Pro Wrasslin' Thread: I don't know what I just saw

[Stro]

I didn't bother watching the Bonser Royal Rumble Down Under, G'day Mate.

I'm pretty much just watching NXT and the Mae Young Classic at this point. Maybe some Smackdown, but their lack of faith in Joe is disturbing. Put the fucking title on him already, let him run.

Also, is anyone else watching the Mae Young Classic? Meiko Satomura's in ring work is better than probably 95% of the main roster, men included. Just gloriously stiff fucking work.

MYC ring quality is definitely much better than last year, but commentary might somehow be even worse than the death team of JR and Lita. Cole is full dad boner mode for every match, Renee just yells OHHHHH and WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT at every move in between talking about fashion, Beth might as well not even be there at all.

[bork]

Renae fucked up pretty badly on the super showdown in one of the matches, confusing two wrestler names- she was talking about how Liv Morgan had "Viking training" when she meant to say Sarah Whatsername.  Cole and Graves just ignored her whereas they totally would have shat all over Coachman for it. 

[Stro]

I'm sure there are women out there who can be or are good pro wrestling announcers, but the two women WWE is paying to do that job right now certainly aren't those women.

[dkdk]

hbk is back. in 2018. and he's bald.

and kurt angle just ran out there in a conquistador gold body suit lmfao. wtf is this crap

[TVC15]

Is Ambrose turnings heel? Oh boy, this is likely going to culminate in some shitty Ambrose vs Roman thing, isn’t it?

[bork]

DX IS BACK IN 2018 - WATCH THE WACKY TEENAGE HI-JINX SERIOUS BIDNESS OF A 40-SOMETHING AND 50-SOMETHING YEAR OLD MAN!!!  R U READY?!?!?!? 

What is this World Cup thing that they're going at Crown Jewel?  I like that they brought The Big Show back for a qualifier just so he could job to Orton.  And then I guess Nakamura will be jobbing to Rey Mysterio on SD 1000 next week.

LOL at the Bella turn on Ronda on RAW.  Watched that part and Ronda no-sold so much of it that it wound up making the Bellas look pretty weak coming off of that segment.

Still haven't watched the second half of the Australia show yet.  Maybe today.  Don't care about the SHIELD and Braun/Ziggy/Drew stuff.  Is their match worth watching anyway?

Is Ambrose turnings heel? Oh boy, this is likely going to culminate in some shitty Ambrose vs Roman thing, isn’t it?

That was the plan before he got hurt and looks to definitely be happening. 

[nachobro]

I didn't watch past the Shield match for the SuperShow thing, but their rematch on Raw was much better.

[seagrams hotsauce]

man that WON report about NJPW is concerning. i hope it's Meltzer crying wolf but it would really fucking blow if things went south for them

[bork]

man that WON report about NJPW is concerning. i hope it's Meltzer crying wolf but it would really fucking blow if things went south for them

This?

https://www.sescoops.com/njpw-wrestlers-upset-with-new-management/

The new management team for NJPW headed up by Harold Meij has apparently ruffled a few feathers within the promotion. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, some NJPW talent are even considering leaving the company.

In particular, there appears to be some backlash toward Meij himself.

“The initial reaction was that the feeling was that he talks down to the wrestlers,” Meltzer wrote. He then continued to say many of the wrestlers are concerned he has no history in the business as well.

Moral amongst some has changed enough that they are considering leaving the company.

“There are people who in the past had never even considered WWE who are thinking about it, and others who were completely committed to staying who are probably still leaning that way, but are considering the WWE option.”

[seagrams hotsauce]

man that WON report about NJPW is concerning. i hope it's Meltzer crying wolf but it would really fucking blow if things went south for them

 

Let’s just say that the next few months are going to be very interesting. Some early contract offers made have raised some concern to go along with the issues mentioned in last week’s issue. While there is a lot of pride here for the quality of the matches stemming from the Kobe and Long Beach shows during what is usually the post-G-1 down period, and the great reaction to G-1 and its business success, but the new regime (Harold Meij and new General Manager Michael Craven) is very different and not experienced in dealing with wrestlers. There may be economics that we’re not aware of, but there was a lot about the U.S. expansion with enthusiasm, between the new dojo and running a regular California and West Coast second circuit (which I don’t think would have been a good idea) and the pull back from there, and other changes. But it feels like a lot has changed in the last 30 days. Craven, who is believed to be the head of talent relations as well as international expansion, may be the most unpopular guy among the wrestlers with the new regime. Craven I believe was the Tech Business Director at Hays Japan, managing technology recruitment for a company and had worked in IT recruitment for 20 years. He has lived in Japan since 1998, coming from the U.K. and has been involved in developing many of the top senior level technology executives in Asia. The initial reaction was that the feeling was that he talks down to the wrestlers and made strange comments and they know he has no background in wrestling, which is a very unique industry. Morale with the company was very high as you could tell by any interviews with the talent, particularly during G-1 where the level of work had led to high pride across the board with the feeling they were doing the best matches in the world and producing the best overall product. Now the morale is more weird than anything, with more uncertainty about what will happen next and less confidence than with the old administration. Another person noted that the new team has gotten off to a rough start and that all the wrestlers, both Japanese and American, are talking about how they feel like they are seen as workers in a factory assembly line as opposed to high level athletes or entertainers. The excitement so many had for working here has taken a hit. It’s really a bad time for that with the goal of international expansion and that fun vs. WWE money was a key to a lot of people, but if you lower the fun aspect, that changes the equation, and basically we’re coming in on the single most interesting and important contract season since New Japan started garnering some international growth. There are people who in the past had never even considered WWE who are thinking about it, and others who were completely committed to staying who are probably still leaning that way, but are considering the WWE option.

