Wrasslin' Crew: Last thread got future endeavored

[Clappy]

Granted, both shows have been getting better after the doldrums that was the last couple months of post-Wrestlemania, 2019 will be the year of three things for me:

1. Bray Wyatt/The Fiend

He’s been absolutely killing it and has cemented himself as a must see act whenever he’s on screen.  Please don’t fuck this up Vince.

2. Kofi Kingston

I thought post-Wrestlemania Kofi would only hold onto the title for a month, maybe two tops. Nope.  He’s cemented himself as The Guy on Smackdown, even with The Big Dog not in the championship picture.  Granted, I see him losing that belt in another month because Vince probably wants to have Brock as champ when Smackdown goes to Fox in a month.  But Kofi has been the definition of a fighting champion ever since he got the belt and his record this year has been pretty damn remarkable.  Even when he loses that belt, Kofi has secured his spot as one of the top guys company wide right now.

3. The 24/7 Championship

Its a comedy title thats entertaining as hell.  Would I like to see more first time legitimate champions?  Yes.  But everyone involved, especially R-Truth and Drake Maverick, have been going above and beyond to make every segment involving it memorable and entertaining.  R-Truth has deserved all 12/13 title reigns because he’s been so loyal for so long.  And Drake has been willing to embarrass himself for the betterment of making these segments work and he’s been rewarded for it.  Would like to see more guys willing to take risks like these two.

[Old Man Jenkins]

Legit surprised they decided to turn Bayley, she always had the image of being the female John Cena, therefore she's babyface for life. But damn, was she in need of a creative shakeup and this is exactly what the doctor of huganomics ordered. I hope a heel run allows her to let loose a bit, especially on the microphone. Very intrigued to see what other changes awaits her on the dark side. I never expected both her and Sasha Banks to go dark around the same time, so it made the swerve that much more surprising to me. I hope they take more creative gambles like this in the future.

I'd would've preferred that Joe v Ricochet got a clean finish just so I can see Corbin leave the bodies of Cedric, Ricochet and Ali in his wake on his path to destiny (plus, I feel he works best when paired up with guys like them), but hopefully fate remains the same with this upcoming triple threat.

[Old Man Jenkins]

King Corbin's get-up is even more majestic than it has any right to be. Truly, we are graced by his eminence.

[Old Man Jenkins]

This was certainly one of the most enjoyable nights of wrestling I've had in recent memory. But damn mang, I'm gonna have to give NXT the W for tonight. Shit, they won based on that Riddle/Cole bout alone for me (but in all honesty, wrasslin fans won tonight. Lets be real). And the women of NXT really shined here with two awesome matches (especially Candice LeRae). NXT really came out swinging in tonight's opening shots in this Wednesday Night War. They put on pretty much a Takeover Lite, it almost feels a bit unfair for me to compare it to Dynamite's more humbler (well, aside from their set design and pyro in comparison to NXT's), inaugural, world establishing show. Though AEW did also put on some good matches like Guevara/Cody and Hangman/PAC, as well as give me a sight I didn't know I wanted to see until it happened; Jack Evans and Jason Mewes onscreen at the same time. I'm digging Jericho's bizarro Elite stable and Jake Hager is a welcome addition since AEW could use more hosses of his skillset. And Riho was the best choice to be their first womens champ. Felt like a nice culmination for her entire wrestling journey thus far. AEW's commentary was also better, I felt, especially for a dreaded 3 man team. The six man main event got a bit too screwy for my taste and I can agree with consensus that there were some logic holes throughout the night, like stuff that WWE would be criticized for, which is kinda bad for a company that's been promising to keep a tighter lid on such loose ends. Hopefully they refine their presentation as they continue going through the motions. The AEW crowd was great tho. Not to knock Full Sail, but AEW had way more people in attendance and they were all electric throughout. Should be interesting to see how both shows follow up from here, especially NXT. Might feel a bit more fair for me to compare the two then.

as for what I ultimately chose to watch, I decided to give AEW an edge in its first week. Then I watched my NXT recording.

