Shane O' Mac Version 2

Grayson Waller is in the Slim Jim Battle Royal, leading me to believe The Rock stuff isn't happening. So either- Grayson's been teasing it heavily just to create some buzz around himself, or tentative plans were made with Rock in mind but they fell through.

Annoyed that Trish vs. Becky got bumped from Summerslam for this battle royal, but apparently it's a very lucrative sponsorship deal with Slim Jim, so they can't just shove it on the pre-show. Some big-ish names in the thing so far, with AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and The Miz all in it. I know they're not the names they once were but still. Hopefully, a spotlight moment for LA Knight so people on Twitter stop crying that he's buried (at least for a day or two).

They announced on Rampage that JR's just coming in for the Punk match. He should be fine in that. He knows/likes Punk, FTR have the kind of style he likes, same with Joe (hoss) and I think he may have called Jay White/Juice Robinson matches during his NJPW run.

It'll serve the purpose of getting a JR soundbite on Punk's return match, good for future video packages/docos/whatever. Surely he can muster up the energy for one match.

I hope they put Grayson Waller in the ring soon, or at least make him more of the focus in his Grayson Waller Effect segments. That's two segments he's had now, first the one with AJ, where he was just kinda there while AJ gave a half-hearted promo about his world championship match, and now this week where he served as a vehicle for all the ladies to have a brawl to promote MITB.

I don't think Grayson's looked particularly good or added much of anything in his two Effect segments. He's shown very small flashes of the charismatic dick he was in NXT- his little quip of "I love America" while the girls were fighting was decent. But either use it to future a Grayson feud or put the boy in a match where he can show that he's got something about him. The crowds will give up on him quick if he's just window dressing to prop up other things on the show.

3 minutes ago, Loki said:

On the upside, the women's division generally is banging.  Tiffany Stratton, Zoey Stark, Nikkita Lyons and Sol Ruca are an explosive combination for a division and it could be a new Horsewomen era as they develop - and they have lots of good talent to develop alongside.  AEW take note.

3 out of the 4 I'm with you, but Nikkita Lyons? She has a great arse and owns the social media thing with the thirst traps, but I haven't been overly impressed by her otherwise.

She's athletic, but I think she's already on her second knee injury since joining. And her promos are completely wooden.

On 4/9/2023 at 2:29 AM, TildeGuy~! said:

So another draft then where wrestlers just cross over onto another show within weeks of it? 

Amazing.

I miss the original brand split, from 2002-2007. They really tried hard to keep the brands separate. The first time they started to get wishy-washy with it was when Jeff Hardy came back and they just let them team even though Jeff was on Raw and Matt was on Smackdown. They even had matches in ECW, 'cause reasons. I excused it because it was the return of the Hardyz, but the boundaries really fell down from there. Absolute guarantee that wrestlers cross brands quickly this time around.

The main thing I'm looking forward to with this draft is NXT call-ups, which is what I assume they meant when they said "every superstar is eligible". The Draft happens right after NXT's Spring Break special. Grayson Waller's been ready for a minute, Cameron Grimes has been in limbo and appears ready to burst onto the scene. Plus they've got a fairly deep women's roster, couldn't go wrong with calling up a handful to boost the main roster ranks.

Haha fair. I guess what I mean is that it's confusing that it's not included while Wrestle Kingdom is. If anything, you'd think the extra should be ponied up for WK, right?

It's like the WWE Network including WrestleMania in the subscription and making you pay extra for Elimination Chamber.

Does anyone know why Battle In The Valley is a separate PPV to NJPW World? Seems very strange that I can use NJPW World to watch Wrestle Kingdom, but this show is asking for $30 or so on top of that.

Tried watch wrestling but NJPW copyright swooped on that. Almost got through the main event on YouTube as it was uploaded in parts, but NJPW copyright just beat me on that, was up to the final part when it got blocked.

Lots of people crying "robbery" online but even as a big Volk fan, I think it was a really close fight that he lost. Dropped the first two rounds, but still shocked a lot of people with his grappling defence, edged R3, got backpacked R4, and had a really strong R5. It sucks that positional dominance overcomes everything else, as Alex spent the entirety of R4 punching Islam as Islam had his back, but we know how the scoring works.

