Open WWE/NXT/Pro Wrestling thread

[Still Brooklyn]

So glad I didn't order OR watch that crap.

If it weren't for NJPW and NXT, there'd be no point in watching wrestling. WWE is hideous.

WOO WOO WOO has a BELT? Really?

RR is the champ, everyone hates him, but he's NOT a heel? Really?

Austin, Rock, HBK, and Foley got the biggest pops? I didn't know it was the 90s.

Fake Rey Misterio retains and no one cares, Charlotte retains and no one cares, LON is still a thing and no one cares; Corbin, fake LOD, and Breeze are on the main roster while Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Nakamura, and Balor are on NXT; and Cena is back.

HOLY CRAP.

[Zaximus]

That was a pretty meh WM.  The IC title match was good, and I'm ok with Ryder winning, at least it's a younger talent and something new.  Owens has bigger fish to fry anyway, he's too good for IC title.

Jericho and AJ was good but I think their previous matches on RAW and even Smackdown were better.  

The women's title name change is perfect and something we've talked about on here.   I will say this was probably the best match of the night, no joke.  Charlotte's moonsault was great.   The women stole the show.

Then it went downhill.

They completely screwed up the Brock and Dean.   A street fight and they didn't even leave the ring area?  What a joke.  I expected ramp fighting, behind the stage, escalators, etc.   This was completely a waste of time.  This was the time to boost Dean's stock, the one time beating Brock made sense for him.   I should have known since they were showing it so early.

The battle royal was stupid but Corbin winning as OK, at least a NXT talent gets some spotlight.

The Reigns vs Triple H was so slow and boring.  Felt slowmo.  It felt like I was on WWE2k16 just getting my rating up and going through the motions to get the win.   Reigns is such a bad wrestler, he even brings down Triple H.  The boo's were crazy and I read WWE muted some mics as the people at home wouldn't hear it as loud.  

[teeray]

Yep.  That was a sh1tty Wrestlemania.

They essentially buried all their younger or full time talent for part timers and old people

The only exception was the one guy no one wants lol

Think about it

AJ Styles loses to Jericho

League of Nations and New Day gets beat up by Austin, Foley, and HBK.  However that was actually was one of the cooler moments of the night

Wyatts get taken out by The Rock and Cena in easy fashion

Ambrose and Lesnar was dissapointing.  They should have had more time and let Ambrose kick out of at least one F5 if not two before being pinned  (he actually should have won IMO).  I feel like they toned this match down to not take away from Shane v Undertaker which told essentially the same story just a few minutes later.  If true they undermined a match to protect a match between two guys that rarely show up.

There was some good

I am a mark for all the 4 horsewomen so you can say what you want, but those 3 women stole the show.  Great match, and I dont hate the ending as much as others do.  Was pulling for Sasha, but it was just a great match.  Happy for them

IC match was really awesome too, but you see the crowd losing their mind every time Owens and Zayn went at it and you have to think "why couldn't it have just been these two one on one"

There were some good matches that just had endings that didnt make any sense considering the build to the matches and the future story after the matches 

But I am happy for the women, and their awesome new belt.  If Bayley shows up tonight the women's division may be the most interesting division in the company right now 

[teeray]

Oh yeah.  The best decision of the night was the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and having Baron Corbin win.  That is exactly what that match should do.  Help introduce and establish a new up and comer.

That at least made sense

[teeray]

18 minutes ago, Zaximus said:

That was a pretty meh WM.  The IC title match was good, and I'm ok with Ryder winning, at least it's a younger talent and something new.  Owens has bigger fish to fry anyway, he's too good for IC title.

Jericho and AJ was good but I think their previous matches on RAW and even Smackdown were better.  

The women's title name change is perfect and something we've talked about on here.   I will say this was probably the best match of the night, no joke.  Charlotte's moonsault was great.   The women stole the show.

Then it went downhill.

They completely screwed up the Brock and Dean.   A street fight and they didn't even leave the ring area?  What a joke.  I expected ramp fighting, behind the stage, escalators, etc.   This was completely a waste of time.  This was the time to boost Dean's stock, the one time beating Brock made sense for him.   I should have known since they were showing it so early.

The battle royal was stupid but Corbin winning as OK, at least a NXT talent gets some spotlight.

The Reigns vs Triple H was so slow and boring.  Felt slowmo.  It felt like I was on WWE2k16 just getting my rating up and going through the motions to get the win.   Reigns is such a bad wrestler, he even brings down Triple H.  The boo's were crazy and I read WWE muted some mics as the people at home wouldn't hear it as loud.  

