FUM

Surprised there was any love for the Becky/Bayley segment. I thought it was a decent advert for going back to verbatim scripts - just dreadful how awkward they were thinking of what to say next. I mean they eventually got in a flow but Bayley in particular had not a clue what she was meant to say and there was a huge awkward silence.

I think people misremember Daniel Bryan in the Rumble. Daniel Bryan was massively popular and the peoples choice for sure but people in that arena were angry Batista won, they had gotten over Bryan not being in and were fully backing Roman. The place would have exploded had they given Roman that win. Ironic given that the following year the anger was about Roman being forced down their throats.

I’ve said before but I think it’s a terrible idea that Roman loses any of the belts before WrestleMania. It’s a 2 and a half year title reign that should end with a bang at the big show. He shouldn’t be getting eliminated or taken out of the equation to lose a belt in a match before that.

Just now, WyattSheepMask said:

Apparently they’re in the middle of another right now

 

Think Sapp said it’s just to hit the same points with the rest of the roster.

Where’s the talk of Vince back in creative? Genuinely feel I’ve missed this story. Last I read they held a talent meeting and Trips was explicit that the creative process won’t be changing.

1 minute ago, Sheffbag said:

My feelings on the Zayn situation is for him not win Rumble or headline WM. Give him the win at MITB then have the bloodline keep at him to give it them so he can be a lifetime member of the line and have KO and others keep chirping away at him to cash it in on Roman leading to Summerslam and Sami finally "seeing the light" after the main event and cashing in ona worn down Roman to protect Reigns too

The promos you could do with the Usos and Heyman been overly nice to him in build up would be great

It’s been great long term storyline but there is no chance Sami is kept hot for another 6 months in this story. Anything after Mania is too late and interest will start to go.

14 minutes ago, Loki said:

CNBC are saying it was all bollocks.  When will we learn - wrestling journalists are not real journalists.

To be fair, most of the respected journalists were saying they hadn’t heard much and couldn’t get an answer from WWE. It was fans who ran with it on the back of one tweet.

Yeah I think the point about toys is just a poor memory and possibly not shopping in toy shops or aisles often. When I was young, there was one shop in Glasgow that you knew would have wrestling figures to have a browse at (god bless you A1 Toys!) but the rest of the stores it was a shock to see any.

Now you can dive into B&M and get wrestling figures if you fancy. Heck, I’ve even seen Poundland with the odd wrestling item lately.

People claiming the Saudi deal is done on Twitter do not have the first idea how a publicly traded company works. Sales don’t get done overnight.

I know he owns the joint but I find this all absolutely mental. Also really annoying when the product has improved to a point I’m watching every week again as it is a matter of time before he turfs Trips out.

When did wrestling become a place where the business aspect is judged BEFORE you become the guy? It’s almost always been the case that someone gets over enough to deserve the shot and it’s then you see if they can do business too. If they can’t, they lose the strap and it goes back to someone who has proven they can do business until such time as another person gets over enough.

Often that big moment and title win elevates the person to be able to do the business as well.

Anyway, fuck the business. It’s doing record numbers financially. This is all pre-determined - entertain us.

They have a house show in Cardiff the night after MITB. No chance they’re going there for another stadium show too. Despite all those record merch sales, they will know how much of a struggle it was to make the place look busy and that even more people would give it a miss.

He just couldn’t let Sami Zayn win the Rumble.

Spurs stadium would have been a decent location you have to imagine if NFL are happy to use it.

We have booked a Holiday Inn with free cancellation - will wait till we have tickets before looking at flights down from Glasgow. Imagine, like everyone else, that’s gonna be the struggle.

On 1/3/2023 at 1:44 PM, Fatty Facesitter said:

The Becky/Team Bayley shenanigans were good fun. Io Sky is mesmerising to watch - every time she bumps her limbs fly all over the place, which makes for a fantastic visual. Interesting that they teased Bayley's teammates being dissatisfied with her - interested to see how that develops down the line. I'm guessing we're getting Becky/Bayley at the Rumble too, a welcome development if so.

