General

I don’t watch wrestling for realism lol. But some stuff was just ridiculous. Like Hangman wrapping barbed wire around Swerve then doing a fallaway slam. Maybe do that and have Swerve land on the barbed wire so it doesn’t hurt Hangman too. The aforementioned glass spot was just dumb and could’ve been done so much more effectively. Swerve could’ve put a chair on top of the glass and stomped on it, both not hurting himself and protecting Hangman by stomping on a part of the chair with no/less glass underneath it.

This is the only place I talk about wrestling on the internet. I deleted Twitter/X some time ago and if I could hide every stupid Facebook wrestling page forever I’d do it. I don’t care about what the IWC thinks lol. I’m also old and I’d rather watch crap from 1983 than 2023.

Yah I mean, I don't necessarily care what the IWC say either, it just gets obnoxious having to sift through all the bad faith losers who make it their job to demean anything AEW does after every single show. Deleting Twitter is a smart idea, but there are some accounts who I genuinely enjoy reading so I stick it out.

As for the spots you talked about -- they're really no different to the things Foley or Funk, or any number of the more "hardcore" wrestlers, would do back in the day. Throwing "caution to the wind" and all that. Yah it'll also hurt Hangman, but the added momentum from his body performing the move itself and crushing that barbed wire between the two would be real painful. I dunno, there are just always way to explain away wrestling moves, so I never get hung up stuff like that. Once you see a wrestler continue to run after being Irish Whipped, all logic goes out the window haha. But to each their own, if ya don't dig it ya don't dig it.

I had no idea this was ever a thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE5_Lu9CeUs

That’s news to me. I’ll have to watch that later.

I remember something like 10 or 11 years ago about some match that was supposed to be a big deal. Kevin Nash was supposed to wrestle Ricky Morton I think. It got a little media play but apparently the whole thing was a crap show and it never ended up going anywhere.

I wonder if this was meant to be that at some point.

Edit: it’s exactly what I thought it was! Holy crap!

If you're ok with the Steam version instead of console, you can currently get WrestleQuest for $10 bundled with 12 other games (or $20 for the entire 15 game bundle).
https://www.humblebundle.com/games/black-friday-sc...

I might be alone here, but this Survivor Series later today looks like the most underwhelming one in the almost 40 year history. As one of the 'big 4' events of the year, I was really expecting something more to be added other than swapping out Carlito with Dragon Lee. I don't mind the Wargames thing, but I'd prefer if it had its own PLE. There actually isn't a single thing advertised that I care about. Everything seems to be built around having maybe one or two things happen like Damage CTRL turning on Bayley and Orton probably RKO'ing Jey to wreck those matches.....which are both horribly one-sided for the babyfaces.....and if something happens and they lose....who cares?

Guenther vs Miz......ugh, as if Miz wins.
Ripley vs Stark..ummm..sure
Dragon Lee vs whathisname with the beard...who cares? Maybe he'll add some of the NXT guys and they can have a feud with the LWO that nobody will care about.

The only noteworthy thing about the entire event is the speculation that someone who isn't going to return will return. Names like Sasha Banks and CM Punk are floating around....but what would they do? Show up and ruin a crap card? I guess they sell it based on what people hope might happen instead of actually booking a meaningful card.

Also.....umm....where is everyone? Big 4 event?

LA Knight?...this is the big one
Roman Reigns?.
Solo?
Logan Paul?
Women's Tag champs? Big shock that Banks and Glowy chick tossed the belts in the trash and walked. These things are less important than the 24/7 belt.
Alpha Academy?
Street Profits?
Bobby Lashley?
Austin Theory?
New Day?
DIY?
Pretty Deadly?
Kevin Owens?
Nakamura?

Honestly, looking at the card on paper, I don't think I'd go if it was in my backyard.

Meanwhile Brody King vs Eddie Edwards and Shibata vs Yuta on AEW… those 2 matches alone make Collision/Rampage worth watching tonight over Survivor Series imo.

Always down for a good ol’ Wargames match though… even if the angle doesn’t really warrant it.

The last Survivor Series I ended up hyped for was the year NXT dominated. Before that, I can't remember the last one I really enjoyed. Out of the "Big 4" PPVs/PLEs, Survivor Series would be the one I'd miss the least if they were to replace it. I know back in 2010 they were actually close to canceling it but I think too many got in Vince's ear and whined about it being a tradition or something..Just once I want them to hold it on actual Thanksgiving night for old times' sake.

Yeah, I'd definitely look forward to a Smackdown vs Raw vs NXT Survivor Series. I recall, many years ago, they actually took the survivors and stuffed them into a 'Sole Survivor' match at the end. I'm not sure how many times that happened.......once for sure.

