FUM

I popped it on to see how it’s going and I’ve been put off right away.

EC3 and his shite dark gimmick really stops me from having much interest. I tried OVW after watching The Wrestlers too and he’s just so f’n dull that his ridiculously long winded promos leave you thinking a full show was crap.

Almost every wrestler that has been in-ring with him praises his mind for the business with the exception of Bret Hart. Even the ones who think he is a completely disgusting person have commented that his mind for the business is a level above most. Even just a quick google search of people who praised his knowledge of the business brings up a variety of names before you start delving into the vast amounts I’ve heard say it in other interviews.

Yeah, they’re paying for 3 hours of RAW. They won’t accept an hour of it essentially being the shows they’ve cancelled before where ratings but more importantly ad money goes down.

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

Raw is an odd show these days. Generally there's a lot of good stuff on it, but the fact it's a 3-hour show leaves even the stronger shows feeling less entertaining. I hope, when the next TV deal is negotiated, it results in the show going back to 2-hours; with the occasional 3-hour special. 

Triple H actually done an interview on this a while ago about how he finds it so hard to book a 3 hour show compared to a 2 hour show. He very much seemed in favour of a 2 hour show so I wonder if his new found messiah status with Endeavour will support him in doing that. Only issue I imagine is the rights wouldn’t be worth as much to cut an hour of content.

Anyway, I watched RAW and I only came into this thread to give Tozawa some love so glad to see that’s already out there. 

47 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Would it have been so bad to have Christian win clean? 

 

I get what you’re saying with the interference being so common in their main events but if anyone winning by cheating makes sense right now it’s Christian. His entire schtick is that he’s brainwashed a couple of guys to help him be the cheating little narcissist prick he is. My only issue is these should have been the guys that helped him to the win. I know they were banned but that’s never stopped any company from doing a ref bump before.

Booker T fits this category perfectly for me. He’s always been praised from all angles but genuinely I could not tell you one singles match of his that I enjoyed. The only thing he ever done that I liked was that supermarket brawl, I hated him as King Booker even more to the point he was part of the reason I switched off from wrestling for a period. I don’t even dislike him in general since he’s retired, he just never done it for me.

He wouldn’t belong here for 2023 me but I never got Mankind either. Not Mick Foley, just Mankind. I didn’t get the joy others did when he won that title on RAW, in fact I was pretty sour about it. My wrestling likes have changed since as a kid though and I love watching Mankind matches.

Glad I stayed up and watched this, just a really fun show and everything on it feels like it has a direction or an aim.

LA Knight mixing with the top guys. Cena acknowledging he has no right to a shot at Reigns. The Cody/Roman staredown. Incredible television. Roman is the king and you don’t realise how much he is missed till he comes back.

Pretty Deadly are great, just old school heel tag team fun.

I seen the comment earlier about Edge freeing up salary for Aldis - he’s actually been working with them as a producer for a bit before this appearance. I’ve never been his biggest fan but he was great on this show and should fit that GM role well.

On 5/26/2023 at 12:10 AM, Fatty Facesitter said:

👎 I still fucking detest this utter shithole of a venue. It really does bring the whole show down. 

Is there any reason they stopped using the TV studio they used in Georgia when Power was good? It’s now too dark in lighting terms for me to have any interest in it.

I know NXT was popular under Triple H but he is so deluded if he thinks it was DIY reuniting to close RAW popular.

Not watched the show but seen the debut, a name they probably needed to replace Punk’s name value.

Surprised they didn’t go with a closer name - could they not have used Adam Edge or something like that? Not that it’s a big deal as they’ll just refer to him as the Rated R Superstar and everyone else will call him Edge.

I can’t grasp what is going on with The Bloodline. Why would Jimmy not know how they operate in the segment of him agreeing to the contract signing and have to be educated on it? He’s been a member for years.

59 minutes ago, LEGIT said:

 

Ziggler likewise has been very good throughout the years. Yes he's often felt repetitive, but at times so have other mainstays like Kingston and Orton. Doesn't change the fact that they've had their great moments and are entitled to some respect.

Ziggler is nowhere near Kingston or Orton. Kingston has been part of one of the most successful popular acts of the modern era and Orton continually gets himself back over and involved in big moments and feuds regardless how many times his pushes end up in a beating from Shane McMahon. Ziggler cashed in MITB once, he has had one great moment by my count.

7 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

First bit of business done. Smackdown leaves FOX to return to the USA Network. 5 year deal starting next year, with NBC producing some specials.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2023/09/21/wwe-smackdown-returns-to-usa.aspx

Is that it the B show again then?

