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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Loved that match. Nasty shit.

Bayley and Nia are probably: fuck

Top that, I fucking dare you.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5bc43212.jpg

Two things:
1) No. Just no.
2) This pretty much means they're about to put the Women's World title on Rhea, because no way do they have Liv vs Nia at Crown Jewel

That thing is ungodly big.

So that currently books 2 matches for Crown Jewel

Cody vs Gunther
Nia vs Rhea or Liv

I almost want Tiffany to cash in on Liv instead and give us Nia vs Tiffany at the event

Also, the chances of getting Goldberg back in the ring after that segment? (Hopefully not, but we all know Trips is easier to work under than Vince)

This is the 5th shark cage match in WWE history

1) 1999: Mankind vs Big Show, HHH in the cage. Match ended in no contest after DX interfered, revealing the whole thing to be a setup
2) 2017: Owens vs Reigns, Jericho in the cage. Owens retains title after Strowman interference.
3) 2017: Big Show vs Cass, Enzo in the cage. Cass wins, despite Enzo escaping the cage near the end.
4) 2018: Carmella vs Asuka, James Elsworth in the cage. Carmella retains after pushing Asuka into said cage

That entrance was one of those times when you go: "Well, that sucked. Moving on."

Punk vs Drew: ****1/2
Bayley vs Nia: **3/4
Priest vs Balor: **1/4
Rhea vs Liv: *1/2 (had good intentions but that ending was botched and too much focus on Dom)
Cody/Roman vs Solo/Fatu: ***1/4

The road ahead (for now)

Crown Jewel
Cody vs Gunther
Liv vs Nia

Not sure where the Bloodline goes at Crown Jewel, BUT we're pretty much getting something Bloodline related for Wargames

Possibly: Solo/Fatu/Tonga/Loa/TBA vs Roman/Rock/Jimmy/Cody/TBA and have Rock betray Roman there.

This means the Women's Wargames will be provided by Raw, and right now I'd guess Rhea/Iyo/Kairi/Natalya/Lyra vs Liv/Raquel/Sonya/Shayna/Zoey (in WWE's constant attempt to make Pure Fusion Collective relevant)

And as if things couldn't get any crazier, they just had Kevin Owens turn heel by attacking Cody off screen by his tour bus

That's a weird decision

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4b0ee6a5.jpg

Wrestling is Art

Updates to my main event lists...

Most main event appearances on WWE ppvs
1) Undertaker - 73
2) Cena - 72
3) HHH - 70
4) Orton - 62
5) Reigns - 55
6) HBK - 50
7) Lesnar - 43
8) Austin - 42
9) Kane - 39
10) Rollins - 36

Most main event wins on WWE ppvs
1) Cena - 37
2) Reigns - 36
3) HHH - 34
4) Undertaker - 26
5) Lesnar - 23
6) Austin - 21
7) HBK - 19
7) Orton - 19
9) Hogan - 18
10) Rock - 17

Wild Crown Jewel prediction:

- Ref gets knocked out in Liv vs Nia match.
- Tiffany runs down with her own ref to cash in
- Successfully cashes in on Nia, bails with women's title
- Liv revives the original ref and pins Nia to win Crown Jewel title

bryan danielson's full time career is over. aew

I got a feeling Bron Breakker about to win back the IC title thanks to the Bloodline. It'll be what convinces Jey to help Jimmy out.

Also WWE gotta do something soon. While Cody vs Gunther is going to be a solid main event, nearly nobody wants to see Nia vs Liv at Crown Jewel.

4 more shows before Crown Jewel and the only confirmed matches are still the champion vs champion bouts.

Orton vs Owens is looking very likely though. Not sure what 2-3 other matches get on the card

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9d9787fb.jpg

Highly, highly deserved

https://x.com/SamanthaTheBomb/status/1848430118009549290?t=zWiAqEY_BU_w27y4854OpQ&s=19

Fuck :(

Lilian Garcia returned tonight, supposedly full time to replace Samantha Irvin.

Bloodline costs Jey the IC title tonight, as many predicted.

Carlito convinces Adam Pearce to book Dominik Mysterio next week against a random former world champion. If Dom wins, Pearce will give him a #1 contender match.

