Royal Rumble 2018

[FMKK]

I liked the Woman's rumble a lot, but I kind of wish they had Lita enter in the 20s and make it to the last 4, like when Mr. Perfect did it in his comeback run. "Old legend nearly makes it all the way" is such a great story and the Rumble never quite does it enough.

 

She really sucked for the five minutes she was in though. At least her placement lifted the crowd early on

[Jimmy James]

Yeah, true. Mainly for the story they were telling, I thought it'd be cool if Auska won by throwing out one of the most notable Attitude Era women and one of the most notable Divas champions as well.

[Coffey]

Felt like they blew a lot of the surprises by just having the women come out on the stage the RAW before. Molly Holly was great & a surprise but after seeing Jackie, Kelly Kelly, Michelle, etc. you knew Trish was 30.

 

I did mark for Vickie Guerrero though. Also, a part of me was hoping that Layla would come out in the Piggy James outfit again when Mickie was in there. But then I guess Steph wouldn't have been able to talk about how it made history.

[iamthedoctor]

To be fair, Rey got pretty stale for a while there and his constant injuries meant he was here today and gone tomorrow, which made it hard to emotionally invest in anything he was doing.

 

With that said, Rey's an all-time great without a doubt. And what's wrong with the 619? I like it. It's a fun, catchy move.

 

I remember the ECW show Rey did. He got a huge pop but when he went for 619 they booed.

[...TG]

LOL at Lita having Fabulous Moolah written on her arm and #TimesUp on her gear.

 

It should be noted that she didn't have Moolah specifically written on her arm, just Chyna, Sherri, and Luna. Cole mentioned Moolah, which caused my confusion.

[Loss]

 

And what's wrong with the 619?

 

 

It's been discussed in great length before, including during the GWE poll. I finally came to term with it like I said, but for the longest time, it really annoyed me.

 

 

Similar to the setup for the stinkface or broncobuster. Not a natural position in which wrestlers sell. It's something they only do in matches against Rikishi, or Rey in this case. I don't like it, but it's not enough to dismiss him as a worker in the least.

[C.S.]

 

 

And what's wrong with the 619?

 

 

It's been discussed in great length before, including during the GWE poll. I finally came to term with it like I said, but for the longest time, it really annoyed me.

 

 

Similar to the setup for the stinkface or broncobuster. Not a natural position in which wrestlers sell. It's something they only do in matches against Rikishi, or Rey in this case. I don't like it, but it's not enough to dismiss him as a worker in the least.

 

 

Which is fair enough, but why hold that solely against Rey when it's clearly a WWE stylistic issue? (I don't mean you - just anti-Rey malcontents in general.)

[Matt D]

 

 

And what's wrong with the 619?

 

 

It's been discussed in great length before, including during the GWE poll. I finally came to term with it like I said, but for the longest time, it really annoyed me.

 

 

Similar to the setup for the stinkface or broncobuster. Not a natural position in which wrestlers sell. It's something they only do in matches against Rikishi, or Rey in this case. I don't like it, but it's not enough to dismiss him as a worker in the least.

 

I do think there's a huge difference between trying to power bomb Kidman when you don't usually do a power bomb and wrestling a wrestler who is specifically going out of his way as part of his strategy to get you into a unique and unorthodox position.

[Loss]

Is he, though? He might be. I don't want to get in too deep an argument about this. I was just pointing out where the criticism comes from. It gets singled out because there is no awkward positioning required that wrestlers don't normally go to for the pedigree, the AA, RKO, superkick, etc. Those moves and their setup I do think have other flaws, but not that particular one. Reigns used to have a similar thing when he would do that thing from outside the ring while the guy was in a similar position to the 619, but he's mostly dropped that at this point. So no, it's not unique to Rey. And yes, it's probably less offensive than requiring your opponents to do back body drops and press slam you off the top rope. It does nothing to really subtract from Rey's greatness.

[Matt D]

No need to argue. He is.

[NintendoLogic]

It's one thing if opponents are bumping into the ropes off of standard offense. But it's usually Rey who headscissors or drop toeholds his opponent into the ropes.

[El-P]

 

 

 

And what's wrong with the 619?

 

 

It's been discussed in great length before, including during the GWE poll. I finally came to term with it like I said, but for the longest time, it really annoyed me.

