Lurker > ZeroSignal

SHINE_GET_64 posted...

watching Jeff go through the science and realize Mega Man 2 is the new #1 NES game was so satisfying for me

Same. I was waiting on it so badly lmao

And we got 2 new games in the bottom 5

ARMBAR winners now include...

Cesaro
Big Show
Baron Corbin
Mojo Rawley
Matt Hardy
Braun Strowman
Jey Uso
Madcap Moss
Bobby Lashley
Bronson Reed

Final HOF lineup

Paul Heyman
Bull Nakano
Thunderbolt Patterson
Lia Maivia
The US Express
Muhammad Ali

Dudunsparce posted...

I guess there is some intrigue as to whether there is a Wrestlemania XL ending where Rock walks out with the belt

- Rock and Roman win tag match on Night 1
- Rock uses Bloodline Rules and inserts himself into match at the last minute when Cody is about to beat Roman
- Rock pins Cody with a Rock Bottom, wins title

It won't happen, but when I think of crazy surprise outcomes, I swing for the fences. Besides, Rock is likely out from May to August this year working on a movie or something

Like... the entrance is great and all, don't get me wrong, but Final Boss already feels like it's overstayed its welcome.

Plus, isn't Roman technically the final boss? I think all this quietly builds up to Cody vs Rock at SummerSlam, then Rock vs Roman at WM41.

Fixed it

Updated Wrestlemania 40 card!

Night 1
Rock/Roman vs Cody/Rollins - Winner determines Bloodline involvement in Cody vs Reigns

Night 2
Rhodes vs Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
McIntyre vs Rollins for the WHC

Other confirmed matches
Becky vs Rhea for the Women's World title
Bayley vs Iyo for the WWE Women's title
Zayn vs Gunther for the Intercontinental title
Balor/Priest vs DIY vs New Day vs Awesome Truth vs New Catch Republic vs Theory/Waller for the Undisputed Tag Titles
Jey vs Jimmy
Styles vs Knight
Orton vs Owens vs Logan for the US title
Rey/Dragon Lee vs Dom/Santos Escobar

Not Announced, But Waiting For It to Be Booked
Jade/Naomi/Belair vs Asuka/Kairi/Dakota

AriaOfBolo posted...

so does this

Very understandable, and I was surprised myself to see WWE win more positives than negatives this year. I think a lot of it falls under the fact that the IWC as a whole loves HHH more than Vince McMahon and has the booking to prove it.

In terms of AEW finally winning negative awards, The Devil really was a bad storyline.

Also crazy how it took NWA this long to win Worst Promotion. Not saying it's been consistently good or bad or w/e, but to go unnoticed for decades by the IWC. Cocaine's a hell of a drug.

Up

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards released for 2023!

Wrestler of the Year: Will Ospreay
Most Outstanding Wrestler: Will Ospreay
Tag Team of the Year: FTR
Best on interviews: Eddie Kingston
Promotion of the year: WWE
Best Weekly Show: Dynamite
Match of the Year: Omega vs Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom 17
US/Canada MVP: Cody Rhodes
Japan MVP: Will Ospreay
Mexico MVP: Mistico
Europe MVP: Will Ospreay
Non-Heavyweight MVP: El Hijo del Vikingo
Women's Wrestling MVP: Rhea Ripley
Best Box Office Draw: Roman Reigns
Best Feud: Owens and Zayn vs The Bloodline
Most Improved: Julia Hart
Most Charismatic: MJF
Best Technical Wrestler: Bryan Danielson
Best Brawler: Jon Moxley
Best Flying Wrestler: El Hijo del Vikingo
Most Overrated: Sanada
Most Underrated: Chad Gable
Rookie of the Year: Yuma Anzai
Best Non-Wrestler: Don Callis
Best Announcer: Excalibur
Worst Announcer: Booker T
Best Major Show: Revolution
Worst Major Show: Crown Jewel
Best Wrestling Move: Hidden Blade (Will Ospreay)
Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic: WWE enabling Vince McMahon and him being back in power, and TKO keeping him in a position of power
Worst TV show: NWA Powerrr
Worst Match of the Year: Bray Wyatt vs LA Knight
Worst Feud: MJF vs The Devil
Worst Promotion of the Year: NWA
Best Booker: Paul Levesque
Promoter of the Year: Nick Khan
Best Gimmick: "Timeless" Toni Storm
Worst Gimmick: The Devil