I'd take Kingston vs King over the entire 'Survivor Series' posted card, too. I really do expect some swerves and new people popping in....but I wouldn't hate having at least a couple of matches to look forward to. Really, both Wargames matches should be complete squashes by the faces. As hyped as I was when Kairi Saine showed up again, every time she's been on TV, she's one of the first ones tossed on her head. Iyo is great but she definitely has not been booked as a strong champ. Asuka has been great at being a jobber since WM. Bayley is meh......and they're fighting 3 of the most dominant women of the past few years.....and Shotzi.

Oh well...I guess it's another WWE PLE where all the hype is around 'who might show up' instead of any of the actual matches.

Not really looking too forward to either company’s shows this weekend. Survivor Series at least has the War Games match type to see, though. That and Orton returning should be a little bit of fun. Otherwise… meh.

Survivor Series was better than I thought it would be. They’re playing the long game with Damage CTRL and I like that, but I also want them to move that along. Miz and Gunther was better than I thought it would be and I kinda forgot how good Miz can be. Zoey and Rhea went longer than it probably should have. Dragon Lee is really good and Santos is back to where he should be, as a heel. The men’s War Games was what it should’ve been. It was cool seeing new Flair and Rhodes wrestlers in one of the best creations Dusty ever had, and arguably Dusty’s greatest rival.

We also had a big return and I hope that Larry Talbot’s owner can get along with people here better than he could before.

Haven't heard a pop that loud in years
Well, okay maybe a smidge of hyperbole, Cody's was loud too last year, but there were also a lot more people for his. Still, this was one of those rare moments where the pop actually gave me goosebumps.

FYI I was talking about R-Truth. Sorry, didn't mean to spoil it, but this news was too huge not to talk about.

I knew the whole time. His segment with Pretty Deadly was the best thing all night and it wasn’t even close.

I hope this all works out and doesn't backfire down the road and lead to regrets from all parties involved. I know R-Truth doesn't have the best reputation backstage, but the WWE Universe has been waiting a long time for his return and I'm sure he has a special pipe bomb rap planned for Raw that will boost the ratings in ways Seth Rollins wishes he was capable of.

I hope he’s on Smackdown telling Pretty Deadly what’s up. Maybe we can get some cross brand action going on and he’ll team with the rising star Akira Tozawa. Hopefully he’ll declare for the Royal Rumble again too.

I hope this cm punk thing doesn’t backfire. I read that it was sort of a rush job. McIntyre and Seth been with the company a long time and should know cm punk and his antics of voicing his opinions.

I felt surprised reading about since punk basically left wwe on his own terms

I doubt things weren’t really rushed unless their is specifics in the new contract before he signed.

We’ll see what happens. I’d like to think Charles Montgomery will be on his best behavior and knows he’s on triple super not-very-secret probation.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Lol this popped me

Survivor Series was just okay besides the Men’s WarGames match and that big boy return, which were real fun. Hopefully they don’t try to stifle ol’ Chick Magnet’s shtick and we see a bit of a tonal shift in the E.

Something tells me Clobbering Man will be on his best behavior, at least in the beginning. He was opinionated and outspoken, but he didn’t get into fist fights in WWE like he did in AEW. Different management, different circumstances and different surroundings can do a lot for a person. Also, Triple H has shown he’s decent at answering ‘What’s next? where Vince really wasn’t able to do that.

I bet they throw CM Punk right into the Seth Rollins championship road track

I watched Saturday Night Main Event for 2 seasons and Wrestlemania 1 and 2 the past month or so. I love it. Roddy Piper is amazing. I might spend a while chronologically catching up through the next few years of WWE. I won't really watch NWA until like 1988 or so. I binged a big chunk of it about 5 years ago.

Punk looks suspiciously much healthier than he did during his AEW thing. I did end up finding a means of watching it and I guess it was basically what I expected. Wargames matches were both alright. I'm still disappointed how weak they're bringing Kairi in as. The other 3 matches were almost mid. It's interesting that a lot of WWE fans make fun of AEW and call it a spotfest and not wrestling...yet, basically the entire Survivor Series this year was exactly that. Trash can off the top of the cage, moonsault off the top of the cage (that almost looked like it could have been really bad for someone's neck), Orton last second arrival, and Punkster arrival. Happy to see R Truth back.

HHH nailed it in the post-event thing saying people talk about CM Punk and made an interesting comment about Cargill. Punk definitely has people talking. I'm glad they're going low and slow with Jade. I interpreted what he said about Cargill as what a lot of people thought of her in AEW...under-developed in the ring. Hoping she's smoothed out enough by Royal Rumble and doesn't become another disappointment like the last 2 'blue chippers' they brought in to development - Steveson and the Great Value Brock Lesner clone.

