rolling (non-millenials) grabbing the brass ring 2015

goddamn it i can't stop playing immortals :(

update: it sucks

The first episode of NJPW on AXS was great. Josh Barnett is a bit unpolished, but Mauro Ranallo is tremendous. He's totally immersed in the competitive aspect of the matches without any OTT "storytelling" or catchphrases. They're starting in 2013 and working forward by showing complete matches from all the major feuds. Wrestlers' promos are subtitled in English too, which is nice.

yup, it was awesome - can't wait for whenever tonight's much-acclaimed episodes hit dailymotion. ranallo is just a natural.

while in boston this weekend i spent a day watching wrestling with some friends who are pretty new to it but super into it (mostly watching nxt and wwe ppvs) the best stuff i could think of offhand (the two big wk9 matches, suzuki/styles, recent lucha underground, ricochet/kushida from last year's super juniors, even the flair/steamboat clash match for history's sake)

the two things that absolutely made the biggest impression were the new japan axs show and aztec warfare, and i don't think that was a coincidence

Episode 2 was more good stuff. Okada seems to be missing something when he's not in the ring with the absolute best workers in NJPW. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he doesn't bring others up to his level in the way you'd expect from the top guy in the company. Getting the English translations of his promos is helping me get more into his character though. At least in 2013, he played a great smarmy, arrogant heel, kind of like the Japanese Alberto Del Rio. I've never seen the April '13 Tanahashi vs Okada match though, so I'm looking forward to Ep. 3.

episode 3 was really great - the commentary obviously takes it over the top, but i think that 2013 match was pretty clearly the best thing tanahashi and okada have ever done, which is saying something. the postmatch confrontation with suzuki was really good too, even though that match, iirc, eventually wound up being a big letdown

regarding your point about okada's character, he's just a great natural foil for tanahashi, but i also don't think he worked as well at this point against other heels outside of the g1 format - that said, he was so so hot in 2014 (or 18 months after the current new japan axs storyline, in other words). the goto, styles, suzuki, and nakamura g1 matches are all excellent. he even finally had a great match with ibushi!

speaking of nakamura, this is making the rounds and is unbelievably great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54xb9V80LGA

every wwe event should happen in philly until the message sinks in

That Nakamura clip ... wow.

How can the WWE be this stupid? I was completely sure that Reigns was winning going in, so I expected nothing different. They couldn't have been more transparent about fucking over every wrestler that could possibly get cheered ahead of Reigns. "Cheer for Bryan and get it out of your system early" is so manipulative and fans know when they're being told to essentially fuck off. Why not make Reigns and Bryan the final two and at least both guys would get cheered up to and hopefully including the ending and they could have been concentrating on putting on a decent Rumble match instead of that shitshow that we got.

Why not make Reigns and Bryan the final two and at least both guys would get cheered up to and hopefully including the ending and they could have been concentrating on putting on a decent Rumble match instead of that shitshow that we got.

Yes, this would have worked far better from a booking standpoint. But Reigns still would've got booed at the end regardless. It's disappointing they way things were done; it makes Reigns look bad because he didn't really face much of a challenge in a Rumble full of jobbers (which itself says a lot about Creative's ignorance of the mid-card talent base).

figured he had to at least be in the final four. instead we get kane and big show. kane and big show. kane and big show. kane and big show. kane and big show. kane and big show. kane and big show. kane and big show. kane and big show.

holy shit

the only positives were bray getting some spotlight and DDP because i like DDP. managed to fuck up bubba ray by sticking him with Replacement Level Black Dude (Shhhhhh No One Will Notice)

KANE AND BIG SHOW. one of the biggest events of the year, given the same ending as every single RAW over the past two months

horribly booked all the way through

nice triple threat tho

Reigns might have gotten booed by eliminating Bryan at the end but at least it's a competitive match with a small amount of booing at the end rather than half an hour of constant booing and Reigns eliminating the combined forces of the team of the 2000's (as in literally the year 2000) to win a jobber Rumble.

In '07 the crowd was deflated when Taker won (the Rumble was in San Antonio and they wanted Michaels to win) and the match as a whole wasn't even that good. Everything from the final four until the end was great though, and smarky crowds appreciate that.

It would have still been very loud, but you're totally right and it would probably be salvageable. Having the three most over guys after Bryan be punked out by the terrible, old, heatless Kane and Big Show in no way helped matters. If the reaction on Raw is negative, which it probably will be, they'll have to change the main event or turn Reigns heel.

