BAH GAWD AS MY WITNESS, IT'S A PRO-WRESTLING GENERAL DISCUSSION

IfIhadaHammer

IfIhadaHammer

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Los Angeles
This is something I've been wanting to put together for a while, since there doesn't seem to be a pre-existing pro-wrestling thread, I figured now might as well start one, and that it's sort of tv and sort of fiction.

The general idea would be discussion of all pro-wrestling in and out of kayfabe, from the WWE, to NJPW, to ROH, to whatever local indies you might support. There is a lot of good wrestling around these days, and there have to be some other wrestling fans here in SV.

I guess I'll start off talking about the current state of WWE and how it's weirding me the hell out. This a company that's spent the last few years rehabbing the incredibly misogynistic image it had built up over the years and attempting to look like it actually takes women's wrestling seriously, culminating in this most recent Mania where Ronda Rousy was booked to look like a star and even toss Triple H around.



And then they've turned around and decided to run this ridiculous Greatest Royal Rumble thing in Saudi Arabia for that sweet sweet Saudi Cash, where of course none of their female performers will be allowed to wrestle. And of course it's a safe bet they won't have Finn come out in that rainbow pro-LGBT gear he wore at mania either, and will in general shape their product for it. After the company has done all this work to seem progressive and accepting (though since the McMahon's are Tump's buddies it can be hard to take that at face value) it's frustrating as all hell that this show even exists at all, let alone that it's being treated and promoted like Wrestlemania 35.5.

I really don't know how to process this beyond shake my head at dumb shit Vince does.
 
Cena getting squashed at 35 was hilarious.
 
Fivemarks said:
Can we just talk about Brennan Williams and how all his moves are anime references?
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He's not the first to run with that gimmick, hell I'm fairly certain Samoa Joe's Muscle Buster is a reference to Kinnikuman. And of course you have Kenny Omega, and half his arsenal is video game references like the V-Trigger and the One Winged Angel.
 
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Is this wrestling in general or just WWE?

would love for NPJW coverage
 
Nerx said:
Is this wrestling in general or just WWE?

would love for NPJW coverage
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Wrestling in general is fine. NJPW I haven't been following as much. The Kenny Omega vs Cody feud seems to be happening more in other companies at least right now, and that's what I've been most invested in. The other thing that draws me to NJPW tends to be the G1, which is still a ways off.

The IWGP championship has been in a holding pattern for a while, and while I like Zach Sabre Jr. and he was a cool New Japan Cup winner, there was no reality in which he beat Okada. And now they're going back to the well of the Okada vs Tanahashi feud since Okada has tied Tanahashi's record of defenses, and I suspect this will just be one final confirmation that Okada is the new ace, so I'm having trouble getting invested in that either.
 
Jesus christ Tanahashi and Okada is still a thing? And people thought Orton/Cena was played out.
 
The_Reptile_ said:
Jesus christ Tanahashi and Okada is still a thing? And people thought Orton/Cena was played out.
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I mean to be fair Wrestling Dontaku isn't really that important of a show in the grand scheme of things, and Okada is about to break Tanahashi's title defense record, so a match between them makes sense, since they haven't wrestled since Wrestle Kingdom 10 where Okada cemented his role as the new ace. Though IIRC Tanahashi is still working hurt, as he has been all year.

The other marquee match being another Kushida and Osprey match bothers me less though, since those two are spectacular, but it is still another rematch instead of a fresh matchup.

Still, at least it's better than last year's Wrestling Dontaku, I will take Okada vs Tanahashi over Okada vs Fale any day. If I never have to see another Bad Luck Fale title match it will be too soon.
 
So the weird Greatest Royal Rumble Saudi Arabia show has come and gone, and while it was mostly just a televised live show with no real consequences, it did leave us with the greatest botch in Rumble history. The torch has been passed. No longer does the greatest unintentional slip in wrestling history belong to the Shockmaster, it now belongs to Tidus O'Niel

It is a thing of beauty.

 
I remember being way into Wrastlin' when I was in high school. Followed TNA back in those days.

Like, what has happened over the past decade. Is Sting, AJ Styles, Kurt Engle, Beer Money still going strong?
 
All of them are gone from TNA, and all but one are in WWE. :V

Sting is retired.
 
Zaru said:
I remember being way into Wrastlin' when I was in high school. Followed TNA back in those days.

Like, what has happened over the past decade. Is Sting, AJ Styles, Kurt Engle, Beer Money still going strong?
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AJ Styles is the WWE champion, but I think he's still reeling from the recent dick punch he got from Shinsuke Nakamura.
 
Well. He's still a heel. Sorta. I don't actually watch Smackdown much so I'm unsure whether the dickpunch turned him or not.
 