I heard they muted it too.  But not only were there boos, there was a "this is boring" chant, there was an "ole ole ole" chant for Sami Zayn, there was a Gable chant, a "Nakamura" chant and "heeeey we want some Bayley" and "Heeey Bayley.  I want to know if you'll be my girl" chants that were very loud

Not good when that is happening during the main event

[Zaximus]

If I was a share holder, and I seen that each time Reigns was out there people just didn't care, then I'd be a bit worried honestly.  I'm not sure what is going on.  

[party_animal]

I was thoroughly disappointed in the decision to have AJ lose to Jericho. That did nothing for Jericho and hurt AJ quite a bit. I do like Zach Ryder but, I feel like him winning the IC title is about three years too late. They failed to capitalize on the moment he built for himself with Z True Hollywood Story, which was hilarious, a few years ago. Why now? His momentum is nil and he was placed in this match as a substitute for Adrian Neville.

[party_animal]

Also, for the guy that keeps talking up NJPW, most of their stuff makes wrestling look really bad to me. I can't take anything they do seriously because I can't suspend belief enough to believe that it takes that many stiff moves/finishers to end matches. Their workers are talented (except for the Young Bucks, they are garbage) but, they just overdo it a lot of the time.

[Still Brooklyn]

6 hours ago, teeray said:

Oh yeah.  The best decision of the night was the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and having Baron Corbin win.  That is exactly what that match should do.  Help introduce and establish a new up and comer.

That at least made sense

Except it's another "VKM Big Guy". He'll be wasted ASAP, probably tonight on RAW. Sure, having a little guy win the battle royal is a stretch, but come on. Corbin may as well join fake LOD. They're so bad I don't even know their ring names. The whole Andre thing is a waste anyway. Cesaro won, got pushed, then got buried before his injury. Then Big Show wins. Now another meh guy. Just scrap the thing.

[Still Brooklyn]

5 hours ago, teeray said:

I heard they muted it too.  But not only were there boos, there was a "this is boring" chant, there was an "ole ole ole" chant for Sami Zayn, there was a Gable chant, a "Nakamura" chant and "heeeey we want some Bayley" and "Heeey Bayley.  I want to know if you'll be my girl" chants that were very loud

Not good when that is happening during the main event

The best was the crowd chanted, "NXT!" during the main event. Ouch, lol.

[Still Brooklyn]

4 hours ago, party_animal said:

Also, for the guy that keeps talking up NJPW, most of their stuff makes wrestling look really bad to me. I can't take anything they do seriously because I can't suspend belief enough to believe that it takes that many stiff moves/finishers to end matches. Their workers are talented (except for the Young Bucks, they are garbage) but, they just overdo it a lot of the time.

Wait, you aren't pleased with Nakamura? Strong Style is awesome  :) . Their Junior division is the best in the world, IMHO. The constant kick outs you mention are telling the story. That's what Japanese wrestling is. It's about the story of the MATCH. It's about wrestling. It's not inane one-liners by The Rock, it's not about Austin hosing down people with beer, it's not about a Five Knuckle Shuffle being enough to hurt a man enough for a pin. It's wrestling, not "sports entertainment". I sure hope you don't hate NXT as well.  =O

The Young Bucks are basically a better version of the Hardy Boys. Better moves and way too much high risk stuff. They're fun to watch but will be cripples in ten years haha.

AJ and Balor do exactly what they do now as they did in NJPW. Do you not like them in WWE? Benoit was king in Japan once, Owen Hart was great there, the Great Muta is my favorite wrestler of all time, Jushin Liger changed the game, Jericho competed there, etc. I could name names all day. Japanese wrestling IS wrestling. NXT, ROH, Chikara, Lucha Underground, PWG ... are wrestling too.

The WWE is not. It's this close to being trash.

[teeray]

1 hour ago, Still Brooklyn said:

Except it's another "VKM Big Guy". He'll be wasted ASAP, probably tonight on RAW. Sure, having a little guy win the battle royal is a stretch, but come on. Corbin may as well join fake LOD. They're so bad I don't even know their ring names. The whole Andre thing is a waste anyway. Cesaro won, got pushed, then got buried before his injury. Then Big Show wins. Now another meh guy. Just scrap the thing.

Oh I am not saying you are wrong.  I am just saying the decision made sense unlike most of the matches last night.

Instead of having the Big Show or Kane or some old timer win it, it should almost always be a way to introduce people to a new young talent like they did last night.