So massive credit to Volkanovski for giving Islam the toughest fight of his career, especially right after Islam smashed Oliveira, but I gotta give credit to Makhachev too. He had better striking than I ever could have anticipated, good timing with counters and he stunned Volk on a few occasions. Just as high level a fight as one could expect when P4P #1 and #2 face off.

The rest of the card was great too. Yair was very impressive and makes an exciting next fight with Volk for the featherweight strap. Jack Dell Maddalena has a VERY bright future.

The only real disappointment I saw was Tyson Pedro. Either the guy was gassed after R1 or he just didn't want to be there. Very deflating performance.

I didn't think the show was TERRIBLE, but I had higher hopes for a few bits.

Mostly the main event. Grayson Waller did a stellar job building this thing up on social media, but the match itself was definitely a bit rough. Breakker's best work has come when he's in the ring with 15-20 years vets. I love Waller and think he has loads of potential, but he's only been doing this about 5 years, with the pandemic halting his momentum on the Aussie indies. You could see him trying his best to both guide Bron through the match and draw heat, but Bron sure looked lost for a lot of it.

The triple threat was a little pedestrian. Toxic Attraction, like Waller, great characters with potential, but not yet the ring generals to lead the way, and I think Roxanne is very overhyped. She's good for someone so young, but I don't see anything spectacular there.

Liked the chaos of the men's tag and the old Takeover feel of Wes vs. Dijak. The women's tag was a fun undercard bit too. Technically, Melo vs. Crews was very good, but I just struggle to care about Apollo in any way whatsoever.

If the Usos can't make it into Canada at all, I'd get a massive kick out of them getting around it like this- Sami's on a great run in the match, lots of momentum, Roman's on the verge of losing, Sami sets up for the Helluva Kick... and Roman just turns around and boots Zayn in the balls. The most blatant DQ ever to keep the title while Montreal goes nuclear.

3 hours ago, FUM said:

Crazy how many fantasy bookers are working themselves into acting like Sami/KO v The Usos is a deserved ending for this story because they don’t want the disappointment of the proper logical ending where Romans head gets taken off by Sami or Jey not happening.

It's a shame that WWE haven't treated their tag division as important for such a long time. We almost had it back with the New Day/Usos feud, but really we need to go back over 20 years to the glory days of Edge & Christian vs. Dudleyz vs. Hardyz to where the tag belts were a big deal, with the matches stealing the show.

Treated properly, it shouldn't be a disappointment for Sami & Kevin to join forces after this long story to wipe out not only the main supporting pillars of the Bloodline, but the longest reigning tag champs in WWE history. And even then, they had the Usos break that record on a random episode of Smackdown.

It might be too late now for it to feel like a big deal to the masses, but I'd be for Sami taking Roman to the absolute limit at Elimination Chamber, only to get screwed out of it by The Usos, then having the Montreal Mega-Powers combine to beat Usos at Mania. End their historic long reign, and do it in devastating fashion so that Roman enters his match with Cody without the back-up that he's had for 2.5 years.

Somebody can do something to Solo as well. I really don't get the hype with him. Just a bleach blond Uso who nicked Umaga's finish.

On 1/5/2023 at 10:07 PM, Hannibal Scorch said:

Heard my friend discussing this on a podcast. Seems this was missed as it doesn't affect us https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/wwe-network-streaming-binge-foxtel-tv-rights-australia-kayo/?zephr_sso_ott=I8pvNV

The WWE Network in Australia is now part of the Binge streaming service and the standalone network is gone. With Peacock getting it last year in the US, is it only a matter of time before it gets snapped up by someone in the UK (Presumably Peacock, but who knows)?

As an Aussie, absolutely gutted about this change. Binge would be lucky to have 5% of the content that the WWE Network had. Only the last 2 years of Raw and Smackdown, and a weirdly low and random selection of PPVs- the last 7 years of Rumbles, no WrestleManias, but Invasion 2001, Rock Bottom 1998 and the Saudi shows all made the cut. Surprisingly thorough on the reality shows- all the Total Divas, Total Bellas, and Miz & Mrs is there for our viewing "pleasure".

