General

Every year wwe releases talent

It’s acceptable if they aren’t being used at all.

Jinder mahal was a waste resigning he was hardly used

As was veer’s talent being wasted

Jinder was on WWE’s roster solely because Vince thought the only way to market pro wrestling to India was via an Indian. That (sorta racist) experiment was a failure, and current management no longer has a reason to keep him. It stinks but it’s classic WWE.

Khali says he has one more match left in him, and he's a legit megastar over there and even runs his own promotion. It'd be interesting which promotion he'd choose to have his last match in not that I'd want to watch it either way.

Lmao yah I’m with you… Khali didn’t have one more match in him on the day he debuted.

Also yah, those new tag belts are fantastic. Finally figured out they don’t need the logo to be 3/4 the belt to get the marketing point across.

Veer would've been the better choice to go with if they wanted to capitalize on that India market. He might not have been the greatest wrestler (neither was Jinder or Khali), but I don't think WWE even knew what they potentially had with him. His life pre-WWE is pretty interesting. He won on a reality show which ultimately lead to him getting signed as a pitcher in the MLB for the Pittsburgh Pirates which then also lead to Disney making a movie about him. I can't recall WWE explaining any of this to the viewers at home, instead opting to use him as yet another "evil foreigner", like that old trope hasn't been played out enough by now in pro wrestling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Dollar_Arm

Matt hardy in tna now

AEW Dynasty was a phenomenal show last night with a wildly loud crowd and at least 5 top tier matches. Ospreay/Danielson, Swerve/Joe, FTR/Bucks, O’Reilly/Strong & Okada/PAC all ruled so hard.

Jericho/Hook was the main dud… way too fudgein long.

The release of the dreaded footage has proven to be a net positive if for no other reason than presenting Jack Perry the opportunity to be a bigger star for AEW. The man is over, had a fun return last night and received a huge pop. AEW now needs to capitalize on the momentum, but so far so good.

Happy for Swerve becoming the first African American AEW champ and was in awe of Danielson/Ospreay. Great stuff.

Von Wagner released by wwe

They clearly had no vision for him. They went and did that whole storyline, showing all the surgeries and stuff he had to go through as a child to get the crowd to sympathize with him. I feel like that would have worked better doing it on the main roster, not wasting it on developmental. Plus last year he became a free agent in the draft, and he chose to stay in NXT?

Looks like Cameron Grimes got released too. He was pretty good in NXT (and before that, TNA), I liked that little storyline they did with him and Ted DiBiase. But they failed to use him in any meaningful way once he made it to main roster.

He had some bangers in PWG too.

King of the Ring early predictions:
Men's: Gunther. He's just the man and I think my favorite guy right now.
Women's: Chelsea Green.. Now hear me out.. How awesome would she be as a queen?? She is already a Diva, but imagine if she became a queen?? She'd be off the rails (in a very good way). If her and Piper are still a team, she could be her 'bodyguard' and 'wrestle' on her behalf.. I think this has potential to be a great story line, where it culminates in her somehow 'winning' a championship match.

I could see Gunther being worked as king of the ring champion

As for the woman’s it would be more of a toss up

With draft on Fri and following Mon gonna be interesting if a few feuds continue while other started

Most likely bloodline will stay intact at the least after the draft. As far as I’m saying for now.

Tony Khan sells a gut punch about as well as Vince and Linda sell a Stone Cold Stunner. So awful.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Sells an Indietaker about as well as anyone though.

That closing angle ruled. I know I’ll be negged, but hell yah to AEW for leaning as far into this bullcrap as possible. It’s interesting. It’s fun. Capitalize on the controversy.

Also why the HECK can nobody else comment on the objectively good segments that AEW produces? A wildly good PPV goes completely ignored but one bad sell warrants criticism.

I beg you, my wrestling peers… enjoy wrestling haha

(Still love yas obv)

Another also, gosh darn when Kenny Omega, Hangman Page & Kota Ibushi return -- the feud vs the New Elite is going to be fudging awesome. Cannot wait. Hope Kenny's surgery goes well.

Dynasty was good. I feel for everyone who had to follow Ospreay/Danielson, though. I expected a bit more from Joe and Swerve. I recall Tony mentioning huge surprises for the card....so, I guess we got Adam Cole standing on his hind legs and Jungleboy ruining the tag match....good stuff, but a letdown since I think a lot of people wanted MJF to saunter down there sometime and be a scumbag.

I haven't watched Dynamite yet but followed a bit on X. It does sound like they're building the shows around more people now, which is good. Still no announced card for next week in Winnipeg other than Kenny Omega returning and Jericho hogging half the show...and nothing on the radio or anything else promoting it. I suppose that's why there are still plenty of great seats available. No word on Ospreay, Mone, Okada, etc.

WWE feels like they're treading water until after the draft.

