6-man
Eh. Not a big fan of multiman matches like this (though oddly, I do like a Rumble or a Battle Royal).
Cassidy/Strong
I really can't be doing with orange cassidy. Barely had any interest in this one.
That's as far as I've got so far. Still watching. Up next FTR v BCC. I really have zero interest in moxley. Don't understand his appeal at all, and find comparisons to Steve Austin to be laughable. I like castignoli and FTR, but I don't know if that is enough of a counter to Mox. Let's see...
Turns out my antipathy toward moxley trumped any enjoyment of FTR. Barely any interest in the match.
Storm/purrazzo
My formative years as a wrestling fan was the Alundra Blayze/Bull Nakano era, so I do like to see women's wrestling as part of the show, but I prefer it to be women who can wrestle.I like Toni Storm, but don't generally enjoy AEW's women's division (Deeb and Rosa are also exceptions). Purrazzo was part of the TNA women's division which I believe is pretty decent, and with sasha on her way (with her own creative team person), maybe things are looking up. Liked the fake out entrance. Fine match, not spectacular.
Ospreay/Takeshita
Ospreay is someone I've only really seen with his AEW matches v Jericho and Omega. He seems to come from that same school as Omega of all sizzle and no steak with regard to their matches, and is emblematic of what doesn't work for me with AEW wrestling (little psychology, logic or selling, lots of flashy moves though!). The kicking out at one spot needs to be retired (unless it's the first 5 minutes of the match), it's lazy and cheap, like coming out in the local team's sports jersey. I enjoyed the match more than christian/garcia, but less than Danielson/Kingston
Strickland/Page/Joe
Page fits in with Omega and Moxley as a wrestler I just don't get. He feels like the wrestler who management present and push as being more over than they actually are. He was presented as a loser sap for so long that when he finally won the title, Punk, Danielson, Cole were on the scene and MJF was showing his quality and everyone had moved on. I like Joe, going back to his time in the original ROH. I have some ROH DVDs from the early 2000s, they were fun. Don't really know much about Swerve, missed his time on NXT, and haven't seen enough of him in AEW (partly my fault for not watching it much, partly AEW's fault for not putting on a product that compels me to watch more frequently, and partly ITV's fault for frequently putting live sports on before Dynamite leading to the overrun eating into my recording). Eh. Fine. Don't like them trying to sell the loss as a choice.
Bucks/Darby&Sting
Eh. I was a WWE guy growing up and Sting was always so much of a WCW guy. Darby just seems to want to kill himself, which makes me feel uncomfortbatle rather than entertained. Bucks are part of that group of AEW guys I just have no interest in, and rarely enjoy their work, and they seem to be doing more harm to AEW than good. I saw a spoiler for the result of this match and a couple of stunts. Don't have high hopes for my enjoyment of it, but we'll see. As down as some of my comments may come across, I certainly feel I have enjoyed enough of the show to not regret buying it. Not a fan of the stunts, but given his age, and his usual style of wrestling, that's probably the best they could do while still making sting look like he isn't an old man.
Like I say, overall enough for me to enjoy, but there are just so many featured wrestlers in AEW I don't have any interest in watching.
Storm/purrazzo
My formative years as a wrestling fan was the Alundra Blayze/Bull Nakano era, so I do like to see women's wrestling as part of the show, but I prefer it to be women who can wrestle.I like Toni Storm, but don't generally enjoy AEW's women's division (Deeb and Rosa are also exceptions). Purrazzo was part of the TNA women's division which I believe is pretty decent, and with sasha on her way (with her own creative team person), maybe things are looking up. Liked the fake out entrance. Fine match, not spectacular.
Ospreay/Takeshita
Ospreay is someone I've only really seen with his AEW matches v Jericho and Omega. He seems to come from that same school as Omega of all sizzle and no steak with regard to their matches, and is emblematic of what doesn't work for me with AEW wrestling (little psychology, logic or selling, lots of flashy moves though!). The kicking out at one spot needs to be retired (unless it's the first 5 minutes of the match), it's lazy and cheap, like coming out in the local team's sports jersey. I enjoyed the match more than christian/garcia, but less than Danielson/Kingston
Strickland/Page/Joe
Page fits in with Omega and Moxley as a wrestler I just don't get. He feels like the wrestler who management present and push as being more over than they actually are. He was presented as a loser sap for so long that when he finally won the title, Punk, Danielson, Cole were on the scene and MJF was showing his quality and everyone had moved on. I like Joe, going back to his time in the original ROH. I have some ROH DVDs from the early 2000s, they were fun. Don't really know much about Swerve, missed his time on NXT, and haven't seen enough of him in AEW (partly my fault for not watching it much, partly AEW's fault for not putting on a product that compels me to watch more frequently, and partly ITV's fault for frequently putting live sports on before Dynamite leading to the overrun eating into my recording). Eh. Fine. Don't like them trying to sell the loss as a choice.