[Aya♥]

Team NXT 4 Life Brother

[Old Man Jenkins]

Raw definitely got the better deal out of this draft, holy shit. I didn't think they'd get all of Heyman's pet projects, but they managed to bag Ricochet, Aleister Black AND Cedric Alexander. I heard FOX kicked a fit when Andrade shifted to Raw in the shakeup earlier this year so him ending up on Raw was another surprise. And with Andrade going to Raw, I figured Rey would take his place on Smackdown and stick with Velasquez, but he ends up getting drafted to Raw too. Combine all that with Rollins, The OC, Owens, Samoa Joe, Buddy Murphy, Humberto Carrillo, McIntyre, Lashley, Orton, 7-11 Champion R-Truth and Rusev. Heyman could have himself a workhorse show with a Raw 10 or 12 this time around. I was counting on guys like Lashley, Rusev, McIntyre, Murphy, Rowan and Joe to go to Smackdown, make it more of the "hoss brand" with the heavy hitters for Vince to fawn over and to help push the more sports oriented vibe FOX wants to go for. Damn, with all due respect to the guys they did manage to get, FOX got fucked lol even moreso since their top champion is a guy who isn't even gonna be there most of the time and will probably have short ass matches when he does show up. Roman, Strowman, Bryan, Kofi, Wyatt and possibly Corbin could be good tent poles to build around based on the amount of focus they've all been getting throughout the past year. Guys like Ali, Gulak, Gable, and especially Roode and Nakamura could definitely step up if given that kind of attention. I'd put Crews in there, but I personally think he could benefit from joining Finn in NXT at this point. If they put near as much faith in Woken Matt as they do The Fiend, he could be another good hand. I'd be more optimistic about Miz, Sami, Ziggler and Elias, but ehhh, The Miz and Sami definitely can help tell stories but they've gotten their legs kicked out from under them a lot in recent months, Ziggler's gotten his legs kicked out from under him for years and Elias' character sets a low ceiling for him at this point as seen by him being fodder to anyone feuding with Shane-O-Mac that isn't named Miz. They're like all pretty much in the same boat, I'm really surprised they decided to lump all of them together onto a single show like that. Lucha House Party could fill the Andrade/Mysterio void if they could be treated seriously by dropping the crap generic WWE luchador caricature gimmicks and be their own men, not wannabe Rey Mysterio-lites. Looking at the current free agency, I wouldn't mind seeing Sheamus and/or Cesaro getting singles runs on Smackdown. If they put as much faith into Woken Matt as they do The Fiend (well, idk just how much fate they have in the fiend now after all this shit with him), he'd be another good hand to have. Personally, I'd thrown him on Smackdown to mesh with The Fiend's madness. Luke Harper could be a big deal, but idk if that's possible at this point. I'd just keep him on Smackdown (hell, I'd put any free singles guy left on Smackdown at this point after the draft cuz I feel that bad for em). Like, Smackdown could use another baby face job guy, throw No Way Jose, Zack Ryder and/or Curt Hawkins there too. I'm sure Velasquez will be sent to Smackdown once he's officially patched in, wonder how often he'll be on hand for. Hopefully the same as Ronda was.

Tag team-wise, from the teams they did announced, I guess Smackdown has an edge over Raw with them picking up six teams in New Day, Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery, Revival, B-Team and Roode and Ziggler (tho id'd prefer if they just split up) while Raw officially got Viking Raiders, OC and Street Profits. Both sides can be strong teams to build around for their respective brands, but they both could definitely use more hands. Judging from all the rumors, I can see FOX being thrown a bone and picking up The Usos. My heart wants AOP on Smackdown, but my gut says they'll be heading to Raw. The rest of the free agent teams are anyone's guess at this point. Colons and Ascension to Raw, Ryder & Hawkins to Smackdown would be my guess. Raw could definitely do with more in the supplemental draft.