from https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/9n8bjo/won_wrestlers_in_njpw_very_unhappy_with_new/?st=jn4m37d1&sh=a66358ed

[bork]

Thanks; just edited my post with an article about it right when you responded. 

How did Harold Meij end up gaining control of the promotion like that?  Wikipedia says he's lived in Japan on and off for a long, long time and is a fan of wrasslin', but still...wouldn't you want to get someone who really knows the business and the company running things?  That Craven guy has like zero experience here.

[seagrams hotsauce]

yeah it seems baffling that the second biggest wrasslin company in the world would get Dixie Cartered. hopefully they'll straighten things out but why the fuck these dudes get the keys is beyond me. it's troubling even as someone who isn't an avid viewer since NJPW is one of the few promotions on the planet that has wrestlers working for them who you can generally expect actually give a shit about what they're doing and have a modicum of agency in their stories. it's not perfect but the lack of WWE-esque cynicism is a huge appeal for me, and if that gets diminished i can only see wrestling suffering in general as a result

[Stro]

Considering Dave's NJ source, especially about contracts, is Kenny and the Bucks, I'm 100% positive this is them just blowing some smoke either to get NJ to offer them more money to stay come January when their contracts are up, or have a nice boogeyman so they can save face from the super smarks when they take WWE's money. The gaijin are the ones benefiting the most from these changes, and none of the upper mid card-main event guys (basically Goto/Ishii up to Tanahashi/Okada/Naito) are going anywhere, so for this story to break this way (as opposed to Dave normally reporting Japan stuff after it's been published in Japan) is very clearly The Elite angling for more money from either direction.

Specifically Kenny and the Bucks are the ones benefiting the most from new management.

[bork]

Seeing rumblings that Crown Jewel may be canceled due fallout from the journalist who was killed there recently.  Apparently WWE stock dropped 12% and now they may pull out? 

EDIT: Their response so far:

“We are currently monitoring the situation,” a WWE rep said in a statement sent out to media outlets.

[Stro]

0% chance that show gets cancelled. WWE didn't miss any shows when one of their active talents murdered his wife and kid.

[bork]

0% chance that show gets cancelled. WWE didn't miss any shows when one of their active talents murdered his wife and kid.

  Sad, but true. 

[bork]

It's starting to get more attention:

Several United States senators, led by Chris Murphy of Connecticut - WWE's home state - have urged the company to reconsider the upcoming Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia and pause their overall relationship with the country. In an Independent Journal Review article, Murphy had this to say:

“Because [Linda McMahon] is part of the president’s cabinet […] the administration really should give it some thought and maybe even prevail upon them not doing it. I’d hope that they would be rethinking their relationship with the kingdom especially with respect to events coming up in the next weeks like [WWE Crown Jewel]"

-- Other senators on the Senate Foreign Relations committee also expressed concern over Crown Jewel including Chris Coons who at first acted surprised by the news regarding the future event before saying that the company “should be taking a hard look” at its relationship with the kingdom moving forward.   Added Senator Lindsey Graham: “There should be a pause."

-- WWE has declined comment other than releasing a brief statement saying that they are "monitoring the situation" but internally, the company is making back up plans in case they are forced to stop the event.   One of the working ideas is to move the major matches to Survivor Series, but to cancel the World Cup tournament. 

[bork]

LOL

-- In a recent interview with The Sun, WWE EVP Triple H made a statement that took many observers off guard by claiming that he isn't sure if Vince McMahon has ever watched an episode of NXT from beginning-to-end:

    “I don’t know that he’s ever even watched a full episode of NXT start to finish. He’s busy.  “He will pick up a lot from bits and pieces from what he sees. To me it’s always amazing – his insight of things.  I realise he just saw a snippet but what he will say about that snippet is a bigger overall arc to the entire product, and I’m like, ‘That’s really right.’ I think it’s great that he doesn’t see all of it because it gives him a different perspective. It gives him an outsider view on it.”

