Sports Pro Wrestling

[The Mega Champion]

*sighs*

Dean Ambrose Jon Moxley just joined AEW. I'm legitimately beginning to worry for the future of WWE. I really am. I grew up watching WWE. I've pretty much been watching it all my life. Or, at the very least, as long as I can remember.

Even back during the 'WCW' days (never watched ECW but I knew about it I think) and during the original 'Monday Night Wars' I always auto-defaulted to WWE. Although, admittedly, I tried to watch WCW as well and would even sometimes watch both. Well... at least until it started 'deteriorating' I guess.

Regardless... I've been a 'WWE lifer' or whatever you want to call it and I'm not going to stop anytime soon. Despite what everyone else seems to have done in this thread, I refuse to give up on WWE and I won't be giving up on it anytime soon. Because it has been, and probably always will be, my favorite.

But I'm worried. Extremely worried. All of this 'bad news' is just not good and even I have to admit. Which I hate to do.

I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to end up being FORCED to watch AEW. I really don't. In fact I won't. Unless... the absolute worst-case scenario happens I guess.

What I mean by that... is WWE going out of business. Yes I'm that worried.

Is it really getting to this point? Where WWE is on the verge of actually going out of business and it being another 'WCW' scenario except with WWE instead?

Someone please make me feel better or just say I'm overreacting or something. Or just continue bashing WWE and say 'lol they screwed watch AEW' or 'took you long enough to realize it' or just troll responses in general. Seriously don't do that. That's not what I need right now.

I. DO. NOT. WANT. TO. BE. FORCED. TO. WATCH. AEW.

😭

 

[User Anon 1848]

I wouldn't worry about WWE going out of business. They always manage to sign lucrative TV deals despite their ever declining ratings. The Saudi deal alone should keep them above water for a long time and there's also the fact that Vince hasn't touched his own personal money for the last 20 years or so. You should be excited because this might actually get Vince motivated to put on the best product possible. It's hard not to get complacent when there's nobody else in town to challenge you. Even if you don't intend to watch AEW, its existence is a good thing for fans and wrestlers.

As for AEW's first PPV... I loved it. Jon Moxley had a great debut, MJF is probably the best heel going today and Cody vs Dustin Rhodes was an emotional roller coaster. It's crazy to think that Cody has faced Kenny Omega and Okada within the last year or so yet his best match so far ended up being with his 50 year old brother. Just goes to show how good Dustin was all this time. I always loved Goldust so I'm happy that he got his moment in the spotlight. The crowd was hot for the entire show. When's the last time you could say that about a WWE event? Can't wait until their weekly shows start. Hope they can keep up the momentum.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-is-jericho/id767016946?i=1000440018123

I'd encourage any wrestling fan to check out Ambrose/Moxley's latest appearance on Talk Is Jericho. It's right up there with Punk's Colt Cabana podcast appearance in terms of peeling back the curtain on WWE. He comes off more sympathetic too because he wasn't acting like a malcontent towards everyone or making a ton of demands like Punk was, even though you could easily make the case that Punk deserved most of what he was asking for at the time.

 

[Brendino]

I was actually at Double or Nothing (it was the first major wrestling event I've ever been to), and I tried to go in with no expectations, but was blown away by how good it was. Even though everyone had suspicions that Jon Moxley might be there (considering he lives just outside of Las Vegas), I was surprised with how nuts the place went when he made his debut. It was a really fun event, and hopefully I can make it to another AEW show at some point.

I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to end up being FORCED to watch AEW. I really don't. In fact I won't. Unless... the absolute worst-case scenario happens I guess.

What I mean by that... is WWE going out of business. Yes I'm that worried.

Is it really getting to this point? Where WWE is on the verge of actually going out of business and it being another 'WCW' scenario except with WWE instead?

Someone please make me feel better or just say I'm overreacting or something. Or just continue bashing WWE and say 'lol they screwed watch AEW' or 'took you long enough to realize it' or just troll responses in general. Seriously don't do that. That's not what I need right now.

