The Wrestling Thread has much larger nipples

[Lobo]

Because Jim herd

 

[Pink Ranger]

The Ding Dongs set WCW back 5 years and set bells back 15 years.

 

[Dr. Evil]

This Drake Maverick thing is a work, otherwise they would have replaced him with either Bryan Kendrick or Ariya Daivari in the tournament and not have so much focus on him tonight.

 

[Lobo]

Some of you may remember Henry O Godwin

 

[NDX]

I preferred Phineas I Godwin.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[DarthSkywalker]

- So Is Drake Maverick still fired? Part of me feels like HHH is doing some Gedo booking, and will end up winning the tournament, maybe using a "fake" firing to appeal to someone in the final to let him win.

- I love what they are doing with Shayna. She is coming off more as a monster, then if she beat Becky.

- I am not the biggest fan of how they are handling the new call ups, but I loved Ford and Dawkins on the call for Bianca's "proper" debut. Phillips was trying so hard not to laugh.

- NXT has been consistently good during the lockdown, and I feel like they are getting better. The storytelling and match quality are going rather well, though the squashes do feel even worst without crowds.

- I love Dexter Loomis. He's crazy in the right way, and his obsession with Strong is hilarious. That said, I did not enjoy the bait and switch of Finn vs. Dream.

- The weird luchas abductions people was pretty fun until this week. When my Mexican brother was basically saying, "I am about that life" and escaping abduction, I died. Best weird storyline ever.

- It took a pandemic, but the WWE finally started using Tozawa and a lot. So much fun to see him being taken even semi-seriously again.

- Okay, I can get onboard with heel Candice and and Johnny if they are going to do this.

- Io's promo.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Chris Hemsworth is playing Hulk Hogan in an upcoming biopic, which we all know the ending of:

Chris Hemsworth Excited To Play Hulk Hogan In Netflix Biopic

The movie will end with Hogan winning every title in every pro wrestling promotion currently around by demanding that every male wrestler in WWE, New Japan, AEW, NWA, MLW, Impact, All Indies, all Mexican Promotions and all Japanese promotions job to him, followed by him going back in time to win every title from every defunct wrestling promotion ever. He then demands all promotions who have women's wrestlers all job to his daughter Brooke, so she can have all of the Women's titles ever.

 

[chamber-music]

I'm glad Loomis is getting a run in NXT.

I am curious where they are going with the Lucha kidnapper story.

The pandemic has seemingly forced the WWE to give tv time to whatever wrestlers inn the company that are in the performance center area.

I felt like they were trying to hint that Jake Atlas is gay without actually coming out and saying it. The guys finisher was called the LGB DDT on the indies!

 

[Lobo]

 

[Dr. Evil]

Asuka has been great during these empty arena matches, because I always enjoy her yelling in Japanese, which she does a lot in these empty arena shows.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I can also see 205 Live being a casualty of this pandemic. It's been a little surprising that the "205 Live only" guys of Bryan Kendrick, Ariya Daivari and the Singh Brothers have not been on NXT since the WWE Cruiserweight Championship was rebranded as the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. It's curious as to why those 4 are the only ones to not have appeared on NXT since the title rebranded. Last night, Tony Nese and Jack Gallagher returned to NXT for the tournament. I would expect that the Singh Brothers will re-align with Jinder Mahal when Mahal returns to WWE TV (even though he was just cleared to return) or they could go to NXT. Kendrick and Daivari need to go to NXT, and I am surprised this hasn't happened yet.

 

[NDX]

NXT is just plain old good television.

Lot of good new wrestlers flooding in with Dexter Lumis (was becoming a Sam Shaw fan in TNA so seeing him in the 'E is a lot of fun) and El Hijo del Phantasma finally debuting. Lumis' music is ****ing awesome, too.

Raquel Gonzalez working like a true hoss, loved how she was selling.

I can't believe I am a Damian Priest fan. I hated Punishment Martinez, thought he was horrible toe few times I saw him in ROH, but since debuting in NXT he's been a highlight of the program. Him vs Keith Lee (who I still think is the next breakout superstar) will be something to behold next week. I can't wait.

Will WWE actually finish the kidnapping story unlike TNA and Samoa Joe? I really want to find out! I must know!

Overall, NXT, even lacking a crowd, has been able to at least try and make all this work where I feel the main roster fails. I still think there is not enough jaw jacking in these matches. I think Atlas (I'm looking forward to seeing more from him after this match and a match he had in Evolve) and Maverick did will with adding more noise to the match to give it a little more life. Maverick was very vocal and that helps.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

NXT is just plain old good television.

Lot of good new wrestlers flooding in with Dexter Lumis (was becoming a Sam Shaw fan in TNA so seeing him in the 'E is a lot of fun) and El Hijo del Phantasma finally debuting. Lumis' music is ****ing awesome, too.

