The Wrestling Thread's got...needs - Part 216

[SpideyVille]

Darn, I thought they were going for a Ziggler heel turn.

 

[TheCommissioner]

Mauro Ranallo killed it tonight, Ive become used to new WWE personnel being clunky on air with the product and it was pleasantly surprising to see someone handle it splendidly

 

[famicommander]

I wish WWE would just let all the independent and international guys use their old ring names. I know that ship has sailed for guys like Tyler Black, Kevin Steen, Kenta Kobayashi, Jon Moxley, Prince Devitt, El Generico, PAC, and Bryan Danielson but some of the replacement names they got are just embarrassing. Particularly Sami Zayn, Neville, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor.

Really will be weird if all the Bullet Club guys keep their names but Devitt still goes by Balor.

 

[Wheels]

I'm never going to agree on the name Dean Ambrose. That name just sounds like an old west outlaw, which is cool to me.

 

[Warhammer]

With all of these injuries, they need to promote this guy to the upper mid-card. He has made every bulls*** gimmick the WWE gave him into gold. He deserves it. This is not a joke.

 

[TheCommissioner]

I wish WWE would just let all the independent and international guys use their old ring names. I know that ship has sailed for guys like Tyler Black, Kevin Steen, Kenta Kobayashi, Jon Moxley, Prince Devitt, El Generico, PAC, and Bryan Danielson but some of the replacement names they got are just embarrassing. Particularly Sami Zayn, Neville, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor.

Really will be weird if all the Bullet Club guys keep their names but Devitt still goes by Balor.

you do understand its due to mostly licensing and merchandising right?

 

[Dr. Evil]

Spoiler

Rich Swann made his NXT debut tonight. As does Santana Garrett

 

[famicommander]

you do understand its due to mostly licensing and merchandising right?

Oh, I understand the "why" perfectly. I just don't care. I'm not speaking as a business analyst, I'm speaking as a selfish wrestling fan.

The same goes for me being sad about WWE signing guys. As a human being I'm happy for the guys and want them to do whatever is best for them and their families, but as a wrestling fan it bums me out because I find WWE's product(s) more limiting and less entertaining than, for example, NJPW or Lucha Underground or ROH.

 

[Wheels]

The commentary was quite good in the Divas Championship on Smackdown, as was the match itself. It felt like the centerpiece of the show.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Oh, I understand the "why" perfectly. I just don't care. I'm not speaking as a business analyst, I'm speaking as a selfish wrestling fan.

The same goes for me being sad about WWE signing guys. As a human being I'm happy for the guys and want them to do whatever is best for them and their families, but as a wrestling fan it bums me out because I find WWE's product(s) more limiting and less entertaining than, for example, NJPW or Lucha Underground or ROH.

Many people here agree that the WWE was at it's best when the Attitude Era was around. Stone Cold vs. Vince McMahon was the best feud of the era, like Hogan vs. Andre was in the previous era.

How do you feel about those two eras of WWE history? Or do you hate the WWE so much that you don't give a flying crap about those two eras?

 

[famicommander]

I was a huge fan of wrestling in general in the 90s. That's when I grew up, and I loved ECW, WCW, and WWF.

Then the Invasion and the name change and the PG era and the brand split happened. WWE had so much talent in that era that most shows were still watchable, but that's when they started declining. Since about 2005 I have drifted in and out of the product, sometimes watching for months at a time and sometimes watching no WWE shows for a year straight. Every time I come back I usually regret it, but occasionally they still hit a home run (like when Bryan Danielson wrestles pretty much anyone).

I find modern WWE completely unwatchable. I literally cannot sit through a whole episode of RAW. I've tried three times in the last two months and usually tap out less than halfway through.

NXT is so much better than WWE it's not even funny, but I still think NXT is a far inferior product to ROH/LU/NJPW because it has an identity crisis. If they want it to be developmental, make it a developmental and get world class guys like Generico, Joe, and Devitt the hell out of there. If they want it to be an indie-style alternative to WWE, then go that route and get all the green losers like Baron Corbin off the screen. It really irks me to see guys that can't wrestle at all like Ryback and JJ Security on the main roster while ridiculously good veterans are touring high school gyms in Florida.

This is how I rank the major US/Mexico/Japan promotions right now
Great: ROH, Lucha Underground, NJPW
Good: Pro Wrestling NOAH
Mediocre: AJPW, NXT, CMLL
Bad: TNA, AAA
Terrible: WWE, Paragon

TNA is pretty much as bad as WWE but Impact is mercifully only two hours.

 

[Wylie Times]

you do understand its due to mostly licensing and merchandising right?

And a lot of that can even be chalked up to a lack of business experience on the part of some of those indy guys. CM Punk and Samoa Joe were able to keep their names, and both of them are known for having good business sense. I think if you're willing to negotiate and not just be happy to get a shot in WWE you got a good chance of keeping your name.

Styles seems to be pretty business savvy and knows his value. I can't see him allowing WWE to shelve the name he's work so hard to build up around the globe.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I don't watch much wrestling these days because I find the UFC more entertaining than WWE.

Unsurprisingly though a lot of UFC fighters are WWE fans and pro wrestling fans in general.

