Sports Pro Wrestling

[The Mega Champion]

I have nothing to add to this. But I'm sick of this BS and I have more important crap going on in my life that needs more of my attention.

He's going to return to creative. It's inevitable. I don't give a f what his statement was. It's a bold-faced flat-out lie. So once that happens... I will seriously contemplate quitting for good. Because I'm just not dealing with this BS anymore. I refuse to. Sorry.

So AEW wins. Since that's clearly what everyone wants/wanted anyway. Because I'm sure that'll absolutely fix everything. 🙄

 

[Zeostar]

I don't want to witness what's going to happen with the current roster.

Gunther, Gargano, Bray, Braun, LA Knight, the list goes on. So much promise that could be ruined.

Needless to say I will not be tuning into the product either.

 

[Starlight]

Well I'm soooooo glad I didn't start watching WWE again - I very nearly did for rumble season.

 

[The Mega Champion]

Just to play Devil's Advocate here...

What choice did WWE have really? Because they really had none. Senile demented old man would have burned the whole thing to the ground (though he's clearly still attempting to do so) by just blocking any new media rights deals/TV deals/whatever you want to call them since they are expiring in 2024 IIRC.

Though that doesn't change the fact that he's inevitably going to force himself back into creative.

 

[Hermione Granger]

RIP Jay Briscoe, he passed away yesterday in a car accident.

 

[Zeostar]

It is tragic.

Life is so fleeting

 

[Allen Ceedos]

Had no idea about Jay Briscoe passing away until I saw the description of one of the regular podcasts that I catch. Didn't believe it at first, then I searched elsewhere and saw site after site with the same basic headline about him. It's a terrible and unfortunate loss, I hope his daughters will recover and his family, friends and fans can comfort each other during this time. I'll always remember him as ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe because when I first found out about ROH and had the chance to watch it he was THE guy and having a big run with the title, leading up to an epic match against Jay Lethal. Rest in peace.

 

[The Mega Champion]

Royal Rumble is this weekend. Seems incredibly likely it'll be the last one I ever watch since Vince will inevitably force himself back into creative and sell WWE to Saudi PIF and take it private again so he doesn't have to face consequences for being a sexual predator. What a f-ing joke.

So for the final time... here's who I want to/think will win both Rumbles:

Men's:
Who I want to win: Cody Rhodes
Who I think will win: Cody Rhodes

Women's:
Who I want to win: Naomi
Who I think will win: Rhea Ripley

Not hard honestly. Once asshole forces himself back into creative and they sell to Saudi PIF I quit for good

 

[Allen Ceedos]

Any thoughts about how the Rumble went down and what has been set up so far for the Elimination Chamber?

I watched the Rumble mainly with curiosity in mind, to see how the current creative team would book it since this was the first Royal Rumble after the Vince creative era. It certainly started out strong and ended even stronger but at the expense of what had to follow that men's Rumble match and what came before that main event. Cody or Sami and Rhea were the only people that made sense to me to win their respective Rumble matches because all 3 had strong cases storyline wise so I'm happy that Cody and Rhea won...but was surprised by Rhea's decision to challenge Charlotte instead of Bianca at Mania. Once Rhea's reason became clear though I've accepted the decision, I just don't know if Charlotte at this point can be portrayed as a genuine face that fans want to see beat Rhea...if anything Rhea might be the one who gets more positive reactions than Charlotte leading up to and during the Mania match. I don't expect a double turn but even if Rhea were to do something to Charlotte truly heelish before Mania I still think she will have plenty of fans on her side.

As for Bianca it comes off like creative is scrambling to get a challenger for her when she has been champion for almost a year now and could've had a hot program going into Mania with either Rhea or even Bayley if the whole Damage CTRL experiment hadn't completely fizzled out super early (from the moment they cut their first promo on Raw after Summer Slam they just came off like yet another group of annoying heels and not the big bad threat to the women's division that they wanted people to think they were). Out of the 6 women going into the Chamber match, Asuka or Raquel seem to be the best choices to win (even if Raquel wins, what's stopping Adam Pearce from simply moving her from Smackdown to Raw?).

Austin Theory losing the US Title in the Chamber ahead of a possible match against Cena at Mania makes sense but I still think it would be nice to see him retain and he defends the title against Cena at Mania. He could be showing up week after week continuing to say The Champ is Here and make little not-so-subtle digs at Cena until he shows up to challenge Theory and dress him down for his arrogance and not respecting the title and representing it. You could have good story to tell there.

Sami Zayn headed for the biggest match of his life in Montreal. What could possibly go wrong? :)

 

[The Mega Champion]

Vince wants 9 billion for the company. Of course he does. He's become a hindrance for sales talks too due to his involvement after the sale. Of course he has. This was about getting all control back. End of story. That's all it ever was all about.

So once they sell to Saudi PIF and Vince gets put back in creative I quit for good. I'm not dealing with this BS anymore. I'm really not. What a f-ing joke. All of HHH's guys will be in AEW before the end of the year.

So enjoy this while it lasts. It won't last much longer probably.

 

[Zeostar]

I've enjoyed the bloodline story and the various weekly buildups. I haven't been invested in a wrestling story in such a long time. I'll be sad when it ends. Last night with Sami vs Roman was such a great moment. I have seen that there are some sour feelings about the ending, but I think in retrospective years down the line, it will be remembered fondly.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Elon Musk might step in and buy WWE just like he bought Twitter.