Updated WM40 card

Night 1
Rock/Roman vs Cody/Rollins - Winner determines Bloodline involvement in Cody vs Reigns

Night 2
Rhodes vs Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
McIntyre vs Rollins for the WHC

Other confirmed matches
Becky vs Rhea for the Women's World title
Bayley vs Iyo for the WWE Women's title
Zayn vs Gunther for the Intercontinental title
Balor/Priest vs DIY vs New Day vs Awesome Truth vs 2 other teams TBD for the Undisputed Tag Titles
Jey vs Jimmy
Styles vs Knight
Orton vs Owens vs Logan for the US title

Night 1
Rock/Roman vs Cody/Rollins - Winner determines Bloodline involvement in Cody vs Reigns

Night 2
Rhodes vs Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
McIntyre vs Rollins for the WHC

Other confirmed matches
Becky vs Rhea for the Women's World title
Bayley vs Iyo for the WWE Women's title
Zayn vs Gunther for the Intercontinental title
Balor/Priest vs 5 other teams TBD for the Undisputed Tag Titles
Jey vs Jimmy
Styles vs Knight
Orton vs Owens vs Logan for the US title

Wrestlemania 40 confirmed

Night 1
Rock/Roman vs Cody/Rollins - Winner determines Bloodline involvement in Cody vs Reigns

Night 2
Rhodes vs Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
McIntyre vs Rollins for the WHC

Other confirmed matches
Becky vs Rhea for the Women's World title
Bayley vs Iyo for the WWE Women's title
Zayn vs Gunther for the Intercontinental title
Balor/Priest vs 5 other teams TBD for the Undisputed Tag Titles

Not confirmed, but could happen based on events
Orton vs Logan Paul
Styles vs Knight
Jey vs Jimmy **Should likely get announced on SD**
Bianca vs Jade

Current lineup for the WWE HOF Class of 2024

Paul Heyman
Bull Nakano
US Express (Barry Windham, Mike Rotunda)

Gunther to defend the IC title against one of the following at Wrestlemania:

Sami Zayn
JD McDonagh
Bronson Reed
Chad Gable
Shinsuke Nakamura
Ricochet

Winner of next week's gauntlet match among these 6 gets a shot at the gold

Challenge issued by The Rock tonight. If Cody accepts...

Rock/Roman vs Cody/Rollins on WM Night 1
If Cody's team wins: Bloodline is banned from ringside in Night 2.
If Rock's team wins: Cody vs Reigns becomes "Bloodline Rules" with No DQ and Bloodline members can be ringside and potentially appointed positions in said match (referee, timekeeper, etc)

Virgil passed away at 61

Confirmed deceased nWo members that I'm tracking: Hall, Savage, Hennig, Rude, Virgil, Adams, Big Bubba, Dusty Rhodes, Miss Elizabeth

With Wrestlemania's 40th year coming up, here's a look back at Wrestlemania XXX and how different the roster is 10 years later...

- Usos vs Matadores vs Cesaro/Swagger vs Ryback/Axel for the tag titles (Only the Usos remain employed)
- Bryan vs HHH (Bryan in AEW, Trips retired)
- Shield vs Kane/New Age Outlaws (Ambrose and Billy Gunn in AEW, Kane might as well be retired, Road Dogg works as WWE executive)
- Only remaining employees from the first ever ARMBAR are McIntyre, Mahal, Titus, Miz, Woods, Big E, R Truth, Cody, Rey Mysterio, Kofi, and Sheamus
- Cena vs Wyatt (Cena is part time, Wyatt passed away in 2023)
- Brock vs Taker (Taker retired, Brock practically erased from WWE history for the moment)
- Only remaining employees from the Divas title match are Naomi, Natalya, and Tamina
- Bryan vs Batista vs Orton (Bryan in AEW, Batista retired)

Wanglicious posted...

there's also an implication of Cody/Rollins vs Rock/Roman. keeps getting pushed as an idea, easily can be used for a cash-in moment, and gets the Rock on the WM card in a very favorable place (see: tag match).

I'd be on board for this if Orton had won the Chamber, setting up Orton vs Priest on Night 2 after a successful cash in.

