strobogo

I kind of agree with it sucks to come here and have to constantly read about US politics stuff, but living in the US, every single human that isn't a billionaire should be furious 24/7. And it just happens that there is one specific company that is the hottest company in the world and biggest company to ever exist that has quite direct and explicit connections to the thing that should be making everyone in the US furious 24/7. Pretty fucking hard to avoid. Can't ignore it or put your head in the sand to enjoy your hobbies in a time like this, when there is an extreme amount of documented evidence of what governments trying to set up what the US appears to be trying to set up does just over the past 100 years, not even including history before that. "I just wanna enjoy my wrassles" is gonna be some bullshit for a while when the top company is directly connected to Trump and the current admin and also KSA (to the point of having Riyadh season logos on the mat for Raw). Not that I think WWE is going to do a full MAGA agenda anytime soon, but it is something that they erased Hogan for a few years but never removed Trump from the HOF website or footage even after J6.

I think they could super load the EC so you can get a bunch of Cena revisiting classic feuds in one shot without having to do full matches (which you could if you wanted to), Cena vs Cody at WM with Cena winning and Cody in the Cena end of WM 28 reaction (also Cody end of WM 39 reaction) that sets Cody down a heel path that he seems to be teetering towards from the KO feud.

And also the 2-3 years straight of breaking merch/gate numbers every month, doing multiple stadium shows a year globally, Peacock deal for billions, Netflix deal for billions, USA deal for billions, Fox deal for billions, Saudi deal for billions.

The people yearn for yeet

Live audiences love him and this is the hottest WWE has ever been. Bringing it down to just responding to cues is nonsense. Dude gets the real over from full arenas and stadiums for quite a while now. Doesn't matter if you think think his work or promos aren't good. Impossible to deny how over he is with giant crowds all over the world. I personally am happy for him as a viewer since he debuted and the long Uso run. I don't think he's great at anything, but it is fun to see a true underdog shocker Rumble win and that dude been over as fuck for years now. Internet smarks in 2025 hating on him is nonsense because it is impossible to pretend he isn't mega over watching any show.

This idea of the internet fans not being into Jey is wild, because that dude has been the most visibly over guy for like 2-3 years now even if perhaps he doesn't deliver in ring or promo. Crowds absolutely love him in arena and this is the hottest time WWE has ever been. You can't pretend actually he's not good when you can see full arenas and stadiums going hard for him. There's no smark argument to make against him. The crowds love him in the hottest era since Attitude Era and money wise ever. I suppose that's just the default internet fan stance since the usenet era. Gotta hate on whoever is pushed hardest. Presumably even pre usenet and still fully actually paper and text Observer era. But you can't deny how over Jey is no matter what. You can't do "he is a bad promo/worker" shit when he's getting full stadiums and arenas being 100% into him.

Watched Raw because I figured the show after Rumble with them being as hot as they were would have to be interesting. What I saw was a lot of very sloppy work, lot of real long and not good promos (Seth's was just atrocious), and the crowd not seeming to be very into much of anything after Jey's opening segment, including Punk vs Sami. The reaction to Charlotte seemed indifferent at best, annoyed at worst. The Jey/Charlotte segments being the same thing just inverted seemed very lazy. Sami vs KO 300000 on deck. Bunch of stars you'd think would be there just because it was the show after Rumble that weren't: Cena, Cody, Trish, AJ (who is now a Raw talent and still wasn't there), Drew, Roman, any of Jey's family there to hype him up except for Sami in the back.

Bron fucking annihilating the youtuber and Roman is the most memorable things from the entire show for me. Love this dude having the full Steiners aura in 2025.

Probably best men's rumble in ages. Multiple gens of indies and WWE history mixing it up. Surprise winner. This is a Rumble where you get Roman Reigns doing spots with the current TNA champ, but also AJ/Punk interaction like it is 2003.

Lobster Head and Miz still being around has to be the same feeling as Tito and Valentine in 1992 Rumble but actually they've been around longer

Imagine a timeline where a Wild Samoan or Headshrinker could be so over to win a rumble over Hogan in like 1997.

