Wrestling General Thread

I haven’t actively watched any modern pro wrestling for a while, AEW and NWA got me interested in checking things out again, and in the process I discovered NXT. NXT is my go to now since NWA doesn’t have any new episodes yet, and is a happy medium between Powerrr’s more traditional “tell the story in the ring” approach and AEW’s confused acrobatics floor show. I’ve been pvring NXTshows and watching them when I can for the past couple of months and generally enjoying what’s on offer. Undisputed Era, Kabuki Warriors and Keith Lee are fun to watch, as are many others, I’m diggin the product in general.

Overall, it’s a good time to be a pro wrestling fan, but I do have a few queries/comments.

1. Why does nearly every show have a f$&king ladder match? That shit used to be a PPV gimmick match that was worked up to. I know the Hardy’s, E&C, and the Dudley’s started the furniture revolution, but shit, climbing ladders and hurting yourself for a suitcase is the shits. Eddy and RVD was about the only one I really enjoyed, but it was well done and no one lost any teeth.

2. What’s with the coloured belts? What happened to the confusing, 40 plus year old gold belts that are completely out of context but are hold overs from some old territory? The new shit is gaudy (don’t get me going on that f$&king spinner belt...). Somehow it cheapens the value, the importance, and the legacy of a title when it looks like something that was made earlier that week as a fashion accessory for the champ of the week (but I guess the whole idea of monopolies is to expunge legacies, this is all there ever was, now buy our product!).

3. Small people doing offence on big dudes. I know Rey did it, but even that took me out of the match in a hurry (his stuff with big show... yikes). It looked like shit watching one of the undisputed era guys superplexing Keith Lee a while back (READ: Lee flipping off of the top turnbuckle), or even Adam cole reversing Dijacovic into a Canadian destroyer looked shitty. Lio Rush is a good performer and crazy on the mic, but he seems too small for even the cruiser weight division. I don’t know, it’s just really off putting to me to see huge guys tossed around let alone matched up with tiny dudes.

4. Curtain jerker matches continuing through a break. Enough said.

5. Why do the fans cheer both dudes? I guess heel heat isn’t a thing any more. It was always fun having a shithead bad guy to hate, I hope that comes back.

Other than that, it has been fun watching stuff. I’m glad NXT exists as raw/sd are unwatchable to me, and the fact NXT is a wwe product seems incredible to me. Awesome stuff!

From what I can tell, Kenny got his rep largely from his work in NJPW. I really feel like he benefited there from great opponents, strong booking, and a format that limited his sillier side. Whatever it was that made him work, it's not there in AEW and Kenny isn't working for me there.

Man I agree with all of this.  The biggest issue with Kenny in AEW is there's no one to save him from himself character wise.

Ric Flair retirement or shoot retirement?! Wow, that guy has been at it FOREVER, and the cool thing about him is he’s kept it at a high level. Wow, pro wrestling’s last generation is truly done. Good for him!

The only time I ever like Omega is when he's being a goober in DDT.

Anytime else? Nah, fuck that noise.

As far AEW goes as a whole? Eh. I can do without it. I tried to like it. I gave it a chance. It didn't stick. It also doesn't/didn't help that I generally don't like anyone in the Elite.

Their Women's Division is about all I care about and they don't really get much spotlight? Like, I never really hear about them in a good light. They have a ton of good talent in that division, but it seems like it's being squandered maybe? I don't know. I hear a lot of complaints about how Riho isn't a believable champion, but I think she makes for a good underdog champion. Nyla Rose is the perfect foil for her because she's a big, menacing powerhouse. Emi Sakura might be too "out there", but people eat up Orange Cassidy's schtick, for the most part ~ I think it's amusing at any rate (I even made an edit loosely based on him). Every other joshi talent they have has been good or great ~ Aja Kong is legendary and I don't have to dive into that. Hikaru Shida is very good from what I've seen. Statlander or whatever her name is, is apparently good, but I've never seen her wrestle outside of a few different clips of her doing her "alien" gimmick ~ Seems like something I'd be into, at any rate. I don't really have an opinion on Allie, but the Bunny gimmick could work. I don't have an opinion on Britt Baker. I can't fuckin' stand Bea Priestley.

I don't remember who else is there, but it seems deep enough of a division, but they're not really mentioned as far as I'm aware.

I don't really pay attention to the product so a lot of this might just be hearsay. Whatevs.

Yeah, I really don't get what happened there.

I think Riho is a great wrestler but AEW made two huge mistakes with her.

1 - She absolutely should not have been the first Champion. As an undersized, face wrestler, her title win would have meant a ton more had it been built to against an over heel. She deserved a bigger victory.

