Does Anyone Watch Wrestling? (WWE, AEW, TNA, NWA, etc)

[Eva]

Big E, I feel, is going to be more than just a pop. He was split from Kofi and Xavier last year because they wanted to start building him up as a main event player, hence why he held the Intercontinental title for an extended duration. From what's been posted online, he was cashing in by the draft regardless, they just made the decision to do it yesterday. I feel they have plans for him, and to their credit, there's a lot of matches I'd like to see Big E have with the WWE championship. McIntyre, Sheamus, Orton, Styles, Priest, there's a lot of good lineups there if they want to put the effort into it.

I don't feel that Roman is moving from SmackDown anytime soon. Too much going on with Balor, Lesnar, and who knows what the draft will do at the end of the month. SmackDown is the top show because of the network its on in the U.S, and it has been for a while. The hottest guy has to be over there, and there's no one hotter in the company right now than Reigns. I can see a lot moves happening though, which once again will shoot Survivor Series as inconsequential because "brand loyalty" literally cannot be formed in two months, but whatever. Roman vs. Big E, Priest vs. Nakamura both make very enticing matches if those titles stay put until November.

 

[Com Fox]

Big E, I feel, is going to be more than just a pop. He was split from Kofi and Xavier last year because they wanted to start building him up as a main event player, hence why he held the Intercontinental title for an extended duration. From what's been posted online, he was cashing in by the draft regardless, they just made the decision to do it yesterday. I feel they have plans for him, and to their credit, there's a lot of matches I'd like to see Big E have with the WWE championship. McIntyre, Sheamus, Orton, Styles, Priest, there's a lot of good lineups there if they want to put the effort into it.

I don't feel that Roman is moving from SmackDown anytime soon. Too much going on with Balor, Lesnar, and who knows what the draft will do at the end of the month. SmackDown is the top show because of the network its on in the U.S, and it has been for a while. The hottest guy has to be over there, and there's no one hotter in the company right now than Reigns. I can see a lot moves happening though, which once again will shoot Survivor Series as inconsequential because "brand loyalty" literally cannot be formed in two months, but whatever. Roman vs. Big E, Priest vs. Nakamura both make very enticing matches if those titles stay put until November.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I'm wrong about Big E here as I want his title reign to be a success. But as for his split, from what I heard they didn't have much planned after Big E became IC Champion which is why he was stuck on Apollo Crews throughout most of it which is probably the core of my fears.

I also hope Survivor Series drops the Brand Warfare, I like a yearly brand warfare but as you said they would've only been on the brand for 1 to 2 months so there isn't much loyalty. Last Year, Keith Lee was the only member if the Men's Raw team who was on Raw before the draft.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Tommaso Ciampa is the new NXT champion after winning the fatal four match, Kyle O'Reilly was attacked by Dunne and Holland beforehand and was replaced by newbie Von Wagner who came to his aid.

There was also Bron Breakker (terrible name) who is Scott Steiner's son, he beat LA Knight in the first match of the night and had a stare-down with Ciampa to end the show.

The wedding between Hartwell and Lumis was good and funny and passed off mostly without a hitch, the new show fresh with the new logo, graphics, new sets and seating layout, the lighting was good too and it wasn't as dark, I liked it all.

 

[EngieDiesel]

I'm still not quite 100% sold on the whole "I told you not to play with those paintball guns indoors" look NXT has now, it's all a bit distracting in its current form, but I do admit that it works much better in that small venue than it would in a large stadium since they can make the whole place match the bright atmosphere of the set. At least it gives me more confidence that they're really intending to take the show's entire image in a different direction now, which it's been sorely needing.

 

[Darla Starch]

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston gon die next week against Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki.

 

[JohnBM01]

I am somewhat getting the feeling a perfect storm may be brewing once the WWE Draft happens. Here's a vision I had:

Big E becomes full-time RAW member to bring back The New Day in full power and back to its old times. That is, unless the draft tries to break up Kofi Kingston and/or Xavier Woods. And maybe what if Kofi and/or Xavier want to challenge Big E for the RAW Heavyweight championship, just to keep the title in the family, so to speak?

