Board 8 > All Purpose Wrestling Topic 512: Finishing the Story

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just announced today:

- Xia Li released from WWE
- Jinder Mahal quits, states he'll be a free agent in 90 days

Jinder's final match in WWE was for a world title. Also, without their manager/leader, Indus Sher is doomed.

ZeroSignal posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/071c5d5d.jpg

They're already one of the best looking belts in the company.

nice, when will they fix cody's belt

I know Cody wants to bring back the Winged Eagle. However, considering the new WWE Championship is less than a year old, this seems unlikely.

WWE has this habit of making their logo's the dead center of attention on belts. Even the new WHC looks off because of the logo.

I'm convinced that if WWE kept WCW has a side project after Invasion, they would've made a big gold belt with "WCW" slapped directly in the center of it.

Backlash so far...
Cody vs Styles for the Undisputed WWE Universal title
Priest vs Jey for the WHC

May possibly get added soon
Awesome Truth vs DIY for the World Tag titles
A Town Down Under vs Street Profits for the WWE Tag titles
Zayn vs Gable for the IC title
Bayley vs Stratton for the Women's title
Belair/Cargill vs Damage Control for the Women's tag titles

ZeroSignal posted...

Also, without their manager/leader, Indus Sher is doomed.

Welp, that was quick. Indus Sher released from WWE today.

unsurprisingly, the indian guys who were all fired from wwe at the same time, think it was kind of disrespectful to fire all the indian guys at the same time

Seems like a great, if not solid, card.

And Draft Night is coming.

ivysnow posted...

unsurprisingly, the indian guys who were all fired from wwe at the same time, think it was kind of disrespectful to fire all the indian guys at the same time

and yet unsurprising, from the all [minority] are a stable guys

I cant decide if the backlash card is great or trash lol

at first glance it looks awful, and then thinking about it it looks like it could hit on a lot, then thinking about it more I switch back to awful

iiaattgg posted...

I cant decide if the backlash card is great or trash lol

at first glance it looks awful, and then thinking about it it looks like it could hit on a lot, then thinking about it more I switch back to awful

To be fair, we only have 2 world title matches locked in. The tag title matches could easily just be done on Raw or Smackdown in favor of other matches. Plus, we surely gotta have something of a non title match added in there somewhere, especially with McIntyre or Knight.

In other events, Broken Matt Hardy returned to TNA last night in their ppv's main event

Grand Slam updates: No new Grand Slam champs have happened since Finn Balor last September. The following WWE stars are just one title away though:

Cody (US title)
Priest (IC title)
Strowman (US title)
Lashley (Tag title)
Sheamus (IC title)
Nakamura (World title)
McIntyre (US title)
Big E (US title - return to action unlikely though)

The following are 1 title away from being 2x Grand Slam champions (joining Miz, Rollins, and technically Jericho and Jeff Hardy)
Rey Mysterio (World title)
Kofi (World title)

You cant argue they didnt give Indus Sher a fair shake though.

They just kinda sucked.

Veer finally finished coming

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/138d2487.jpg

Sad how far Jericho done fell

Dragon/Bruv might be the best match I've seen. Easily top 5.

probably the best match to ever occur on us soil

Im excited to see it when I get some time

Guess it's time for a quick update on who The Man is across all brands and lineages...

WWE's The Man: Cody Rhodes
Ric Flair's final singles loss The Man: CM Punk
AEW's The Man: Swerve Strickland
WWE's The Man, Ladies Edition: Rhea Ripley
Custody Rights to Dominik Mysterio: Cody Rhodes

Finally saw the PPV, good stuff. Lots of great, some crap mixed in, but definitely good overall. I dont think its possible to choose between the match here and Cody/Roman as they were both perfect in their own ways.

I like Strickland and Im glad he got his moment

raw really needs that draft to hit lol

Whoop that Trick!
Whoop that Trick!
Whoop that Trick!

holy shit

after all these long years he finally finished the story

that's right

chuckie t said shit on tv

First Rhea, now Dom out for 9 months.

