Against the grain wrestling opinions

[Fog Dude]

8 hours ago, SoloJones said:

A partial solution to Wargames, especially if they've fucked off actual Survivor Series tags, would to make it elimination style. At least then there would be consequences throughout the match, not just at the end. Maybe too similar to the Elimination Chamber then though.  

In the run-up to Survivor Series 2002, the Chamber was described as combining the best parts of the existing elimination format, War Games and a Rumble.

Since even before then, HHH has wanted to reintroduce full-on War Games as soon as he took full charge of the writers' room. The reason it doesn't work has already been explained here: WWE in the 2020s isn't booked like pre-Monday Night Wars WCW.

[LaGoosh]

Ryback was a good wrestler.

[Cheeky Boy]

Shawn Michaels wasn't being a prick against Hogan at Summerslam.

 

I saw a clip of him giving his reasons, and I buy it. It mostly is how he used to sell as a heel, and I can believe the combination of him playing that role as a novelty, mixed with Hogan being essentially immobile, led to him overdoing it a touch. But, aside from maybe the big boot "stand back up, do a somersault" bit, I don't think there was a lot different to how he played it in the 90s. Just looked a bit jarring 10 years later when things had moved on.

[LaGoosh]

They did it in the worst way possible but really turning Rikishi heel in late 2000 wasn't a terrible idea. His babyface act was on the cusp of becoming tired and if they stuck with it he could've been a decent upper midcard heel act.

[Chili]

6 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

They did it in the worst way possible but really turning Rikishi heel in late 2000 wasn't a terrible idea. His babyface act was on the cusp of becoming tired and if they stuck with it he could've been a decent upper midcard heel act.

All they had to do was him fuck it up for The Rock and want to help him stay champion. You could still even do the whole racism thing if they insisted on it, just remove the ran over Austin bit.

[Supremo]

The Rikishi turn wasn’t that bad until they re-wrote the whole thing to be Hunter’s grand plan because he’s the smartest and hardest man alive.

[Chili]

Given they were going to completely fuck it anyway, you could have had Raven be behind it. I KNOW, I KNOW, but you could have him and Austin still have the wild brawl etc and Austin still wins the feud, but as Raven was debuting around the exact time you'd have a nice surprise and it would be contained away from the other main event players.

But it would imply that he was smarter and harder than Triple H, so as a 2nd candidate, Stephanie McMahon or something bollocks.

[DCW]

Could have done it with Angle either. Debuted on night Austin was hit, wanted him out of the main event picture, didn't agree with the beer drinking and language etc. At least then Austin would have been guaranteed a good opponent and not arsing around with 400 pound Rikishi. Again, H wouldn't have allowed that. 

[BarryOVega]

You’d think if Hunter could convince Rikishi to literally run someone over, he could’ve also persuaded him to give him a hand by distracting a ref or tripping his opponent in wrestling matches in the ten months or so before they were revealed to be in cahoots

[RedTwoster]

I’m not sure AEW should part ways with Chris Jericho. 

Yes, it’s been a while since he’s contributed anything to the company, and yes, the Jericho vortex is a real thing. And yes, he’s almost certainly a MAGA idiot. 

On the other hand, he was extremely important to AEW during its early days, and his next wrestling contract will likely be his last. He’s been away long enough for his return to matter - particularly if he were to announce he’s just signed his last contract as an active wrestler, and his goal was to hold the AEW World title one more time. Im aware that Jeff Jarrett has already done similar, but fuck knows what has happened to him.

One problem with Jericho during his later years in AEW is that they were forced to turn him heel at a time when everyone was fed up with Jericho as a heel character. If they were able to bring him back as an elder statesman-type babyface, that might actually work.

But it’s not so much about that for me, it’s that I think it might actually be important for AEW to show that it’s not just a place of transition; you don’t have to go back to WWE to end your career in a relevant way. Hosting Jericho’s final run much would matter. Having people think of AEW when they think of Jericho’s career rather than WWE would be an important thing. Being able to wheel out your first ever champion as an ambassador whenever you need to would be a positive thing. 

Jericho going away undeniably led to an improvement in AEW programming - but I think he’s been gone long enough for his eventual return to work. 

[LaGoosh]

There's definitely a compelling story you could tell with Jericho of an old wrestler past their prime, desperate for one last shot at glory but their body and mind fails them at every turn and they have to scratch and claw deeper within themselves for survival against the new generation of faster, more athletic wrestlers. 

Unfortunately though most older wrestler egos don't allow them to do those stories so you just get promotions and wrestlers pretending they are as great as they always were.

[Chili]

17 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

There's definitely a compelling story you could tell with Jericho of an old wrestler past their prime, desperate for one last shot at glory but their body and mind fails them at every turn and they have to scratch and claw deeper within themselves for survival against the new generation of faster, more athletic wrestlers. 

Unfortunately though most older wrestler egos don't allow them to do those stories so you just get promotions and wrestlers pretending they are as great as they always were.

Correct. Terry Funk could do that, but he was without any real ego. Chris Jericho absolutely couldn't and wouldn't.

[Chico Torres]

I’ve always thought Jericho was shit, and his older self could never be that Terry Funk character, he can’t help but be the embarrassing uncle desperate to show that he can still hang with the kids and their cool moves.

[AshC]

I believe the man himself wasn't in love with it, as least not in comparison to working heel. But I thought Ric Flair was a *fantastic* babyface. See 1993 and 1998 for examples. Woooo! 

 

[Browser Brady]

Raven isnt a creative genius..