Yeah, I'd also like to see him get another run with the title with fans actually able to attend to see it this time. I'm not sure how he'd fit into the title picture now though. Roman is back to being a part-timer and isn't even booked for Backlash, and the fans seem way more behind Cody chasing after the title, not sure if they'd accept him being pushed aside for someone else right now. Even with the IC title, I don't want Gunther to drop it to Drew either.
I'm all for keeping both show's world titles unified into one (and they need to do it with the womens titles too, that division doesn't justify having two titles because it's always the same women challenging for them), but when you give it to part-timers like Brock or Roman it's hard to avoid crap like this where you get people unhappy.
Apparently 50% of the Raw roster aren’t in Seattle yet due to traveling issues and rewrites had to happen. How tf does that happen unless they were all traveling together haha
Looks like AEW’s launching a new 2-hour Saturday night weekly show “AEW Collision”. Apparently the first episode will be June, and rumors suggest it’ll be CM Punk’s “home” show. This is accompanied by rumors that Tony Khan & AEW are considering a “soft roster split” in the coming months. Aka “both shows share the roster but Collision will focus on the folks who actually get along with CM Punk” haha. Just a joke/my guess of course, the Collision trademark was filed a while back to be fair, so this would have happened with or without the Punk of it all haha
I’m down to see how it pans out. Despite all the goofy drama, I still wanna see The Elite and Punk on AEW programming and if this is the safest way to do it, so be it.
He posted a photo, all smiles, with Mongo McMichael’s wife. The issue being that they were standing right beside Mongo, laid out on his hospital-style bed, looking like a lifeless husk. In no way does he even somewhat resemble the Mongo of the 90s, and it was real sad to see. To be fair, Flair’s caption was calling Mongo strong and whatnot, but it’s just classless to post anybody in that state the way he did.
That sounds scummy as crap. I’m sure Conrad told him it would be a good idea to take it down or something. I don’t think he would think to take it down himself.
i sort of getting tired of the bloodline storyline all i am gonna say sooner or later the group is gonna have to be broken up. No one wants to see Reigns be champs forever.
As to bloodline and judgement day joining forces on RAW it is what it is. Would have been a good program to feud judgment day with bloodline.
As for the draft doubt it will change must creative (having bloodline beat up people evry week is getting way stale)
The whole Riddle/Judgement Day aspect of the Bloodline angle just reeks of “spinning tires”. There’s nothing interesting there anymore, so they’re just throwing everything at the Bloodline hoping something sticks to fill time each week.
I might not be the biggest fan of Cody, but he does deserve a title run, and I do expect he will get one, but I don't know when. I would not have been disappointed if he had won at WrestleMania. I would expect something major for WrestleMania 40 (40th anniversary, and they should have that merger all settled up by then), and if Roman is going to drop the title, it should be at a WrestleMania, but I don't want he and Cody headlining two years in a row.
This past WrestleMania was maybe not the right time for Cody to get that match. Fans would have ate it up had he won, but obviously he didn't. Over the course of his career he accomplished a lot, but so far since returning to the company there's still a lot more story to tell. What he's done so far was have a few (really good) matches with Seth Rollins, then spent about 6 months on the injured list, came back to win the Royal Rumble and go straight to the world title. It just would have looked too easy. It's also a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation for the booker. Clearly people are upset he didn't win, but if he had won there'd be jabronis on Twitter whining that he had the match handed to him.
Those jabronis can take a hike and shouldn't be the ones catered to. I offer a disclaimer before this post: I enjoy Roman Reigns. I like his wrestling, I like his character, I dig his vibe. I acknowledge he's a great focal point for WWE, and I still like the faction of the Bloodline itself. So please know that this isn't some weird anti-WWE, "push my guy" stance haha
That said, I wouldn't have seen it as "damned if you do" if they had Cody win at WrestleMania 39. It would have been a satisfying pay off. It would have been putting the world title on a new, white hot face. They built the Bloodline for 3 years. At no point did it seem like any one was a true threat to Roman until WM39, and that was literally by design. WWE made sure that was the case. They placed all the pieces in their respective spots to finally pay off this exquisitely built angle because, yes, despite the common WWE creative direction, stories CAN end. And they literally built a perfect ending, to the point that "finish your story" was practically a catchphrase by the time the match came along. And then... they didn't pull the trigger. They let the expiration date run out, and with Reigns missing from weekly TV, they're now just letting the story get old.
It's just a shame because they didn't let the story get old a single time for 3 years, which isn't common for modern WWE, and now they're just reverting back to the "same old same old" to get Reigns to 1,000 days. It's a big oof.
PizzaTheHutt wrote:
> It just would have looked too
> easy.
This particular argument honestly annoys me, just because I've seen it a bunch lately. No offense of course, just a difference in opinion. It's just that winning the Rumble would have been MORE than enough to justify a title win at Mania in ANY other year, so I don't understand why it's being downplayed this year just to give WWE's booking a pass. Batista won the rumble in 2005, then won the title at WM21... did that look too easy? Mysterio in 2006. Austin in 98. Triple H in 2002. And so on, and so forth. It's happened countless times. In my opinion, it wouldn't have seemed "too easy" if Rhodes won the title after winning the Rumble.
But just on top of that, the whole "adversity" argument is so ridiculous. Rhodes has easily faced more adversity in his career than most dudes in his spot. Dusty's whole "hard times" promo was about overcoming REAL LIFE hard times, not just the hard times imposed on your character by a team of lackluster writers.
Cody's adversity: -Is regulated to midcard for his entire initial WWE run. -Is given a knockoff Goldust gimmick just to fill time. -Leaves WWE to forge his own path and build his own name, a lot like his father. -Travels the globe for years, winning world titles and building his "star" along the way. -Helps found the second biggest wrestling company in the US, and build a genuine fanbase for that brand. -Returns to WWE, to an all-time WrestleMania pop. -Has 3 straight wins over one of WWE's top guys. -Injures himself, battles through that, then rehabs that serious injury for months upon months. -Returns, wins the Rumble (which, again, is commonly enough to justify a title win at Mania). -Is the one guy to get Owens and Zayn to reconcile after years of being enemies, FINALLY GIVING US THE STEENERICO REUNION WE ALL WANTED! (Don't count WrestleMania 34 season pls).
Rhodes should have been booked to win at WrestleMania 39. It was the time to solidify a new top guy in WWE, it was time to end the Bloodline angle. Folks keep saying that Rhodes would have no story to tell if he had won, but he's literally feuded with ONE other guy other than Reigns (until now, with Brock), so just about ANY angle following his hypothetical title win at WM39 would have been fresh story to tell. Roman as champion is the dude with no story to tell unless they sack up and put him against Gunther. Otherwise, it's just spinning tires until he finally drops the belt to whoever. He's gone through any credible member of the roster already. Rhodes should have won at Mania.
Meanwhile, AEW needs to get out of this "pillars" feud between MJF, Jungle Boy, Darby Allin & Sammy Guevara. It doesn't hit for me at all, and it's rough that it's the current World title angle. It feels painfully like just a road bump for MJF's title reign... the other 3 guys don't touch him, over-wise.
Just on a surface level, the "pillars" label doesn't make sense. The whole “pillar” term is based off the “Four Pillars of Heaven” of All Japan: Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, & Taue. 4 established, iconic dudes who came together to form something special. For as great as Darby, Perry & Sammy are... they're not even close to the pillars of AEW.
In my opinion, these are the 4 Pillars of AEW:
-Kenny Omega. The most over guy across the globe, and also in the US, who was never featured consistently on national wrestling TV. -Chris Jericho. One of THE most over guys in the history of pro wrestling itself. A living legend before AEW was even conceived. -Jon Moxley. The heart of AEW, and the spark who ignited it from his surprise debut at the first PPV and carried the company when they needed. -Cody Rhodes. The "WWE guy" who brought star power and legitimacy to the promotion.
I agree, if anyone should be calling themselves the pillars of the company it's the 4 you named. I don't think I'd even have Jungle Boy or Sammy in the discussion
The MJF angle being champion is a bore reminds when brock was champion and rarely did any show appearnces
i like the idea of the blackpool club or whatever it is called gives the company a new heel group.
That being said what ever happened to dark order seems like they been buried not appearing much hopefully when the third show comes out they can be used more. I do like the idea of a third show as long as fans would watch the show.
As for CM Punk coming back and elite not wanting to wrestle or be around him, ill leave that alone. I do like the fact The elite are faces now though.
RIP to Xavier Woods' 2 year undefeated streak, courtesy of GUNTHER. I'm mostly watching tonight with the volume off, so I don't know if they acknowledged his streak at all or if they worried it might detract from Roman's so they chose not to make a big deal about it. Granted, the streak wasn't a big deal at all as he's only had 12 singles matches since 2021. 🤫
Finally caught up on this week's NXT. I'm really hoping Regal's kid has a bright future ahead of him. I also hope he has even half the charisma of his old man. I don't think he has gotten to show much of that yet.
Well if he's gonna bury the hatchet with The Miz, maybe there is still hope he and Colt Cabana can kiss and make up someday and become BFFs again like the old days.
I hope this ain't some "finding Jesus" thing, but good on him for trying to patch things up. Hopefully Corey Graves was on that list of people he talked with too.
Recent reports have suggested that Tony Khan may not be 100% into bringing Punk back, so a visit to Raw could be the exact seed that needed planting for an eventual WWE return once his AEW contract expires. I’d rather an AEW return, where he could wrestle his style match with more guys who have a style that meshes, but nothing would surprise me at this point.
I don’t know why Tony wouldn’t be salivating at the idea of bringing Punk back. He moves merch and makes them money and brings in ratings. Unless he’s not into it because of the whole Brawl Out thing still, in which case everyone needs to get in a room and hash it out to the point of being able to work together. He also needs something big for Wembley and he has no bigger star than Punk.
Not sure how I feel about another title. Sorry, but I'm still going to view Roman's title as the "real" world title and this one is just going to feel secondary.
Ohhhh I just saw. 1) Becoming a world champion without defeating Reigns is fudging pointless. A consolation prize. 2) Plastering the usual WWE advertisement on top of the classic Big Gold belt design is aaaaawwwful.
They have 2 world titles already, yet refuse to take them off Reigns (even when they set up the perfect opportunity to). So… let’s just introduce a new world title…?
So friggin goofy. The awful design is just the piss-flavored cherry on top.
I didn't like the design at first, but it's already growing on me the more I'm seeing pics of it. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction at least, because the current ones they have (women's titles too) look like cheap toys rather than championship titles that should be taken seriously.