And since the WWE sees business, should they ever sign someone who's competed in the UFC, the WWE will take every advantage of the fact that they were in the UFC.

If lets say Daniel Cormier leaves the UFC and decides to give the WWE a shot, he'll be known in WWE as Daniel Cormier. If Meisha Tate becomes a WWE Diva, she will be known as Meisha Tate in WWE.

I would not be surprised if MMA is the next route for the WWE to find talent. I may have a detailed post about that in the next few days. It's starting to happen a little bit more these days.

 

[Wheels]

Current ROH is overrated in my opinion. Not saying it isn't good but NXT and LU produce far better weekly shows. ROH does a crap job of selling their big events to their TV audience. The iPPVs are good but you almost have to watch the YouTube channel every day to get sufficient build and fallout for events.

 

[Lead Cenobite]

I wish WWE would just let all the independent and international guys use their old ring names. I know that ship has sailed for guys like Tyler Black, Kevin Steen, Kenta Kobayashi, Jon Moxley, Prince Devitt, El Generico, PAC, and Bryan Danielson but some of the replacement names they got are just embarrassing. Particularly Sami Zayn, Neville, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor.

Really will be weird if all the Bullet Club guys keep their names but Devitt still goes by Balor.

Maybe I'm just used to them, but I'm fine with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. Neville would be better if they let him keep his full name from NXT.

 

[famicommander]

Maybe I'm just used to them, but I'm fine with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. Neville would be better if they let him keep his full name from NXT.

I mean, they're not "Dolph Ziggler" bad but I just don't find the names Ambrose, Seth, and Neville intimidating. Kind of like when Capcom named the final boss of Street Fighter IV after employee Seth Killian.

Not saying it makes me like those guys any less, because all three of them are incredible talents. I just think the vast majority of the new names WWE slaps guys with sound goofy as hell.

 

[Slushy]

RAWs from 1999, 2000, and 2001 are complete on the Network! t:

 

[famicommander]

Current ROH is overrated in my opinion. Not saying it isn't good but NXT and LU produce far better weekly shows. ROH does a crap job of selling their big events to their TV audience. The iPPVs are good but you almost have to watch the YouTube channel every day to get sufficient build and fallout for events.

ROH's taping schedule does make reactions/fallout happen too late, but I think they do a fine job of buliding their events.

And I think ROH TV has the highest quality of matches of any weekly show, except maybe LU but that doesn't run year round. And NJPW on AXS is great, but they don't air year round either and sometimes only show highlights rather than complete matches. NXT is competently booked and events are competently built and reacted to, and I think that's why it has caught on so much with WWE fans. But NXT does also tend to showcase a lot of guys and gals that couldn't hack it in NJPW, ROH, PWG, SHIMMER, etc when it comes to pure in-ring ability. And again that speaks to its dual identity as a developmental branch and an indie-killer. There is also a much higher percentage of squash matches on NXT than pretty much any show I watch.

 

[Wheels]

I love in-ring work but it's not the end all be all for me. So I don't really care if NXT has guys that can't hack it in the indies or Japan. If they have something I like then that's all that matters. Enzo is more appealing than some guys that are actually better in-ring wrestlers.

 

[famicommander]

And I don't have a problem with that. Like I said, I just wish NXT would choose an identity -- or better yet, have two separate brands. Leave all the wrestlers who seriously need development at the Performance Center and tape there. And let the indie/international/veteran guys tour (with some main roster guys mixed in) and be the "cool" alternative to WWE. Because as much as NXT has established its own identity, it still has that stigma of a developmental league. It's looked at as a "call up" when someone goes to WWE. Its championships aren't considered "world" titles. There's just something about guys in their mid-late 30s that have main evented shows for major promotions being in a minor league that doesn't make sense.

 

[chamber-music]

Or maybe WWE should stop running their talent in the ground. Seriously, when are they NOT touring? I don't even think this is the first time a bunch of guys have been injured around the same time.

I think they are probably over worked like you said. If they had strength in depth on the roster then they might be able to rotate talent and reduce the workload.

 

[Wheels]

@famicommander: Yeah, I get it I suppose but I don't share your feelings on NXT needing to be one thing or the other at the moment. I'm just looking at which shows have the best combination of wrestling, characters, stories, and presentation. It's Lucha Underground and NXT for me. They have a better balance than ROH IMO.

 

[nite-owl]

 

[chamber-music]

I wish WWE would just let all the independent and international guys use their old ring names. I know that ship has sailed for guys like Tyler Black, Kevin Steen, Kenta Kobayashi, Jon Moxley, Prince Devitt, El Generico, PAC, and Bryan Danielson but some of the replacement names they got are just embarrassing. Particularly Sami Zayn, Neville, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor.

Really will be weird if all the Bullet Club guys keep their names but Devitt still goes by Balor.

Some of the guys the wwe sign want to change there name as they want to reinvent themselves. Also some of them pick their own names. They submit a list to the wwe and the wwe approve their new name. Devitt, steen and others have picked their new names themselves.

 

[chamber-music]

Adrian Neville is a weak wrestling name. I don't think you should have a wrestling name that sounds like an accountant unless your gimmick is an accountant. Neville isn't trying to be IRS 2.0