rolling Jericho calls The New Day trap queens 2016

Kevin Steen is WWE champion and Chris Jericho is doing his best ever character as his mate.

It is really easy to cherry pick what is worth paying attention to in modern wrestling, I've got it down to about an hour or two a week. The above is definitely one of the things worth my time.

that is cool for sure but otoh Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are still by a distance the most important characters on WWE tv and that is a huge problem. i mean why even bother at this point? for the awesome matches?

I guess I feel kinda out of step with the general consensus wrestling hivemind rn. matches that other people have been pure wetting themselves over as all-time wrestling classics this year (let's say Zayn / Owens at Battleground, or any of the Styles/Cena series, or anything whatsoever involving Balor, just for example) have done very, very little for me. like, i recognise from a distance that these are "SUPERB" from a technical standpoint but it's the same deal with the Cruiserweight Classic - how fckin easy it to have a "4*+ match" in this day and age (a clue: it is very fuckin easy)

I kinda feel the same way, not necessarily the specifics but definitely the feeling of being overwhelmed by the options, and getting burned out on quality - if every match is supposedly objectively fantastic, it gets pretty samey after a while.

On a related note, I wish the WWE Network had a weekly recap show more like in the old days, with WWF Mania, rather than the half-hour This Week show which is good but too short, pretty much skips the mid-card and includes unnecessary extracurricular stuff like media appearances blah.

More greatness from the CWC ... Tozawa vs Metalik was the match of the night, but Ibushi vs Kendrick was great too and featured the WWE debut of the BURNING HAMMER &$&#!!! Like most Ibushi matches, he completely ignored the body part he's supposed to be selling (in this case the neck) once it was time to get his stuff in, which really hurt the match IMO. I've been avoiding all CWC-related spoilers, but I assume that Kendrick has won himself a regular job with WWE once all this is over.

i think these matches were shot under 7 days ago, because i accidentally opened the spoiler-filled bracket last cwc and it was up-to-date with last week's ep. i also think the semis and finals are live???

Ah so Kendrick has been training wrestlers in NXT and on "Total Divas" (a show I've never watched), and was already announced as part of the cruiserweight division on last week's RAW (which I didn't see). Good for him.

Ibushi didn't seem too interested in his inspirational comeback story during their match, but it still came across well on TV thanks to the video packages and commentary.

but I assume that Kendrick has won himself a regular job with WWE once all this is over

He was announced last week for the Raw cruiserweight division, so you're in luck.

Haven't seen this week or last week's CWC or NXT due to life and stuff, might catch up a bit this evening.

xpost missed you already said it, dang

has there been a single match in the CWC where the odds-on favorite didn't win? this is getting annoying

perkins swann is the closest thing to a tossup so far but you know the winner's just gonna lose to ibushi anyway

perkins over gargano was not the odds-on favourite... also i am not that concerned about a lack of upsets really, as long as the winners make logical sense.

Good stuff as usual from the CWC last night. Noam Dar finally justified his spot in round three by having a great match. I was less into Perkins vs Swann, but obviously I'm missing something in Swann that the Full Sail crowd can't get enough of.

Predictions for the final week -- I think it's obvious that the winner has to be somebody they have under contract, which as of now means Perkins or Gran Metalik. WWE is always looking for Hispanic stars, and Perkins is great but maybe not "face of the cruiserweight division on RAW" great, so I'm predicting Gran Metalik over Kota Ibushi in the finals.

full sail crowd has probably watched some of swann's stuff on other promotions, because he is good but i haven't really seen him crack it open on nxt or cwc yet. from what i can tell though he's kind of one of those new-school wrestlers who's a little bit ironic about the whole thing (chuck taylor, the young bucks, kenny omega, etc.) which isn't to take away from his incredible ability, but it makes it SLIGHTLY harder to buy him sometimes as a guy having the fight of his life.

there's a highspots interview series (that replaced the kevin steen show when he signed w/ wwe) called best friends with chuck and trent, you can watch the 5-min previews on youtube. there's a fairly telling one with rich swann where he says he hates choreographing a whole fight in advance, he kinda just wants to do dance moves instead. (then he proceeds to fake-call like 5 minutes of a match off the top of his head which is kind of... really impressive). anyway i like the guy. depending on how they handle the cruiserweight division i think he could really be incredible because he's very very very entertaining. i just hope that it doesn't try to drag him into some sort of self-serious universe that he doesn't fit into (this is totally going to happen isn't it)

I completely agree. He's entertaining, super athletic, and can have a good match with just about everyone, but not a guy you want to build the division around. Which is fine! They've been emphasizing all the different wrestling styles on display throughout the tournament, which is great for building characters in a division they're trying to build from scratch. I'd like to be optimistic about it being totally unlike anything that's ever been on RAW ... but at the same time, I won't be surprised if by week three we're seeing distraction roll up finishes and cruiserweight handicap matches vs Braun Stroman.

reminding myself of what actually happened with the 97/98 revival of the light heavyweight championship, i'm left wondering what exactly they were trying to do with it - was it intended as just a showcase for taka after he was so over in that match with great sasuke, or what?

looking into it a bit more, i see the original plan was as a showcase for sasuke before he started mouthing off about how he was going to win it. but yeah i don't suppose i should work too hard in trying to discern the logic behind wwe's various aborted half-hearted attempts to appeal to foreign markets

Holy fuck punk fights tonight

lol

fully expected, still difficult to watch

Catching up on the cwc and Metalik-tozawa was great. Wish they wouldn't use the generic Japanese music for ibushi though. The cwc is like the least racist thing the wwe have done in ages, so little things like this annoy me.

