air_raid

Re : belt names. I've never seen one before, no-one has, but I'm guessing it's a White Hole. The problem with that is, with two shows and two rosters where two blokes are going to be "the champion" its massively counter-productive to present one as overtly more important the other. In terms of getting people to watch the shows or buy tickets to events, you can't have anyone feeling short-changed if they have the "lesser" champion, even though that's exactly what they fell into with Roman's rarely contested Neverending Story of a run with the Undefeated, Undisputed, WWE Heavyweight Champion of Life, The Universe And Everything, gobbling up all challengers into the Nothing, and Seth's Silver Medal - defended most months but nobody really wanted to win it anyway. The nearest they got to parity was in the first brand split - SmackDown, the junior and fairly obviously less important TV show, still had the WWE title, the oldest title in company history, still regarded as THE title. While Raw, though in possession of the brand new/revived title with the Big Gold Belt as its symbol, could still argue the toss that it had an argument to have THE top guy, because they were champion on the flagship brand and expected to be drawing the ratings on THE show. But they fucked that by swapping Cena and Batista over and taking the respective titles with them, even then.

Still think "World" next to the title names is rubbish and there is nothing wrong with "Raw" and "SmackDown" as prefixes for midcard titles - especially with the Womens. "Raw Womens Champion" and "SmackDown Womens Champion" are far more logical than what they have now - they were the champions of their respective shows. Today, there's a Womens Champion of WWE, and a Womens Champion of "the World." Huh?

Conversely they could have done wonders if, like with a men’s title, she’d have been presented as the heel champion where you don’t just have her to worry about but the rest of the squad. Instead, she beat all the biggest obstacles to her dominance - Charlotte, Nia, Becky - by simply being better than them when the bell rang. Which is fine, if you want her to become a hero. But apparently she’s a heel. Still not ruling out a bitter divorce and full face turn culminating in her vs Dom at Mania 41.

Warrior vs Rick Rude, Bret vs Shawn and Rock vs HHH being the obvious ones that come to mind.

What an incredible time we have now, where thanks to a record setting champion, a good story and a fine, well booked win, we see an Intercontinental Champion presented like this - fortuitous timing though it is that they’re back in Montreal - like “look at this guy, he fucking won big, he’s walked out a bigger deal than when he walked into Mania.” Bit early to say they’ve rescued the ICT having value but in the here and now, let’s forget that Sami is in his fourth reign because this feels like a first in all the ways the big wins for Bret, Razor, Bulldog and Tornado did - so meaningless was the title when Zayn won it three times before. Good for them, good for him.

Chalk me up as another who has “Dr Britt Baker DMD” down as a natural fit for WWE: Firstly, she has her character nailed already. Secondly, they need some new heels - Damage CTRL are finished, Rhea isn’t really a heel, they’re bound to try and bring Charlotte back as a face, short of turning Belair they’re lacking badly for a baddie. Finally, I really like Lockjaw, always had a weakness for a unique finish that isn’t shit. As an aside… I can’t believe someone actually took the midcarders favourite lazy choice, Roll The Dice/The Testdrive/Last Rites/Heros Welcome all the way to winning the big belt at Mania 40.

I don't know if Ted would have ever bankrolled the creation of WCW (as a promotion rather than just the name of a TV broadcast/re-brand of JCP) if he hadn't had such a personal falling out with Vince over Georgia Championship Wrestling ; he'd probably have just carried on broadcasting other wrestling promotions' TV on his networks rather than buy one outright and pump a load of cash into it, rebrand it etc. McMahon's impersonation of Turner calling him to tell him "I'm in the rasslin' business" has been repeated a few times, I'm not sure he dives in headfirst and buys JCP if he didn't want to directly compete with Vinny Mc.

There is a pair I'd love to see back in WWE, but I doubt very much she'd go back.

Probably didn't help that they were flogging Hogan's t-shirts and he wasn't seeing a penny. Although having said that... I forget where I heard that, so it might be Terry brand bullshit.