The only person who could possibly be excited about a final 3 involving Kane and Big Show is Vince (I think it was Alvarez who said that Reigns going over two giants and an evil Russian before having his arm raised by The Rock is the most Vince thing imaginable).

http://i.imgur.com/T5ZdBgn.jpg

lol Rocky trying reaaal hard to call a favour in

Rusev vs Ryback from Smackdown on Friday is in genuine danger of being the company's high point of the year

so why'd they show the rumble again tnite? are they hoping the crowd will like reigns better during the rerun?

storm killed RAW. Had to show something.

wait so did they show the rumble just on regular ass tv? lol

i love reading those old observer back issues they keep posting. here's a gem from 1997:

Latest weird gimmick at Incredibly Strange Wrestling is a wrestler known as the HIV Kid. His gimmick is that he does run-ins and clears the ring by obviously blading himself and chasing the heels off.

http://fat.gfycat.com/FoolhardyHandmadeBorderterrier.gif

kane and big show.

lol this company really is shooting itself in the foot, at the time they need fans the most to give them money, just because vince has a hard on for a mid card guy

title match was DOPE CITY though

my buddy made a good point to me tho, everyone hated the rumble last year and they all kinda forgot by the time WM30 was amazing.

Bryan not being in the Rumble at all last year gave them a coherent storyline reason to change it though

also last year they learnt from it but this year they just did the same thing again so they're either really stupid or they don't care any more

Trying to think of any WWE triple threats better than that one, I can't see past Lesnar's intoxicating suplex-throwing beet-coloured realness tho, it just distorts everything, what a time to be alive

Not kidding about Rusev vs Ryback either though, I need more hosses who can go throwing bombs at each other, perhaps Rusev is a superworker

that triple threat was so good that i actually don't care that the rumble was so bad. and i assume this means 100% that lesnar is winning at wrestlemania.

rusev is a superworker imo

Fandango 10 Rusev 07:36 0
12 Tyson Kidd 8 Bryan 02:26 0
13 Stardust 15 Reigns 12:23 0
14 Diamond Dallas Page 9 Rusev 02:28 0
15 Rusev 28 Reigns 35:17 6
16 Goldust 14 Reigns 06:21 0
17 Kofi Kingston 13 Rusev 02:50 0
18 Adam Rose 12 Rusev 00:08 0
19 Roman Reigns - Winner 27:28 6
20 Big E 18 Rusev 14:49 0
21 Damien Mizdow 16 Rusev 00:18 0
22 Jack Swagger 20 Big Show 12:49 0

bar ddp, reigns and mizdow, aren't these all heels? lol at coming out after bryan

kofi and big E are both faces

12-15 mins of Rusev / cesaro would be an awesome hoss match, though not one we're likely to get unfortunately, man whyyy isn't cesaro still rolling with Dirty Dutch and winning coolass trophies, these dudes don't know what they're doing.

Thought the rumble was supremely enjoyable as spectacle, the wall of sound booing for the last 10 mins was entertainment of the highest order. Sgt biscuits otm re: lesnar, just pay the dude his money and keep the belt on him at mania IMO, it's just too much fun watching him turn purple and destroy fools with throws and suplexes. Assuming that money is the issue there? Or is he just not into it again? I haven't been following.

I am not gonna get too butthurt over wwe's incompetent booking bcuz complaining about wrestling in a month where you had this triple threat, nakamura/ibushi, tanahashi/okada and the Lucha underground battle royal is just churlish really

Lesnar might want to do MMA again but who really knows with him. I'm not even sure why WWE would want Lesnar anyhow -- when he's not on TV his name is never mentioned and nobody ever talks about the title. Why isn't Rollins pissed about his briefcase being worthless when the champ isn't even around? There's so much they could be doing and it doesn't even involve Brock working more dates. They don't even care and it's devaluing the title when only John Cena is allowed to talk about it.

Brock is around to put over Reigns at Mania and then he's gone, we'd all better shut up and learn to like it.

brock is still a top draw and he's great and i hope he sticks around forever. i don't think his reign has devalued the belt -- quite the opposite tbh

and by "sticks around forever" i mean "makes three appearances a year and doesn't let anyone touch the belt forever"

even if lesnar loses to reigns at mania they could still do something w/ rollins' suitcase and he could ultimately leave wrestlemania w/ the title

for some reason i imagine them giving reigns the title and then... next day on raw... kane and big show beat up reigns and rollins cashes in

because... why bother

someone told me to watch tna the other day, maybe i'll try

Lol there aren't enough hours in a day to bother with tna.

