A New Era for the Wrestling Thread

[Dr. Evil]

He could be AEW's "Celebrity Guy" if he wants that. I wonder if we'll ever see him in a WWE ring?

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

The King and Queen of the Ring matches on Raw were all solid enough, Iyo Sky vs Baszler was a fun clash of styles and Iyo's promo afterwards was short and fun, she gets over with facials and the inflection in her voice without even speaking much English. Gunther beating Kofi with a Boston Crab was so oldschool. I guess they couldn't have Jey Uso lose another big match but I wouldn't have had Dragunov lose so soon either, I'm thinking Drew will cost Jey the semi final against Gunther.

The Fatal 4-way #1 contenders tag match was pretty good, it's the first time I've seen the Creed Brothers and they're an impressive team, kinda like a mix of the Steiners and the World's Greatest Tag Team, I can see them forming the new Alpha Academy with Gable once he ditches Otis and Co.

 

[Lobo]

I caught the second half of SmackDown. Carmelo Hayes is literally half the size of Orton.

Best part of the show that I caught was Nia Jax going up to Jades daughter and telling her your Mom sucks

I also enjoyed the DIY vs Angel and Berto match.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I see now how WWE is booking Jade Cargill. They are using the whole "not pinned or submitted" streak rather than an undefeated streak. Of course, I think we saw that she was going to be booked like that when she didn't win the Women's Royal Rumble. It's better booking than what AEW gave her, which was an undefeated streak.

 

[Lobo]

Jade vs Bianca will be a WrestleMania main event. They weren't going to give that away in a match this soon.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Not gonna lie, I thought Tiffy was gonna be Queen of the Ring.

 

[Dr. Evil]

With the WWE giving Jade a "not pinned or submitted" streak, it doesn't hamstring them creatively on how they would book her. If she was in a triple threat match for a title, she just wouldn't be the one getting pinned and then she would say that she deserves a one on one match for the title because she wasn't pinned.

TBH, the way AEW was booking her was quite dull as we all knew that she would win. With the WWE giving Jade a "not pinned or submitted" streak, she can have those multiple women matches where if she doesn't win, she also doesn't get pinned or submitted either and she still looks strong at the end. It gives her matches unpredictability.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I caught the second half of SmackDown. Carmelo Hayes is literally half the size of Orton.

Best part of the show that I caught was Nia Jax going up to Jades daughter and telling her your Mom sucks

I also enjoyed the DIY vs Angel and Berto match.

Yeah he's smaller than I thought, and Orton didn't give him as much offence as Cody did. I'm hoping Owens returns next week to help Orton against the Bloodline as I don't think Jey vs Tama Tonga will be a particularly good match, and Gunther vs Orton would be the next step up for Gunther.

The fans in the arena were moaning but I thought Jade vs Nia was booked perfectly, the physicality was strong and then Nia heeling on Jade's daughter justified the chair shot that brought about the DQ.

You need to go back and check out your girl T-Stratts match with Bianca, easily the best match on the show.

I'm curious to see where AJ Styles backstage promo goes, retirement arc?

Cody and Logan Paul are doing a solid job in building their short notice title match, Paul bringing his lawyer in to protect his title was such a great sleazy heel move. They also did a little foreshadowing for LA Knight and Logan Paul for the US Championship at SummerSlam.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Lobo]

Yeah he's smaller than I thought, and Orton didn't give him as much offence as Cody did. I'm hoping Owens returns next week to help Orton against the Bloodline as I don't think Jey vs Tama Tonga will be a particularly good match, and Gunther vs Orton would be the next step up for Gunther.

The fans in the arena were moaning but I thought Jade vs Nia was booked perfectly, the physicality was strong and then Nia heeling on Jade's daughter justified the chair shot that brought about the DQ.

You need to go back and check out your girl T-Stratts match with Bianca, easily the best match on the show.

I'm curious to see where AJ Styles backstage promo goes, retirement arc?

Cody and Logan Paul are doing a solid job in building their short notice title match, Paul bringing his lawyer in to protect his title was such a great sleazy heel move. They also did a little foreshadowing for LA Knight and Logan Paul for the US Championship at SummerSlam.

I'm gonna check that match out now.

As much as I wanted Queen Tiffy, I'm okay with her losing here, as I wouldn't be surprised if she's the champion within the next six months.

Logan is a real life sleazy heel. It's why he's so natural at this. I am however a fan of Logan Paul the wrestler.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I'm gonna check that match out now.

As much as I wanted Queen Tiffy, I'm okay with her losing here, as I wouldn't be surprised if she's the champion within the next six months.

Logan is a real life sleazy heel. It's why he's so natural at this. I am however a fan of Logan Paul the wrestler.

