Board 8 > All-Purpose Wrestling Topic 493: New Beginnings in Los Ingobernable Era

(+) Yeah! (+)

Also based on the new TNT deal, AEW should end up turning a profit in 2020, only their second year, much earlier than planned
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This is actually HUGE news, extremely fortunate news that kind of demonstrates the sheer volume of money being thrown around for shows that would have, fifteen years ago, been cancelled after a month at best.

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Yeah it's really amazing that 900k which for TNA was like a really bad number that had their relationship with Spike in jeopardy and now it's enough to be a profitable promotion.

But hey Im not mad.

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I think it helps that a lot of the talent are apparently working for less than they'd make in WWE.

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I don't think that has very much to do with it unless you think theyre also making much less than Impact was comparatively offering while they were on Spike which I don't think is the case.

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I am amused that despite being roasted so hard for saying peak TNA was more mainstream relevant than AEW was that AEW has weaker viewership than TNA did for most of its Spike run.

Granted TNA didn't have NXT going up against it and the overall viewership footprint of wrestling is weaker now, as is the overall cable footprint, but it is still kinda funny to me.

And I still haven't heard any lapsed wrestling fans talk about AEW yet for the record! I'm hoping they start but it wrestling as a thing people care about may be a lost cause these days.

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I guess it depends on what you'd qualify as mainstream relevance. TNA never had the NBA guys on TNT advertising them so even at the lowest level I'd at least argue AEW has more mainstream awareness.

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But you can bet TNT and Fox commentators don't want to rep wrestling at all either. You don't out yourself as a wrestling fan in public...usually. That's the problem. Wrestling just has this "insane cringe" factor associated to it.

Normal sports don't have that stigma. It's probably worse to say you watch wrestling than anime or gaming...

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Lopen posted...

I am amused that despite being roasted so hard for saying peak TNA was more mainstream relevant than AEW was that AEW has weaker viewership than TNA did for most of its Spike run.

Granted TNA didn't have NXT going up against it and the overall viewership footprint of wrestling is weaker now, as is the overall cable footprint, but it is still kinda funny to me.

And I still haven't heard any lapsed wrestling fans talk about AEW yet for the record! I'm hoping they start but it wrestling as a thing people care about may be a lost cause these days.

It's going to be years before that happens.

WWE has so thoroughly poisoned what people think of when they think wrestling that like honestly when people refer to New Gen as the dark ages for WWF I just wanna gesture at the whole period from Cena going part time (or really even some nebulous point in 2013 post fucking up CM Punk) to present as far worse for them and for American Wrestling at large than anything new gen did - the fall isn't from the same height but it's a fall all the same.

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Strife2 posted...

But you can bet TNT and Fox commentators don't want to rep wrestling at all either. You don't out yourself as a wrestling fan in public...usually. That's the problem. Wrestling just has this "insane cringe" factor associated to it.

Normal sports don't have that stigma. It's probably worse to say you watch wrestling than anime or gaming...

We were just discussing this re: Jim Cornette

He makes fun of the AEW guys for being 'dorks' who are into video games and what not and don't connect to 'real' people the way wrestling ought to while not internalizing that Video Games are way way more mainstream than wrestling.

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Jan 10-16 2020:
5 - The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake)
Alex Shelley's debut in NXT was a pretty cool thing, when you read his Twitter posts about what it means to him. But his first match teaming back together with KUSHIDA was a loss to the Grizzled Young Vets, who got to cut a promo afterwards and show a worldwide audience one what we in the UK have known for a while, that Gibson is one of the best heels in wrestling

4 - Drew Mcintyre
This week's RAW started with a pretty fun segment, where both AJ Styles and Randy Orton felt like fresh and interesting characters. Then out came Drew, who continued to come off well in his babyface role and then won the triple threat with these two other guys who had been positioned as a big deal on the show. The babyface role is where Drew always should have been and it's a great sign if they're running with that in 2020

3 - Tyler Bate
Last year, Tyler Bate wrestled 40 matches, and less than 10 singles matches. He's already one of the best in the world at such a young age, but in 2020 I need to see him in more matches like the one he had this week at NXT UK Takeover against Jordan Devlin. He came out on top there, despite Devlin seemingly being on the rise, so I expect they have big things planned for Tyler. Plus, he set up a match alongside his Moustache Mountain teammate Trent Seven vs. two of NXT's top stars in DIY for Worlds Collide.

2 - Tessa Blanchard
It's possible that considering what she achieved this weekend, we could be viewing Tessa as a slam dunk number 1 this week. She's the first woman to hold the Impact Wrestling Championship, a title that has been a fairly big deal at some points in recent history, and that's a big achievement for her and a big step for Impact. Unfortunately her week hasn't been all good, and a cloud hangs over her title win due to her past behaviour - the same cloud that in many ways has hung over her career to this point.