Priest states his intentions on facing Gunther again. Finn states his intentions on stopping Priest

Crown Jewel so far
Rhodes vs Gunther
Liv vs Nia
Rollins vs Reed

Owens vs Orton is expected to be added soon. No word on what the 5th match is

OG Bloodline give New Gen Bloodline a taste of their own medicine and cost them the tag titles

Crown Jewel so far
Rhodes vs Gunther
Liv vs Nia
Rollins vs Reed
Orton vs Owens
LA Knight vs Andrade vs Carmelo for the US title
Bianca/Jade vs Piper/Chelsea vs Damage CTRL vs Legend/Jackson for the Women's Tag Titles

I had to dig deep in the memory banks for this one.

In October 1998, Gamepro's website ran an online 32-man bracket for WWF vs WCW. Fans submitted votes until there was eventually a winner, even though we knew what the final was going to be. Here was the bracket and whether or not they ever fought each other IRL...

Round 1
Austin > Piper (Never fought, but Austin did stunner him at WM21)
DDP > Edge (Had a match on Heat in November 2001, Edge won clean)
Kane > Savage (Never fought)
HHH > Luger (Probably never fought)
Rock > Raven (Despite being in WWF together for a couple years, these two never met)
Bret > Owen (Duh, multiple matches)
Mankind > Booker (Part of a 5-way at Vengeance 2007 won by Cena)
Warrior > Val Venis (No matches that I know of IRL)
Shamrock > Scott Hall (Unless they met in TNA, no matches I know of)
Sting > D'Lo Brown (See above)
Goldberg > Bart Gunn (Never)
Nash > Vader (Never, though Vader probably fought Fake Diesel! >_>)
HBK > Saturn (Nope)
Hogan > X-Pac (Once or twice in tag matches in 02)
Giant > Dan Severn (Never)
Undertaker > Jericho (A few times in different types of matches between 2000 and 2010 with a 2-2 record)

Round 2
Austin > DDP (Once or twice at the start of the InVasion angle)
Kane > HHH (Duh)
Rock > Bret (Fought once in 97, Rock won by DQ)
Warrior > Mankind (Never)
Sting > Shamrock (Probably never)
Goldberg > Nash (Yup; Goldberg finished 2-1)
HBK > Hogan (Hogan won their only encounter IRL)
Undertaker > Giant (Duh)

Round 3
Austin > Kane (Obviously)
Rock > Warrior (Never happened IRL)
Goldberg > Sting (Goldberg won all 3 encounters)
Undertaker > HBK (Final score was 2-2-1 last I checked)

Semifinals and Championship
Austin > Rock (Obviously)
Goldberg > Taker (Taker won their only IRL match)

Austin > Goldberg with 85% of all votes. Their only IRL scuffle was Austin ending Goldberg's first WWE run with a stunner.

It goes without saying the WWF bias was strongly there in 1998. These fans also claimed WWF War Zone was better than WCW/nWo Revenge

Well, that was something

JBL just cost Joe Hendry the TNA World title

He's been going around the indys for months just showing up, clothesline from hell, leave.

JBL's clothesline from hell is most aptly named now as his career has died and gone to hell.

FFDragon posted...

He's been going around the indys for months just showing up, clothesline from hell, leave.

I've seen a few bits from time to time.

Still better than managing Baron Corbin.

Looking at TNA now, here's their male champions on the roster...

Nic Nemeth - 44
Mike Bailey - 34
Matt Hardy - 50
Jeff Hardy - 47
PCO - 57

Plus Frankie Kazarian who has a trophy to cash in, age 47

With the exception of Bailey, the rest of TNA's champions are between 44 and 57

WWE's male champions on the other hand...

Cody - 39
Gunther - 37
Bron - 27
Knight - 41
JD - 34
Balor - 43
Sabin - 42
Shelley - 41

Hendry's not YOUNG young (36) but he's red hot right now and TNA squandered two opportunities to put the belt on him, with one of them ruined by JBL in 2024.

if i was tna i would also be hesitant to put my top belt on a guy that wwe seems to be courting

ivysnow posted...

if i was tna i would also be hesitant to put my top belt on a guy that wwe seems to be courting

yeah but dude is also under contract until the end of 2025 AND they didn't seem to have a problem with jordynne grace wrestling a bunch under the WWE banner this year while still being women's champ

TheRock1525 posted...

yeah but dude is also under contract until the end of 2025 AND they didn't seem to have a problem with jordynne grace wrestling a bunch under the WWE banner this year while still being women's champ

All of this, basically.