I want her to "Tiffy-fy" the Money in the Bank Briefcase. In other words, she wins it, but on Smackdown she makes the briefcase pink.

 

[NDX]

I can't wait for her eventual title run. I need it to be TIFFY TIME!

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

Raw was a decent show, I've enjoyed the King and Queen of the Ring focus over the last few weeks and both semi finals were good matches.

Jey vs Gunther was a really strong back and forth contest and i thought this was Jey's best match to date, his selling was excellent and the match was a real battle with Jey fighting from underneath and a great finish , minor ref bump, Jey capitalises on the distraction and hits his flying splash, which gives the possibility that he might have won, but then Gunther just goes up a gear, pummels Jey ferociously and hooks in another submission that targets the shoulder he'd worked on all match and Jey passes out. Perfect way to book your Terminator heel strong while offering some protection for one of your top face's. I'm loving how Gunther is using a variety of submission finishers.

I was disappointed that Iyo went out, she'd have been great with the Queen gimmick, I don't get why Valkyria is getting such a big push, she's decent in the ring but I don't see much personality about her. The match itself was good though and the finish worked, I'm guessing the Nia Jax is going to end up as Queen to set her up as Bayley's challenger at SummerSlam.

I thought the Gable vs Zayn match and the 4 team #1 contenders match were both messy but the aftermath of both has promise, they teased the Gable and Creed Brothers team-up I suggested last week and I think Baszler & Starks are good challengers for Jade and Bianca as they present a really physical opposition.

Awesome Truth vs Judgement Day was a decent defence for the champs with Truth now having his own Andre I'd keep them as Champions until at least SummerSlam.

Lastly, the development with Bron Breaker was well done, a heel turn is the right direction for him and an uncontrollable wrecking machine is exactly the route to go, I think the next step is to get him a manager. They've potentially set 2 opponents up for him with Ricochet and Dragunov.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[OnTheAir]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1793644852132946163

 

[Hunter Rider]

Title shots at SummSlam for the winners is a huge call, I always thought it made sense back in the day for the KOTR winner to get a WWF/E title shot at SummSlam, in the same way the Rumble winner gets the title shot at WrestleMania.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Dr. Evil]

So there are wrestling fans who have boycotted WWE since their deal with Saudi Arabia (despite the fact that the product is good again) because of recent human rights violations that they have committed. I am not defending Saudi Arabia, far from it, but pretty much every country the WWE has dealt with has had a poor history of human rights, including the USA. It's only the fact that Saudi's human rights violations are more recent than many of these other countries that has led to the backlash against WWE for this. Yet, Wrestling fans who boycott WWE because of their deal with Saudi Arabia doesn't know or doesn't care about any of that and think "WWE and Saudi Arabia, evil! AEW and USA good!"

 

[Hunter Rider]

Good episode of SmackDown, the QOTR and KOTR semi finals that bookended the show were decent matches, I liked the way the finish of Bianca vs Nia was booked, no convoluted mess and no run-ins, Bianca showed some incredible power to get Nia up in the KOD but the knee gave out and Nia capitalised quickly with the Banzai Drop and I think she'll follow in Mable's footsteps to become Queen of the Ring.

Randy going over Tama Tonga sets up the final I was hoping for and I hope Gunther wins, but the backstage exchange between Cody and Orton was interesting, could be foreshadowing or could just be misdirection. 🤔

Heyman isn't getting a lot of mic time right now but each little segment he gets he delivers, this week saying they couldn't get Tonga Loa into the country and putting over how dangerous this new Bloodline direction Solo is going in is.

I liked the video package for Andrade and then Santos and LGD reacting to it, but having the Latin guys fighting each other again? I feel like they could expand Santos trajectory. I'm also curious about the direction they are going in with AJ Styles, hopefully it leads somewhere interesting for him.

I'm guessing this mini feud they are doing with Bayley and Piper Niven is to prep Bayley for an even bigger opponent in Nia at SummerSlam. I really liked the Waller Effect segment, it gave A-Town Down Under and Carmelo Hayes a some good mic time, I can see a cocky young heel group developing there. The 6 man tag against the Street Profits & LA Knight that came out of the segment was probably the best match on the show.

Cody and Logan Paul continue to build their title match out of nothing with some good promo work, Paul's instincts for playing off the crowd is something guys who've been around a decade still haven't grasped, and I like the angle Cody is taking, of respecting the athlete Paul is but questioning his mentality and commitment to pro wrestling.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

On this week's NXT Ava had a backstage segment where she's on the phone saying she's talked to Aldis and Pearce for the clearance and will announce Roxanne's next title challenger for Battleground, I'm guessing it'll be Naomi. Also on an NXT live show last weekend Cora Jade returned and said she's coming for Roxanne's title, so I imagine they'll build to that match for Heatwave.