Tammy Sytch (Sunny) got 17 years in jail today for her nonsense last year, crashing into and killing a man. So many charges I don’t remember them all. I hope she gets the help she needs while she’s in prison. She didn’t get it while she was out.

That six team turmoil match was pretty damn good. Just one more benefit of Vince being gone, tag teams get to show their stuff.

Bronson Reed and Ivar just stunk up the joint. Post-match fight was better than the match itself.

The lack of reaction for Tegan Nox hurts my heart. I hope she can get back on track. She’s too good.

I don't think that pipe bomb left quite the impact the fans were hoping for. Not even sure it was worthy of being called a pipe bomb (I don't think they actually referred to it as one, but it's what we were all expecting) and didn't really need to close the show, though obviously I can understand why they did it (don't wanna end the show with a Randy "Ratings Killer" Orton match).

I think people were expecting him to take a dig at AEW or Tony, maybe slip in a line similar to "Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler would be standing right here with me if they weren't being held hostage by AEW" but I'm not sure that would've been smart to do (X-Pac had some legal trouble when he tried it).

Still, not a bad episode overall. A couple of matches were stinkers, but we've come a long way since 2018's episode on this date, which is regarded as being one of the worst episodes in Raw history.
https://twitter.com/OTD_in_WWE/status/172876204306...

I don't expect it to last, and I wasn't expecting anything wild, but Punk felt neutered in that promo. It was essentially just his AEW debut promo but instead of "I'm back" it was "I'm home" and he was just overall less edgy (probably because he, like Khan, can't legally say anything disparaging). Either way, I'm not sure the lovey dovey "forget everything I ever said about WWE up until 2 months ago" Punk is what I'm really here for, but I'm sure he'll at least put on some good matches when the time comes. Heel Punk would be interesting to see in this landscape. But yah, definitely not a "pipebomb," just sort of an "I swear I'm likable" promo from a guy who built a career by being unlikeable.

Orton's a beast and I'm actually happy to see him back. He seemed more driven to be there than Punk, in all honesty. The match was whatever, but that's mainly because I don't care about Dom. I'm just very over the Judgement Day. I feel like it jumped the shark when the Finn/WHC scenario didn't pan out to be anything interesting (which is ironically when I finally started buying into their shtick a bit), or when Mcdonough officially joined. Priest in particular is disappointing me lately. Loved his work in ROH... but he's so boring in Judgement Day. His monotone voice takes me right out of any promo they have. Balor needs to go solo again, he's the only dude in that group I actually care about (despite WWE's best attempts to make him an afterthought).

Ivar vs Bronson was terrible. I agree the fight in the crowd and with security was much better... but I have no interest in a long-term program between the two.

The tag gauntlet was probably the best thing on the show, glad WWE is showcasing their tag division a bit more nowadays.

I don’t know that I expected a big, grandiose Punk promo. I expected something different than what we got, though. The AEW return was far, far more special than this return. The WWE return was a surprise. The AEW return was an experience. The ‘Cry me a river’ sign was kinda funny, though.

I feel the exact opposite about Priest. He was boring in ROH and WWE made him an interesting character to me. Eh, that’s wrestling. You like what you like.

Got home to see the Drew promo and onward. Again, the lack of reaction for Tegan sucks. But, I still hold out hope she’ll make it one day. Orton is jacked more so than ever before and I’m here for it. Adds something to him and I like it.

Anyone else notice how quiet the fans were for Rollins compared to usual?

I did not. I got home just in time to see Seth tell Drew that he was fighting Jey Uso next week, and then the headbutt.

I’ll be home tonight and I got Sling back for a month. I’ll pay $20 a month here and there for a month at a time, but they want $40 a month usually and I’m not about to do that on a regular basis. Anyway, I’ll probably watch Dynamite. I should try to see the show, since I’m going in 3 weeks and context is hard through YouTube clips.

I watched Dynamite. The matches were really good. The storylines are meh at best, but tonight was mostly about this tournament thing where they’re crowning another champion? Why does AEW need yet another title? And why did Eddie Kingston give up his titles? Tony needs another title so he can make a Triple Crown? What am I missing here? There’s already too many titles. We don’t need more titles.

Excalibur sucks. Get literally anyone else.

The Edge and Christian segment was delivered well but the story was really, really dumb. We all knew what was going to happen, minus the Go Fudge Yourself that made air and didn’t get bleeped out.

Rush had a great match tonight. I liked it a lot. I don’t know if I see what others see personality wise, but I hope I get to see more. I feel like either he’s not wanting to break out of his shell, or he doesn’t quite know what the next step of his character should be. He’s better than whatever faction he’s in, too.

Seeing Ric Flair on my TV is not something I need to do in 2023. I wish I could go to Greensboro, though, to see Sting. I still hope he shows up in OKC in 3 weeks since I bought tickets. Hopefully the Bucks and Hangman aren’t there.