Like... I'm sure there's an endgame here for Hendry, but TNA squandered opportunities at their two biggest shows, yet let the 50 year old Hardys headline and win at their biggest ppv of the year.

In other parts of wrestling, turns out Samantha Irvin hated being a ring announcer, based on recent tweets.

FFDragon posted...

He's been going around the indys for months just showing up, clothesline from hell, leave.

it's an intriguing build, but JBL is about the last person I want to see become a major player on the indies (or wherever this is going) in 2024

Damian Priest in the last 3 months...

- Loses World title thanks to Balor
- Gets kicked out of Judgment Day
- With Rhea, feuds with Dominik and Liv
- Goes through all of Judgment Day in singles competition, not losing a single match
- Beats Finn Balor at Bad Blood, despite Balor having a 3-on-1 advantage
- Appears once in a 3 week stint to remind Gunther he wants the belt again
- Is immediately fighting Dom tonight for a chance to wrestle a future match for #1 contendership and loses thanks to Judgment Day
- Ends Raw by beating the hell out of Judgment Day (minus Balor who wasn't there)

At this moment, no one would benefit more from a move to SmackDown than Damian Priest.

ZeroSignal posted...

Nic Nemeth - 44
Mike Bailey - 34
Matt Hardy - 50
Jeff Hardy - 47
PCO - 57

Well, the age average just went up a bit with Moose beating Mike Bailey

Crown Jewel (Most likely the final card)
Rhodes vs Gunther for Crown Jewel title
Liv vs Nia for Women's Crown Jewel title
Roman/Usos vs Solo/Fatu/Tama
Rollins vs Reed
Orton vs Owens
LA Knight vs Andrade vs Carmelo for the US title
Bianca/Jade vs Piper/Chelsea vs Damage CTRL vs Legend/Jackson for the Women's Tag Titles

Rhea Ripley injured again and written off via Morgan/Rodriguez attack on NXT, return unknown

Barring a Stratton cash in or a big change of plans, Liv's probably holding her title until Wrestlemania

Baron Corbin, Tegan Nox, and Indi Hartwell released

The Andre Battle Royal winners are all nearly gone. Only ones still employed in WWE are Strowman, Jey Uso, and Bronson Reed

https://twitter.com/indi_hartwell/status/1852485994127499524

bad way to learn you lost your job i think.

i wonder if this is part of triple paul's kinder gentler release strategy

Frightful apparently has a policy about not reporting releases until they've confirmed the talent know about it, so it's probably a bit.

Corbin's accomplishments on the main roster are few and far between. One US title, Money in the Bank, King of the Ring, and retired Kurt Angle because Vince wouldn't let Kurt wrestle Cena at WM34. He's also still one of the last three people to pin Roman Reigns.

Kings of the Ring and where they are now...
Active in WWE: Sheamus, Xavier Woods, Gunther
Still under contract in WWE in a non-wrestling role or inactive: HHH, Ken Shamrock, Brock Lesnar, Booker T, William Regal, Wade Barrett
Retired, rare appearances: Bret Hart, Steve Austin
AEW: Billy Gunn, Edge
Unemployed: Baron Corbin
Deceased: Owen Hart, Mabel

MITB winner history
Still Active in WWE: CM Punk, Miz, Cena, Orton, Rollins, Sheamus, Strowman, Otis, Theory, Priest, McIntyre, Bayley, Nikki A.S.H., Liv Morgan, Iyo Sky, Tiffany Stratton
Still in WWE, but in a non-wrestling role or inactive: RVD, Lesnar, Big E, Carmella, Alexa Bliss
Technically didn't really win Money in the Bank: Asuka
AEW: Edge, Bryan, Ambrose
TNA: Ziggler
NWA: Sandow
AAA: Del Rio
Boxing announcer: Mr. Kennedy
Retired: Kane (he MIGHT still be on a contract or legends contract like RVD and Shamrock are now)
Unemployed: Swagger, Corbin

Bloodline 1.0 vs Bloodline 2.0 to open up Crown Jewel

Between Payback 2020 and Crown Jewel 2024, the following ppvs featured a Roman Reigns match that was NOT the main event...

