LWOLeN

Dennis Bergkamp

Make Adam Cole Or Johnny Gargano the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and I will quit WWE instantly....

My kids (un)fortunately don’t have the wrestling bug. They really don’t bother to look at the TV while I’m watching in the living room. My fandom is slowly dying.

I redecorated and set up a pseudo ‘home cinema room’ at my attic and used to watch all the shows fully focused. However in the last few months I usually watch WWE in fast forward mode on the toilet while taking a ‘superhero in training’.

I’ve tried to ‘reignite the flame’ by doing some occasional WWE bets, but I’ve grown bored with that also due to the low stakes.

I’m still in limbo on whether I should continue watching wrestling. I have been doing it for 25 years but I really feel like I have already seen every show 32 times before.

Edwin van der Sar

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the ‘booming’ independent pro wrestling business to a screeching halt.

Do you see the indies coming back to ‘normal’ once this is allowed with high school gyms, local bars etc.. being packed again with sweaty, screaming wrestling fans?

Do you think you will still bother to attend and be able to enjoy local indies in a ‘social distance’ setup wearing a face mask for hours?

In short: How do you envision the future of independent wrestling?

32 minutes ago, Louch said:

If they can’t sign wrestlers who they are friends with, that’s gonna rule out a hell of a lotta people. We aren’t at Lanny Poffo levels yet 

Almost. Luther is signed.

‘You may know Tony from 205 Live....’

Michael Cole sure knows how to put talent over... They narrowly made it seem like Riddle just beat a random jobber.

Newsflash:

Tony Nese is a 15 year veteran and after winning the Cruiserweight Nr.1 contender Tournament he went on to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in front of a sellout crowd of 88.000 at WrestleMania last year. Tony Nese was entrant number 10 in this years Royal Rumble.

Lazy commentating. Getting people over is not rocket science. Put some damn effort in it.

11 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Supposedly some are earning decent bank.

Gallows and Anderson said they were pleasantly surprised at how much Impact was able to offer them

Gallows and Anderson are never going to say that they have a shit deal. They are workers and they have a family.

Something tells me that basis wrestling pay is massively exaggerated. They are independent contractors. You get paid most if you work right?

No indies, no house shows, limited shows/matches = No income. Only the people on a guaranteed downside are safe. The rest is probably having a very tough financial time now.

I really can’t imagine Slater/Eric Young/Gallows and Anderson getting a big guaranteed downside at TNA during a pandemic or making a ton on merchandise now.
 

Horrible time to get fired in the wrestling business. 

When it comes to Impact I’m really curious about their economics. Are they really making money?

Beat by a ‘bird flipping’ one armed armbar. 
Still can’t wrap my head around it. DQ finish would have kept plenty of mystique on Cage.

He’s now just a total loser because his mom Taz saved his ass. FTW Paper Champion. Ruined.

I’m happy for Brian Cage that his ‘mom’ Taz is present at ringside to timely save him from embarrassment on live TV.

Talk about a deflating finish. 

Moxley vs Cage: Could it be time for the first ever AEW ‘Dusty finish’?

This certainly gives Brian Cage the cop out.

Very intriguing match tomorrow for a random Wednesday night:

I really felt like watching some ‘wrasslin’ tonight. However RAW turned out to be like that WWE South Park Episode. Gazillion interviews, ad breaks and horrible pacing. 

I decided to just watch some Netflix instead.

I guess I wasn’t the only one. Turns out this was the worst rated RAW in HISTORY. It was truly a sack of shit.

Very fun conversation between Eric Bischoff and Tony Khan.

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Definitely not going to happen. 

Please elaborate.

1 hour ago, andrew "the ref" coyne said:

I can see this, but at the same time, it's really weird that they've given Cage his own (self proclaimed) championship in the form of the FTW title. Why have that if he's going to win the belt? Or why have that and then weaken it by having him lose.

Only thing I can think of is some sort of screwy finish where Cage is the "rightful" winner but Moxley technically retains the title, allowing Cage to go around and brag that the FTW championship is the "real" world title.

Yeah good point. Moxley could go nuts and DQ himself. Retains the belt and Cage remains undefeated. They can have a rematch in an unsanctioned match.

This would be the ‘WWE way’ of booking. However AEW rarely has DQ finishes and ‘not winning’ the belt immediately cools off Cage in my mind.

It would be a huge ‘50-50 booking’ cop out. WWE ruined themselves doing this over and over again.

Tony Khan has been paying Brian Cage since January and paid for all his rehab. He has invested a lot of money in him and listening to a recent podcast he loves Brian Cage and sees him as an AEW World Champion.