I was worried about this happening when the switch was announced. A lot of Aussies were excited, because Foxtel/Binge is a big company, but it's a total shitshow.

Hope you guys fare better when the switch is made on your side.

The Hardys vs. The Bucks is a strange inclusion. Wasn't as great a "dream match" as one might have hoped, but it was decent. I think way too much is made of Jeff's condition in that match, they still pulled through it.

Vince vs. McAfee was awful, but at least it was short.

Had to go with Flair's "Final" Match. Genuinely painful to watch. And the mad old bastard has been making noise about wanting another one.

On 1/18/2023 at 3:08 AM, Mr Kennedy said:

I’m really looking forward to seeing Road Dogg and The Bellas on Raw next week. Said no one ever. 

Road Dogg the performer I quite like. I won't be able to stop myself going "OH YOU DIDNT KNOW" when he makes his entrance on Raw XXX.

Now, Brian James, with his terrible Tweets and opinions, can get in the bin.

Emmalina.

Which is a bit of a weird one, incredibly hot woman who does a lot of Instagram photo shoots couldn't pull off gimmick of "incredibly hot woman who does a lot of Instagram photo shoots".

I guess there's a different level of confidence between posting IG thirst traps and acting like that in front of a live audience.

7 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

Speaking of tacky - let’s get some better gear on our man Grayson. He’s got good charisma and I like his in-ring work, but his gear looks very ‘training school’ and doesn’t reflect the great character work they’ve done with him, like when he’s swanning about in Sydney looking really flash. 

A lot of people bring this up about Grayson's shorts, and I don't really see the issue- it's a nod to a boxing/MMA background- in kayfabe they've referred to him having a boxing past, and IRL he trained MMA with Robert Whittaker prior to starting wrestling, which Nigel McGuiness referred to on commentary when Waller started on TV. I like that it's a unique attire to all the trunks/tights out there.

Besides, one of the biggest stars of the last 20 years got by in jorts.

2, 6, 13, 21, 25

16 hours ago, Nick James said:

Fuck, there was absolute silence to Bronson Reed appearing. Not even a glint of shock. HHH would have been better off bringing most of them back to NXT first, rebuild that brand back up, then move them over. 

I get bringing in the women as that roster was threadbare, remember last year's women's rumble and how they had to scrape the barrel? 

Bronson Reed wasn't even over in NXT before he left and most people who watch Raw, probably don't watch NJPW, and if they do, they're the ones that will moan about Raw anyways. 

The thing is, the show was actually pretty good as well, but that's the main take away from the show.

To be fair, most of Bronson's run happened in pandemic era NXT. Came in at the tail end of 2019 and didn't get a proper push until they were in front of trainees and a select few super fans in the area.

JONAH/Bronson is a talented guy. Had he came in a couple of years earlier, in front of proper audiences and before NXT took a nose-dive going to the USA Network, I feel like he'd be "over."

7 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

There were elements in Saraya's promo that had babyface elements to it. Problem was the majority of it was pure entitled superstar. Being the brand new signing that hasn't wrestled in years that's had the red carpet treatment. Yet she's calling out Britt as having everything handed to her by Tony Khan?

Always felt there were more legs in a heel run for Saraya. The Tokyo Dome line would have popped me if she was heeling it up.

Also they need to announce the Elite in a match for Full Gear on Dynamite. We know it's coming now.

When did Saraya work the Tokyo Dome? Didn't think WWE ran shows there, and she was on the UK indies before getting signed, right?

On 7/23/2022 at 1:34 PM, Michael_3165 said:

Nakamura in WWE. Honestly thought he would be a megastar, putting on classics every ppv and being a multi time world champion. Been a damp squib really  given the beautiful work he did in njpw. He has all but given up, sadly. 