The_Reptile_ said:
Well. He's still a heel. Sorta. I don't actually watch Smackdown much so I'm unsure whether the dickpunch turned him or not.
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Uh, no, no he isn't a heel. He hasn't been a heel since just before he won the title off Jinder last year. (Though I don't blame you for not watching smackdown in a while, 2017 was not kind to Smackdown's quality for the most part, but post mania it's been pretty good)
 
Zaru said:
I remember being way into Wrastlin' when I was in high school. Followed TNA back in those days.

Like, what has happened over the past decade. Is Sting, AJ Styles, Kurt Engle, Beer Money still going strong?
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I feel like you deserve a more complete answer.

Technically, TNA isn't even TNA anymore, they're now Impact Wrestling (but everyone still calls them TNA) over the last couple years TNA bled a lot of talent, much of it to WWE. There's been a change of ownership, with the current ownership being a canadian company, Anthem Sports and Entertainment.

Over the course of 2017, TNA changed names three times. First to Impact Wrestling, then to Global Force Wrestling when Anthem put Jeff Jarret in charge of creative (never a good idea), then back to Impact Wrestling when they fired him and discovered they never actually aquired the rights to the GFW name from Jarret.

Right now they're in a weird place, though better than their 2017 was. They have a working relationship with Lucha Underground (and thus a de facto one with AAA) so there's a lot of crossover of talent between the two, and right now the current Impact World Champion is Pentagon Jr. who won it off Austin Aries in a triple threat match.



This is pentagon, he's awesome I swear. (This photo is the only one I can find with him as Impact Champion, but it is so silly with pentagon's crazy eyes and the goofy face the ref is making.)

Now as for the wrestlers you're talking about, Sting finally went to WWE in 2014, had a match with Triple H at mania 31 which he lost because WWE always has to be better than WCW or something, then another against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015, where he suffered a career ending injury, which sucks, but at least he had a goodbye run.

Kurt Angle has slowed down a lot from his peak, and hasn't wrestled that many matches in WWE, is currently the GM for RAW in storyline though he had a great match at this years Mania teaming up with Ronda Rousey against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

Beer Money broke up at some point in TNA itself, but for the life of me I cannot remember why. James Storm went to WWE for literally a single match then came back to TNA, there was a very brief reunion of Beer Money, then Bobby Roode went to WWE and became his current GLORIOUS character (who is sadly a face just because of his amazing theme song, Roode works much better as a heel) James Storm has stuck around in TNA though.

AJ Styles is currently WWE champion yes, but he has done so much since he left TNA that I really want to put together whole post on it, because it's been amazing.
 
Put it this way: AJ has had a very, very very good WWE run by objective standards.

It is absolute dogshit compared to his Post-TNA Indie and NJPW run. AJ Styles during that period was quite possible the single most in demand and lauded talent in the industry. The only way WWE could have possible lived up to it was if they made him the cornerstone of the company, which unfortunately was never on the cards simply because they're currently wanting to build another hotshot new young star and AJ was pushing 40 when he got hired.

(Granted, their current subject has flopped and been mismanaged so hard they could probably make a documentary on the entire career of Roman Reigns, and I'm saying this as a fairly large fan. Strowman Title Run Wen dammit)
 
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IfIhadaHammer said:
So the weird Greatest Royal Rumble Saudi Arabia show has come and gone, and while it was mostly just a televised live show with no real consequences, it did leave us with the greatest botch in Rumble history. The torch has been passed. No longer does the greatest unintentional slip in wrestling history belong to the Shockmaster, it now belongs to Tidus O'Niel

It is a thing of beauty.

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...Something tells me that people aren't going to live it down.
 
VolantRedX said:
There already is a Pro-wrestling thread.
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Yeah I did not know about it when I made this thread, because it's in the chat lounge, which is not somewhere I post much if at all. And multiple people I asked, including mods, did not know it existed.

I actually kind of fundamentally disagree with pro-wrestling only being discussed in that subforum though. It's really kind of a dumping ground for assorted stuff, and not a place for actual discussion, and I realize I may have just caused further fractures by trying to start a general elsewhere, but I do believe pro-wrestling is a form of storytelling, and should be placed here and not there.
 
Penta is pretty awesome.

I wonder if Cody could actually make All In sustainable if he could somehow get Kenny, Ibushi, Penta, and Fenix to be All In primarily- and build around those 4+himself. By Sustainable I mean something that would provide as much as ROH does and be able to run 40-50 shows/year.

To me at least, wrestling has not been the same since WCW died, not just because I vastly preferred the WCW style of wrestling, but because WWE has not cared about fan feedback since 2002.

The_Reptile_ said:
Jesus christ Tanahashi and Okada is still a thing? And people thought Orton/Cena was played out.
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This match was a clear "Tanahashi can no longer hang in the main event" match, and a way for Okada to break the record. His last few defenses have been against lieutenant-level folks like Sanada and ZSJ. Tanahashi at his age/broken down status is at that level- he put up less of a fight than those two did. They do need a new heavyweight native star and soon- Oka I think will be next man up when he returns from excursion, but who knows how long that will take.
 
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