Sports Entertainment

Arbitrary · Sep 6, 2021

if anyone needs something to listen to while they do other shit the audiobook for The Death of WCW is very decent. Upstart wrestling company backed by serious money scoops up a massive pile of talent and goes head to head with the WWE while wrestling enters a new era of major mainstream interest. Maybe some parallels to today, maybe some lessons, fairly interesting in its own right.

jayrebb · Sep 6, 2021

Arbitrary said:
if anyone needs something to listen to while they do other shit the audiobook for The Death of WCW is very decent. Upstart wrestling company backed by serious money scoops up a massive pile of talent and goes head to head with the WWE while wrestling enters a new era of major mainstream interest. Maybe some parallels to today, maybe some lessons, fairly interesting in its own right.

A chapter from it

Arbitrary · Sep 6, 2021

I like that it starts way back explaining the origins of the big companies and leads up almost week to week during the Monday Night War to shit completely falling apart to the actual death itself.

Araxen · Sep 6, 2021

If AEW strays away from building up their young talent after these signings, it'll signal a red flag. They seem pretty committed to building their young guys up, and they have the vets on board with it. I suspect Darby will get a win over Punk before long. You just can't have Punk lose on his first match back after 7 years.

I don't care for the Young Bucks, but they did the right thing in dropping the belts last night. To me that is why AEW is different from previous companies. The guys with a lot of control I feel are committed to building the place up, and aren't afraid to take losses to build up for the future. Hopefully that trend continues.

Warr · Sep 6, 2021

I still don't care a whole lot for AEW, but even I wasn't expecting them to absolutely blow their wad with the debuts last night like they did. Regardless of my feelings about the quality of AEW, that certainly got my attention.

Oh yeah, I guess I also have a thing for Dr. Britt Baker,
D
M
D

Angerz · Sep 7, 2021

Araxen said:
If AEW strays away from building up their young talent after these signings, it'll signal a red flag. They seem pretty committed to building their young guys up, and they have the vets on board with it. I suspect Darby will get a win over Punk before long. You just can't have Punk lose on his first match back after 7 years.

That's really the thing though, if we just look at the 4 former WWE signings who showed up last night (Punk, Bryan, Cole and Ruby), Cole and Ruby have probably a decade left each, at 32 and 30 years old respectively. I'm willing to be Bryan is just happy to wrestle and would be happy losing matches on Dark if they asked him to, but told him he could go full speed doing it. CM Punk I see picking up a win streak before his first loss, making it a big deal when a young guy puts him down (maybe a rematch with Darby down the line?)

Armadon · Sep 7, 2021

Angerz said:
That's really the thing though, if we just look at the 4 former WWE signings who showed up last night (Punk, Bryan, Cole and Ruby), Cole and Ruby have probably a decade left each, at 32 and 30 years old respectively. I'm willing to be Bryan is just happy to wrestle and would be happy losing matches on Dark if they asked him to, but told him he could go full speed doing it. CM Punk I see picking up a win streak before his first loss, making it a big deal when a young guy puts him down (maybe a rematch with Darby down the line?)

Yeah I have a feeling they will do like Darby knows he has to get better to beat Punk. Eventually overcoming the vet and solidifying him as legit. Might take like a 6 month program which could be good.

Needless · Sep 7, 2021

They'll definitely work the darby/punk angle and give him a win during a PPV somewhere down the line. I never paid any attention to wrestling during Punks time so i have zero attachment to the guy myself lol

AEW being strong is sick though but holy fuck is their roster ever bloated now, what do they even do with over 100 active men alone and 3 shows a week? not even mentioning the women because they might get 1 match a show and half of them havent been shown in over a month lmao

Chris · Sep 7, 2021

Needless said:
They'll definitely work the darby/punk angle and give him a win during a PPV somewhere down the line. I never paid any attention to wrestling during Punks time so i have zero attachment to the guy myself lol

AEW being strong is sick though but holy fuck is their roster ever bloated now, what do they even do with over 100 active men alone and 3 shows a week? not even mentioning the women because they might get 1 match a show and half of them havent been shown in over a month lmao

Yeah at some point you can't keep adding factions to keep people relevent.

Nightmare Family/Factory has to go, Hardy Family Office are OK as jobbers, Team Taz I'm not interested in at all just keep Taz and Ricky Starks, Lance Archer is apparently main event but does very little, SCU have always been boring, Kip Sabian can be his wife's manager lol.

This is where I would say "go to the indies to get over and we will feature you occasionally as non contract talent and look to bring you back in the future".

That being said though, AEW does not have the rematch plague that WWE has, so maybe they know better than me.

Rajaah · Sep 7, 2021

Needless said:
They'll definitely work the darby/punk angle and give him a win during a PPV somewhere down the line. I never paid any attention to wrestling during Punks time so i have zero attachment to the guy myself lol

AEW being strong is sick though but holy fuck is their roster ever bloated now, what do they even do with over 100 active men alone and 3 shows a week? not even mentioning the women because they might get 1 match a show and half of them havent been shown in over a month lmao

Yeah, at this point they REALLY need to make some cuts. Problem is, TK doesn't really fire people.

Sonny Kiss gets monster reactions from the live crowd but he's on TV like once every six months. Wardlow had a MASSIVE line at Fan Fest and I don't even see him as getting a real push yet.

I mean, whatever your feelings on these individual wrestlers, they have some seriously over people that they do nothing with because there just isn't time for them.

On the bright side they can constantly rotate the roster to keep things fresh. However, I really have to question what use they have for half of the wrestlers they've got on now. Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page are pretty awesome and they can't even get on TV, meanwhile you've got all of these jobbers on Dark.

They need to start pruning the non-over people. Emi Sakura comes to mind along with a bunch of others.