-- Triple H made the comments in London while announcing the debut of NXT UK – which airs on the WWE Network next Wednesday October 17.   He added that he isn't sure if Vince will watch the new NXT UK but that he is "very keen and very excited for the international expansion... for the future of the business."    NXT UK airs on the WWE Network at 8pm Wednesday October 17

[seagrams hotsauce]

lmao @ that second quote. jesus

also i hope Stro is right. makes sense and will feel less shitty when the Bucks get fast-tracked into the Smackdown tag-team holding pattern

[Mandark]

https://twitter.com/dalmuti/status/1050569317018787841

[bork]

https://twitter.com/rasslinblogs/status/1051180811989471232

[archie4208]

Roman Reigns has leukemia and is relinquishing the Universal Title.  What the FUCK.

[Stro]

What

[archie4208]

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1054524396117753856

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1054525362942619648

I don't care for Roman the wrestler, but I hope he beats it again.

[Stro]

[bork]

Oh fuck, hope he beats it again.   

[nachobro]

damn thats awful

[bork]

I mean I wasn't a fan of the dude, but didn't want this to happen 

Good luck to him and I want to see him back now.

If he comes back, I can see him getting a massive, HHH-returning-from-quad-injury level pop.  Hope he beats it. 

[Stro]

The RE thread immediately turned into bitching about Roman's booking/wrestling, then bitching at each other over it as a few of the community regulars desperately try to let people know that isn't a group of miserable miscreants and they aren't normally like this

[nachobro]

The RE thread immediately turned into bitching about Roman's booking/wrestling, then bitching at each other over it as a few of the community regulars desperately try to let people know that isn't a group of miserable miscreants and they aren't normally like this

http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=45505.0

If he comes back, I can see him getting a massive, HHH-returning-from-quad-injury level pop.  Hope he beats it.

he's made for life whenever he does come back. but fuck, i lost an aunt to leukemia and its just a devastating disease. hopefully him already being in excellent shape helps him beat this.

[Stro]

I wonder how long it's been back and he's been working with it.

[nachobro]

didn't he keep working when he had a massive hernia until he absolutely needed surgery? i wouldn't be shocked if he did the same here.

[Stro]

I would say for sure he worked with it for a while, probably feeling like shit for a while before a check up. I just wonder how long.

[bork]

Thoughts on last week's Smackdown 1000?  Sucks that some of the stuff went on too long and forced them to cut segments and the main event.  Didn't think it was really anything special and didn't get the Evolution reunion on SD...when they were a RAW stable.    LOL at Big Dave just ignoring Randy Orton trying to stay in character too.

Watching it this week and they just keep on pushing Crown Jewel despite the fact that it's Evolution this Sunday.  Makes the PPV feel like second tier to Crown Jewel.  Good job with that "first-ever women's PPV" hype, Vince. 

The latest dirt sheet rumors are that John Cena is refusing to go to the event, Daniel Bryan may also be protesting, and they're scrambling to try to find another location to host the event in since they may end up pulling due to all the pressure.

[bork]

Turned it off at the main event.  The final match and build for the Women's Evolution PPV...was Jeffy Hardy vs. Randy Orton.

[nachobro]

why was shane there to just repeat the same promos we'd been getting all night?

[bork]

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1054935062737645570

[bork]

WWE   E V O L U T I O N
https://twitter.com/BernardCls/status/1056708196105117701

[Stro]

That match ended up being quite good though. Opening match was full of terrible botched but that's what you get for putting Lita in a 15 minute matcu in 2018

[Sideshow Raheem]

Evolution is pretty bad.

Two of Shayna Bazler's friends interfered in the NXT title match and the referee didn't call a disqualification because.

Sasha Banks messed up a jump. The battle royale was the pre-show match. It was not memorable except I think Nia Jax knocked Tamina Snuka unconscious by throwing Zelina at her.

Also, they've already run four or five promotionals about how revolutionary/evolutionary/inspiring/empowering this show is. I understand the show is important, but please stop patting yourself on the back for 10 minutes. It's all tell and no show.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Becky vs Charlotte was dope

[Stro]

I thought it was pretty good once they got past the opener and battle royal. The 6 man was a lot of fun and had a lot of fun spots and good tag psychology, MYC finals was a full on joshi match, NXT match was a psychology heavy match with a year of history going into it, Becky/Charlotte was a stunt show, and Ronda/Nikki was a sports entertainment match. Four completely different styles and matches that were all pretty good, with a super hot crowd and the MYC/NXT presentation.

It was certainly a better show than the Australia one.

[bork]

That match ended up being quite good though. Opening match was full of terrible botched but that's what you get for putting Lita in a 15 minute matcu in 2018

That was the only match I skipped.    Just tired of seeing that feud.  Time to move on already.

