General Wrestling Discussion

[trent]

Except TNA can sell out their venues.

Hey now, AEW can easily sell out a couple of thousand seats at some random videogame tournament or nerd-shit convention before they go back to barely half filling a hockey arena and then inexplicably selling out a 12k seater for a PPV 2 weeks later.

Zero consistency in either the base product or how many people they can or can't get to show up to watch it. Hottest ticket of the week in one market and then struggling to sell BOGO tickets in the next one.

I don't know how you fix that when you have one guy at the top who clearly has ADHD making all the decisions whilst listening to none of the multiple decades-old vets he has in his company.

 

[GloryHole Stalker]

Ah, maybe I didn't explain myself properly. I agree a 'real sport' approach would suck, but borrowing aspects from competitive sport and using it for storylines is more what I had meant. Like, you can create a competitive sports framework but use it as a vehicle for drama and storylines.

Like you said, it probably would never be feasible (how do you fit in gimmick matches or hell, tag team matches, etc.), but I'm still intrigued about potential possibilities. I wouldn't want to see like ROH 2.0 or Japanese wrestling 2.0 or whatever, but something more silly and campy.

Basically returning to the way wrestling was presented in the previous century. I'd love that too fwiw.

 

[GloryHole Stalker]

I'm getting to the stage where i think any regular poster in this thread (including Mirror Noir) could manage AEW better than the current fucking idiots running the show over there. A shit ton of money, a shit ton of early good will from wrestling fans and they are just so fucking incompetent that it defies belief.

Once again, i think they have more than enough money and talent to keep going for years but who really gives a shit about an industry with essentially 2 versions of TNA, some patchy quality Japanese/Mexican wrestling and WWEs Marvel movie stuff?

Stardom and random dudes with ludicrous gimmicks utterly beaning each other with folding chairs in a bingo hall is becoming the best part of pro-wrestling because all of the major companies are pandering to an audience that doesn't exist/barely cares.

It's a shame. AEW got ne back into wrestling. I'm not as enthusiastic about their roster as you are... too much indie excess amongst that crew, but they could have sanded some of that down.
As it is though, TK just wants to play with his toys, and as long as he's fully calling the shots, AEW will be nothing more than an indie with a budget... although, I'd imagine indies are better run than AEW, lol.

 

[Shoresy]

Spoiler: SNME SPOILERS

• Drew McIntyre beat Sami Zayn
• Liv Morgan beat Iyo Sky to retain
• Gunther beat Damian Priest and Finn Balor to retain
• Chelsea Green won the women's US title
• Cody Rhodes beat Kevin Owens to retain, and he had the Winged Eagle belt too
• Jesse Ventura kept calling Kevin Owens "Kevin Owen" on commentary and nobody corrected him

 

[Kaizer Ghidorah]

Jesse really hasn't lost a step on commentary

 

[Karma Khan]

Spoiler: SNME SPOILERS

• Drew McIntyre beat Sami Zayn
• Liv Morgan beat Iyo Sky to retain
• Gunther beat Damian Priest and Finn Balor to retain
• Chelsea Green won the women's US title
• Cody Rhodes beat Kevin Owens

Completely predictable results. Only unexpected thing I saw was Liv getting juice the hard way from a stiff knee to the face.

 

[Shoresy]

Jesse really hasn't lost a step on commentary

Gotta agree with you there. He kept saying Kevin Owen instead of Kevin Owens, but that's just nitpicky on my part

 

[Well Intentioned]

Basically returning to the way wrestling was presented in the previous century. I'd love that too fwiw.

Yeah, I know it's been largely derided in 'worst gimmick ever' lists but the AWA Challenge Series has always intrigued me. And there was something I saw on a WCW program, around the Dangerous Alliance-era, where they were doing like a rankings system or something. I didn't have access to WCW a whole ton so that one little glimpse has always intrigued me, haha.

 

[Night Terrorist]

The show was decent. It was pretty hard to find because the Youtube stream was delisted, but I managed to get hold of a link. No big returns or surprise twists, but the matches were pretty good and I adored the set design. That long walk to the ring with the little 30 degree turn, surrounded by metal barricades, is peak. The quantity of ads is as shit as ever but that's just to be expected from yank TV. I was just glad I could catch it live.

 

[Shoresy]

The show was decent. It was pretty hard to find because the Youtube stream was delisted, but I managed to get hold of a link. No big returns or surprise twists, but the matches were pretty good and I adored the set design. That long walk to the ring with the little 30 degree turn, surrounded by metal barricades, is peak. The quantity of ads is as shit as ever but that's just to be expected from yank TV. I was just glad I could catch it live.

I watched it through some pirate watchwrestling site and I kid you not, the stream I was watching kept going down due to being blocked by the copyright owner and then it'd come back up. I missed a good chunk of things here and there as a result. I think the stream may have been hosted on dailymotion so whomever was streaming it likely had to have several accounts at the ready.