I can't really imagine any kind of possible other changes that could surface once the WWE Draft happens. Maybe some others can get moved around, such as King Nakamura, Bianca Belair, Happy Corbin, Damian Priest, Doudrop, or some others.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

The Usos v Street Profits SD tag title match has been added to the Extreme Rules card.

 

[Darla Starch]

...yeah, after the Plane Ride from Hell episode of Dark Side of the Ring, it would be a massive mistake if AEW went ahead with the rumored plan of Ric Flair managing Andrade. Tommy Dreamer didn't come across much better by basically playing the "excuse it away" and "everyone's so easily offended nowdays" cards.

 

[Com Fox]

It's confirmed Roman Reigns will wrestle Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel.

It's weird they are going with the match happening no matter what implying the match will happen as a non title match if Finn Balor wins at Extreme Rules

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Dreamer has now been suspended from Impact.

There was news and reaction all day on social media about what he said.

Smackdown taking place in Knoxville tonight which is Bianca Belair's home town, there will be a special homecoming celebration for her tonight which no doubt The Man will gate-crash, also advertised is Seth Rollins explaining his actions last week when he put Edge in hospital plus Rick Boogs (Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooggggggsssss!) v Bobby Roode.

 

[GTvsForza]

Something is weird with the commercials, the voices are muffled but everything else is fine.

I don't know if it's my local station or something with Fox...

Edit:
Looks like it fixed itself.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Big E was on Smackdown and he and Balor had a tag match against the Usos which they won but then Usos attacked Big E backstage later on, There will now be a six man tag match on Raw with New Day taking on the Bloodline.

Man the main title picture on both shows is confusing right now, you've got Raw guys fighting on SD and SD guys fighting on Raw, matches are being made for a show that's more than six weeks away when we don't know who the champs will be, the draft muddles thing up even more, not a lot of clarity on both the Universal or WWE title pictures right now.

We finally had a women's match on SD for the first time in two weeks, however it was a tag match which went to a count-out! Liv wants to face Carmella at Extreme Rules but will face Vega next week for now, Naomi squared up to Deville backstage.

The main event bit with Belair and Lynch was good and it further the build for their match, good to see Kane again too! Seth Rollins gave a great heel promo saying he wasn't done with Edge, the Reigns/Heyman/Lesnar storyline continues to be compelling.

 

[Com Fox]

It seems when we're into Draft season, WWE decides to go "No Rules" we saw that last time with Braun Strowman chilling on Raw before the draft then had a Universal Title match after the Draft. However Big E is still technically a Smackdown superstar, they never confirmed he changed to Raw after his title win (WWE is very vague on cross brand MitB cash ins, sometimes the Title changes brands, other times the wrestler changes brands)

I expect it to keep getting confusing until Draft finishes.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Don't know where Raw is taking place tonight, WWE is currently on UK mini tour and there is a live event in London but I've also heard that Raw is in Augusta tonight, That big six man tag match is still happening plus Women's tag title match between Natalya and Tamina v Ripley & ASH.

WWE will be back in the UK in November for more tour dates, they were in Newcastle on Saturday with a big triple threat main event featuring, Lashley, Big E and Reigns.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Okay so Raw is definitely in the USA tonight, the London show just wrapped up and it was a live event and not a TV taping, it was more of a Smackdown show with Becky Lynch v Bianca Belair main eventing. Drew McIntyre was on the show also though so he won't be on Raw tonight.

 

[Com Fox]

Raw definitely felt like a good show but it just wasn't for me. I'm not that into shows that just a bunch of moment with not much nuance in the story or the characters so it wasn't something I could get into but I could see people getting a kick out of it.

