Rusev day! USA! Edit: Mandy Rose can thrive in heel role if they just give her more material to work with.
All In was ridiculously fun, will definitely order their next PPV. Pretty great Vince dressed Cody up as a spaceman and did nothing with him.
A few rumors about AEW: $100 million backing Among the networks they’re talking to: TBS and TNT Jericho and JR will be involved in some way Will actively go after expiring WWE contracts Goldberg has been contacted Let’s wrestle like it’s 1999
While he was horribly misused, especially after the hot angle they had against The Shield/Authority, I like what Cody at least tried to do with Stardust.
There's so much talent out there and WWE is not using so many guys. If the money is right, they could be a very interesting organization very quickly. Trouble is they'll need to figure out a way to make it profitable. ECW had a ton of talent and couldn't stay afloat.
His ability to spin shit into silver is admirable. Doesn't change the fact he shouldn't have been given shit to deal with in the first place.
ECW's stars were either past their prime retreads or charismatic midcarders who either never would break into the top at WWE/WCW (Raven, Tazz, Awesome, etc) or weren't there yet when Paul had them (Austin, Jericho, Rey). He didn't have the money to compete with the big two when they wanted to swoop in and steal his "almost" mega stars and he certainly didn't have the money to poach anyone from the big two. If AEW has capital to work with, they're better off right now than ECW was at any time. That being said, the best thing ECW always had going for it was Paul Heyman's mind and drive; I don't know if Cody and co. can book a weekly show. Still, as others have said, WWE has more talent than they have hours of programming to feature them, which is stupid to think about considering how boring and drawn out their shows often are. AEW can pick up major talent that already has a name for itself and position itself as a solid number two in the west, which wrestling hasn't had since WCW imploded in 2000 and died in 01 (there's no way to reach WWE's level. They've become a brand too big to fail, like Coca Cola or Kleenex).
AEW has capital but not the kind that WWE has. Its the same problem ECW had. If WWE wants a wrestler, they have the money to make it happen. ECW had a ton of guys that went right from ECW to being stars in WCW/WWE. You mentioned a few (Jericho, Foley, Austin, Malenko, Rey), they also had RVD and the Dudleys who were huge deals in WWE, they also had a shit ton of midcard guys and guys who could have been stars if WWE/WCW used them properly (Raven, Saturn,Rhino, BWO, Candido, Bam Bam, Shane Douglas, 2 Cold Scorpio, Al Snow, Taz, Tajiri, etc) they were bringing in guys from Japan for special shows like Hayabusa, Shinzaki, Gedo, Tanaka). ECW had all the talent in the world to try to compete with WWE, fuck WCW had the same thing and couldn't stay profitable. I wish AEW all the best and pray that it works but I'm dubious.
I think AEW is going run into the same issue most companies run into, which is the money guy deciding he wants to also double as the creative guy.
Curious how promotions like Impact, ROH work with AEW. As much as I love JR he's clearly shot at this point when it comes to announcing. He was calling NJPW matches and was clueless on story's, names and really seemed to not be into it. Maybe they will keep him in talent relations and use him to hire talent. I think that would be a good role for him. Hopefully they can fill arenas even if they are smaller because turning on TV and watching them ala Impact in a TV studio set will kill them quickly.
ROH usually fills up places, and LU has a rowdy crowd. It might only be 500-2000 people but they can fill places up. They may need a home base like LU, NXT, ECW.
Going to be interesting what happens at Wrestle Kingdom with Cody, Bucks, and Omega. Jericho too I guess. Ibushi vs Ospreay will be can't miss
The other issue is having to watch 3 hours of 10 man tags and garbage to get to the 4 matches that actually matter
Fantastic night to be working night shift in my lab. Watch the trios gauntlet while half asleep, wake up when the good shit starts. Smart of them to open the main show with Ibushi/Osprey.
fuckin troopers you guys are, just gonna fire up the ol njpwworld tomorrow afternoon and have a nice little booze fest to this shindig
I got you fam its a video NSFW Spoiler https://www.celebjihad.com/toni-storm/wwe-diva-toni-storm-nude-leak-preview
Mens Royal Rumble Event Entry Fee: $30.00 Max Entry: 1 Payment Options: You will not be officially entered till payment made PayPal - [email protected] (choose friends and family, leave user name in message) Venmo - [email protected] (leave user name in message) PAYOUTS Winner: 400 Runner Up: 200 Iron Man: 100 Quickest Eliminated: 100 Most Eliminations: 100 Spoiler: Entrants 15/30 1. Bankz 2. Sub-Zero 3. Zeberdee 4. Shig 5. Gustavo Fring 6. One Man Wolfpack 7. Tex 8. FSUgrad 9. Govnole 10. Jorr 11. StratKnight 12. Hank Scorpio 13. T-Cock 14. Papa 15. Ohhaithur 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Womens Royal Rumble Event Entry Fee: 20.00 Max Entry: 2 Payment Options: You will not be officially entered till payment made PayPal - [email protected] (choose friends and family, leave user name in message) Venmo - [email protected] (leave user name in message) PAYOUTS Winner: 400 Runner Up: 200 Iron Man: 100 Quickest Eliminated: 100 Most Eliminations: 100 Spoiler: Entrants 21/30 1. Bankz 2. Bankz 3. Sub-Zero 4. Shig 5. Zeberdee 6. Big pig 7. Gustavo Fring 8. One Man Wolfpack 9. One Man Wolfpack 10. Tex 11. Tex 12. Pearl 13. Pearl 14. FSUgrad 15. Jorr 16. Jorr 17. StratKnight 18. Hank Scorpio 19. T- Cock 20. T- Cock 21. Papa 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 1/2 full for the men 9 slots left for the women #WWE
I wish WWE would pull a Disney and just start remaking all the hits from the Attitude Era, with improved bells and whistles (better wrestling). Just treat Becky like Stone Cold. Have her come out like #24 or so and start raising hell, dominating and winning while (proverbially) flipping everyone the bird.
For those of you that follow NXT closely, besides the ones being advertised, what male and female wrestlers do you expect to be called up this year.
Like, post Mania, I’m most confident in Aleister Black and Shayna going up. Matt Riddle will be fast tracked, I could see him debuting on the first Fox Smackdown. It’s really complicated right now, tbh. Will WWE formally turn NXT into a REAL touring brand and pay top talent like they’re on Raw/SD? Make it a stopping point instead of a stepping stone? They’ve kind of hinted at it, and if AEW becomes A Thing, they may have to.
I’m watching some Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling waiting for WK to start. Maki Ito should be your favorite wrestler.
Listening to Meltzer from today and Gedo books two years in advance. And nobody knows his plans but him. It's pretty obvious why hardcores have stop watching main card WWE, and are looking for alternatives like NJPW and AEW.