The Wrestling Thread~

SLAB

Hall of Famer
I wish I cared more about the match, because I love Keith Lee, but Matt Riddle killed my interest in the rest of the show. I cannot get behind that guy.

Also; Remember when Keith Lee debuted in NXT and was overshadowed by a debuting and losing Marcel Bethel, then just floated aimlessly for months? He’s come a long long way!
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Was 100% sure it was going to be Roman to rousing boos... AGAIN.

Drew’s been pretty good these last few weeks since he’s gotten to show a semblance of personality. I’ve always felt he has/had massive upside, but just couldn’t quite get everything figured out.

And my guy Edge is really back!!! I know it’s been rumored, but I’ve been skeptical at best. So happy.
 
My flippin phone alerts spoiled me before I could watch. &#!@ I would definitely have been cringeing a bit at the prospect of a Roman win had I not known. Can't complain with giving it to Drew.

Not a fan of the woman's result. *yawn*
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
My flippin phone alerts spoiled me before I could watch. &#!@ I would definitely have been cringeing a bit at the prospect of a Roman win had I not known...
I don't understand this at all, and as I said on a more wrestling-focused message board, you guys must have PTSD from three years ago, or something. Reigns hasn't even been near the championship since he came back from cancer, and I really don't know why anybody thought he was actually going to win the Rumble. He had to be there at the end, because it gives more weight to Drew's win. Much as it might have made @SLAB happy, there was no way in the world that Edge was going to go from ten years retired to winning the damned Royal Rumble.

As for the women's Rumble... hey, it's about time they stopped holding back that up-and-comer, and give her a big opportunity at Wrestlemania, right?
 
I don't necessarily think Shayna needed to win but it literally could have been anyone else on the roster and it would have been better. Especially since I have no interest in seeing Charlotte vs. Bayley or Becky again. If they had given Lacey the win at least Charlotte vs. Lacey would be fresh.

Sure you're right about Reigns. PTSD, whatever. Would have been nice if it came down to a different final two. Seth? Strowman? Hell have Lesnar go all the way to 29 with it with the way they booked his RR of Terror last night. give him a false finish win, while everyone is booing the crap out of it Drew was never eliminated and he claymores a celebrating Brock out of the ring.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
I don't understand this at all, and as I said on a more wrestling-focused message board, you guys must have PTSD from three years ago, or something. Reigns hasn't even been near the championship since he came back from cancer, and I really don't know why anybody thought he was actually going to win the Rumble. He had to be there at the end, because it gives more weight to Drew's win. Much as it might have made @SLAB happy, there was no way in the world that Edge was going to go from ten years retired to winning the damned Royal Rumble.

As for the women's Rumble... hey, it's about time they stopped holding back that up-and-comer, and give her a big opportunity at Wrestlemania, right?
I’m 100% sure it’s going to be Fiend/Roman at WrestleMania and this was going to be the vehicle to get there. Glad it wasn’t because the fans were already turning against him.., not that they won’t continue to turn, but it would have gotten ugly again if he won
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
I’m 100% sure it’s going to be Fiend/Roman at WrestleMania and this was going to be the vehicle to get there. Glad it wasn’t because the fans were already turning against him.., not that they won’t continue to turn, but it would have gotten ugly again if he won
I don't believe you. I watched the Royal Rumble, and it didn't sound like the fans were turning on him, at all. They didn't want him to win the Rumble, but that's because the Rumble is an opportunity to "make" a guy, and Roman doesn't need to be "made." They were absolutely cheering for him in the opener. I don't think that people are turning on Roman, I think that he's stuck in a ****ty feud with Baron Corbin, and there are only so many times that you can watch a guy fight Baron Corbin, before you start to lose interest, because Baron Corbin is uninteresting.

Now, they may well end up with Fiend/Reigns at Mania and, if so, oh well. I think that the Fiend gimmick is stupid, and that the end can't come soon enough. And it's not like they have another credible babyface on Smackdown, since Bray just got done eating Daniel Bryan, and they ruined Kofi... I guess that they could give it to Braun: it's entirely possible that I'm the only person who's sick of him, and it would be totally on brand for WWE to put the title on somebody a good two years after their star rose, and subsequently fell.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
Sure you're right about Reigns. PTSD, whatever. Would have been nice if it came down to a different final two. Seth? Strowman?
Meh. That's just fantasy booking stuff. It almost had to be Roman: there's not another guy in WWE, other than maybe Cena, that could have gotten McIntyre that pop for winning. It's only because of the "threat" that Vince could put Roman over at any time that you get that cathartic release from the crowd when someone unexpected wins. Seth ain't giving you that, and neither is Braun.

Hell have Lesnar go all the way to 29 with it with the way they booked his RR of Terror last night. give him a false finish win, while everyone is booing the crap out of it Drew was never eliminated and he claymores a celebrating Brock out of the ring.
Uh, no offense, but that sounds awful.
 
Meh. That's just fantasy booking stuff. It almost had to be Roman: there's not another guy in WWE, other than maybe Cena, that could have gotten McIntyre that pop for winning. It's only because of the "threat" that Vince could put Roman over at any time that you get that cathartic release from the crowd when someone unexpected wins. Seth ain't giving you that, and neither is Braun.
...
Uh, no offense, but that sounds awful.
I'm not sure how it's any worse than what they already did with Brock (I was not enjoying it), it's just actually going all the way with it. Doing it half way really didn't work for me. And he eliminated so many guys that could have used a moment or two of glory it defeated a lot of the mini-pushes that a Rumble can give. The woman's match put Bianca and Shayna way over. While Charlotte's win doesn't do anything for me it at least helped establish two NXT women who are likely to be called up any day now in the big leagues.

