nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Apr 13, 2024 14:51:00 GMT -5
With a new era, one can make the argument for merging the titles from both brands at this point. WWE is no longer beholden to the networks as it might have been in the past.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Apr 4, 2024 19:29:00 GMT -5
I'm not sure I would have gone so far as to stop being a fan entirely, but I was quite prepared to watch the clock for the talents to let their contracts run out then jump to AEW or the indies.
The KSA would have bought themselves a corpse, or a near-corpse, I think.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Apr 4, 2024 10:52:42 GMT -5
We are equating him to a man who killed his family now? Yes. Yes, we are. In many quarters, rapists and molesters are on par with even child murderers. Lesnar was one of those overpowered, overdominant, bullying types who got away with just about anything he wanted. With the allegations, _every_ aspect of his life is now under the microscope, including his relationship with Sable. He was an interruption to whatever creative good might have been allowed to shine. And now he's in the hatch with Vince. I don't think we need to talk about him anymore, do you?
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
O Superman....O judge....O Mom and Dad....
Posts: 5,723
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Post by nisidhe on Apr 2, 2024 16:07:31 GMT -5
Every time I hear about a private equity firm buying out a company, I think the end is nigh for that company. Most of these firms know nothing of what they're buying or of how to keep it profitable.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 22, 2024 7:42:00 GMT -5
In before something something Bret something something.
Dollars to donuts, Goldberg saw Sting's sendoff and all the love he got and wanted that for himself as well, and thought he deserved the same kind of sendoff.
Here's the thing, though. Sting helped put Darby Allin on the nationwide map, helped elevate _every_ goddamned promotion for which he ever wrestled, was an amazing and positive ambassador for the craft as a whole and basically drew aircraft carriers full of money. He has been a pearl of great value that, conversely, Vince threw before swine because Vince thought he could get away with it.
Goldberg was a Thing for about a year and a half with an undefeated streak for a now-defunct company, and has been coasting on it pretty much ever since. Oh, and he beat Brock Lesnar once. Yet, here he is moaning about not getting a "farewell match" and having his phony-baloney streak beaten by a WOC as if he's offended by the fact. I'd blame this on concussions but here's Bret, who'd suffered not only a Class III concussion _thanks_ to Goldberg, but has also suffered a near-fatal stroke and recovered, comporting himself like the elder statesman he was destined to be, and has been getting called a whiner for the last twenty-five f***ing years.
Quit your whining, Bill. I'd say you've had it pretty goddamned good.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 21, 2024 18:45:35 GMT -5
I was curious about his time in WCW and checking through old Bryan and Vinny reviews on them, Ace’s time as head booker was the time where WCW was doing weird things with women the least. Arn Anderson was the one accused of abusing his power around women during those dying WCW days when Johnny Ace was head booker. He was a road agent but would allegedly claim to be a higher up executive to coerce the newer women into sex with promises of helping their careers. I was kinda expecting it to get brought back up when Flair's stuff did a few years ago but I don't think it's ever gained much traction. In fact Googling it and there's not a lot about this on the internet at all. Just a couple articles from around 2008. Us as wrestling fans in 2024 are definitely not quite as bad as we used to be because I vaguely recall this story when it first came out in 2008 and it wasn't treated like a problem at all. I'm pretty sure it was mostly replies like cat bath teehee, Arn is a baller etc type stuff. The _Ring of Hell_ book gets far more traction in wrestling discourse even now than it has ever deserved. That was a top-to-bottom hit piece meant to stoke a moral panic against pro wrestling as a whole. An absolute piece of claptrap.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 19, 2024 15:33:52 GMT -5
Damian Priest cashing in MITB a minute after Cody wins would be the funniest way to continue the story tbh I think WWE would like to leave Philadelphia with all the members of its roster alive and in one piece, thankyouverymuch. I don't think there's much interest in the front office in starting a riot. Seriously, the cash-in will be on Seth vs Drew, if anything, to send Drew out of the company.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 18, 2024 10:24:50 GMT -5
Something needs to happen this year with them. Absent the comedic stuff from R-Truth, the faction is growing stale and dragging down everyone in it.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 16, 2024 19:18:08 GMT -5
It'd be nice to see him get a boost from a match like this, but I'm afraid it's just not his time yet.
As for Sami going after the workhorse title, it'd definitely be a step up, but I'm afraid it might not be against Drew. I anticipate Drew winning over Seth, only for Judgment Day to show up, give him a walloping (partly after that beatdown he and company gave Finn a few years ago), and leave him in pieces for Damian to cash in the briefcase on. It sends Drew off the field, puts Damian and the rest of JD over, and gives Seth an exit to rest up. Let Sami work his shit-disturbing mojo on JD.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 15, 2024 16:25:50 GMT -5
AEW's doing okay in the ratings - not near WWE levels currently, but enough to keep a TV deal with their current partners and to keep the company as a whole viable. The solution to the ratings is simple - grow the audience, expand the audience and don't try too hard to pander to the lowest common denominator.
