A New Era for the Wrestling Thread

[Lobo]

 

[Hunter Rider]

Bad Blood was a solid all round show with 1 great match, and plenty of big drama.

Pun̈k vs Drew was an instant classic, the best Cell match since the original for me, the facials, the callbacks, the physicality and brutality, this was the best type of physical storytelling and the finishing was perfect, as was the post match fatigue displayed by both guys, they've both been brilliant in the best feud in a long, long time, it showed how much value Punk still has and took Drew to a whole other level, he needs tonve the guy to dethrone Cody imo.

Nia vs Bayley was overall a decent match, they have good in-ring chemistry and I really liked Bayley's offense, fighting from underneath, there were a couple of awkward spots from Nia but not enough to detract from the match for me, and I actually thought Bayley was going to win with that roll-up after Nia caught Tiffy trying to cash-in.

Priest vs Balor was a solid match, both guys worked hard but the crowd was a bit flat throughout, and the finish confirmed they only heated Balor up to feed him to Priest.

Liv vs Rhea started well with the great entrance for Liv and Dom in the lowrider, then Liv focused on Rhea's leg which made sense given the previous angle, and Rhea sold her ass off, but the final stretch seemed like it didn't go off properly, it took too long and everyone appeared to be looking at each other about what was next, it was good to see Raquel Rodriguez back and she looks jacked, but she looked a bit lost as to what the finish was. The highlight was Dom falling out the cage, I legit thought he'd slipped at first until the leg gimmick caught him lol.

The tag team main event took a while to get going but the final stretch was good, i liked Cody giving Roman the salute before splashing Jacob through the table. Jimmy's return to help Roman and Cody win was certainly uniquely done, and he hit his superkick's pretty well. I also liked that he convinced Roman to go back and help Cody, and the tension between the two over the WWE title was great.......then Rock's music hits and everything is left with plenty of questions.

Owens turned on Cody post show

I didn't see this until you posted it, really interesting way to do this, treating like a shoot, I wonder if Owens is leaving. 🤔

So am I the only one who thought that Triple H was about to announce a Woman's mid card title before unveiling that ridiculous Crown Jewel belt?


Also I'm 100% sure Gunther will get speared soon.

Yes, that's exactly what I was hoping it was going to be, that belt is nearly as big as Liv.

That segment with Gunther and Goldberg was fun but I hope it doesn't lead to a match.

I heard the 5th cousin took it particularly hard! 😢

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

I liked the way the first 3 segments of Raw transitioned into each other to fit the new 2 hour runtime. The little tease between Punk and Rollins was simple but effective, and once Seth stopped hamming and turned his focus to Bronson Reed I thought it was a solid promo, and I'm guessing the match will be at Crown Jewel. The friction between Seth and Jey was unexpected, feels like a potential heel turn. The IC title match was relatively short which helped it, the Bron run-in afterwards was surprising after he seemingly turned full face last week. 🤔

The 10 woman tag felt a bit like the bad old day's with so little time, Zelina, Zoey and Lyra all got a bit of shine but the Women's tag team title match next week better get a lot more time.

Cool to see Ethan Page getting on Raw looking for Punk, I'm guessing that match will happen at Halloween Havoc.

Solid main event between Gunther and Sami, right guy went over, and I liked the little face-off with Cody to close the show.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

[PWTorch]: "10/08/2024 AEW Dynamite on TBS averaged 329,000 viewers. NXT drew 874,000 viewers in its usual timeslot in its second week on The CW."

Dave Meltzer: It's very clear at this point AEW's audience unlike two years ago is choosing WWE and they have less of an exclusive audience than before.

While it's not entirely Tony Khan's fault AEW ratings have been affected downward by the fact that WWE got rid of Vince McMahon and thus fixed a lot of WWE's creative, labor, and other problems, what is his problem is that Khan's a billionaire nepobaby like Elon Musk and Vince McMahon with some of their bad habits and people have noticed AEW has had weak creative more often than not since Cody Rhodes left the company. My interest dwindled over the years to the point I check it out very infrequently but it's the same issues every time that have been litigated to death on internet messageboards already. I don't know if Shane McMahon is their savior or grim reaper but they need better marketing and creative away from Khan's 'heatless 5 star bangers for the sickos'.

 

[Herolee10]

[PWTorch]: "10/08/2024 AEW Dynamite on TBS averaged 329,000 viewers. NXT drew 874,000 viewers in its usual timeslot in its second week on The CW."

Dave Meltzer: It's very clear at this point AEW's audience unlike two years ago is choosing WWE and they have less of an exclusive audience than before.

While it's not entirely Tony Khan's fault AEW ratings have been affected downward by the fact that WWE got rid of Vince McMahon and thus fixed a lot of WWE's creative, labor, and other problems, what is his problem is that Khan's a billionaire nepobaby like Elon Musk and Vince McMahon with some of their bad habits and people have noticed AEW has had weak creative more often than not since Cody Rhodes left the company. My interest dwindled over the years to the point I check it out very infrequently but it's the same issues every time that have been litigated to death on internet messageboards already. I don't know if Shane McMahon is their savior or grim reaper but they need better marketing and creative away from Khan's 'heatless 5 star bangers for the sickos'.

