The Wrestling Thread

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Proof once again I should be booking for WWE. I know it would just drive me to insanity having to work with fucktards who have no business being there though, like it did to Cornette.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

I skimmed through the last few episodes of Impact and you know what? The product is actually pretty decent now. Or at least it was 5 weeks ago when these New York episodes were taped. Bully Ray leaving basically leaves the Dudleyz vs Hardyz vs Wolves series dead in the water. Pretty selfish really given how good the first 2 matches were.

Battletoad Lashley as champion sucks too of course. He still can't sell for shit and its basically all an advertisement for him joining Bellator. Bobby Roode as a babyface isn't much more interesting either so luckily he doesn't win the belt next week. Most of the new talent are being lumbered with shit gimmicks too but verything else is pretty sweet though.

The X Division is mostly veterans (Joe, Homicide, Low Li, Dutt...) plus they've got Rhino and Tajiri, and the Jessicka Havok feud with Gail Kim for the knockouts title is pretty hot too. It's a feud I've wanted to see for a few years actually, Havok is the best woman monster heel in the US since Luna Vachon.

Sanada with his Muta/Kabuki gimmick is great too, way better than the babyface he was in All Japan where he was basically a second rate Tetsuya Naito or Kota Ibushi. Best of all they look set to have a serious influx of UK talent soon as they did a London taping just of UK guys like RJ Singh, Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar etc. and both Mark Andrews and Grado were on the last US taping. I don't know if they plan to use all those matches and what they do will probably be on Xplosion but I'll still be tuning in for that.

All in all I actually think TNA is worth saving. The best shot for that is if some of the vets like the Hardyz, Team 3D (if Bully comes back), Gail Kim and her oil baron husband etc. pool together to buy it from Dixie and then run it only on internet TV and iPPV in safe territories like New York and Tampa and build things up from scratch again.

[Bearstock]

The load of Brits is for the British Bootcamp series, basically TNA version of Tough Enough but different if that makes sense?


First series aired on Challenge and it's where SPud joined TNA from (Marty Scrull and Blossom Twins were other finalists appearing on TNA TV)

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Didn't know they were running British Boot Camp again, might actually watch it this time after seeing the talent involved. I'm not a big fan of any of the 4 from season one (The Owens Twins are from the same town as me so by proxy I'm not allowed to like the Blossoms) though that being said I did enjoy the two part documentary on Spud that aired in place of Wrestle Talk TV the past few weeks. Nothing against any of them but lets face it, all 4 involved in season one are better entertainers than they are wrestlers, at least compared to the technical ability of some others in the UK.

It might also have something to do with how I only found out about the show towards the end. At the time I was watching TNA online uploaded by Americans so it didn't include any ads for British Bootcamp but I suspect it wasn't very well advertised at all. The first time I even heard the name was at a Dublin house show with Magnus cutting a heel promo (despite being face on TV at the time) and in response to "Fuck the UK" chants he said "you say that but I know you're all going to be watching the final of British Bootcamp next week." Cue about half of the 2000 people in the hall saying together "what the fuck is British Bootcamp?" Dixie Carter was in the ring beside him and looked really embarrassed by the whole thing.

[Applecore]

Roman Reigns has had to undergo emergency hernia surgery and will no longer be appearing at Night of Champions against Seth Rollins.
According to WWE's medical staff, a sports hernia would see someone out of action for 4-6 weeks, however as this wasn't a sports hernia, and affected his intestine, too, he's going to be away for at least 6 weeks.

Just as well they had the match on RAW already then, eh?
This'll also add more buzz to those expecting Dean Ambrose to return at Night of Champions or this coming RAW.

[Applecore]

Watched the live feed of Night of Champions on the WWE Network. Pretty pleased with the Network, actually, as the freezing/quality issues were more to do with my shitty internet connection than anything going on at the WWE end.

As for the Pay-Per-View.. This will contain spoilers. I'll tiny it, though, as I doubt any of you lot have seen it just yet

I tuned in just in time for the end of the kickoff show and caught Christian and Jericho's bit. Mostly Jericho saying "Yeah, but I came up with that.." until Orton interrupted to say that once he's done with him, the only show he'll get on is Total Divas. Jericho's response of "Well, the only show you'll get on is Total Jackass!" fell completely flat. Come on Chris, you're better than that.

Usos vs Goldust & Stardust was actually a surprisingly good match. I'd lost a lot of interest in the tag titles recently, as I hadn't really seen anything new from the Usos since they won them. Also I've been trying to get into the whole Gold/Stardust thing, but Goldust doesn't really interest me that much, and I was never keen on Cody Rhodes (though, admittedly, he's won me back with his Stardust character on weirdness points alone). However, this time both teams pulled their fingers out and put together an enjoyable match. Happy to see the titles change hands, and look forward to seeing what Gold/Stardust can get up to.

Sheamus vs Cesaro was an odd one for me. I wanted to care but just didn't. It's sad that the US title is being wasted at the moment, as nobody really seems to give a shit about it. The match would also have made much more sense if Cesaro was still with The Real Americans, as all we really got was two European dudes fighting over a title that had nothing to do with them. Sheamus retained, nobody gives a fuck.