When I said that wwe should keep lesnar that was purely a statement of personal preference, they've probably got all sorts of reasons for not keeping him around but once he's out they are looking mighty thin on top draws

I feel like they're going to give Reigns some sort of title run. They've been trying to push him since last year's Rumble where he beat Kane's record. Honestly, I really thought they were going to do more with that this year, maybe with Kane matching it and a feud between them being pushed before they set him up for a title. They're focusing way too much on making him look strong, without developing him AT ALL. I'll maybe be interested if he has The Rock speaking for him, but it's pretty painful watching him on the mic.

These rumours about Mania not being set behind the scenes are just a setup for the disappointment we're in store for when Reigns squashes Bryan.

NJPW ep. 4 was another solid episode, with a surprisingly great Makabe vs Okada match. The English translations have given me a completely new appreciation for Okada's character. Has there been a cool heel like him in Japan before?

i didn't realize cody and dustin were born 16 years a part

I was thinking of starting a poll but I couldn't be bothered writing up the 40 different answers, so I'll just ask here:

I'm intrigued in what people actually like. Raw, Smackdown and Impact are the three biggest wrestling shows in the western world, but to me they are also the dullest. At best, I will check out a match or segment from Raw once or twice a month. I'll read a report on what happened, and then maybe check out the PPV. Unless its one of the big 4 though (mitb > survivor series now), I'll usually just pick the best matches, or maybe not even watch. I love nXt, I'm catching up on Lucha Underground and big matches from the indies or Japan, shoot interviews and mma/boxing too.

I now kind of think of wrestling as my favourite 'sport' and yet I despise the three biggest avenues of watching it. So yeah I wonder what others think and watch?

notime: ummm... i presume japanese wrestling has had cool heels. Steve Austin turned at WM13 18 years ago, (and despite wwe programming me to think he was the first but he couldn't have been) and thats nearly two decades for Japan and its 3 major promotions to do it since. Or way before.

i need to get up on that njpw steez but im still far behind on everything else. and lol i was thinking of maybe going back and trying to watch a lot of the roh glory days if i get the chance to. shows how interested i am in mania 31 i guess.

(xpost) I only got back into pro wrestling last year (after like... 15 years of following it VERY peripherally thru friends who were still engaged) and the reason I did was NXT. I've since tried to watch Raw and sometimes even Smackdown but it occurred to me that A) I'm not enjoying a lot of that time and B) I only have so many gd hours a week to watch this stuff. So basically I watch NXT, PPVs and Youtube clips (from anything -- njpw, roh, random indies) when bored. I thought I should try to follow the whole "universe" but seriously 6 hours a week? No thanks.

This will become more complicated once the amazing crop they have down there starts getting "promoted." I wasn't watching when Bo, Emma, Cesaro, etc. were on the show so I haven't had to deal with this scenario yet. Kinda terrified at having to upgrade to the big fat shows to keep following Zayn but I guess I can just fast forward to his parts or whatever.

That said the 5m video packages on PPVs pretty much tell you everyhthing you need to know for the PPV, which is telling of the RAW bloat.

Tried Lucha U but it didn't grab me. NJPW is fun as hell, LOVED Wrestle Kingdom, might try to seek more of that out if I find myself having the time.

nxt is really the only thing i watch every week - i've watched some chikara ppv, went to a live show (and i'd go again), lucha underground i followed up to + thru the rumble they did to crown the champ but haven't really followed since that week.

the cage stuff since the rumble has been super fun on lucha underground. its like cage is big corporate wwe and puma is the small try hard mexindie. seems appropriate he even hits an f5 at one point.

I pretty much just watch old things now, don't even try to keep up with the current product in wwe, I'm not even checking recaps at this points. As you say, big 4 ppvs are he only thing I go out of my way to watch unless they book a match for another that tabs my attention ( and how often does that happen these days?). I will still check out individual matches if I hear that they're especially good. Does tna even still exist? Who are their top stars now? MVP?

Mostly I tend to just grab stuff from xwt classics and watch that, got some good DVD box sets on bruiser brody, nick bockwinkel and Harley race from there which I've been enjoying. Watching Harley race hoss the fuck out of dudes is at least 15x more entertaining than anything the wwe is offering these days.

Watched and loved Wrestle Kingdom, like every other fan that was new to NJPW I've developed a bit of a mancrush on shinsuke nakamura.