I. DO. NOT. WANT. TO. BE. FORCED. TO. WATCH. AEW.

😭

WWE isn't going anywhere, and will continue to be the #1 wrestling promotion for years and years to come. AEW being successful might actually help WWE in the long run, since WWE hasn't had any real competition for decades. Even when TNA tried moving Impact to Mondays, WWE stepped their game up for a few months, and Impact went right back to Thursday nights.

I don't see there being anything wrong with being a fan of WWE and other companies like AEW, but there are millions of wrestling fans out there that watch nothing but WWE, so you're definitely not alone.

 

[Caite-chan]

I wouldn't say you should be forced to watch AEW but I think it would be good to give it a try. Its always good to broaden your spectrum and see what else is out there. Trust me when I first started watching wrestling I was always "WWE or nothing" and when I would talk to others and say I won't watch anything that's not WWE they just laughed at me and thought I was a joke. Then when Christian went to TNA I kinda jumped ship and watched TNA and then started watching NJPW and more Indy.

So I'd say at least give it a shot you never know you might actually like it.

 

[The Mega Champion]

I've stalled asking for advice for this long enough.

Since were back to WCW vs WWE again except now it's AEW vs WWE... what should I do?

Back when WCW vs WWE was going on I watched both. So should I do the same again? I'm trying to determine if I should watch NXT or AEW. I tried watching NXT once and really didn't like it honestly.

So what should I do? Basically... what I'm asking for is advice/suggestions.

AEW? Or NXT?

 

[Brendino]

It all really depends on what type of wrestling you enjoy watching. WWE has a very distinct style of wrestling, and NXT is basically full of guys that are adapting to it. It's a more low-risk style that gets a little repetitive, but the things that guys do, they do well.

AEW on the other hand is a bit more of a free-for-all mash-up of styles. You'll have guys like Cody that tell a clear story in their match, but aren't really flashy. You've got hardcore guys like Joey Janela, Darby Allin, and Jon Moxley (to an extent) that are willing to go the extra step to put on a show at their body's expense, to a level you would never see in today's WWE. And then you've got high fliers like Angelico, Jack Evans, and Fenix that take the sort of stuff WWE guys like Ricochet do, and try and take it to the next level.

All that said, if you like story telling and are willing to invest time into the characters, NXT might be a better pick. If you want to experience higher risk, higher reward in-ring action from wrestlers you may have never heard of before, then AEW might be for you. I'm personally going to try and keep up with both, but I'll probably lean towards AEW to start, even though NXT has been my favorite WWE brand for a few years now.

 

[The Mega Champion]

Everyone kept recommending AEW to me so I went ahead and watched it. Though I still feel like I did something sacrilegious... 😨

It was... okay honestly. Definitely better than what I was expecting it to be.

Though then again maybe I'm just too used to watching WWE so I don't know how to handle watching something else. 😅

 

[AlolanRattata]

I wish WWE could get both members of Beer Money, just so we could see them face Kozlov and Jackson, who of course would both have to come back, but I think that could have been a good match.

 

[Caite-chan]

I feel like I have to watch a few more weeks of AEW before I can really give a good yay or nah on it. Maybe it's because I don't know many of the guys in AEW but then again when I first started watching TNA I was in the same boat and had to watch it for a few weeks before I got into it.

 

[The Mega Champion]

So... um...

This just happened on AEW last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okVUxILA3aQ

The Young Bucks came out after as Ryu & Ken from Street Fighter.

I THINK I'M STARTING TO LOVE THIS.

SOMEONE HELP.



inb4 someone posts 'ONE OF US. ONE OF US.'

 

[The Mega Champion]

I don't know how to react to CM Punk joining WWE BackStage...

😱

 

[The Mega Champion]

Since the Royal Rumble is tomorrow... here's that thing I always do...

