The Smackers Thread

[BarryOVega]

34 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I am - I thought Indi Hartwell might have returned!

She was on NXT the other week in the women's battle royal if that helps

[JNLister]

On 11/2/2026 at 12:23 PM, Lorne Malvo said:

Cruz Del Toro, who might win the 'been on the roster the longest without doing fuck all' prize. He's been there going on 10 years! 

Noam Dar has been in some form of developmental for 10 years. He hasn't been on a main roster show since 2017.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, JNLister said:

Noam Dar has been in some form of developmental for 10 years. He hasn't been on a main roster show since 2017.

He has been injured most of that time to he fair. 

[Kamran]

Coming up on Smackdown tonight:

JOHN CENA TALKS THE JOHN CENA CLASSIC

TIFFY TALKS:

 

Plus:

Edited Friday at 10:50 PM by Kamran

[air_raid]

As we hurtle towards 2027, we can always have faith that WWE will remain kings of reinvention, constantly finding new ways and indeed new names to freshen up the presentation so they never fall into the old WCW trap of “On our show, you could never tell what year it was.”

9 hours ago, Kamran said:

 

 

Pat made a great post ages ago about how in the era of streaming media/digital downloads being the preferred method of entertainment consumption, the lines between vintage and contemporary are increasingly blurred, especially noticeable in film soundtracks where instead of a movie playing to almost exclusively either songs of the modern day or of the era in which it’s set, stories playing out in real time to a random mix tape of the 80s and 90s songs the young adults parents listened to when they were sprogs, next to Olivia Rodrigos latest. Dialogue and cultural references the same, when I was young we’d never watch films from (example) the 60s or expect to understand references therein, but these days there are references strewn about in freshly made films and TV to “iconic” shows assuming the viewer will understand even if they are from 20 years before they were born. In todays pop culture, whether the target audience is 10, 30 or 50 anything made in the last 40 years seems fair game.

I think nowhere is this more evident than in 2026 pro wrestling. We’ve long passed the very occasional “wheel Steve Austin out to Stun someone for a laugh” or “throw Dwayne at it to pop a YooToob number.” Maybe it’s not especially egregious that John Cena was able to roll back the years and win back the big belt 20 years after he first did, then stick around for a couple of years to sprinkle star dust (n. Cody) onto proceedings from time to time - when you consider Hogan achieved basically the same back in 2002. But it’s not just Cena, is it? Haku is probably the peak of “eh?” at this point, and if I may illustrate the point further, if we use turn-of-the-century Hogan as analogous to mid-20s Cena (even though oddly enough Haku did have a brief presence on the telly in late-Attitude) it’s akin to in the same timeframe, let’s say Manias 17-18, of the offspring being managed and mentored by a parent whose peak as a midcard player in the same territory would have been the mid-60s not long after the Capitol Wrestling Corp seceded from the NWA to become the WWWF. That sounds wacky as fuck, but that’s where we’ve got to.

Hell, looking at a show where you can expect current homegrown talent, Shinsuke Nakamura, Walter, Haku and John Cena all in some capacity… maybe the 1PW model made sense after all!

[The King of Old School]

Far to much crying in wrestling these days.

[Supremo]

I’m sure whatever Charlotte was attempting to say to John Cena meant something to her, but between starting with, “I’ve been trying to get into a storyline with you…” telling the fans, “no, shut up, this is important,” mentioning her Dad will be watching from a bar but definitely not drinking alcohol, and then starting to get upset? Literally too difficult to watch. I fast forwarded.

Being back fiction in pro-wrestling! All shoots should be shot into space.

[The King of Old School]

That was one of the worst segments I have ever seen on a wwe show, and thats saying something.

[Jazzy G]

So is she wrestling the guys or is there a John Cena women's invitational? 

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

That was one of the worst segments I have ever seen on a wwe show, and thats saying something.

Hell, just clearing all other segments involving Charlotte talking covers a lot of ground.

[Callum1993]

 

1 hour ago, Jazzy G said:

So is she wrestling the guys or is there a John Cena women's invitational? 

They haven’t really explained what it is. Doesn’t sound like it’s a tournament as the fans vote on who wins. So I think it’s just going to be a series of random matches with no real purpose. Basically most episodes of Smackdown. 

[Statto]

The way I've interpreted it (purely from what I've read, not watched a minute of WWE in months) is that it's not a tournament - it's a show on which each invited wrestler will wrestle one match (every match being an NXT vs main roster pairing) with the overall winner being determined by who gets most votes from the "Club WWE" lot. Doesn't matter if they win, lose or draw their match.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Statto said:

Doesn't matter if they win, lose or draw their match.

Should be called the Road Dogg Classic.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

4 hours ago, The King of Old School said:

Far to much crying in wrestling these days.

And that's before you get to the wrestlers.

[Devon Malcolm]

I still read these WWE threads and I genuinely can't remember the last time that anybody on this board seemed to be enjoying WWE. AEW sounds awful as well but at least people still seem to enjoy it. I think you all need an intervention.

Edited 7 hours ago by Devon Malcolm