Professional Wrestling

[RJK]

I'm going to guess it was no coincidence that Chad Gable walked in this week past a truck with "scary" Alexa Bliss on it

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

[henryeatscereal]

I did not care for the Wyatt Sicks debut last week, but i liked Bo's "VHS" promo from tonight, i always considered him talented.

[tony.parente]

I missed cinema in the WWE. Weaving real life into kayfabe always hits when done right.

[Swykk]

The VHS promo is by far the best I’ve ever seen Bo do.

[richardp]

Dude that VHS promo was fucking UNREAL.
Incredibly effective promo. Also loved Nikki delivering the tape to Cole and then wandering off through the crowd. I really REALLY hope they don't fuck this up. There's so much pressure on this to be great, so hopefully they treat this the way they initially treated The Bloodline when that saga was at it's peak.

[Demogorgon]

Roman Reigns' father, Sika Anoa'i, has passed away, according to the WWE facebook page.

[tony.parente]

Dude that VHS promo was fucking UNREAL.
Incredibly effective promo. Also loved Nikki delivering the tape to Cole and then wandering off through the crowd. I really REALLY hope they don't fuck this up. There's so much pressure on this to be great, so hopefully they treat this the way they initially treated The Bloodline when that saga was at it's peak.

I kind of want each member of the sicks to have an interview with uncle howdy/their alter ego to help us identify their motives - but at the same time i don't want 6 weeks of vhs tapes on TV.

I LOVE how they were in the funhouse, there was a theory somewhere that Bray/The Fiend kind of held the characters in the funhouse almost as a prison guard, and now that they're gone they sort of escaped. The possession/alternate personality angle is brilliant and i'm super excited to see what they do.

[Swykk]

Mystery solved on Buddy Matthews-He and Rhea Ripley got married the other day. Congrats to them!

[Space Suicide]

Forbidden Door was arguably the best show from AEW since last year's All In, although slightly below Revolution for this year's shows thus far. It definitely was better than Dynasty and Double Or Nothing. The only match I did not have much interest in was Moxley and Naito.

MOTN for me was definitely Danielson/Takagi. Such a great showing. All of the matches were strong in their own right and I personally really enjoyed the Ladder Match (even though the winner was a foregone conclusion), The Elite vs Tanahashi/Acclaimed and Toni vs Mina.

[Swykk]

Swerve and Ospreay was probably MOTY so far.

[tony.parente]

Much needed attendance W for AEW. Good for them.

[richardp]

Good lord how many MOTY can Ospreay possibly have?? This dude is 1000% the realest deal. Incredible match with Swerve. Swerve breaking kayfabe at the end of the match to show Will some love was a really nice moment too.

This right here though, courtesy of WrestlingInc. may genuinely be one of the most idiotic takes I've ever read. In regards to Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa's match.

Impersonal connections between queer people are fine, but it felt like AEW wanted to have three women kiss while distancing themselves from a possibly queer storyline (despite Anthony Bowens' famous "I'm gay" promo, having multiple members of the queer community on their roster, etc.). The distinct use of lesbian skinship in order to generate attention and, consequently, profit through exposure and revenue is crude and, frankly, insensitive entertainment meant to generate a cheap pop. It is near-pornographic in its absurdity and exploitativeness.

I mean, if you REALLY wanna talk "near-pornographic absurdity exploitation" we can pull up Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson's segment from Armageddon 2002 and pinpoint the differences between three modern women wrestlers in charge of their own sexuality and tastefully executing a romantic angle, versus a segment being written by an actual sexual predator forcing two women talents to make out in lingerie in front of one of their actually fucking fathers.

[Swykk]

I pretty much loved last night’s Dynamite and wish I could’ve went! Everything aside from the dumb fucking Learning Tree, that is. Also, why is Mark Brisco on Team AEW? Oh well. Small potatoes.

The decisions to turn Mone and MJF are excellent.

I knew Brit had fucked up her back but I didn’t know about the TIA. Jesus Christ, I’m glad she is better. I’m glad she’s back.

Crazed Hangman is going to murder Danielson and we are getting the gift of another Swerve/Hangman match.

[Space Suicide]

I watched most of it but goddamn I have to say that MITB was one of the worst WWE shows since SummerSlam 2022. Absolutely atrocious. Botches galore, deflating match outcomes and a stale card with no variety. Tired of Bloodline 6 man tags, sick of CM Punk screwing McIntyre angle (tedious and straight up repetitive at this point) and meaningless midcard matches with no surprises. Tiffany winning the briefcase (predictable choice and best one so it's okay) was the only moment worth a damn.

Also why isn't Seth Rollins WHC champ again? What an embarrassment.