In AEW is he permitted to do the Canadian Destroyer as a nearfall, as I saw him do on an indy show? Bush league nonsense, that.

Come again? If we're literally bringing him back to transplant him back into The Shield, why wouldn't we want to call him by the name he was when he was in The Shield the first three times? He was WWE Champion under that name, it's not Derrick Bateman or Stardust.

OCTOBER 2019 "Out of nowhere..." the brand split seems to have disappeared!! Probably makes sense, star power is a bit through the floor. Reigns is treading water again, AJ is fucking around with the US title, Bryan isn't wrestling much, and they've bitch-slapped Kofi back down to the midcard in favour of putting THE belt on a part-timer. Anyone would think Lesnar vs Reigns was the plan again! Don't worry, there's a pandemic round the corner to save us from some of this shit. MAIN EVENTS 5th in San Diego a very cross-brand card has no title match so Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan vs Luke Harper & Erick Rowan goes on last. It's once again Seth Rollins vs The Fiend 12th/13th in Odessa and Amarillo and 19th in Trenton - 20th in Rochester there's a return to the AJ Styles vs Braun Strowman US title match that goes to a DQ and transforms into Braun and Viking Raiders (doing double duty) beating Styles, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. The SmackDown lads head to Oz - 21st in Sydney its a tag team main in the cage before 22nd/23rd in Brisbane and Melbourne Bryan vs Harper opens and Reigns vs Rowan in a streetfight or cage match closes. 25th in Sunrise (suburban Miami) its actually Rollins vs Styles in a cage, 26th in San Juan we're back to Rollins vs Fiend to a DQ in Seth's final successful defence of any World title until 2023. THE CARDS Roman Reigns vs Erick Rowan happens before intermission in Texas. AJ Styles vs Braun Strowman for the US title also occurs in San Diego and San Juan as well as Rochester, Viking Raiders vs Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows repeats in Texas and Sunrise (by which time it's for the Raw tag belts), in San Diego and San Juan there's the impromptu six man too. There's The Revival vs New Day for the SmackDown tag belts in Texas and Sydney, plus Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton in Sydney, a six-man of Kofi, Big E & Buddy Murphy vs Orton/Revival in Brisbane then one leads to the other in Melbourne. Bayley vs Charlotte for SmackDown's belt continues in San Diego and Oz, in Texas it's Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs Bayley & Tamina because reasons. Shinsuke Nakamura vs Mustafa Ali for the ICT repeats in both Texas and Australia and all three nights in Australia have Asuka & Kairi Sane vs Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose vs The Iiconics. There's Shorty Gable vs King Corbin in Texas, Ricochet vs Andrade in the North East and Ric upsets Drew McIntyre month end. VARIATIONS In San Diego we have Nakamura vs The Miz, all 3 New Day vs Orton & Revival and Ricochet vs Cesaro. Trenton it's Strowman vs Corbin, Aleister Black vs Cesaro, Lynch vs Lacey Evans vs Natalya, Raiders vs Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode and No Way Jose vs Mojo Rawley. In Rochester, Cesaro vs Jose, Nattie vs Lacey, Black vs Corbin, Raiders vs Ziggler & Roode and Rawley & Shelton Benjamin vs Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins. Sydney get a one off Murphy vs Sami Zayn. In Sunrise we have Lynch vs Charlotte, Andrade vs R-Truth, Humberto Carrillo vs Shelton and Nattie vs Sarah Logan, finally in San Juan it's Lynch vs Evans yet again, Nattie & Nikki Cross vs Logan & Tamina and Corbin loses (only by count-out) to Rey Mysterio. MAIN EVENTS - NXT Some fairly weak cards at the traditional small Florida venues - 3rd at Sanford