A cash in now would lead to McIntyre vs Priest on Night 2 and a heel vs heel title match probably wouldn't go over well at Wrestlemania

All WWE PPVs are on Peacock.

PLE is a dumb acronym and I'll never use it outside this post

Wrestlemania 40 confirmed
Rhodes vs Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
McIntyre vs Rollins for the WHC
Becky vs Rhea for the Women's World title
Bayley vs Iyo for the WWE Women's title

Not confirmed, but could happen based on events
Orton vs Logan Paul
Styles vs Knight
Jey vs Jimmy
Judgment Day vs Awesome Truth
Bianca vs Jade

Elimination Chamber: Perth final card
Chamber match to determine Rollins' opponent at WM40: Orton vs McIntyre vs Lashley vs LA Knight vs Owens vs Logan Paul
Chamber match to determine Rhea or Nia's opponent at WM40: Becky vs Bianca vs Liv vs Stratton vs Naomi vs Raquel
Rhea vs Nia for the Women's World title
Balor and Priest vs Bate and Dunne for the Undisputed Tag Titles
Kabuki Warriors vs LeRae/Hartwell for the Women's Tag titles

EC Perth will be Australia's first WWE major event since Super Showdown in 2018.

Looking at that card, the roster's greatly changed over 6 years...

Taker vs HHH (both retired)
Styles vs Samoa Joe (One in AEW)
Shield vs Braun/Ziggler/McIntyre (Moxley in AEW, Ziggler in TNA)
Rousey/Bellas vs Riott Squad (Rousey + Bellas gone, Ruby in AEW)
Cedric Alexander vs Buddy Murphy (Murphy gone)
Bryan vs Miz (Bryan in AEW)
Cena/Lashley vs Owens/Elias (Elias gone)
Becky vs Charlotte
New Day vs The Bar (Big E injured, Cesaro in ROH)

Update after SD

Elimination Chamber: Perth
Chamber match to determine Rollins' opponent at WM40: Orton vs McIntyre vs Lashley vs LA Knight vs Owens vs Logan Paul
Chamber match to determine Rhea or Nia's opponent at WM40: Becky vs Bianca vs Liv vs Stratton vs Naomi vs TBD
Rhea vs Nia for the Women's World title
Balor and Priest vs Bate and Dunne for the Undisputed Tag Titles

Lashley and LA Knight added to Men's chamber

Liv added to Women's

Not bad so far. Women's seems like a lock for Becky to win. Men's chamber I'm going with Orton; I think Knight is getting Styles at Mania, Drew vs Seth's been done countless times now, and Lashley's still going to beef with Kross (just not at Mania)

Kinglicious posted...

heavily implying we'll get Cody/Rollins vs Roman/Rock for night 1

That would involve having Roman wrestle back to back nights, and we know he's only good to wrestle one match every 2-3 months >_>

Updated EC card...

Chamber match to determine Rollins' opponent at WM40: Orton vs McIntyre vs 4 others TBD
Chamber match to determine Rhea or Nia's opponent at WM40: Becky vs Bianca vs 4 others TBD
Rhea vs Nia for the Women's World title
Balor and Priest vs Bate and Dunne for the Undisputed Tag Titles

UltimaterializerX posted...

So uh.

I want Roman to keep the belt. Any chance of this or no?

Rock helps Roman beat Cody. Roman passes Hogan while we get Rock vs Cody at SummerSlam or something

UltimaterializerX posted...

What does Seth even do now?

I'll go way out of left field and guess we get Rollins vs Rock.

It's either that or yet another Seth/Drew rematch.

Ultimately, regardless of who Rollins faces, Priest leaves Mania with the belt

Elimination Chamber card so far:

Rhea vs Nia for the Women's World title
Becky vs Zoey/Liv winner vs 4 others to determine #1 contender for Rhea
Judgment Day vs #DIY/British Strong Style winner for the Undisputed tag titles

^ he isn't wrong. Since it's introduction in 2005...