 

 

[party_animal]

2 hours ago, Still Brooklyn said:

Wait, you aren't pleased with Nakamura? Strong Style is awesome  :) . Their Junior division is the best in the world, IMHO. The constant kick outs you mention are telling the story. That's what Japanese wrestling is. It's about the story of the MATCH. It's about wrestling. It's not inane one-liners by The Rock, it's not about Austin hosing down people with beer, it's not about a Five Knuckle Shuffle being enough to hurt a man enough for a pin. It's wrestling, not "sports entertainment". I sure hope you don't hate NXT as well.  =O

The Young Bucks are basically a better version of the Hardy Boys. Better moves and way too much high risk stuff. They're fun to watch but will be cripples in ten years haha.

AJ and Balor do exactly what they do now as they did in NJPW. Do you not like them in WWE? Benoit was king in Japan once, Owen Hart was great there, the Great Muta is my favorite wrestler of all time, Jushin Liger changed the game, Jericho competed there, etc. I could name names all day. Japanese wrestling IS wrestling. NXT, ROH, Chikara, Lucha Underground, PWG ... are wrestling too.

The WWE is not. It's this close to being trash.

I don't hate NXT but styles and balor are toned down a lot. NJPW is too over the top in the opposite direction and makes wrestling look bad with 100 moves that should end a fight but these guys are just so darn tough and have so much heart that being dropped on your head/neck 50 times isn't enough! Nakamura was also toned down. I never said the guys couldn't work, I just said the style of NJPW is a bit ridiculous. The worst offenders are the Young Bucks. They work hard but nothing they do makes any sense. 500 superkicks and no ring psychology. My favorite type of wrestling well always be World Class or Championship Wrestling from Florida.

[Kramerica]

7 hours ago, Zaximus said:

If I was a share holder, and I seen that each time Reigns was out there people just didn't care, then I'd be a bit worried honestly.  I'm not sure what is going on.  

I hold shares of WWE. Today was not a good day for the stock. :/ I guess Shane isn't going to be able to fix that now, either!

I figured I should perhaps expound even further upon my in-depth, cutting analysis from the previous page, summed up as "fug wrestling." I was visiting a friend (and wrasslin fan) at the beach over the weekend, and we got pretty well inebriated for the show.

I'll say this: it was an entertaining show, despite the seventeen-hour run time. I'm definitely a sucker for nostalgia, and the card, while somewhat underwhelming, still had loads of potential. I'll start with the good.

The women tore the house down, and the new title looks fantastic. I am very happy that Charlotte retained, and I have no issue with how they finished it. It's simply not Sasha's time yet. She will get hers eventually, and it will be a great moment. Charlotte, though, is arguably the best heel in WWE right now. The best way to build credibility and respect for the women's division is to have such a dominant athlete like Charlotte holding the title for an extended period. Also, I didn't get any kind of sexist undertones or whatever from Ric's interference. It had zero to do with male/female wrestling and everything to do with Charlotte being a FLAIR. It seemed quite fitting to me.

Like most everyone else, I was excited to see the Attitude Era guys come back and lay waste to the LON. There is no crowd pop like an Austin crowd pop, much less in the state of Texas. I also found it pretty funny that Wade Barrett took the worst beating of all. Shawn Michaels is in fantastic shape. The man looks like he could walk down to the ring and have a five star match tomorrow. The problem with this and the Rock/Cena segment is that they're booking for short-term success and cheap (albeit huge) pops instead of planning for the future. Isn't this what sunk WCW--relying on aging veterans to carry the show? It's not sustainable.

Ambrose/Lesnar was basically a waste of time. The match was a huge letdown, and it did absolutely NOTHING for either man. And what the fug happened to the red wagon?!

Tbh, we all should've seen Jericho over Styles coming. AJ got the Sting treatment--that's all there is to it.

Shane/Taker was fun in the beginning--Shane comes to the ring with his kids, 'Taker has yet another astounding entrance. The match itself sucked, though, as the memories of 'Taker going the limit with legitimate MMA fighter and eater of men Brock Lesnar were too fresh in my memory. The bump was outstanding, though. It was the first time where I legitimately didn't want someone to actually take a crazy bump, but Shane did it to perfection, and bravo to him. The finish, though, was just so deflating...no swerve, no surprises. A lot like our main event. There's pretty much nothing else to say about that.

So, here it is. Steph and Hunter are acting as principal owners of WWE and stand to inherit the company both in real and kayfabe world, and they still come out every week and tell their customers they're idiots. Finally, we get some beacon of hope through Shane, and it's crushed. As it stands, the Authority wins (at least in the fans' minds, since we all know Roman is the REAL company guy), and RAW will continue to suck. They have one last chance to turn things around tonight at Smarkamania. If it's just business as usual tonight (THIS IS MYYYY RINNNNNG), they're in trouble.