Wrestling Discussion Thread II

It is great news and likely will keep him WWE for longer but I'd have seen him go ROH or/& NJPW in a similar way to Cody.

Talking of NJPW, anyone going be watching Strong Style Evolved from Long Beach this weekend?

This is the card:

Golden Lovers vs. The Young Bucks
IWGP US Championship Match Jay White (c) vs. Hangman Page
Okada and Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Suzuki
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Will Ospreay
Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Dragon Lee, Taguchi vs. SANADA, Naito, BUSHI, Takahashi
Cody and Marty Scurll vs. Guerrillas of Destiny
Chuck Taylor and Toru Yano vs. Killer Elite Squad
Gedo and Goto vs. Juice Robinson and David Finlay
Roppongi 3K and Rocky Romero vs. SoCal Uncensored

Treesmurf wrote:

Amazing news, it just felt right when he was doing those kicks again on Smackdown, I still can't help having this niggling feeling something will go wrong, here's hoping I'm wrong.

It's honestly revamped my interest in watching Smackdown again & yeah I feel the same way too about a possible re-injury (I guess you just need to trust all the specialists he's seen) plus you know WWE is just going to play on that at some point to pull you in.

Now WWE just need to get rid of this split show nonsense and I'll give Raw a watch as well.

Split show thing is a weird one as I think I said before it gives some wrestlers a higher spot on the card that might get otherwise but would I like to see AJ v Seth, Banks v Charlotte, The Bar v Usos yeah I would.

I've not been keeping up with the wrestling since I started travelling; before that, really, sine I moved home to prepare to start travelling. Even so, I saw the buzz on twitter and watched the Daniel Bryan clips. Man, that guy can bring the feels!

I went through a phase of really disliking Bryan, not because of anything he said or did but because of the way his fans would kick off if anyone else got any screentime or any kind of push, as though it were a zero sum game and only DB could have a top spot storyline.

But whenever I watch him, that all washes away. His genuine passion and emotion (and excellent wrestling) just can't be ignored.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Drunkalilly wrote:

I've not been keeping up with the wrestling since I started travelling

Well, you tried to at least but Korakuen Hall's a popular venue...

Daniel Bryan is my favourite wrestler and his return promo was an absolute cracker. He's so easy to cheer for and his raw passion shines through so clearly. Like you guys, I'm now interested in checking out Smackdown again.

Mania's lining up to be one hell of a show!

Mas: What do you reckon about Strong Style Evolved? I thought the show was pretty fun from start to finish - that main event was amazing too.

The tag match between Okada and Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Suzuki was the match on the card, Sabre is just outstanding and I'm now super excited for Sakura Genesis.

And I'm now becoming a bit of fan of Suzuki-gun, I always thought they were the worst faction but both Sabre Jr. and Suzuki have made me change my mind but I like someone in all the factions.

Yeah, they were a bit shit last year as ZSJ was barely around outside the G1 and Suzuki's NEVER title reign was full of surprisingly average matches from him, nothing to write home about.

His IC reign has been great, ZSJ is on fire and TAKA is a great fit alongside him, Taichi's fitting in nicely now and the Suzuki-gun juniors are doing well too. I'm even enjoying KES more than I normally do too lately. I think it's mostly due to the fact they've stopped interfering and causing havoc in their big matches and keep that nonsense to the multi-man tag matches.

WrestleMania's on tonight. Is anybody excited? It's looking extremely promising on paper - there's nothing that's immediately looking like a piss break.

Excited and why I'm off but I don't know how it will even come close to NXT and even what I saw of ROH.

Well, I would have really enjoyed that show had it been about 2 hours shorter. I had the preshow on as I was eating and chatting with mates, but even without that a show which runs for about 5 and a half hours is ridiculous. It totally killed the last few matches for me, which is a real shame as the show was brilliant in the first half.

Some more spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler:

Anybody excited for the Greatest Royal Rumble event this Friday? It seems like a fever dream and I can't quite believe it's happening, but I guess that's what Saudi oil baron money does for you!

Here's the card:

1 Greatest Royal Rumble match 50-man Royal Rumble match
2 Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns Steel cage match for the WWE Universal Championship
3 Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Bálor vs. Samoa Joe vs. The Miz Ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
4 AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Singles match for the WWE Championship
5 Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Jinder Mahal Singles match for the WWE United States Championship
6 Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy vs. Cesaro and Sheamus Tournament final for the vacant WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
7 The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) (c) vs. The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) Tag team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
8 Cedric Alexander (c) vs. TBD Singles match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
9 John Cena vs. Triple H Singles match
10 The Undertaker vs. Rusev Casket match

That card is the equivalent of a proper spoons breakfast after a big night out; shame it's a total sausage fest though.

I didn't watch Wrestlemania but I did see a highlight video on youtube. I could've managed it with company but there's no way I'm spending that long watching one PPV. I'd have died by the main event too.

Aye that's a decent card, I especially like the matches that have had zero build to them (Cena vs triple H & Taker vs Rusev) when this happens they can be quite good since there is less pressure on them.

Also interested to see who Cedric Alexander's opponent will be.

It's a decent card, and 5pm in the UK is great time for a live 5hr PPV to start.

I'm not shure must will change in the grand scheme od story lines and thye've not annouced what the winner of the rumble will get part from a trophy, that I hope after they do somethign with the winner more than they do with the battle royals at mania.

Hopefully in time we will see womens matches as we had one in the UAE and things are starting to chnage in Saudi such as women getting the vote and can go to sporting events now.

That start time is a real bonus - I'm working till half 7, but knowing I can come home, pop on the show from the beginning and I won't be up till 5am is such a plus for a lengthy show like this.

Muss wrote:

That card is the equivalent of a proper spoons breakfast after a big night out; shame it's a total sausage fest though.

What a line that is by the way. 

I'm quite interested in this, might even catch it live with a few folk. I hope that they do something of consequence with the winner of the Royal Rumble, and use it as an opportunity to launch somebody else up the card. I'd like to see someone like Sami Zayn or Bobby Roode win it. 

I've not heard about any prize for the winner beyond a big fuck-off trophy. Daniel Bryan was talking about using the momentum to push himself to a title shot, but didn't explicitly say that winning it earns you a title match.

I heard Backlash was a shitshow and a half, so I've not checked it out - in fact, I've packed in my WWE Network subscription until Summerslam as I've no plans to watch it the now, especially considering NJPW are gearing up for their Summerslam equivalent in June.

It was and some of the booking of Mania wasn't great, that I've cancelled mine.

Bullet Club 4 Life instead

JayMoyles wrote:

The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso)

Thanks for clarifying.
(I'm sure this is copied and pasted from somewhere, so it's not necessarily you I'm laughing at. I do find it funny though)

Well, it's worthwhile knowing that it's not one of the mystery Uso brothers we've yet to meet.

Nah, I copied it off Wikipedia and didn't bother reading it before pasting it.

I'd pie my subscription too, but Something Else To Wrestle With, Ride Along and just being able to stick on whatever I fancy is still worth a tenner a month.

Oh, absolutely. I've no real desire to check out the classic content myself and I'm not a huge fan of their exclusives outwith of the Edge and Christian Show, but there's still a tenner's worth in there for the right sort of fan.

I unsubbed myself. I like the idea of going back and watching some classics, I just never get around to actually doing that. I'll probably climb aboard when some of the bigger PPVs roll around again.

Another WWE UK Championship tournament is happening so it might be worth getting it again for that.