Edge - Jobs right back to Cena in 4 weeks
RVD - Busted by police in under a month after title win
Kennedy - Injured in a month, loses MITB to Edge
Edge 2 - Vacated belt to injury
Punk - Didn't even get to properly lose the title
Punk 2 - Possibly no problem here
Swagger - Not made to look credible in any fashion
Kane - Wasn't bad, minus the weird Edge feud
Miz - Made to look weak against Jerry Lawler
Del Rio - Drops belt almost immediately to Cena
Bryan - 18 seconds
Cena - First to lose cash-in, by DQ of all things
Ziggler - Injured after winning title, then drops to Del Rio in first defense
Sandow - Buried by Cena
Orton - Eventually accelerated YES movement, sooooo... fine, I guess?
Rollins - Drops belt due to injury
Ambrose - Underwhelming title run
Corbin - Jobs to Mahal in 5 seconds
Strowman - Cash-in match ends in no contest, despite being Hell in a Cell
Lesnar - Meh. Basically helped statpad Rollins. Don't really have much to say on this.
Otis - Does nothing, drops MITB to Miz
Miz 2 - Gets squashed by Lashley one week after winning the belt
Big E - Underwhelming title run
Theory - Settles for US title cash in and failed
Priest - ??????

The last time Rock and Roman were in a ring together in Philadelphia was the 2015 Royal Rumble.

This won't end well.

However, it's always been more about money and the bigger draw in the business. Hogan main evented 8 of the first 9 Wrestlemanias, despite being one of the least technically talented in the business.

UltimaterializerX posted...

Goldberg/Lesnar or Steen/Jericho

UltimaterializerX posted...

main event

Bitter irony: Neither match main-evented Wrestlemania that year

Spreadsheets updated, here's the all-time top 10 for WWE ppv main event appearances and ppv main event wins after the Rumble...

PPV Main Event Appearances
1) Undertaker - 73
2) John Cena - 72
3) Triple H - 70
4) Randy Orton - 60
5) Roman Reigns - 52
6) Shawn Michaels - 50
7) Brock Lesnar - 43
8) Stone Cold Steve Austin - 42
9) Kane - 39
10) Seth Rollins - 36

CM Punk's Rumble appearance was the highest ranked out of all 30 competitors, his 25th main event on WWE ppv, ranked overall at #16. Breakker, Kaiser, Ivar, Kross, Reed, McAfee, Waller, Hayes, Escobar, and Gunther main evented their first WWE ppv at the Rumble.

PPV main event wins
1) John Cena - 37
2) Triple H - 34
2) Roman Reigns - 34
4) Undertaker - 26
5) Brock Lesnar - 23
6) Stone Cold Steve Austin - 21
7) Shawn Michaels - 19
7) Randy Orton - 19
9) Hulk Hogan - 18
10) The Rock - 16
10) Seth Rollins - 16

Cody's Rumble win was his 4th main event victory. He's currently tied for 29th place with British Bulldog, Booker T, Alberto Del Rio, AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Asuka, Jey Uso, and Sami Zayn

