2021 Pro Wrestling Thread

Yep. They had a perfect return going until that squash. But Becky being booked as a heel was another thing that threw me for a loop. Assaulted Carmella for no reason. The misdirection at the start of the match, leading to the squash.

Granted, with no explanation for Sasha, perhaps this the best option they had. But I would’ve taken Bianca squashing Carmella, then Becky coming out to a monster pop before laying out Bianca out of nowhere to set up a heel title chase. Still a great moment.

 

I wonder if they will make Becky an heel in the mode of Steve Austin—a mean, attack-everybody type who gets cheered by the fans anyway.

 

I think the prevailing opinion is that Walter and Ilya was the top match.

 

I think that's how they envisioned her before -- I think it was SummerSlam 2018. She attacked Charlotte after their match and WWE wanted us to think she was the heel to Charlotte's face, but the crowds loved it, leading to her broken nose moment and the rise to Becky Two Belts.

 

This. By far.

Edge/Rollins was second.

Cole/O'Reilly kinda fell flat for me. It seems like Kyle is missing something that would make him a more sympathetic babyface.

 

Getting screwed over in his title matches would've helped. He lost those clean IIRC.

Then you have the smarks in the CWC audience who love Cole chanting BS when he won. Those smarks are more noticeable when the total crowd numbers in the dozens. Much easier to be "cool" and cheer for the heel and have it overpower any face reaction.

Full Sail >>>> CWC

 

So, there may be no way it would work because the crowd will probably always cheer Becky, but I'd kinda love for her and Rollins to become an on-screen heel couple. I mean, everyone knows they're a real-life couple, so putting them together on TV makes sense, but with Seth's character, you'd have to make Becky a heel, too. Maybe they go tweener with both of them.

 

I think since they've already done that, and it didn't really go over too well, I think that's just a matter of "been there, done that."

 

So warm and fuzzy.

 

Walter match was third for me. No story, at least that I’m aware of, I dont have time to watch UK on top of everything else.

All the Takeover matches would’ve benefitted from a big, hot crowd. The CWC is very cool, visually, but there’s no substitute for a hot smart crowd, as we’ve seen on Takeovers past and recent AEW shows

 

By the way - The Ringer and Spotify have signed some sort of agreement with the WWE, to be the spot for company-approved podcasts and what not. That's started with some Ariel podcasts, as well as another pod in attention to the weekly Masked Man pod. Shoemaker has said that they still have editorial independence, but, meh. WWE has done these kind of deals over the years, and they seem to eventually sour on them when critical stories come out. The Ringer and HBO were supposed to be doing a documentary on McMahon at some point, but I don't think there have been any updates on that since the initial announcement.

 

They're really trying to make Nia into more of a caricature than she already is? Samoan wrestler with a big ass -- let her do the stink face.

Remember when the Raw after SummerSlam was for the big debuts (second to the Raw after Mania probably)? Yeah, those were the days.