2023 Pro Wrestling Thread

Don't think the WWE folks were expecting the NXT crowd in Texas to be overwhelmingly in support of Corbin over Steveson.

 

Rhea's doing a great job as Dom's "Chyna," but I'd still like to see more on her own. Other than a few matches here and there, her women's belt has pretty much just been an accessory since Mania.

 

Amazing main event with Ilya and Carmelo. Question is, who will take the belt off Carmelo (who's great, but has reached the ceiling of what he can do in NXT)?

Do they turn Trick and give him the shot? Does Ilya get another shot since they teased Trick getting involved? Carmelo's pretty much beaten everybody in NXT who is established enough to get a title shot.

 

They've done a very poor job of building her storylines separate from him. They need to find a better way to incorporate them together in a way that can build both their feuds rather than her matches just being an afterthought. Or let her do the Mami thing with him on NXT and let her concentrate on the women's title and bigger Judgment Day stuff on Raw.

 

I remember Pee Wee being one of the Raw guest hosts that really clicked.

Say what you will about what happened in that theater, but this is a real bummer as a kid of the '80s. I was all about the Playhouse on Saturday mornings and loved "Big Adventure."

 

RIP to Pee Wee, who did a great job in his Raw guest-host stint.

Meanwhile, a lesser-known figure, but one more directly connected to pro wrestling, passed on last week:

Wrestling: Adrian Street, flamboyant legend, dies aged 82

I heard the name Adrian Street (and Miss Linda) briefly when I started following wrestling in the 1980s. He spend some time in the southern territories and I would see clips of him on the "Pro Wrestling This Week" show that was hosted by Gordon Solie and Joe Pedicino. Also, after my family got a VCR, I rented something called "Grunt! The Wrestling Movie," that he played a substantial part in.

Was quite the performer from what I saw. RIP

 

Watched Cody's doc on Peacock. It was a good show. It did include some of the blemishes of Stardust and addressed the indie era, All In and founding of AEW well.

Obviously, no AEW clips, but there are some stills and footage from BTE with blessing of the Bucks.

 

Thanks for sharing that, I remember him, more from reading PWI and other Apter mags than seeing him on TV. I had no idea he was Welsh.

 

Strangely enough, I was just thinking about him today and one of the most awesome photos in pro wrestling history. As a teen, Street had told his father, who was a coal miner and, his coworkers that he was quitting the coal mine to become a wrestler. His dad and coworkers scoffed at him and said he was too small. Years later, in the early 1970s, he dressed in his flamboyant wrestling attire and visited his father in the coal mine.

Exotic Adrian Street and the picture that 'won’t shut its gob'

I only remember seeing him in the women’s LPWA when he and Miss Linda would put on mixed tag matches. He was a unique talent. RIP

 

Shayna Ronda packages tonight have been absolutely outstanding. Hyped for this match now

 

Watched the Cody Rhodes documentary. Well done, but I wish they had touched more on his relationship with Dustin. I know Dustin being under AEW contract complicates all that, but I felt that was kinda missing.

They gotta put the belt on him, but I still kinda wonder if a year later with Roman already taking a pin since Wrestlemania kinda cheapens what could've been a little bit.

 

It's crazy to me that a feud with Logan Paul might be what finally lifts Ricochet to a top-level talent (well, top level mid-carder, bottom-level top guy). I'm hoping they don't drop him back into obscurity after this.