El-P Posted April 8 Report Share Posted April 8 8 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: Michael Cole cemented his place at the top, too. "I love professional wrestling !" sure came off like something he has been wanting to say for a quarter of a century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted April 8 Report Share Posted April 8 3 minutes ago, El-P said: "I love professional wrestling !" sure came off like something he has been wanting to say for a quarter of a century. He's consistently been the happiest person in the company since Vince left. He must feel like he hit the lottery after having a crazy person yelling in his ear for 25 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strobogo Posted April 8 Report Share Posted April 8 That vibe was very present when Vince first stepped away and then he came back and everyone seemed so dejected and miserable again. It's really quite funny how the entire apparatus including Vince's own family members can't stop talking about how great it is he's gone even if they can't mention him by name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Brown Koko Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 Plus Seth Rollins doing all that just to fuck with Roman also cost him his title. Poetry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/wrestlemania-40-records-broken-wwe-1235964608/ WM40's gate was up SEVENTY EIGHT PERCENT compared to WM39, which was itself a record-setter. That's insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Enthusiast Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 Cody Rhodes: 1st ballot WON HOF’er. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 - Not sure if someone else mentioned this in the thread but...no big introduction for CM Punk during the PPV seems like an ego check from ol' Papa H. Basically, "Yeah, we know that 'Cult of Personality' would blow the roof off the place and be an incredible opening moment for Night 2...but we're going to go with Stephanie and then right into Drew and Seth and you'll already be at the table. Be happy that you're here at all." They had plenty of time. They gave Snoop Dogg an entrance as guest commentator for the next match. They gave Bubba Ray an entrance. They gave Snoop Dogg essentially a second entrance when he announced the attendance. This was a humbling from Paul to Phil. - Bayley/IYO wasn't just my pick for Match of the Weekend, it might be on my shortlist of best Mania matches of the past decade. Just an incredible match with a variety of good spots, great selling by Bayley (someone needs to sit Seth down and have him watch what Bayley did here), wonderful execution by IYO, some great counters and pin attempts...I thought it absolutely smoked the Becky/Rhea match. - Have to believe there was a reason Austin wasn't the guy to save the day. I'm curious what the story is there. Triple H low-balled him? Austin demanded too much? The offer was never really made? - Anyone else think that the two people Cody was going to thank were his dad and Dustin? Bruce Prichard and Triple H getting celebrated at the end was not something I wanted to see or hear. You've just won a wrestling match, don't thank the stunt coordinators. - God, I hate Seth Rollins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 47 minutes ago, DMJ said: - Have to believe there was a reason Austin wasn't the guy to save the day. I'm curious what the story is there. Triple H low-balled him? Austin demanded too much? The offer was never really made? The only thing I can think of is that they asked & Austin just wasn't interested. I was expecting the glass shatter as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 Also, I think I need to rewatch the Iyo/Bayley match. I didn't get the hype that I'm reading the first time around & I think it may have been because I was on my phone too much or just not as invested in it the first go around, not sure. I did notice the selling because at first, I thought Bayley was legit injured. Especially the way she sold it like "goddamn, I hurt myself, I'm mad about it!" Her entrance could have been so much better. Iyo's was more simple but made Bayley's look even stranger by comparison. Also, if anyone mentioned it earlier, I missed it but the new AJ Styles theme sucks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 57 minutes ago, DMJ said: - Anyone else think that the two people Cody was going to thank were his dad and Dustin? Bruce Prichard and Triple H getting celebrated at the end was not something I wanted to see or hear. You've just won a wrestling match, don't thank the stunt coordinators. You most of all don't thank Bruce Prichard, who's been Vince's pet dog forever. And you don't thank Paul "I did not read the lawsuit" Levesque while lying your ass off about how *he* made you come back to WWE, when Vince is the one who hired Cody back. This part was legit embarrassing, and the Levesque ego stroking doubled with hammering down the fact that "VInce is gone, forget about everything, this is a new era" on RAW is already unbearable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 I *loved* Wrestlemania. Night 2 was legit a fantastic show. It was a fun whole weekend. However, El-P has a point. For all the heeing & hawing that WWE are doing about the NEW era & how it's no longer Vince's show blah blah blah, Night 1 started with Triple H. Night 2 started with Stephanie McMahon. The main event involved The Rock, John Cena & The Undertaker. Cody called out Triple H & Bruce Prichard, of all people. None of that feels like a new era. And all the Vince McMahon accusations & shit, Triple H saying he hadn't read it, people just casually forgetting that Nick Khan was named & he was there in the front row hugging Cody. All the wrestlers themselves whenever they're ask about it play it off because they're afraid for their jobs, just like Ronda Rousey said. Hell, that's AT BEST, at worst you get shit like Cena saying he loves the man (Vince) & Becky saying how much he put her over & didn't see shit like that first hand or whatever. It certainly appears that the WWE stance is to just ignore it & hope it goes away. Right now there's more of a stink over AEW saying they're going to show the Perry/Punk footage than over the Vince McMahon, Jr. story which should be the biggest wrestling story in the last thirty plus years & instead, everyone (myself guiltily included) is like "that was a good show, huh? AEW lul." Although I guess if it was settled out of court & is never going to go to criminal court, there's not a lot more we can say or do as fans. I've not even kept up with it lately, I don't even know where the suit lies right now. But boy, Michael Cole sure does seem happier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 1 hour ago, DMJ said: - Bayley/IYO wasn't just my pick for Match of the Weekend, it might be on my shortlist of best Mania matches of the past decade. Just an incredible match with a variety of good spots, great selling by Bayley (someone needs to sit Seth down and have him watch what Bayley did here), wonderful execution by IYO, some great counters and pin attempts...I thought it absolutely smoked the Becky/Rhea match. - Have to believe there was a reason Austin wasn't the guy to save the day. I'm curious what the story is there. Triple H low-balled him? Austin demanded too much? The offer was never really made? - God, I hate Seth Rollins. - In terms of purely in-ring action, Iyo/Bayley was my favorite match of the two nights. Rhea/Becky was already a good bout, but the two of them were just working on a different level than almost everybody. Crowd was super into it, and it was *just* 16 minutes long. Felt longer, in the best of ways. - I think Austin turned it down, plain and simple. Besides, Undertaker is the one guy you can have teleport in and out of the ring without people paying too much attention, and the gong is as iconic. Stone Cold would need to drive his quad bike down the ramp, brawl, and then hit a Stunner. Would take too much away from the match, I think. - Agreed. However, in terms of storyline beats, he was great. The height of his career and it was a weekend where he got owned four times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 21 hours ago, KawadaSmile said: Thought Samantha was fucking awesome. She was incredible, Bubba. Best ring announcer since Howard Finkel and Gary Cappetta. It's typical of the majority of PWO to forget that what they're watching is professional rasslin', which is meant to be over-the-top and absurd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 13 minutes ago, C.S. said: She was incredible, Bubba. Best ring announcer since Howard Finkel and Gary Cappetta. It's typical of the majority of PWO to forget that what they're watching is professional rasslin', which is meant to be over-the-top and absurd. Nah, I don't think it's the majority. In fact, I'd wager most of us enjoyed her. But shit, she was getting emotional for TWO historical title reigns being over, with beloved babyface figures getting crowned. It enhanced the emotions, for sure. Like, I believe most historic moments in wrestling, whether they took place in the USA or Japan or Mexico or Europe, featured some sort of commentary that enhanced what was happening on the screen. To have the ring announcer be that invested in what went down was some fresh stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Brown Koko Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 I could see Austin not showing up to save his appearance for a time where more of the focus would be on him and Rock. At Wrestlemania, he would have most definitely gotten a huge pop, but this was WWE Endgame with multiple cameos. He probably wants to build anticipation for his return. Just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strobogo Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 Idk what y'all are talking about with Bayley/Io, it was sloppy and clunky as hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 On 4/8/2024 at 4:14 PM, Ricky Jackson said: I think "the money is in the chase" was a successful 60s-80s NWA territory hero challenging the champ formula, but obviously not the be-all-and-end-all, because the WWWF and AWA had big business with a dominant face champ at the same time (although both had success with heel champs too). It really comes down to the wrestlers and how over they are. When a wrestler is hugely over, you can draw with either a chase or a dominant run formula Wrestling was already booked that way in the 1920ies. From Ballyhoo! quoting Strangler Lewis' unpublished autobiography: Quote At the time, there were probably about 25 heavyweights who were worthwhile opponents who could put up any kind of a contest against the champion, but there were, of course, lesser lights with transitory ambitions, whose orbit was their own city, county, or state and whose local fame was their chief stock in trade. As wrestlers they might be heavy, fairly strong, and tough, but that was about all. They did not have ‘color.’ A larger city would be ‘localized’ by one of the 25, who might discern that the sport was popular and had a drawing potential. He would come into town to wrestle the local boy or two, and be able to beat them. Others of the 25 would be brought in and invariably lose to him, thus building him up thru the months or years. He, in turn would take a journey from his hometown and accommodate them and increase their local prestige. . . . When a local situation was judged ripe, that is, their hero had no more Bulgarian lions, Estonian werewolves, Belgian tigers, or Russian bears to conquer, when there were no more champions of Texas, New York, the Pacific Coast, and elsewhere to come to taste bitterly the mastery of their peerless one, it was logical that he should hurl defiance at the champion of the world. . . . The enthusiasm of what sometimes amounted to a year’s build-up was sure to be a sell-out at the largest local arena. The champion came, he saw, he conquered, but more often than not, not too decisively. The issue was not always resolved cleanly. The champion would lose a fall, someone would be injured. The referee would show marked favoritism, or bad judgement and was sometimes run out of town. . . . After a return engagement or two, it would be time for another turn to be taken by a newcomer, and the show would go on. Human memory is short and the routine so simple that it was always new. There was a lot of funny stuff in the first couple of minutes of night 2: the bagpipe group playing Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie, Roddy Piper's theme CM Punk sitting next to Nise CM Punk Stephanie ending her promo with HHH catch phrase minus the "let's get ready to suck it" after spending a couple of minutes verbally fellating her husband in front of the audience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 22 hours ago, El-P said: "I love professional wrestling !" sure came off like something he has been wanting to say for a quarter of a century. To all those people playing the "free at last" card: so are they telling me that you were working for decades at a place you hate for a boss you despise? Do they have no spine? I mean it's not like most of those people wouldn't have ways to make ends meet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man in Blak Posted April 9 Report Share Posted April 9 1 hour ago, strobogo said: Idk what y'all are talking about with Bayley/Io, it was sloppy and clunky as hell. Yeah, I'm generally in the same ballpark. Sure, I thought it was better than Rhea/Becky, but that's not saying much. Sami/Gunther was my pick for match of the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted April 10 Report Share Posted April 10 15 hours ago, Robert S said: To all those people playing the "free at last" card: so are they telling me that you were working for decades at a place you hate for a boss you despise? Do they have no spine? The answer is very obviously : no, they don't. Apart from Eric Young. He's a shiny, as they say. The rest of them, well, this : 17 hours ago, Coffey said: All the wrestlers themselves whenever they're ask about it play it off because they're afraid for their jobs, just like Ronda Rousey said. Hell, that's AT BEST, at worst you get shit like Cena saying he loves the man (Vince) & Becky saying how much he put her over & didn't see shit like that first hand or whatever. And yeah. The Nick Khan hug. Whatever you wanna say positive about Nick Khan. The guy was still praising the hell out of McMahon *after* he came back the first time around, when all the NDA's and the settlement of rape lawsuit with Rita Chatterton had been done. A few weeks before the Janel Grant lawsuit he was still talking about Vince like he was the greatest of all time. And as far as Stephy goes, I remember Meltzer talked about how the Ashley Massaro stuff (ya know, being fake sympathetic leading her into that meeting with officials where she was told to no-sell being raped, because the militaries where too precious for the company) really turned lot of people off. And she was put right at the beginning of Mania Night 2. Also, last time she gave a big speech was the "Thank you Vince chant". New era my ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted April 11 Report Share Posted April 11 One thing that really struck me - the lack of Kevin Dunn camera cuts and the announcers getting to talk like humans really made the product so much more tolerable. I didn't think either show was great, but they weren't exhausting in the way WWE shows could be not that long ago. Huge improvement on its own, especially in terms of capturing casual viewers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted April 12 Report Share Posted April 12 15 hours ago, Migs said: One thing that really struck me - the lack of Kevin Dunn camera cuts and the announcers getting to talk like humans really made the product so much more tolerable. I didn't think either show was great, but they weren't exhausting in the way WWE shows could be not that long ago. Huge improvement on its own, especially in terms of capturing casual viewers. Yes. Even if the product hadn't caught fire, the TV would have been 100% better just for the lack of announcers speaking like aliens who haven't quite mastered human grammar and nausea inducing camera cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted April 12 Report Share Posted April 12 Per the latest Observer, Austin was supposed to be the one who took out Rock at the end, but they were too far apart on money and Undertaker took his place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted April 13 Report Share Posted April 13 I don't get WWE being stingy with all the money that they're rolling in lately. It's the same reason they lost Sasha Banks. Just pay it, you can afford it. Per Google: WWE posted revenue of US$331.2 million in Q4 2023 Like? How much did Austin ask for? Sure, $3M for a 2-minute run-in is probably insane but they could have done it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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