Board 8 > All Purpose Wrestling Topic 513: Breakking the Cycle

(+) Yeah! (+)

Smackdown...
- MCMG defeated Pretty Deadly to become #1 contenders to the tag titles
- Miz and Damian Priest are now on Smackdown. Priest is pleased, Miz isn't.
- Owens flips out on Joe Tessatore and Matthew McConaughey before Jimmy Uso interrupts
- Michin and B Fab defeated Chelsea Green and Piper Niven
- Segment where Nia, Naomi, Belair, and Liv all announce going into the Women's Rumble. Nia takes it a step further saying she'll win Rhea's title, then the Rumble, then beat Stratton at Mania. Chaos ensues, then Nick Aldis pulls a Teddy Long on us
- Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, and Candice LeRae defeated Belair, Naomi, and Rhea Ripley
- "Solo eats corn the long way" sign spotted
- Apollo Crews defeated Johnny Gargano
- LA Knight defeated Tama Tonga
- Theory and Waller heading to Raw
- Nakamura enters the Rumble
- Damian Priest defeated Carmelo Hayes
- MCMG vs DIY announced for Royal Rumble in a 2-of-3 falls match for the titles. Hyped.
- Kevin Owens defeated Jimmy Uso. Even better, he did it while wearing a Naomi shirt.

Next week...
- Jimmy Uso vs Carmelo Hayes
- Chelsea Green vs Michin for the Women's US title

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e3397be6.jpg

Tonight's Raw...
- Logan Paul declares he'll win the Rumble
- War Raiders defeated Dominik and McDonagh to retain the World Tag titles
- Lyra Valkyria and Ivy Nile enter the Women's Rumble. Nile also vows to win Lyra's IC title
- Not even Dunne and Kaiser wanna talk to New Day
- Rey Mysterio defeated Xavier Woods after Woods' family appeared against the New Day's recent actions
- Zelina Vega transfers to SmackDown this week
- Jey Uso and Penta announce their entry into the Rumble in separate promos
- Liv and Raquel defeated Bianca and Naomi after interference from Dominik
- Heyman reveals the cover of WWE 2K25, featuring our tribal chief
- Drew McIntyre defeated Sami Zayn
- After the match, Cody Rhodes makes the save and also fights off Owens. Zayn misses a Helluva Kick intended for McIntyre and hits Cody by accident
- Raw ends with a solid promo between Cody and Punk, where Punk states his intentions to win the Rumble and beat Cody at Wrestlemania.

Royal Rumble
- Men's Rumble (Cena, Roman, Jey, Rollins, McIntyre, Punk, Knight, Nakamura, Penta, Logan Paul, Zayn, Rey Mysterio, Gable, Breakker, plus 16 others)
- Women's Rumble (Nia, Liv, Bianca, Naomi, Raquel, Bayley, Iyo, Charlotte, Ivy, Lyra, plus 20 others)
- Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens in a ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Championship
- #DIY vs Motor City Machine Guns in a Best 2 of 3 falls match for the WWE Tag titles

Rumor has it that HHH is the headliner for the 2025 Hall of Fame class

https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/cm-punk-jack-perry-wembley/

2024's Worst of the Year, with a whopping 42% of all votes

Any other B8ers gonna be at the Rumble live in person? I'm going with the same buddy I went with when I attended Survivor Series 2019 and Wrestlemania 40. Should be a hype time

Smackdown recap...
- Kevin Owens verbally berates Joe Tessatore and takes the Winged Eagle title back. CM Punk gets involved afterwards. Owens reminds Punk that he's main evented Wrestlemania twice vs Punk's zero. Punk reminds us that KO has lost 5 title matches at Royal Rumble and has lost to Logan Paul.
- Jimmy Uso defeated Carmelo Hayes
- Michin defeated Chelsea Green by DQ
- Charlotte Flair DEFINITELY had work done. Also she's rhyming like her dad now
- Priest is simply on SD to become champion and enters the Rumble. Fatu and Tonga attack him before LA Knight makes the save
- HHH headlining the 2025 Hall of Fame class
- MCMG and Los Garza defeated DIY and Pretty Deadly
- Pretty Deadly decide that they're not helping DIY tomorrow
- Naomi defeated Liv Morgan
- Andrade defeated The Miz
- R Truth thinks Adam Pearce grew hair and that he never left Raw
- Candice LeRae enters the Rumble. Nia Jax takes out her and Stratton
- Priest and Knight defeated Fatu and Tonga. SD ends with Jacob Fatu leveling Priest with a moonsault