1 - Marty Scurll
Marty might once again have proven to be the smartest man in wrestling. While his friends went off to live their dream, his name became one of the hottest in wrestling over the past year, with no end to the speculation about his next move. Marty managed to turn that, along with ROH's desperation to hold on to at least one star, into a lucrative deal for himself - with what is being reported as WWE main roster money for something like 40 dates a year - as well as taking over the head booking position in ROH, which seems to have had the knock on effect of helping to repair the ROH - NJPW relationship, as ROH went on to announce NJPW talent for Wrestlemania Weekend after not seeing any in months. This seems like a great move for both Marty and Ring of Honor

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RoH is running a free show next month, so I got some tickets just to see how things have fallen.

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You mean youre there for step one of the rebound
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Wow, Scurll Wrestler of the Week for losing the 6-Man Titles
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Jakyl25 posted...

Wow, Scurll Wrestler of the Week for losing the 6-Man Titles

forgot to mention this promising turn for him

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Kalisto re-signs with WWE for reasons I have to assume rhyme with sunny.

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TheRock1525 posted...

Kalisto re-signs with WWE for reasons I have to assume rhyme with sunny.

He's getting paid probably high six figures to continue to wrestle one time a week. Not a bad gig.

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Jakyl25 posted...

You mean youre there for step one of the rebound

We shall see! I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt since they were my favorite promotion for like a decade.

Baltimore, MD Ring of Honor has the most loyal and passionate fans in professional wrestling - and has come up with something special to thank everyone for nearly two decades of unwavering support.

On Sunday, Feb. 9th at Baltimores UMBC Event Center, Ring of Honor Wrestling presents Free Enterprise, a live event featuring the best professional wrestlers on the planet that is absolutely FREE to attend.

Free Enterprise is an extension of the ongoing #ROHCares initiative in which ROH gives back to the community. This program has seen top stars regularly visit childrens hospitals and has provided veterans with free tickets to live events through a partnership with Vet Tix. Now ROH is giving all professional wrestling fans the ultimate opportunity to feel the ROH Experience in its hometown of Baltimore, MD, absolutely FREE.

Big matches have already been signed for this major event featuring the debut of top Australian star Slex versus Flip Gordon and The Briscoes versus Bandido and Flamita. Also, the dominant team of Dan Maff and Jeff Cobb will get their chance at ROH gold as they compete for the ROH World Tag Team Championship against champions Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham. Other stars signed to compete are ROH World Champion PCO, ROH World TV Champion Dragon Lee, "El Toro Blanco" RUSH, The Villain Marty Scurll, and the Women of Honor debut of Session Moth Martina! More great matches and the main event will be announced very soon!


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Potentially a good card!

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Oh hey, I guess I might go to that.

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First The Man title change of the 20s, as Lacey Evans ends Bayley's 3 month run with the title!

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http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/****erwin/induction-hellinacell2019/ (think Gobbledy for the asterisks)

"Seriously, look at our supposed hero in the image above: cowering in utter fear at his challenger, a guy who was crawling around the ring in a spooky mask. Who on earth could possibly want to get behind Seth Rollins here? Can you imagine Hulk Hogan quivering in fear like this? What about Steve Austin? Maybe The Rock? Of course not.
Seriously, in prepping this induction, I created a file named sethcrieslikeababy.gif. And the company wanted us to CHEER THIS MAN."

and...

"Red light basks the arena, and while I am not entirely sold on this new character, eh, it is slightly eerie so I can give points for that I guess.
The match starts, andwait a minute. Youre not going to turn the red light OFF? So its not enough that this match is going to suck, but we have to watch it in an eye-straining crimson hue? Was Kevin Dunn a huge fan of the Virtual Boy or something?
I really cannot overstate just how horrendous the presentation of this match is. The lighting is bad enough, but then we get the now standard WWE style of nonstop zooming and shaking of the camera as well.
HOW ON EARTH CAN ANYONE WATCH THIS?"

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Austin was literally kidnapped and about to be embalmed and he just got up and kicked ass
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https://twitter.com/wweromanreigns/status/1218591092356067328?s=21

RIP Goldberg
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Wow why the diss on Goldberg?

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Could be testing the waters for a match
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Maybe that's his mania match

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5 seconds jakyl'd?! Really?

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connor smoked that guy

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https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3147142908649047&id=379605735402792

Holy shit

Nash, Khali AND Road Warrior?
Sign me up!

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With one week remaining, our current Royal Rumble card...

Men's Rumble (Lesnar #1, Reigns, Corbin, Styles, Orton, Rowan, Mysterio, Ricochet, McIntyre, Ziggler, Elias, Heavy Machinery, Rusev, Lashley, Aleister, Buddy, Strowman, Nakamura, 11 TBA)
Women's Rumble (Charlotte, Alexa, Nikki, Logan, 26 TBA)
Fiend vs Bryan in a Strap match for Universal title
Becky vs Asuka for Raw Women's title
Bayley vs Lacey for SD Women's title
Reigns vs Corbin in a Falls Count Anywhere match
Gable vs Sheamus

I think Miz/Morrison vs New Day gets added at the last minute

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Reigns or whoever eliminates Lesnar (McIntyre please God)
Baszler or Rousey
Fiend
Becky
Bayley
Reigns
Sheamus

Miz/Morrison

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This might be the first year I don't even bother with the Royal Rumble.