Bucks/Darby&Sting
Eh. I was a WWE guy growing up and Sting was always so much of a WCW guy. Darby just seems to want to kill himself, which makes me feel uncomfortbatle rather than entertained. Bucks are part of that group of AEW guys I just have no interest in, and rarely enjoy their work, and they seem to be doing more harm to AEW than good. I saw a spoiler for the result of this match and a couple of stunts. Don't have high hopes for my enjoyment of it, but we'll see. As down as some of my comments may come across, I certainly feel I have enjoyed enough of the show to not regret buying it. Not a fan of the stunts, but given his age, and his usual style of wrestling, that's probably the best they could do while still making sting look like he isn't an old man.
Like I say, overall enough for me to enjoy, but there are just so many featured wrestlers in AEW I don't have any interest in watching.
stewart12
Well-known member
- Jan 16, 2019
- 1,949
I do think a problem that AEW have at the moment is that it all feels like everything is on hold until MJF returns from injury as he's very obviously their top guy. Doesn't help that Adam Cole & Kenny Omega are also injured and have been for a while. It is probably time for them to really build up some of their younger guys as they did with MJF (Wardlow perhaps?)
- Oct 17, 2008
- 15,019
Absolutely well deserved. One of my favourite ever wrestlers. The look, the wrestling - she was just brilliant. Been too long coming - IMHO the greatest woman’s wrestler.
HangletonGull
Well-known member
- Apr 10, 2023
- 2,386
watched the iron claw last night amazing movie the von Eric’s 
Just over a week to Wrestlemania. Figured I'd bump this thread and what better way than to throw out some thoughts on mania
Iyo Sky v Bayley
This match seems to have been a bit lost in the shuffle, for me. Which is a shame because it feels a waste of the rumble victory for Bayley. So far this feud has highlighted with the segment where Baylay surprised her stablemates by speaking Japanese and revealling she understood of their badmouthing her. Sure the match will be fine.
Rhea Ripley v Becky Lynch
These two are much hotter stars at the moment, so have managed to make their match have meaning. Not sure involving Becky's daughter felt particularly natural to the feud, seems shoehorned in to make it a bit more personal. With Becky's contract up in a couple of months, I'd be surprised if she won, but should be a good match.
Gunther v Sami Zayn
I like gunther, not a massive fan of his brawls with Drew and Seamus (I'm not generally a fan of brawling type matches that rely so much on punches and chops). With Sami, I would expect more wrestling. Could be reminsicent of his matches with Ilya Dragonov. Will Chad Gable get involved? Feels like Sami doesn't need the belt, but Gunther is ready to step up a level.
Tag Title Ladder Match
I feel like ladder matches have been getting worse and worse since the last Dudleys/Hardys/E+C TLC matches. They tried to make sure there was a flow and some logic to the matches. Things set up early for stunts later in the match. Since then, it feels like more and more focus has been on stunts and it feels less fulfilling. It's set up stunt, do stunt, sell, set up stunt, do stunt, sell. With 12 men, it's either going to go long, or be a chaosy mess, as we have more rounds of 'these two do a stunt, now lay ringside and sell, while these two do a stunt...' It also feels like the teams just aren't that over. DIY were incredibly hot in NXT, yet that hasn't followed through on Raw (perhaps having them individually feud with Miz before pairing up was a mistake).
LA Knight v AJ Styles
LA Knight seems to have suffered the most from Rock's return. He has cooled off a lot, and I think feuding with Styles is not inspiring the fans to feel like the company are behind Knight and getting ready to give him the big push.
Jey Uso v Jimmy Uso
I know it's a dream of theirs to face each other at Mania, but the build kinda fizzled when Jimmy rejoined the bloodline, and they were moved to separate brands and they just haven't recaptured the heat. I'm sure the match will be just fine, but we'll be told it was a classic.