Royal Rumble
- Men's Rumble (Cena, Roman, Jey, Rollins, McIntyre, Punk, Knight, Nakamura, Penta, Logan Paul, Zayn, Rey Mysterio, Gable, Breakker, Carmelo, Priest, Escobar, Fatu plus 12 others)
- Women's Rumble (Nia, Liv, Bianca, Naomi, Raquel, Bayley, Iyo, Charlotte, Ivy, Lyra, Chelsea, Piper, Zelina, Candice, plus 16 others)
- Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens in a ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Championship
- #DIY vs Motor City Machine Guns in a Best 2 of 3 falls match for the WWE Tag titles

That was an exceedingly long National Anthem singing

Seanchan posted...

That was an exceedingly long National Anthem singing

Was it The Homerun of the Brave or What so Proudly they Failed?

cena wi-- wait WHAT

Yeah I did not see that coming, but I love it

I mean if Punk wasn't going to win, this is great

How did this timeline go from Jey Uso being a small meme when randomly entering a VGCW Royal Rumble 12 years ago to him winning the real thing? What a journey!

Jey winning is well deserved

Having Cena put someone over whilst having Charlotte win is certainly a choice though

they set up the shock by having Charlotte win lol

paulg235 posted...

How did this timeline go from Jey Uso being a small meme when randomly entering a VGCW Royal Rumble 12 years ago to him winning the real thing? What a journey!

Holy helll... I forgot all about that. Wasn't Cena a mistaken entrant once too?

Mega_Mana posted...

Holy helll... I forgot all about that. Wasn't Cena a mistaken entrant once too?

I remember him being in one of the earliest rumbles, but I'm not sure if that was a mistake.

But yeah, Jey just randomly appeared at the start of one of the season 2 rumbles and was swiftly eliminated. Then if I recall correctly, the showrunner cashed in on the error and had Jey in one of those WWE vs VGCW matches.

Oh, and that was MY introduction to Jey, because I was a lapsed WWE fan at the time so I had no clue who most of the roster were.

As someone who only really watches the Big 2 now, this was incredibly surprising. But I've always said the Rumble needed to feel like anyone could win so I'll allow it.

Obviously he is super over from crowd reactions, but he also had an atrocious match last WM so I'm assuming he got better?

Also what did they do to poor shinsuke's theme

FFDragon posted...

but he also had an atrocious match last WM so I'm assuming he got better?

h-haha...

oh no

Having not paid much attention to wrestling since last Wrestlemania, I'm sure Gunther can drag Jey to a good match....right? (I'm just assuming that's the plan and not Cody.)

well Gunther and Jey already had a match not too long ago, so you can judge for yourself

Uh I just went to cagematch and apparently Gunther/Jey for the title happened literally 7 days ago (with a 6.8 out of 10)

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=111&nr=108449

FFDragon posted...

Uh I just went to cagematch and apparently Gunther/Jey for the title happened literally 7 days ago (with a 6.8 out of 10)

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=111&nr=108449

They've wrestled a ton over the last few months, but there most recent one is the only one that was pretty good (Meltzer gave it a 4.5).

Their best match was the one just before mania last year.

Jey Uso that's wild

Always thought Jimmy was the better one of the two I dunno maybe that's changed in the past 5 years?

It was only a matter of time

Most main event appearances on WWE ppvs
1) Undertaker - 73
1) John Cena - 73
3) HHH - 70
4) Randy Orton - 62
5) Roman Reigns - 57
6) Shawn Michaels - 50
7) Brock Lesnar - 43
8) Steve Austin - 42
9) Kane - 39
10) Seth Rollins - 37

Cena ties Undertaker once again. With Taker officially been retired since 2020, Cena only needs to main event one more ppv this year to stand alone.

i think jimmy is better in the ring but jey has the crowd ability.