They should let whoever designed the NXT UK titles have a crack at it, because those titles looked way more "professional" and important than any current NA promotion's titles.
But beyond the design of it, it's still going to feel like a secondary title, imo. They spent far too long building up Roman Reigns as this unstoppable force, so this new guy winning a title without having to beat him for it, who cares? It's not going to feel like the titles are equal to each other, Roman's is the "real" title.
Yeah it’s a good way to make a World Champion inferior to the real champion. It’s going to be the same as it was when they used Big Gold as a separate World title. Roman is on last and the real main event for the real title, and the World title will be held by fudging Mansoor or something.
Whatever they're doing to crown the new champ (I hope it's more than a tournament or battle royal) it had better not be Cody that wins it because it's going to feel like his "story" was wasted. My first thought when Triple H unveiled the title was "I hope this wasn't meant for Cody."
That would be a terrible way to make him a champion. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did it, especially if they’re going down that Jey Uso road I still think they’re headed toward.
I would hate Cody to win the “world” title that way. Failing against the actual, defending world champion only to win the Intercontinental V2 as a consolation. No thanks… but yah I could also see that happening.
Put the new championship on Gunther.. let him bring legitimacy to it.. or have him beat Reigns for his.. he deserves it.. Should we start taking bets on who wins the new championship??
I think it'd be better to bet on how many years before they just unify this new one with the others to make the Undisputed Unified WWE World Heavyweight Championship that they'll then need to have exist alongside ANOTHER new world title for the folks they don't want to have beat the real world champion.
So glad they finally pulled the trigger on the Bron Breakker heel turn. The NXT crowd was clearly getting bored with him (one of the downsides of filming in front of the same crowd every week), so I'm glad they weren't afraid to turn him heel like they were for the longest time with Roman Reigns and John Cena when crowds were sick of them.
He’s got time to win you over haha. He’s young and green. Something besides I’MA STEINER will come out eventually I hope. If he starts to cut math promos, I’m in immediately lol
Nah I want like full on math promos. Maybe add in some Sid stuff too, and you’d have the best promos ever.
Spoiler person would do the same thing as John ace a going to Impact: nothing. No one going there will help TNA. They’re in the same spot they’ve been in for years and will always continue to be. It’s unfortunate because the quality of the shows and the roster is amazing, but it’s not going to become the alternative they threatened to be in the first 7 years or so.
Wow, they let Roderick Strong go, and somehow it was kept a secret. It's clear they had no plans for him and I saw something a few weeks ago saying that his run in NXT lasted longer than WCW Nitro was on the air. Not sure what he brings to the table that AEW doesn't already have though. With all these hirings, maybe it is for the better to do a soft roster split when that new show starts.
He brings banger matches, that's what he brings. Fudgein Roddddyyyyy.
One of my favorite ROH matches is still Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards, ROH title match from Manhattan Mayhem IV. Roddy's ROH title run is iconic imo.
Roddy will get lost in the shuffle. He will do the Adam Cole storyline and then go in the pack like everyone else in that crowd of thousands. I like Roddy a lot, but he won’t be occupying a ton of screen time after this story is done.
He’s also listed on wwe.com as still on the roster as of right now lol
AEW uses good wrestlers. He’ll do wonderfully there.
Tbh, I can’t name a top tier talent AEW has brought in who has actually been lost in the shuffle unless it was due to extraneous circumstances.
Miro - injured, then refuses the creative he’s offered. More power to him.
Andrade - injured, then doesn’t seem like he cares to be there and fist fights Guevara. Then injured again haha
Those are the two biggest flubs imo, and it’s not entirely AEW’s fault for either. I want more Andrade, he rules. I like Miro, but don’t FULLY grasp the obsession so many have with him.
All Roddy needs to do is have good wrestling matches to warrant his move to AEW and I betcha he does.
It took gosh darn forever (+ a Rhea Ripley title win) for it to happen, but I finally sorta dig the Judgment Day. That said, I cannot believe Finn Balor is the fourth wheel in a faction. Dude should legit be top of the card, I don’t understand how WWE can fumble somebody so hard, creatively.
I don’t get it either. He should be constantly at the top of the card and kicking all the ass, but he’s the least important member of a group that was dying before he got in there and they kicked Edge out. I have no idea what happened.
> I don’t get it either. He should be constantly at the top of the card and kicking
> all the ass, but he’s the least important member of a group that was dying before
> he got in there and they kicked Edge out. I have no idea what happened.
Not for nothing, even though I'm not a fan of his, Dom Mysterio got HUGE HEAT last night.. They were booing him so loudly you couldn't hear what he was saying AT ALL.. That's legit heat. When everyone else talked, the crowd was calm.. The SECOND he started to talk, it was BOO city.. insane..
> Not for nothing, even though I'm not a fan of his, Dom Mysterio got HUGE HEAT last
> night.. They were booing him so loudly you couldn't hear what he was saying AT ALL..
> That's legit heat. When everyone else talked, the crowd was calm.. The SECOND he
> started to talk, it was BOO city.. insane..
Don't get me wrong, Dom has been doing great with his character since a month or so before Mania, and WWE is doing great presenting him as a pissant heel, but it's confirmed that WWE uses piped in crowd noise. I think the first time the heat was insane was legit, right before or after Mania, but I'm fairly certain they're leaning into that using specifically-produced audio. Which is smart to be fair, it's definitely helping him finally get over. You'll notice that in most Dom promos, especially last night, he eggs the reaction on by pausing as if he's being interrupted. That's to help the illusion of nuclear heat and it comes across great on TV.
It's wild that the ULTIMATE babyface's son is now WWE's ULTIMATE heel.
Either way, Dom getting over is sort of a non-factor in the conversation about Balor. Balor shouldn't even be in the Judgment Day, he should be a pillar of the singles main event scene along with guys like Reigns and Rollins. He's doing fine work in Judgement Day, but a dude of his in-ring caliber shouldn't be playing second, third, or fourth fiddle in a mid card faction.
>> Not for nothing, even though I'm not a fan of his, Dom Mysterio got HUGE HEAT
> last
>> night.. They were booing him so loudly you couldn't hear what he was saying AT
> ALL..
>> That's legit heat. When everyone else talked, the crowd was calm.. The SECOND
> he
>> started to talk, it was BOO city.. insane..
>
> Don't get me wrong, Dom has been doing great with his character since a month or
> so before Mania, and WWE is doing great presenting him as a pissant heel, but it's
> confirmed that WWE uses piped in crowd noise. I think the first time the heat was
> insane was legit, right before or after Mania, but I'm fairly certain they're leaning
> into that using specifically-produced audio. Which is smart to be fair, it's definitely
> helping him finally get over. You'll notice that in most Dom promos, especially last
> night, he eggs the reaction on by pausing as if he's being interrupted. That's to
> help the illusion of nuclear heat and it comes across great on TV.
>
> It's wild that the ULTIMATE babyface's son is now WWE's ULTIMATE heel.
>
> Either way, Dom getting over is sort of a non-factor in the conversation about Balor.
> Balor shouldn't even be in the Judgment Day, he should be a pillar of the singles
> main event scene along with guys like Reigns and Rollins. He's doing fine work in
> Judgement Day, but a dude of his in-ring caliber shouldn't be playing second, third,
> or fourth fiddle in a mid card faction.
Finn got derailed the day he got hurt after winning the 1st WWE championship a few years back. He was supposed to be big but the injury curtailed him and people forgot about him for a while.
For sure. Then he came back and remained a better wrestler than most on their roster. WWE did absolutely nothing with him for years except book his Demon gimmick to lose constantly until Judgement Day… and then booked his Demon gimmick to lose DURING Judgment Day. Now he’s the least over member of a mid-card faction. Just so goofy. He’s one of the best wrestlers on the planet.
I'm still not quite convinced that was piped-in. If it is, they're doing a better job of disguising it than compared to Trish's lame ass promo a couple weeks ago where it seemed pretty obvious because with all the Boos you were hearing, the crowd looked pretty dead and not interested in what she was saying. Becky is the far better heel, but in this particular storyline it made more sense for Trish to be the heel, so this is what we're stuck with.
> For sure. Then he came back and remained a better wrestler than most on their roster.
> WWE did absolutely nothing with him for years except book his Demon gimmick to lose
> constantly until Judgement Day… and then booked his Demon gimmick to lose DURING
> Judgment Day. Now he’s the least over member of a mid-card faction. Just so goofy.
> He’s one of the best wrestlers on the planet.
There are rumors that he will split from Judgement Day and join with AJ Styles.. Don't know how true that is but that would be cool to see them recreate the Bullet Club.
@PizzaTheHutt ehhh I dunno, looking at the crowd last night (and previous Dom outings), I’d probably bet a couple hundred on it being piped in. Which, again, I don’t feel is a negative. Makes for a better TV show.
That’s how you make blood matter. Not all the time, and it added to the match. I don’t think we need blood much at all anymore, but if it’s going to happen that’s how it’s done. Someone explain this to Mox.
Or to Flair, Bruiser Brody, Foley, Gage, Funk, Abdullah, etc etc. List goes on. That’s how blood is done in 2023 WWE: for shock factor, and that totally works for WWE given their style of wrestling… but that’s not inherently how blood needs to be done. Considering Rhodes/Lesnar was still a bit of a popcorn fart even with blood, I’ll take Mox bleeding every match as long as he continues having great matches. Like I’ve said before, it’s a non-factor to the quality of a match to me and plenty of other folks, it doesn’t necessarily need to “matter” any more than just “a guy started bleeding during a fight”. I just want the match to be good at the end of the day.
All in all Backlash was a fine show. Bunny/Priest was awesome and should’ve been the main event. Loved seeing Carlito and Savio show up. The trios tag match took a while to get going but got there in the end with some more good storytelling woven in. The Bloodline is finally getting interesting again with the teased dissension, but I still don’t care about Riddle being involved. Loved seeing Zelina Vega get that reception, she’s a far better wrestler than she’s allowed to show on a weekly basis. The rest of the card was standard imo.
Rhodes/Lesnar was just okay… I hated that Rhodes could attack Lesnar pre-bell, bust him open, hit him with two straight Crossrhodes, but still had to just barely eek out a win… then run away. For as well as WWE built him up pre-Mania, they’re flopping him post-Mania despite the crowd being behind him 100%. That won’t last if they don’t even make him look strong in victory.