 

[Zeostar]

Elon Musk might step in and buy WWE just like he bought Twitter.

The most popular wrestling satire news website did an article on this.

https://www.kayfabenews.com/elon-musk-buys-wwe-for-44-1-billion/

 

[Allen Ceedos]

Vince wants 9 billion for the company. Of course he does. He's become a hindrance for sales talks too due to his involvement after the sale. Of course he has. This was about getting all control back. End of story. That's all it ever was all about.

So once they sell to Saudi PIF and Vince gets put back in creative I quit for good. I'm not dealing with this BS anymore. I'm really not. What a f-ing joke. All of HHH's guys will be in AEW before the end of the year.

So enjoy this while it lasts. It won't last much longer probably.

I think that's exactly what fans should be doing - enjoying this while it lasts, and luckily there is a great storyline that has been going on which is worth enjoying. It's bad enough that Vince (unsurprisingly) got back into power, but until there's actual news that he is set to lead creative again I choose not to spend any energy on him because it's a waste of time. WWE has something really good going on and that's where my focus is now. What could make me consider quitting now is if the Undisputed Title is split up again and we go back to having one world title meaning way more than the other (until the next big title unification and on and on).

If the Saudis end up buying the company and/or Vince gets back in as head of creative, okay, then what? Is there going to be a mass exodus of fans and talent going from WWE to AEW (with its already bloated roster) and/or other promotions? I don't think anything of that scale will happen, instead I think there will be enough people sticking around at least to see what that new WWE looks like.

 

[Allen Ceedos]

I've enjoyed the bloodline story and the various weekly buildups. I haven't been invested in a wrestling story in such a long time. I'll be sad when it ends. Last night with Sami vs Roman was such a great moment. I have seen that there are some sour feelings about the ending, but I think in retrospective years down the line, it will be remembered fondly.

It's the best thing WWE has right now. Elimination Chamber was quite fun to watch, minus that Lesnar/Lashley match and the main event delivered in terms of in-ring and on an emotional level. I didn't expect Sami to win, but I felt bad for the hometown crowd after that 3-count happened and we got to see people's faces and their reactions. If Sami had won, was he just going to hold the title while they were still in Canada before dropping it right back to Reigns on Smackdown? Would he have gone on to Mania to rematch against Reigns maybe on Night 1, retain, and face Cody on Night 2? Those questions popped up after watching that main event.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Wrestling just isn't the same without John Cena to me.

 

[The Mega Champion]

I don't want to see any complaining in this thread. I don't. I really don't.

BECAUSE NOBODY SHOULD BE SURPRISED. You really shouldn't be. Because I'm not. Am I happy? I don't even need to answer that the answer is so god damn obvious.

You want to blame something? Or someone? Blame WWE's obsession with numbers, statistics and figures. OF COURSE they wanted him to hit 1k days as champ. Of course they did. Oh and it's not Triple H either. IT'S DEMENTED VINCE MCMAHON. YOU WANT TO POINT THE FINGER. POINT IT AT HIM. NOT TRIPLE H.

Oh and I'm glad to see that the final decision on the sale was for Vince to not take down one company but TWO. So now he's going to take UFC down with him. But I'm sure everything will be just perfect once AEW becomes the new monopoly... 🙄

 

[Starlight]

I don't want to see any complaining in this thread. I don't. I really don't.

BECAUSE NOBODY SHOULD BE SURPRISED. You really shouldn't be. Because I'm not. Am I happy? I don't even need to answer that the answer is so god damn obvious.

You want to blame something? Or someone? Blame WWE's obsession with numbers, statistics and figures. OF COURSE they wanted him to hit 1k days as champ. Of course they did. Oh and it's not Triple H either. IT'S DEMENTED VINCE MCMAHON. YOU WANT TO POINT THE FINGER. POINT IT AT HIM. NOT TRIPLE H.

Oh and I'm glad to see that the final decision on the sale was for Vince to not take down one company but TWO. So now he's going to take UFC down with him. But I'm sure everything will be just perfect once AEW becomes the new monopoly... 🙄

Some context for people that don't know: WWE has been sold to Endeavor that also own UFC. Vince McMahon will become Executive Chairman of the Board.

https://corporate.wwe.com/investors/news/press-releases/2023/04-03-2023-115019034

 

[The Mega Champion]

The first half of my post was about WM.

 

[Zeostar]

I attended Dynamite last night. It was lots of fun. There was a dark match before the show featuring Rhio, Maki Itoh, and Abadon vs Emi Sakura, Marina Shafir, and Nyla Rose. After rampage they taped a match featuring the Lucha Brothers. (I was so tired that I don't remember who they were facing). It was 12:00 AM. Penta and Fenix both gave me a two finger salute. That was awesome. Almost everybody had left at this point so I moved pretty close to the ring.

https://imgur.com/a/pQUYZd0

Here's a small gallery of images. (The few that came out okay). Penta, Eddie Kingston, Sting, MJF, and Will Osprey.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2-qMKV-_AjQ

Crowd singing Wayward Son during the Elite Entrance.

Overall, I really enjoyed myself and I'm glad I went. Only gripe were the seats. Okay, I was on ground floor. However a bit too far back from the ring. It would have been okay, but someone bought a giant sign and would hold it way too long. Other people in my section were getting angry. A few people were also standing for prolonged times. Again, led to frustration and yelling in our row.

Tony Khan came out to thank the audience a total of 3 times. Before dynamite started, before rampage, and after rampage. It was cool. I didn't expect to see him.