JimboDangerous

When Cody left WWE, that first year or two were completely underwhelming, to a point where I labeled him 'Three Star' Cody Rhodes to a mate; his matches weren't dogshit, but there was nothing that stood out to back up the noise that WWE wErE HolDiNG hIM BaCk!!one!

However you then fast forward All In, where he started the program with Aldis (another underwhelming wrestler), and I was fucking hooked. The YouTube series pushed their match to my most looked forward to, and ultimately MOTY. This was repeated after this with Dustin and Shawn Spears. Logical storytelling with complimentary YT videos that I'd watch every week, and peaked with the MJF feud.

Which is all well and good, yet someone commented on here (I can't remember who) around MJF time that, Cody can tell these big stories leading to the big one on one showdown all week, but as a weekly wrestler, he's underwhelming. Unless he has a big program to get his teeth into, nothing sticks out. Take away the grandiose entrance and being a centrepiece of a company that he's executive VP of, he's still just a three star guy. And I honestly can't see that changing, no matter what self serving shit he brings to television every week

1 hour ago, CavemanLynn said:

This quote sums it up: "The cool thing about the scene is that it's Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman,” Snyder tells Vanity Fair. “It's Joker analysing Batman about who he is and what he is."

So basically an am-dram version of the interview room scene from The Dark Knight then? Pass.

The first possible step to a renewed AEW/NJPW relationship? As far as I'm aware Moxley's contract allowed him to work NJPW, but not on US shores, hence his absence from the Dallas G1 show a couple of years back.

I'd love this to not be a one and done deal dropping the belt to Kenta. Not sure how many are watching Strong each week but Mox vs Brody King, Tom Lawler or Rocky Romero would be great to see. I'd even go for a match against Clark Connors at this point.

In other news...

What a weird announcement. ROH should have taken the bull by the horns and dropped him when he tweeted his statement. Instead this makes it sound like they've split up but will remain friends for the sake of the kids.

6 hours ago, mim731 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Odds on an Omega appearance tomorrow/at New Year's Dash after a successful Ibushi defence? I appreciate it's unlikely, but given the hints about him wanting to collect belts etc it would be a huge talking point if AEW/NJPW had managed to agree something. Given Moxley and Jericho have been able to work NJPW dates it seems vaguely feasible.

Probably just grasping at straws, but as much as I'd love Switchblade to get the win tomorrow, the result feels like a foregone conclusion, so the show could definitely use a boost to go off the air with.

 

Night 1 Spoilers

5 hours ago, Joe Blog said:

Cena

-10 -10 -10

Fin(n Martin)

15 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

As fun as that sounds, I feel like their big shows need to be about building their future. Is working with other companies really going to help that?

I mean, that’s what you feel is best. Which is fine, different strokes for different folks and all that. I’m not looking at what's best for any particular company to build their future, I’m just imagining a massive night of pro wrestling, free from any particular booking mistakes, long term storylines etc if it wants to be. Imagine at the end of this COVID era (if there is such a thing) a massive All In 2 event at Jacksonville’s stadium which is packed to the rafters with fans just happy to be watching a live event after x amount of time. It could be absolutely massive if done correctly and, rather than build a particular brand, it could build pro wrestling as a whole  at a time where for a lot of companies things are hanging by a thread.

I don’t want to see a full on NJPW/AEW relationship, but I’d happily go for an “All In” sequel. Get AEW/NJPW together, even stick ROH/Impact/NWA in there. Little things like a one night Golden Lovers and a massive Bullet Club reunion, Cody/Aldis 3 and a couple of dream matches would be miles better than seeing the talent pools blended together on a semi-permanent basis.

Santino Marella winning the 2011 Royal Rumble.

21 minutes ago, Michael_3165 said:

Not sure but I think I like this. Though another title!? Look forward to some stipulation matches though. Something a bit different in njpw. Loved the Archer v mox match at WK. 

It’s effectively WWE’s championship scramble match stretched out to a calendar year. The winner on the 29th August is the provisional KOPW champ, there’s apparently going to be title matches throughout the year and then at the end of the year, the ‘champion’ is declared 2020 KOPW and gets a trophy with the entire thing resetting for 2021.

