Pro Wrestling Discussion

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

I only stayed up for about four matches (including the kick-off, and I had a brief nap during that) judging from the reactions I'm seeing I doubt I'll catch up. Joe and Reigns should have been the double count-out so both could have looked strong heading into their separate angles, whatever they are, there were no stakes at all to this match it seems, and why did it headline over the WWE title?

Miz vs Rollins was dynamite and continues the trend of not one match on the card being able to follow the intercontinental title. Jeff vs Randy felt like a boring session of playing a THQ WWE game. Nia vs Alexa should have been a sqaush, but Alexa kept out-wrestling Nia to the point it was exposing her as just a big (pun intended) move wonder.

Don't even bother. The WWE title match was pretty good, but is a prime example of how a bad finish can ruin a match. The rest were nothiiiiiing. Even the Daniel Bryan match isn't worth it, and I'm a total homer for D-Bry. He could not get anything out of Cass. D-Bry had to hold the guys hand. Cass still doesn't have a moveset beyond basic strikes and the Nation of Domination pose. Reigns vs Joe headlined over the WWE title because McMahon can't get over Roman Reigns.

On the upside, Seth Rollins is continuing The Mizs mission statement of making the Intercontinental title feel important again. It's starting to feel like "Intercontinental title match" means "great matches" again. It helps that Seth is easily ranking as one of the best wrestlers in the company.

[ZariusTwo]

Alexa was injured at Backlash. Clumsy Nia.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/backlash/20...?sf188960161=1

Originally Posted by dl316bh

On the upside, Seth Rollins is continuing The Mizs mission statement of making the Intercontinental title feel important again. It's starting to feel like "Intercontinental title match" means "great matches" again. It helps that Seth is easily ranking as one of the best wrestlers in the company.

I read somewhere that Tyson Kidd is the man mapping out all of the IC title matches.

[ZariusTwo]

So now Reigns has transitioned to a feud with Jinder...hopefully this just leads to a qualifying match between the two of them on next week's show rather than headline a PPV based in smark friendly Chicago.

[dl316bh]

I'm going to have to sing the praises of Seth Rollins every damn week, aren't I? Mojo Rawley was hanging with him, too.

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

So now Reigns has transitioned to a feud with Jinder...hopefully this just leads to a qualifying match between the two of them on next week's show rather than headline a PPV based in smark friendly Chicago.

It's probably not intended, but it feels rather desperate. "Okay, fine, look, we'll put him with the worst guy we have. Now will you cheer him? You hate Jinder Mahal!" I actually saw people say "stop, don't accidentally turn Jinder Mahal face!"

There's a decent chance you won't have to worry about that, though. I don't think this goes all the way to the PPV. It's something like six weeks out to Money in the Bank and they're going to need some small things to kill time. Jinders story right now is that he wants in the Money in the Bank ladder match and he just cost Roman Reigns the opportunity to get in the match. I'm thinking, if it's not next week, in two weeks or so we get a qualifier between Roman and Jinder for the last Raw spot, Roman rolls Jinder and he's in the match. It's a fine standard to use for a small feud to lead to the PPV. I mean, there's no way Roman's not in that match.

[dl316bh]

This probably isn't shocking - with two MitB ladder matches and expected title matches like the WWE and IC title, the card will be stacked anyway - but Brock Lesnar's not scheduled to work Money in the Bank right now. I don't really expect to see him again until Summerslam either way, which I figure is where he drops the belt.

https://411mania.com/wrestling/brock...work-mitb-ppv/

I already suspected it, given how hard they were pushing the "management is screwing him, he's the uncrowned champ" thing that crowds are one hundred percent not buying, but apparently the idea is to try and go with a Daniel Bryan angle for Roman Reigns. Which is silly, because I feel like they have to know that angle works best if crowds already like the guy. I mean, they already tried this and it didn't work. That whole Survivor Series to Wrestlemania 32 bid was a shortened-by-half attempt at a Daniel Bryan-esque Authority angle and it didn't fly.

https://411mania.com/wrestling/wwe-r...n-like-figure/

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by dl316bh

It's probably not intended, but it feels rather desperate. "Okay, fine, look, we'll put him with the worst guy we have. Now will you cheer him? You hate Jinder Mahal!" I actually saw people say "stop, don't accidentally turn Jinder Mahal face!"

Oh the irony if they trade blows and people cheer when Jinder hits and boo when Roman hits.

