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A New Era for the Wrestling Thread




Penta on that mid 90's HBK time first night in! :funny:

Can't blame Graves, you could hear his frustration on last week's NXT.

But the show ended early, so how are talent going to be mad at Penta for going a little over? That's something to get mad at Trips about, not Penta.

And yeah, Graves really should be the one on Raw with Michael Cole. That's gotta suck.
 
But the show ended early, so how are talent going to be mad at Penta for going a little over? That's something to get mad at Trips about, not Penta.

And yeah, Graves really should be the one on Raw with Michael Cole. That's gotta suck.

Apparently the show was only supposed to run 2 and a half hours, Triple H said last week that he thought that was the sweet spot instead of 2 or 3 hours, and even though they have flexibility with Netflix the show is laid out with a set runtime for segments that they tell Netflix beforehand.

Agreed, I know McAfee is a big name in the US but he's obnoxious most of the time and there's no heel voice to balance out Cole.
 
Looks like Triple H has already lost interest with The Wyatt Sicks. The hokey 1980s and 1990s pro wrestling stuff just doesn't work in The Triple H era. I feel like the same thing happened with Bray Wyatt in his latest comeback. They did all that song and dance for his return but after he returned they floundered and didn't know what to do with him.

There was nowhere for the Wyatt Sicks to go after they lost. And frankly, making them babyfaces made absolutely no sense. They're basically a family of cultists and horror movie characters like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or what have you. Having them avenge babyfaces who were betrayed by someone or other makes no sense. It's not like R-Truth or Alpha Academy cared that Wyatt Sicks fought on their behalf or they were helped in some way by the Wyatt Sicks. It was dumb nonsense.

Once they lost, their aura was finished and there was nowhere else for them to go.

I feel for Bo Dallas because I do think he is talented, but they put him in a corner by basically making him a tribute act to his late brother. It was severely limiting.
 
SXefs.jpg

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If it's an angle I wonder if Graves has been cleared to wrestle and is gonna do something with McAfee. 🤔

I feel like he wouldn't be posting this multiple times without deleting and be allowed to go on TV tonight unless it was a work. But I don't know everything, so I guess we'll have to tune in!
 
So PWInsider is now saying that Corey Graves is leaving Orlando and isn't doing NXT tonight, so "shrugs".

Hey, if this is a way to do Graves vs. McAfee at WrestleMania, then bravo.
 
Looks like Triple H has already lost interest with The Wyatt Sicks. The hokey 1980s and 1990s pro wrestling stuff just doesn't work in The Triple H era. I feel like the same thing happened with Bray Wyatt in his latest comeback. They did all that song and dance for his return but after he returned they floundered and didn't know what to do with him.

There was nowhere for the Wyatt Sicks to go after they lost. And frankly, making them babyfaces made absolutely no sense. They're basically a family of cultists and horror movie characters like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or what have you. Having them avenge babyfaces who were betrayed by someone or other makes no sense. It's not like R-Truth or Alpha Academy cared that Wyatt Sicks fought on their behalf or they were helped in some way by the Wyatt Sicks. It was dumb nonsense.

Once they lost, their aura was finished and there was nowhere else for them to go.

I feel for Bo Dallas because I do think he is talented, but they put him in a corner by basically making him a tribute act to his late brother. It was severely limiting.

I don't like supernatural gimmicks in general and with this one I think the fact its a tribute act makes it more difficult to get over as you said, as does the fact they've been booked as heels, they were always going to get a big pop at first due to the link to Bray, but they could have turned them afterwards easy enough.

I think had Uncle Howdy just came back on his own with maybe Abby in his corner, and been more of a carnival villain, a trickster and manipulator instead of the goofy stuff they've given him, it might have worked.


I feel like he wouldn't be posting this multiple times without deleting and be allowed to go on TV tonight unless it was a work. But I don't know everything, so I guess we'll have to tune in!

Well they pulled him from the show and didn't mention him, but I think that just adds to blurring the lines, I mean logically why would WWE let him go on NXT when he'd openly said he was going to be airing his grievances. If this is leading to him and McAfee then really he should show up on Raw to do the promo.