After last night, my tierings of the Royal Rumbles... (haven't watched any before 1992)

Excellent
1992, 2001, 2004

Great
2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2023, 2019W, 2023W

Good
1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2018 Greatest, 2018W, 2019, 2020, 2021W, 2024, 2024W, 2025

Meh
1993, 1995, 2000, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2020W, 2021, 2022W, 2025W

Bad
2012, 2014, 2022

Atrocious
1999, 2015

i'd put this rumble somewhere in the top two categories there, arguable excellent but definitely at least great. it was neatly divided in chapters:

luchador start + Penta push (was he iron man?) + Gable being an absolute god
clean with Bron/Fatu + fun stuff happen + mid upper card
Reigns + Drew + bloodline stuff + main eventish people
Cena to finale, with a notable standoff and Logan being a shit heel.

didn't really feel like a lull or lazy at some point and everything made sense. ring never got too crowde, it started really quick with a nice gesture between Penta and Rey, and we got a surprise winner who's immensely popular, absolutely needed some kind of push to prove he's at that level, and can say he's earned his place in the main event. all storylines are continued well, including the very long term one of Jey inching closer and closer to Roman's status, he just sped right through the IC phase of it. i put a lot of weight on the surprise finale.

Looking more into it, 2025 Men's is more great than good.

Heading into the Elimination Chamber event, here's probably my tierings for what we've had there...

Excellent
2002, Raw 2009

Great
2005, Raw 2008, Raw 2010, SD 2011, Men's 2019, Raw 2021, Women's 2023, Men's 2023

Good
2006, SD 2009, SD 2010, Raw 2011, Raw 2012, 2017, Women's Tag 2019, SD 2021, Women's 2022, Women's 2023, US title 2023

Meh
2003, SD 2008, SD 2012, 2013, 2014, IC 2015, Women's 2018, Men's 2018, Women's 2020, Men's 2022

Bad
Tag Team 2015, Tag Team 2020

Atrocious
ECW 2006

Maybe it's nostalgia, but the first Chamber still stands out as one of the best. The Raw Chamber in 2009's a classic due to the Edge plot twist on Kofi.

The ECW one at the bottom is self explanatory

Rumble was decent for most part (one match I didn't like the outcome of but I won't go into it)

ZeroSignal posted...

Great
2005, Raw 2008, Raw 2010, SD 2011, Men's 2019, Raw 2021, Women's 2024, Men's 2024

Corrected the bolded part

Raw recap...
- Gunther tells Jey not to waste his time with The Ring General. Jey still wants to visit Cody on Smackdown before making a decision. Above all else, Jey is over as FUCK
- Penta defeated Ludwig Kaiser. Kaiser beats down Penta after the match thanks to a distraction by Dunne.
- Balor berates Dom for acting as leader of Judgment Day and getting McDonagh hurt until Dom and Liv explain their justified actions
- New Day defeated Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee via Logan Paul interference.
- Charlotte is full on heel and wants to also check out NXT and Smackdown before making her decision. Rhea wants Charlotte to pick her, but Charlotte calls Rhea childish and tells her to kick rocks.
- EC qualifier: Liv Morgan defeated Iyo Sky by DQ after Rhea Ripley punches Liv for pulling her hair
- The War Raiders respect McDonagh, but get challenged by American Made. Gable leaves to learn how to combat Lucha Libre, and he expects the Creeds and Nile to have gold upon his return
- Raw gets one final transition move, sending AJ Styles to Monday nights!
- Reigns is out "indefinitely". Rollins regrets nothing.
- EC qualifier: CM Punk defeated Sami Zayn
- Raw ends with Kevin Owens nailing Zayn with a package piledriver

Future EC qualifying matches
- Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria
- Logan Paul vs Rey Mysterio
- Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor

Elimination Chamber
Cena vs Punk vs 4 others TBD - Winner faces the champ not picked by Jey
Liv vs 5 others TBD - Winner faces the champ not picked by Charlotte

ZeroSignal posted...

