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

[MUSC4EVER]

Asuka and Mustapha Ali both returned last night.

Asuka had been out since July 2021 with a shoulder injury and interrupted Becky Lynch's promo and it looks like they are going to feud, Asuka got a huge pop when her music hit.

Ali's issues have been well documented, he asked for his release a while back but WWE refused, there were a few rumours before the show that he would make his return and so he did. He interrupted a Miz TV segment with Miz and Theory and then had a quick match with Miz which he won, but he was then taken out by Ciampa, who was probably pissed because Vince cut his first name!

 

[Darla Starch]

The Edge/Damian Priest pairing is going by Judgment Day.

lol e-fed name

 

[MUSC4EVER]

WWE start a mini tour of Europe tomorrow with just a few dates, I think this week's Smackdown was taped.

 

[Com Fox]

Viking Raiders seem to have been demoted to NXT.

So we're unifying the Tag Team Championships but we're getting rid of Teams so there still won't be enough

Also Warner Bros. has been brought by Discovery to make Warner Bros. Discovery. This apparently put Discovery in $30 million in debt which could be interesting on the fate it puts on AEW as TNT and tbs are owned by Warner Bros. and Discovery might think AEW is not worth renewing

 

[MUSC4EVER]

There have been NXT releases today.

Dakota Kai, Dexter Lumis, Persia Perotta, Harland and Malcolm Bivens are among nine talent gone, the other four I don't think made it to TV. Dakota is the big surprise on here, hugely talented and a bit part of the NXT women's roster in the last few years, she did tak part in a few dark matches on Raw and Smackdown too.

 

[Com Fox]

WWE UK event confirmed at Wales. At September 3rd

 

[Com Fox]

Oh boy, they turned the Title Unification match into a 6 man Tag involving Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns.

Talk about trying to raise the stakes BUT making the match less appealing. Why should I care about the now, even more obvious coronation to make the Bloodline dominant which doesn't even need to be done

 

[EngieDiesel]

Oh boy, they turned the Title Unification match into a 6 man Tag involving Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns.

Talk about trying to raise the stakes BUT making the match less appealing. Why should I care about the now, even more obvious coronation to make the Bloodline dominant which doesn't even need to be done

I presume the move is more to set up a Drew/Roman angle than anything, by reinforcing that Drew is directly interfering in Roman's plans now.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

So they built the tag title unification match to the moon in recent weeks and then they flushed it down the toilet.

Shotzi and Aliyah deserved better than being fodder in that beat the clock challenge.

One final little moan, they have called the UK PLE 'Clash At The Castle'....when its not in a castle, now Cardiff does have a Castle and its called err Cardiff Castle but the event wont be taking place there it will be inside a stadium.

 

[Com Fox]

I presume the move is more to set up a Drew/Roman angle than anything, by reinforcing that Drew is directly interfering in Roman's plans now.

Doesn't feel at all special if you ask me. I have no reason to believe Drew McIntyre will be nothing but more fodder only this time, filler fodder until the next big name fodder comes.

This is the problem with putting all their focus on Reigns and literally no one else. I should think Drew is a threat but he has done nothing for the past year apart from silly feuds with Jinder and Corbin.

To top it all off, a separate storyline was put through the shredder as a result

 

[MUSC4EVER]

I think Drew will take the Universal title from Reigns, because there is no one viable left on Smackdown to do so.

As for the WWE title, I think it could be Cody or Seth...or maybe even Orton!

 

[Com Fox]

I think Drew will take the Universal title from Reigns, because there is no one viable left on Smackdown to do so.

As for the WWE title, I think it could be Cody or Seth...or maybe even Orton!

If the unified title thing is only temporary. I want to see Riddle pull off an upset win and lead to an RK-Bro breakup storyline with Orton getting jealous. Granted this still works if Orton wins it instead and thinks Riddle is a threat

 

[Darla Starch]

Yeah, only seeing the "unified" World Title thing lasting like a year max, with whoever wins MITB being the one to un-unify.

For giggles, uh...Cody Rhodes can do it, win the WWE Championship but not the Universal Championship owing to "magic legalese pulled out of the sphincter", Reigns keeps that. Can't see him dropping it without being forced to from outside factors before WM 39 at least.

 

[BKGlover]

So there were more releases...Dexter Lumis, Dakota Kai, and Malcom Bivens head the list up, and rumor has it even more are coming.

 

[EngieDiesel]

You ever get the feeling Tony Khan just has a 6 inch stack of blank contracts sitting on his desk and orders for his personal assistant to keep the phone lines open around the first of each month?

 

[Com Fox]

So are the Street Profits, Face, Heel or they're just trying to defeat Big Show Heel turn record?