Raquel Gonzalez working like a true hoss, loved how she was selling.

I can't believe I am a Damian Priest fan. I hated Punishment Martinez, thought he was horrible toe few times I saw him in ROH, but since debuting in NXT he's been a highlight of the program. Him vs Keith Lee (who I still think is the next breakout superstar) will be something to behold next week. I can't wait.

Will WWE actually finish the kidnapping story unlike TNA and Samoa Joe? I really want to find out! I must know!

Overall, NXT, even lacking a crowd, has been able to at least try and make all this work where I feel the main roster fails. I still think there is not enough jaw jacking in these matches. I think Atlas (I'm looking forward to seeing more from him after this match and a match he had in Evolve) and Maverick did will with adding more noise to the match to give it a little more life. Maverick was very vocal and that helps.

Gonzalez is awesome. I like how old school her move set can be. Very classic power game, but not boring. She also strikes a stark contrast with Nia. Beyond being a lot better, she also works a lot safer.

I am not big on Priest yet, but I did really like his promo this week.

I really want to know what is going on with the kidnapping stuff. Especially as they have done it in a way, that I forget it's a thing until I see people being dumb enough to do a promo in the parking lot at Full Sail.

I feel like NXT is coping with the current situation the best, especially with their promo work and the use of the CWs to fill out cards with strong matches, while saving stuff we'd really, really want a crowd for.

 

[Lobo]

So I started watching the best of WWE the best of NXT Takeover's. So far I've watched

Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville vs Tyler Breeze vs Tyson Kidd
Sashan Banks vs Bayley
Samoa Joe vs The Demon Finn Balor

I like Balor, but I am not a fan of his double stomp finisher.

Now I am on to Nakamura vs Zayn

 

[DarthSkywalker]

So I started watching the best of WWE the best of NXT Takeover's. So far I've watched

Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville vs Tyler Breeze vs Tyson Kidd
Sashan Banks vs Bayley
Samoa Joe vs The Demon Finn Balor

I like Balor, but I am not a fan of his double stomp finisher.

Now I am on to Nakamura vs Zayn

That early stuff is good. Especially the Sasha/Bayley match. But there is definitive increase in quality from around mid 2016, with the rise of DIY. The last 3+ years of NXT has been a special kind of crazy.

Balor is currently back to using his Bloody Sunday finisher. Basically, a proper looking Edgecution. He uses the stomp as a setup and finisher for lesser opponents, which I prefer.

 

[chamber-music]

Jack Gallagher looks like he is transforming into Swagger Christie the soundcloud rapper

 

[Erik20]

This Drake Maverick thing is a work, otherwise they would have replaced him with either Bryan Kendrick or Ariya Daivari in the tournament and not have so much focus on him tonight.

It's possible, but would people really care?

I'm sure he has some fans, but most people probably won't even notice if Drake is there or not

 

[Mani-Man]

It's possible, but would people really care?
I'm sure he has some fans, but most people probably won't even notice if Drake is there or not

Yeah, i dont see that this really does so much good for Drake in the long shot if its a work.
But either way its ****ty to make a storyline out of that.

With the wwe you never know.

 

[Mister J]

Either way, the Drake thing is weird.

 

[Dr. Evil]

AEW will resume live shows on May 6th, which is stupid.

 

[NDX]

The Maverick storyline is both interesting and offputting. I kinda want to see where it goes and if he wins but it also is distasteful and a jab in the gut for those fired and most likely won't be coming back.

Once the indies open back up it will be interesting to see where some of them go. I know Hawkins works with NYWC and CAP Wrestling and I see Ryder following behind. I want to see if someone like No Way Jose can reinvent himself like McIntyre did through working indy shows. We'll just have to watch and see.

 

[Mani-Man]

AEW will resume live shows on May 6th, which is stupid.

What is just wrong with them, havent they learned anything from the backlash the wwe gets?
Okay AEW feels more like they really care about their workers, which makes this a bit less bad...but its still a bad idea and way too early.

 

[Calvin Ellis]

Personally I don't see anything wrong with AEW doing live shows if it is for an empty arena. It'll be no different than what's being done now.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Personally I don't see anything wrong with AEW doing live shows if it is for an empty arena. It'll be no different than what's being done now.

My issue is that AEW should not get a pass for doing live empty arena shows if the WWE doesn't get pass. They should either be praised equally for doing this or bashed equally. Praising AEW for doing the same thing WWE gets bashed for makes one a hypocrite.

AEW doesn't get a pass for doing the same thing as WWE because they are the "hip, cool, new thing." If you bash WWE for doing live empty arena shows, AEW should get bashed too.