A New Era for the Wrestling Thread

[Hunter Rider]

Another thing with Travis Scott is that he's a small, skinny dude, so he should have not just marched into the ring and got into Cody's face like he did. That didn't make him heelish at all. If anything, it showed balls that in storyline, he should not have had (and I don't think that did Cody any favors as a babyface with that WrestleMania crowd). Cody should've chased him around the ring and got his hands on him before delivering the Cross Rhodes. He needs to be a cowardly, sneaky heel who cheaps shots babyfaces and then hides behind bigger guys backing him up.

Spot on, his involvement physically was handled badly, he needs to be afraid of Cody and he needed to take a punch in the mouth, not a wrestling move.

 

[Hunter Rider]

There are two other rappers that the WWE can use instead of Travis Scott, one being Bad Bunny and the other being:



I get that they are both busy outside of WWE, but both are so much better than Travis Scott.

In that article it says Bad Bunny is expected to be his opponent in a tag match with Cena.

 

[DOBSON10]

I can't stand the Wyatt6, the goofy supernatural stuff isn't my thing, I was hoping Alexa could just be herself and not dragged down by the nonsense.

I don’t mind spooky when it’s done right but so far I don’t see the Wyatt 6 in that light… Nikki looks cool but the rest, meh… I agree, was definitely hoping they were gonna keep Alexa away from them… I like Alexa a lot but I never really cared for her being with Bray despite liking him, most of the time, as well… And that doll she carries around is stupid..

Disappointing to hear they’re just going to keep doubling down on the Travis Scott crap even though it’s obvious 90% of the fanbase hates it… Now Bad Bunny’s coming back to face him too… Ugh… I will literally turn it off…

 

[DOBSON10]

 

[Lobo]

Two title matches on Smackdown tonight.

I love Chelsea but Zelina should win tonight. Her husband should be showing up tonight as well.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

My other issue with Trips and how he runs things: these segments where Wrestler A who has beef with Wrestler B talk too damn much and for too damn long. And that’s not surprising because all he did as an active wrestler/champion was cut BORING hour long promos.

Cena and Orton threw some entertaining shots at each other but a whole 30 minutes of just straight talking?

This is WRESTLING, START SCRAPPING.

 

[Lobo]

"This is pro wrestling. For the love of God somebody punch someone" ~CM Punk

He said that during the Rock And Cody press conference leading to Mania last year.

 

[Lobo]

View attachment 131216

I'm about to start the Cathy Kelley fan club. Lord have mercy.

 

[Lobo]

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Happy for Zelina.

And watching this TLC match, it makes me think that Bret Hart was right.

All of these dives to the outside and these guys falling over like bowling pins, it’s just SO FAKE.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Orton really tried to add gravity to Cena's "I am going to ruin wrestling" thing and his heel turn by reminding him of the fact that kids used to look up to him. Cena's heel character continues to be a mixed bag. Some good stuff and good lines, but he still feels a bit forced with too much overacting/yelling.

I can't believe HHH really put War Raiders vs. New Day on WrestleMania and not that TLC match. Those guys really brought the spectacle tonight. I don't mind spot fests when they are entertaining, and that was very entertaining.

 

[Dr. Evil]

 

[TheVileOne]

Happy for Zelina, but that was a garbage way to end Chelsea's title reign. She never got to wrestle on one PLE since winning it. Shows how much WWE truly cares about the new women's titles.

 

[Hunter Rider]

My other issue with Trips and how he runs things: these segments where Wrestler A who has beef with Wrestler B talk too damn much and for too damn long. And that’s not surprising because all he did as an active wrestler/champion was cut BORING hour long promos.

Cena and Orton threw some entertaining shots at each other but a whole 30 minutes of just straight talking?

This is WRESTLING, START SCRAPPING.

I agree and disagree to an extent, I thought Trips was a good promo and understood how to get over the magnitude of a match or feud, conversely the Rock would stand out there for 10 minutes rambling through Corny t-shirt catchphrases and saying nothing, and way too often he'd essentially belittle his opponent and thus make the match seem less than. What do both have in common? They both love the sound of their own voice and talk too long, give me Dusty, Foley and Punk any day, entertaining while bringing realistic emotion to their feuds.

