The Wrestling Discussion Thread

@dizzyhippos: It was, but it's unfortunate it made it seem not even Bret supported Martha during the lawsuit, which wasn't the case.

AEW felt "off" this week, still hyped for the PPV because you know Kenny is gonna do something completely insane with the football stadium.

NXT was fine, fuck off with all the Charlotte flair stuff.

My money's on the Bucks climbing up on each ends of a goal post for simultaneous dives off it. Then Kenny ending the match by carrying Sammy on his shoulders from the 20 yard line, to the endzone, avoiding the rest of the Inner Circle on the way, and hitting the One-Winged Angel in the endzone.

Imagine breaking your ass like Fenix did and then having to go do a ladder match 3 days later, oof. SCU and Sabian really Miz'd that one up.

That running lariat at the end from the yard line was the stuff of old wrestling hilarity. It really does feel like Nitro these days, honestly. Also Shawn Spears News was amazing.

Orange Cassidy was beat up as well. Fenix has been wrestling his ass off between this week and his match on the last Dark episode.

I also am pretty excited to see what crazy stuff happens in the stadium.

I really liked the Pac promo.

Spears news was good... if the guy would shave off his really stupid mohawk and be a little less corny I could be really into him.

To be fair that happens to Fenix in just about every Fenix match

Britt Baker out, Penelope Ford is taking her spot against Kris Statlander. They are gonna address her status at the show Saturday.

Fenix is out of the ladder match replaced by Joey Janella. Not believed to be long term.

Man that show was a fucking disaster from that standpoint the other night. I actually was busy during some of it so I actually missed the Britt Baker injury and holy shit that was an incredibly stupid spot. Funny that Nyla was still involved somehow.

I'm sorry but the women's needs to be cleaned up man. Some people there and their decision making is putting people at major risk.

@stephen_von_cloud: I assume the plan when they still had international talent was a long monster run followed by Riho beating her, but now I think they realize that during this era they need someone that can wrestle so hopefully Shida is taking it off her.

Yeah she needs serious work in the ring and she's not alone.

Even Statlander who I really like myself has had some weird botches. There was a superplex a while ago she was involved in which was almost a disaster.

The spot that hurt Baker was completely asinine though and whoever allowed that to happen needs to be reigned in majorly. Just throwing a big woman onto someone else? what the hell would happen but an injury and what is the possible upside? It doesn't even look cool as a spot and how do you sell or make someone just falling on you look cool? I know Kenny is supposed to be involved in a lot of the women's and I really hope he didn't sign off on that.

The danger is a big issue. I personally really like Baker, Statlander, Shida, and Ford but they obviously need to expand but at the same time clean up these issues. I would love if they could bring of Priestly full time and Hayter. There's plenty of potential there but if they hurt a superstar in the making like Baker for a mediocre quarantine match before anything can get going it will be a huge disaster.

Tragic news as Hana Kimura passed away from what is looking like suicide. She was in the most recent season of Terrace House, a reality show on Netflix, and was really getting piled on social media due to how the show's producers framed appearance in the show.

Absolutely terrible.

Absolutely fucking devastating.

Just heard the news. So sad. I'm not a huge follower of Stardom, but I was familiar with her name before ever watching a match. She had a bright future ahead of her and it seemed like she wanted to come to the States at some point. This year has been the absolute worst.

I'm crushed right now. Really enjoyed her as a performer and she was very nice during the brief interaction we had at a Stardom show when I went to Japan. Just so awful and sickening that bullying and abuse like this seems to get worse. How many anonymous people are hurt every day by people like the ghouls who drove Hana to this point? Terrible.

Not sure I'll ever find the right words for this one. As a wrestling fan, you've kind of got to be conditioned to handle all kinds of tragedies but this young, this talented and under these circumstances? It's gonna take a long time to process something like this.

I think this sums it up better than I could: https://youtu.be/4zumKeUVshE

AEW had the impossible task of making people feel good at the end of the worst week in wrestling since Benoit with 0 crowd to help them... the sons of bitches somehow did it.

I thought parts were a little lackluster in a way I haven't felt about AEW PPVs previously but the Stampede certainly delivered. That was a ton of fun.

I thought Cody v Archer was a bit of a letdown for me. Just wasn't the best match and having so much of it be about their managers was a pretty lame way to go about it. I personally was hoping for an Archer win and then Cody having to kind of climb the mountain to beat him.

Casino ladder match and Shida's win were highlights for me otherwise.

@stephen_von_cloud: Cody's interaction with the crowd is a big part of his matches.

Yeah you're right.

It was a weird move to have the Face manager interfere to me.

I also feel like they went too long on the matches here a few times, which they've been great at not doing on Dynamite. I just think shorter matches are the way to go right now with no crowd.

I do feel like Archer would be getting a great reaction too that would be getting him over a lot more. It's kind of a shame really. Not to be a downer but yeah. We'll see. I do feel like so far AEW kind of burns through some storylines and feuds faster than they need to. I hope Archer and Cody continues (now Archer mad and even more reckless) and same with Brody and Mox. I would love to see them get crowd matches.

