General

Oh they actually just announced the competitors for the WHC tournament. Still don’t fully understand the point of the belt given everything WWE has announced about it, but this should at least be an entertaining tournament:

Raw:
Seth Rollins
Finn Balor
Damian Priest
The Miz
Cody Rhodes
Shinsuke Nakamura

Smackdown:
Edge
AJ Styles
Bobby Lashley
Austin Theory
Rey Mysterio
Sheamus

Lesnar is such a perfect heel.

So with Drew McIntyre possibly on his way out of the company, Roman Reigns just showing up when he feels like it and Randy Orton and Big E both out indefinitely and potentially not being able to wrestle again, we need some fresh faces in the main event scene. The sooner the better.

GUNTHER could go right now but he's kind of busy with his own title.

I feel like Damien Priest is getting there. I don't know that I'd put the title on him at this point, but I wouldn't hate him chasing after it if it goes to a babyface.

Montez Ford is almost ready too, I just feel like he's lacking something because it seems like he only knows how to do one type of promo (I think that about Cody lately too, actually post-WrestleMania I've been minimizing the tab every time I know he's about to do a promo).

If they need to reintroduce some people into the main event scene, I'd recommend Finn Balor and Dolph Ziggler. They can always go.

Balor should be top of the card. Ziggler should totally be up there too, but it's obvious the ship has sailed for him in WWE's eyes. Gunther is really the only newer guy who's believable imo. They have plenty of talent that they simply haven't utilized enough to make them seem credible. I hate to say Ford needs to drop the dead weight because I enjoy Dawkins but that dude could be so much more than a tag guy, Elimination Chamber proved that (if a ton of other performances hadn't already).

Priest seems like Bunny's fall guy because he literally only gets spotlight if it involves Bunny, because they're pals. He SHOULD be higher in the card (but heck, his name should still be Punishment Martinez because that rules so hard).

The WHC tournament will rule, but even there most guys are closer to 40 than not... it is a little ridiculous how thin WWE's roster is when it comes to younger guys who could potentially break out.

Will say: if Balor wins the WHC tournament, I'll be happy and will be half-okay with the title existing. It'll still seem like a mid-card title, but that dude deserves it most. Either him or Nak.

I agree, and in my mind Shinsuke Nakamura is a guy they can get going to main events again too. I do think Dolph is too scorched earth to make a top guy, but Finn isn’t. I’d also want to see Bobby Roode there, but he’s hurt and I do think his team with Dolph hurt him.

Yah Roode unfortunately won't wrestle again until 2024 due to injury/surgery, which is a fudgein shame. That dude should've been shot put so fast, but alas. His "glorious" shtick was guaranteed money, no idea why they didn't keep that going.

Also: Balor just nailed Rollins with the same move Rollins nailed Balor with back during the first Universal title match, the move that injured Balor and ultimately sent him on a downward spiral. I dig that sorta thing. Seth's stock won't drop from losing this match, but Balor's absolutely would.

lol classic WWE. Yep, if Nak doesn't win this thing, I simply don't give a fudge. Feel for Balor. Dude deserves to be booked correctly.

AEW is HEATING right now. Going to be a truly huge summer for them this year. Great Dynamite tonight and the cage match main event is just starting.

I am a bit behind, I only just realized that Night of Champions is the next Saudi event. The payday must be awfully good if they managed to convince Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to participate.

Yah that’s real surprising to me. Also a little disappointing.

That said, that tag match has piqued my interest for sure.

Why haven't they made Bianca and Rhea swap titles yet? They don't match the brand they're on.

Athena vs Skye Blue for the ROH Women’s title from ROH on Honor Club this week was fudging wonderful. Deserves a watch, what a great friggin match. Athena’s title reign has been top notch, and Skye Blue is a great signing for ROH/AEW.

The title swap has and always been stupid. I’d rather they keep it as is, or find a way for them to get to their own brand organically. It’s dumb that they can’t defend their brand titles on the brand they’re supposed to be on, and the tag champs can be wherever they want, and they had to make a third title for Raw because no one can beat Roman, but the Raw title has a Smackdown half of the tournament. Their title scene is dumb as crap except the US and IC titles, and you could make the argument the wrong titles are on the wrong brands.