Edit: GUYS GUYS GUYS KEVIN OWENS HIT A PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON CODY AFTER THE SHOW, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR HIM TO HIT THE MOVE IN WWE SINCE HE ARRIVED! Seriously, if anyone there can execute it safely, it's KO. I'm glad they finally let him hit it.

 

[ElHijodeDeficienciaCogni]

I watched it through some pirate watchwrestling site and I kid you not, the stream I was watching kept going down due to being blocked by the copyright owner and then it'd come back up. I missed a good chunk of things here and there as a result. I think the stream may have been hosted on dailymotion so whomever was streaming it likely had to have several accounts at the ready.

Edit: GUYS GUYS GUYS KEVIN OWENS HIT A PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON CODY AFTER THE SHOW, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR HIM TO HIT THE MOVE IN WWE SINCE HE ARRIVED! Seriously, if anyone there can execute it safely, it's KO. I'm glad they finally let him hit it.

Clean angle but no sound

 

[OJ Simpson]

The winged belt is beautiful, man. I get that for merchandising purposes they've gone the route they have, but sometimes I wish tradition could be honored better in this gay little sport. Imagine big goldie had been redesigned every 5 years.

 

[JustStopDude]

yeah, thats the unfortunate reality, Cornette at least has some credibility in my eyes because he actually worked in the industry

I realize this is going to make me sound like a fan boy but Cornette can always, in any argument with someone in the industry, fall back on that SMW "technically" never lost money, and more importantly, the talent was always paid. That is sadly a rarity in pro wrestling.

SMW, looking back was wild. So much ECW and WWE talent got their start. I must admit I'm partial to it because it's how I learned English when I came to the states.

Buddy Landel going to a local used car dealership to find a wreck for the baby face Bobby Blaze he was facing will always make me laugh on so many levels.

https://youtu.be/myUXto3OcJM?si=qDzO0AIGxhEAFe8a

RIP Buddy Landel. The true Nature Boy.

 

[Shoresy]

Who called that Kevin was gonna steal the Winged Eagle? Cause that happened too:

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Ah, maybe I didn't explain myself properly. I agree a 'real sport' approach would suck, but borrowing aspects from competitive sport and using it for storylines is more what I had meant. Like, you can create a competitive sports framework but use it as a vehicle for drama and storylines.

Like you said, it probably would never be feasible (how do you fit in gimmick matches or hell, tag team matches, etc.), but I'm still intrigued about potential possibilities. I wouldn't want to see like ROH 2.0 or Japanese wrestling 2.0 or whatever, but something more silly and campy.

CMLL seems to line up with what people would regard as "real sports" presentation
Helps that Captain rules gives a reason for a score.

 

[beautiful person]

Clean angle but no sound
View attachment 6753090

Way to sell that, Lil' Naitch.

 

[GloryHole Stalker]

Yeah, I know it's been largely derided in 'worst gimmick ever' lists but the AWA Challenge Series has always intrigued me. And there was something I saw on a WCW program, around the Dangerous Alliance-era, where they were doing like a rankings system or something. I didn't have access to WCW a whole ton so that one little glimpse has always intrigued me, haha.

NWA/WCW and even the WWF mentioned rankings when it suited them. With the WWF in the Backlund days (probably Hogan too) they'd mention that the current baddie was the #1 contender for the IC or World title...funny thing with that, in hindsight, was that that baddie somehow got to that #1 ranking by doing nothing more than squashing jobbers on TV, lol. The NWA would occasionally bust out the rankings if they fit into the story they were trying to tell at any given moment. It can work when done properly.

The biggest thing though to me, is although you knew it was a work, they presented it in such a way, that you could believe that the wrestlers wanted to legit beat the hell out of their opponent. Could that be done today in the current social media climate? It'd require discipline on the wrestlers part, but I think it could still work.

 

[Kulee Baba]

Who called that Kevin was gonna steal the Winged Eagle? Cause that happened too:

Kevin’s Pile Driver there was excellently performed.

And yes as everyone has said the Winged Eagle belt should be the Champion Belt. I don’t know why the current Belt just needs to be a boring WWE logo. Breaking Jesse Ventura from the nursing home was a great touch, damn shame we couldn’t have him and Vince together for one more show.

 

[Soulless4510]

I believe Vince will return sooner rather than later since his best friend is in the White House. When that happens, will Hunter be fired or demoted?

 

[Whatisgoingon]

I believe Vince will return sooner rather than later since his best friend is in the White House. When that happens, will Hunter be fired or demoted?

I don't think he has enough voting power with his percentage of stocks, and since he was kicked from the board they'd be retarded to willingly bring him back. There's a better chance of him starting a new wrestling company at this point.