Something tells me they will be strapping a rocket to Cage this Wednesday. Moxley can chase the belt back and win the FTW Title In the ‘Unsanctioned rematch’ as the belt is not officially recognized.

I really feel like going ‘against all odds’ on this one. I really see Brian Cage getting a ‘w’.

He will be AEW’s next big megastar and ‘unstoppable machine’. If would do much more for Mox to chase the title back. I trust Moxley knows what’s good for business.

Moxley had some bad luck during his reign.
He was red-hot last year when he debuted.

Despite the lack of actual title defenses, he cooled off Brodie Lee and Jake Hager by simply beating them in their first matches.

Lance Archer was already cooled off by Cody.

Jericho doesn’t need the belt now.

I cannot imagine AEW sacrificing Brian Cage also this soon and cooling him off already with a loss. Fans need to be conditioned in believing that winning the Double or Nothing Ladder match means that we get a new Champion. It’s like AEW’ Royal Rumble/MITB.

If the first winner already loses the eventual title match than we are conditioned to believe that winning the match isn’t a big deal.

In short: Brian Cage is going to win the belt this Wednesday or he gets some kind of ‘w’ because Moxley DQ’s himself. I have a feeling they are going to do some kind of Vader vs Sting finish from GAB 1992. 

My money is on Brian Cage to become the next AEW Champion.

1 hour ago, TheSurgeon said:

More from Marty Scurll

He could have kept quiet or denied....

He could have called her a liar...

Instead he owns and acknowledges it.

Proper statement by Marty Scurll.

4 minutes ago, wordsfromlee said:

16 is still a child in the UK but also the age of consent unlike a lot of places in Europe where it’s 14. 

So he basically admitted to having sex with a child, but it’s not illegal because 16 is the age of consent?

Yet she says she was drunk af.

Wow. Wonder how long he still lasts in ROH.

Guess we’ll never, ever see him in AEW/WWE/NXT now.

In most parts of Europe and the rest of the world you are simply still considered a child at 16.

I’m absolutely shocked to realize that 16 in the UK is what 18 is elsewhere. UK Wrestlers shagging kids.

Marty ‘But it was Legal in the UK’ Scurll.

Extremely disappointed in Sammy. He was the ‘shiny new toy’ of AEW. A big highlight every show. Massive potential.

Forever tarnished.

Now he’s one of those things you regret buying but too expensive to throw away...you just stuff it away and try to forget about it I guess.....

What was Piper trying to say?

This weekend has completely turned pro wrestling upside down. It proved that the promoters and wrestlers are the ‘actual’ marks in their fantasy universe and that we the fans are a lot smarter than we ever got credit for.

I can enjoy good wrestling, but nobody has to  indirectly get molested, abused and dropped on his head at age 14 to make a wrestling show possible for me. 

It seems that the most dangerous ‘hold’ in pro wrestling is not the illusion of a strangling move in the ring but the reality of all the abusive control and mind games exercised outside it.

This weekend shows that wrestling’s most bloodiest and ‘realest’ brawls do not occur in the ring but in its locker rooms, training sessions, car rides and hotels where greed, abuse and betrayal is routinely practiced with no scripted outcome. 

Needles to produce charisma.

Pills to reduce pain.

An eventual OD, suicide or heartattack as a finish.

Abuse and manipulation as just ‘paying your dues.

I’m so disappointed in independent wrestling as I know how fun it could be when done right.

4 minutes ago, Hoptimus said:

This has all been a very sad and depressing long weekend. 

In regards to regulating the business a number of independent promotions in the UK work to an already tight budget and have some of the talent double up to do other duties. 

If you are a promotion that runs a town hall once a month draws 350-400 fans each month at a £12-15 ticket price you have all the various overhead to cover. You have venue, talent fees, event marketing, travel and accommodation. If the promotion doesn't own its own ring then ring hire, production that's not included with the venue hire. There will be other costs that I will have possibly missed. 

Most promotions will struggle to add the cost of professional people in such as on hand medical personnel for all events. 

The wrestlers and anyone backstage might not be willing to pay for any disclosure checks. You could have a scenario where talent are looking for promoters to foot the bill for PVG checks but then the promoter may turn around and say you don't get this yourself you don't get work. Independent wrestling is run on a shoestring budget at times and people will cut costs at every chance to make themselves more profitable. I just hope the industry gets together and is on the same page and there is some sort of regulation and people get themselves disclosure checks.  

If you don’t have have the funds and means to provide a safe working place, than you should not be in the wrestling business. It’s not rocket science.