2022 Pro Wrestling Thread

Yeah. Not the cleanest outing tonight. Jamie Hayter was too slow to cheat for Britt, and Rosa got cut off by her own music.

 

This week's double episode finale to Young Rock introduced us to Brian Christopher (Dwayne's close friend and tag partner in USWA) and Moolah.

Also had a pretty good replication of Austin's King of the Ring promo, and a spot-on replication of the infamous Rocky Maivia gear. Also noticed stand-ins with pretty good gear for Goldust, HHH, Crush and Barry Windham from that match (the body doubles, not so much).

Now that they've tied up the loose ends with the future storyline, maybe they'll focus more on the flashbacks next season. They already planted the seeds for the heel turn into The Rock.

 

I wonder if Saddam Hussein did a terrorist threat?

 

From the football stadium to Vegas' second-tier (third-tier? Is the Thomas & Mack still around?) arena. That's funny.

 

One could argue that Vegas venues rank thusly:

1. Allegiant
2. T-Mobile
3. T&M
4. MGM Grand Garden
5. Copa Room at the Flamingo

rb

 

UFC’s got T-Mobile on July 2. Maybe they didnt factor that or the holiday into the booking plans as far as trying Allegiant

 

Ha. They had to change Raquel's finisher to the Tejano Bomb because her old move kept getting censored by Fox last week. Apparently "chingona" is a slang for a bad-ass Latina woman, but it got mistaken for "fuck your mother."

 

Shanky as a hilarious dancer getting over is NOT something I had on my bingo card but here we are

Whatever they’re paying McAfee its not enough because he makes that stuff work

 

Observer from May 30:

- Banks and Naomi are both suspended without pay, with their merchandise pulled from WWE's website. As mentioned in the previous newsletter, WWE contracts don't "lapse" or accrue time when a wrestler is suspended or injured. It's an open question how enforcible this is, since nobody has brought WWE to court over it.

The most extreme example, although not with a suspension and instead with medical issues - Because of various injury issues, Bryan Danielson took seven years to complete a three year contract. However, unlike with a suspension, he was paid at his rate throughout the seven years.

Cole ran Banks and Naomi down on commentary, in a way similar to when Steve Austin and Ultimate Warrior left the company. There hasn't been much locker room support of either women, but Banks has been seen in a negative light for it, with Naomi seen as "going along" with her friend.

- Money in the Bank was moved from Allegiant in Vegas because of soft ticket sales. While they moved about 17,000, which would be more than a sellout for the MGM Grand, there would have been a lot of empty seats without WWE doing a ton of giveaways. Lesnar is probably off the show as a result. In contrast, their UK show (Combat at the Castle) had sold very well, and will probably have a gate comparable to a Wrestlemania.

- Despite the angle they're running now, MJF is under contract with AEW for two more years.

- AEW's Double or Nothing on May 29 is projected to be the first $1M gate for a promotion in the U.S. besides the WWE.

- WWE's year to year ratings have been stabilizing as of late (-8.6 percent for Raw, -6.9 percent for Smackdown), and AEW's rise has slowed down (+2.2 percent for Dynamite). NXT has cratered (-41.4 percent), along with Impact Wrestling (-17.9 percent). For paid attendance, AEW is around 4,900 per event, WWE around 5,100.

- ROH was purchased with Khan's personal money, not AEW's money, and the plan right now is to keep it as a separate promotion. Colt Cabana will likely be one of the faces of the promotion when it comes back.

- AEW was impressed with John Hennigan's performance against Samoa Joe, and he's likely to be signed by them sometime soon.

- Kenny Omega is still on the mend, with a return date TBD. He's been backstage, but it's unlikely he returns in Vegas.

- Karrion / Killer Kross has been in talks with AEW, but as of now, AEW only had a spot for him to come in and lose to Wardlow, given their roster size.

- WWE now has a depth problem for house shows, with how many people they've cut and how many TV wrestlers are part-time. An example from a recent show, that'll get worse with Reigns going part-time, and the loss of Banks and Naomi: Opener was Ricochet retaining the IC title pinning Zayn. Gunther beat Gulak quickly. Aliyah pinned Shotzi. Usos won a four-way to keep the tag titles over Holland & Butch, Viking Raiders and Los Lotharios. Sheamus was at ringside, but he hasn't been working as of late because of injuries. Nakamura pinned Mahal. Rodriguez pinned Natalya who had Baszler in the corner. Main event saw the same Reigns over McIntyre Universal title match.

 

Social media scuttlebutt is MJF blew off a meet-and-greet and is threatening to "Sasha" tomorrow's PPV in Vegas.

Either he's playing hardball or it's an Andy Kaufman masterclass of blurring reality.

 

What is he mad about? His contract isn't up for another two years, and in the meantime he's arguably getting a bigger and better push than his company's current champion. Is he trying to renegotiate early? Does that ever happen in wrestling? Can it happen?
Tony Khan seems like a player's owner with AEW, but I can't imagine no-showing a PPV would sit well with him or anybody in that AEW locker room.

 

Raquel goes to the ring. Shotzi promo.
Raquel is flexing in the ring. Commercial break.
Raquel is joined by Ronda in the ring. Shotzi again.
Raquel’s match finally begins.
Raquel’s match ends in one minute as a DQ. Commercial break.
Now it’s a tag-team match.

Sometimes I think the toughest thing a WWE wrestler can do is kill time during breaks and segments to get to the next thing.