I did enjoy the show.

So something was pointed out to me that I didn't think about right away... maybe dont do a drowning spot the week shad died...

@dizzyhippos: the fact that you had to have it pointed out to you I think says enough about it being a stretch.

@dizzyhippos: ANYbody else in that match, and I'd agree and I imagine they would of cut it. But I think anyone who knows enough to know about Shad probably also knew exactly where that segment was going as soon as you saw Matt Hardy and a pool of water.

@dazzhardy: No doubt. I'd go as far as saying it was barely a drowning spot, they had an underwater cam with him stunting. It was a pure comedy bit that made no effort to pretend he was really drowning. Didn't feel in poor taste at all.

some random notes about Double or Nothing:

• The character development they've been doing for Best Friends is tremendous. They're still two goofy dudes, but the way they've slowly made them be able to bring out a fire when the matches get important is something rarely seen in wrestling. Only other times I can think of was Eric Young's over year long build to his title win in TNA and... Chuck Taylor's build up to his PWG title win. Subtle, methodical building up. The pre-show match was a terrific example of this.
• On to the main show: To start things off, I'll reiterate one thing: Get fucking rid of JR, while he's gotten better he still sucks the energy and excitement out of the show, which is especially glaring if you've just listened to Tazz vibing perfectly with Excalibur and getting people over.
• On a week when everybody has been talking about need for safety and less botchy wrestlers, AEW debuts Brian Cage who gets a title shot.
• MJF vs. Jungle Boy was low-key the best match of the card. Holy shit. They just went all out and had great storytelling and even MJF brought the workrate. Not that he really needs to, workrate is overrated, but it made the match seem all the better. They had incredible chemistry and if AEW keeps going, this will be a legendary rivalry down the line.
• Cody did what he does best. He took a hot act, then managed to have a completely mediocre at best match with that act, and went over. Even when the storyline logically would have him losing. It's funny how Cody destroyed the "Triple H throne" and he's already become the Triple H of AEW, with the uncool tryhardness (see: the car thing from Dynamite that was just embarrassing) and trying to remake old territory storylines with themselves going over. Also, oof at the thought of having to see Cody defend the title on TV.
• Statlander and Penelope Ford had a match. It was forgettable but it's understandable, given how quickly it was thrown together.
• Didn't really get the point of the Shawn Spears vs. Goldust match.
• They finally took the belt off of Nyla Rose. She's in the Nya Jax tier of wrestlers, where she does have an intimidating look, but that doesn't outweigh the negatives. Especially the unsafeness.
• I feel like the Brodie Lee as Vince caricature wasn't planned. It just seems like they decided to go with it, given how his original costume was way different from the new Vince look. The match was pretty crazy and Brodie really went all out to show that he was being wasted. Shades of his CHIKARA run.
• The Spanish God is also the god of AEW. Him and Hangman were the MVPs of the main-event. I wonder if the generally negative response to WWE's MITB match made them decide to make the match less... Impacty? Jeremy Borashy? What would you even call that genre of cinematic wrestling fights that Borash has been doing from the Deletions to the WWE stuff? Either way, I found the match enjoyable, but I'm not really sure these more comedic matches work as a main-event. Not because I don't think comedy has no place in wrestling, it's just that after several hours of wrestling I don't have the energy to completely enjoy matches like these.

Yeah, JR is rough. I like the guy, but it feels like Tony Khan hired him mostly out of nostalgia for the work he was doing 20 years ago. He just can't keep up at this point.

Can't really agree about the comic/silly matches, though. AEW's willingness to embrace acts like Colt Cabana and "Broken" Matt Hardy is what I like about the company. Taking wrestling too seriously seems like a bad way to live. But maybe I'm just a bad fan.

I mean... Spears v Dustin was funny. That was the point? I hope.

Don't agree on JR remotely. He still isn't great with names (can't tell the young bucks apart still lol) but he's done a great job adapting over time, for example letting Excalibur take the reigns. I had my criticisms of him at first but he has shown a lot of awareness and learned a thing or two. He's doing a great job at AEW and I really love the entire announce team, including Tony and Tazz, together as a group and they have great chemistry.

Also the Brodie Lee as Vince character wasn't thrown together, it was Brodie Lee's idea. The only way in which is unplanned is that I think Brodie came into the Dark Order story and added the whole Vince angle. He just got burned by Vince and he decided to do a closely studied parody. All the big guys at AEW pretty much call their own creative shots from what I know. I'm sure maybe his vignettes have needed some more production work but for example most vignette video stuff is done by the wrestlers themselves and sent in.

I also have to say I like the PPV more even in retrospect. The one match that bothered me which I didn't mention was the MJF/Jungleboy match because I thought Jungleboy simply had to win that. Depending on how it goes now, it can be totally fine but the match was great regardless.