Evolution is pretty bad.

Two of Shayna Bazler's friends interfered in the NXT title match and the referee didn't call a disqualification because.

Are those the other two "horsewomen" who are with Ronda?  I thought the idea was to do a horsewomen vs. horsewomen feud (Becky, Charlotte, Sasha, and Bayley are the other set IIRC) but guess that's not happening anytime soon.

The battle royale was the pre-show match. It was not memorable except I think Nia Jax knocked Tamina Snuka unconscious by throwing Zelina at her.

Eh, good way to get everyone on the show.  The "legends" being there were largely a huge waste and most of them did nothing except get eliminated.  But hey, Ivory stayed in for a while.  She did pretty well for a 56 year old.  Was wondering what was up with Mandy Rose getting so many eliminations was.

Am OK with Nia Jax winning but it should have been Ember Moon.  The crowd was behind her the most.

Also, they've already run four or five promotionals about how revolutionary/evolutionary/inspiring/empowering this show is. I understand the show is important, but please stop patting yourself on the back for 10 minutes. It's all tell and no show.

This kind of thing never makes sense to me.  Promote the show that the viewer is already watching, brehs.

I thought it was pretty good once they got past the opener and battle royal. The 6 man was a lot of fun and had a lot of fun spots and good tag psychology, MYC finals was a full on joshi match, NXT match was a psychology heavy match with a year of history going into it, Becky/Charlotte was a stunt show, and Ronda/Nikki was a sports entertainment match. Four completely different styles and matches that were all pretty good, with a super hot crowd and the MYC/NXT presentation.

It was certainly a better show than the Australia one.

I liked the opener OK.  The crowd being hot for Trish and Lita probably helped.    Felt bad for some of the returning women who didn't get much of a response.  Tamina got no reaction whatsoever, lmao.

[bork]

Apparently the ads that ran for Crown Jewel during the PPV only aired to viewers and they didn't show it to the crowd because they didn't want them to start booing. 

[Stro]

I read they cut the feed for the live audience after they started to boo the shit out of it

[Sideshow Raheem]

That was the only match I skipped.    Just tired of seeing that feud.  Time to move on already.

Evolution is pretty bad.

Two of Shayna Bazler's friends interfered in the NXT title match and the referee didn't call a disqualification because.

Are those the other two "horsewomen" who are with Ronda?  I thought the idea was to do a horsewomen vs. horsewomen feud (Becky, Charlotte, Sasha, and Bayley are the other set IIRC) but guess that's not happening anytime soon.

Yes, they were Shayna's MMA friends. They're now wrestlers in NXT? The horsewoman thing would be interesting, but maybe Ronda will have to be with the good guys and Becky with the bad guys. Or they'll have to do some shenanigans to make the teams fit.

As for the NXT match, it just was one of those dumb wrestling moments where you're thinking things should make sense, but really it's wrestling.

[bork]

https://twitter.com/Maffewgregg/status/1057407882025676806

[bork]

It's official: Cena and Bryan are out of Crown Jewel.

They had Lashley replace Cena on Monday and on SD they just had the title match between AJ and Bryan.  Went 30 minutes and AJ retained, then Samoa Joe came back and attacked both of them.  So guessing it's him replacing Bryan.

[bork]

The New Day just came out dressed like the Brood to their theme music

[bork]

They ended this segment with their own commercial for Crown Jewel. 

[dkdk]

carmella cant rap for shit lmao

still bae tho

[Trent Dole]

The New Day just came out dressed like the Brood to their theme music

owns

[seagrams hotsauce]

oh man. they are for real bringing Hogan back for Crown Jewel lmao
https://www.wwe.com/wwe-crown-jewel-event

[nachobro]

crown snooze getting more skippable every day

[Stro]

So did anyone watch SD? How was Bryan/AJ?

[nachobro]

Really goddamn good. Both dudes really pulled out all the stops and gave an excellent match. Definitely glad we got it last night rather than in SA. Of course 1 second after it ended, they set up for Joe/AJ again in Saudi so whatever on that. Still, glad we got to see the good match first.

However I am a bit confused on why Shane is out on the show and making matches. Isn't that the job of the GM? Small nitpick but still something that makes me wonder if they just want a McMahon out there making the "big matches" like AJ/Bryan.

[bork]

So did anyone watch SD?

https://twitter.com/Maffewgregg/status/1057731192345296900

[bork]

[Stro]

The real reason Bryan said no to the show has nothing to do with Khashoggi's murder, nor the women not being allowed on the show...but because he think it's racist that they won't let Sami (of Syrian descent) Zayn wrestle on the show. Sami isn't even ABLE to wrestle for another 9 months.

[seagrams hotsauce]

the thing i read was he was trying to duck it for months before the Kashoggi murder due to Zayn being excluded the previous year