I was surprised to find out that the Young Bucks have a deal in place where even Tony Khan can't fire them. I have no idea why anyone would give that kind of leverage to someone else, let alone to a pair of wrestlers who weren't that popular to start with.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Tony D'Angelo beating Oba Femi made sense in the story they were telling, but I'm not sure I see the point overall, he's a good hand in the ring but he's not massively over and his gimmick is cheesy. I think Oba wins it back at Halloween Havoc as it was a roll-up win.

A-Town under have went from jobbers to the stars to jobbers to the development tag team champions!

Call me an old fart but I've never been happier to see Ethan Page, I honestly don't get the appeal of Sexxy Red, she comes across like a crackhead and she raps like one, not exactly a lyricist.

Thankfully the NXT Ladies were on point, the 6 woman tag was a solid match and I loved the segment with Roxy, Cora, Giulia and the debuting Stephanie Vaquer, I don't think I've ever seen Cora Jade wrestle but she carries herself like a star and is very confident on the mic, I also think Roxy has really progressed in her mic work recently. Giulia is a women if few words as she develops her English, but she doesn't need to say much, she has a genuine aura about her. I'm also digging the promo vids for Delta, interested to see how she fits in, the NXT women's division is 🔥 right now.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Two title matches on Smackdown tonight!

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Lobo]

Tiffy looking real good with those shorts tonight. I'm going to need pics tomorrow @Hunter Rider

 

[Spider-Fan]

The story going with Cody, KO, and Randy I think is the kind of story Cody needed. He needed a good Non-Bloodline feud that was about more than just "Hey I am challenging you" "Oh yeah, well I will win that match!" They can keep this going for several months

 

[Hunter Rider]

Jimmy got a nice welcome back to kick off Smackdown and cut a solid promo, and it was cool the way Roman acknowledged him, I felt Roman was kind of feeling his way into face promo mode here, and Jimmy as his voice of reason is an interesting direction, the way he shut down the Yeet suggestion straight away drew a reality check line from Jimmy that added a layer to the situation they're in, especially Roman's position. This played into the unadvertised main event where Solo pretty much dominated Jimmy and beat him, it was an odd choice to have Roman hang back and do the music entrance given Jacob was interfering from the start, but the Bloodline leaving them laying got some much needed heat back and Jimmy telling Roman "We need help Uce" was an on point way to close the show.

The two title matches were both solid, I'm still guessing that Knight vs Carmelo vs Andrade will end up as the US Championship match at Crown Jewel. The focus of Meta4 vs Jade & Bianca was Lash, she's a unit and made Bianca look small in comparison, while she also threw Jade around quite comfortably and had the bulk over her too, it was an impressive showing for the Boujee bully before Jakara ate the pin after Jade got the hot tag. It was also good to see Chelsea and Piper out there getting into the mix as future challengers.

I like the way they are building this angle with Owens, Cody and Orton, having him get his mic cut off because he wasn't supposed to be there, Cody coming out sans music, then all the refs and Randy to try and calm things down, the commentators mostly sitting out, then Owens accidentally elbowing Randy who instinctively fired back, then instantly regretting it, to Owens attacking Randy offscreen, it was all really well done. It was fitting that Owens was wearing a Dusty Rhodes shirt, one of Dusty's big booking philosophies was the heel needed something in a personal angle that they can interpret as them being in the right, and Owens feeling Cody turned on him first by teaming with Roman, fits this to a T.

I thought the way the Nia and Naomi promo showdown set off a chain reaction of events worked really well, Nia trying to bully Tiffy into cashing in on Liv, who then arrived with Raquel and Dom, and of course Rhea making the surprise run-in at the end an inadvertently flattening Nia, but most of all it led to a fantastic match between Naomi and Nia, their styles meshed perfectly and this was the best match I've seen Naomi have, her picking up the win after interference from Liv puts another cat among the pigeons, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Women's War Games match is triggered by this segment.

Tiffy looking real good with those shorts tonight. I'm going to need pics tomorrow @Hunter Rider

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Spider-Fan]

Yeah, this Cody vs Kevin with Randy in the mix for me is best angle going on Smackdown right now. It's been booked brilliantly, and I honestly wish we were just doing that instead of a Saudi match with Gunther. I mean, I want to see Cody vs Gunther as a match. But it doesn't have the story quality this rivalry right now does

 

[Herolee10]

Yeah, this Cody vs Kevin with Randy in the mix for me is best angle going on Smackdown right now. It's been booked brilliantly, and I honestly wish we were just doing that instead of a Saudi match with Gunther. I mean, I want to see Cody vs Gunther as a match. But it doesn't have the story quality this rivalry right now does

Turning KO back into a heel was definitely a wise choice since SD was really lacking when it came to credible heels. Up until now, the only major heels on the show were Solo, Fatu, Santos, and Carmelo. Logan Paul is a part-timer so I really wouldn't count him and AJ has been absent for quite sometime.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

It feels like WWE are testing the waters with Kelani and Lash over the past week.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]