A welcome development? We had that match a week ago. A very lengthy one at that. If there’s one thing Triple H has been good at then it’s keeping the repetitive matches to a minimum. You can’t wipe them completely of course as some feuds make sense and warrant them but Becky/Bayley already wouldn’t feel fresh.

Agree with all the Solo Sikoa love. Right down to the theme tune, that beat hitting screams “oh fuck” and they presented that brilliantly this week.

Surprised at the “bum show” comment. I massively enjoyed it and it really felt like a big deal.

I didn’t need much more than the entrances for the main event, they had satisfied me plenty as it’s the first I’ve watched in a long time where I’ve felt something was a huge deal. I do wonder after the reports of Roman being unhappy with a KO hit during War Games if he took a receipt here.

I thought Charlotte looked great and the first I’ve ever not wanting to turn my TV over when she’s on it in a long time - big fan of the new theme music as well. The title being off Ronda is the right idea and I don’t think she looked stupid at all. Agreed to defend her title again after a tough match and got done with a hold of the tights.

Really enjoyed Sheamus v Solo as well, Solo is destined for the top in my opinion and what a time of it Sheamus is having lately.

I agree I’d like the Bray storyline to move along a bit but I’m being a hypocrite there when I’ve always harped on about long term storytelling. I actually do have an interest in where it goes which is more than I can say for any other Bray run.

There’s still filler in there but there is always going to be, you can’t hit home runs with every story, match or segment but there’s enough there to have me excited for what’s to come going into 2023.

Bray’s inability to keep in decent condition is astounding. Every single return you go “oh man he’s got in shape” and within a few weeks he has that huge belly back. Everything he’s involved in turns to shit eventually so no surprise on this one.

It will never happen but would love The Rock v Roman one night with Roman v Sami the next and the entire Bloodline to turn on Roman granting Sami the title. He has always treated them all like shit and Roman forcing them to do the dirty on another family member could act as the final straw that breaks them. What a moment if they came down to the ring with the crowd raging expecting they’re taking the title home to Roman, only to go wild when they turn on him. I know some don’t like a babyface to win the title that way as it may look weak but it’s Sami Zayn, it makes sense with his character.

Funniest Moment - Just wanted to add William Regal being cursed by Danhausen to my picks as it popped into my head

10 minutes ago, Loki said:

He's no longer a board member, but he is still a shareholder.

According to CNN Money the largest shareholder is Lindsell Train (Equity firm) with 18%, and individual shareholders together only control  8.47% of WWE.  So based on that, he doesn't own enough of the company to summarily dismiss the board.

Most reports on the interweb are that Vince owns around 35-40% and has about 80% voting power so not sure how accurate that is.

There are different classes of stock and most of his entitle him to the voting power.

I thought it was a decent episode this week throughout. Even the filler segment at the end was a bit of fun though we’ve seen it a million times but the crowd still seem to love it. My only complaint is how quickly Cole is regressing after the initial feeling of freedom. How can you be shouting, “THIS IS UTTERLY HILARIOUS!!”, when you haven’t laughed once yourself?

She’s not worth the hassle for AEW. Headlining WrestleMania and 6 top title wins wasn’t enough for her - how is AEW going to keep up with her expectations?

23 minutes ago, garynysmon said:

But part of a growing pattern, you can't really ignore how quickly AEW lost its status as the place everyone wanted to work.

You have to say it’s looking more like the place everyone wanted to work to try and have a go at Vince rather than because they loved it. Now Trips is running the show plenty want to go back to the big show.

43 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

I'd find it hard to listen to Regal as a young talent, he comes across as the ultimate bootlicker.

He found himself in a generation who won't sit back and just do what they're told. Tony will never have control over that lockeroom.

Are you suggesting Regal’s generation sat back and done what they were told more so than the current crop?