I just think MJF should be a guy who loses and please don't do an undfeated streak storyline with him, please please. I hate that angle with any wrestler but it would be a shame here. Like Flair he should be losing his share because he should be a great loser that can actually gain from a loss.

To me, I think Jungleboy coming off a big win with momentum and MJF losing and having heat and being pissed would have been better for both than an MJF win. It was a fuck up clearly to me but the match was still great. I think its overlooked because of the ending too, if Jungleboy wins its more of a highlight.

Hopefully they keep the feud and Jungleboy gets his win later.

I love all the comedy that hits... that segment just sucked. The rest of it was great.

Spears can be really good at times but if they guy could just tone down the corny factor like 25 percent he could be so much better. He's always trying a little too hard, from the mohawk to the jokes.

Never change Joey

I made it about 40 minutes into Raw tonight before I had to stop watching, I lost my tolerance for their shit ass camera cuts and the idea that Randy Orton vs Edge in 2020 is "THE GREATEST MATCH EVER: BACKLASH " is just insulting.

No One: ...

Abosluately no one: ...

BTE: MARTY SCURLL!?

Yeah. on the gb discord I was commenting how I mistook Peter Avalon's kind of douchey undercut/topknot combo for Marty's during DoN.

Curious if this is actually teasing something or if it is just screwing with the fans a bit. Haven't seen a proper teardown of everyone's facial hair in that bit but it isn't too hard to imagine them filming like ten of these back before lockdown really ramped up. Would have lined up with BTE 200 (which Marty participated in) too and it isn't too hard to have a version for every "big match idea" they had

Still. Butcher and Blade were there (and anyone who made jokes about how they look like 80s gay porn stars when they are in their bondage gear...) and they are the most obvious AEW branch of Villain Enterprises (victorian bondage look coupled with being mercs who work for someone).

A short run where he goes up against The Elite or The Inner Circle would be a great fit. Further improve AEW/ROH relations, give a bonus payday to the EVPs' buddy, and have someone who can help spread out the clashes between the current main eventers.

And with The Inner Circle doing their pep rally that is a great opportunity for someone to go Sting or NWO on their asses...

@gundato: Unless it means some kind of collaboration between AEW and NJPW I really dont see what AEW gets from working with RoH.

Impact continues to quietly have a super talented womens division.

It seems like actual satire that WWE is promoting what won't be the best match ever as the best match ever at a show called Backlash lol.

Did anything actually happen with Dream then or did it just get swept under the rug?

@sombre: No ones saying one way or the other still. But with all the shifty stuff going on in Florida during this pandemic wouldn't be shocked if it got buried.

This match will probably be good until the super obvious DQ finish, because if you beat Asuka your saing the raw womens title means nothing and if you beat Charlotte its like "why do I care about NXT?"

Utterly obscene

@dizzyhippos: The same thing they get from any of the other promotions they are friendly with. Lines of communication to avoid double booking the same wrestler, an assortment of midcarders to send back and forth, and folk like Cobb (and maybe Marty) who can come by for a short run/big match that helps both companies.

@dizzyhippos: They really need to change Asuka's make-up now that she is a face again. That look works with evil smile, not so much with happy smile.

AEW was good tonight, I have no idea how Shotzi isn't dead.

TOP GUYS... show up, hit stuff piledrivers and leave.

Also if they haven't already maybe they should consider signing that Christie James lady, she looked good against Shida.

Ya know, there's gonna be another Mania, another Double or Nothing, it's not a big deal the buildings had no fans. When Brodie Lee and Matt hardy debuted--whatever, 90 days of hype to come out to no reaction, it's fine.

But for FTR to do a run-in debut, finally kicking off a feud that's been built-up for 3 years, and you only hear like 30 people cheering fucking sucks. Obviously it was the correct decision to pull the trigger now because who knows how long it will be otherwise, but damn, you only get 1 debut pop.

@hansolol: I feel you on that. Felt that way about more than a few things recently with debuts and big matches.

Yeah she was impressive with how she handled herself in the ring. Very confident.

https://www.shopaew.com/inner-circle-stadium-stampede-losers.html

AEW is selling those white inner circle shirts on their website... for half price.

This is a very funny joke if you get it.

There some scuttle going around online that Talking Smack and Raw Talk might be coming back as early as tonight.

Good thing I cancelled my Network sub as they just announced a free tier. Hope there's plenty of Golden Era content.

Matt accusing him of gigging before pausing the multiverse to explain gigging is a good joke.

Sooooo, Gunner decided to remind us that he's still a gigantic piece of shit and now everyone is trashing him. Good times.

@retris: It's good to see every freely jumping into the piling on Gunner. Dude is about to get Big Cass'd.

@dizzyhippos: I've enjoyed all the broken brilliance vocab lessons, and while I've never been a big Hardy fan (either of them, honestly), it is entertaining to see them have fun with all his characters on BTE and Dynamite.

Having now seen her against NOT Hikaru Shida I can safely say that Christi Jaynes is a solid slightly better Alicia Fox with more upside just based on the fact shes only like 23~24 and been doing this for a very short amount of time.