Logan Paul v Kevin Owens v Randy Orton
I've never been much of a fan of Orton. I enjoy KO. Paul has impressed in his short career, but I think he's probably more protected than we realise and if he had to work a full time schedule, he would be exposed in the same way Ronda Rousey was in her WWE career. It's easier to look good when you hace months to prepare for a specific match against top stars, have rehearsals with top stars sharing advice over those months, and can use whatever booking shortcuts needed. When you don't know which lower/midcarder you're wrestling until you show up and have to work through the match on the day, that's more indicative of your qualities. I'm sure there will be some fun stuff in this, Paul will do some stunt, KSI may try to interfere for a cheap pop, KO will be his usual fun self, Orton will bring the psychology.
Rock/Reigns v Rhodes/Rollins and Rollins v Drew and Reigns v Rhodes
Fun unscripted section of raw with Punk, Rollins and McIntyre. Fans have been clamouring for getting rid of scripted promos, and stuff like this is why. Yes, there was a bit of talking over each other, moments it felt like things might go off the rails, but it kept it together enough to achieve what it needed to. Put some focus on the title match, and set up feuds with Punk and Rollins and Punk and McIntyre for after Mania (assuming Drew re-signs).
Awesome segment with the Rock and Cody. There is the risk Rock is overshadowing Reigns, but maybe part of that is design to set up them feuding later in the year. The premise of the tag match to set up conditions for night two can go either way.
I don't see a clean finish to the tag match. Whatever way they go it will be about setting up something else. Rock or Roman costing the other the pinfall (hard to see either of them taking a pinfall - Rock is too big a star already gave up his big main event match v Reigns for this, Roman should look strong for the title match the next day). Setting up injury angles for Rhodes or Rollings (neither should lose clean, Rollins needs to be protected or his belt and whoever wins between him and Drew is meaningless, him or cody going into night 2 'injured' gives Rollins an excuse for losing, can add to the drama of a win)
Would they dare not finish the story with Cody? It feels like Cody winning is the logical step, and they shouldn't not do it just because it's obvious. But the outrage and backlash if he doesn't win would be something to behold.
Iyo Sky v Bayley
This match seems to have been a bit lost in the shuffle, for me. Which is a shame because it feels a waste of the rumble victory for Bayley. So far this feud has highlighted with the segment where Baylay surprised her stablemates by speaking Japanese and revealling she understood of their badmouthing her. Sure the match will be fine.
Rhea Ripley v Becky Lynch
These two are much hotter stars at the moment, so have managed to make their match have meaning. Not sure involving Becky's daughter felt particularly natural to the feud, seems shoehorned in to make it a bit more personal. With Becky's contract up in a couple of months, I'd be surprised if she won, but should be a good match.
Gunther v Sami Zayn
I like gunther, not a massive fan of his brawls with Drew and Seamus (I'm not generally a fan of brawling type matches that rely so much on punches and chops). With Sami, I would expect more wrestling. Could be reminsicent of his matches with Ilya Dragonov. Will Chad Gable get involved? Feels like Sami doesn't need the belt, but Gunther is ready to step up a level.
Tag Title Ladder Match
I feel like ladder matches have been getting worse and worse since the last Dudleys/Hardys/E+C TLC matches. They tried to make sure there was a flow and some logic to the matches. Things set up early for stunts later in the match. Since then, it feels like more and more focus has been on stunts and it feels less fulfilling. It's set up stunt, do stunt, sell, set up stunt, do stunt, sell. With 12 men, it's either going to go long, or be a chaosy mess, as we have more rounds of 'these two do a stunt, now lay ringside and sell, while these two do a stunt...' It also feels like the teams just aren't that over. DIY were incredibly hot in NXT, yet that hasn't followed through on Raw (perhaps having them individually feud with Miz before pairing up was a mistake).
LA Knight v AJ Styles
LA Knight seems to have suffered the most from Rock's return. He has cooled off a lot, and I think feuding with Styles is not inspiring the fans to feel like the company are behind Knight and getting ready to give him the big push.