17 hours ago, KingofSports said:

(II) The very sight of you is sufficient in itself.

Mojo Rawley. I don’t care that you stay hype, I don’t care that you’re friends with a NFL player. Please please please fuck off, and once you’re there, fuck off again.

3 hours ago, The Cutting Edge said:

Maybe not but worth a shot as a fresh-ish face in main events.

I'm not as clued up on Japan as guys on here so I might get bits wrong or see it differently 

As entertaining as he *can* be on Twitter, he’s absolutely disastrous on the mic (search for the video where he introduces Taiji Ishimori to NJPW) and isn’t anything special without his brother with him in the ring.

The freshest face they can put in a main event right now is Hiromu. It’s just a shame that it’s in front of a 50% crowd and he’s going up against the guy who was the sixth most intriguing member of LIJ.

7 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

According to WrestlingInc(?), at Southside’s 9th Anniversary tonight Cody apparently announced that AEW have signed Anthony Ogogo, who later did an angle where he punched MJF.

Whether that’s a “we’ve signed him, honest!” just for the angle or not isn’t clear, but if that’s a proper signing, it’s a bit out of left-field

 

He was featured in one of the ‘Road to...’ series on YouTube and it stood out as bizarre then. Full on ring training with Cody and talking about how his Mum fell ill during the Olympics.

Ratings are in for Week 4

For those struggling to make sense of it, AEW finished fourth with 963,000 viewers (0.45) in the Cable originals category behind two NBA games and American Horror Story, while NXT finished 21st with 698,000 viewers (0.21)

Rollins. Definitely Rollins.

1 hour ago, Loki said:

Really?  Billy Gunn?  That's unusually nice of WWE, seeing as he's signed up with their new competition, and left under a cloud after his last job at the PC.

Totally deserved though, him Dogg and X-Pac are bona fide stars from their biggest era.

Imagine the backlash if WWE had left Billy Gunn out just because of his current employment. It would look petty as fuck, especially given that Chyna is in.

19 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Was it due to the government shut down which meant none of the Japanese talent were able to get Visas to work the shows? 

 

The simplest solution is often the right one I guess. Nagata, Goto, Ishii, Liger and Roppongi 3K aren’t on the Sapporo New Beginning shows so maybe they were the ones coming over.

5 hours ago, garynysmon said:

This has all the hallmarks of a Borash inspired talent grab or the WWE fucking with Impact.

Impact is on a channel where the ratings are so low they’re untraceable, they’re pretty fucked already.

So NJPW have announced the full cards for the New Beginning in USA shows and every match is a ROH match under the NJPW banner - https://www.njpw1972.com/42933

As you can imagine Twitter is pissed, and while they haven’t necessarily done anything wrong by not bringing any of the major stars over (no one specific was advertised), you do wonder how much, if at all, this will hurt New Japan’s growth in America.

The only heel team (I can think of) on either brand are the Iconics, and a win over Trish and Lita would give both the team and the belts a great push. Is that a Wrestlemania worthy match though?

Did a handful of training sessions for ACW/TAW a few years back under the guidance of Shitarse Fifty alumni and now convicted paedophile Steve “Samson” Biggs. My uncle was there at the time and convinced me to give it a shot.

I don’t think I was awful, but one week I caught an elbow to the back of the head and then the next got spiked on a suplex attempt, so promptly binned it.

Just hit 30 and while I sometimes get the itch to give it another go, I can’t for the life of me find a decent place in Bedfordshire or surrounding areas.

21 minutes ago, Wrasslin said:

Question is will Brock put his working boots on for Balor or will he get the Ambrose treatment.

That’s the big one. On one hand I can imagine Trips having a quiet word with Heyman and/or Lesnar to put a shift in seeing as Bálor is one of his “boys” but on the other Brock Lesnar doesn’t give a fuck who your boys are.

It’s mental that WWE only put these interesting matches together when the original, far less interesting plan goes down the plug hole. Bray Wyatt has viral meningitis? Stick two former leaders of the competitor’s biggest faction in there. Braun’s elbow isn’t healing? Put someone against Brock who has been kicking around doing nothing of note for 18+ months but immediately raises intrigue more than the guy(s) that have been in that position for the past four years.