The cwc is like the least racist thing the wwe have done in ages, so little things like this annoy me.

It's still less racist than the new Nakamura shirt. It was REEEEEALY uncomfortable seeing him wear it backstage a couple of weeks ago.

Can you post an img link?

Of him wearing the shirt? I'd have to screen grab it off the last TakeOver show, but the shirt is on the shop right here.

foregoing the 'oriental' font will definitely be the last and most difficult hurdle in wwe's drive to stop being really racist about people from east asia

Yeah they have been doing well better at not being racist scumbags since jtg/khali/idkhornswaggle were all released, I don't think there have been any awkward characters since new day as preachers (or Xavier as another dancing black guy).

Its just these little things. Why cant Nakamura have a non stereotype font? Etc.

Its a shame Big E is part of the jokey tag team champs and Jason Jordon or Nakamura/Kenta are not ready yet because they would most probably do incredibly well off of 'this is our world champion and for once we are not gonna make a deal out of his skin colour'.

Maybe I'm in the minority by not having much of a problem with that shirt. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one -- there are actual Japanese characters on the shirt so the font is at least "in context", the rest of his merch looks nothing like that, and his character has been presented as anything but "pissed off racial stereotype".

the rest of his merch looks nothing like that, and his character has been presented as anything but "pissed off racial stereotype"

This is true. Same for Asuka, who's presented as a badass warrior queen from the future as opposed to the awful geisha stereotype they were still doing as recently as a decade ago with Kenzo Suzuki's wife Hiroko.

feel bad that there's so much great talent on the main roster but the brand split has completely killed my interest in WWE

also what the fuck is david otunga? he talks like a very badly written algorithm

smackdown has actually consistently been v watchable television since the split. raw not so much. i mostly fast forward ot the parts on raw w the guys i like a lot at this point, which is a shame, bc the other guys are good too but i just don't have the energy.

last night's ppv had 4 solid matches in a row to end the show (i missed the beginning, first i saw was cesaro sheamus which was... whatever) but i just can't care?? raw has already turned me right off of enzo & cass, seth rollins, cesaro, new day, darren young, neville, etc etc etc... basically i'll only watch now if it's KO/Zayn/Jericho, or Bayley/Sasha/Charlotte, and for the time being, any CWD matches. so that's maybe 25 minutes of raw a week

it's weird to live in a world where wwe has arguably the best roster in the history of any fed between nxt/raw/SD and yet it is almost impossible to watch

it's weird to live in a world where wwe has arguably the best roster in the history of any fed between nxt/raw/SD and yet it is almost impossible to watch

― a simba man (Will M.), Monday, 26 September 2016 15:37 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

been saying this for a while, its fucking crazy how this is so much of a thing. shows how important the booker is, and that smackdown is supposedly getting really good since the nxt guy went there while noone watches nxt anymore proves it.

Last week's Smackdown sounded like absolute nothing when I read the results, then I caught up with it at the weekend and it was great

Goldberg vs Lesnar rumoured for Survivor Series.

It's a bit strange that Goldberg would come back and in his first match return the favour to Lesnar from 12 years ago, especially if the match is in Toronto (where he'll be HATED).

at this point i'd do anything for a mania main event where one of the participants isn't a part timer or roman or cena, so i guess i'd be glad if goldberg vs lesnar was kept to SS

i guess cena vs roman wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but hey how about literally anyone else on the active roster at some point

mania main event should be AJ STYLES VS THE MIZ

^^^said without irony in 2016

What Mania should be:

Pre-Show
Becky Lynch (c) v. Nikki Bella
Raw Tag Team Clusterfuck
TJ Perkins (c) v. Kota Ibushi
#1 Contender or US Champ Match or a ladder match: Reigns v. Sami v. Cesaro v. Rusev
American Alpha v. The Usos (c)

Main Show
#1 Contender or US Champ Match or a ladder match: Reigns v. Sami v. Cesaro v. Rusev v. Chris Jericho
Brock Lesnar v. Bob Orton, Randy Orton & Legacy
Seth Rollins v. Triple H
Kevin Owens (c) v. Finn Balor
Sasha Banks (c) v. Bayley
Andre Battle Royal lol
Royal Rumble winner The Miz v. AJ Styles (c)
Undertaker v. John Cena

Show is 19 hours long.

