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

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Well an idea would be to more after the Storyline is finished, or you know, don't build the Bloodline storyline as Roman Reigns as a guy who doesn't lose. They booked themselves into a ridiculous corner with this storyline.
Oh, I agree, but you know WWE can't resolve a problem without doing it in the most needlessly convoluted way possible. Especially if Vince is skulking around backstage again.
The Tag Titles would occasionally be on the line separately, I don't see the issue with some challenging for a separate title.
I'm just more wondering if they'll have enough tag teams to support a separate championship for each brand, given that we've gotten into the time of year where WWE usually releases a bunch of people. That and the idea of a single tag championship that bounces between the two shows once or twice a year at a major pay-per-view premium live event isn't too outlandish, and would even be a good bit of cross-brand promotion if you have the right buildup for it.
 
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Braun Strowman out for a while with concussion, might explain that botched Ricochet toss on last Smackdown.
 
I'm just more wondering if they'll have enough tag teams to support a separate championship for each brand, given that we've gotten into the time of year where WWE usually releases a bunch of people. That and the idea of a single tag championship that bounces between the two shows once or twice a year at a major pay-per-view premium live event isn't too outlandish, and would even be a good bit of cross-brand promotion if you have the right buildup for it.
I'm not entirely against the Tag Belts staying between 2 shows. Tag Team Championships have always been the one big issue with the Brand Extension.

Although there needs to be fine line between how the cross-brand happens instead of just having teams show up wherever otherwise wed have that horrible scenario with the 2019 NXT Call Ups and the Wild Card Rule. I like how they handled it in 2009 where the Tag Team Champions were the only people who could compete on any show.
 
This new belt... why do I have a sinking feeling already that, just to drive the point home that much more, somehow Roman also wins that belt, declares it the "True Title" and either keeps the other two for decoration or bins them the Raw after NoC.
 
This is pretty much my face when I read about anything involving WWE in the last couple months:

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So the Draft starts tonight and continues on Monday, WWE have released a list of who will be eligible to be drafted on the two nights, the one interesting thing from this is that the Bloodline are spilt, Roman and Solo are eligible tonight with the Usos eligible on Monday night, Rhea Ripley is spilt from Judgement Day and she is eligible tonight with the rest of the faction eligible on Monday, they are the only two faction that are split, the rest are together and are all one pick including Damage CTRL who many people expect to spilt up during the draft.
 
Unrelated to the Draft but Minneapolis is reportedly among the sites being considered for WrestleMania 41. If it happens, then that's two straight years outside the usual NY/Florida/LA/Nawlins loop.
 
Cody Rhodes splitting from Roman Reigns in the draft is a bit concerning that the storyline just fizzles out.

If Cody is given the World Championship as a sort of pity prize, that is a horrible start to this brand extension
 
We'll have to wait and see on that.

WWE Draft 2023 - Part 1
RAW
  • Cody Rhodes
  • Becky Lynch
  • Imperium
  • Matt Riddle
  • Drew McIntyre
  • Shinuske Nakamura
  • Indi Hartwell

Smackdown
  • Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman
  • Bianca Belair
  • The Street Profits
  • Edge
  • Bobby Lashley
  • The OC
  • Damage CTRL
  • Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn
 
We'll have to wait and see on that.

WWE Draft 2023 - Part 1
RAW
  • Cody Rhodes
  • Becky Lynch
  • Imperium
  • Matt Riddle
  • Drew McIntyre
  • Shinuske Nakamura
  • Indi Hartwell

Smackdown
  • Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman
  • Bianca Belair
  • The Street Profits
  • Edge
  • Bobby Lashley
  • The OC
  • Damage CTRL
  • Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn
I kinda feel bad for the wrestlers on Smackdown, they're probably going to be twiddling their thumbs most of the time as a part timer is not only champion but is booked in a way that it isn't believable that they can actually win so they can't even look strong in defeat if they feud with him.
 
More Draft picks were announced on The Smackdown Low-Down a few hours ago.

Drafted to Raw.

Dexter Lumis
Maximum Male Models
Natalya
Apollo Crews
Candice La Rae
Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville
JD McDonagh
Zoey Stark

Drafted to Smackdown.
Hit Row
Lacey Evans

Quite liking what I see with the Draft so far, It does shake things up a bit. A lot of NXT call ups so for which is good but they are going to be cleaned out by Tuesday. Omos & MVP, Mustapha Ali, Dolph Ziggler and Von Wagner are free agents.

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn retained the tag titles and AJ Styles returned from his broken ankle he suffered at the start of the year.
 
Haven't seen Hit Row in a while. I thought they were in limbo.
I honestly forgot they were even still around until they got added in the WWE 2K23 DLC pack that dropped recently. Hopefully they're not going to get lost in the shuffle while WWE figures out how to get the tag division going again post-Bloodline.
 
I honestly forgot they were even still around until they got added in the WWE 2K23 DLC pack that dropped recently. Hopefully they're not going to get lost in the shuffle while WWE figures out how to get the tag division going again post-Bloodline.
If they move on at all.