I didn't watch the recent PPV (partially because busy and partially just lack of interest) and only caught the last 20 minutes of Dynamite, but you have to be able to laugh at the bad stuff in pro wrestling, there's just so much of it, AEW isn't exempt. Maffew and sites like WrestleCrap made it easier to accept a long time ago.

Twist to wwe draft

Brand champions are protected but the women’s tag champions are not.

Each brand to pick first on their respective show

Makes sense for the women's tag titles since they are defended on both shows (originally were supposed to be defended on NXT too, dunno why they scrapped that), but I can't imagine them splitting up Damage Control yet. Though pretty much every other stable in the company is having problems, maybe that one will too, but it feels like it's too early and they're finally just getting started.

Y2k wrote:

MJF can breathe a little imo. Let the boy rest haha. When he comes back to THIS AEW landscape, it's going to be gold I tell ya.

Also yah, I felt bad for anyone who had to follow... several matches on Dynasty haha. First PAC/Okada blew it out of the water and I couldn't see it getting much better than that. Then Kyle and Roddy put on a masterclass. The show just kept ramping up until Ospreay/Danielson, which was out of this world -- but even still, the two matches that followed exceeded the expectation that they wouldn't be able to contend with that Ospreay/Danielson match. Honestly one of AEW's best outings on PPV -- which is saying something.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Oh I laugh at the bad stuff wholeheartedly and I understand where you're coming from (WrestleCrap is a nightly before-bed read for me), there was just a wonderful segment wrapped around that silly gut punch that I feel also deserves to be talked about ya know?

AEW isn't exempt from terrible crap... Hook/Jericho from Dynasty is blatant proof haha

I'm really not impressed with Okada's work since being in AEW. Not sure what's up there but he just doesn't do anything special since coming over. Ospreay going after Roddy's stupid continental title is dumb and the ranking thing barely lasted an hour before it got tossed. Will should be going after Swerve....not silly mid titles.

MJF's been off long enough. If he can't take 1 match a week sometimes, he should go back to barber college. What's the saying...."The mouth still works. Ask AJ"

WWE draft is dumb. As if NXT gets to draft someone from the main roster if they want. Sure. Smackdown chooses Roman Reigns. Raw chooses Jey Uso. NXT chooses Seth Rollins. Yay. Unless NXT gets changed to a legit WWE brand, it's dumb. Unless they do that and unveil a new league to be the developmental, it's stupid.

Ava has to go as GM. I can accept Nick and Adam as GM's since they're actually good....tho I hope Aldis gets back in the ring soon. Ava's only accomplishment is being squirted out. Completely useless in the ring, on the mic, and as any sort of personality.

Ugh.

If you didn't find Okada/PAC "special," I dunno what to tell ya brother.

The rankings still exist. As is the case with any W/L/D record in pro wrestling, it's extremely loose. I don't know how that adds to or detracts from the product... I don't care one way or the other, personally.

None of us can say MJF's "been off long enough." He's legitimately injured lmao.

WWE does need to stick to a brand split with the draft if they're going to continue pretending the draft matters, I agree. But again, couldn't pay me to actually care.

Regardless... it's all just pro wrestling my man. It's there SOLELY to have fun with, for us audience members. Folks need to stop getting their blood pressure up over this stuff.

Also LOL at Tony Khan selling the angle from the end of Dynamite at the NFL draft, wearing a very obviously not-needed neck brace. Gotta love the kayfabe.

Yeah, not a fan of Ava either. She's not a good talker, but even when she's not talking but in a segment on-screen with someone that is, she makes little facial reactions that just look weird. As far as NXT being included in the draft, I hope they can make it work. Baron Corbin going back to NXT was a smart move, this is the best he's ever been. Finn Balor was kicking ass down there too pre-Judgment Day when main roster couldn't think of anything for him. It can serve a useful purpose.

A lot of reliable outlets are reporting that AEW is paying people to fill seats at recent shows. Not sure why they're doing that when they have 200 people standing around in the back already being paid.

So, anyway, I just finished watching Dynamite. A lot of stuff to say about this one. On the bright side, they are clearly attempting to build actual storylines into their show. It's a good step and the stories are decent. I'm not a huge Perry fan but at least he can talk. I like the direction the EVP thing seems to be going. I thought Tony was dead after being touched with the microphone in the gut. Great work that would put Laurence Olivier to shame. At least he can borrow Cole's wheelchair for a few months while he recovers. Watching the Willow segment gave me flashbacks to the old high school plays when a few kids didn't show up so other people had to sub in that didn't know the lines.