If you want great matches, AEW was a good show. If you’re looking for more, you’re not going to get it. At least not tonight.

BucketofJustice wrote:

It wasn't a super heavy story-driven show. Some Dynamites are story-driven (like most of the build up to Full Gear, which was great), some are wrestling-driven. That's sort of AEW's ebb and flow. That said, I disagree that they were "meh." Maybe it's just because you haven't been following along week-to-week, and picked an episode where less interesting plot points played out. You watched a "beat" week.


AEW has as many belts as the whole of WWE and considering some are defended more depending on the show, I don't really see what the problem is when people present this criticism. They all get air time and are made to feel important (save for the Trios, which feel lackluster these days). The NJPW Strong title can't really be considered an "AEW" title either, it's just present on AEW TV -- similar to the territory days when champions would carry their belts with them regardless of where they worked.

Plus this new title will apparently be defended in different promotions -- NJPW being the most obvious -- as opposed to feeling like just another midcard title defended randomly on AEW TV. Regardless, the Continental Classic tournament alone makes it all worth it. Round Robin tournaments rule so hard, and this one is fudgein stacked -- it's being presented as a coveted tourney like the G1. We're getting PPV-caliber matches happening on weekly TV like the early days of AEW. Jay White vs. Swerve is a legitimate MOTY contender, with no doubts whatsoever.

Eddie explained point blank why he put the titles up when he first announced he was doing it -- and his story is that he may be regretting that now. Eddie initially put them up to prove that he was the best out of this tournament -- and wrestling -- bar none. Then he lost his first match, so they aired the promo from him tonight where he said "maybe I was too confident" before assuring the audience (but mostly trying to convince himself) that he'd be ready for Danielson in the next match. It's a story of hubris and it makes all the sense in the world if you've been following Kingston's career (AEW or outside of AEW).


Big, giant disagree. One of the most knowledgeable pro wrestling commentators and it's really not even close. He also actually acknowledges the points for the Round Robin tournament, saying things like "he just barely missed out on the 3 points, but got the shoulder up," etc. Almost feels like the points themselves are little mini titles that are must-have, because they are -- and also makes the match, and tournament as a whole, feel so much more legit. Excalibur is one of the best.

I also dug Danielson out there tonight, that was fun.


The GFYS thing was a play off when Copeland initially returned and Christian made it seem like they were getting back together, only to tell him to GF-HIM-S. Just fun little banter. Of course we knew what was going to happen, that was sort of the point. Christian was trying to squeak his way out of the TNT title match he has with Copeland, and Copeland wasn't having it. It was a standard beat in a pro wrestling angle, no more dumb than anything we see on any other show.


He is better than the AEW leg of the faction he's in, for sure, but LFI as a whole rules. It's pretty much the Bullet Club of Mexico. Otherwise, I sort of agree he's not connecting as great as he could be. I think that's a booking misstep tbh. He was ultra over in ROH (until they put him in a program with fudging PCO), so I feel they just need to put him in a focused angle, with legitimate mic time, and let him cook.


Bucks and Hangman rule. Ric Flair does not. Sting will probably be there, he seems to be at every show.


You will get good story from AEW, you just won't get the same type of storytelling that you get in WWE. If you need constant soap opera drama (that, imo, often doesn't hit any emotional nerve), go WWE. If you can accept good wrestling in between major story beats, go AEW. Again, I think this was a case of you not keeping up week-to-week, so a "breather" week won't seem too compelling compared to someone who keeps up. Pro wrestling and, heck, novels, TV, movies... it doesn't matter, they all need to take beats in their storytelling to let them breathe.

Also no idea why I felt the need to break that down quote-style lol. My bad.

A buddy on Discord attended Dynamite last night. He says on the Rampage taping there was a promo by Ric Flair where he came across as a dirty old geezer by throwing out an open invitation to any single women in the crowd to meet him in his hotel room. I know it's just part of his gimmick, but I also know the dude is in his mid-70s and there comes a point where it's just like...stop, grandpa, you can't even get it up anymore.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Lol yah there’s a big hubbub about it online. They gotta stop bringing the guy out on TV. He’s been embarrassing himself for a long time and it’s only getting worse with age.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that him, Sting and Schiavone were in the Dynamite promo last night either. Feels like TBS thinks they’re the key to a better show because they were in WCW… literally decades ago.

McKenzie Mitchell was released by WWE. Also, allegedly there are layoffs going on at WWE HQ today.

BucketofJustice wrote:


I was wondering what you meant by that, now I see it's because their PPV will be in Greensboro. I'm gonna try to see if I can convince a couple people to go.

I don’t need to see Flair on TV, but nostalgia is a hell of a drug.