This men's rumble feels the closest to 1993 rumble of such a mix of eras. 1993 was the last gasp of territory era, this rumble is multiple gens of ROH and TNA guys, mixed with Cena and all the Samoans that go back to the 70s. And then youtubers.

Also in all the reference heavy shit, Wade really drops a Reno from 2000 WCW reference in the title match.

Fascinated with WWE being so hot and doing John Mellencamp cameo followed by a video package by Papa Roach with a feud over a title belt not used for nearly 30 years. And also direct reference to dirt sheets like it is 1995.

TNA has been weeks away from closing down for a solid decade, and has been actively trying to get bought out by AEW/WWE for years. Of course the current regime is aware WWE is going to gut them, and the hope is that WWE just buys them outright. In a way for the library it might be the best option.

They also sent Nakamura to the 1/1 show that Omos was on. Some NXT dudes too. It certainly is not hurting NOAH to have WWE talent on their shows no matter what they're doing. This is not like NJ at basically peak drawing having bullshit Russo title changes on American TV while also not getting any of the benefits of the relationship like 1991-1997/98 of getting Sting/Hall/Nash/Savage over there on tours. NOAH has been second or even third rate since Misawa died. WWE's random as hell relationship with them has been a complete benefit for their crowd size since they've been on this shit the past couple of years. From sending KENTA for Marafuji's anniversary show to Nakamura for 1/1 shows to whatever NXT dude in the N1 to Omos. No one is thinking "boy WWE really buried NOAH" because Omos didn't do a job, get real.

Yes, gigantic guy a foot taller than the largest guy on the roster who happens to be from WWE in an absolute massive boom period getting a tag title and handing it over is better for NOAH than Russo doing NJ title changes without permission on WCW TV. Certainly is not hurting the NOAH that has been on life support for the better part of 15 years now.

It's not even a WCW/TNA partnership, and WWE sending guys to NOAH for any reason is better for NOAH than anything that could have been and was gained by NJ for partnership with Russo WCW or TNA. Come on.

Not that I have investment in Shelton or Lashley or Hurt things in 2025, but I don't think it is fair to call Shelton a career JTTS. Almost all of his WWE run was IC/US guy, he was a very featured guy for almost all of his first run with WWE. Second run, sure you might be able to make that argument but even then he was just mostly kind of not used at all, but when he was, I believe there were a couple tag title runs.

[WOR] Dave Meltzer: "NJPW New Beginning in Osaka is selling really well and they're cutting back on the staging to open up more sections to the public. The story of Hiroki Goto going for the IWGP World Championship has been a success." My goodness how cooked is NJ if the 30th Goto challenges for the title story is actually selling tickets in 2025

Penta I feel can make a ton of money in WWE with merch, but his very schtick heavy performances and WWE's absolutely terrible record of pushing lucha guys that aren't Rey Jr. leads me to conclude he'll have a similar big early push like Nakamura and then be very, very firmly IC/US title level at best the rest of his run except he'll probably be doing Speed matches by the week after WM. He has the look and La Parka esque charisma that can get him over with the crowds no matter what but like La Parka in WCW, I don't see him getting much of a push beyond the lowest level title and then go into a waiting period for Fenix and then the same thing but with tag titles. But he'll probably make a lot of money from shirts and masks.

Luckily post COVID, there are absolutely no rules for dressing in public. Doesn't matter how tacky or lame your fit is, what the actual content is, no one gives a shit anymore, just be comfortable.

Darby going to be out for his Everest thing report was instant "oh no" where the Deathriders thing is going to have go on many more months and there isn't juice for anyone involved to keep stretching it out. The whole thing seemed built on eventually Darby getting the big win, but I don't think this can go another few months.

Both NXT and TNA are the same THIS IS TOO BUSY AND LOUD shit that makes me feel like an old man, but anytime I've tried to watch NXT 2.0 era is just please be quiet.

Mind you, I also think fuck Taker (and extra fuck Kane), but it isn't some kind of "how could the crowd not react the same to Taker as to Hoga" thing that is totally baffling.