Jey Uso v Jimmy Uso
I know it's a dream of theirs to face each other at Mania, but the build kinda fizzled when Jimmy rejoined the bloodline, and they were moved to separate brands and they just haven't recaptured the heat. I'm sure the match will be just fine, but we'll be told it was a classic.
Logan Paul v Kevin Owens v Randy Orton
I've never been much of a fan of Orton. I enjoy KO. Paul has impressed in his short career, but I think he's probably more protected than we realise and if he had to work a full time schedule, he would be exposed in the same way Ronda Rousey was in her WWE career. It's easier to look good when you hace months to prepare for a specific match against top stars, have rehearsals with top stars sharing advice over those months, and can use whatever booking shortcuts needed. When you don't know which lower/midcarder you're wrestling until you show up and have to work through the match on the day, that's more indicative of your qualities. I'm sure there will be some fun stuff in this, Paul will do some stunt, KSI may try to interfere for a cheap pop, KO will be his usual fun self, Orton will bring the psychology.
Rock/Reigns v Rhodes/Rollins and Rollins v Drew and Reigns v Rhodes
Fun unscripted section of raw with Punk, Rollins and McIntyre. Fans have been clamouring for getting rid of scripted promos, and stuff like this is why. Yes, there was a bit of talking over each other, moments it felt like things might go off the rails, but it kept it together enough to achieve what it needed to. Put some focus on the title match, and set up feuds with Punk and Rollins and Punk and McIntyre for after Mania (assuming Drew re-signs).
Awesome segment with the Rock and Cody. There is the risk Rock is overshadowing Reigns, but maybe part of that is design to set up them feuding later in the year. The premise of the tag match to set up conditions for night two can go either way.
I don't see a clean finish to the tag match. Whatever way they go it will be about setting up something else. Rock or Roman costing the other the pinfall (hard to see either of them taking a pinfall - Rock is too big a star already gave up his big main event match v Reigns for this, Roman should look strong for the title match the next day). Setting up injury angles for Rhodes or Rollings (neither should lose clean, Rollins needs to be protected or his belt and whoever wins between him and Drew is meaningless, him or cody going into night 2 'injured' gives Rollins an excuse for losing, can add to the drama of a win)
Would they dare not finish the story with Cody? It feels like Cody winning is the logical step, and they shouldn't not do it just because it's obvious. But the outrage and backlash if he doesn't win would be something to behold.
I'm looking forward to Mania weekend - show is shaping up nicely.
I think Cody gets it done this year, and the Bloodline will turn on Reigns - I reckon Rock and Roman win the first night, then Rock convinces Solo and Jimmy to follow him rather than Reigns so wiping out 'Bloodline Rules' on Night Two.
They abandon Roman, and Cody wins it. Gives Cody the title and sets up Reigns/Rock going forward
I think Cody gets it done this year, and the Bloodline will turn on Reigns - I reckon Rock and Roman win the first night, then Rock convinces Solo and Jimmy to follow him rather than Reigns so wiping out 'Bloodline Rules' on Night Two.
They abandon Roman, and Cody wins it. Gives Cody the title and sets up Reigns/Rock going forward
ElectricNaz
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #159
This week's raw was absolutely exceptional. 4 absolutely mega segments (Cody/Rock, Punk, Seth and Drew, Becky and Rhea and Cody / Rock part 2)
In terms of the rock seeming bigger than Reigns, I think that's by design. He's the final boss which insuinates he's better and bigger. Makes Reigns the penultimate boss. There's a lot of good stuff going on, nice mise en scene work and I actually have faith all will make sense eventually. Paul H and Drew chatting the background, Austin and Cena being on the truck, etc. It's not quite Golddust hiding in a bin though but I'll take it lol.
Even a year ago, I never thought Gunther, Kevin Owens, Randy etc would be well down the mid card. That is more a compliment to WWE than a critisicm of how those have been booked.
In terms of the rock seeming bigger than Reigns, I think that's by design. He's the final boss which insuinates he's better and bigger. Makes Reigns the penultimate boss. There's a lot of good stuff going on, nice mise en scene work and I actually have faith all will make sense eventually. Paul H and Drew chatting the background, Austin and Cena being on the truck, etc. It's not quite Golddust hiding in a bin though but I'll take it lol.
Even a year ago, I never thought Gunther, Kevin Owens, Randy etc would be well down the mid card. That is more a compliment to WWE than a critisicm of how those have been booked.