Another solution is to add another hour to Rampage and have it run 9 to 11 like RAW used to do against Nitro. Then WWE can expand Smackdown to 3 hours and ruin their last good show

Araxen · Sep 8, 2021

People are thinking once Rampage moves to TBS, it'll get a second hour.

jayrebb · Sep 8, 2021

Arbitrary said:
I like that it starts way back explaining the origins of the big companies and leads up almost week to week during the Monday Night War to shit completely falling apart to the actual death itself.

I was surprised how comprehensive it is. Like you said from the booking, in the ring, to behind the desks-- its all covered blow by blow.

Good looks.

Angerz · Sep 8, 2021

Araxen said:
People are thinking once Rampage moves to TBS, it'll get a second hour.

I feel like they could have another hour of Dark on thursdays to go with OG Dark and Elevation. they both get 300-400k views on their youtube channel, so adding the second hour didnt really diminish the first. I bet they could slide one in on Thursdays or Saturdays, or even before Rampage

Hosix · Sep 8, 2021

People In WWE Reportedly Expect Kevin Owens To Leave

Kevin Owens is reportedly expected to leave WWE early next year. As we've noted, Owens and The Young Bucks have teased on Twitter this week…

www.wrestlinginc.com

and

Kevin Owens Deletes Tweet Fuelling AEW Speculation - WrestleTalk

WWE star Kevin Owens has recently deleted a ‘Mount Rushmore’ tweet, fuelling speculation that he will soon join AEW. On Twitter, Owens shared coordinates for Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. […]

wrestletalk.com

Chris · Sep 9, 2021

It's being reported that WWE wanted Adam Cole to change his name (can't have two Coles) and be Keith Lee's heel manager (too small to wrestle).

There's a non zero chance WWE is going to lose a TV deal if they keep this shit up.

Araxen · Sep 9, 2021

They won't lose their TV deal. There are weirdly enough people who will watch their product no matter how bad it is.

Chris · Sep 9, 2021

Araxen said:
They won't lose their TV deal. There are weirdly enough people who will watch their product no matter how bad it is.

I think that the old people leaving the same channel on all day demo is underrated, there must be some percentage of all show's viewers who are not actually watching right?

How many rematches can people actually take?

Angerz · Sep 9, 2021

Araxen said:
They won't lose their TV deal. There are weirdly enough people who will watch their product no matter how bad it is.

USA for sure won't do anything, even when they are mad at the WWE for giving Fox all the cool new toys, RAW is still their number 1 show, even the Olympics didnt bump it.

But Fox, on the other hand, if their is an early exit clause, I could see that one ending that way, or at least being negotiated down. WWE isnt hitting the ratings number goal, if I remember correctly, which is why they get all the top shit. Fox was also disappointed Punk got away, since they liked working with him on Backstage and apparently have no idea how little Punk would have wanted to work for McMahon again.

Rajaah · Sep 11, 2021

AEW Predictions just because I feel like the next couple of years have endless potential:

Grand Slam
-Kingston defeats Miro for the TNT Championship in his hometown via cage escape or some other means that doesn't involve a pin or submission
-Lucha Bros defeat Jungle Express to retain
-Malakai defeats Cody (I mean, he better) leading to a Cody heel turn to join the Elite

Full Gear
-Britt defeats Ruby Soho
-Eddie Kingston defeats Dante Martin (hometown guy) to retain
-FTR defeats Lucha Bros to become the only 2-time AEW tag champions
-Bryan Danielson defeats Kenny Omega for the world title

Revolution
-Andrade defeats Eddie Kingston to capture the TBS Championship
-FTR defeats the Young Bucks to retain
-Bryan Danielson defeats Adam Cole to retain
-Thunder Rosa defeats Britt Baker in the main event to capture the women's title

Double or Nothing
-Ricky Starks defeats Andrade in an FTW/TBS "Championship unification"
-Jungle Express defeats FTR to win the tag titles in a 3-way TLC type match also involving Santana and Ortiz - who eventually unseat them at a later time, preferably in New York
-Thunder Rosa defeats Tessa Blanchard to retain
-"Still Undefeated" Miro defeats Bryan Danielson to capture the world title. He goes on to have a reign that is long and fruitful, before losing to Adam Cole or Hangman eventually.

All Out
-Miro defeats Brian Cage, Lance Archer, and Will Hobbs in a WM2000-style four-way elimination match

Full Gear
-Hangman defeats Kenny Omega in a #1 contender match
-Hangman defeats Miro for the world title in the main event

Dynamite or Saturday special
-MJF defeats Hangman to win the world title, not long after Hangman wins it

Revolution
-Ricky Starks finally loses the TBS Championship to Sammy Guevara
-MJF defeats Moxley to retain the world title and avenge his loss

Double or Nothing
-Wardlow defeats MJF to capture the world title. At this point I'd run with Wardlow for a while and make him "the guy" as I think Jim Ross is right that he has that kind of potential. He goes on to have a major feud with Ricky Starks, with Sammy also involved.

Note that I've got nothing or very little for CM Punk, Darby, Cody, Chris Jericho, etc. The company has such an embarrassment of riches at this point that it could take 5-10 years to use everyone to their potential.

Chris · Sep 12, 2021

-Thunder Rosa defeats Tessa Blanchard to retain

Yeah these 3 in 1 predictions never happen.

Sports Entertainment

Tranny Chaser

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

Tranny Chaser

Golden Baronet of the Realm

Trakanon Raider

Toe Sucker

Potato del Grande

Honorable Member

Golden Baronet of the Realm

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

Trakanon Raider

All labs matter!

Potato del Grande

Golden Baronet of the Realm

Potato del Grande

Trakanon Raider

Honorable Member

Potato del Grande