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

[SpideyVille]

Paul Heyman is doing a phone interview with one of my local news stations and its so weird seeing WWE get this kind of coverage these days. Maybe it's because I rarely watch the news and haven't followed the business for the last few years, but it's refreshing to see them get some exposure like this.

 

[The Apocalypse]

Taker is not going in this year and neither is the Rock, both of whom will appear at Mania.

The Rock's appearance makes no sense to me.

I'd rather see a 20 min Rock segment than another Uso tag match.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Rich Swann made his NXT TV debut! It was not a Dark match like Athena Resse's match was.

 

[famicommander]

WWE isn't the only promotion that does this....Every major promotion has done it to some degree or another, the ones that haven't likely can't bring in a celebrity of any type.

I already mentioned that it was just as dumb when TNA and WCW did it. WWE is just the worst offender.

Lucha Underground and Ring of Honor don't do it. Lucha shows celebrities when they pop up in the crowd (such as Danny Trejo) but they don't get them involved in angles or matches.

Anyway, TNA seems to be building some degree of momentum on Pop. They're still not up to the numbers they were hitting at the beginning of their Destination America run but they're doing much better than they were at the end of it.

Viewership trend:
Clip show 1: 111,000
Clip show 2: 136,000
Week 1: 255,000 (live debut)
Week 2: 288,000
Week 3: 321,000

the shows have been okayish. We'll see if they can keep it up.

 

[Wheels]

EC3, Mike Bennett, The Wolves, Beer Money, and The Dollhouse (Mainly for the entrance and gimmick, although Jade has some potential in-ring.) are the main good things about TNA with maybe Eli Drake as well. They're managing to make seeing Gail Kim perform not fun anymore though. I wish they'd hire some experienced indie wrestlers for the knockout division and let Gail go after the X Division Championship because her current role is unbelievably stale. I'll always respect Matt Hardy but he's not even remotely enjoyable to watch wrestle at this point. It's like watching mid-90s Jake Roberts without the exceptional promo ability to fall back on. Also, Drew Galloway is a terrible face and that Jesse guy from Big Brother isn't working for me.

 

[nite-owl]

 

[sweetre15]

EC3, Mike Bennett, The Wolves, Beer Money, and The Dollhouse (Mainly for the entrance and gimmick, although Jade has some potential in-ring.) are the main good things about TNA with maybe Eli Drake as well. They're managing to make seeing Gail Kim perform not fun anymore though. I wish they'd hire some experienced indie wrestlers for the knockout division and let Gail go after the X Division Championship because her current role is unbelievably stale. I'll always respect Matt Hardy but he's not even remotely enjoyable to watch wrestle at this point. It's like watching mid-90s Jake Roberts without the exceptional promo ability to fall back on. Also, Drew Galloway is a terrible face and that Jesse guy from Big Brother isn't working for me.

I wish Gail Kim would come to NXT and feud with Asuka

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Pink Ranger]

I wish Gail Kim would come to NXT and feud with Asuka

Gail's a decent worker, but for me it doesn't scream out as a "must happen" match based on either their respective characters or working styles.

Now, Asuka vs. Lynch or Asuka vs. Natalia on the main roster, I'm fastening my seatbelts for that mother****ing ride.

 

[runawayboulder]

The guy that won Tough Enough and got into a Twitter war with half the locker room over dissing the Social Outcasts is supposedly going to be in the Rumble. Between that and the mini feud with the Big Show, Sunday could be big for the Social Outcasts stable going forward.

 

[PyroChamber]

Gail Kim would be a great addition, but NXT is still WWE and we all know how she feels about the company.

 

[The Apocalypse]

Any chance Balor gets a spot in the Rumble?

 

[famicommander]

There are rumors of Ring of Honor fully launching a women's division soon and introducing a Women of Honor World Championship.

They have all of these women booked for an upcoming show:
Sumie Sakai
ODB
Amber Gallows
Kelly Klein
Hania the Huntress
Veda Scott
Taeler Hendrix
Mandi Leon

And other names floating around are Mary Dobson, Deonna Purrazo, Heidi Lovelace, and Leah Von Dutch.

If ROH does decide to do this full force there's not a promotion out there that will be able to touch them, except perhaps SHIMMER.