Also it highlights my issue with Heel Reigns as of late and that he's too protected, I don't think villains work unless there's a believable protagonist to root for and there just isn't any right now after Edge and Daniel Bryan. They seem afraid to make the big bad have any sign of weakness outside of Lesnar and even then, not by much but that's what needed for the other wrestler to be believable. It's basically the issue Kofi Kingston had until Randy Orton but in reverse.

Overly assuming where it's going but I don't like this idea of an actual unstoppable heel who always gets the ending there way until one guy shows up and wins as a crowning moment, there's just so much middle area that's difficult to care

 

[MUSC4EVER]

I actually thought that it was the best Raws for a while, mostly because of the main event which was fantastic, The opening six man tag match was great and Orton and Styles had another really good match.

Also interesting things were Shayna beating Nia and then attacking her afterwards, and Humberto Carillo & Angel Garza teaming up again to be a heel tag team, I though Garza was released?! Jeff Hardy being added to the US title match on Sunday is good too.

Rhea Ripley & Nikki ASH winning the tag titles is nice and they dedicated it to the Connor's Cure thing, the only bad thing really was Doudrop v Eva Marie again, just move on now please!

Extreme Rules is this Sunday, the Universal title match between Reigns and Demon Finn is now an Extreme Rules match, probably they released that a PPV called Extreme Rules didn't have any gimmick matches on it..

 

[GTvsForza]

Hopefully this makes up for Nikki's short-lived title run after MITB...

 

[MUSC4EVER]

A few other bits and pieces.

Big E got an amazing reaction at the start of the show last night and there were loud 'you deserve it' chants, during his promo he said 'I'm grateful for all of you, below the heavens, and one incredible friend above' which was a nod to Jon Huber, this led to 'Brodie' chants.

Ric Flair and his Wooo has been taken off of the 'Then Now Forever' ident.

The Miz is taking part in Dancing With The Stars, hence why he hasn't been on Raw recently, and probably won't be for a little while.

Sheamus has his nose broken again during his match last night, he did have his mask on but took it off during the match, it doesn't look as bad this time around though.

Bryan Danielson has his first AEW match tonight and he will face Kenny Omega, today he posted a long thank you letter to WWE, he thanked Vince, everyone backstage, his opponents and the fans, another reason why he is an absolute class act!

 

[Gotbeefboy564]

A few other bits and pieces.

Big E got an amazing reaction at the start of the show last night and there were loud 'you deserve it' chants, during his promo he said 'I'm grateful for all of you, below the heavens, and one incredible friend above' which was a nod to Jon Huber, this led to 'Brodie' chants.

Ric Flair and his Wooo has been taken off of the 'Then Now Forever' ident.

The Miz is taking part in Dancing With The Stars, hence why he hasn't been on Raw recently, and probably won't be for a little while.

Sheamus has his nose broken again during his match last night, he did have his mask on but took it off during the match, it doesn't look as bad this time around though.

Bryan Danielson has his first AEW match tonight and he will face Kenny Omega, today he posted a long thank you letter to WWE, he thanked Vince, everyone backstage, his opponents and the fans, another reason why he is an absolute class act!

AEW isn’t tonight it’s Wednesday.

 

[Com Fox]

I actually thought that it was the best Raws for a while, mostly because of the main event which was fantastic, The opening six man tag match was great and Orton and Styles had another really good match.

Also interesting things were Shayna beating Nia and then attacking her afterwards, and Humberto Carillo & Angel Garza teaming up again to be a heel tag team, I though Garza was released?! Jeff Hardy being added to the US title match on Sunday is good too.

Rhea Ripley & Nikki ASH winning the tag titles is nice and they dedicated it to the Connor's Cure thing, the only bad thing really was Doudrop v Eva Marie again, just move on now please!

Extreme Rules is this Sunday, the Universal title match between Reigns and Demon Finn is now an Extreme Rules match, probably they released that a PPV called Extreme Rules didn't have any gimmick matches on it..