That's so sad.

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Strife2 posted...

Reigns or whoever eliminates Lesnar (McIntyre please God)

I do think Reigns is winning (cause who else could challenge the Fiend on the grandest stage of them all?), and McIntyre eliminating Lesnar would be awesome and better than the first rumor I've heard (Velasquez).

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The issue WWE has is Reigns can still win the Rumble no problem. But Lesnar HAS to be eliminated, and hopefully by a current roster member (Owens, Joe, McIntyre being the likeliest). Giving that slam dunk rub to Velasquez just shows how stupid Vince really is. It's like, it's probably Heyman's idea, and Vince did a Corrupt a Wish with it or something.

"Well, we'll put Lesnar in the Rumble, but I want Velasquez to win, dammit. IT"S SUCH GOOD SHIT! EYEBALLS ON OUR PRODUCT! BIG DUDES! MAINSTREAM APPEAL!

He's been chasing the Mr. T/Tyson thing for 20 years, and the closest he's come since is Mayweather.

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If Lesnar gets eliminated, it's gonna be Reigns, Velasquez or maybe Strowman. No one else outside of those three or maybe the Fiend is going to seem like believable choices thanks to how WWE has booked the product for so long. It's also a given that Lesnar will spend a large part of the match outside of the ring like Reigns in 2016 or Austin in 1999 did. Expecting one of these four outcomes to happen (likeliest to unlikiest);

1 - Reigns wins and goes after the Fiend
2 - Velasquez wins and challenges Lesnar
3 - Lesnar wins and challnges the Fiend in a title unification match
4 - Strowman wins and goes after the Fiend (Lesnar is also possible)

Part of me wants to see the Fiend surprise enter the rumble at #30, win and go after Lesnar to see the reaction to what happens at Mania. It won't happen, but the reaction would be amazing.

Also, Rollins and Murphy are now Raw Tag champs.

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They have a designated tag team literally IN their stable but they won the titles

Was that addressed?
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I'm not actually watching RAW, but noticed the title change on Reddit. I guess Rollins cut a promo earlier announcing he and Murphy will challenge the Viking Raiders instead of AOP.

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Imagine guessing them as the team to dethrone the Viking Raiders when they first beat the OC
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I probably wouldn't have even correctly guessed who were the current Raw Tag champions prior to tonight if I was asked. The main roster tag division has been treated as such an afterthought for so long that I don't care about them, anymore. In a way, putting them on a random act or two guys who will be fighting each other at the next PPV is (sadly) the most relevant thing about the titles.

Honestly, I would argue just retiring the titles and make the main roster every man/woman for themselves outside of a few stables.

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Rollins is quickly becoming the, "I can take any dork to a tag team title" guy. And I thought Kane and Big Show were always those people.


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Try and guess which wrestler said this:

I dont want to hear yall talking about this workrate... and moonsaults. I dont care about any of that. Ya heard? You want a great match? Nah - bump that. I wanna see two big men with big... chests and big muscles, bumping meat. Thats why Im here. Thats why I watched wrestling as a kid. You want your five star matches? You want your 30 minute classics? Not me. Big meaty men slapping meat. Thats what I want.

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TheRock1525 posted...

Thats why I watched wrestling as a kid. You want your five star matches? You want your 30 minute classics? Not me. Big meaty men slapping meat. Thats what I want.

dude should watch an okabayashi match at some point, a 30 minute 5 star classic of big meaty men slapping meat

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Steiner posted...

dude should watch an okabayashi match at some point, a 30 minute 5 star classic of big meaty men slapping meat

Maybe it's a woman.

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Sounds like Vince to me tbqh

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But Vince doesn't know what workrate means...

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That was fast. The streak for first-ever tag champs continues

2010 - Kidd, DH Smith, McIntyre, Rhodes, Otunga, Slater, Gabriel, Santino, Kozlov
2011 - Axel, Bourne
2012 - Epico, R Truth, Bryan
2013 - Rollins, Reigns
2014 - Usos, Sandow
2015 - Cesaro, Big E, Woods, Titus, Young
2016 - Sheamus, Rhyno, Wyatt, Harper, Jordan, Gable
2017 - Gallows, Anderson, Ambrose
2018 - Strowman, Nicholas, Rowan, Dallas, AOP, Roode
2019 - The Revival, Viking Raiders, Shane McMahon
2020 - Murphy

Other ongoing streaks
IC - First time champ every year since 1986
US - First time champ every year since 2003 (or 1993 if you don't count the one year it was inactive)
World - First time champ every year since 2019
Women's - No streak as the only ones winning belts in 2019 were Charlotte, Becky, and Bayley

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I think my streak of predicting every Rumble since 2008 correctly is going to end.

WWE having no idea where they wanna go with everything has gotten the best of me.

Roman and Ronda for now I guess as safe picks.

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Maybe you'll get it wrong for the same reason and a returning Cena wins

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Brock will win

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