Brock went hardway, so I'm not sure blood was even planned for the match. He probably knows he's in a spot much like Bret and Piper at WM8 were, where even though he knows Vince doesn't like it, he likely will only get a slap on the wrist for doing it (if they can prove it even was intentional).
I read a report recently that said WWE were looking to move back to a slightly more “edgy” product so who knows if they’re just letting this slide for PLEs or something of that sort. Either way, it was a masterful hard way if it was intentional.
I don’t feel the need to compare the two, personally. I like it both ways as long as I enjoy the match. Brock’s blood did add to the match to an extent, just wish the match was better with a better finish.
That said, fork spots absolutely don’t happen every week lol, Mox just gets busted open a lot. In my opinion, it adds to those matches too, despite it happening often. My opinion on a wrestling match isn’t dictated by blood or who decides to bleed, but to each their own obv.
So I thought the new World Heavyweight Championship was being introduced because Roman doesn’t show up consistently, but then it was announced that it was going to be Raw exclusive, which still keeps the Roman problem on Smackdown. But now they’re apparently having Raw and Smackdown talent in the tournament for the belt… weeks after the Draft. What the heck is going on here? Why not just have Raw talent in the tournament, or just hold off on the Draft until after a champion is crowned?
> I read a report recently that said WWE were looking to move back to a slightly more
> “edgy” product so who knows if they’re just letting this slide for PLEs or
> something of that sort. Either way, it was a masterful hard way if it was intentional.
I don't know if it was ever debunked or not, but right around the time Vince was outed last year, word got out that they were in talks with USA about going back to a TV-14 format. They ultimately ended up not doing it, but words like "ass" and "dog" started getting used in promos a lot more than they had in the previous decade since going PG.
@PizzaTheHutt Ah I gotcha, maybe that’s what I read but I feel like it was more recent and had to do with Nick Khan. Something about him wanting an edgier third hour of Raw. Like you said, it does seem like they’re getting a bit more lenient on certain things, so maybe it’s just as simple as that.
Little more regarding the blood situation specifically, in spoilers since I got a bit long winded as usual:
I will say that it feels all this modern blood discourse only exists because WWE changed the culture of mainstream US pro wrestling solely to get more family-oriented sponsors, which I find weird. I mean it makes sense for them if that’s the route they wanted to take with their company. It’s more profitable from a business standpoint, so more power to them, but you literally never heard arguments from the viewers themselves about when/how it was “right” to use blood until there was another major US promotion after WWE’s PG era began.
Bloodshed happened all the time, sometimes multiple times on one show, during the Attitude/Ruthless Aggression eras, when ECW still had a major influence on the US wrestling scene. No one seemed to mind and some people lapped it up (figuratively, gross). It happened a ton in the territory time period (nationally obv, but even more internationally) and never stopped happening in other countries or the US indies. Heck, even during WWF/E’s blood ban in the 90s and the early days of the current ban, the discourse was almost unanimously made up of people wanting it back.
To me, the sentiment really does seem to be born of a counter-AEW argument. Whether that’s intentional or not depends on the individual making the argument, but it really was never a heated discourse until AEW reintroduced it to mainstream audiences in the US. Like I said, I personally can take it or leave it, so it’s no worries either way. I just feel like there’s a reason as to why the conversation is so prominent in the internet wrestling world these days, and feel like that reason is more than just ring psychology.
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
@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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
No one seems to know for sure, but it looks like short entrances. Which is odd since I’ve read you can change camera and pyro for entrances. I usually skip them, even in WWE games, but I know people enjoy them
I spent nearly an hour in WWE 2K23 perfecting my entrance (looking for the right lighting, what camera angles to use and making sure my pyro was timed right, etc.), but yes I do often skip them all once I've seen them enough times.
I really hope this game performs well on Switch (lack of framerate drops etc). I'd love to have a wrestling game that I can take with me or pick up and play while in bed. I want to pre-order it but I'm worried Switch is gonna get the short end of the stick.
I may just pre-order it anyways and cancel it if reviews aren't great, assuming the reviews get released with enough time before it ships.
Night of Champions was a pretty good show overall with some duds thrown in for good measure.
Styles vs. Rollins -⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 Stratus vs. Lynch - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gunther vs. Ali - ⭐️⭐️.75 Belair vs. Asuka - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Ripley vs. Natalya - ⭐️ Lesnar vs. Rhodes - ⭐️.5 Owens/Zayn vs. Reigns/Solo - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
WWE is failing Cody Rhodes hard. Not because of the result today, but because of the stupid Hogan-esque "adversity" crap they keep piling into his story that they book him to be unable to overcome cleanly. Having him "pass out from pain" after having his "broken arm" trapped in a kimura lock (a move that doesn't restrict blood flow to the brain) for an overall total of 5+ minutes was so fudging goofy, and Michael Cole explaining that his very obviously cloth arm brace was "titanium" just reeked of oversell. They tried to imitate the Hart/Austin finish from WM13 but forgot that Austin passed out due to blood loss, not "pain". Match was a major dud, as was Ripley/Natalya as it was just a squash. Super pumped for Asuka to have won the title, and they delivered a slightly above average match. Gunther/Ali could have been far better but was way too short. Rollins/Styles was a really good match but something just didn't click all the way for me, and the result was more than obvious.
Stratus/Lynch was a great showing from both ladies and probably the best match either has had in quite some time (especially Trish). Match of the night was of course the tag title match - great in-ring work as to be expected, but they threw an actually-interesting (and unexpected) story beat back into the Bloodline story that finally made things interesting again. The amount of momentum that angle lost post-Mania was huge, but they were able to gain a little of that back after tonight. Where they're failing Rhodes, they're at least delivering with the Bloodline (even if it took them 2ish months).
I didn’t watch most of the show. I came in about the time the ref was speared in the tag match. What I saw was excellent, with the Bloodline storyline. I don’t understand why they let it go for a month and a half after Mania, since they could’ve done some good stuff with Roman being gone, but it’s obvious he’s the one that stirs that drink. I was caught off guard by Bianca losing, but everything else was predictable. I do wonder why they felt the need for Brock to win since they’ve cooled Cody off so much already, but that’s pretty normal for WWE to want to ‘keep Brock strong’.
Uncharacteristically flat first half of an AEW PPV for Double or Nothing, but the second half ruled real hard.
Hook & tthe Hardy Boys vs Ethan Page & the Gunns - ⭐️⭐️.75 International Title Battle Royal - ⭐️⭐️.5 Adam Cole vs Chris Jericho - ⭐️⭐️.75 FTR vs Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wardlow vs Christian Cage - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 Toni Storm vs Jamie Hayter - ⭐️⭐️ House of Black vs The Acclaimed - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Jade Cargill vs Taya Valkyrie - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jade Cargill vs Kris Statlander - ⭐️⭐️.5 (for brevity, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ moment though) MJF vs Sammy Guevara vs Jungle Boy Jack Perry vs Darby Allin - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Blackpool Combat Club vs The Elite - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
The Buy In was fine but nothing memorable. Battle Royal was entertaining and was happy to see Orange retain, didn't want him to lose the belt in a battle royal. Cole/Jericho was average, more than I was expecting tbh but still sort of slow. FTR vs. JJ/Lethal took a bit to get going, but was straight forward and well executed. Always nice to see Briscoe in there in some capacity (wish he was wrestling though). Wardlow/Christian was a total slopfest but featured several entertaining spots, it was what it was supposed to be.
Storm/Hayter was what it was unfortunately: a title change due to legit injuries catching up with Hayter. Still a strong showing all things considered. Jade Cargill is a star, and put on a good match vs. Taya Valkyrie and delivered a great moment in dropping the belt to the super-over, returning Statlander. The World Title four way match absolutely lived up to the "Four Pillars" name (even if I'm still not 100% convinced they should be considered AEW's pillars), and they delivered match of the night. Anarchy in the Arena was as advertised and delivered what was promised. The Takecrapa heel turn makes this guy sad but it's a real interesting direction to take the story. Glad they didn't depend on any major debut this year and let the ending be dedicated to the ongoing story.
Overall a somewhat average, but good show elevated in a major way by the two top notch main events.
I ended up skipping both shows yesterday because my friend wanted to play a game. If the first hour of Raw fails to hold my interest tonight I'll try and at least catch up on NXT instead. I also skipped the Saudi show. I don't ever watch those shows, despite usually hearing good things about them and thinking "I'll watch the next one". I don't know why I won't sit through one, it's not out of "blood money" protest or anything.
AEW > WWE lately, by a mile in my book, but Night of Champions was probably the more consistent show overall this weekend. No matches topped the AEW main events though. None even came close other than KO/Zayn vs Bloodline.
Oddly enough, even though I only catch a show here and there and won't keep up with it regularly (just one or maybe two shows a month, about the same I do with AEW), and I never thought I'd say this post-2008 or so, but I feel like Impact Wrestling is putting on the most watchable product in the country lately, both in-ring wise and storyline wise, but nobody knows because so few watch it anymore.
I catch an Impact show here and there, still meaning to catch up on their PPV from this weekend. I still prefer AEW but I do enjoy what Impact’s up to lately (minus PCO unless he’s taking brutal bumps).
I just like pro wrestling. No one company puts on exclusively great matches or exclusively bad matches, no company is free of some gold and some crap. I don’t get why so many folks subscribe to one over the other these days as if there are inherent reasons behind it, but whatev. Impact especially has gotten the short end of the stick from folks in that realm and they put out mostly great stuff.
I’d agree with that. Impact has flown under the radar and they’re consistently really good. I don’t think they’ll ever get as big/prominent as they were before, either. I think they’re gonna be where they are now, putting on good shows and having a very underrated roster.
I wanted NWA to turn out better than it did, do you guys keep up with that at all? I hardly follow it anymore and don't think I've seen any of it so far this year. But I feel like Billy Corgan might be in over his head, and seems to take offense to anyone not liking something he has booked. I saw an interview where he said to the people that don't like Tyrus because of his political views "if you're not gonna watch him, you're not a wrestling fan". It just seems like he gets overly defensive if you question him or his ideas, almost like Vince Russo.
I loved the NWA product before the pandemic. Up until that show where Marty Scurll was going to wrestle Nick Aldis for the title, I think. It was really good until then. I was also in and out during the Matt Carson’s reign, mostly out.
I didn’t see any of the Billy Corgan stuff you’re talking about, but if Tyrus is your champion then you have bigger problems.
I think I’ll wait for reviews. Kind of like with AEW Fight Forever.
Also Impact has a weird new match type they’re gonna be rolling out. Seems odd, but we’ll see what happens. Can’t be worse than a reverse battle royal.