I am not sure Drew's win was unexpected, I had him in my top 3. When my son asked who was going to win he was the first name I thought of. Aside from Brock looking like a monster, something that was established well over 15 years ago and is reasserted every time he enters the arena, who else gained from the men's side last night?
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
I'm not sure how it's any worse than what they already did with Brock (I was not enjoying it), it's just actually going all the way with it...
Er, I hope that you don't think that, because I said that your fantasy booking idea was awful, that I thought that what they actually did was not awful. Because that was also awful.

But, at least he sold for Keith Lee for, like, five seconds, I guess?
 
Er, I hope that you don't think that, because I said that your fantasy booking idea was awful, that I thought that what they actually did was not awful. Because that was also awful.

But, at least he sold for Keith Lee for, like, five seconds, I guess?
Fair enough, I was working within the constraints of what they actually did do. I wouldn't really call it my fantasy. I just think more than one person should have come out of this looking good. I guess maybe letting Kofi eliminate Brock would be my way of righting that BS squash and allowing for a compressed 20 person Rumble that still allowed a few guys to shine. End of day having two of these things that drag out an hour plus isn't good business but I guess that's how it will be in the equal time era.
 
Having Edge vs. Orton makes sense for a big WM match. I wouldn't have minded if Randy had waited to turn until the next PPV mid-match possibly setting up more matches with younger talent afterwards. Or does Edge really just want one big match to go out on his own terms?

Hopefully they put Edge on the shelf and just show vignettes about his "rehab" and save this until WM, because my fear is a drawn out multi-match affair with 50/50 booking until the blowoff at WM at which point it will feel stale. Please please please don't put this on the Saudi show because I refuse to watch those.

eta: I looked on reddit and folks were speculating original plan was AJ vs Edge and a feud with the OC before the turn? Damn, I would have liked that. Didn't realize AJ was hurt.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
My guess is they went with Orton as a super safe choice for Edge’s first match back.

He mentioned all the names of guys new and old and “I hope to see you down the road.” Hopefully he gets revenge on Seth Rollins for trying to kill him years ago.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
My guess is they went with Orton as a super safe choice for Edge’s first match back.
This is it, Chief. Orton is the safest "big name" guy they've got, to put Edge in the ring with: they're not going to risk Edge's first big match back on Rollins, especially not after what Rollins did to Sting.

He mentioned all the names of guys new and old and “I hope to see you down the road.” Hopefully he gets revenge on Seth Rollins for trying to kill him years ago.
Too bad WWE doesn't do intergender matches, because I'd love to see an in-ring payoff to that Twitter beef between Edge and Becky from last year.
 
I am torn on intergender, I don't want it to be a thing but in a mixed tag it is stupid that when one person tags the other person basically gets a free tag. Removes most of the psychology from the match and reduces it to a hot-tag special. Rhea and Shayna could be believable, there are maybe a few others.

My only issue with the quick turn instead of a build is that I assume there will be the Saudi show, Elimination Chamber and Fastlane before WM, so what could be a great WM match for both may be stale. This is of course my main gripe with everything about the current product and a big reason NXT and only doing Takeover ~4 times a year is so good. AEW could also reach that level if they get rid of all the crap filler they have.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
I don't think that intergender wrestling takes away from the psychology any more than Rey Mysterio wrestling Brock Lesnar does. The two things about IG wrestling, to me (and I talked about this on a more wrestling-focused message board that I post at) are,
  1. IG wrestling is a staple of indy wrestling, but it plays different there, where the average guy is built like Adam Cole and Darby Allin, and a guy the size of Keith Lee might as well be Andre the Giant.
  2. I tend to be philosophically opposed to IG wrestling, because I'd rather see them elevate the entire women's division, than to just push 1-2 women to the main event.
 
I don't think that intergender wrestling takes away from the psychology any more than Rey Mysterio wrestling Brock Lesnar does. The two things about IG wrestling, to me (and I talked about this on a more wrestling-focused message board that I post at) are,
  1. IG wrestling is a staple of indy wrestling, but it plays different there, where the average guy is built like Adam Cole and Darby Allin, and a guy the size of Keith Lee might as well be Andre the Giant.
  2. I tend to be philosophically opposed to IG wrestling, because I'd rather see them elevate the entire women's division, than to just push 1-2 women to the main event.
I agree with both points. Incidentally - when I say takes away from psychology, I mean WWE rules where in a mixed match if the male touches the female, DQ, match over. So you can't really do quick tags to wear an opponent while staying fresh, which is kind of the staple of tag wrestling. Maybe you have it where the heel male has no problem laying hands on the female while the babyface wouldn't dare, which would also add an element that is just not possible in WWE. Also just consider the classic Andy Kaufman. I do not love it, and agree having a strong women's division like NXT has is a far superior product and really the only women's division in the game right now that merits equal time. But in certain places, it has it's role. Like this stupid Lana-Rusev thing that should never be on tv but apparently draws ratings.
 
AEW is over the top with mysterious heel factions. Is NC really dead? I know Kong is filming GLOW but it's not like that came as a shock to anyone like an injury would have. So if they did scrap it because of fans, good I guess? It's such a strange product because the MJF-Cody feud is so good as is Jericho's stuff right now. And then it falls off a cliff. I am an Omega fan and he is horribly misused although at some point the weird angle with beer chugging Page is going to pay off?