The crowd in Jacksonville for this was absolutely embarrassing. I can't believe there were more than 1200 there after seeing the brief pans around the bingo hall. The claim was 2100ish tickets were put out. I've seen bigger crowds lined up for the free pancake breakfast in the town down the road. All I can say is it's a good thing their pay isn't based on ticket sales or they'd all have been eating at the soup kitchen and sleeping on the sidewalk that night. I can't imagine what the ex-WWE people feel when they walk out to that.

Back to the previous on MJF. Ok, he had a buggered up shoulder. He can still talk and be a presence. He used to brag about not performing. It's one day a week. MJF returning.....if he returns would have to be a huge boost in people actually paying to watch.

More bright spots.....despite the tiny little crowd, AEW put out most of their big names, including the champ. Disappointing match with Fletcher. I thought he was great in his bout with Ospreay - that's on his own. This one with Swerve just didn't look right. I guess less chemistry and familiarity. It felt extremely rehearsed compared to others I've seen them both in. Swerve was incredible during his feud with Hangman and during that tournament....and I think Hangman sucks. I feel that's the collection of matches that 'made' Swerve as popular as he is now. He needs to get that fire back or he won't be in his spot for long. It was sad seeing how Joe was acting during the title match at Dynasty. For most of it, he looked like he just wanted to go home.

Great to see Deeb finally get to do something besides deal with random jobbers sometimes. This is the one that should be wearing the belt. Toni's time is passed and her schtick isn't appealing anymore. She can move on with her nonsense with Mariah and the other one. I'm very ok with Willow sitting in the back emptying the catering cart.

Despite the growing pains of this show, they're still new at it and making great progress. Rome wasn't built in a day and they're still leagues ahead of where WWE was back in the 80's after much more time. They don't have the same backstage resources as WWE so it's not fair to compare them that way. They're better than NWA/WCW in the 90's after the NWO thing got stale.

So, no, I'm not picking on them. I'm simply pointing out what I see that I like and what needs work. Does it make a difference? No. I still enjoy the overall product....but I'm not going to pretend it's all gold when there's some absolute crap in there and if it looks like top guys are calling it in, it's easy to notice when you're used to them doing much better. I do the same to WWE. I'd like to do that to TNA, but I don't see much reason to tune into that anymore. It would be cool to have 3 solid companies that provide real opportunities. TNA feels like the place people go that can't get a job anywhere else. It didn't used to...a place for guys like the Hardys that have run their course but don't want to stop. Jericho can go there anytime.

There are zero “reliable” outlets reporting on AEW needing seat fillers. Ringside News and the like are anti-AEW and have always been anti-AEW - they’re run by probably the least reputable and professional people in the scene.

It’s easy to look up the ticket sales and see that there would be no reason to pay people to sit in seats that are never on camera. Never suggested you were picking on them, feel free, just sharing my opinion in response to yours ya know?

Obviously subjective, but imo Swerve has had nothing but good matches for the past year. His worst was vs Dustin Rhodes and even that was fine. The match vs Joe was awesome, and Joe was wrestling the same way he always does. Not sure what “fire” Swerve’s missing for you but ah well. Wrestles better than 90% of people wrestling haha

MJF is injured. Like literally any injured wrestler, they took him off the road. Plus it’s always good for a popular wrestler to take a break and come back down the line. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

The seat fillers thing doesn't surprise me. They don't get paid for it though, do they? Unless they count being given free entry to the show as a form of payment. Isn't a seat filler's job just to hop in the seat of someone who got up to use the bathroom or buy merch and/or food so the seat doesn't look empty for the TV cameras? From my understanding this is a common tactic used by many TV shows (even WWE).

I wonder if he feels in hindsight he could've done this better? This was a chance to get more eyes on AEW and he uses the chance to compare themselves to Pepsi and WWE as evil Harvey Weinstien? The hosts just laugh it off like "okay enough of this phony wrestling crap, can we talk football now?"
https://twitter.com/JulianWks/status/1783947062394...

Yah he definitely could have done better but sports hosts will always scoff at pro wrestling. Damn shame I’m tellin ya.

Not a whole lot changing with these draft picks tonight... I hope they have at least one big one for later besides Carmelo.

I saw a graphic of the off-air Draft picks thinking they were the primary picks and got heated lmao. Thank god... not that the main picks were all that interesting. Annoyed I'm going to have to watch Bron Breakker as Raw is the show I usually catch weekly. That guy's the drizzlies.

That Double or Nothing Gauntlet battle royal was a cool idea...kinda a dumb name, but a cool idea. They need to do more with this and figure out a way to make it a bigger part of a bigger show and do it with the men and the women. Especially cool when you have no clue who's coming out at all, never mind next. It could add a lot to creating new feuds.

The over the top rope Royal Rumble used to be cool but seems too predictable since they added in the guaranteed WM main event match. The only real interest in those for me now is who the surprise entrants might be....if they even happen.

That dirty sanchez line from Rey to Dom might be the highlight of the show tonight.