Women-wise, I'd say they're about even. Before Nikki and Alexa got traded to Smackdown, I would've said Smackdown got the raw deal so far because before that, things were looking a lot more heel heavy on Team Blue which could've caused problems for WWE's penchant for black/white morality. Surprised that both Becky and Charlotte ended up on the same show, and on Raw instead of Smackdown, since FOX really wanted one of/both of em. Kabuki Warriors are a good get, but I don't know what this brand split means for the women's tag team titles. They seem adamant about having completely separate rosters from here on out, so I don't know how well that fares for the belts. Been rumors going around lately that they're unfortunately looking toward scrapping it and Vince didn't even wanna introduce them in the first place. The women's roster is pretty thin  as it is between the two main rosters to really support a cross branded division and I don't think they wanna throw NXT teams into the mix since they seem to wanna keep them separate entities, as well. Could very well be the end of the women's tag belts, would suck to see it come down to that, but it'd free more women to step up as singles competitors (like Asuka, Kairi, Bliss and Cross), which is what they also need going forward since it can't always be the Becky and Charlotte w/ Sasha & Bayley show. Becky, Charlotte, Asuka and Kairi would be awesome to build the Raw women's division around. Natalya and The IIconics could also step up when needed, IIconics in particular could be perfect foils to Becky and Charlotte. I can see bright things in the future for Peyton and Billie on Raw if they're actually used. Zelina Vega could also be a major heel if they seriously push her as a competitor. There's like a tailor-made rivalry between her Charlotte that's ripe for the pickin. Like I said earlier, Smackdown was looking real heel heavy at first with Sasha, Bayley and Lacey Evans being their biggest gets. Had me scared that they'd turn Sasha face to go against Bayley or something, but it seems Lacey turned face on Raw I guess, which makes the most sense out of three at this point. Lacey seems like a really cool person to get behind in interviews and her appearance on UpUpDownDown recently won me over in terms of her personality. I've seen her improve during her program with Natalya. She doesn't really have that veteran hand like Natalya around on Smackdown to "learn more with on the job" tho. I hope her recent improvements stick and that she can build up from here. She's like everything Vince wants in his women and she has a backstory people can get behind. There's potential with her in a Sasha Banks/Bayley feud. I could see either Alexa or Carmella as a solid #3 heel that's ready to step up at anytime. There's potential in a face Alexa vs heel Sasha/Bayley feud, so I'd personally keep her face right now. Nikki could easily be in the top 3 baby faces if WWE showcased what made her so special in NXT more. As far as women free agents go;

1) I'd personally split Sonya Deville and Mandy up. If they ain't gonna pull the trigger on that gotdang lovers angle, then I feel they'd be better served as singles stars. Push Sonya as a serious title contender on Smackdown, her gimmick is sporty enough for FOX as it is. Mandy would be a better fit on Raw, but Lana is probably heading there so that's already one promiscuous blonde. They've already set a precedent with Ziggler, Elias and Sami being put on the same roster, so hey, it could happen.
2) Ember Moon and Naomi seem like another one of those pairs who WWE doesn't want put on the same roster at the same time. Guess we can't have two black girls with brightly colored hair on one show. My guess would be Naomi being put on Smackdown to go along with her hubby Uce. I kinda wanna see Ember vs Sasha and a proper heel Bayley, but my gut once again says she's going to Raw, which won't be bad for her neither. Her vs Becky would be fresh af.
3) Dana Brooke would be a good baby face to step up on Smackdown. There'd be more fresh matches for her there too, I feel.
4) Sarah Logan as a singles competitor would be a breath of fresh air for either show, but I see her on Raw to join her hubby Viking. Like, just put all three of them together already. She could be the Nikki Cross to their Sanity, she has the physicality to deal with both gals and guys.
5) Would make sense for Liv Morgan to go to Raw to play up on her last encounter with Charlotte, but there were also rumors of her possibly being involved with The Fiend going around so Smackdown would be that route to take. Kinda wanna see a continuation to her encounter with Charlotte, so Liv to Raw would be my choice.
6) Ruby Riott to Smackdown would be my choice. She can easily mesh in as either face or heel and there's plenty of fresh match ups for her (especially if my fantasy roster comes to pass).
7) If Mickie James is still even active, she'd be the perfect veteran hand for Smackdown, preferably as her own woman and not anybody's bitch.
I see Nia going to Raw. I don't think they got the most out of Nia vs Becky and Nia vs Charlotte these days would be fresh.
9) Idek what they would do with Alicia at this point. I guess put her on Smackdown because her last name is the same as the network.
10) And if/when Ronda decides to come back, you know they're putting her ass on Smackdown.