I think Gunther, Paul, Iyo, and Kabuki Warriors lose their belts at Wrestlemania. MAYBE Finn/Priest lose the tag belts to Awesome Truth, which would add further the element of surprise when Priest cashes in on Seth later. That would ensure that Judgment Day has the top tier men's and women's titles on Raw and maintain their sense of credibility.
~~~~~
On the subject of Roman's run as champion, I think Wrestlecrap said it best in one of their recent inductions:

"Roman can't lose to Drew in the UK, he has to finish the Bloodline story!"

"Roman can't lose to Sami in Montreal, he has to be champion at Wrestlemania!"

"Roman can't lose to Cody at Wrestlemania, he has to make it to 1000 days as champion!"

"Roman can't lose to Jey, he has to make it to 3 years as champion!"

Now we're in phase five: Roman can't lose to The Rock, he has to pass Hulk Hogan.

In his 3+ year stretch as champion, there was only one true match where I genuinely thought Roman would lose the belt, which was Cody at Mania last year, mainly because a good chunk of his run was title defenses against part timers and midcarders. If Roman is still champ on September 3rd, he passes Hogan and would only have Backlund and Bruno in his sights.

Ideally, my prediction between now and 9/3...
- Roman retains against Rock at Wrestlemania
- Roman retains against Orton at Money in the Bank
- Roman retains against Cody at SummerSlam

You could probably add in a match at Night of Champions (assuming it's still in Saudi Arabia like last year) and have Knight or Styles eat a pinfall there. I legit don't see Roman losing the belt until WM41 at the earliest, to be honest.

Wanglicious posted...

hell they could easily say Cody vs Roman is set for elimination chamber (they really have nothing going for this show right now)

Last report I heard was that Roman wasn't coming to Elimination Chamber, but dirt sheets are a dime a dozen these days.

Either way, my bold prediction for WM40: Priest leaves as WHC

Also if both world title matches are potentially set for Mania, how many chamber matches are we getting this month in Australia?

Surely assuming we're getting one to determine Rhea's opponent (with Nia or Becky winning it), but anything else? Highly doubt we see Gunther or Logan put their belts on the line in a chamber.

Seanchan posted...

Wait...what?!? I don't watch Smackdown, so what's the reason they gave for not "finishing the story"?

Cody basically said that he intends to finish the story... just not at Wrestlemania.

Cody then proceeded to introduce Roman to the council that he talked with in regards to his decision, and The Rock comes out.

This was almost 2 hours after Roman called Seth's championship the losers bracket. Cody literally settled for the losers bracket.

While true, there's a difference between "Bryan not mentioned in WWE because he works for a rival promotion" and "Brock not mentioned in WWE because he's in hot water due to Vince shenanigans"

Wrestlemania 40 card updates
Cody vs Rollins for the WHC
Rock vs Reigns for the WWE title
Bayley vs Iyo for the WWE Women's title

Yup. Roman's passing Hogan

FFDragon posted...

damn I can't believe roman reigns had this 1300 day reign as champ AND broke the undertaker's streak

Crazy part is, Taker recently said if he could change anything, he'd have had Roman end the streak instead of Lesnar.

Every 10 Wrestlemanias, there's been a moment that's featured a scrubbed name (kinda)

10 - While WWE themselves wouldn't want to erase him, Martha Hart probably has lawyers ready if Owen's mentioned on TV
20 - Benoit wins main event
30 - Brock beats Taker
40 - ???????

They already did a good job scrubbing him from Rumble history. From last weekend's ppv...

"Five superstars have won the Rumble from the #30 spot, including the American Nightmare last year!"

In that sentence, the video showed Taker, Cena, Trips, and Cody.

According to some sources, Bron Breakker was a last minute addition, replacing Brock Lesnar in the Rumble and did everything Brock was supposed to do, both in terms of who he eliminated and how he got eliminated.

The thought of Brock getting eliminated by Dominik is hilarious.

NoFInBadger posted...

I thank the stars every day Sasha's gone.

She can still outwrestle probably 90% of last night's Women's rumble.

ZeroSignal posted...

Punk vs Priest vs Nakamura vs McIntyre vs Jey vs Orton

Fixed for more reasonably accurate prediction.

Rumbles were fine last night. Crowd sucked the fun out of both though. Will have tiered rankings later

Elimination Chambers next month will most likely be to determine Rollins and Ripley's opponents. Going with the wild guesses of...

Punk vs Priest vs Nakamura vs Reed vs Jey vs Orton

AND...

Nia vs Stark vs Baszler vs Ivy vs Becky vs Naomi

FFDragon posted...

wwe raw to... netflix?

Damn. Netflix will cancel it by the third season before Cody can finish the story

One pleasant fix on SD: Butch reverts back to Pete Dunne and starts teaming with Tyler Bate

Announced this week, Wrestlecrap's Worst of the Year award is a tie for the first time since 2014

2000 - Arquette wins world title
2001 - The InVasion
2002 - Katie Vick
2003 - Al Wilson
2004 - The Diva Search
2005 - JR's Saga
2006 - Exploitation of Eddie Guerrero
2007 - Vince's son, Hornswoggle
2008 - Mike Adamle
2009 - Chavo vs Hornswoggle
2010 - The New Monday Night War
2011 - Michael Cole
2012 - Claire Lynch
2013 - Heel Dixie Carter
2014 - Brie vs Nikki feud / Vince's "brass rings" quote (tie)
2015 - Dolph/Lana/Rusev/Summer love angle
2016 - Wrestlemania 32
2017 - Jinder Mahal's World title run
2018 - Crown Jewel
2019 - Rollins vs Fiend in the cell
2020 - Retribution
2021 - NXT 2.0
2022 - Ric Flair's Last Match
2023 - CM Punk in AEW / Father Jim Mitchell doing drugs on PPV

Congrats to both AEW and NWA on their first ****er Award!

This is where I say CM Punk wins the Rumble, but that also seems like the very obvious choice