THE GOOD
Best Women's Wrestler - Jamie Hayter & Dakota Kai

Best Men's Wrestler - Sheamus & Eddie Kingston

Best Tag Team - The Usos & FTR

Best British Wrestler - British Wrestler in any promotion, not just UK-based - Jamie Hayter

Best Non-wrestler - Pat McAfee

Best Event - I’m not good with remembering specific events to be honest

Best Wrestling Show - SmackDown

Best Feud or Angle - Sami Zayn/The Bloodline, Punk/MJF

Funniest Moment - Sami Zayn cracking up Roman and Jey Uso with “Ucey”, Tyson Fury knocking out Austin Theory when he tried to cash in & Vince McMahon showing up twice in a week after his allegations hit to stand tall only to have to eventually retire

Best Heel - Roman Reigns & MJF

Best Babyface - Sami Zayn

Best Podcast - don’t listen to any but want to get into some so looking forward to seeing others responses

Moment of the Year - Jey Uso hugs Sami Zayn after WarGames, Pat McAfees WrestleMania entrance, CM Punk losing it in the presser & the announcement of Vince McMahons retirement

Match of the Year - Anarchy in the Arena

Promo of the Year – The first CM Punk/MJF confrontation, will edit post later with date and show
 
THE BAD
Biggest Letdown - CM Punk as the top guy in AEW, Bayley disappointing since her return & Hangman Page as Champion

Worst Wrestler - Dolph Ziggler

Worst Match - Will edit after some thought

Worst Event - See best event

Worst TV Show - Rampage & NXT

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

(Deservedly) slag off Hunter all you want. I’m going to pop when Adam Rose’s music hits.

Plenty will including myself. He benefits from people knowing who he is.

10 minutes ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

It’s everything to do with how Vince misused the call-ups and how the audience have become conditioned. If Vince/Prichard etc were clearly never going to invest in them, why should the audience when they know that even if they ferociously supported them, they were still going to get binned whenever a part-timer returned or whenever they got bored? They’ve seen it happen multiple times, not just with NXT but other stars from the past. 

How exactly should they treat these returns? Should they not treat them like a big deal? Case in point, Tegan Nox - Cole and Barrett made it feel like a huge shock and surprise and did everything they could to put her over as a threat. That’s how you treat a return or a re-debut - as if it actually matters. What would be the point in a lukewarm approach? “Oh by the way, that’s matey, you won’t have seen them before because they were on NXT, but good luck to them etc.” It does nothing for anybody. By actively trying to put them over and present them as a big deal, everyone’s a winner in the long term. 

Again I don’t think they’re stupid enough to expect mega pops for each return right out of the gate - they’ll know they have work to do to re-introduce them to the audience and build those connections and that not every single person will have watched NXT. But I find it perplexing to suggest that they shouldn’t treat the returns like a big deal from the outset. 

Acts like Tegan Nox running out and nobody knowing them are absolutely nothing to do with Vince. He never called her up to have the chance to make an arse of her. It’s Triple H assuming everyone watched his development league which they didn’t. If Fandango or Tyler Breeze runs out, they probably get a good reaction just by people knowing who they are regardless what Vince done to them.

There’s no suggestion that they shouldn’t treat them like a big deal whatsoever either. The suggestion is tell the audience who they are rather than assuming they know. You can make someone a big deal while explaining their character and their agenda without going “here comes someone you have never heard of running to the ring shes great btw!!” There’s vignettes running for Lacey Evans now, you don’t need to do much more than that to tell the audience who someone is - you can then have the surprise run down interjecting with the big stars if you want and at least the fans have some clue who the person is.

2 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

The crowd reactions are disappointing but I think that's more of a reflection on how they've been previously conditioned. Too often NXT callups would be given a name change and a mini-push before they'd be forgotten about by Vince and left to rot. Yes, there's a difference between Raw/SD's reach and NXTs reach, but they consistently failed to accentuate the positives of how Triple H had built them up in NXT. 

It’s nothing to do with how Vince forgot them or they were previously conditioned. The audience haven’t a clue who the likes of Tegan Nox or Candice LeRae are for them to be turning up in the manner they did. They’re being treated like surprise returns who spent lengthy amounts of time on the main roster when I’m not convinced either of them even had a spell there before they turned up. He’s making assumptions that everyone watched NXT after its small boom period when the truth is hardly anyone did.