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Oh the irony if they trade blows and people cheer when Jinder hits and boo when Roman hits.

This should be a joke, but there's a shocking chance that might happen. Dude's that unpopular.

[ZariusTwo]

Charlotte is to receive surgery for a ruptured breast implant

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...tured-implant/

[ZariusTwo]

Big Cass in trouble for going into business for himself during the "Mini-Daniel" segment last week

http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/big.../#.WvSYaYgvyM8

[dl316bh]

“Hey, you know whose fault it is, that your favorite wrestler got bought out? The company he was working for, cause they were too cheap to pay him what he was worth. So he should get paid what he’s worth, and if WWE comes and pays him what he’s worth, that’s on your sorry ass. Get the money right. And start paying these dudes. There are too many crazy talented dudes out there that aren’t getting paid, and if you have a problem with WWE making those dudes rich, you can kiss my ass, cause those dudes deserve to be rich, cause they’re talented as hell.”

https://411mania.com/wrestling/samoa...ng-paid-worth/

Haha, wow, I think Samoa Joe's still a bit salty about TNA.

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Big Cass in trouble for going into business for himself during the "Mini-Daniel" segment last week

http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/big.../#.WvSYaYgvyM8

I'd love to know why he decided extra attacks at the end of a little person attack segment - already the lowest possible brow WWE still does - was a hill worth dying on. Maybe not a bad thing if it killed a prolonged Daniel Bryan feud, though. Big Ass looked like a scrub out there.

Charlotte is to receive surgery for a ruptured breast implant

Apparently she's been toughing it out since before 'Mania, too. Makes me wonder why they immediately put her in the Womens MitB, but then, there's like six weeks to go for that, so it's not like she won't have time to heal.

[ZariusTwo]

Nia Jax vs Ronda Rousey for the Women's title has been official for MITB

RAW is in London this week, here's the spoilers so far

Spoiler:

Jinder is in a MITB qualifier tonight, a triple threat with Lashley and Elias. Reigns comes out but Angle denies him another qualifying match. He and Jinder brawl after Jinder makes an appearance.

Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens in an IC open challenge match

Bobby Roode def Baron Corbin and No Way Jose to qualify for MITB

The Miztorauge are now called the B team, they are inserted into a tag title qualifying match against Breezango and win

Ember Moon, Natalya & Sasha Banks vs. The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan

The Deleters of Worlds (Bray Wyatt & Matt Hardy) b. The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson)

Sami Zayn appears, blaming Bobby Lashley for giving him vertigo. He is inviting Lashley's sisters to RAW next week to expose Lashley's lies about them.

MONEY IN THE BANK QUALIFYING MATCH: Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley vs. Mickie James

[ZariusTwo]

So Jinder ended up being unable to qualify due to Reigns tearing into him backstage and Owens took his spot and won.

For some reason, WWE are really pushing this "Bobby's sisters" thing

[dl316bh]

I know it might seem like I'm on Rollins jock at this point, but geez, are we looking at a potential future candidate for the top intercontinental champions of all time? He hasn't had a bad match involving the strap, including the match he won it in, and is doing the open challenge thing even better than Cena. If this continues without a misfire for another month, he might be in the conversation. Longer beyond that and he just might end up near the top of any given list. As it is this is starting to feel like the sort of reign you make DVD's out of.

Anyway, that got me thinking last night. Who is the last IC champ who was this good? Like, in quality of titles defenses, the work, excitement and so on. Not counting Miz; he made the title feel important again, but he didn't always have classics the like we're seeing now, though he's important as the one two punch with Rollins of making the belt matter again. You've got to go back a bit, right? Daniel Bryan's looked like it was going to go that way, but injury killed it before it got a head of steam. Cody Rhodes held it a long time and had some good matches, but also some lackluster ones and never felt super important as champ. Jericho's time with the IC title was always stop and start (which is how he has nine reigns and still isn't over a year in combined days held).

Does anyone remember Shelton Benjamins long run? I have vague impressions of it being good, but can't remember specifics because it's been over a decade. Was that good?

This Bobby Lashley segment next week... that's going to be real bad, isn't it? I felt alarms go off in my head. These sort of angles are never good.

It will probably take a minor miracle to get me to ever like Dolph Ziggler again, but I'm glad Drew McIntyre's getting a second chance and, so far, being made to look pretty good. He got pushes the first time, but never fully put it together or got heat from crowds, then it seemed like WWE just gave up on him.