Triple H is a mixed bag, between '99 and 2008/9 he was a great performer, but due to his power brought about by marriage he stayed at the top way too long as WWE pushed the narrative that he was on the level of the elites, and eventually made him into a guy that only wrestled at Wrestlemania or maybe SummerSlam, but he was never a draw on the level of Hogan, Austin or Roman, or even Cena, and he was never the special in-ring talent that Savage, Flair, Bret and Shawn were, and he's not the legend the Undertaker is, so rolling him out as a special attraction every Mania was disingenuous at best, a grotesque example of the Victor's controlling history. I think Cornette said it best, Triple H was a very good performer, but he was never the guy, he's the guy who worked with the guy.

Now I think he's done good job overall in the last 3 to 4 years, but let's not forget "the Authority" years, where him and his wife drained the life out of WWE with the most boring, self *****ing heel entity in history, Stephanie in particular didn't understand how to be a heel, as obnoxious as Vince was he understood the heel has to get his comeuppance, whether it was Austin making him piss himself, DX shoving his head in Big Show's sweaty ass crack, or being shaved bald at Wrestlemania, there was always a pay-off, Stephanie spent years emasculating wrestlers with zero pay-off.

I also think part of his credit as booker comes down to how far the bar was lowered by Vince over the last 10+ years as senility kicked in, WWE spent nearly a decade of the main angle being Vince vs the fans, consistently booking against what they wanted. I stopped watching in 2014 when Punk left, Bryan had his first retirement and they prematurely split the Shield because Vince had a ***** for Roman, I wasn't sticking around for a WWE built around him after 10 years of tolerating Cena, just to hate-watch, as let's not get it twisted, for 4 years Roman has been great, and the box office star in pro wrestling, but for the first 6 years he was a dull as dishwater face with go away heat who was shoved down everybody's throats because Vince got off on angering the fans. So all Trips had to do was remove the toxicity and start listening to the fans for the most part, you can't just book for the whims of the fans, but deliberately booking against them is suicide for the business, and Trips understood that and now there's a feeling of less of a glass ceiling, no malice booking and trying to appeal to both the hardcore pro wrestling fans and the casual WWE fans, an admittedly tough task for anyone.

I've probably bored you to death with the length of this lol

 

[Hunter Rider]

Happy for Zelina.

And watching this TLC match, it makes me think that Bret Hart was right.

All of these dives to the outside and these guys falling over like bowling pins, it’s just SO FAKE.

Yep, the multi-person ladder matches are always stunt shows rather than wrestling matches, no matter how much Tessitore hyperventilates trying to sell it. The guys Busted their ass and it was entertaining, but the dives sequences often look very stage unless the timing is perfect.

Orton really tried to add gravity to Cena's "I am going to ruin wrestling" thing and his heel turn by reminding him of the fact that kids used to look up to him. Cena's heel character continues to be a mixed bag. Some good stuff and good lines, but he still feels a bit forced with too much overacting/yelling.

I can't believe HHH really put War Raiders vs. New Day on WrestleMania and not that TLC match. Those guys really brought the spectacle tonight. I don't mind spot fests when they are entertaining, and that was very entertaining.

The Cena heel turn is limping along, and I don't think it helps that he looks washed in the ring, so the matches aren't exactly something to look forward too.

Happy for Zelina, but that was a garbage way to end Chelsea's title reign. She never got to wrestle on one PLE since winning it. Shows how much WWE truly cares about the new women's titles.

Yep, can't argue with that, it's ironic as well because Chelsea is way more over than Lyra, yet she got on Wrestlemania, she's wrestled Bayley twice on Raw recently, and is now going to feud with Becky. Now we'll see where things go with Chelsea but you can't help but draw a Vince comparison in the fact Chelsea got over herself and Lyra is a NXT made talent.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Congrats to Zelina, pleased for her! I know she's very into anime and her presentation leans into that aesthetic, but she did a video last year showing her roots as a little feisty Puerto Rican girl from Queens with a drive to succeed. I'd do a vignette of her taking the belt back to her neighbourhood in Queens and celebrating there, mentioning her father who was a firefighter who tragically died on 9/11, I think showing some of the real Thea will connect more with fans.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I don’t mind spooky when it’s done right but so far I don’t see the Wyatt 6 in that light… Nikki looks cool but the rest, meh… I agree, was definitely hoping they were gonna keep Alexa away from them… I like Alexa a lot but I never really cared for her being with Bray despite liking him, most of the time, as well… And that doll she carries around is stupid..