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Not a lot happened on Raw last night, only bit of news regarding Mania Backlash is that Damien Priest is banned from ringside for Edge's match against Styles after Styles beat Priest last night. Main event was a good six women tag match with Liv Morgan getting the pin.

Wrestlemania Backlash is this Sunday, no tag title unification match has taken the shine off it for me.

 

[Com Fox]

Apparently the story behind dropping the Tag Team Championship unification match is Roman Reigns wasn't on the card and they needed to put him on it.

As for why it isn't a singles match, WWE wants to save Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre for a "better PPV" so they just inserted them in this new match instead.

Intentionally or not, this whole situation sums up why I think Roman Reigns has ran out of steam since last year and hasn't gotten back to the good early days of his reign. These 600+ Days have really been a slog

 

[MUSC4EVER]

They have run out of opponents for Roman now, I think the Roman Drew match will take place at Summerslam, it would make sense for it to happen at the big UK show in September but I don't think they can stretch the storyline that far ahead.

 

[Com Fox]

They have run out of opponents for Roman now, I think the Roman Drew match will take place at Summerslam, it would make sense for it to happen at the big UK show in September but I don't think they can stretch the storyline that far ahead.

If Roman was allowed to lose matches and title and just get his wins back. We could've stretched the opponents and even had more opponents. He didn't need to be an unbeatable juggernaut and that has become more of a detriment than a benefit

Lengthy title reigns is always a risk, CM Punk was able to pull his off because he turned Heel halfway through so he completely shifted opponents (in theory, he really did only get stuck with Cena and Ryback) but all the others have been terrible

 

[GTvsForza]

I feel that Gulak is about to walk out the door after being sacrificed to Gunther...

Real shame, I like to think him as the next Daniel Bryan.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

So its Wrestlemania Backlash tonight, its a card with not really a lot on it.

Happy Corbin v Madcap Moss

Edge v AJ Styles
(Damien Priest banned from ringside)

Bobby Lashley v Omos

Seth 'Freakin' Rollins v Cody Rhodes

Roman Reigns & The Usos v Drew McIntyre & RK-Bro

Smackdown Tag Team Championship-I Quit Match
Charlotte Flair (c) v Ronda Rousey

And that's it, just the one title match with four re-matches from Wrestlemania.

WWE product hasn't been good recently and the build to some of the matches has been poor, WWE has tried the best it can do in building the Flair/Rousey match with a contract signing, beat the clock challenge and numerous pull-apart brawls but fans don't seem to care about the match. It should be the main event though as its the only title match. There are some good matches on the card for sure but it feels half-arsed.

 

[Darla Starch]

 

[Com Fox]

I feel that Gulak is about to walk out the door after being sacrificed to Gunther...

Real shame, I like to think him as the next Daniel Bryan.

It's such a waste. His angle with Daniel Bryan was great then he was just released. He was signed back so things were looking up but they did nothing with it and the angle with DB just ended up being a waste.

I wish I could be going, "that's unfortunate, I'm going to miss him, he finally found something strong". But his heel run has oversaturated the product that I hate it now and I pretty much don't care.

Imagine how much worse Triple Hs Reign of Terror would've been if he never lost until Batista AND also won the WWE Championship

EDIT: I don't think this is an issue with Reigns himself. He's shown at the first year of his heel run he can make an excellent story. Even in the 2nd year, his love triangle affair with Paul Heyman was entertaining even if it was the only thing I liked about his 2nd year run. I think this is the issue of WWE only having 1 writing team on top of only having 1 track mind and are only setting up people and part timers to lose to him

 

[Northstar]

I just hope if he does cut back on wrestling it's because of other opportunities (or just wanting to play a bigger role in his kids lives) and not a sign his leukemia is back.

 

[Com Fox]

It just hit me, was Bianca Belair vs. Sonya Deville and Becky Lynch vs. Asuka not actually a thing. I swear they were going to be matches

 

[Chris30]

Thankfully WWE started airing on the USA network so we watch it there every night. Good they started doing that!

 

[GTvsForza]

It just hit me, was Bianca Belair vs. Sonya Deville and Becky Lynch vs. Asuka not actually a thing. I swear they were going to be matches

I think they're still happening, but I guess they ran out of space for the show. So, most likely they'll be on tomorrow's RAW

 

[Com Fox]

I think they're still happening, but I guess they ran out of space for the show. So, most likely they'll be on tomorrow's RAW

Because the rest of the card was so much more important .

Glad we still got the time in for Madcap Moss and Happy Corbin

 

[GTvsForza]

The Rousey/Flair match was cool though.