Actually looks pretty interesting.. the winning team of the 8 man tag face off later on in a fatal 4-way.. Like old school Survivor series with an interesting twist.. Basically, the team will work together to win, then face each other.. What the hell is a reverse battle royal?? I'll have to look that up
It was an old TNA match. It was seriously dumb. Everyone started on the outside and fought to get in the ring (since it was a reverse battle royal, they had to get in the ring by going over the top rope). Then everyone that was in the ring fought in a regular battle royal until there were 2 left. Those two had a singles match then and there and the winner of that, won the reverse battle royal match.
It was always hilarious watching folks TRY to not get into the ring if they knew they weren’t supposed to make it to the second phase. They’d always have blatantly easy paths to get in the ring (considering that’s probably the easiest thing a wrestler can possibly do) but had to find some excuse to avoid it. Some guys would legit be on the apron but then opt to drop an axe handle or something on someone instead of just… enter the ring haha
It was Wrestlecrap worthy for sure haha. Bad match, bad concept. I hope this new thing they’re trying turns out better than the reverse battle royal. We’ll see what happens.
I still don't even fully understand the concept of this game. Is it just wrestling matches in wild settings, incorporating JRPG elements... like is the whole game just a battle system pretty much? Or is there a story and exploration, etc? The trailer didn't do a ton to clear any of that up for me.
Here's an interesting concept similar to the 8-4-1.. Have a random draw of tag teams and have a two round tournament with say 64 people.. after 2 rounds, you have 16 wrestlers left.. Those 16 enter a battle royal.. you can create some cool story lines, fun teams and the ability to create new storylines with teams that lose.
That sounds a lot like a really big Lethal Lottery that WCW did in the early 90’s. I thought it was a decent idea, but I was a kid and watching it back wasn’t great. I’m sure it can be improved upon from then though haha
They've announced what's included in the Elite Edition of Fight Forever
- The Matt Hardy Pack which features two of the many Matt Hardys: Matt Hardy and Broken Matt Hardy. - The FTR: Revival Pack which features AEW wrestlers Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler PLUS minigames JoinUs and Deth Race-X - The Limitless Bunny Bundle which features AEW wrestlers The Bunny and Keith Lee PLUS minigames MJF Car Thrash and Sloth Sling - The Hookhausen Very Handsome, Very Evil Pack which features AEW wrestlers HOOK and Danhausen
Matt Hardy and Broken Matt Hardy are also included if you pre order. They have been releasing trailer everyday over the past week and my expectations went from tempered excitement to full blown. It looks very good from what I've seen. Unfortunately (well not unfortunately because it's going to be an awesome trip) I'll be in Japan on my first day of vacation on the 29th so I wont be able to play it until mid July. I'm thinking of blind pre ordering it though although maybe I'll wait for reviews and just buy it digital.
Yah the more I see of the game, the more interested in it I am. I just went ahead and preordered the standard edition for Switch. I have enough faith that I’ll have a good time with it.
I do wish the wrestlers exclusive to the Elite Edition were just included in the main game, especially FTR & Danhausen, but whatev. I’ll just order them separately eventually down the road.
I’m sure all the preorder wrestlers will be able to be bought separately. I’m going to wait for reviews. I liked some of what I saw in the match released today between MJF and Jade Cargill, and I didn’t like some of it. We will see what happens.
What are some promos that left you scratching your head by the time it was over even after re-watching it multiple times? Had I watched them for the first time as an adult and not a 10 year old mark, probably "every Ultimate Warrior promo ever" would fit that category, but for now I'll go with that "worked shoot" where Dustin Rhodes crapped on WWF, Goldust, Seven and WCW.
I don't know what message he was trying to get across with this nonsense. Of course I understand the frustration he must've been feeling with the effort he put into this gimmick and the network shooting it down, but the line that always got me the most was "I left WWF for gimmicks like this", but he specifically wanted a gimmick that would not draw any comparisons between him and his dad. Plus he said "Goldust nearly ruined my career", but lest we forget he was committed enough to the Goldust gimmick that he had pitched the idea of getting real titty implants for it. It makes even less sense all these years later now that you know he went on to return to the Goldust gimmick four or five times after that.
I know he was battling his demons with drug addiction when he left WWF originally and very likely was still going through it in WCW (and it only got worse years later in TNA during the Black Reign era, another over-the-top character with facepaint) but this was not the way to kill the Seven gimmick in a "I'm gonna pretend this gimmick was forced on me and that I didn't come up with it all on my own" type of promo.
There was also a promo that Hogan did in 93 building up to his match against Yokozuna that was just nuts. Something I think about driving a motorcycle through a desert or something. I figured he was just hallucinating. It was on a Superstars episode, but I don’t remember which one. Also any Hogan and Beefcake promo from around the same time was just bonkers.
Ugh, how could I have forgotten that one? That was the promo equivalent of the infamous Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell match from TNA.
Another one I forgot about was "the genesis of McGillicutty. Some veterans may argue about how promos are too scripted nowadays, but some people desperately need them to be because look what happens when they're allowed to just say whatever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-NpQEiyfY4
Damn, apparently 3 matches for AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 2 were announced last night at NJPW Dominion.
-IWGP US Title: Kenny Omega (c) vs Will Ospreay
-Bryan Danielson vs Kazuchika Okada
-NJPW World TV Title & ROH TV Title: Samoa Joe (ROH) vs Zack Sabre Jr (NJPW)
Those 3 matches are worth the price alone. Omega/Ospreay running their incredible WrestleKingdom match from January back. Danielson/Okada is a literal dream match. Also oughtta be interesting to see how both NJPW/ROH handle the TV title situations regardless of who wins both belts. Cannot wait for this show.
EDIT: apparently the TV title(s) match isn’t official and was only teased on ROH, which means it may not even happen at Forbidden Door… though it’d make sense. Also unsure if the hypothetical match would be for both belts. I just went off the Wikipedia entry, but it looks like that’s just a fan’s wishful thinking atm.
Still, the other two matches are top notch and all I need in order to know I’ll be tuning in.
Those are going to be damn good matches if they happen. I hope they have some sort of build and story besides great wrestler A vs. great wrestler B, but if it’s like last year there won’t be much of that. We’ll see what happens.
To be fair, almost all the top programs last year had to get shifted due to injuries. It was considered “cursed” heading in haha
Either way, I’m fine with the “great wrestler vs great wrestler” shtick since the show is between companies from two different countries and both have a stacked schedule for June in their respective native lands. I sorta feel the entire purpose of Forbidden Door is solely to put on good pro wrestling matches, like the old ROH/NJPW mash up shows.
That said, Danielson/Okada is really the only one that doesn’t have a story other than potential US GOAT vs potential Japan GOAT. Omega/Ospreay have been part of an on-again/off-again story for over a year now.
A lot of office execs are there too. I wonder if they've started going over who will be losing their jobs due to redundancies after this merger is finished.
Pretty crazy. Sting’s first video game appearance in WCW Wrestling (NES, 1989), and his most recent video game appearance in AEW Fight Forever (2023, obv).
I preordered AEW Elite edition digitally. I haven't preordered a game in 15 years, never bought a new game digitally, and have never purchased the higher edition. All that to say I hope this doesn't suck haha. I'm very much ready to play this.
I wanted to go for the Elite Edition but I’m gonna be using Paypal’s Pay in 4 function and no website that uses that seems to have that one for preorder unfortunately. Not bothering with Gamestop again after them screwing me out of my Zelda preorder. I’ll just snag the DLCs I want down the line.
Depending on reviews I might pick it up a week or so after launch. I was going to pre-order but am wanting a new tattoo and got a couple upcoming concerts I'll be attending and dunno what I'll be spending on merch.
Firmly in the waiting for reviews section I hate the art style they went for. I just think it looks amateur and hopefully they can go for full entrances next time. This reeks of TNA Impact! without the awesome graphics. Half done gameplay and the mini games will be a diversion of questionable quality. I hope it’s the second coming of No Mercy, but I’m expecting a lot worse. I hope it’s good because I want more good wrestling games.
Oh yeah. They released the Macho Man A&E Biography on YouTube. I think it’s from last year or the year before. What the fudge were they thinking on the second half of that episode? Yeah, the guy wasn’t perfect by any means and made some questionable decisions like a rap album, but why the hatchet job? I know they had to touch on the Hogan heat and the rap album and how Miss Elizabeth died and everything, but fudging hell that was a hatchet job. Might be biased as he’s the best there ever was, but that was bullcrap. I wish I hadn’t watched it at all.
Imagine that Charlotte returns, immediately demands a title match. Who didn't see that coming? Honestly more tired of her than I ever was of Cena and Reigns when they were being shoved down our throats.
I'm not asking for much, I just want Andrade to knock her up so she's off TV for a solid year, at least. Once again my prayers go unanswered. If that Asuka curse is true, maybe it happens soon.
Is Paul Heyman pretty much a lock for the Hall Of Fame next year in Philly? As soon as I heard it was gonna be in Philly I was hoping Tommy Dreamer or Tazz would get inducted to give ECW some love, but the more I think about it, it's gotta be Heyman himself...right? If possible I'd hope they can work out a deal so he can get inducted by multiple guys who wouldn't be anything without ECW.
I don’t think Paul would want a Hall of Fame induction until he’s completely done. It makes all the sense in the world, but I don’t see it happening quite yet. I do see some ECW guys getting inducted, like probably Sabu and Sandman and Dreamer, but not Paul. Maybe even Tod? But I don’t see Taz because of the AEW thing. I hope they don’t do all the dead ECW guys in the legacy thing either, because that would be cheap.
Pretty neat. The mini games are the things I’m least interested in but some of those looked like they could be fun and I love card games so it’s whatever to me. If the core gameplay is good, there’s no harm in having some extra variety in there.
As long as they are pretty non invasive I don't really care about them. The CAW is said to be limited, but I imagine if there is enough of a base and enough people asking for it that could be rectified in a future DLC or patch.
Yeah, just keep the mini-game stuff optional and I won't have a problem with it being there. I'm buying it for the wrasslin' not because I wanna play Wii Party or something.
> Oh yeah. They released the Macho Man A&E Biography on YouTube. I think it’s from
> last year or the year before. What the fudge were they thinking on the second half
> of that episode? Yeah, the guy wasn’t perfect by any means and made some questionable
> decisions like a rap album, but why the hatchet job? I know they had to touch on
> the Hogan heat and the rap album and how Miss Elizabeth died and everything, but
> fudging hell that was a hatchet job. Might be biased as he’s the best there ever
> was, but that was bullcrap. I wish I hadn’t watched it at all.