I don't know where they're going, but I'm oddly rooting for the lovable ass "B Team" to get over and be something.

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

So Jinder ended up being unable to qualify due to Reigns tearing into him backstage and Owens took his spot and won.

For some reason, WWE are really pushing this "Bobby's sisters" thing

I'm not wild about a Jinder/Reigns feud - and it might just be the UK crowd, but it might not work how they want, because Jinder was getting minor "anyone but the other guy" face heat in the backstage exchanges last night - but it keeps Reigns out of the title picture and Money in the Bank, so, well, whatever. That said, it doesn't do Jinder any favors.

I kind of felt sympathy for him last night, though. He interfered last week, but it was just a trip. Beating the mess out of him once was fine. But then he's hobbling to the ring injured for his MitB qualifier and is suddenly speared through a wall. A second time was probably excessive, especially since we're not playing Roman as a Stone Cold style violent psychopath.

[ZariusTwo]

During the dark match for tonight's Smackdown in London, Carmella received "You suck Cena" chants from the "classy" fans

Also confirmed for MITB is

Spoiler:

New Day in the MITB ladder match
Carmella vs Asuka

[dl316bh]

Spoiler:

If they have Carmella beat Asuka at Money in the Bank, WWE are the biggest morons. But I'm mentally preparing myself for it. Because most of the time - not all - WWE loves a homegrown talent over an outlier coming in. Even if the homegrown talent's trash.

During the dark match for tonight's Smackdown in London, Carmella received "You suck Cena" chants from the "classy" fans

Why are they chanting that, exactly?

Still, yuck, I don't even like Carmella and I think that's uncalled for.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by dl316bh

Spoiler:

If they have Carmella beat Asuka at Money in the Bank, WWE are the biggest morons. But I'm mentally preparing myself for it. Because most of the time - not all - WWE loves a homegrown talent over an outlier coming in. Even if the homegrown talent's trash.

Why are they chanting that, exactly?

Still, yuck, I don't even like Carmella and I think that's uncalled for.

Cuz there are rumors going around that she's been bouncin on Cena since the Bella breakup.

[dl316bh]

Daniel Bryan just absolutely eating Big Ass's lunch cracked me up tonight. Dude came out cutting a promo that was not great, so much so a crowd chanting so loud they were making Bryan and Renee corpse in the ring and stop from time to time went silent, and just got destroyed by the little guy. Love it.

The rumors of backstage heat over that one segment are probably true, because he looked like a chump out there. Now he can be metaphorically slaughtered by Samoa Joe next week.

Styles and Nak finally managed to have a good match. Though it's all probably leading to last man standing, which is rarely ever good. It really sucks that Nak's probably not winning the title anytime soon. I genuinely don't understand why WWE's booked this feud the way they have, or why it's gone this way.

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Cuz there are rumors going around that she's been bouncin on Cena since the Bella breakup.

Ah. Didn't know that. Still, that's her business, they're all adults and none of them are attached, so I don't get what the issue is, much less why anyone would chant that at her. There are plenty of other reasons to give her s***.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by dl316bh

Daniel Bryan just absolutely eating Big Ass's lunch cracked me up tonight. Dude came out cutting a promo that was not great, so much so a crowd chanting so loud they were making Bryan and Renee corpse in the ring and stop from time to time went silent, and just got destroyed by the little guy. Love it.

The rumors of backstage heat over that one segment are probably true, because he looked like a chump out there. Now he can be metaphorically slaughtered by Samoa Joe next week.

Styles and Nak finally managed to have a good match. Though it's all probably leading to last man standing, which is rarely ever good. It really sucks that Nak's probably not winning the title anytime soon. I genuinely don't understand why WWE's booked this feud the way they have, or why it's gone this way.


Ah. Didn't know that. Still, that's her business, they're all adults and none of them are attached, so I don't get what the issue is, much less why anyone would chant that at her. There are plenty of other reasons to give her s***.

Cause people are pety and immature and take things too seriously.

Someone probably thought 'You suck Cena' was a funny variation of 'John Cena sucks' and the reat went along with it.

[ZariusTwo]

USA have ditched Smackdown, but will retain RAW

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...wn-raw-1112671

[ZariusTwo]

Orton has had minor knee surgery and may be out until July.

http://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/ran...ith-an-injury/