Disappointing to hear they’re just going to keep doubling down on the Travis Scott crap even though it’s obvious 90% of the fanbase hates it… Now Bad Bunny’s coming back to face him too… Ugh… I will literally turn it off…

I've just never liked it in pro wrestling, it's like John McClane and Darth Vader are both great characters but they don't belong in the same movie, and that's how I feel about supernatural stuff existing in the same universe as guys like Austin, Roman and Punk. I'm probably in the minority of people who loved Biker Taker a lot more than supernatural Taker.

The idea of Travis Scott & John Cena vs Cody Rhodes & Bad Bunny reminds me of the spate of celebrity tag matches in late 90's WCW, not a good thing.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm not a huge fan of celebrity wrestling stuff, but it's never going to go away because of success stories like Logan Paul and Bad Bunny. And it's something WWE has chased back to the golden age of Hulkamania with Cyndi Lauper, Alice Cooper, etc. I mean Johnny Knoxville literally beat Sami Zayn in an Anything Goes Match at WrestleMania. That's why Sami Zayn will never be world champion.

I'm not a fan of Wyatt Sicks, but we'll see if they can be successfully reset if they ever return to TV. IMHO the group is nothing more than a glorified cover act milking the popularity of Bray Wyatt. I'm not saying that to be mean, but that's how they come off. Secondarily, in their first major act they basically murder the entire backstage area, and it looks like they shot Chad Gable in the head. They kidnapped and tortured The Miz. They threatened Scarlett. Why are these the good guys? Presenting them as the good guys makes no sense. Why do they care that Chad Gable was mean to Alpha Academy? Alpha Academy aren't grown adults who can't stand up for themselves?

Also, even if it's Bo Dallas who is the one that is injured, you didn't have to just throw them off TV completely. It's literally a stable of six people. You can keep the rest on TV and let them get the reps in.

 

[Hunter Rider]

The thing I enjoyed most on Smackdown was Drew coming out during Fatu's title celebration to challenge him, the way the segment and subsequent #1 contenders match played out im guessing we'll get Fatu vs McIntyre vs Priest vs Knight at Backlash, but the seeds are planted for a 1 on 1 between Fatu and Drew down the line, which I want to see.

Jade interupting Tiffy leading to an unexpected match was very like the Iyo and Stephanie segment on Raw, and freshened up the title picture. The match was the green leading the green at times, but it was fine for a 1st encounter, and Jade’s powerbomb counter to the cartwheel alabama slam looked great. I was glad to see Naomi run in to get some heat back, and to see Nia back, Stratton still hasn't beaten her 1 on 1.

Good to see Fraxiom on the main roster, they've been ready for a while.

Zelina vs Chelsea was decent with a good finish, Chelsea did a great job selling the Code Red given Zelina didn't manage to hook her feet under her arms. I also loved the middle rope German suplex. I'm curious to see who Zelina's first challenger will be.

Miz giving Melo the Andre the Giant chain and Melo anointing himself the 10th Wonder of the World is a great idea and a good way to utilise his Battle royal win.

Miz being the first opponent for the returning Aleister Black is a solid choice, he's a great pro and will provide a decent first match back. Black has a better entrance and theme than most of the established roster.

 

[Lobo]

I'm fine with some celebrity stuff. It's been there since the first Wrestlemania with Mr T. But, Mr T was in the ring, not Liberace, there's a way to do it. Scott is scrawny. I wouldn't mind Big Jim Uso slapping the taste out of his mouth though.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm fine with some celebrity stuff. It's been there since the first Wrestlemania with Mr T. But, Mr T was in the ring, not Liberace, there's a way to do it. Scott is scrawny. I wouldn't mind Big Jim Uso slapping the taste out of his mouth though.