Gable leaves to learn how to combat Lucha Libre,

Didn't he just beat Penta on his debut? Doesn't seem like he has a big issue fighting luchadores.

Maniac64 posted...

Didn't he just beat Penta on his debut? Doesn't seem like he has a big issue fighting luchadores.

He lost to Penta on his debut, which is basically what led to this angle.

Ah I had that result flipped. Ok that works then

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/edcf1bc2.jpg

Saw a comment on Reddit that said that Jordynne looks like SSJ3 Sabrina Carpenter and now I can't unsee it

ZeroSignal posted...

- Charlotte is full on heel

someone should tell her

Releases ahoy! WWE released The Authors of Pain, Paul Ellering, Cedric Alexander, and Blair Davenport today. Sonya Deville's reportedly not getting a new contact either and is on her way out soon.

Smackdown recap...
- Jey and Cody briefly discuss Wrestlemania before getting interrupted by Fatu and Tama. Jacob thinks he's the one who should bring Cody's title back to the family.
- Drew McIntyre, Katana Chance, and Kayden Carter are officially on Smackdown
- EC qualifier: Bianca Belair defeated Piper Niven
- DIY vows that the Motor City Machine Guns will never get the tag titles again. Pretty Deadly interrupts and wants a shot at them. Nick Aldis obliges with a non-title match
- Pretty Deadly defeated DIY
- Miz fails to make friends with Andrade
- McIntyre intends to win the WWE title. Jimmy and LA Knight call him out on his excessive whining
- EC qualifier: Drew McIntyre defeated Jimmy Uso and LA Knight
- Owens promises to make Sami suffer, citing how Sami did nothing to help him against Cody, but immediately rushed to Roman's aid later that evening
- Charlotte says she's the greatest and shot down Rhea and Giulia. Tiffany Stratton meets her and states that WWE's been at an all-time high since Charlotte was out and Tiffany was in. Charlotte will agree to a match at Wrestlemania if Tiffany gets on her knees and begs for it. Nia Jax interrupts to inform Tiffany that she'll challenge for the belt next week.
- EC qualifier: Alexa Bliss defeated Candice LeRae
- Street Profits promise to take down all comers and win the gold
- Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes defeated Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga
- Smackdown ends with Solo Sikoa returning and hitting the spike on Cody

Elimination Chamber
Cena vs Punk vs McIntyre vs 3 others
Liv vs Bianca vs Alexa vs 3 others

Future qualifying matches
Logan Paul vs Rey Mysterio
Damian Priest vs Braun Strowman vs Jacob Fatu
Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor
Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria
Michin vs Naomi

Jimmy's promo was so good. Kevin Owens' too.

Also confirmed gone from WWE today

Isla Dawn
Karl Anderson
Luke Gallows
Giovanni Vinci

Mega_Mana posted...

Jimmy's promo was so good. Kevin Owens' too.

Kevin Owens should have been face of the company level for so many years. I will die on the hill that he is better than Cody and Roman so has been the victim of circumstance

I mean I get it, I don't blame them for going the way they did because the end goal is making money

Elektra Lopez added to the list of released superstars, cutting Legado del Fantasmo down to a trio

Raw recap
- Gunther interrupts Jey Uso's entrance. Jey responds by selecting him for Wrestlemania
- Damage CTRL defeated Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
- EC qualifier: Bayley defeated Lyra Valkyria
- Dominik Mysterio and Carlito confront AJ Styles. Later on, Bron Breakker has a stare down backstage with AJ.
- World Tag Title match: War Raiders defeat the Creed Brothers by DQ
- Logan Paul and CM Punk exchange words before the main event
- EC qualifier: Logan Paul defeated Rey Mysterio
- Raw ends with The New Day beating down Rey Mysterio

Smackdown this week:
- Tiffany Stratton vs Nia Jax for the WWE Women's title
- EC qualifier: Fatu vs Strowman vs Priest
- EC qualifier: Chelsea Green vs Naomi

Raw next week:
- AJ Styles vs Dominik Mysterio
- EC qualifier: Rollins vs Balor
- EC qualifier: Raquel Rodriguez vs Roxanne Perez
- Penta vs Pete Dunne

Elimination Chamber
- Cena vs Punk vs McIntyre vs Logan Paul vs two others TBD. Winner challenges Cody Rhodes at Wrestlemania 41.
- Liv vs Bianca vs Alexa vs Bayley vs 2 others TBD.