Graves mentioned last year that he was cleared

That's good, I wonder if he's wanting to get back in the ring.
 
I loved Oba Femi's promo that kicked off NXT, he's really grown in this aspect and I think he'll have a strong title reign, he feels more ready than Trick.

Stephanie vs Shotzi was an excellent match, some fantastic mat wrestling and counters. I'm guessing they're stalling Stephanie's North American title shot until Vengeance Day and she'll face Jacy Jayne first, and Shotzi vs Fallon should be good.

The women's tag team title #1 contenders match and the NXT tag team title match were both good, Lashkara and Fraxion are both ready for the main roster.

Good promo from Roxy to close the show, I wasn't expecting Bayley to show up but after the brawl I'm expecting Roxy to show up on Smackdown to cost Bayley the title match against Tiffy.




 
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So based on everything we've seen so far, Corey Graves isn't "working."

That said, even if he is upset and has a point, he's handled this the wrong way. He's torpedoing his career and committing career suicide over nothing, and he has zero leverage.
 
So based on everything we've seen so far, Corey Graves isn't "working."

That said, even if he is upset and has a point, he's handled this the wrong way. He's torpedoing his career and committing career suicide over nothing, and he has zero leverage.
Agreed, he's definitely handled this the wrong way so far. Hopefully things work out for the best for him.

But if you're not moving up, it's time to move on. He probably had enough after being a trooper through every change, doing his job incredibly well, and getting demoted anyway.
 
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If he feels that way then the best thing to do is work out your contract and walk away. But there are only two wrestling companies out there that can pay him what he wants as an announcer, and AEW already has enough announcers. Also he has an infant child and kids from another marriage, plus an ex-wife. I doubt he has F-U money.
 
Didn't Corey say he was cleared to compete, he just doesn't want to?

WWE changes announce teams every 6-8 months, because they have to reshuffle the Raw and Smackdown announce teams when Pat McAfee leaves in August to do College Gameday for ESPN. When he's about to return, they reshuffle the announce teams yet again.
 
He did say that, but there isn't a huge demand for Corey Graves as a wrestler right now. If he was to return to the ring, where would he be slotted in? He's 40, and when he was forced out of the ring beforehand, was still basically a developmental talent in NXT.

I guess it's possible if he parts ways with WWE, he could pursue the indies or other companies, but he'd basically be starting over at 40 years old. But hey, maybe they eventually turn this into an angle and have him fight Pat McAfee or Logan Paul at WrestleMania.
 
If the Graves thing is a work, he'd be an excellent heel manager.

I like this idea, him retuning as the manager of someone to wreak havoc would be interesting, as he's a good promo.

Two times, she looked over at the direction of TNA Knockouts Champion, Masha Slamovich, who was in attendance.

I could see Cora doing a shot in TNA and putting their Champion over, especially if WWE are about to sign Jordynne Grace as expected.

Agreed, he's definitely handled this the wrong way so far. Hopefully things work out for the best for him.

But if you're not moving up, it's time to move on. He probably had enough after being a trooper through every change, doing his job incredibly well, and getting demoted anyway.

He did say that, but there isn't a huge demand for Corey Graves as a wrestler right now. If he was to return to the ring, where would he be slotted in? He's 40, and when he was forced out of the ring beforehand, was still basically a developmental talent in NXT.

I guess it's possible if he parts ways with WWE, he could pursue the indies or other companies, but he'd basically be starting over at 40 years old. But hey, maybe they eventually turn this into an angle and have him fight Pat McAfee or Logan Paul at WrestleMania.

I still wouldn't rule out it being a work, admittedly the appetite for a Corey Graves in-ring return probably isn't there, as you say he never got beyond NXT, but it could be more about McAfee, if he's wanting to get in the ring again. The fact he tweeted out that he was going to say something on NXT is the biggest indication that it's a work, as if he legitimately intended to say something he'd have known forewarning would get him pulled from the show.
 

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