RingoPlaysDrums

This show has been alright but it does feel more like an episode of Dynamite than one of the four big shows of the year that you'd be willing to pay $50 for. I want this match out of the way as soon as possible so we can get on to the big stuff before I fall asleep though.

Really enjoyed that. Death Triangle with the tag belts would really work for me. That Evil Uno elimination was horrible though.

Well I know I want more of PAC/Silver.

Good card but not a great one. No interest at all in the Miro tag or Hardy/Page. Both programs are grating on me and I want to see both Miro and Page move on to bigger and better things. Shida/Mizunami could be decent after what has sounded like a fun little tournament but I'm still waiting for the women's division to catch fire. Reasonably into everything else - but as said above, only the main event is likely to offer greatness.

They are - and I just read that Crews said that he lived there for a while when he was younger before returning to the US.

Glad they're going all in on this new Apollo gimmick. The new gear and "elite guard" are a nice touch. Hope he changes his name to something closer to Uhaa Nation. The spear and sudden Nigerian accent? Not so sure. We'll see.

I kind of loved this match. No knowledge of either guy going into this but it grabbed me from the start. Moose Cholak is a really intimidating presence. He towers over Chene, the referee and the ring announcer pre-match. Apparently he was only 6'4" but here he looks bigger than that. He dominates early on until Chene quite brilliantly ties Moose's shoelaces together while he's in a head scissors. He has a bit of success after, but Cholak is soon back in control and takes the first fall in dominant fashion. Chene comes back well in the second. The third fall is great, bloody and chaotic. At one point Cholak goes flying out of the ring. The crowd is really into it - you can see one guy a few rows back going mental when Chene is trying to piledrive/powerbomb/whatever it would've been Cholak. Shame about the draw finish. Very nice bout, one of the most compelling I've seen from pre-1970.

Heh, not someone I'd considered at all but that'd actually be a great shout. Some of the AEW themes have grown on me over time but in general they still pale in comparison to WWE's offerings. I could probably only hum a handful off the top of my head. Forgettable.

I completely understand why some people hate that match. But I loved it at the time and still did do the last time I watched it a few years back. Probably more so than the HIAC the following year to be honest.

It's all about context - am I the only one who thinks Lashley vs. McIntyre at WM is actually quite appealing given their recent trajectories? A lot more than some of the alternatives anyway.

Made up for Bobby (and MVP!). I rather enjoyed Drew/Sheamus as well. Can't comment on anything else as I skipped the lot.

I see - so in that case what we'd really be discussing is that the average age of WWE's television audience has gone up. Which shouldn't really be news to anyone as it is presumably the case for just about every TV show. I'd be interested to hear more about who is accessing WWE content on YouTube, Hulu, the Network, social media etc. though.

I do think it's an interesting topic but surely it is up for debate if we're using television ratings as the only metric. We know that younger people don't tend to watch television in the same way that older generations do. I'm 31 and haven't watched WWE on TV for years (for a number of different reasons) but I still follow the product. I know others around my age who are the same. How many younger people than me there are following wrestling/WWE I don't know but I wouldn't expect to find them from TV ratings figures. What other evidence is there that the average WWE fan is in their 50s?

On their website they have them all listed as "success stories". But then they have everyone who has come through NXT listed. However, in Sasha's case at least, in her appearance on the Broken Skull Sessions she was particularly effusive about her time there and what she learnt from the likes of Norman Smiley and Dusty Rhodes. I suppose it's not really as if they've even tried to push many of the true Performance Center graduates yet - those names who hadn't previously trained and been wrestling elsewhere. The two biggest ones that come to mind as graduates with star potential are Velveteen Dream and Jason Jordan - and it looks as though their careers have been derailed, for very different reasons.

When would they have made the decision for Miz to win anyway though? They seem to book on the fly as a general rule these days. Sounds like they're still finalising the Wrestlemania card as we speak. There's almost no long term planning whatsoever so I'm not surprised when people who have been virtually forgotten about suddenly start winning and being talked about like a major player. Maybe Lashley will win it off Miz tonight. I'd be up for that.

That's awful. Hiromu was one of the few shining lights in New Japan in 2021 for me.

Yeah, this was pretty much great from start to finish. I've found main roster WWE during the pandemic mostly unwatchable - I certainly haven't enjoyed many matches as much as this one. The virtual fan wall wasn't as distracting for a start. Anyway, starts off great between Bryan and Cesaro as you'd expect. Corbin was used perfectly, as was KO - loved Jey Uso slamming the door into his arm and repeatedly kicking him in the face. Brutal. Sami came in moaning and left in the same fashion. Bummed that Cesaro didn't win but I did like that Jey looked strong. Real shame we didn't get more of Bryan/Reigns after. It started so hot.

That was a really entertaining first hour but I'm left annoyed at booking decisions. Doesn't make me want to see Edge/Reigns but does make me want to see Bryan/Reigns, Cesaro/Reigns and even Jey Uso/Reigns... so that's something.

Harlem Bravado seems a strange signing. Although I haven't seen anything he's done for a good few years. Will be good to have a good promo guy like Ricker around in NXT.

I just watched this and also wasn't sure what the story was with Mean Gene at the Bash. He behaved similarly when Meng fell off the stretcher after the Benoit match. Presumably it was an angle they dropped rather than Gene being in a bad mood but who knows.

I loved this. Right up my street. Felt authentically chaotic as you said and achieved a certain atmosphere that not many AEW matches have managed during the pandemic for me personally. I forgot about the arena being mostly empty. Big highlight reel moment for KENTA - that was crazy. Archer was great, especially towards the end. Really enjoyed all the interference. Lots of fun but it still felt like a proper fight between people that wanted a fight - something that's often missing from AEW.

Great thread. Enjoyed this so far!

When I say I'm disappointed to hear that Cesaro has re-signed with WWE it's because I'd like to see him wrestle other talents and do other things in other promotions as I find contemporary main roster WWE stale and barely watchable despite being a fan for over 20 years... not because my main concern is how large his bank balance is or whether he'll be able to pay for his kids' college fees. I've never met Cesaro but he seems like a nice enough chap from the interviews I've heard with him over the years and obviously it's largely irrelevant whether or not he ever has a match with Tomohiro Ishii as long as he's financially secure and happy, but that should have been obvious anyway.

Booo.

Did they give up on him easily though? I'd suggest the exact opposite. They were about to push him huge with a Mania feud vs. Cena but he no-showed TV after suffering an anxiety attack. I wouldn't imagine Vince McMahon is the kind of person to be too sympathetic about that kind of thing. Then his offensive posting history on bodybuilding.com came to light which was criticised by many fans and coworkers. If I recall correctly some of the comments were pretty fucked up. He apologised but many felt the damage had already been done. He got another go after Wrestlemania but sustained a serious knee injury that kept him out for months. During this time it came out that he'd done gay porn. They wouldn't have liked that either. He comes back once again for another push but he again no-shows a Smackdown. Even after that he's kept around for a few months before finally being released. So I'd actually speculate that he'd have been released a lot earlier if Vince hadn't wanted him to succeed so much.