Tony Khan needs a booking team to keep all his plates in the air and keep the in-ring talent interested. He may also need to tour more regularly to get more eyes on the product. With the sheer size of his roster, he could easily run two circuits. It'd be like WWF in the 80s again - seeing stuff live and canon every 6 to 8 weeks is far better than sitting on one's hands when the company deigns to send you its C roster once a year.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 15, 2024 8:20:20 GMT -5
I believe that The Fiend (and maybe the Eater of Worlds, if they were different) were evil demons/gods from Parts Unknown, as is The Demon that Finn Balor called upon. Are the voices that only Randy Orton can only hear also from Parts Unknown? UNDETERMINED. Okay - here's a connecting principle between Bray Wyatt and Orton (though his voices predate all of this and could just be undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia) and Balor's lore. What if, and this is likely something one might only tack on after it's all over, like CHAV as an acronym for "council housed and violent", what if Wyatt and Balor were only vessels of a demon playing them off against one another - Wyatt as the rejected vessel while Balor was "chosen" and becoming more powerful against Wyatt?
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 13, 2024 17:51:49 GMT -5
We need a backstage character that gets wanders around and comments on things like this. "Damn man, you're trying to buy human beings?" "Well, not like that..." "I thought you were better than this, man." "Hey, you don't need to make this personal, I was just trying to-" "I'm sorry, I have to walk away, I'm having a hard time looking at you right now." And that man? R-Truth.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
O Superman....O judge....O Mom and Dad....
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 13, 2024 17:49:44 GMT -5
Lesnar is the bully getting everything he wanted, until he couldn't. Vince McMahon is the bully getting everything he wanted...until he couldn't.
The business is better off without either of them.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 12, 2024 12:28:16 GMT -5
I heard rumors that in 2005 when Lasley was still in developmental, the agents hid him from Vince hoping not to create another Brock. I guess the way he was booked from mid 2005- early 2006, they were kinda successful. I think it’s possible that the Saudis will ask for Brock for the next show. He would be a favorite of the PIF suits (or thawbs) that run the shows who would care little about an American scandal. They must bring the sumo guy back first. They can probably do that, but I'm thinking that WWE post-Vince will likely just put on non-canonical shows for the Saudis that might include Lesnar. They'll make sure he's in the ring with near-peers like Lashley who a) aren't holding any titles and b) are fairly capable of holding their own in case Lesnar decided to go into business for himself. Perhaps having those kinds of terms in front of him, the kinds of terms that say, "Yeah, you're wanted by a section of our paying audience, but we honestly can't trust you to behave and neither can most of the roster," might make him either walk away completely or be more willing to play well with others.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 10, 2024 18:33:06 GMT -5
When it comes to Brock it just makes me sad. You have the greatest pure athlete in wrestling history. His first few years are stellar. Dude ends up at the very least shitty along with being the poster boy for the most boring never watch WWE again shit era ever. It is actually incredible how boring they made him. That should be impossible but no, he really just didn’t do shit for ages but held the title scene ransom for what felt like a decade. That, to an extent, was on Lesnar. He never cared about pro wrestling except insofar as it made him money (I don't think) and the perks that came from being at or near the top of the card. His most impactful work was in UFC; WWE was a step down for him after that.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 9, 2024 11:29:23 GMT -5
My "other" vote? Finn Balor (natch.)
His best heel work was in Japan; his early babyface work in NXT and WWE was little short of magical. Now, the three-time former NJPW Junior heavyweight champion, the inaugural WWE Universal champion, the two-time former Intercontinental and two-time former US champion, is an afterthought tag team champion amid an ongoing comedy "relationship" between Dominik and Rhea (her own title run disappointing, by the way), a tag partner who also holds the MITB briefcase, and a farcical underling in JD McDonagh who will never, _ever_ either escape his mentor's shadow nor the whispers of #SpeakingOut.
It feels that something has broken in Finn, to be honest. It would be absolutely wonderful if creative were to find some way to bring back the Doctor Who-esque persona of "nerdy guy not from around here, but more powerful than you can possibly imagine and he's here for the side of good." But that's just my inner little girl talking.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 7, 2024 9:08:43 GMT -5
Injury angle - have Gunther or some even more dastardly heel catch him unawares and pummel the shizz out of him. Turn the whole crew babyface against Imperium with a twist or two (Devlin turns on JD during a crucial staredown with Imperium, then sides with Imperium, or something like that.) Then, at the peak of the feud during their gang war at a PLE, have Dom return as babyface to help fend off Imperium and send JDM back to NXT where he belongs.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
O Superman....O judge....O Mom and Dad....
Posts: 5,723
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 6, 2024 19:39:52 GMT -5
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Mar 6, 2024 16:05:14 GMT -5
Nah. Let WWE sit in the corner and think about what they did to him the first time they brought him in.
AEW did Sting golden. There's nothing WWE can do to come close to that, much less top it.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
O Superman....O judge....O Mom and Dad....
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Post by nisidhe on Feb 27, 2024 12:36:02 GMT -5
VIII was a good one, but stands out primarily for what happened in pro wrestling as a whole that year.
Edit: I realize that this reply broke the "Prior to 26" rule. I'm struggling to see a Wrestlemania like that, that truly marked a transition or drew a line under an era.
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