I agree that it's stupid, I also think it is dumb to even have two separate women's titles for a division where it's seemingly always the same 5 or 6 women that even get a chance to be in the title picture.
Charlotte has time off now, but when she returns you know damn well she'll be going for title reign #67 instantly. How about in her absence putting Nikki Cross, Mia Yim, DouDrop or Tamina in a meaningful storyline? They don't have to win the title, but it'd be nice to remind the fans that they're still employed.

It was said that most of the women were happier when Vince was booking compared to when Triple H was put in control and I don't find that hard to believe at all. NXT had such a great women's division but you would never know he had anything to do with it if you compare it to how hard he has fumbled with the booking of the women on the main roster.

For real. The women’s division is in need of a massive overhaul. They were booked well, and they could be again if Triple Haitch would put a focus on more than like 5 at a time. Even Ronda was an afterthought for Wrestlemania and look at her star power. They seem to only focus on the champs and their immediate opponents and then Charlotte and it’s damn sad. Haitch knows how to book women. He’s done it before. What happened?

Would wwe benefit from a woman's only show, like an hour long show before or after nxt?

shadyfozzie wrote:

They’d need to book women correctly first.

I don’t see WWE doing anything like that. Even if they did, they wouldn’t stay behind it. Look at the Super Juniors thing they tried, the cruiserweight reboot they did, the Mae Young Classics that didn’t keep going, NXT UK. They start something with part of an infrastructure and then when it doesn’t make them zillions of dollars they pull the plug.

Plus, they want to make the women seem equal to the men, and a show exclusive to them wouldn’t help that cause.

Don’t know how telling this is, but Bray Wyatt isn’t listed in WWE’s internal roster anywhere.

Headed to Raw tonight. Most of the people I'd wanna see ended up drafted to SmackDown a couple weeks ago, but at least I'll get to see my first live battle royal, GUNTHER and ol' Nakamura.

I hope you have the best time.

@PizzaTheHutt how was the live experience? I thought the show was okay overall, I enjoyed their newfound focus on some younger/fresher/less-exposed talent.

Gotta imagine WWE is feeling the pressure to build new stars with guys like Orton and Cena most likely done, and Reigns working the lighter schedule.

I had a good time. Was stuck in the nosebleeds though, but I expected that because it was a last minute thing, I didn't buy my ticket until Friday evening.

The crowd was into the whole show, except one match I felt like nobody gave a crap about, Raquel vs the broad that acts like a Karen. The matches taped for Main Event even had the crowd more into them than these two did.

There were some dull spots during the battle royal which I expected, but when Ricochet would do one of his flippy moves it got the crowd back into it. I was hoping Ricochet would win, a few people around me were sure that Bronson would win.
I don't know if Mustafa Ali's entrance made it on TV or was during commercial break, but fans were reaching out for him and he was ignoring them, just pointing at himself the way a cocky heel would. The crowd seemed glad for him that he won, I don't know if anyone expected that. I still am not quite sure if he's heel or face.

At the end, I think the show had gone off the air after the tag match, but KO and Sami attempted to beat down Judgment Day and Imperium, but they were outnumbered, so Riddle and Cody came out to help. I was hoping it'd turn into a dark match but it didn't.

I hadn't been to a TV taping since SmackDown/ECW at Madison Square Garden in 2009 a couple days after Backlash. I don't know what has changed since then but nobody seemed to interact with the crowd during commercial breaks. An example, at Raw at MSG the night after SummerSlam 2002, Chris Jericho came out for his match against Jeff Hardy, and they cut to commercial after his entrance and he grabbed a mic and sang "I Love New York", but changed the lyrics to "I Hate New York" until the show was back on the air and Jeff came out. Just little things like that, which I still remember 20 years later despite it not being televised and I didn't have a smartphone to record it with. But there was nothing like that last night, just little segments where they did a "DX Cam" and the crowd was encouraged to crotch chop while the DX theme played (and the ring announcer sang along and was pretty into it), or a "Hulk Up Cam" where Real American played and the crowd was supposed to pose like Hogan and get shown on the Titantron, etc. I was surprised they don't even do that thing anymore where they'd have a Diva come out with a cannon thingy and shoot t-shirts into the crowd. They didn't even announce who those two jobbers were so they could get a little hometown pop.

Yeah it's apparently become a lot less of an "experience" and more of the filming of a TV show in a live setting, if that makes sense. At least it doesn't sound like you had to sit through one of those dreaded entrance lulls I see people complain about, where the wrestler enters and then just stands in the ring while 2 full ad breaks broken up by a backstage promo or something plays. I've heard about it getting up to 10 minutes between the start of both wrestlers' entrance themes starting.