[Old Man Jenkins]

geez Brock gets moved over to Raw without Smackdown getting anyone in return, apparently? And I thought Team Blue got fucked over enough in the draft. I legit feel sorry for FOX, I figured Brock was a major bargaining chip to convince them to invest as much money as they are into the product. I can't imagine they're happy with losing yet another big name to Raw and USA. Even with all that FOX money, Smackdown still being relegated to B-Show.

[Old Man Jenkins]

My god, that was definitely the worst episode of Smackdown so far since the FOX move. Aside from the The Miz/Bray Wyatt developments and I suppose the last half of the fatal four way tag team match, that was a tough show to get through. Even had my grandma turning the channel to watch a Dateline rerun before it even finished (which is good, she dodged the bullet that was that final segment), and she's pretty easy to please when it comes to her wrestling. She would always watch Championship Wrestling from Hollywood episodes all the way through back when that was still airing at a decent time. I've been taking a break from Raw throughout the last month, but I've been giving Smackdown the benefit of the doubt in hopes that this FOX move will actually produce some good results, and aside from the episode that NXT saved and made me not feel embarrassed to be a wrestling fan, Smackdown's been running a pretty cold streak. And it's reflecting on how shit TLC is currently shaping up atm, what with matches only being announced now a week shy of it. So now, I'll just be taking that break. Plenty of better alternatives out there. Been getting back into Impact and MLW, myself, as well as tuning in to NWA Power and UWN shows whenever I can. And y'all know where I be at on Wednesdays (but NXT's great too).

[Old Man Jenkins]

Damn, ROH really gave The Villain the world with what they offered in order to retain his services. Making WWE main roster money in ROH has been unheard of up til now and they even handed the books over to him AND for only 40 dates a year. Can't blame him for taking such a sweet deal. And all the speculation about him working to keep bridges open with both NJPW and NWA, along with possibly building a new one with AEW, this could lead to even bigger things further down the line should the wrasslin gods will it to be. Each promotion has a key, unique component that could help the others grow along with em. 

Securing the services of Brian Cage is definitely a huge get for AEW, who need more hoss-types to further diversify their talent pool. Plenty of fresh match ups lined up for him. They should also seriously consider making a play for Jeff Cobb, who hasn't formally re-signed with ROH yet last I heard. If he still ain't on WWE's radar now, he would be a token to any other roster out there.

Very good on Alex Shelley for finally getting recognized and picked up by WWE, especially after his past hardships in recent years. Been a fan of his since I first saw him wrestle for TNA in 2005, so this has been a LONG ass time coming. Better late than never, I guess. He'll be right at home in NXT for however long this run for him may be. Would be a hell of a treat if they manage to bring in Chris Sabin, as well.

And lastly, very saddened to hear about La Parka II's passing. It's always hard to hear about wrestlers passing away years before their time, but it's especially heartbreaking seeing them give their lives doing what they love in the ring. Tragic times like this serves as a grim reminder to us fans just what kinds of risks these highly trained men and women undertake for our entertainment each time they step through the curtains. I hope he's at peace and resting easy in paradise. My condolences go out to all his loved ones.

[Aya♥]

I haven't cried while watching a wrestling match in a long time, and tonight was the night that broke that streak.  So unbelievably proud of Edge and Drew.  So fucking cool.  Best Rumble in history.