Judgment Day is falling apart.

^ And Finn's had issues in the past... This shit happens in 3s.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1783943141394968976

what a trooper

FFDragon posted...

First Rhea, now Dom out for 9 months.

Judgment Day is falling apart.

https://twitter.com/DomMysterio35/status/1783897037303624111

According to Dom there's no surgery involved so not sure the timeline that Meltzer reported is accurate either

Draft results, night 1...

Raw
Jey Uso
Seth Rollins
Bron Breakker
Liv Morgan
Ricochet
Sheamus
Alpha Academy (Gable, Otis, Maxxine, Tozawa)
Kiana James

SmackDown
Bianca Belair
Carmelo Hayes
Randy Orton
Nia Jax
LA Knight
Bloodline (Solo, Tonga, Heyman)
AJ Styles
Andrade

that Cody botch fall didn't look like a nice landing on the shoulder...hopefully that was just selling and not any legit injury

Backlash France updated card
Cody vs Styles for the Undisputed WWE Universal title
Priest vs Jey for the WHC
Bayley vs Stratton vs Naomi for the WWE Women's title
Belair/Cargill vs Damage Control for the Women's tag titles
Orton/Owens vs Solo/Tonga

Draft results night 2

Raw
Gunther
Ludwig Kaiser
Damage CTRL (Asuka, Sane, Dakota Kai, Iyo Sky)
CM Punk
Braun Strowman
LWO (Rey, Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wild, Carlito, Zelina)
Drew McIntyre
Judgment Day (Dominik, JD, Rhea, Balor; Priest was already locked in on Raw)
Ilja Dragunov
New Day
Lyra Valkyria
Final Testament (Kross, Scarlett, Authors of Pain, Paul Ellering)
Bronson Reed

SmackDown
Jade Cargill
Kevin Owens
The Pride (Lashley, Street Profits, B Fab)
Tiffany Stratton
Legado del Fantasma (Escobar, Angel, Berto, Elektra)
Shinsuke Nakamura
Naomi
Chelsea Green
Piper Niven
Pretty Deadly
Candace LaRae
Indi Hartwell
#DIY
Blair Davenport

Supplemental Draft Results

Raw
Creed Brothers
Ivy Nile
New Catch Republic
Dijak
Kayden Carter
Katana Chance
Natalya
Odyssey Jones
Shayna Baszler
Zoey Stark
Alba Fyre
Isla Dawn
Ivar

SmackDown
Giovanni Vinci
Tegan Nox
Apollo Crews
The OC
Cedric Alexander
Ashante Adonis
Baron Corbin

Be amazed if Alrxander sticks around after being buried last week.

Gable Steveson released from WWE this week.

His overall televised record was 0-0-1 and he persuaded fans to finally cheer for Baron Corbin. Legend.

Edited: He also did 16 house shows, winning every one of them, but who cares? >.>

Also a small number of NXT wrestlers released, as well as Drew Gulak one month after allegations of inappropriate behavior with Ronda Rousey surfaced.

Only remaining WWE/NXT Cruiserweight champions remain in the company: Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander, Angel Garza, JD McDonagh, Santos Escobar, Carmelo Hayes

Still employed 24/7 Champs: Titus, Roode, Truth, Scrypts, Tozawa, Carmella, Garza, Nikki, Tamina, Alexander, Niven, Bliss, Saxton, Graves, Erik

ZeroSignal posted...

Also a small number of NXT wrestlers released, as well as Drew Gulak one month after allegations of inappropriate behavior with Ronda Rousey surfaced.

Only remaining WWE/NXT Cruiserweight champions remain in the company: Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander, Angel Garza, JD McDonagh, Santos Escobar, Carmelo Hayes

Still employed 24/7 Champs: Titus, Roode, Truth, Scrypts, Tozawa, Carmella, Garza, Nikki, Tamina, Alexander, Niven, Bliss, Saxton, Graves, Erik

And Scrypts will be gone June 1st.