it's Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake vs Riddick Moss & Dorian Mak on last, 4th in Bartow Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox vs Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir. 5th in Largo Keith Lee vs Dominik Dijakovic sounds OK, 10th in Largo its Sons vs "Outliers" Mak & Moss vs Rinku Singh & Saurav Gurjar, 11th in Coral Gables the real starts turn up, Cutler, Blake and Jaxson Ryker lose to Roderick Strong, Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish and next night in West Palm Beach with reDRagon defending underneath it's Strong vs Keith on last for the NAT. They spread their wings for some bigger shows - 17th in Portland and 19th in Vancouver Strong defends against Matt Riddle, either side 18th in Seattle Cole's three lieutenants lose to Finn Balor & Street Profits then 20th in Kelowna reDRagon defend against Riddle and Pete Dunne. Back in Florida its Riddle vs Austin Theory 24th in Dade City, Dunne vs Marcel Barthel 25th in Jacksonville, Strong vs Danny Burch 26th in Lakeland and 31st in Seminole though a ridiculously weak sounding battle royal (won by Bronson Reed) goes on last Keith vs Theory stands out. B shows - while the big guns are getting rained or snowed on in Washington and British Columbia, 17th in Tampa its Angel Garza vs Shane Thorne, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake vs Marcel Bathel & Faiban Aichner 18th in Fort Pierce and Imperium losing to Keith Lee & Jeet Rama 19th in Daytona Beach. THE CARDS Damien Priest vs Pete Dunne kicks off in Coral Gables and West Palm, then identical crackers in Portland and Vancouver see Kassius Ohno vs Isiah Scott then when Ohno wants another match he's beaten by Finn Balor (Balor also beats Ohno in Kelowna - he's back down in NXT at management's request), Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish vs Street Profits for the tag belts, Shayna Baszler vs Candice LeRae for the ladies' (which started in Coral Gables), Dominik Dijakovic vs Bronson Reed, and three matches that repeat in Seattle - more of Priest vs Dunne, Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox vs Vanessa Borne & Aliyah (recurs in Jacksonville) and Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs Riddick Moss & Dorian Mak (all four nights). Shuffles on the other two shows that week have Ohno vs Reed (recurring from Cocoa), Baszler vs Kai and Tegan/Candice vs Borne/Aliyah. Other repeats this month - and there seem more than normal - have Keith Lee vs Austin Theory early month in Bartow and later in Seminole, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake vs The Outliers in Sanford and Lakeland, Fly Kicks vs Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir in Bartow, Coral Gables and Lakeland, Mia Yim vs Taynara Conti in Cocoa and Dade, Arturo Raus vs Tehuti Miles in Sanford, Largo and Daytona, Dexter Lumis vs Jeet Rama in Sanford, Cocoa and Jacksonville, Keith vs Dijak in Largo and Coral Gables, Mansoor vs Theory in Largo, Tampa and Fort Pierce and Catalina Garcia vs Santana Garrett in Cocoa and Daytona. VARIATIONS - SOME SANFORD - Angel Garza vs Kona Reeves, Yim vs Deonna Purrazzo, Cameron Grimes vs Mansoor, Jessi Kamea & Kayden Carter (Lacey Lane) vs Borne & Aliyah. BARTOW - Lio Rush vs Scott, Killian Dain vs Garza, Bianca Belair vs Kamea. LARGO - Io Shirai vs Reina Gonzalez, Grimes vs Scott, Belair & MJ Jenkins vs Borne & Aliyah. COCOA - Scott vs Raul Mendoza, Belair & Carter vs Borne & Aliyah. CORAL GABLES - Baszler vs LeRae, Riddle vs Garza, Scott vs Shane Thorne, Fandango vs Kona. WEST PALM - reDRagon vs Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner for the belts, Scott vs Kona, Dijak vs Garza, Candice & Fly Kicks vs the Horsewomen. SEATTLE - Scott vs Dijak. KELOWNA - Roderick Strong vs Scott for the NAT, Priest vs Dijak. TAMPA - Belair vs Taynara, Yim vs Chelsea Green, Duke & Shafir vs Reina & Rhea Ripley. FORT PIERCE - Ripley vs Belair, Shafir vs Conti, Garza vs Brendan Vink, Kamea vs Jenkins. DAYTONA - Dain vs Vink, Yim/Carter/Kamea vs Io/Deonna/Chelsea. DADE - Carter vs Kamea, Santana & Xia Li vs Jenkins & Garcia. JACKSONVILLE - Theory vs Thorne, Io vs Rhea (!), Reina vs MJ. LAKELAND - Conti vs Kamea. Finally SEMINOLE - Xia vs Taynara and the opening Womens battle royal is (unsurprisingly) won by champ Shayna. TVs Wednesday 2nd NXT has Scott vs Lumis as a dark opener for a big time show where Adam Cole, Baszler and reDRagon turn back challenges from Riddle, LeRae and Street Profits respectively. 4th SmackDown is a monster 20th Year Anni show - Ali vs Murphy is the dark opener, Kevin Owens upsets the incredible Shane McMahon in a "loser leaves" ladder match, and Brock Lesnar smashes Kofi in seconds to win the WWE title and send Kingston back to meaningless tags where he belongs. Sunday 6th in Sacramento is Hell In A Cell, which Meltzer declares one of the worst PPV of all time. Reigns & Bryan drop Harper & Rowan, Becky beats Sasha inside the Cell, Orton halts the momentum of Ali dead in its tracks, Asuka & Kairi beat Nikki & Alexa for the tag belts, Gable upsets Corbin, Charlotte depressingly beats Bayley for the SmackDown belt and a Hell In A Cell between Rollins and The Fiend has a fucking awful finish - with Rollins already losing favour from fans with whom the Fiend character has caught on, he's not permitted to actually beat Wyatt's new character, rather the ref "stops the match" without a winner when Seth uses a sledgehammer. Having not won, after some spooky bollocks "the champ" is then left lying. Oops. Next night in Bakersfield Cesaro vs Miz is an odd dark main for Raw, Wednesdays NXT has Moss vs Reed and Carter vs Purrazzo before a show on which Rush beats Drew Gulak for the CWT, Friday in surburban Vegas Heavy Machinery beat Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel YET AGAIN before the show, and in a confusing mess Bayley rips up her waving inflatable mascots like a heel, pins smug cunt Charlotte (still a heel, I think) CLEAN to win the belt back then smirks like a heel in celebration. Umm... who am I supposed to cheer for here? Monday's RAW in Denver has the Raiders win the tag belts from Ziggler & Roode and dark Rollins beats The Fiend but again, only by DQ. Wednesday at Full Sail the dark matches are Garrett & Li vs Chelsea & Deonna and Rush vs Theory, Fridays SmackDown has Crews vs Kalisto before the show and Cesaro vs Miz after it. 21st Raw has Rollins vs Fiend in a cage dark, Wednesdays NXT is preceded by Conti vs Kamea and Mendoza vs Vink and on the show proper Fly Kicks earn a shot at the (main roster) tag titles. SmackDown has Apollo Crews vs Drake Maverick before it, on the show Evans beats Camron Connors (Amari Miller). Raw in St Louis has Mike Sydal appear in a tag loss to the Raiders and dark another Rollins vs Fiend cage match, NXT has Reina vs MJ and Breezango vs Theory & Mendoza dark, the Kabucki Warriors appear to turn back Fly Kicks plus Tyler Bate sighting - he loses to Grimes. Finally the last day of the month has a rare Thursday PLE - the blood money Crown Jewel has debacles I don't even care to touch on with Strowman vs Tyson Fury and Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez, and on last the companys oldest title actually changes hands in Saudi Arabia as Wyatt drops Rollins in a falls count anywhere match. Apparently there were designs on a Lesnar vs Velasquez rematch at Mania before this match in which Cain sustained an injury which put the mockers on it. Imagine that. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Roode & Ziggler (Raw Tag Team Champions) by Viking Raiders. DEPARTURE Whoops, jumped the gun on one....