Apologies for dodgy spelling, autocorrect on this phone is unforgiving

do wwe announcers know that they're announcing matches for "one fall" and not "windfall"? other orgs don't mumble it quite like wwe announcers do.

Sami Callihan's entrance music should be vaporwave

just finished Rivals - wow intense

that's an interesting point about the cross-promotion cooperation as they've clearly had their greedy little eyes on NJPW for quite some time now. it's interesting to see this news remembering how WWE reportedly wanted to strike up a deal to show New Japan stuff on the Network and NJPW refused on the basis that they had no interest in becoming a developmental territory for WWE to just swoop in and snatch up anyone who started getting any kind of global traction. i understand the sentiment i suppose, but lol all the same.

these are really intriguing signings in so far as Styles and Nakamura are supposedly both broken, with Nakamura in particular only up to having a limited number of big outings each year. I hope they don't completely neuter his style (though of course it'll be toned down a lot).

Maybe this signals a big push into Japan to try and flog the Network to a different market and they're going to save all the big performances for shows over there? Nakamura, Styles, Balor, Itami, Asuka - they could run some pretty massive Japan shows as 'Beast In the East'-style Network specials with all of that talent.

I'd be really surprised if Nakamura signs or has signed with WWE. It just doesn't make a lot of sense on paper--he's 35 years old, doesn't speak fluent English, isn't immediately physically impressive, is weird in a way that might not work for a mass U.S. audience, doesn't promise to attract a large or lucrative demographic (the way a major Mexican star might, c.f. their gamble with the original Sin Cara), would have to change the way he works to suit the WWE house style, might also have to change his ring name, and would be leaving the biggest promotion in his home country where he's a huge deal to work for a company that has never made a major star out of an Asian or non-Anglophone wrestler, ever.

Add in the infamously grueling WWE main roster schedule, and stuff about his injuries (which I wasn't even aware of), and it looks even more unlikely. I can't see why WWE would want him, nor why he would trust them to make good use of his talents.

And if the idea is to bring him in to NXT, then presumably they'd be offering him good money (at least as much as he makes in Japan, one would think) to come work for their unprofitable, internet-only developmental league, a move which isn't likely to increase viewership at all since the kinds of fans who follow Nakamura watch NXT already.

I know they signed KENTA/Hideo Itami, but I don't think he was ever a star of Nakamura's stature in Japan. I'm guessing it's easier to lure a main eventer away from NOAH than from NJPW.

I can only really understand it as an ego thing: WWE signs Nakamura because they like the idea of being able to poach the top stars of any promotion anywhere. So they promise him whatever combination of money, light schedule, and push it takes to make the deal--even though, from a dispassionate business perspective, there's not much reason to think he's worth it.

All of which is to say that it would be super interesting if he did sign, so I hope it's true.

They have a bit of a problem generally where the guys who get most over with the core, vocal fanbase are well-travelled indie/international guys who are 30+ with 10+ years of topes and stiff kicks on the clock, whose bodies are going to immediately start to disintegrate on contact with the WWE's road schedule. It's basically in the fans' interest to learn to like reigns and Baron Corbin because they probably won't die in the ring or become depressingly deluded burnouts like Bryan (and Zayn and Balor soon enough)

Nakamura will probably be way more over than Itami in NXT from day one just shouting yow and kneeing people but yeah it's a bit hard to envisage a long term career path for him in wwe. Their apparent determination to make Itami seem like a big deal in the build up to Wrestlemania followed by him getting flicked out of the battle royal by big show was.... yeah

Kenta kanna devitt and nakamura all sign to nxt within a year or so. Network in Japan gotta be seen as hella lucrative. Also the main roster is REALLY depleted atm, this seems like man city or real madrid buying a squad of stars cos a starting 11 cant cut it if you have a few injuries or poor form etc.

As shit as this year has been, its been the first year in like ten that Cena, Orton, Kane, Big Show, HHH or Punk havent been the main event. Hopefully one day soon this rebuilding will pay off.

Btw i still know this is all gonna go to shit.

At this point NXT is more of its own touring brand than a purely developmental division within WWE. They keep adding house shows to their schedule and they sell out quickly, so they need to add more established talents to keep that going. The Takeover specials are a big drawing card for the network (i.e. where they need to make their money in the long term). Most NJPW house shows are in halls with 500-1000 fans, the PPV's are in larger arenas with a few thousand people (sometimes more), so it's essentially the same as what NXT is doing. For Nakamura that's a lateral step at worst, with a chance of being called up to the main roster and becoming a much bigger star.