Hell in a Cell 2020
TLC 2020
Royal Rumble 21
Elimination Chamber 21
Royal Rumble 22
Elimination Chamber 22
Royal Rumble 24
Crown Jewel 24

Crown Jewel was alright.

This tweet cracked me up though...

Sure WWE, keep giving every single prize to Cody Rhodes. Dude is becoming worse than John Cena. At least Cena took years to become SuperCena. Jesus what a joke

Dude must have ignored the 15 years Cody spent in midcard hell before 2022

Three matches set up for the distant future...

Gunther vs Priest for the WHC
Liv vs Iyo for the Women's World title
Judgment Day vs War Raiders for the World Tag Titles

Also a likely confrontation between Liv/Raquel and Bianca/Jade

https://twitter.com/Brodyxking/status/1854549520299745779

Survivor Series so far...
Reigns/Jey/Jimmy/Sami/????? vs Solo/Tonga/Loa/Fatu/????? in Wargames

Next Week on SD
Nia vs Naomi for the WWE Women's title
Motor City Machine Guns vs Street Profits for the WWE Tag titles

Next Week on Raw
Bianca/Jade vs Liv/Raquel for the Women's Tag titles

Happening at some point in the future
Gunther vs Priest for the WHC
Liv vs Iyo for the Women's World title
Judgment Day vs War Raiders for the World Tag titles

Nick Aldis unveiled the Women's United States Championship tonight. Basically the same belt as the men with a white strap instead.

Expecting Raw at some point to have a Women's IC title and then the pursuit for more Grand Slams can begin!

If that's the case, then the following women still employed with WWE have won either of the major titles and a tag title and therefore are already halfway there:

Bayley
Alexa Bliss
Nikki Cross
Asuka
Nia Jax
Charlotte Flair
Natalya
Rhea Ripley
Carmella
Naomi
Iyo Sky
Becky Lynch
Liv Morgan
Bianca Belair

https://twitter.com/DrainBamager/status/1855434478887317969

Kill the cheerleader, save the world.

Survivor Series so far...
Reigns/Jey/Jimmy/Sami/????? vs Solo/Tonga/Loa/Fatu/????? in Wargames
Gunther vs Priest for the WHC

Possible Wargames match after tonight's events: Liv/Raquel/Tiffany/Nia/???? vs Bianca/Jade/Iyo/Naomi/????

Smackdown tonight...
- Bronson Reed joins Solo for Wargames
- Bracket revealed for Women's US title tournament
- Bayley defeated Candice LeRae and B-Fab to advance. Next matches are Belair vs Green vs Davenport, Cargill vs Michin vs Niven, and Naomi vs Stratton vs Lopez
- The fact that the Women's US title tournament is all SmackDown women pretty much guarantees we're getting the Women's IC title for Raw's roster in the future
- Nakamura returns and targets the United States champion
- Ciampa likely turning heel soon
- Nia retains against Naomi
- Roman attempts to call Heyman to no avail

Survivor Series so far...
Reigns/Jey/Jimmy/Sami/????? vs Solo/Tonga/Loa/Fatu/Bronson in Wargames
Gunther vs Priest for the WHC

Possible Wargames match: Liv/Raquel/Tiffany/Nia/???? vs Bianca/Jade/Iyo/Naomi/????

After Raw tonight; Women's Wargames is 100% locked in

Survivor Series so far...
Reigns/Jey/Jimmy/Sami/????? vs Solo/Tonga/Loa/Fatu/Bronson in Wargames
Liv/Raquel/Tiffany/Nia/Candace vs Rhea/Bianca/Jade/Iyo/Naomi in Wargames
Gunther vs Priest for the WHC

All signs point to Seth Rollins being the 5th member of Roman's team if he can settle his differences with Reigns