The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler was one I was looking forward to, but it got absolutely fucked up by having some random country music duo join the commentary table for seemingly no reason other than "hey we're coming out with the WWE to the Tribute to the Troops show!". The commentators barely mentioned the match happening in the ring (aside from Cole occasionally saying one of the competitors' names) until Damien Sandow.. sorry, Mizdow (eesh) got excited and started yelling at the guests, only for them to push him over and R Ziggler (seriously, creative..) chased him out of the ringside area. More of the match apparently happened but nobody told the commentator team and then Damien (fuck it, I'm just calling him Damien from now on) returned for the distraction, which didn't work but did because Miz got Ziggler in a rollup and bared his arse to the crowd by holding his trunks (which Cole called tights). Miz is the IC champion again, fuck off.

Rollins came out to cut a promo instead of his match with Reigns as it was called off, did the usual "raise my hand! I am the victor!" heel thing, then issued an open challenge to the locker room. Much to nobody's surprise, Ambrose runs out and kicked the shit out of him all over the arena. Then for some reason security and the authority broke them up. Because apparently you can't take someone up on an open invite..?

Rusev vs Mark Henry was a load of shit. Rusev's reign continues.

Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho happened, too. It probably says a lot about it that I was just about to hit "submit" before I realised I'd forgotten to include it. Michael Cole said it was an "awesome match" at the end, but it didn't seem all that special to me. Shame, really, because I do like Chris Jericho, but he's only really as good as his opponent, and with someone as dull as Randy Orton, it's just not that interesting to watch.

Paige vs AJ Lee vs Nikki Bella was actually a good match. Nikki wasn't completely terrible and I did wonder how it would go. I was expecting a Brie interference but it never came, which I think was a bit of a wasted opportunity, as it makes their feud seem inconsequential. I guess we'll see where that's going on RAW? As for the Divas title, I would say that with AJ winning, they may as well just keep doing Paige/AJ for a while longer. The two work well in the ring together and except for maybe Natalya, I don't think anyone else is really up to their level.

Finally the main event. Altogether a pretty engaging match, I thought. Not as entertaining as the SummerSlam match, but better than most Cena matches of late. Lesnar had the upper hand a lot more than Cena, but it was nowhere near a domination. When Rollins hit Cena with the briefcase and then stomped Lesnar and tried to cash in, I was actually really excited for a moment that we might see Rollins get the gold, as him feuding with Cena (assuming the defeat would make Lesnar leave again) while having Ambrose out for his blood could be interesting. But no, Cena can't put the younger talent over and he stopped that match from happening. Lesnar retains. At least it's not another "Cena wins lol" moment.

All in all, a decent PPV but no real "OMG!" moments to make it stand out for the future. Even the return of Ambrose couldn't save it, as that was nipped in the bud before it could really take off. If they'd gone straight into a one-on-one no DQ match with no interruptions, it would have been amazing. But instead it was a promo that belonged on RAW, not in the middle of a PPV in place of one of the most anticipated matches on the card.

So yeah. RAW tomorrow.

EDIT: Just learned that Paul Bearer's son, Michael Moody has passed away. Condolences to his brother, Daniel. RIP.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Damn, RIP Mike Moody. Will have to stick on one of shoot interview docs like 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler later.

[Jobdone]

Oh man, that sucks.

And it was more like Night of Eh for me tonight.

Just didn't really give a shit about any of the matches. And fuck the dusty finish.

[CrappyMike]

the finish to cena vs lesnar was just stupid, probably sets up another match between the two as well which is pointless. overall it was an ok ppv, not fantastic.

[Applecore]

RAW was a mixed bag. Highlights included Dean Ambrose being Dean Ambrose, Natalya wiping the floor with Summer Rae, Maggle wearing a hilariously bad suit and Slater Gather vs Adam Rose and a bunny.
Oh and the main event was Cena vs Orton because the fans are idiots apparently.

[Jobdone]

Amazing they'd throw that back on when 9 months ago it was chanted out of the building.

[Applecore]

Also I'm wishing they'd just sack JBL. He adds absolutely nothing to the commentary team, and only takes from them. During the IC title match on RAW, during the ad break on the app he was actually asking King how his football team were doing. How are the audience meant to invest in a match when one of the people being paid to watch it can't act interested?

Been talking to a mate about NoC and had a thought about Orton/Jericho. As it was such a dull match, it makes me think they should have just had him end his run last week on RAW. The cage match was decent, and with Orton attacking him afterwards, you've got a reason (sort of) for him to not be around anymore.
But instead they sent him out with a fizzle during arguably the most dull match he's had in his career.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

He needs to end this run and then come back with a gimmick where he's gone insane and calls himself "Man Of 1001 Holds" but can do literally nothing but armbars.

[Applecore]

I want him to face Adam Rose's bunny in a "suit vs career" match and then either lose, or win and quit anyway because his career has fallen so much.

[Jobdone]

He needs to end this run and then come back with a gimmick where he's gone insane and calls himself "Man Of 1001 Holds" but can do literally nothing but armbars.

Goes on a massive losing streak because of it.

Bets his career on the next match.

He looks so close to the loss, but BAH GAWD KING IT'S THE MOSS COVERED, THREE HANDLED FAMILY GRUDUNZLE.