I fear since Roman Reigns is still going on, they're just going to give the titles back to the Usos and we're back to where we started
 
Carmella is pregnant, congrats to her and Corey Graves, baby is due in November.

Second night of the Draft is on Raw tonight, the Raw wrestlers have been on a little tour of the UK and France this week with shows in Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester and Paris.
 
Let's hope that Cody could be drafted to Smackdown. It's possible considering the same thing happened with John Cena. If they do that, he can still be on the hunt for Reigns.
 
Full list of Draft picks announced during and after Raw.

Raw.
Rhea Ripley, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Judgment Day, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriquez, New Day, Trish Stratus, Shayna Baszler & Ronda Rousey, Braun Strowman and Ricochet, Bronson Reed, Alpha Academy, Katana Chance & Kayden Carter, Dana Brooke, Nikki Cross, Jonny Gargano, Angel Garza & Humberto Carillo, Akira Tozawa, Piper Niven, Teagan Nox, Xia Li, Riddick Moss & Emma, Indus Sher, Odyssey Jones.

Smackdown.
Austin Theory, Charlotte Flair, The Usos, The LWO, Asuka, Brawling Brutes, Karrion Kross & Scarlett, LA Knight, Shotzi, Pretty Deadly, Rick Boogs, Cameron Grimes, Tamina, Grayson Waller.

Brock Lesnar, Baron Corbin, Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin, Elias, Xyon Quinn are free agents. If you don't recognise some of the names there were a lot more NXT call ups so congrats to them. The ring announcers have also swapped over so Mike Rome will be on Smackdown with Sam Irvine moving to Raw. Bray Wyatt, Big E, Alexa Bliss and Randy Orton are among noticable omissions from the Draft. looking at the list its easy to see that Smackdown got shafted last night.

It was a decent show but nothing amazing, it was heavy on the Backlash build up.
 
Looks like I was right about the IC and US titles swapping shows, so at least there's some consistency there. I notice they opted to keep Cody away from Roman, which I'm guessing means he'll be aiming for the new WHC in the near future. Not a bad option if they want the new title to start with some credibility (so of course he'll probably lose it when Brock comes back around Summerslam, who me cynical?)

Wasn't expecting the women's champions to swap as well, I guess it makes sense as Smackdown having two big heel stables would be extremely pointless so Judgement Day had to move, though I'm not sure if this means Rhea and Bianca are going to just swap belts, or if they'll both be forced to drop them. While I hope they don't do something as lame as strip them both of their titles, it would still be amazing to see Vacant, THE GREATEST CHAMPION OF ALL TIME, holding all three women's titles at once.

Also, I hope they actually have some plans for all of these NXT callups. A strong midcard on Smackdown could balance out the fact that there's basically no main event scene there now, and it looks like they're effectively rebooting the Raw women's division with a lot of new faces. Both scenarios could prove to be really interesting if handles correctly.
 
Credibility? When it makes it more like a pity prize for Cody
Well yeah, but Cody is still popular and Roman made everyone else in the main event scene look like chumps over the last year, so people will at least care about the belt somewhat if they put it on him. I don't expect him to keep it more than a couple months, but at least during that period they can build up someone else to be a credible main event threat in the meantime. I feel that's the more important thing, having a champion who comes off strong but isn't completely unstoppable so they can start making other top guys look good again.
 
WHC tournament breaks down as:

  • 2x triple threat matches next week on Raw, winners fight later on that night.
  • Same on SmackDown that week
  • Winners fight at Night of Champions
  • lol what brand split
 
It is a Raw exclusive title, so if a Smackdown guy wins it I would assume they would do a trade.

AEW All In at Wembley Stadium in London has sold 65,000 tickets thus far, show is four month away and no matches made for it yet! :crazy:
 
WHC tournament breaks down as:

  • 2x triple threat matches next week on Raw, winners fight later on that night.
  • Same on SmackDown that week
  • Winners fight at Night of Champions
  • lol what brand split
Well since the Smackdown title is being held hostage by a part timer who isn't losing anytime soon, they have to do something instead of sitting in the backroom or feuds that don't mean anything

(Yes, I'm still blaming the Bloodline storyline for everything wrong with WWE recently, it bottlenecked every possible avenue)
 
I can't believe this was the first-ever SmackDown! from Puerto Rico. San Juan was pretty nuts tonight. Cool episode!
 
Here is the Backlash card for tonight.

United States Championship-Triple Threat Match.
Austin Theory (c) v Bobby Lashley v Bronson Reed

Raw Women's Championship.
Bianca Belair (c) v Iyo Sky

Cody Rhodes v Brock Lesnar

Seth 'Freakin' Rollins v Omos

Smackdown Women's Championship.
Rhea Ripley (c) v Zelina Vega

Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & Matt Riddle v The Usos & Solo Sikoa

San Juan Street Fight.
Bad Bunny v Damien Priest

I don't know what the match schedule is but I do think the Bad Bunny/Priest will main event.

Haven't seen the show last night but I heard the crowd was incredible, no changes to the match card following last night.
 
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