Yeah the WWE's record of making stars out of foreign wrestlers (or any visible minority) is horrible, but Nak is the kind of OTT, charismatic character that could work in front of American audiences.

FWIW, I think he speaks English reasonably well. He did some training in the US and is supposed to be close friends with Finn Balor and Karl Anderson. Cutting a promo in English is a different story obviously. He's way better than Hideo Itami. It might not even matter -- Asuka delivers one word promos and is as over as anyone in NXT. If Nakamura throws knee strikes and yells yeeeoh all the time he'll probably be fine. That's pretty much all he does in Japan right now!

Didn't realise what with all the hoo-haa about these signings that the Royal Rumble match is gonna be for the title this year. That is actually a pretty interesting sideways step that I hadn't anticipated, gives them a lot of room to manoeuvre in the build for Wrestlemania. Would be a hell of a way to give a debuting global sensation a rocket push right off the bat... lol

should i watch raw? i just read the results and im interested for once

I'ma watch the first hour and ffwd the rest, which is about as much as I can ever stomach

Meltzer saying Nak and Styles not intended for NXT but main roster? Seems kind of counterintuitive, NXT seems a better fit for big-but-not-massive-in-America stars with too many niggling injuries to work 300 dates a year? They're getting good money by the sounds of it though, fair play

Re: Nakamura's English, big fan of this Twitter exchange with a hairy Northern Irish wrestler he had recently defeated:

https://twitter.com/ShinsukeN/status/650082164772614145

Would be a hell of a way to give a debuting global sensation a rocket push right off the bat... lol

Reigns vs Gallows at Mania ... hoss fight ... bank on it.

should i watch raw? i just read the results and im interested for once

― nerd shit (Will M.), Tuesday, January 5, 2016 11:37 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Jericho calls The New Day trap queens

DAAAAAAAAAAAAD

watching wk finally and wow am i glad to hear kevin kelly ????

ts: yoshi tatsu vs matt striker trying to figure out how deal with yoshi tatsu

i just watched the 4-way tag and then skipped to syles/nakamura and okada/tanahashi due to sleepy constraints

was not disappointed, wow

(literally almost fell asleep during okada tanahashi but not their fault)

i will watch all the other matches tmrw probs

I hadn't considered that they might be trying to push the WWE Network in Japan. But I disagree that the main roster is depleted. Just last night they put together a new stable of Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, and Adam Rose--four main roster wrestlers who had been doing nothing for months on end. Damien Sandow, Fandango, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Los Matadores (and El Torito), The Miz, Goldust, and R-Truth have little or nothing to do on the main shows. They have tons of wrestlers, they just don't make good use of them on TV, despite having vast quantities of time to fill.

Maybe they're depleted at the top of the card, with Orton, Bryan, and Rollins gone (the former two possibly permanently). But there are guys already on the main roster they could elevate to those roles, not to mention an NXT wrestler or two. They don't need the likes of Nakamura and AJ Styles at all.

The interesting is question is why they would want them. Nakamura and Styles are great wrestlers, but they're 35 and 38, unknown to most of the audience, and have nagging injury problems. Wanting network subscribers in Japan is an interesting conjecture, but could that alone make them worth the investment? I continue to suspect that part of this is just that WWE likes the idea of taking top stars from another promotion (even if that promotion is not really a competitor).

you listed a bunch of warm bodies. depleted = http://images.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drf400/f498/f49817ttqzw.jpg

nak and styles SHOULD skip NXT.

debut nak in front of smarky crowds where he's already over and just let do his thing, get the rest of the world used to loving him (they could honestly just do this with most of NXT callups but they seem to love throwing new wrestlers into the deep end without a paddle)

of course still no idea how he'd play out in the WWE style of Jericho calls The New Day trap queens

rolling Jericho calls The New Day trap queens 2016 please

god idk what happened with that post but every other word is missing it's past my bedtime

you listed a bunch of warm bodies

That's exactly what Styles and Nakamura will be to most of the audience when they debut. If they're going to be draws, they're going to have to be pushed and booked well. The exact same could be said of, and done with, wrestlers who are already on Raw or NXT.

Which is not to say I'd prefer that scenario--I'm very interested to see what they might do with the NJPW guys. I'm just saying that if they're worried about a lack of main-event wrestlers, springing for obscure broken-down thirtysomethings AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura is a weird response.

rolling Jericho calls The New Day trap queens 2016