The Wrestling Thread~

I thought the Charlotte/Ronda match made the night. Hopefully doesn't cost Becky her spot but hey, Charlotte made the most and killed it.

Not sure the point of Smackdown getting destroyed unless it means a crap ton of NXT call ups.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
After calming down...

Both Rhonda/Charlotte and Brock/Bryan were really good. I do hope the fans turning on Rousey was a one night thing. Other than the bad millenial misstep she’s been excellent. Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali was MOTN. Murphy’s great, and Ali takes some insane bumps.

I hate survivor series matches.

I hate they’re rewarding Nia’s awfulness.
 
Ronda's in an interesting place and I'll just say she's probably always going to garner some amount of boos because of who she is and where she came from.

And yeah, I just can't with Nia. If it was one injury but it's not. And the punch to Becky was so far beyond "oopsie".
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Caught Rhonda’s promo before the game tonight. Much better without the millenial nonsense.

And the crowd didn’t dislike her tonight, it’s just they love Becky. I’ll accept this.
 
They painted themselves into a corner by acknowledging their marriage on air, in the first place.
It is one of the things that irritates me about kayfabe being dead, is knowing too much of their personal business (don't get me started on the Total Nonsense and Miz and Mrs). But it's a bigger problem with Rene because it is making her look dumb AF on air when they keep pressing her about it vs. just saying nothing, which is totally an option. Or they have her say something like "I'm a serious journalist and I can't discuss my sources without their consent" or they could have her stick up for her husband by saying he's right and it's all Seth's fault or really anything other than "I really don't know what's gotten into him but he'll tell us all when the time is right" nonsense.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
Well, since they appear to have decided that they're not going to turn Renee heel, the only real option they have at this point is, I guess, your second option: they would need her to say something on air to the effect of, "Look, it would be unprofessional/unethical for me to tell you guys anything that Dean may have told me in confidence, to say nothing of violating our vows! You're just going to have to find out with the rest of the WWE Universe, okay?"
 
One thing though: She could advocate for Dean without going full heel, since WWE seems to allow other announcers a little latitude in this regard. Booker, Graves and Cole have all crossed their alignments on a handful of occasions.
 
For whatever reason I have more free time to myself on Mondays and almost never miss RAW even though Smackdown is a way better use of my time but I miss at least half of them.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
For whatever reason I have more free time to myself on Mondays and almost never miss RAW even though Smackdown is a way better use of my time but I miss at least half of them.
This last month or so I’ve tried watching RAWs again... they’re so hard to sit through though. They just seem in a confused holding pattern with Roman gone.

SDL is really good to me right now. Heel DBry has my absolute attention, Jeff Hardy (top-3 all time favorite of mine) still existing, and Becky Lynch being the hottest thing in wrestling somehow makes it can’t miss. I still can’t believe they’re letting her run with it instead of cutting her momentum out from under her like every single other person that got super popular unexpectedly.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
As a workrate mark, I tend to ignore promos as a general rule, because I usually don't care about what goes on during a wrestling show, unless it happens between the bells. But Daniel Bryan and The Man have had me tuning in, just to listen what they have to say. The Man has turned everything she's touched into gold for a good three months now, but that promo that Bryan gave the Tuesday after Survivor Series was fantastic: when he was like, I let Brock beat the hell out of me, because I needed someone to beat the weakness out of me, I was like, "Whoa!" And then, a year after coming back, for him to turn "Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you!" into something that gets him booed was amazing.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
... and Becky Lynch being the hottest thing in wrestling somehow makes it can’t miss. I still can’t believe they’re letting her run with it instead of cutting her momentum out from under her like every single other person that got super popular unexpectedly.
Don't think I haven't noticed how they're trying to get Charlotte to leech off of The Champ's heat, either. I peep game, WWE.
 
As a workrate mark, I tend to ignore promos as a general rule, because I usually don't care about what goes on during a wrestling show, unless it happens between the bells. But Daniel Bryan and The Man have had me tuning in, just to listen what they have to say. The Man has turned everything she's touched into gold for a good three months now, but that promo that Bryan gave the Tuesday after Survivor Series was fantastic: when he was like, I let Brock beat the hell out of me, because I needed someone to beat the weakness out of me, I was like, "Whoa!" And then, a year after coming back, for him to turn "Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you!" into something that gets him booed was amazing.
I'm somewhere in the middle. I do think at least half of the story needs to get told in the ring (or at least while working the match, should it spill outside the ring), but promos matter. It's just that they should be like a good song, 3 minutes or less. Not 15 minutes and over a commercial break. It's nonsense. Also they are scripted beyond repair. Let the people who can talk on the fly do their thing, let the others tell it in the ring. Or find talent who can.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Don't think I haven't noticed how they're trying to get Charlotte to leech off of The Champ's heat, either. I peep game, WWE.
Oh they’re still trying to get the golden girl her leech heat.... But the fact they’re presenting Charlotte as a legit heel and not forcing her as the Roman Reigns good guy that no one accepts is more than good enough for me.

And Becky, Charlotte, & Asuka in TLC is going to be amazing.
 
This last month or so I’ve tried watching RAWs again... they’re so hard to sit through though. They just seem in a confused holding pattern with Roman gone.
Three hours is just too long. They don't know how to effectively manage that time. And despite their constant attempts to move most of the talent that gets over onto RAW, they all get buried behind the main event scene that has barely changed in 3 years.
 
Never thought "I love The Man" would be words uttered out of my mouth.

Also, since it went quietly... Tom Billington was one of my favorites growing up. By the time I learned about what kind of person he was, he was already confined to the chair, and essentially may as well have been dead. It just took another 25 years before I finally read his obit. RIP Dynamite.