I watched this last night. ngl, pretty damn creepy that he had cameras set up in Gorgeous George's house. I never knew about that. I guess the jealousy issues didn't stop after the split from Elizabeth.
I also watched the one about Ultimate Warrior. They made sure to cover his homophobic rants too, so it just seems like they want to cover the highs and lows, which I don't mind. But I watched the one about Bret Hart too and I don't recall anything negative being said about him (maybe because he's still alive and participated in it?). I recall Bret saying in his book that unlike a lot of other wrestlers, his problem was never with drug addiction, it was with having sex with ring rats while on the road and having to be away from his wife for long stretches of time. Immediately when I first heard that I remembered when I was a kid and my oldest sister was working at a hotel in Upstate NY, Bret Hart was staying there and as two women were leaving his room he gave them tickets to the event in town. He probably boned them.
Probably did bone them. He did say he was really unfaithful. I also heard a lot of stories about Bret doing cocaine but if he did it didn’t become a problem, at least not to the point it did with Bulldog and Anvil. The Bret biography was decent, as was the Warrior one. I don’t think either of them focused on things the way they should, but I was also really glad they weren’t copycats of Dark Side of the Ring.
Looks like SmackDown ended with a bang last night, I'm going to have to download it and watch that segment. I was watching for the first hour, but then to kick off hour two they bring out Charlotte Flair (who looks more and more like Dee Snider every time she returns from time off due to injury/surgery) and I turned it off immediately. That's some real "go away" heat.
Haha I don’t hate Charlotte like you do, but yeah her constantly leaving and coming back and getting immediate title shots and monopolizing that scene is getting old. Bianca is starting to tread that water for me too. Definitely watch that last 25 minutes or so. It was great.
It was pretty good for what it was, but what is was was just the same “will he/won’t he” story beat they’ve done like 4 times since before the Royal Rumble. They’ve literally just been doing the same “swerve” anytime it comes to Roman. If I need to see Solo’s “stunned anger” face one more time, I’m gonna lol.
Looking forward to checking out Collision tonight. It'll be in town on August 12, but before I buy a ticket they're gonna have to convince me the show is worth something beyond the first week or two and it won't fall off the way Rampage did.
Yah, I think they’d have to put a little more into Collision than Rampage. 1) it’s live, 2) it’s prime time, 3) it’s 2 hours, 4) its theme song is “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” by Elton John lol
Rampage definitely lost a bit of its luster when they decided to make it a strictly taped show, but the past month or 2 have gotten back into a good rhythm imo. Most of the “entertainment” shenanigans happen on that show, and then some real good random matches thrown in. Still a fun watch when I’ve got nothing else to do
There’s too many titles. Everyone has a belt. Whether it’s AEW or RoH or New Japan Strong… too many people here have belts. Some of them aren’t even announced as a champion even though they have a belt, like Willow. I don’t think Buddy Matthews got announced as a Trios champion either. Also I’m pretty sure Dasha called him Buddy Murphy.
Anyway, some stuff is hitting and some isn’t. It’s to be expected. Apparently the live crowd loved Buddy vs. Andrade, but I find Andrade boring. Always have. He was best in NXT, but hasn’t been able to recapture that since.
Really liked Miro returning, and the women’s match was decent. What they’ve done, or haven’t done, with Wardlow is criminal. He had so much momentum a year ago, and for him to have nothing even close now is very disheartening.
The Punk promo was really good. We’ll see where it goes. I do hope the soft brand split thing isn’t true, mostly because it’s fudging stupid that a bunch of grown ups have to be on separate shows because a few of them can’t act like they’re grown up.
Little things like that are part of why I love AEW. Folks who take wrestling way too seriously are STILL trying to take the piss out of AEW for that blunder to this day, meanwhile AEW are cracking jokes about it.
As for Collision, it was alright. Didn’t blow me away or anything but I’m always down for another wrestling show that puts the emphasis on the in-ring product. Punk looked sort of out of shape but he was never a body guy so whatev, at least he was fluid in his movements. That main event match was pretty fun, especially the Punk/Joe bits. We need another singles match between those two. I love how Punk infamously hates chops but Joe just said “tough crap” and gave him some of the stiffest I’ve seen in a while.
Hey having the choice is funny. Good on them to taking the negative and spinning it as best they can.
I liked Collision. I just restarted my Sling subscription for a month and if I’m home then I’ll try Dynamite on again and see what happens. I hope it’s better than it was last time when I didn’t like it so much.
Do you remember what happened on that episode of Dynamite? Just curious. I can’t recall anything that was so abhorrently bad that it’d make me stop watching (since I still watch haha)
Obv not gonna judge, we all have our tastes, just interested as to what turned you off to it.
I don’t remember anything about it. It was as much a tipping point as much as anything else. It was shortly after one of the PPVs early last year. I don’t remember if it was the one with MJF vs. Punk or the one with Wardlow and MJF. I just saw a bunch of crap and I didn’t remember a damn thing, and that’s the takeaway I got was that my eyes glazed over for the umpteenth time and I was letting my Sling sub go anyway. I want reasons for matches, whether it’s storyline based or rising up the ranks or whatever, and I don’t need to see 12 Canadian Destroyers and every other kind of dive in the opening match.
Gotcha. I honestly don't expect you'll be entirely into Dynamite at this point either then. They've put more emphasis on luchadores as of late, what with guys like Bandido, Kommander, Vikingo, etc, coming in and making waves, so there's still a ton of high spots. I don't mind them obviously, but if they're not your thing then I don't expect you'll be interested. But heck, who knows, maybe they'll win you over. I'd definitely say give it a go.
As for the spots in opening matches situation, I think I just have a different philosophy there. The opener is usually designed to be fast paced and entertaining over anything else, so dives should be expected in my opinion. Canadian Destroyers are a little overplayed for sure, but moves that were once finishers just become commonplace over time. I still find them impressive, so it's whatev in my book.
I was mostly just interested in your take because AEW strikes a far larger resemblance to something like mid-2000s ROH than, say, WWE (even with the former ROH talent they have), and considering you were one of the folks who helped ME get into that era of ROH, I was surprised to see you have as much disinterest as you do. But it's neither here nor there really, like I said, we all have our preferences.
Whoever negged my last post: you're part of the reason wrestling fans have a tough time discussing with any civility. It's okay to talk about this stuff, ya silly goose.
I’m not saying that opening matches shouldn’t be exciting and dynamic. I’m saying that if you do a zillion things in the opening match, what’s left for the other matches? You’ve seen it all already, no need to see everything else 8 more times. AEW doesn’t have nearly enough variety in what they do. Well, not the last time I saw Dynamite anyway. Collision was really good in my opinion. I do think they need to do more Collision type presentation. Hopefully they can keep that up.
I feel ya. I personally feel like there’s definitely enough variety but that’s just my opinion, interested to hear what you think come Wednesday. Collision definitely gave me a more “big guy/old school” vibe for sure, so maybe that’s how they plan to divvy it up.
gosh darn, after last night, the Forbidden Door card looks like it'll be the best money I'll have spent on pro wrestling in quite some time ($20, thanks VPN).
1. IWGP US Title: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Will Ospreay 2. Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada 3. AEW World Title: MJF (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 4. IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Sanada (c) vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry 5. Men's Owen Hart Cup First Round: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima 6. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta), Konosuke Takecrapa & Shota Umino vs. The Elite (Hangman Page, Nick Jackson, Matt Jackson), Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii 7. AEW International Title Four-Way: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Katsuyori Shibata 8. AEW Women's World Title: Toni Storm (c) vs. Willow Nightingale 9. Sting, Darby Allin & ??? vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki 10. Women's Owen Hart Cup First Round (pre-show): Athena vs. Billie Starkz
That's an all-timer card right there. I could have maybe gone for splitting up some of the guys in the International title match... ZSJ is the NJPW TV champ and Shibata is the ROH Pure champ, so seeing those titles defended on the PPV would have been nice, but that match will absolutely be a banger regardless. Lack of Samoa Joe & Jay White/Bullet Club Gold is a little disappointing, but we still have Collision on Saturday so maybe they'll be added in somewhere. I'd love to see Tetsuya Naito thrown on the card somewhere too but I doubt that'll happen, and I expect Shingo Takagi to be Sting & Darby's partner. Though, Naito COULD fit in there too, being a rival of Jericho and all.
Otherwise, they're doing a great job building to this show despite the fact that both companies have their own busy schedules on entirely different sides of the planet. It's also nice that the majority of the matches have either little stories, or full blown stories, which wasn't the case due to injuries last year. Pumped for this one.
Very excited for Forbidden Door. They found ways to get womens matches on there, which is dope. I'll have to watch it the next day though, I'm taking my daughter to a kpop concert Sunday night LOL. Bummer to miss the card (esp Omega/Ospreay 2) but the concert with kiddo will be absolutely worth it
If I watch it, it’ll be after it’s over. I’ll find a stream of it somewhere.
Dynamite was decent. I thought there was way too much happening all the time and nothing got much time to resonate. The wrestling wasn’t and never has been the problem, outside I think they do too much and they need to save the big stuff for PPV. I liked the opener, that was good. Surprised to see the Ass Boys win, but it was decent. I liked the concession stand brawl, but everyone that we thought would get involved did, and they wore disguises even though everything is legal? In AEW where just about everything is legal anyway? Not having the Elite on the show was a great move since they were in Chicago and I’m done with the Bucks anyway. They can disappear and I’d be cool with that. I still hate the whole enemies as partners thing WWE used to love to do, and it’s not any better here. Adam Cole and MJF haven’t done a damn thing to build each other or themselves up, so when one wins it doesn’t matter. Either a steroid guy beat up a skinny goof who gets hurt all the time, or the skinny goof beat a roided up meathead that he outsmarted along the way. Way to build it up. Liked Taya and Kris, but not sure how Kris is a baby face since she stole the TNT title from Jade in a Wrestlemania 9 carbon copy. The end segment rolled along nicely, though Wheeler Yuta is basically an interest killer. I have no desire to see him. I’m also a little surprised Moxley didn’t bleed somewhere in there. The Jericho and Sting story was nice, and I liked that six man tag match too.
I'll likely try and catch a stream of Forbidden Door. For some reason I thought it was on Saturday night and I was going to miss it because I'll be at a concert.