2 - I realize she has commitments with other promotions but her being off the air was really a huge problem. This is AEW's first year and the first reign of anyone as Champion. AEW needed someone who was there every week even if they weren't necessarily wrestling every week. Jericho IS the show even when he doesn't wrestle. They needed an equivalent for the Women's Champion. You can't have an absentee wrestler as the first champion. If this was an injury situation (and I don't think it is), that would have been understandable, and bad luck (like when Balor became the first Raw Universal Champion and got injured in the match) but even then AEW should have stripped her of the Title.

It's one thing to have Brock Lesnar as a dominant heel "last boss" Champion who only shows up for the big fights. You absolutely can not do that with an undersized face who is the first to hold a title in a new promotion. Like I don't understand why they put the title on her to begin with. Sakura could have gotten it from the start, as Riho's mentor, only for Riho to have won it down the line. That would have made more sense. It still wouldn't have solved the absentee issue but at least she would have been more over once she won it.

Yeah, the lack of consistency in how the roster is booked and portrayed (from the shifting participants to the confusion of the #1 contender spot) make the entire Women's division feel like an exhibition or roster showcase project rather than a stable division. The fact the Champion was absent for the majority of her reign just adds to this. 

Emi Sakura probably got more screentime than anyone else and would have made a very solid first AEW women's Champion if she dialed back a bit of her quirkiness (which would make her an entertaining face) and concentrated a bit more on that veteran heel character she is so good at. I would have definitely bought her as the first Champion and her presence on the show would have helped everyone. Riho could have challenged for the Title down the line once her AEW schedule became more consistent.  Emi could have defended like twice a month and her presence on the show would have allowed her to develop and get her Champion reign over much better than Riho was able to get her reign over. You need a present Champion, especially for a new Title in a new promotion.

I also think it's harder to get faces over than heels. While Riho has a ton of personality and seems to connect with the fans really well on first impressions, she hasn't been given enough time to really get the audience to care about her as a character or as a Champion. 

On that note, many of the women contenders who start to gain support then get the rug pulled out from under them by not being booked (whether they are eligible or not) or suddenly losing inexplicably in the middle of a run. I don't think Britt Baker is any more talented or deserving of that initial push than anyone else but I also think that AEW got scared by the fans reaction to their initial push of her. Since a large percentage of the fans are smarks, and the worst thing to a smark is an unearned super push, they rebelled against her ascent and AEW conceded ground. But i think that stopped AEW from being confident in building a strong #1 contender and not just in Britt. It seems every few weeks they'd put a totally new face against Sakura who is basically the heel gatekeeper of the division. It went from Britt to Shanna to Statlander to Shida (who I think is great).  Just pushing one contender is always going to limit the division.

However, the much broader problem (and the one that causes the one above) is this.  If you only give the women competing for a title (this doesn't include Brandi Rhodes doing her own character thing) one segment a week on a two hour show, then ANYONE who consistently wins will look like they are getting a big push. This is the issue WWE has had for years with both the Women's and Tag Title division. You can't just have one segment a show for a Title division because you only have room for the Champion and the #1 contender. You have to build other contenders as well.  Britt winning a lot early looked so much like an over push because there weren't any other women matches happening on the shows.  The same goes for all the other women who went on their own mini-runs only to suddenly disappear.  You can't competently book any division (singles or tag, men or women) with only one segment a week for contendership building and a totally absent Champion.  And you run into further problems if the audience turns on you every time you start to build a new contender.  

The issue wasn't with Britt as much as it was with AEW not having enough segments for the women in general. Anyone winning two weeks in a row is gonna look like the new Goldberg.  The solution to this specific issue isn't to kill someone's push (whether they deserve it or not) but to make sure other contenders are also being highlighted. That simply can't be done with just one segment for the women a show.  

I was watching AEW consistently from the second show until around mid December. I never really knew who would be in "the women's match" from show to show. Sometimes there would be carry over from the week before, sometimes we'd get 3 completely new wrestlers + Emi in a tag match.  The stakes were confusing to non-existent (who cares about a W/L record when the Champion and Title are MIA) and we barely saw anyone more than 2-3 weeks in a row until Shida came in and got a bit more consistent booking. It was a confusing mess of a tag division that wasn't the fault of the wrestlers themselves. 

Meanwhile, there are so many segments on an AEW show that just aren't necessary and so many men's tag matches that are allowed to go like 15 minutes past a reasonable ending.   Edit the show better and give the women roster more of a chance to have legitimate contenders. Reign in some of the antics during tag matches. We really don't need 30 nearfalls in a men's tag match with like 10 increasingly rare indy/JP moves... only for a roll-up victory to win 🤦‍♂️