Who I want to win:

Men: Roman Reigns
Women: I don't know honestly. No one really 'stands out' for me. Charlotte Flair. Sure. Let's go with that.

Who I think will win:

Men: Roman Reigns (due to rumors)
Women: Shayna Bayzler (also due to rumors) If so... 😒

 

[The Mega Champion]

I can't defend this ****. I seriously can't. In all my years as a WWE fan... this is the most atrocious, disgusting, and abhorrent thing they have ever done.

Not only is there now a COVID outbreak in WWE... it was preventable. But did they? No. Because Vince McMahon is the god damn Trump of WWE.

There's only one thing to do at this point. I suggest it's done. NOW.

SHUT

IT

DOWN

I can live without WWE for a couple of months or however long it takes.

There is no defense to this. AT ALL.

 

[Caite-chan]

It's just stupid. If all other major sports are shut down WWE should have been shut down as well. If movies and TV shows are being shut down for the time being WWE can too. Not that hard.

 

[Zeostar]

The way WWE has been handling this covid situation does feel abhorrent. It feels they are putting the business over worker safety, considering after 3 people were tested positive they reportedly decided to keep going with taping.

Not only that, but tuning into pro wrestling news for the first time in a while and reading about all the sexual assault allegations made me feel a bit sick. I really hope as the "main" wrestling company they make some sort of statement instead of ignoring everything.

In happier news it's nice to see Edge doing such great stuff again. It's still surreal seeing him back.

 

[Zeostar]

Rest in Piece Brodie Lee aka "Luke Harper"

This is so devastating and hard to process.

 

[Starlight]

Rest in peace big guy :'(

 

[The Mega Champion]

Well it's Royal Rumble season so you know what that means. Honestly... I still feel like it's going to be far worse than it normally is with it in the Thunderdome and no live fans. It also makes me think that there will be absolutely no 'surprise' entrants to the Royal Rumble matches either (other than NXT people I guess but that kind of thing just makes me facepalm more than cheer)

But it is what it is I suppose. Hopefully 2022 will be back to normal with Royal Rumbles that are far better in front of live crowds.

Either way here are who I want to win and who I think will win the respective Royal Rumble matches this year.

Who I want to win:

Men: Daniel Bryan or Edge
Women: Honestly... idk. Charlotte Flair I guess. Though that would make a 2 year in a row winner but it would make sense story wise so she can backstab Asuka (come on we all know it's coming). Other than that the only winner that might make me smile and cheer would probably be someone like Bianca Belair and maybe Rhea Ripley (she's disappeared from NXT from what I've heard so it makes me feel like they'll try to get her over by winning the Women's Rumble)

Who I think will win:

Men: Daniel Bryan or Goldberg (yes I'm aware he's fighting for the WWE title against McIntyre but I can't help but feel like he'll end up in the Rumble anyway and WWE will let him win so he can fight Roman again)
Women: Again... idk. Pretty much the same as above really. Charlotte Flair would make sense. Bianca Belair potentially as well as Rhea Ripley. There's one possibility that I'm scared out of my mind about though. Potentially anyway. Which is... a 'surprise entrant' occurring after all and they end up winning it. Not only that... it could potentially be the most controversial thing WWE has done since they let Batista win the Rumble after he came back that one year. I'm of course talking about that controversial woman................ named Tessa Blanchard.

UGH

help

 

[Starlight]

Welp.

WWE Raw this week had some pretty major moments in defining the road to wrestlemania.

Not sure how I feel tbh. It was obviously gonna happen, because... well there was just No Chance it wouldn't, but it just seemed so badly written, that both me and my girl had to stop watching it several times to take breaks.

It feels like WWE is heading backwards right now, in an attempt to recapture its glory days, but instead is just bringing back all the bad stuff from that era without any of the good.

 

[Caite-chan]

I just happen to catch the middle part of it and was like WTF. I don't know and kinda fell off of it a few years ago. I'm not excited to watch it but I can if I come across it.