 

 

Similar to the setup for the stinkface or broncobuster. Not a natural position in which wrestlers sell. It's something they only do in matches against Rikishi, or Rey in this case. I don't like it, but it's not enough to dismiss him as a worker in the least.

 

 

Which is fair enough, but why hold that solely against Rey when it's clearly a WWE stylistic issue? (I don't mean you - just anti-Rey malcontents in general.)

 

I was totally holding this against the WWE style too with their stupid trademark silly moves. Rey made the best out of it because he's great, but to me it was making him gimmicky, and it really wasn't necessary to get him over. I mean, fucking Rey Jr. Keep the silly gimmick spots for underneath guys who don't have much else.

[Loss]

It's one thing if opponents are bumping into the ropes off of standard offense. But it's usually Rey who headscissors or drop toeholds his opponent into the ropes.

 

Yes. It's the lag time between then and the time he hits it, which admittedly, Rey tries to make as short as possible.

[topropepodcast]

I saw Rey tonight in front of like 200 people and he was boss as shit. Moving better than he has in years.

 

Probably a 4 star match with Chavo.

[Eduardo]

I saw Rey tonight in front of like 200 people and he was boss as shit. Moving better than he has in years.

 

Probably a 4 star match with Chavo.

 

In Robstown? So sad I missed this tonight, had some scheduling conflicts and was really hoping I could make it.

[topropepodcast]

Yeah. Pretty much a one match show although the opener was fun but it was great to see an all timer like Rey in such an intimate setting. I'll probably hit the Kingsville show in I believe April and they will be back in Robstown in September

[Flyin' Brian]

 

 

She was a fitness model who actually wanted to wrestle, worked hard at it when she simply could have strut her stuff, and came just after the awful era of the Sables and Chynas, so by comparison her work soon looked stellar, especially when she finally had someone like Mickie James to work with and make her look even better. Basically, she was the first true serious star female wrestler in the hottest period ever in US wrestling.

 

And she actually said she loved me once. Well, back when she was doing the LAW in 98 or so (used to listen to that stuff using Realplayer, remember that, old folks ?), I used to blast one of their host which I found was a mark via e-mails. Once, that very host was talking about how they even had one listener in France, who hated him, and Trish said "But we love him." Yeah, I still remember that story. I had no idea who she was and damn was I surprised when she showed up in WWF a year or two later. That was my Trish story.

 

Not to mention she started off as arm candy for Test and Albert (T&A, get it? Impact wasn't even innovative there either) and actually wanted to put in effort to improve when they put her in the ring.

 

Also I think it's funny how internet fans tend to poo-poo the importance of firsts when it comes to women in WWE, but it seems like Trish and Lita being the first women's match to main event Raw made an impression on a lot of little girls who grew up to be wrestlers today.

 

edit: As far as Ronda goes, I bet the plan was for her to come out doing the Ronda Mean Mug Face to everyone but she was marking out internally too hard to keep from smiling.

I was there live at that Raw in Charlotte, NC. Good times.

[Loss]

Trish vs Lita actually wasn't the first women's main event of RAW, but it's the one that they've decided is instead of Stephanie vs Lita in 2000 for whatever reason.

[Kadaveri]

There's also Alundra Blayze vs. Bertha Faye in 1995 just before Vince fired the entire women's division.

[Jimmy Redman]

Trish vs Lita actually wasn't the first women's main event of RAW, but it's the one that they've decided is instead of Stephanie vs Lita in 2000 for whatever reason.

 

I think because Trish vs Lita was on their own merits and alone, whereas Lita vs Steph had Hunter, Rock and the Hardyz all ringside involved in the match and it was really about them, the women were just props.

[iamthedoctor]

There's also Alundra Blayze vs. Bertha Faye in 1995 just before Vince fired the entire women's division.

 

I dont know why he fired them for. At Survivor Series 95 he should have kept all those japanese girls who knew how to wrestle.

 

I appreciate AJW seeing them wrestle on there.

[Loss]

I think there might have been issues with Madusa and Aja working together if I remember right. Not sure if it was based on past history between them or not.

[iamthedoctor]

I think there might have been issues with Madusa and Aja working together if I remember right. Not sure if it was based on past history between them or not.

 

The one thing I love about AJW from the 90s is that its a what if scenario so you can see all the girls from the WWE PPV wrestling regulary there. I do wish they had kept them in a better role, alough I wasent all that sold on Blayze dropping the belt to Kong at the Rumble then likely regaining it back at Mania.