Heyman would excel there. He already portrayed conflict really well when it was dawning on him that he'd soon need to choose between Reigns and Lesnar.

Probably. Remarkable to think how Vince Sr would have blackballed Hogan over Rocky III had he stayed at the helm. Toots Mondt had to persuade him Bruno was the way to go, even before that. Sometimes you really need a groupthink rather than one bloke calling the shots. On a tangent, I love that Jim Barnetts final lasting contribution to wrestling was selling John Cena to Prichard as the next top guy, who in turn sold him to Vince.

Yeah but you know how promoters are always horny for “the rubber match.” Ah, memories of WWE doing the third Angle vs Michaels match on Raw to “settle it” and making it a 30 minute Iron Man… which ended in a draw. Wrestling, man.

I think it will be Okada vs Danielson at Wembley. Ospreay vs Pac might be a shout for support but it doesn’t draw the house a match would that hasn’t happened over here before. Even I have already seen Ospreay vs Pac in person and I’ve seldom left my house in 5 years except to go to work!

TIL Moose is still a thing. Is he still shit?

Come to think of it, maybe Crockett wouldn’t have ended up with a vastly greater level of success than they did if Vince Jr hadn’t bought and pushed on the (W)WWF as he did. Ultimately JCP was a very successful competitor for several years but ultimately where they fucked themselves and ended needing to sell to Turner was spending money without keeping an eye on if they had banked it yet. When the people running the gaffe have that in them, it’s destined to fail regardless of what the competition are doing. Yes, Vince went shit or bust on WrestleMania and gambled everything on rolling two sixes. But he knew what he was gambling, as opposed to Crockett, Barnett and the lads all riding in their private limos to Chicago to whoop it up at the massive gate they’ve drawn, blissfully unaware it doesn’t cover half what they’ve spent this week. I’m sticking with the AWA, brother. Although they’d inevitably crash and burn too when the Hulk refuses to drop the belt to Greg Gagne.

This phrase makes me think they need to get her a tag team partner. And some pigeons. Just kidding, I’d never advocate for a Beautiful People knock off unless Little Miss Bliss was back on the active roster.

Some of the most “big time” feeling effects they managed in the early years of my fandom where the custom spotlights and mat hologram effects they did when they were actually on the floor for gate receipts and arena attendance - Bret had hearts flying through the darkness, Razor had umm razors, and a wonderfully smug image of the King of Harts cast as a playing card was projected onto the mat when he was in the ring, and it looked great even though they were in a little conference hall of a holiday resort in Bushkill. So, I’m not that convinced the effectiveness of the production/presentation is any indicator as to where the business is when I think the show looked better under Diesel than it did under Hogan. Re : big tron. I’m not arsed, I think a smaller video wall with the wrestlers video playing that you only see for half the time the camera follows them to the ring is fine. The people there can see what’s happening in the ring and on telly it’s on telly, you don’t need a whopping great starship bridge windscreen sat there just because Vince and Co liked it. Re : augmented reality - bin it. Big logos look OK like Cody’s but most of the time it’s giant inflatable Romans or whoever had those stupid birds, and it looks awful. Really expensive effects that look like they’re for kids who ultimately aren’t going to care that much either way.

Sorry for the (partial) necro bump but I’m not sure I want it getting back to Tony that the Dynamite thread is getting more attention than Mania. Even now. 😉 The Headshrinkers were part of the famed 9 goon pile on too. Long game revenge confirmed.

Someone dissing house shows? We can’t be friends. It’s easy to slant Solos record to suit either argument. “Only Randy Orton has pinned him on TV in 2024” and “He hasn’t won a match since Crown Jewel” are both true. When you only ever have shmozz finishes, how do we know if you’re any good or not?

The casting out of Jimmy also surely points towards an eventual Usos reconciliation and long game, Roman & Usos vs Bloodline black n white.

No. A four month spell in 2016 in WWE is the only time they were working in the same place and AJ and Stardust did not cross paths at that time.