I apparently need to watch Andrade vs. Matthews again. Everyone is saying it’s great and I didn’t care for it. Might be a me thing. I may have been distracted. I’ll give it another shot if it’s on demand on Sling.
Edit: the match was much better than my initial opinion of it. I was wrong. I can admit that. Sucks Sling doesn’t do the Picture in Picture thing and they just show ads instead.
I went to the OKC Pop Culture Con today. Met the wrestlers I wanted to meet. Scott Steiner, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Godfather among others. Then I met this guy…
Yes that’s me with the gorgeous shirt haha. That’s what made Ron want to do that video. I was wholeheartedly for it too, it was great! Thank you for noticing! Got it at RSVLTS.com.
I should care about Forbidden Door. The card looks stacked. I couldn’t care less, though. None of it interests me. I think I watched way too much wrestling this week. I watched RAW, Dynamite, Smackdown and was in and out of Collision. I did also go to the con this weekend, so I’m probably burned out for the moment.
Also. Somehow, my video has like 1400 views. I have no idea how that happened lol.
But yah I dunno, I’m pumped up for Forbidden Door personally. After last year, this is one of the shows I’ve been looking forward to all year. Sorta stinks that it’s on a Sunday night though, would’ve been nice to have a few pals over to watch.
Yah that’s a shame, I especially feel for Lawlor who’s real good, but it’ll probably help the overall quality. Still 13 matches. Also hope Cole is ok, dude catches the worst luck when it comes to Forbidden Door.
I didn't get to see all of it but what I did see was good. Stream kept getting taken down (which I expected, but just hit refresh and a new one is up in about a minute) but Sunday nights are game time with my friend, so I knew I wouldn't get to see it all regardless.
I still have not heard anything about when the review embargo is up for the AEW game but I expect it to be tomorrow. Since I ended up not buying any merch at the Weezer concert (it was my first concert in a few years and wow merch is more expensive than I remembered, I don't recall a simple band t-shirt being $40 before) I might get in a last minute pre-order.
@PizzaTheHutt I saw a review on YouTube... but it was clearly an AI-generated voice reading the script so I have a feeling the person who posted it probably isn't any top tier gaming outlet or anything.
That said, it was clear that this person really did have the game and apparently really enjoys it, so that's cool. I guess the "Road to the Elite" mode is a standout, with branching stories depending on your wins and losses.
Alright, screw it. I just went and pre-ordered it from Best Buy. I'm hoping I will get it by release date, but from my past experiences usually I had to have placed the pre-order at least a week in advance to receive it on release date. Best Buy gave me two options for shipping. I can choose free shipping and get it by Thursday, or I can pay $7.98...and also get it by Thursday.
I still have Wrestling Empire and RetroMania on Switch unplayed, and Fire Pro on PS4 and Steam also unplayed, and still need to play through the second half of the original story modes in WWE 2K23. I'll at least do that last one before starting AEW, the rest can wait like they already have been.
A data miner has been going through the files in the AEW game and found a whole mode that THQ has so far never bothered to mention.
"Stadium Stampede is a 30-player, online Battle Royale mode. This is what the Battle Pass is for. Loadouts, chests, VEHICLES (horse! golf cart!), shrinking circle, the WHOLE NINE YARDS. Absolutely baffling why THQ hasnt revealed it."
It's likely coming in a post-launch update. The copies sent to reviewers don't have access to the mode, there's only mentions of it in the code.
@PizzaTheHutt That sounds pretty badass tbh. I know folks saw the option on a menu while Evil Uno was streaming the game, but I just figured it was a match type in the stadium. The party game aspect of it sounds really cool.
I wonder if that’s just half an hour of Undertaker saying he thought Mick was dead, and Mick saying he can’t remember the match. Man that match was brutal.
I'm on the fence about cancelling my Fight Forever Amazon pre-order and just buying it digitally. I do enjoy having physical cases for my games, but at the same time I enjoy having games loaded directly onto my Switch if I'm going to be playing them consistently for a long time. Fight Forever seems like it'll definitely be a "pick up and play whenever bored" type game, especially with that Stadium Stampede mode, so I may just want it downloaded to my Switch for convenience.
That and the Amazon pre-order hasn't shipped yet despite the release date being tomorrow, and says it won't be here until Friday.
Also, I've read a few reviews for the game, namely Game Informer and IGN. The reception has been lukewarm. Across the board, the gameplay is apparently very fun and nails the arcade style that the game goes for. So that's cool, and really the most important factor for me, but there are apparently some major issues with other modes.
I guess Road to the Elite consists mainly of goofy angles with no real meat to them, and only lasts 4 months (which is admittedly alright for a mode that stresses replayability). I also read that if you play the mode as a female wrestler, the women-centric angles only last a month and then it just switches to male opponents as if Yuke's got bored of writing a unique story for the women's division. That's fairly lame.
The creation suite is also apparently as barebones as has been reported. While there are a ton of moves and animations for existing wrestlers, there's no face-sculpting, so that alone will severely limit who can be made in the game regardless of the moves/animations. I guess you also can't create custom designs for the limited gear selection either.
That said, I'm still fairly excited for the game. If the gameplay is fun enough, I imagine I'll get my money's worth what with all the match types and whatnot. And apparently the mini-games are a welcome addition. Plus, if they really do intend to patch this game consistently instead of focus on annual releases, I imagine at least some of these issues will be mended in future updates.
Got 20 min with it before I left for my flight to Japan. Played a singles offline and singles online. The game plays exactly like the N64 games. They need to clean up the hit detection for punches and kicks a little, but other than that it’s pretty smooth
Not shockingly for a just released game, online is gonna need some stabilization. Match was a bit glitchy at first but steadied out. That is until we we got frozen in a grapple which lasted for about 2 min. Eventually he broke away but couldn’t grapple me as my character was still convulsing. Ended up having to quit the match. Hopefully they release a couple of patches while I’m away.
Pretty glad I didn’t preorder. Not saying I might not pick it up at some point on sale when it gets some patches, but this isn’t worth the initial price. They didn’t hardly speak about the mini games on the IGN review, and what was discussed and shown didn’t look great. This is more or less exactly what I thought it would be: a decent start that needs some sequels to flesh it out. I hope it gets better and sells well enough to warrant a sequel, but what I saw in that review isn’t worth full price.
To be fair, lots of YouTubers who got review copies are loving it, claiming the actual wrestling gameplay is about as good as it gets when it comes to that arcade style.
There are no planned sequels, they said a bunch of times that they’d just be updating this game for a while yet. Which is way better imo, assuming they iron out the kinks and add more content to the CAW/new modes/more match types. All easily doable via updates.
Nothing I’ve seen/read has me feeling like I’ll be disappointed overall, so I’ll still be buying it tonight on Switch. Last time I trusted IGN with a review was like a decade ago, and Game Informer even longer than that lol
For example, this YouTuber (who devotes a ton of time to wrestling game retrospectives and whatnot) seems to really love it. He also mentions how the Road to the Elite mode straight up incorporates the fact that you’re playing as a woman/participating in intergender matches into the narrative, which makes IGNs review come off fairly hyperbolic.
Giant Bomb is playing it live right now. I'm not watching because I'll just play it myself since it's already paid for. "It's fine but maybe a little overpriced" was a line I heard when I first opened the stream. Then they're mocking Jim Ross because he sounds like he's either bored or half asleep when recording his lines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mIy2dGvvbQ
OSW review is live now. This is my favorite wrestling related YouTube channel. Right now they're just poking fun at some of the character models. Jericho lost a lot of weight but his in-game model is still the chubby version from 2021. Like the Giant Bomb group, they also crap on Jim Ross' voice over work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g_XTxMLJMw
Is this blind eliminator thing basically Battle Bowl from WCW spread out over time instead of done in one night? I always thought that was an underrated concept.
> Is this blind eliminator thing basically Battle Bowl from WCW spread out over time
> instead of done in one night? I always thought that was an underrated concept.
Yah pretty much, just without the actual "bowl" of it all. Randomly selected tag team pairings wrestle in a tournament with the winners getting a shot at FTR and the tag titles.
On one hand, I sorta wish they were just putting an emphasis on their already-stacked tag team division, but on the other hand, this is at least an interesting concept where little micro stories can be told within (Cole/MJF and Swerve/Lee for example).
Just played my first match on Fight Forever. Hangman vs. Andrade. gosh darn was that a fun time, the gameplay feels very tight (in the good way). It's nice to have an arcadey game like the old 90s games but with much more fluid gameplay, everything flows really well.
I'll note that there are very mild "hiccups" from time to time on the Switch version. Just little drops that don't really hinder the experience at all and that could easily be patched out, but they're definitely there.
Haven't gotten to play around with any of the other modes or anything yet but I can definitely see myself putting some serious time into the game, just playing exhibition matches and whatnot. If they implement some major changes in the updates (a better CAW mode, multi-man options for some of the match types, cage/blood and guts matches ,etc), I could easily see this placing in my top tier for wrestling games.
I'm only basing this on a spread of various reviews I've checked out on Fight Forever. I think it's definitely something I'll keep an eye for, but I don't think it's a game I'd pay full retail for ($60 CDN plus tax ). I see it as kinda like Bomberman games and most sports games...it'll be ok to kick back with once in awhile but not something I'd see myself getting immersed into enough for the current cost.....plus I'm a cheapskate when it comes to games unless I know 100% it's something I need to play through.
Moving on to regular wrestling stuff, I'm digging both AEW and WWE lately. Both have their things that seem like filler but both are doing some interesting stuff, too.
Random thoughts....WWE
I'm not sure what's going on with Damien Priests ring attire lately. It seems to be going backwards. He basically dressed like a jobber this week again.
I wish Charlotte Flair would just go away and stay away or invest herself into actually being around and relevant instead of showing up, winning the title, and basically disappearing until she goes on hiatus again...rinse/repeat.
I feel WWE is missing the boat with Xia Li just as they did with Ember Moon/Athena.
I'm digging the whole LA Knight stuff. He's clearly over with the crowd and I'm a fan, but, objectively, he's probably been jobbed out too many times recently to be taken seriously as a threat to either main title. Credit due to Seth Rollins for selling Balor as a real threat to the title after he received similar treatment and to Finn for stepping it up..
WWE needs to revisit a legit and supported cruiserweight division. I'd rather see Tozowa go for 15-20, along with others like him, instead of the hour and a half of recaps every Raw.
Montez Ford is frustrating. It might be a good time for him to get 'injured' and come back with a new gimmick that isn't being a joke. His in-ring stuff is great, his promos are sub, and he needs to build a character that people get behind beyond being a 'spot guy'.