(I forgot I put the ladder match in twice but you get the picture)

no intercontinental match or is miz gonna do an ultimate warrior?

i watched smackdown last night and while there wasn't much in the way of good in-ring action is was an all-round enjoyable two hours. astonishing!

considering how obvious it is ziggler wins the ic, i just presumed the title is dead

i like your fantasy mania because there is no charlotte

http://411mania.com/wrestling/hideo-itami-and-the-unfortunate-side-of-nxt/

generally agreeing w this as more of a "get these international superstars out of nxt wtf", have heard that itami's injury was possibly not due to greenness? idk. but dudes shouldn't be in nxt. joe, nak, asuka and itami should not be in nxt, especially now that the bullet club skipped it for some reason, and now the cruisers who never even got trained in the "style" and in some cases are still pretty green are skipping to raw. i don't really get it anymore. it was alrght when joe ended up there because the expectation was that everyone had to go through it first, but having him and nak feuding when they're clearly leagues above everyone else is just dumb. nxt doesn't need to be on equal footing with the main roster, just go back to the old days when everyone loved it anyway. keep the brand good and you can keep selling out barclays, you don't need seasoned 35 year olds with a million miles on their bodies to draw.

absolutely agree with sending guys like young and swagger down to help with the green guys. more of that. they did it with kidd and ryder and it worked great. you can afford to make nxt the actual minor leagues because wrestling is fake and all it takes is good booking and good ideas to make it worthwhile.

Still missing the point of NXT, no? Maybe the greenhorns shouldn't be working against the main eventers there, but Joe, Nakamura, etc are there for a reason: they're the faces of the brand, and they bring the crowds to the shows on their A tours. NXT as it is now is not what it was three or even two years ago. It's really not that complicated.

they were bringing crowds to their shows when they were actually making their own stars and giving seasoned but still young guys like zayn and neville the spotlight. they never needed to bring in guys like joe and nak to be in that spot. complete overkill. big names coming from outside WWE were never the main draw until HHH decided to make them the main draw. it was a bad decision.

and there's a problem with their developmental if this mega hot brand that was built on developed talent and smart booking can't sell out 1500 seats in international 'one time only' tours without the help of international megastars from other companies

yeah totally disagree with MacDara on this; there is no necessity whatsoever to have these "faces of the brand" in situ, never was. it doesn't do anything for WWE business-wise. NXT is and always has been a loss leader.

it's verging on unfit for purpose as a developmental brand right now. Tye Dillinger seems to be getting over but you know he's gonna get stepped on by any and all of the supposedly "superior" talent coming in from the indy scene. i have hopes for the women's division - that still feels like a place where the talent come in green as grass and have room for development as you watch.

but the real joy of watching NXT was always founded on watching ppl that were nothing really before NXT - the vast majority of the women grads, Enzo & Cass, Tyler Breeze, American Alpha, the Revival, Baron Corbin, whoever - progress from being functionally useless to being very nearly the finished article - that's where the emotion comes from, the link between the fans and the talent, the genuine investment in seeing how far they got. that's why NXT was so hot for that 12 / 18 month period as the brand started booming - those stories that fans had been watching play out in real time for a year or more started paying off.

arguing that the likes of Joe, Nakamura, Aries, Itami, potentially now Strong should be spending their time in NXT because they are "drawing" the house is insane. why do you even need to draw a house?! they're not making any money on it!

Given the questions that they were asking in their market research, it would appear that nxt is a huge part of their wwe network subs. to the point where they're exploring the idea of a "tier" system where the second tier has the four big ppvs, and the third tier has cwc/nxt/other ppvs.

also they're selling a bit more than "the house" if they continue doing these big stadium events. toronto is the fourth one this year that isn't at full sail, and while they aren't pulling wrestlemania ticket numbers, they're still hovering around 10,000 per show. who's to say this won't expand to 6, or, 8, or 12 next year? if nxt went straight developmental again, how many subscriptions would they lose? i don't think holy foley is keeping anyone around, and when you're paying a monthly fee for a monthly ppv... i don't think that keeps people.

i dunno why i'm taking this side in the argument, i don't really have an opinion.

side note, is roderick strong actually good? he's a literal punchline with me and a friend, because "master of the backbreaker" sounds like the most masturbatory indie-wrestling-is-the-only-wrestling type nickname we've ever heard.

double side note, my PWG BOLA 16 dvds arrived the other day. first wrestling videos i've ever bought (not counting subscribing to the wwe network a couple months ago when cwc started). i guess i like indie wrestling! PWG at least. i have still never enjoyed any of my random bits and pieces of ROH i've watched.

i guess, perhaps i am underestimating the number of people who subscribe to the WWE network solely in order to get their Nakamura fix each week or w/e. i mean if you can afford it and you like wrestling that much then you should probably be subscribing just to watch Tuesday Night Titans and old Bret Hart matches imo