Raw after Elimination Chamber
- Rhea Ripley vs Iyo Sky for the Women's World title

NJPW New Beginning in Osaka spoilers

Looks like Goto FINALLY won the big one! He beat Zack Sabre Jr to become IWGP World Heavyweight champion.

ZeroSignal posted...

Also confirmed gone from WWE today

Isla Dawn
Karl Anderson
Luke Gallows
Giovanni Vinci

Guess AJ can only bat for two of those so many times.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/79cf75e4.jpg

liv just devolving into a beast and I'm here for it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/ddd89a4f.jpg

Smackdown recap...
- Cody and Drew exchange words. Cody reminds us Drew is one of only five people to beat him since his return in 2022 (others being Roman, Brock, Rock, and Solo). Jacob Fatu interrupts and states his intentions to win the Chamber and beat Cody
- EC qualifier: Naomi defeated Chelsea Green
- Sami Zayn video promo, stating Owens only wanted Sami to help him win. He promises they'll fight when he's cleared
- Michelle McCool joins her husband in the WWE Hall of Fame this year
- MCMG defeated Los Garza
- Solo states he needed time off after losing the ula fala, but supports Fatu's pursuit of the WWE title. Fatu and Tama seem uncertain about this.
- LA Knight defeated The Miz to get a shot at Nakamura
- Wyatt Sicks glitch occurs during a backstage segment between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax
- Carmelo Hayes defeated R Truth
- Owens promo in his car, stating he's been heartbroken by his 3 closest friends. He makes a challenge for Zayn to appear at Elimination Chamber, cleared or not.
- WWE Women's title match: Tiffany Stratton defeated Nia Jax by disqualification. Trish Stratus attempts to get involved and gets squashed by Nia as well. After Nia squashes Tiffany, Charlotte chooses to face Tiffany at Wrestlemania.
- Footage shows Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez as potential suspects of who attacked Jade Cargill 2 months ago. Belair and Naomi plan on questioning them on Monday.
- EC qualifier: Damian Priest defeated Braun Strowman and Jacob Fatu. Solo and Tama attempted to assist Jacob, but was thwarted by Cody. An accidentally Samoan Spike to Tama may have just ignited the beginning of Solo vs Jacob

Raw next week:
- AJ Styles vs Dominik Mysterio
- EC qualifier: Rollins vs Balor
- EC qualifier: Raquel Rodriguez vs Roxanne Perez
- Penta vs Pete Dunne

Smackdown next week:
- DIY vs Pretty Deadly for the WWE Tag titles
- Jimmy Uso vs Drew McIntyre

At some point in the future:
Nakamura vs Knight for the US title

Elimination Chamber
- Cena vs Punk vs McIntyre vs Logan Paul vs Priest vs Rollins OR Balor. Winner challenges Cody Rhodes at Wrestlemania 41.
- Liv vs Bianca vs Alexa vs Bayley vs Naomi vs Raquel OR Roxanne. Winner challenges Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania 41.
- Trish Stratus and Tiffany Stratton vs Nia Jax and Candice LeRae

Raw after Elimination Chamber
- Rhea Ripley vs Iyo Sky for the Women's World title

Wrestlemania 41
- Gunther vs Jey Uso for the WHC
- Tiffany Stratton vs Charlotte Flair for the WWE Women's title

ZeroSignal posted...

Nakamura vs Knight for the US title

aka
"so Knight wasn't lighting the world on fire but he's at least over, holy shit we've fucked up with Nakamura"