Moving on to AEW...
Wardlow....what happened to this guy? He was so over a little while ago...had good in-ring stuff, decent character, etc.... got a stupid haircut and now seems like a second rate Ryback.
Similar for LuchaSaurus....this guy is insane in the ring. AEW doesn't seem to know what to do with him.
About time Jungle Boy grew up. It was good to see the start of that this past week.
I miss Serena Deeb. It's depressing how much female talent the AEW locker room has but still feels so stale.
It's unfortunate that Mercedes Mone was injured and missed Forbidden Door.
When will the 'Young' Bucks adjust their name?
Props to AEW for keeping recaps virtually non-existent and presenting a lot more actual great matches....but the picture in picture thing annoys the hell out of me.
Sammy Guevara and Pac are insanely skilled. They deserve more.
I don't hate Orange Cassidy, Saraya, Jay Lethal, or The Gunns...but why are they on every week when so many other (superior talents) are left off every week? The roster is huge. I get that. Maybe they need to look at some sort of brand split between the 3 shows, turn Rampage into something that matters, and generate some consistency.
> You’re making me want to buy this and I don’t want to.
If you're that on the fence about it, I'd just wait until they release an update or two. At the time being, there are certain very standard things that are missing from the game - stuff like multi-man ladder matches. You can literally only do 1v1 ladder matches in exhibition. There are no trios titles, and in fact, no trios matches at all. You can't do multi-man hardcore matches, etc.
Again, these are all things that can be (and I truly believe WILL be) added to the game via updates considering they constantly talk about how this game will be updated over time as opposed to them taking the "annual release" route. So in lieu of a new game every year, I imagine these updates will need to add new match types/modes to emulate the feeling of getting a fresh experience.
So yah, if you're on the fence, I'd say just wait. Apparently August is rumored to be when the Stadium Stampede online mode will drop, so I figure that would be a good time for a bit more content to release with it, so the game will probably feel a bit more complete in a few months. But if that missing stuff doesn't really bother you and you just want a wrestling game with straight up FUN gameplay and the likelihood that it'll only improve in the coming months, then go for it.
> I feel WWE is missing the boat with Xia Li just as they did with Ember Moon/Athena.
I absolutely agree. I follow her on Twitter, she is always busting her ass in the gym. She's clearly willing to put in the work, but it's up to them to realize her potential.
> I miss Serena Deeb. It's depressing how much female talent the AEW locker room has
> but still feels so stale.
Both companies are dropping the ball lately. I saw on Twitter today that between Raw and Dynamite being a combined 5 hours long, there was a total of 4 minutes and 28 seconds of womens wrestling this week.
> Both companies are dropping the ball lately. I saw on Twitter today that between
> Raw and Dynamite being a combined 5 hours long, there was a total of 4 minutes and
> 28 seconds of womens wrestling this week.
>
I agree both companies could do a lot better with booking their women's division for sure. I sort of expect it from WWE at this point unfortunately, but yah, even this week's Dynamite was a major bummer for women's wrestling, but even more so because they're usually far better with the time allotted to that division. Their actual stories may lack from time to time, but they usually at least book enough matches to scratch the in-ring itch, but this week was a different story entirely.
I will say ROH's women's division is TOP notch. The matches always get time and Athena(/Ember Moon) is doing GREAT work right now as ROH Women's champion. She puts out banger after banger and makes any opponent she faces seem that much more important. Her recent feud with Kiera Hogan was great and really elevated Kiera. I know it's hidden away behind the ROH paywall, but I personally find the new shows worth it + the back catalog, and the women's division is a big part of that.
I can confirm Road to Elite mode is a bit of a mess in Fight Forever and could have used some major rewrites. Only played up to the first PPV so far. Without spoiling too much, the first month of the "career" was spent in an "unlikely alliance" tag team angle that was dropped out of thin air after the first PPV, despite things happening AT the PPV that would suggest it should've continued. It's a bit like they wrote the start of a decent storyline, but then realized the mode was only 4 in-game months long, so they just moved onto a new story. A little disappointing, but the actual mechanics of the mode itself are fun enough and, as I've mentioned, the actual gameplay is enough to keep me going.
I think they did something a little while back acknowledging it. Something with his mom and Christian I believe. I might be thinking of someone else, or some other family member. They’ve slowly been saying more that his name is Jack Perry and dropping the Jungle Boy thing.
It was fun for sure. The two MITB matches (especially the women’s) and the main event were great. The rest seemed like a fun WWE show overall, but fairly run of the mill imo. Rhodes/Dom was especially sorta boring, which sucks for Rhodes. That whole angle seems like forced filler, but it wasn’t BAD, just underwhelming. I dug the Baszler turn in the tag title match a lot though.
The overseas crowds are really helping elevate these recent PLEs. Has me looking forward to All In at Wembley even more.
I thought them saying Cody and Dom was the main event was a sure fire Brock appearance but then they threw it on in the middle and it wasn’t great. It was a competitive squash in my eyes, only competitive because of Rhea Ripley.
I still haven't seen the whole show yet, but pretty much know all the outcomes thanks to seeing spoilers on Twitter when I opened it to send a DM to a friend.
I saw the men's ladder match, which was really good. I know the people in the office are high on Damien Priest at the moment, but LA Knight is way too over for them to ignore it for too much longer. Cody and Dom was alright, just felt like they were put on the show because they are over enough that fans would want to see them, even if the buildup to it was kinda lackluster. And the women's tag title match was the other match I saw. The Shayna turning on Ronda part kinda confused me because I know Ronda has been vocal about how they've been dropping the ball with the tag titles and them changing hands so often. I did like the reaction it got from the crowd though, that's a genuine reaction because nobody saw that turn coming, especially this soon.
In an interview with Uproxx published 2 days ago, Kenny Omega officially revealed Fight Forever's Stadium Stampede mode. It doesn't have a date yet, but the trailer (below) says "Coming Soon", so it shouldn't be too far off. May be even sooner than August, which is what folks were theorizing. He then doubled down on the concept of consistent updates for Fight Forever, noting that they'd be adding new wrestlers & match types. He also hinted at updates adding more content to the Creation suite, as well as representation for ROH and NJPW as far as new wrestlers go.
That's all wonderful news and I'm very much looking forward to what they add to the game. Omega said that we "haven't seen everything yet", only a little, but not everything that he's excited for us to see. Cool stuff.
I hope that a lot of the additions are free and not DLC that adds up to cost as much as a yearly game. But we’ll see what happens. Still planning to get this on a sale down the line.
Yah same. I think the main updates for match types and CAW will be free, but I imagine most wrestlers will be paid DLC like the 3 packs they already announced. Stadium Stampede mode is confirmed free though, so that’s neat.
That sounds pretty reasonable to me. More wrestlers are more money but quality of life updates and most cosmetics should be free.
I hope that they can fix the Switch stutters. I’m was watching a couple videos and it hiccups every little bit for like half a second. It runs way better than that 2K WWE game they put out but still.
I hope they deliver. I still haven't opened my copy yet but right now it feels like a sneaky way of releasing a console game as "Early Access" like how indie developers do on Steam.
@PizzaTheHutt For what we got, it definitely lives up to what they promised: a return to the N64-style arcade wrestling game - no more, no less. They delivered what they said they would. Great throwback gameplay with a short story mode (but with more replayability than most), multiple match types (despite the multi-man issue) and a (limited) CAW suite (+ mini games, which is just a nice bonus). What they had always promised upon release, they definitely followed through on... it's just up to each individual player to decide whether or not what they got scratches their personal itch. For me, it mostly did, but I do think they need to be hasty when it comes to an update featuring major content additions if they want to keep people hooked. I admit that's mainly because we're all so used to top tier wrestling games having several different modes like the 2K games.
But as was mentioned in this thread previously, they didn't even advertise the Stadium Stampede mode. That would have been nice to find out with the trailer instead of with a data miner leaking it, but that's a whole huge multiplayer mode that no one was expecting for free, which alone buys them some goodwill imo. If they continue releasing free updates (or at the very least, reasonably priced updates), I think it's overall a net positive.
@BucketofJustice Yeah I definitely hope a patch fixes the stuttering, but to be fair I stopped noticing it fairly quickly. You could have told me they DID patch it and I would have believed you. It may be more noticeable if you're just watching someone else play, but in the heat of the game it went away for me haha
I don't know how it is doing in sales so far, but once they start to slow down I wouldn't be surprised if they look to get it added to GamePass or PS+ Extra game catalogs to bring in some people who were on the fence due to the mediocre reviews, and as a bonus potentially lure in people who hadn't heard of the company before.
Digital Foundry finally got around to comparing the game across all platforms. As usual they only cover it from a graphical standpoint. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff7C881qwzc
@PizzaTheHutt Yah, I wouldn't be surprised with a move to the different subscription catalogs eventually. It'd definitely be a smart move.
The mediocre reviews do sorta dumbfound me a bit, I can't lie. The game is exactly what they said it'd be. Aside from the few small bugs (and the PS4 issue which wasn't indicative of the game itself), the only MAIN flaw with it is the creation suite and how limited it is. But even then, nobody really should have been expecting a ton more considering the type of game they were touting. It's at least as good, if not better, than most of the old arcadey games they were imitating.
Having read plenty of reviews before playing through the game myself, it really really does feel like the mediocre scores were largely influenced by comparisons to WWE's recent output as far as "what to expect from a wrestling game" goes, whether intentional or not.
Jeez, the kind of things these guys have to put up with. Ryback is no stranger to saying stupid things himself, but I don't know how he tolerated this mentally disturbed dude for so long. I had to turn off the video after 15 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWdKJ7b_xOY
So...three whole matches tonight? That was it? That opening segment with Bloodline went too long, I couldn't even sit through all of it. That was such a hot crowd too, as MSG always is, but they deserved a better show. Of course Vince was backstage tonight. Just once I would like to see a show's original script leak, and then another leak of the script after Vince has made his changes to it.
The AJ/Kross match was like 2 minutes too. The show was entirely too angle and promo heavy. Edge and Waller was pretty good. I don’t even remember the other match.
I loved all the Bloodline stuff, but yeah that first segment went too long too. Could’ve accomplished that in literally half the time. I also didn’t like how half the entrances for the matches were during commercial breaks. It felt like Vince made a lot of changes, like the camera cuts when Jey was beating on Solo at the end. It was almost back entirely to the every half second cuts and it was annoying as crap.