[Old Man Jenkins]

It was great to see both Edge and Beth Phoenix make it to the final three of their respective rumble matches. I'd imagine there might be more in store for the both of them based off their very strong performances. Seeing Edge wrestle again definitely got me choked up. What a difference nine years can make between his retirement and now. Drew was definitely the right man to win it this year. He was my choice going in and I'm glad to see the chosen one's 10 year long road to earning that moniker culminate into this gem of a moment. Here's to the prophecy fully being realized at Mania. 

[Old Man Jenkins]

There's a huge ass culling of the workforce going on in WWE right now. Like, too many for me to list all of the top of my head right now, but here's just some of the name let go.

Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Kurt Angle, Zack Ryder, Mike and Maria Kannellis, Erick Rowan, Lio Rush, EC3, Curt Hawkins, Heath Slater, Eric Young, Drake Maverick, Mike Chioda, Primo, Epico, Aiden English, Sarah Logan, Rusev, No Way Jose, Deonna Purazzo and loads of producers like Billy Kidman, IRS, Finlay Lance Storm, Pat Buck, Shane Helms, Daivari (though producers have a better chance of coming back than the talent do, apparently, since technically they're being furloughed). Even some creative members, most notably the woman behind the recent Otis and Mandy storyline, Andrea Listenberger. She just joined the WWE in December and already gave us honestly one of the much better storylines in recent memory.

I know quite a few of those names are pretty not surprising and already wanted out of their contracts anyway, but this is like the worst time for that unless they're well on their way to AEW or I guess even Impact since there really is nowhere else to go in the industry right now. Really sucks to hear, mang. Especially since its being reported that the WWE is still sitting on some big money to spare from stuff like network deals and whatnot. It's said it could be very well be in the hundreds once its all said and done, and there's expected to be NXT cuts coming through later too.

Strowman's recent comments on Indy wrestlers asking for "handouts" during these hard times are really gonna be biting him in the ass after this.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Old Man Jenkins

[Aya♥]

It's time for Slater to complete the prophecy set forth by us 7 years ago to obtain the strap the same way Jinder and Drew did.  He jack daddy yoinked and kick ass.

[Old Man Jenkins]

Rest in power, Kamala. Such a shame that WWE forgot about him and his contributions in his later years.

[Old Man Jenkins]

Wow, did Miro look at the About Me on my profile

[Aya♥]

I don't even know what to say.  One of the best, I'm just gonna sit for the rest of the night and think about this one.

[Old Man Jenkins]

Man, this hit me really hard, I can’t even really process it right now. It really sucks he was taken away from this world when he finally began hitting his stride, I felt. He had so much more left to give at his age. I feel terrible for his family, always heard about how much of a great husband and father he was. Shit, I even had to talk about this on Facebook and I never talk on Facebook, let alone acknowledge the fact that I’m still a wrestling fan to people in my personal life. Brodie Lee made me proud to be a wrestling fan, he was one of the best big man wrestlers I ever had the pleasure of getting to see in my lifetime. So glad I got to watch him go in the ring in person at least once. Rest easy, Exalted One.

[Old Man Jenkins]

If he wasn’t winning the Rumble, I felt Sheamus really needed a big moment, a big blowout with Drew to really sell the idea of him as a credible challenger on a Mania stage in 2021 to a lot of people out there, but they really did him and Drew a disservice by flubbing it this past Monday. It felt really rushed in spite of the nice, slow burn build they had simmering thus far and the reasoning behind it was just freakin basic, cheap shit. Drew did his damndest to sell it tho, but it wasn’t enough to completely salvage it for me. They had two more months to hammer something out, so with the turn already out of the way, we now have to go through like two more ppv’s (one being Elimination Chamber) before even reaching the apparent big blowoff at Mania. I guess that’s what I get for hoping to see some nuance with my wrasslin. It should still be a good match, a great hoss fight in fact, but the execution of Sheamus’ turning point left a lot to be desired for me. Hopefully they can shut my ass up and pull something great out of theirs.

[Aya♥]

This rules so fucking much.

[Old Man Jenkins]

MVP was on crutches when Bobby won his first Impact World Title, it’s only fitting that he’s on them again for Bobby’s first WWE Title win