Yeah, but so are Bad Bunny and Johnny Knoxville, lol. And they both stepped foot into the ring and beat guys bigger than them. Now that they've done it, a hip-hop star like Travis Scott needs to get in there and get physical, take bumps, and mix it up for the cred.

 

[Lobo]

Yeah, but so are Bad Bunny and Johnny Knoxville, lol. And they both stepped foot into the ring and beat guys bigger than them. Now that they've done it, a hip-hop star like Travis Scott needs to get in there and get physical, take bumps, and mix it up for the cred.

I wouldn't have put Bad Bunny in the ring either. Knoxville is bigger than both. I would have just used him to take a couple of wild bumps.

Logan Paul in the ring? I'm fine with that.

Travis needs to be speared by Bron Breakker.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[TheVileOne]

I wouldn't have put Bad Bunny in the ring either. Knoxville is bigger than both. I would have just used him to take a couple of wild bumps.

Logan Paul in the ring? I'm fine with that.

Travis needs to be speared by Bron Breakker.

While you are entitled to your opinion @Lobo many would disagree with you about Bad Bunny. Many veteran WWE Superstars have highly praised Bunny and the amount of work he put into his training in getting ring ready. At the very least, Bad Bunny took it a lot more seriously than Travis Scott.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I agree and disagree to an extent, I thought Trips was a good promo and understood how to get over the magnitude of a match or feud, conversely the Rock would stand out there for 10 minutes rambling through Corny t-shirt catchphrases and saying nothing, and way too often he'd essentially belittle his opponent and thus make the match seem less than. What do both have in common? They both love the sound of their own voice and talk too long, give me Dusty, Foley and Punk any day, entertaining while bringing realistic emotion to their feuds.

Triple H is a mixed bag, between '99 and 2008/9 he was a great performer, but due to his power brought about by marriage he stayed at the top way too long as WWE pushed the narrative that he was on the level of the elites, and eventually made him into a guy that only wrestled at Wrestlemania or maybe SummerSlam, but he was never a draw on the level of Hogan, Austin or Roman, or even Cena, and he was never the special in-ring talent that Savage, Flair, Bret and Shawn were, and he's not the legend the Undertaker is, so rolling him out as a special attraction every Mania was disingenuous at best, a grotesque example of the Victor's controlling history. I think Cornette said it best, Triple H was a very good performer, but he was never the guy, he's the guy who worked with the guy.

Now I think he's done good job overall in the last 3 to 4 years, but let's not forget "the Authority" years, where him and his wife drained the life out of WWE with the most boring, self *****ing heel entity in history, Stephanie in particular didn't understand how to be a heel, as obnoxious as Vince was he understood the heel has to get his comeuppance, whether it was Austin making him piss himself, DX shoving his head in Big Show's sweaty ass crack, or being shaved bald at Wrestlemania, there was always a pay-off, Stephanie spent years emasculating wrestlers with zero pay-off.

I also think part of his credit as booker comes down to how far the bar was lowered by Vince over the last 10+ years as senility kicked in, WWE spent nearly a decade of the main angle being Vince vs the fans, consistently booking against what they wanted. I stopped watching in 2014 when Punk left, Bryan had his first retirement and they prematurely split the Shield because Vince had a ***** for Roman, I wasn't sticking around for a WWE built around him after 10 years of tolerating Cena, just to hate-watch, as let's not get it twisted, for 4 years Roman has been great, and the box office star in pro wrestling, but for the first 6 years he was a dull as dishwater face with go away heat who was shoved down everybody's throats because Vince got off on angering the fans. So all Trips had to do was remove the toxicity and start listening to the fans for the most part, you can't just book for the whims of the fans, but deliberately booking against them is suicide for the business, and Trips understood that and now there's a feeling of less of a glass ceiling, no malice booking and trying to appeal to both the hardcore pro wrestling fans and the casual WWE fans, an admittedly tough task for anyone.

I've probably bored you to death with the length of this lol

Bored?! Absolutely not.

You actually verbalized everything I feel about Trips, from his time as an active wrestler to now, I agree fully lol.