Doesn't vince realize that wrestling on a wrestling show is necessary.. a 2 hour show with what, 20 minutes of wrestling..
One thing WWE needs to do is bring back the cruiser-weight championship.. there are SO many guys that could fight for it.. and it would be hella entertaining...
I don’t trust WWE to do a good cruiserweight division. Maybe once Vince is completely out, as in when he dies, but not before that. The last time they did it, was missable at best after the admittedly great CWC.
Edit: YIKES at that Ryback video. Got about 1:30 in. When Ryback is the sane one, there’s a problem.
Just got caught up on Smackdown. I dunno guys, the Bloodline angle may have officially jumped the shark last night. The melodrama is being dragged out to corny degrees now imo.
I still am into the angle itself, but there is just no excuse for any talking segment to go for 30+ minutes. A lot of times they lose me after the 10 minute point (even the old "This Is Your Life" segment was longer than it needed to be). But if you really think you need more than 30 freakin' minutes, film something like that and put it up on Peacock, but don't waste precious TV time like that.
Same. No reason that had to go 40 minutes. It’s not like they have to fill 3 hours like RAW either. It’s a concise 2 hour show and that 40 minute segment could’ve been cut in half an still been effective and we could’ve gotten a longer AJ/Kross match and the women’s segment could’ve been better, since those were the things most affected by the Bloodline angle.
Was effing around with the iPad last night and decided to draw a fictional wrestler in his 80s attire, and then add a layer for his revamped 90s look. Used a photo of Snuka for reference, but added the “I love you” hands because Snuka wasn’t doing the gesture in the photo. Not perfect but whatev, it was a fun time.
Been doodling/drawing simple webcomics via the iPad for a bit now, think I’ll add some more wrestling drawings to the ol’ portfolio in the future.
I need to track this down one of these days. I've only ever seen bits and pieces of it posted on wrestling message boards back in the day that aren't even around anymore. I'm sure the full documentary is up on YouTube, I haven't even searched. I want it on DVD but seems I can only find ones that work on PAL DVD players. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki7YXFkhrKA
And unrelated, but GUNTHER is just 55 days away from breaking the Honk-a-meter and becoming the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all the times (well, maybe not because that'll always be Mr. Perfect, but GUNTHER will make a great runner-up)
FTR vs. BCG from this past Saturday’s AEW Collision was one of the best tag team matches I’ve watched in a long time. They went almost a full 60 minutes.
Last night I finally finished the second MyRise story in WWE 2k23. Those two storylines were my favorite parts of the game, there was some good writing in there and I feel like the game is worth at least a rental to play through them. Since I don't typically enjoy just plain old exhibition matches anymore and I don't play these games online at all (barely ever did even in the PS2 era when it was first added) and probably won't get around to trying the MyFaction or GM modes, I think I'm just done with the game. Not in a rush to start the AEW game yet so maybe I'll wait another week or two and try and finish up a couple other games I'm in the middle of.
> FTR vs. BCG from this past Saturday’s AEW Collision was one of the best tag team
> matches I’ve watched in a long time. They went almost a full 60 minutes.
Yah it was awesome. Between that match and their Final Battle match vs the Briscoes, FTR & 2 out of 3 fall matches seem to be a winning combo.
Blood and Guts tonight. Wish I could be there, it’s from Boston but the tickets were $100+ with fees. Still looking forward to it big time, gonna be good stuff. Ibushi’s the man.
gosh darn what a great episode of Dynamite. The main event was obviously wild and I loved the brutality of it, but even the first hour was super entertaining. New heel persona for Perry already works far better than his worn out Jungle Boy shtick, Daniel Garcia is worthy of a push imo, & anything Cole/MJF remains a highlight. Only true criticism is that the women’s division got the short end of the stick yet again, only receiving a 1 minute Britt Baker squash.
SmackDown was decent, though it's getting annoying how they're really missing the boat by not pulling the trigger right now on LA Knight, and then having Iyo job to Charlotte...ugh. It's like the future stars are right there in front of them just waiting for the guy in charge to finally realize it. I didn't catch how it looked on TV, but my friend that was there live said it looked like Jey Uso completely missed with his superkick.
Afterwards I just sat through Rampage for the first time since...I don't remember, but definitely the first time of 2023. Always enjoy a nice Royal Rumble, if it hadn't opened the show with that I probably would have closed the tab after SmackDown ended like I usually do. The Acclaimed with an Arby's reference made me think maybe Mickie James was there and I didn't notice. And I never realized it, but Kris Statlander (and Bronson, who wasn't on the show) are both from not far from where I grew up on Long Island.
The ROH PPV was my show of choice last night. Absolute turd for build up (in part due to the card needing to get shuffled for various reasons) but a fudging banger of an event regardless. Athena is the best women’s champ in pro wrestling today. Her vs Willow was the best ROH women’s match bar none. Awesome main event. Claudio/Pac, Dark Order/Righteous & Garcia/Shibata also ruled very hard.
I’ve learned that I don’t necessarily need the strongest build to end up really enjoying a show. As long as AEW/ROH continues producing strong cards like this, I’m here for it 100%. No reason for me to doubt them at this point.
Interview with the developers of WrestleQuest, releasing August 8 at $30 (I'll be waiting on that, hopefully around Black Friday when they do big sales in the eShop) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olliWFpoOAw
For $20, it sure is. I’ll be honest, after beating Road to the Elite within 2-3 days, I haven’t played a ton since that first week or two it was out. That’s pretty standard with me and wrestling games though. Still waiting on the updates to add a little replayability in there.
On the other side of the coin, I ordered WWE 2K23 off eBay for $35 last night. Have been craving Universe mode for a while, and I hear 2K23 has the best version of it yet. I remember having a TON of fun with the Universe equivalent way back with WWE ‘13, to the point that I’d keep track of my cards and results on a booking forum. No Universe mode has been able to keep me hooked like that one did, so here’s hoping 2K23’s is as good as I hear.
Plus I want to try out the new GM Mode, that was pretty much all I played in 2K22.
I’ve had 2K23 on Xbox since like week 1 and I haven’t played a ton of it. I think PS5 is going to be my go to for most games. There were also some curious roster exclusions that have been there for years and years, like no Ric Flair. Oh well. I hope Fight Forever is good.
One mode I wish they would bring back to the WWE games is the create-a-storyline mode. If I remember correctly, only one or two games in the series even had it and it was in the PS3/360 era?
I do recall making a storyline involving Jim Ross losing a sacred bottle of BBQ Sauce, but I don't remember how it played out anymore all these years later.
The controls are going to take some getting used to, but the gameplay is fun enough. Didn’t see much in the way of glitches. Can’t stand the art style. The Young Fudges are my de facto job guys and that makes me happy. Worth $20 but not anymore than that.
Edit: Road to the Elite is weird. I can’t level up my guy because he’s an official character in the game, which is fudging dumb.
I’m playing as Malakai Black. There was a thing where I could join Death Triangle and I said yes. Something something I’ll stand with you, followed by PAC saying you’re standing up there not with us. Do you think you’re better than us? Good lord the writing here can be terrible. Oh and I won the tag titles with Hobbs and then immediately turned on him because whoever wrote that decided to not give me that choice. But, there’s some cool stuff in there. Overall, Road to the Elite is just OK.
I’ve enjoyed the offline CPU matches. Online is ruined by people acting like jackasses (same reason I hate playing WWE2K online). Couple things I would like to see updated - BIG one (and one that would sorta fix online). In the old games spamming taunts outside the ring would actually lower your stamina. Not the case here and that needs to be fixed - the bigger online fix, start having consequences for quitting matches -some of the moves need to be slowed down a bit - the stamina meter needs tinkering. Its way too easy to go from danger to special - the reversal for punches and kicks is pretty solid, grappling not so much - I hate all wrestling kick out systems, but mashing would be fine but I need some sort of indication I might kick out - tables need to not fall over like leafs - The star system needs some work (and honestly would be a better system for online advancement than win/loses). I can’t get over a 3.5 on Hard mode, yet consistently get 5 star matches on easy. - and last that I can think of, increase CAW options
For the 8 hours I’ve played I’ve still not pulled thumbtacks from the crowd. Paul Wight was a pain in the ass to get, even with it on easy. With all that said, I think the core game is just as fun as the old N64 games and I don’t regret my purchase
The more I play this, the less I like it. I can get A+ ratings after a RotE match but have an overall B for a score? What the fudge. The controls are fine but it’s still kind of awkward. There’s almost no replay value for me. I wish I had gotten something else.
Edit: how do we know how close we are to kicking out of a pin? No meter, just telling us to mash buttons and I do and after two hits I’m fudging pinned? Seriously, how did this get out the door?
Yah that match ruled. The North American title match was good, I’m a fan of Thea Hail & Tiffany Stratton continues to have an impressive moonsault. The less I say about anything else on the show, the better haha
Pretty lame to have the Corbin/Gable match end in double countout, but understandable I guess. Gable has a lot of potential, but also can't make Corbin lose because I don't think he's ever been this over before.
Of course there's still plenty of room for improvement, hence why he didn't go straight to main roster. But Gable looks like he was moving in ways Kurt hasn't been able to in almost 20 years. Now if only they hadn't already wasted that "Kurt's black son" angle on Jason Jordan...
I’m basing the “wish.com Kurt Angle” sentiment off when Angle was closer to Steveson’s age haha. Of course he’s going to move better than Kurt Angle does nowadays. Point being he was given the same gimmick and is attempting to work the same style due to his Olympic background but he’s nowhere near as good or charismatic as Angle was when he first debuted (not that many folks could be).
Apparently Steveson was kept off any kind of TV since he was signed 2 years ago because he wasn’t picking up the pro wrestling element as quickly as WWE hoped and that absolutely showed last night. He may move more fluidly than a 50-year-old Kurt Angle, but he really isn’t that good at all right now.
I forgot all about that Jason Jordan angle. What a goofy idea that one was.
Looking at: Monday - WWE Raw Thursday - WCW Thunder Saturday - AEW Collision Sunday - PPVs for each show
And maybe a smaller ROH show once in a while.
Downloading all the shows/arenas now, then I'll work on downloading past & present roster members. Haven't tried anything else in 2K23 yet, just shot straight for Community Creations.
Charlotte returns, immediately demands a title match. Who didn't see that coming? 
). I see it as kinda like Bomberman games and most sports games...it'll be ok to kick back with once in awhile but not something I'd see myself getting immersed into enough for the current cost.....plus I'm a cheapskate when it comes to games unless I know 100% it's something I need to play through. 