[tony.parente]

I watched most of it but goddamn I have to say that MITB was one of the worst WWE shows since SummerSlam 2022. Absolutely atrocious. Botches galore, deflating match outcomes and a stale card with no variety. Tired of Bloodline 6 man tags, sick of CM Punk screwing McIntyre angle (tedious and straight up repetitive at this point) and meaningless midcard matches with no surprises. Tiffany winning the briefcase (predictable choice and best one so it's okay) was the only moment worth a damn.

Also why isn't Seth Rollins WHC champ again? What an embarrassment.

One of the worst botches i've ever seen and this shouldn't be happening at this level.

[Swykk]

Jack Perry isn’t good at being a heel. What if someone did a poor cosplay of Raven—that’s essentially what’s happening here.

His promos are so repetitive, wooden and unbelievable.

[richardp]

Didn't care too much for the rest of the MITB card, but the two MITB matches (especially the Women's) were really fun.

Re: Jack Perry, I don't mind him as a heel. He's more interesting than the Jungle Boy persona, at least to me. He definitely still needs improvement on the mic but he's still better than what he was a couple of years ago. I legit really enjoyed Marko Stunt showing up on Dynamite and putting up the fight of his life against Jack. That was great.

[Swykk]

RAW was not great. Company Guy Seth still being that guy instead of coming back fresh both in look and character. Related, why did they just walk back the “not being able to challenge for Priest’s title?” That effectively ruined the opening segment.

I had a good laugh at Punk talking to Pat because Seth’s entrance takes forever, though.

I don’t understand what they’re doing with Sami, Bron and Dragunov. Just do the triple threat at Summerslam. There’s a straighter line to it.

The Liv/Dom thing is dumb.

I think I only liked the Wyatt 6 thing.

[tony.parente]

RAW was not great. Company Guy Seth still being that guy instead of coming back fresh both in look and character. Related, why did they just walk back the “not being able to challenge for Priest’s title?” That effectively ruined the opening segment. I had a good laugh at Punk talking to Pat because Seth’s entrance takes forever, though.

IDK, I like Seth and the segment with Punk was awesome. "there's people on this side of the camera" lol

I don’t understand what they’re doing with Sami, Bron and Dragunov. Just do the triple threat at Summerslam. There’s a straighter line to it.

Same

The Liv/Dom thing is dumb.

You're crazy! I love a cringy pro wrestling love triangle angle.

I think I only liked the Wyatt 6 thing.

Ironically this is the only segment that fell a little flat for me this week. More of the same.

[richardp]

Yeah, I've been enjoying the Liv/Dom/Rhea angle. It's dumb and cheesy but it's still been really fun. Pro Wrestling is essentially sports soap opera so why not run a very soapy angle once in a while.

[henryeatscereal]

So Seth Rollins is not angry that the referee didn't count "3" at Money in the Bank, but is angry at Punk for showing up in his match? wrestling logic kills me, lol

I like the Wyatts segments but they are getting repetitive, are they going to have a match? they can't just show segments all the time...

Dom/Liv angle it's dumb, but fun, it has the potential to sink and go nowhere, but at least it has some funny dumb moments.

[tony.parente]

Dom/Liv angle it's dumb, but fun, it has the potential to sink and go nowhere, but at least it has some funny dumb moments.

I feel like the obvious conclusion is that Dom turns face and they run Liv/Rea at Summerslam.

[henryeatscereal]

I feel like the obvious conclusion is that Dom turns face and they run Liv/Rea at Summerslam.

Liv/Rhea is a no brainer, but i hope Dom doesn't turn face, the guy is perfect in his chicken-shit heel character, he's also very bland as a face.

And we still need the Dom vs Rey, Hair vs Mask final match and i can't see Rey being the heel in that one.

[Space Suicide]

Guess WWE watched Forbidden Door.

[Space Suicide]

Meanwhile last night's Dynamite was perfect. The Street Fight under delivered the violence but both finals were good and that heel turn by Mariah was brutal. I was one of the people who assumed Toni would be the one to turn, glad I was wrong. Great angle and hate to see them split up as they are a great duo but it's time to move on.

Mariah is definitely taking it at All In. Toni has had a solid long run (November I believe) with it too.

Genuinely did not know where they were going with Danielson/Hangman outcome but I knew whatever happened would still have Hangman reluctantly taking the last Elite spot just as an excuse to beat the shit out of Swerve at Blood & Guts. Their match last night was great as expected but not my favorite they've done. Likely the first was.

[richardp]

Yeah Dynamite ruled last night. Felt like a Dynamite from like 2 years ago. Mariah turning on Toni was fucking INCREDIBLE. What an unforgettable image. I literally gasped out loud when she hit Toni with the belt.

Also I was really sure that All In was going to be Swerve/Hangman 3 and then Danielson/McGuinness. Still prefer that, but Swerve and Danielson will still be a great match.

[tony.parente]

Last nights closing shot was absolute cinema

[henryeatscereal]

Yeah, that Mariah May turn was great i even liked Joe/Jericho's segment.