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Post by Zealot on Oct 23, 2018 13:25:24 GMT
So apparently Roman Reigns is taking a leave of absence to deal with leukemia, something that he apparently had and overcame once before 11 years ago. In announcing this, he broke character (using his real given name) and vowed that he'd be back to reclaim the title that he was relinquishing. Not really on the list of things that I imagined hearing from WWE programming but cancer sure as hell doesn't discriminate. I wish him the best in beating it a second time. He gained a lot of respect in my book with the way he handled it. I had no idea he was even fighting this previously. Kind of a shame for a guy who has done everything that is asked of him despite the fans' disapproval of his work. He's arguably one of the most reliable workers they got which is probably why Vince is so high on him. Still, I'm hoping he sends it back into remission to continue his career. Cancer sucks. |
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Post by El Marsh on Nov 2, 2018 19:56:34 GMT
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Post by rollinsphan on Nov 2, 2018 23:01:14 GMT
WWE: The Arby's of pro wrestling.
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Post by TheDenizen on Nov 2, 2018 23:29:17 GMT
welp, Crown Jewel was steaming dogshit from start to finish.
It looks especially bad in comparison to the Evolution show less than a week ago, which actually had several very entertaining matches.
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Post by Ramon on Nov 5, 2018 9:18:18 GMT
The only thing I watch on WWE these days are the NXT Take Over shows and some Beyond the Ring documentaries.
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Post by BakFu on Dec 19, 2018 20:39:30 GMT
Not WWE but ROH, I've started DVRing episodes, trying to get into pro wrestling again, and so far it's not bad. Lots of good stuff, a little spot-festy at times, but overall pretty fawkin great! I like Kenny King, nice throwback to some classic heel shit, of course Jay Lethal, I like the Briscoes (they remind me of what the Bushwhackers would have been like if Christopher Nolan did a bio pic of them!), The Young Bucks, ReDRagons (when they were still there)and a pile more. So far, pretty fun stuff to watch, I fast forward through the talking shit mostly, but the matches are fun.
And what's up with Jeff Cobb?!?! Is Jeff Cobb what happens when a fire hydrant and Tazz have a child? That guys is a BEAST!!! Very strong thick dude, and fun to watch!
ROH and NJPW are slowly rekindling the fire. I've tried a couple of WWE shows, but never make it more than a few minutes, it just feels empty to me now. Am I broken?...
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Post by Hal on Dec 20, 2018 10:20:32 GMT
My problem with modern WWE is the tv matches, I understand what they're trying to do but fans in the audience are mostly not into the small stuff. Crowd only pops for big stuff.
Might as well change it up. I don't mean dangerous moves matches but more speed, working the crowd, brawling etc.
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Post by mbxfilms on Dec 21, 2018 14:43:07 GMT
Watch Mixed match challenge and they do more house show style stuff that is meant to entertain between the wrestling. Character stuff, gimmick stuff. Interactions. They need that on RAW and Smackdown.
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Post by Wonderland on Jan 25, 2019 21:32:51 GMT
Watched the first couple weeks of January's worth of Raw, Smackdown, NXT. Not too bad! At least as compared to this time last year when I tried and thought it was unwatchable.
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Post by Dawnbr3ak3r on Jan 25, 2019 21:39:30 GMT
Watched the first couple weeks of January's worth of Raw, Smackdown, NXT. Not too bad! At least as compared to this time last year when I tried and thought it was unwatchable. I think the wrestling itself is fine. Mysterio and Almas have been putting on absolutely insane matches the last few weeks. The storylines on the other hand... Hard pass. |
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Post by Wonderland on Jan 25, 2019 21:51:38 GMT
I don't know anything about storylines, they just want to beat the other one, win a title, whatever, it's wrestling. Things I notice are charisma/acting ability/ring presence. There's some good ones now. Love McIntyre (though I might just be hypnotized by his man-bod). Becky Lynch rules.
Last time I watched it was way too obvious they were bad actors reading poorly written lines word for word basically. There is a little more natural-ness to some of it now. Makes it less cringe and necessary to fast forward to the wrestling.
And the Jan 15 Mysterio vs Andrade match was fucking incredible. I couldn't believe I was seeing it.
Edit: the toddler toylike color coded championship belts will forever suck
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Post by El Marsh on Jan 28, 2019 6:01:37 GMT
I liked this year's Royal Rumble
I've more or less given up on following storylines and just look to be entertained and honestly, what I saw (I was asleep for the first 1.5 hours >_>) was pretty entertaining. Both rumbles delivered. Styles/Bryan was good (but the fans really weren't into it, which always gives a bad energy to a match), and Balor/Brock was fun if predictably brief.
I was really impressed with the Rumble showings of Rhea Ripley, Sonya Deville, Io Shirai, Pete Dunne, Andrade (Cien Almas.....I hate when they drop full names >_>), and Mustafa Ali. Definitely cool to see Ripley and Dunne mix it up with the main roster. Likely one-off deals for the moment but they'd fit right in on any brand.