Also, that broad is ol' Chealsea Green, Matt Cardona/Zack Ryder's wife. I sorta dig her stuff tbh, she's pretty entertaining and solid in the ring.

RIP Superstar Billy Graham

RIP Superstar. Excalibur announced it during the Jericho/Strong match tonight.

Great closing segment on Dynamite, and a solid show wrestling-wise. Still not feeling the World title angle heading into Double or Nothing but the Anarchy in the Arena match between The Elite & BCC that was announced tonight has got me puuumped up.

Looking forward to it whenever I eventually get it. Will be neat to get a more arcade style wrestling game again as opposed to the usual TV simulation style, as much as I like that too.

I’ll probably snag it on Switch if reviews are alright. The graphics aren’t the main priority for that game and I feel like that’s the only thing that would really be hindered between that version and the others.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Finally. Really hoping this doesn’t suck and replicates the N64 grappling system. The trophies that leaked worry me it might focus on mini games too much.

Can’t wait for the mediocre review scores.

BucketofJustice wrote:

Why do you say that?

Well the back and forth between developers and AEW has been conflicting (how far along it actually is). Constant delays, limited in game footage, constant mentions of mini games does have me worried. I’m really routing for it, both as an AEW fan and a massive liver of those THQ games, but I will be waiting on reviews.

Valid, but I’m cautiously optimistic that we get another good wrestling game.

Ouch, word is CAW is limited and community creations aren’t in the plans. That hurts. Now this is supposed to be a title that gets constant updates, but obviously if the money and player base isn’t there this won’t happen. Hopefully the core product is strong enough to find an audience with casual wrestling fans that may find 2k WWE series too challenging

We aren’t going to get a good wrestling game. We’re going to get one that’s mediocre. The gameplay that’s been shown looks like ass. They’re going for No Mercy allegedly, but everything looks like a high res Legends of Wrestling. The mini games are going to be bad, like Fuzion Frenzy 2 bad, and the whole package won’t be memorable in any good ways. This is, at best, a game they will eventually build into something decent in a few sequels… if their video game deal lasts that long. It could be like TNA where they had a decent foundation and the second game could’ve been good but Midway died. I don’t see it going well for the first game.

Edit: I also remember them showing off some alpha footage of Darby Allin doing moves that were animated from Here Comes the Pain. I hope they’ve moved on from that and didn’t use those animations. Some of those were from Smackdown 1 on PS1 and are almost as old as a lot of the AEW roster as a whole.

I’ll hold onto my opinion for when I actually play the game or see what folks who actually played the game feel. I agree it may just be a solid foundation and nothing more, but still cautiously optimistic. Will have no issue saying I was wrong if it turns out bad, just not gonna jump the gun.

@beavis I hear CAW is fine but yah lack of being able to share creations is a little weak. Like you said, they do plan on releasing updates for the game so that’s one I really hope they implement in the future.

I think as long as the gameplay is solid and arcadey without being TOO acradey (like All Stars or something), I’ll most likely be fine with it. May wait for a sale or something but whatev. I don’t love the character models but like I mentioned previously, graphics are the least of this game’s concerns. Graphics don’t make a game and they never intended to make them photorealistic. Mini games are a literal nonissue to me. Would rather those than the money sink card crap WWE shoehorns into their 2K games tbh.

Yea I don’t get those card games

Saw this 2 minute clip of Punk vs Omega from Fight Forever. As far as gameplay goes, it looks like fun stuff imo. Definitely has the classic feel they’re going for. I would have liked to see a little more movement from the ring though. The way it stays stiff as they bump and whatnot is a little weird but that’s a tiny nitpick.

Frankly not enough blood in that screenshot though.

https://twitter.com/teffo_01/status/16611650607004...

Orange Cassidy and Evil Uno did a stream this morning on AEW Twitch gaming channel. In my opinion the game looks pretty good from what I've seen so far. They played a few different matches but didn't say anything about who is in it. It looks very much like the N64 games (other than graphically) and I'm 100% ok with that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEfwDzvrLFw

Are there not full entrances in the game? Looks like they kept it like WWF No Mercy where you just see them on the ramp. It's not too big of a deal I suppose, but I was wanting to see if The Acclaimed would rap at all.