Only saw a handful of Nakamura matches pre-WWE (was never massively into NJPW and just caught a couple of the Wrestle Kingdoms back then when they started adding more English commentary). One of those WKs had Nakamura vs. Styles though, and I was impressed. Then he came to WWE/NXT and had a classic with Sami Zayn.

Then immediately after that amazing debut, he just seemed to switch off. Happy to do his signature spots and collect a paycheck. Some people raved about his NXT run- I thought everything he did firmly sat at the 3 snowflake territory at best, and obviously he was never going to wow with his promos or segments.

It's especially frustrating getting a glimpse of how great he was, but then he decided to not give a fuck in a flash. At least he has fun surfing in America. Good for him.

20 hours ago, Loki said:

Escobar is everything Andrade thinks he is.  So pleased he is getting a chance on the main roster.  In their eternal search for a Latino star to replace Eddie, they may have struck gold.

The one worry with Escobar is his age. Not in terms of "can't push him, he's too old", but how many miles on the clock/nagging injuries has he accrued pre-WWE?

A crazy stat- Escobar is older now than Eddie was when he died. He may be the Latino star WWE want, but his run will likely be a little shorter than both sides would like.

21 hours ago, Supremo said:

It’s not even MJF being cooled down or lowered to Yuta’s level that’s struck me the most about this feud. It’s what an absolute slaughter of Yuta it’s been. He’s looked a fucking chump every time he’s been tasked with cutting a promo alongside MJF. If you didn’t know better you’d think he was being humiliated on purpose.

Yuta is a chump though. Wrestles okay- that bloody match with Mox was fun- but everyone can wrestle nowadays. The rest of the time, he's had bland but technically sound matches, and every time he gets a microphone, I'd rather listen to the sound of paint drying. And this is him TRYING to be fiery, charismatic etc etc!

From day 1, I've been baffled what AEW has seen in Yuta. Almost got it in the Mox match, but then he went back to being a boring CAW.

At least Saraya is there to prevent poor Yuta from being the worst promo in the company.

Goodness gracious.

Excited for this one, and not just because of that. Two of my favourite fighters (who just happen to be Aussie) top the bill, and I think we're close enough to the fight that I can get excited for Whittaker competing. Such a savage fighter when he's on, but he's been plagued with injuries/illnesses that make him pull out at the last minute (almost literally in Melbourne with Gastelum). I'm still a bit mad that we didn't get Whittaker vs. Rockhold in Perth, finding out he was out not long before jumping on the plane in Sydney was a real damper on the trip.

Whittaker's said something recently about feeling he's still in his prime. I think he's right. Two losses to Izzy look bad on paper, but only the first was a real bad loss, the second was razor close and could've gone either way. He's handled his business in the Octagon otherwise and I favour him to beat Vettori tomorrow. Hopefully with style points.

Not so sure about Tuivasa winning, as Wand said, bit of a puncher's chance for him here. Definitely hope he connects though. Feels a bit weird to be supporting the guy who will most definitely be the heel to the Paris crowd, but here we are. I like Gane, but Tai is from my city and crazy fun to watch. I was second row cageside for his UFC debut against Rashad Coulter. Insane flying knee KO.

The shoey can piss all the way off though.

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Not a sight I imagined I’d be seeing on Sunday morning. And it’s fucking surreal that someone so close to home is now UFC champion of the world. It was cool when Bisping did it but it’s kind of different when it’s someone who trains in Erdington, an area I used to work in when I left school, an area that’s about 30 minutes max from where I live now and literally just down the road from where my sister lives. It’s weird. 

That's how I feel about Volkanovski. Very similar proximity in terms of where we live. In fact, I work at a school that's about a block away from Freestyle Fighting Gym, and two of my close mates knew him in high school.

Sometimes I think about UFC as this separate, far away thing from us, but it's a reminder that these guys that step into the cage are just regular blokes, who happen to be tough as nails and do their job on telly.

One of the craziest comebacks ever, aided incredibly by the commentary team digging Edwards' grave.

"It'll be a moral victory to make it to the final horn-"

Nope. Left high kick puts Usman's lights out. Unbelievable!