 

[S. Grundy]

EC3, Mike Bennett, The Wolves, Beer Money, and The Dollhouse (Mainly for the entrance and gimmick, although Jade has some potential in-ring.) are the main good things about TNA with maybe Eli Drake as well. They're managing to make seeing Gail Kim perform not fun anymore though. I wish they'd hire some experienced indie wrestlers for the knockout division and let Gail go after the X Division Championship because her current role is unbelievably stale. I'll always respect Matt Hardy but he's not even remotely enjoyable to watch wrestle at this point. It's like watching mid-90s Jake Roberts without the exceptional promo ability to fall back on. Also, Drew Galloway is a terrible face and that Jesse guy from Big Brother isn't working for me.

Trevor Lee is good too. Eric Young and Bram are solid, same with Lashley.

Now that Hardy has gone back to his "Icon" heel gimmick, we should be getting some good promos out of him.

 

[Wheels]

There are rumors of Ring of Honor fully launching a women's division soon and introducing a Women of Honor World Championship.

They have all of these women booked for an upcoming show:
Sumie Sakai
ODB
Amber Gallows
Kelly Klein
Hania the Huntress
Veda Scott
Taeler Hendrix
Mandi Leon

And other names floating around are Mary Dobson, Deonna Purrazo, Heidi Lovelace, and Leah Von Dutch.

If ROH does decide to do this full force there's not a promotion out there that will be able to touch them, except perhaps SHIMMER.

That's really exciting.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I will be seeing a Women of Honor match tomorrow! Veda vs. Gallows. Im really stoked for tomorrow. This show feels like a PPV.


http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/veda-scott-vs-amber-gallows-tomorrow-night-duluth

 

[Wylie Times]

A prime example of why I'll never give TNA another chance is that fake story they're running about AJ signing with them and backing out at the last minute.

If a performer had signed a contract (which TNA is claiming) and then backed out weeks later to sign with someone else, there wouldn't be a public statement by the company made on their website, there'd be a lawsuit.

It's also incredibly suspect that they'd decide to wait until JUST before Styles is set to make his WWE debut to run that BS story.

If I was Styles I'd consider suing TNA. Running a fake story that someone is likely to back out of a contract after signing could potentially affect them in other contract negotiations. TNA is claiming AJ isn't a man of his word.

 

[Slushy]

Spoiler

AUSTIN ARIES!!!

made his NXT debut tonight!

Regis Philbin? Does he even remember being involved in wrestling at all?

He was a wrestling fan growing up. That's why he had so many wrestlers interviewed on his show with Kathie Lee.



Lots of Texas love with this year's rumored Hall Of Fame class. Can "Ravishing" Rick Rude get freaking inducted already?!!

 

[Benstamania]

Spoiler

AUSTIN ARIES!!!

made his NXT debut tonight!







He was a wrestling fan growing up. That's why he had so many wrestlers interviewed on his show with Kathie Lee.

And got fed to Borin' Corbin.

 

[E-Man]

Spoiler

AUSTIN ARIES!!!

made his NXT debut tonight!







He was a wrestling fan growing up. That's why he had so many wrestlers interviewed on his show with Kathie Lee.

I didn't realize that he was showing up. I've been so out of the loop. Hopefully he gets some good storylines.

 

[SuperBatman]

I didn't realize that he was showing up. I've been so out of the loop. Hopefully he gets some good storylines.

Looking at this photos it's interesting it's looking like they are letting

Spoiler

Aries keep his name as well. It will be interesting to see if they keep aj styles name since he will most likely debut on the main roster and not nxt.

 

[OnTheAir]

No spoiler tags necessary. WWE is promoting it:

 

[SuperBatman]

That reminds me I really need to catch up on nxt.

 

[famicommander]

I'm really sad to see all this great talent going to WWE/NXT because their problem has never been a lack of talent. As far as I'm concerned it's just one more guy that is going to be less entertaining for WWE than they would otherwise be in NJPW, LU, or ROH.

Which is not to say that Aries can't or won't be entertaining in NXT. He's amazing, and he'll probably be great wherever he goes. But to me NXT is to ROH/NJPW what WWE's ECW was to the real ECW. It's like diet soda.

Hope he's at least getting paid well. He deserves that much.

 

[Dr. Evil]