Also not spoke on as much but WWE introduced the Speed Championship, which is basically a faster version of the WCW Television title with matches for the belt being 5 minutes long and all matches for the title are exclusively on Twitter. The inaugural champion is Ricochet after beating Gargano in the tournament finals.

In a span of one month, only 3 people still have championships...

Champions on April 4th: Reigns, Rollins, Gunther, Logan, Sky, Ripley, Balor, Priest, Asuka, Sane

Champions today (before Backlash starts): Rhodes, Priest, Zayn, Logan, Bayley, Lynch, Miz, Truth, Theory, Waller, Asuka, Sane, Ricochet

the french singing Randy Orton's theme word for word is something

This is quite the crowd

oh dang I keep forgetting these are in Europe and start earlier

Man the French are eating it up...

KommunistKoala posted...

oh dang I keep forgetting these are in Europe and start earlier

It's only half 7 here in they're 90mins in

KommunistKoala posted...

oh dang I keep forgetting these are in Europe and start earlier

With at least 2 more European ppvs this year, we gotta stay on our toes. Clash at the Castle comes to Scotland and then there's Bash in Berlin

This was a ppv that I really didnt care about but boy was I wrong. This has been an incredibly enjoyable experience. Kudos to the promotion, the talent, and the crowd

Great show, crowd ate it up.

Am concerned for Cody and AJ, though. A lot of awkward spots.

I got to hand it to Cody. It was hard for me personally to shake the judgment I had of him in my mind from the 2007-2010 days. But the past year he has put on three of my favorite matches ever in lesnar at summer slam, mania this year, and now with AJ. He has proven you can get out of the friend zone

Can't spell Friendzone without Endzone.

Fun fact: Every main roster PPV since Money in the Bank 2021 has featured one of the following in the main event...

Roman Reigns
Cody Rhodes
Seth Rollins
Kevin Owens
Rhea Ripley

Minnesota is never getting Mania...fucking hell.

King and Queen of the Ring card (so far)
KOTR finals
QOTR finals
Becky vs Liv for the Women's World title
Zayn vs Gable vs Reed for the IC title

How much will the King/Queen benefit from winning this year? Previous winners and their success...

Bret Hart - 2 time winner, dethroned Yokozuna 9 months after winning
Owen Hart - Elevated to IC level status, also still in main event caliber feud with Bret
Mabel - Main evented Summerslam once before being reduced to LOL status
Austin - Hits two grand slams in the victory promo, achieves GOAT status over time
HHH - Helps create DX in same year, achieves hall of fame worthy career over time
Shamrock - Wins an IC title and tag title, but ultimately ends up leaving WWF by September 1999
Billy Gunn - Midcard hell forever
Angle - Wins WWF title 4 months after winning the crown
Edge - Adds 3 more IC titles and a US title within 5 months of winning the tournament. Eventually builds hall of fame career during the 2000s
Lesnar - Wins WWE title 2 months after winning tournament, builds potential hall of fame career* If he gets cleared of current allegations
Booker T - Changes gimmick to royalty and wins world title. 10 out of 10, would watch again
Regal - Attempted main event push gets shut down via 2-month suspension
Sheamus - Has King gimmick for a few months, but hardly anyone notices
Barrett - Has King gimmick for a few months and even less people noticed. Nearly lost King title to R Truth
Corbin - Has King gimmick for nearly 2 years. Does nothing until he loses crown to Nakamura in 2021
Woods - Has King gimmick for a month or two, but mostly unmemorable

Queen Zelina - One tag title

Sheamus was such a bad run because he was already main event talent and didn't need it.
Barret was such a shame but he was supposedly held back hard during his time as an active wrestler. KOTR and Bad News Barret were both potential points to really drive him up the card but Vince didn't want it.

Corbin is WWE's Millhouse meme.
...i forgot Woods won.

there's some great potential this year though!