Tonight's crowd is magical.
image

Glad the crowd’s into it, but 100% fudge that particular Twitter user.

Also, Dunne and Bate deserve better.

Rikishi is a rapper now apparently, and I think this is a diss track for Hulk Hogan (but more of a tribute to Iron Sheik)
https://twitter.com/TheREALRIKISHI/status/17864099...

Bunch of nxt releases

Gable Steveson was among the releases, and it was kind of a dick move because if they had released him a few weeks prior with those other releases he would've had time to make it to the Olympics again this year.

I expected Kabuki Warriors to lose here. What a shame. Jade has such a long way to go. She's all hype at this point. That spot towards the end was the only impressive thing I've seen from her since her debut, but I knew they were going to rush to put a title on her as quickly as possible.
Kairi did great this match, usually it's her I'm unimpressed with since her return.

Michael Cole forgot to fact check his lines during the main event. Cody was in the Bullet Club, but he was never leader of it.

No move against Steveson is a dick move considering that dude's past. Eff him.

I liked Jade's power moves in that match but boy, did it fall apart midway through. Was actually pretty awesome for the first half, but then I think the ref missed a tag or something and everything turned to crap. They spent 4 minutes getting to that "double armbar into powerbomb" spot and it was rough. Finishing sequence was pretty cool. Title change was to be expected.

Cody and AJ do not have great chemistry, that match is going to be very overrated despite being super sloppy in spots.

Overall, Backlash was a "the foreign audience will be appreciative regardless of what we put on" type card. It was fine, but not incredible other than the crowd atmosphere.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Feels like common WWE revisionist history. Although there was the Bullet Club civil war, where Cody claimed to be leader vs Kenny, who was the real leader at the time. But Cody even admitted in a promo in ROH after that storyline that he was never the leader. Silly Cole.

Did they botch the woman's tag ending? Who was legal? It was pretty confusing.

shadyfozzie wrote:

Yah that match was going pretty great for a while then they completely fudgeed it. I think the ref missed a tag or something. Became a mess.

theJaw wrote:

I wonder if they will use that as a way to get the belts back to Kabuki Warriors...

You could tell Kairi Sane's knee was bandaged up under her gear, I wonder if she's been working hurt and that's why they decided now was the time to have them drop the belts? They are still the longest reigning tag champs on the main roster because of their previous tag title reign, and last week this current tag title reign had only reached the halfway mark of their previous one. I feel like they had more planned for them, but they kinda gotta do something with Jade too while she still has that level of hype around her, and if Jade was going after singles gold I think it'd be easy to see her be exposed for being too green.

Kinda blah week of wrestling. Raw was blah. Dynamite was blah. Smackdown was blah. Backlash was blah. I guess I'll see what goes on with Raw tonight....but with it almost being summer and the weather being nicer, I won't be caring as much unless something more interesting starts happening.

Raw’s card is actually stacked for once with all the KOTR matches. If the matches get good time, it could be a great show.

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With the exception of Sheamus, Natalya and Kofi/Mysterio, this KotR is the era of NXT.


WWE let Jerry Lawler's contract expire. Just one more time I'd like to hear him and JR call a match together. Definitely don't need it on a weekly basis again, just once for nostalgia purposes.

Damn good match with Ricochet and Ilja Dragunov. It's been a couple years since I've enjoyed a Ricochet match for more than the one or two flippy dippy spots you know he'll always squeeze in.

Taking my boys to our first live wrestling show, this weeks AEW Dynamite. I haven't been watching as much AEW recently so not sure what is really going on but excited to see what it's like live. I forgot they tape live though so it's at 4:30 pacific, hopefully I can beat the traffic up to Everett.

Awesome. Hope you all have a great time. I thought about grabbing a ticket for it in Winnipeg a few weeks ago....but the ones I wanted to see weren't coming so I passed (Mercedes, Ospreay, etc).

Had a good time. Was interesting to see how it all plays out live. I’m not sure how it appeared on TV but the crowd was loud. Kind of expected though with local guys Danielson and Strikeland on the card and Darby Allen making an appearance. Like any live sports it lost a little from TV, namely during the promos. Where our seats were it made it hard to understand what was being said due to the acoustics. After the show went off Danielson gave a pretty good speech about the support he had had from Washington and how he felt like he was Washington’s wrestler but he thinks that mantle is now in the hands of Allen. Sounds like he won’t be around much longer.

Was funny to see my oldest sons face when Moné was put through the tables.

beavis wrote:


This happened when I saw SmackDown back in February. If you listened carefully enough you could understand most of what was being said in the in-ring promos, but I recall one specific backstage segment with R-Truth and Dirty Dom that aired on the TitanTron and was nearly impossible to hear in the arena. It made me think maybe those people that chant "What?" aren't just trying to troll but they really can't hear what's being said.