Rick Knox was the same guy who didn’t notice Alex Reynolds unconscious in the ring while he was refereeing so I’m not really surprised it’s him involved here. I read a while ago WWE has told referees to call it as a shoot and if a wrestler doesn’t get out in time then that’s their problem. AEW you would presume do the same, it’s not like Moxley is just late to kick out, it was very obvious he wasn’t going to move.

I hope Mahabali Shera goes to the absolute top. I’ve never even seen him wrestle or his character but seems an absolute gem of a person. It’s rare for wrestlers to come off as likeable as he has, granted I’ve only seen 4 episodes so far.

6 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I’d love to know why pro-wrestling doesn’t count when it comes to the actor’s strike. As I understand it, they aren’t even allowed to do press or promote their work whilst the strike is on, so why can they go and perform a role that’s scripted and broadcast on national TV? Is wrestling just considered so low rent that nobody cares? Can Vin Diesel join Cena and The Rock and just carry on the Fast and Furious universe on Smackdown?

Wrestlers rather famously aren’t unionised I guess is the reason.

I’m so glad they allowed this a proper surprise moment, they’re a rarity today as stuff is always announced for the ratings pop. 

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

This is what Wiki says about that (Spoilers as long)

  Reveal hidden contents

On the day of the event, WWE claimed an attendance of 101,763^[76] in the AT&T Stadium, which surpassed the previous WWE-claimed record of 93,173 for WrestleMania III in 1987. Also, WWE reported the event grossing $17.3 million for WWE's highest-grossing live event, and surpassing the previous year's $12.6 million.^[76][77] However, journalist Dave Meltzer initially reported 93,730 as "the attendance as would be normally announced for an event" with a total 97,769 people in the stadium if one includes stadium personnel, WWE personnel, etc. Meltzer attributed the exaggeration due to WWE not wanting to let down their fans after WWE's promoting "from the start of drawing 100,000 people" to WrestleMania 32. The 93,730 figure would still be WWE's highest attended event, as according to Meltzer the previous record was the 1992 SummerSlam event at 79,127, while WrestleMania III did "more than 78,000".^[20] Meanwhile, Meltzer endorsed the grossing figure as "either accurate or very close".^[78] Meltzer would later clarify the actual fan attendance as being 80,709;^[1] this figure was also supported by Fightful who were provided the turnstile count by the Arlington Police Department.^[2]

In a conference call in February 2017, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon said, "We were proud to set our attendance record of over 100,000, which includes, by the way, ushers and ticket takers and all of that. It wasn't 101,000 paid, but nonetheless, it was a record for us."^[7

 

I think, as said in other posts, the turnstile count isn’t the full attendance due to VIP etc. and WM32 is believed to have had about 85k once the rest is counted. I’m sure I read a journo (name escapes me) report that Tony was very specifically using the word “paid” because of this as WM32 reached its attendance due to a lot more sponsors or whatever it is that tops it up.

Was it not accepted that WrestleMania 32 was a higher attendance anyway and that’s why Tony was being very specific to use the word “paid”?

AI software like this genuinely concerns me for what people can be accused of without it being challenged.

22 minutes ago, air_raid said:

One of the biggest problems I have with the draft/brand split era is when they throw out the concept of "trade" because ultimately no fucker would be stupid enough to trade Cody away, so it never makes sense.

I think the way they have pitched things now you can get away with that though. There isn’t a head of either show making those decisions to make it look stupid - Pearce has pitched it that the board have essentially traded someone and why wouldn’t the board want to go with Cody’s pitch of challenging Roman?

Good to know we are back to the “don’t fully capitalise on that guys popularity” chat that we had when Sami Zayn was ready to have a chance taken on him.

In roundabouts, much like The Bloodline story.

Surely the likelihood here is Cody has been a bit fly and got himself traded to SmackDown with Jey Uso offered up as a replacement so he can go after Roman?

I’ve not watched the rest but I was about to go to bed as I was absolutely shattered then couldn’t take my eyes off Miro v Hobbs so had to wait till that finished. Incredible stuff.

LA Knight is evidence they have no idea how to book a face. Those reactions will die soon if he continues the “do you know how hard I’ve worked” patter and the crap jokes that they have tried with every other failed project. They seem to lose all semblance of what made someone popular whenever it happens.

Really enjoyed it. Only real issue with it was zero break in the action - AEW could get better on PPV at throwing in a wee interview or something to let things calm down. That was just from TV watching though, it didn’t seem to affect the crowd.

I’m not big on violence like I used to be but the Stadium Stampede was great fun even if it didn’t reach the heights of previous ones. I was almost sick when Moxley had those skewers in his head right enough - not sure how Renee puts up with it.

The main event was brilliant and a proper wow moment when MJF threw his belt at Cole.

Good to see Grado get his flowers, a great pop. Not bad for a guy some said is only known in Scotland. Shame Madonna is an arsehole.