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Post by Wonderland on Jan 28, 2019 6:07:52 GMT
Not gonna read Marsh's post above cause haven't watched the Rumble yet, but gawdam NXT Takeover was guuuud. Ricochet/Gargano musta been some kinda 5 star moty candidate for sure. Tag title match to kick it off was fantastic. Damn, they were all good. I mostly wanted this for Aleister Black vs. Ciampa, which was pretty great as well. Women's title match was awesome, they're both cool. I thought Riddle was lame when he talked in prematch clips from feud, but he was great in the ring, pretty good intense face, had some cool moments. Man. I hope Royal Rumble can match up, that was some special shit I hadn't felt in a while. Hot crowd appreciating it as well was a big part of that.
Good lord the two women's title matches in Rumble so far were so good. Am I changing or is this getting better.
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Post by TheDenizen on Jan 28, 2019 14:40:52 GMT
match by match RR thoughts: Asuka vs Becky: a pretty hot opener even if I missed the first few minutes. The spot with the spinning fisherman off the apron to the floor was scary, it looked like Asuka and Becky tried to spin in opposite directions, and Becky landed pretty hard on her shoulder instead of bumping on her back. Avalanche Beck-sploder was great and the spot with the girls trading submissions, and doing each other's submissions as well was cool if slightly sloppy in the transitions. Asuka's bridging Asuka lock looked pretty sick, and a clean win over a star the caliber of Lynch was exactly what Asuka needed.
Shane/Miz vs The Bar: I don't watch WWE with any kind of regularity so I don't really get why Miz, one of the best natural heels in the company, is playing up to Shane like a vanilla 80's babyface, but I assume they're building towards a heel turn and match between the two at mania. Anyways, pretty standard formula tag match with Miz doing most of the bumping, and Shane getting in a couple of big high spots. The Shooting Star Press was pretty damn good for a guy pushing 50.
Ronda vs Sasha: A super match. Ronda's selling is getting much better, and Sasha's natural heel viciousness was a good compliment to Ronda's rough ferocity. This match was shorter than the Becky v Asuka match, but felt like it had more to it, maybe because it was laid out more meticulously for the benefit of the rookie Ronda. Ronda can still be a little sloppy in the ring (I thought she dropped Sasha right on her head with that last Piper's Pit) but it makes her matches seem more realistic and violent. Sasha looked good in defeat, getting believably close to winning herself, as well as being the first woman that didn't lose to Ronda by submission (I think). The post match handshake/staredown was also pretty effective. MOTN?
Women's Rumble: A long match that seemed slow in spots, with a bunch of goofy shit in the middle (The IIconics, Maria Kanellis, the stuff with Alicia Fox and her hat, Hornswoggle, that one chick who walked on her hands to avoid being eliminated, etc). Standout performers for me were Ember Moon (yum), Nikki Cross, and of course Charlotte Flair. I was also pretty impressed by Rhea Ripley. Never saw her before, she was pretty hot and pretty awesome in her brief time in the match. Slightly disappointed that Kairi Sane was eliminated before Io Shirai got in there. The ending with Becky taking Lana's spot and going on to win was fairly predictable, but a feel good moment for the fans and probably the best result.
AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan: A decent match that largely fell flat due to the crowd being wiped out after the finish of the Women's Rumble. The ending was super dumb, especially given that the match went almost 25 minutes...if you're just going to have a goon interfere and cost AJ the match, why not do it after 15 minutes? Especially given that this show was ungodly long...
Balor vs Lesnar: I didn't expect Balor to win clean, but I did hope that they would somehow get the belt off of Brock. Still, the table corner spot was executed very well, and gave the audience legit hope that Balor might pull off an upset with Brock's core strength being compromised. Balor flew around like a fiend for 8 minutes but then Kimura. With as long as the post match beatdown by Brock lasted, I kept expecting Strowman to come out and attack Brock, but...whatever.
Men's Rumble: This show was already 4 hours long by the time this started, and it seemed to me the intervals between entrants were much shorter here than in the women's match, which was probably a good thing. The Elias/JJ stuff at the start was pretty dumb, and the match wasn't too special compared to past years, with no real big surprises. Gargano got some nice spots in as did Mustafa Ali, but a lot of this match was just there and felt rushed. Nia Jax inserting herself in the match at #30 was the biggest surprise, and seeing her take a 619/RKO combo was pretty hilarious. I had forgotten about Braun/Rollins being down at ringside and got legit excited thinking Andrade and Ziggler were the final 2 lol. In the end, the finish reminded me of Benoit/Big Show, with Rollins getting a front facelock on Strowman and basically dragging him over the top rope for the elimination. Another predictable, but good result. I'm not really a big Rollins fan, but after the year he has had, he might be one of the only guys in the company capable of getting the belt off of Brock Lesnar. |
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Post by Wonderland on Jan 30, 2019 7:34:42 GMT
Johnny Gargano is fucking awesome right?
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