Like I said in the first bit, there's definitely qualities there for people to really like Raw, those qualities just aren't my idea of a good Raw so it's more of a disconnect I have

 

[Darla Starch]

In my obligatory yearly series of posts going through standings in the G1 Climax, bummer as my dude Tetsuya Naito had to withdraw on the first night owing to a knee injury affecting his meniscus and MCL. All his future scheduled opponents in Block A will automatically be awarded a win and 2 points as a result. Usual prize of a IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom, now stupidly spread out over three nights. (January 4th and 5th at the Tokyo Dome, January 8th at Yokohama Arena)

Two nights was working fine, why three?


ANYWAY....

G1 Climax 31 Standings:

BLOCK A:
(4 points)

• Toru Yano
• Yujiro Takahashi
• Great-O-Khan
• Shingo Takagi (current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion)

(2 points)

• Zack Sabre Jr
• Tomohiro Ishii
• Kota Ibushi
• Tanga Loa
• KENTA

(0 points)

• Tetsuya Naito

BLOCK B:
(2 points)

• Jeff Cobb
• EVIL
• Taichi
• SANADA
• Kazuchika Okada

(0 points)

• Hiroshi Tanahashi
• Tama Tonga
• Hirooki Goto
• YOSHI-HASHI
• Chase Owens

 

[Northstar]

Rumor is AEW's Full Gear will be in Minneapolis, if the tickets aren't too outrageous I may have to be one of those weirdos that goes to a pro-wrestling show alone.

Also, some guy named Bryan is making his AEW debut tonight, should be good.

 

[Darla Starch]

Also, some guy named Bryan is making his AEW debut tonight

I agree, he's such a goober he's opening the show.

 

[JohnBM01]

My goodness! Did you hear the ovation Daniel B... I mean, Bryan Danielson got? I don't know anything about Kenny Omega, but Bryan Danielson does look pretty good. Seems like he hasn't missed too many steps since going from WWE to AEW.

I also heard AEW Rampage this Friday will be a special two-hour one. So if you'll be checking into that one, enjoy the two-hour coverage!


[OMISSION] I know AEW is in New York City tonight, but I had no idea what Arthur Ashe Stadium is. Turns out, it's where the U.S. Open in tennis is held. This almost has a major Pay-Per-View feel to it.

 

[Com Fox]

So just found out about Undertaker and New Day having a "choose your own adventure" Netflix movie.

After seeing the trailer, It doesn't look any good but I still want to watch it , entirely out of fascination on how this came to be and the curiosity of it all.

 

[JohnBM01]

I was pretty impressed watching Kenny Omega vs. Brysn Danielson. No doubt I see why he's the AEW champ. I was also impressed seeing Darby. This may sound like a stretch, but Darby reminds me of Jeff Hardy. Darby has that caution-to-the-wind, controlled chaos kind of style to his wrestling. I would say Ruby Soho(?) has become more fierce than in her time with the WWE as Ruby Riott.

AEW is catching on for a reason, folks. Check it out if you can.

 

[Darla Starch]

 

[Com Fox]

Joe new "woke" gimmick on NXT has been removed entirely, almost all references to the gimmick have been deleted. Maybe due to unwanted media attention it got

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Another good Smackdown in the bag, Reigns took on Montez Ford in the really good main event, Reigns won with the guillotine of course but Ford was great and match lasted nearly 20 minutes, Reigns and Usos took out Ford after (No Dawkins tonight) but the Demon attacked Bloodline with Kendo sticks and chairs.

Elsewhere Nakamura defended his IC title against Crews in a good match, Riddick Moss (remember him?!?!) has aligned with Happy Corbin as they both ambushed Owens on Corbin's new talk show (Owens really needs a move to Raw!) Naomi tried to have her match but was led away by security by a smug looking Devile. Bianca Belair got her own back on Becky Lynch by hitting her with the KOD in the opening segment, Edge will return next week to answer Rollins ultimatum, and lastly Zelina Vega finally picked up her first win in over a year! she pinned Liv Morgan.

WWE Draft starts on Smackdown next week, no other news from tonight regarding Extreme Rules on Sunday.