Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[Andrew]

Three hours is definitely overkill.

[[Q]]

I agree 3 hours is too much and removing some superstars from the show will free up time for others. Hopefully they'll realize the difference in time and not split the roster "evenly"

Yeah looks like too many guys had been doing both shows plus live events so the bumps were adding up

[koberulz]

I'm just not a fan of the brand split, especially if it means two world titles.

They only had one world title last time they split the brands, it was some time later that the WHC was (re?) introduced. And that was only after trying to bump up the IC title to that spot.

[Andrew]

True, for the first few months of the brand extension, the WWE Champion appeared on both shows, and the secondary titles were exclusive. From September 2002 to December 2013 though, there were two recognised world titles. I'm assuming they'll go back to that at some point if they split the brands again.

[koberulz]

In fairness, there were two world titles without a brand split longer than there were two world titles with a brand split.

[Andrew]

Well, yes, there was a hangover (for lack of a better word) with the company having two world titles for a couple of years after the brand extension officially ended, and it was a few months into the brand extension before they adopted that approach in the first place. But the fact remains that the brand extension was the reason the company had two world titles for over a decade. According to the latest rumours, that's what they're planning on doing again.

[JaoSming]

and this is why KO is the man

https://twitter.com/TheAJUniverse/statu ... 1142144000

[[Q]]

He's so good. One of the few wrestlers i currently enjoy watching. too bad they won't push him as a legit main event heel, probably because of his body size. Which makes no fucking sense with the way they have treated Cesaro...

[Andrew]

I've read that Vince is actually high up on him and has gotten over his look, so I remain optimistic for now.

[bigh0rt]

Welp, with that last Cena segment, that automatically becomes the most interestjng angle and pushes Rollins/Reigns deep into the back burner. I'm very hopeful here. Actually thought for a second it might be Cena having his Hogan moment with Anderson/Gallows playing the role of The Outsiders.

Related, every main eventer is a heel except Cena? Making room for a guy like Orton to return? Who gets the face push aside from... Reigns (lol)?

[Andrew]

A returning Orton could certainly balance things out with another face at the top of the card, though he's a natural heel.

[[Q]]

Technically Reigns is still a face, with Orton set to return most likely as a face and Cena is here. With Ambrose, those are the top 4 faces in WWE and they'll probably get split with Reigns & Cena on Raw. My god i hope they don't bury the club by putting them up against cena. Nexus was a really promising group, especially after them tearing apart the ring and Daniel Bryan getting fired for choking the announcer with his tie but then they went up against cena

[Andrew]

Two of them don't exactly get face reactions, though. That's the problem.

[bigh0rt]

Two of them don't exactly get face reactions, though. That's the problem.

That's what I'm getting at. At some point you've gotta have top faces that get... cheered.

I'd also be surprised to see Reigns and Cena go to the same show, if Vince intends on continuing to try and get Reigns cheered.

[Andrew]

It's probably easier to get someone over as a heel than as a face, but they should really look at who is actually getting positive reactions, and ride that momentum. I think they also need to take a look at other areas of popular culture and fiction, observe the heroes/protagonists that are popular, and emulate their characteristics.

I recall an interview where Mick Foley revealed that around the start of the Attitude Era, Vince had a meeting that included agents and wrestlers, admitted that he was a bit behind on pop culture, and asked for ideas. Obviously, giving workers creative freedom worked out pretty well for him back then. I get the feeling he's even more out of touch now, so it's probably time to start looking around, and listening to ideas again.

[[Q]]

On a side note, who would've thought that Dean Ambrose would have legit nunchuck skills??

[bigh0rt]

Random Thoughts...

Does Finn Balor join The Club when he debuts in the WWE?

Do we see them putting one of the split titles on Styles when the brand re-splits? This is an angle I think they could push and be real successful with, if they do it correctly.

I'm really disappointed with what they've done with Ambrose's character. When he was in the Main Event picture with HHH prior to Mania, I absolutely loved it, and thought he could be a great anti-authority figure a la Steve Austin, with a different spin, but this 'crazy' shtick comes off as really lame, IMO. His programs with both Brock and Jericho sucked, and if there was one in between there, it sucked so bad I can't even recall it.

Give Dirk Ziggler the entire Summer off, to see if I actually care about him when he comes back. Him being on TV every single week with no real direction, only to serve as an introductory feud for Baron Corbin, which really could be occupied by anybody (maybe they like the way Ziggler works with newer talent, etc., I don't know.). Either way, give him a break, and give us a break from him.

Is Bray Wyatt hurt? He better be. Otherwise, there's no excuse why I haven't seen him on TV in God knows how long.

I forgot they could potentially use Brock Lesnar as a Main Event face, as well.

Vince better get over KO being a fat boy, cause he's the man. Such a great heel persona, and it comes very naturally to him; he's able to ad lib it well, etc.

Get Jericho out of the ring, but still on TV in some capacity. Get him announcing or something. I'm done watching him wrestle, but he still makes almost everybody else look like a child when he gets on the mic, as a heel or face.

Am I the only one who finds Sammi Zayn dull and boring? He's fun to watch work, but his character brings absolutely nothing to the table for me. Let him compete for the US Title and put on some entertaining matches, but in the Intercontinental Title picture, he does not belong, character-wise. The same could be said for Cesaro, who I love, but again, brings so little in terms of charisma.

Can we get a pair of pants on Rusev? That guy's thighs are a nightmare. Get some long tights on him, for the love of God. I do like the new spin on his finisher, though, and think he is a good US Title level heel. He should be facing the Sammi Zayns and Cesaros of the world for it; while wearing long tights.

I'm at the point where I'm rooting for a Reigns injury. That may be the only thing that saves us from this.

Get Zack Ryder off my television. Or get him in the tag team division or something. And not with Mojo Rawley, cause that dude blows. Hard.

[Andrew]

Bray Wyatt is injured, which is always unfortunate, but it might give them an opportunity to restart on his character with a clear direction.

[[Q]]

Yeah it sucks what they're doing with Dolph after giving him a (short) title reign. He's blacklisted as "injury prone". And yet all these big stars with injuries currently (or who just came back) have their situations seen as "freak accidents" and are not labelled injury-prone.

Would be cool to see Finn join the Balor Club as they've gone completely heel with Styles. I'd like to see them put the belt on Styles or Finn and have them be nWo on Smackdown and fuck everybody up. Gallows & Anderson are legit tag champs so they could possibly hold all the belts on a show. Funny they never mention Gallows as CM Punk's minion

Yeah Sami occasionally has some fantastic matches (Nakamura match one of my favorites of all time) but yeah his character is super boring. never liked him in nxt either.

[Andrew]

Ziggler hasn't done himself any favours with some of his complaints. I'm not saying he should be a suck up, but he should've been smarter about keeping a lid on his frustration and asserted himself better. That is to say, not ranted about his position and lack of push on social media.

[bigh0rt]

I'm fine with them not pushing him. I just don't want to see him on every single RAW and SmackDown if there's nothing going on with him.

[Andrew]

I've long felt that his character is missing some sort of a hook, beyond cocky blonde guy.

[JaoSming]

No one posted this yet?

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

phpBB [video]

[JaoSming]

and more KO & friends goodness
https://streamable.com/2o2v

phpBB [video]

[[Q]]

Re: Brand split.

So they renamed the NXT PPV "The End" so will they split the NXT roster into the draft for Raw & SD? I mean, they got some great guys down there and I could see Vince seeing it as a waste of talent when dudes are putting their bodies on the line every night for a smaller audience and smaller live audiences. With that said, hopefully we'll see Finn, Joe, Shinsuke, Bayley, and Asuka on TV soon