Rolling 2018: Where Every Day is Rusev Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2LmZBOdUqs

i just finished wrestle kingdom 12, it was pretty great but it's the first wk since i started watching (4ish years ago?) that didn't completely blow me out of the water. the 4-way was def a highlight for me.

Everything on the show was very good and seemed important, but nothing was blow away MOTY great, which was the standard set by the previous few years.

That said, just about every match overdelivered. Goto vs Suzuki was an awesome fight to cap off a really lackluster feud. Naito vs Okada was the typical big Okada match with a meandering first half and a hot finish. I didn't like it as much as most people did but maybe I'll appreciate it more once the shock of Naito losing wears off.

Jericho vs Omega was the best match for me. It's too bad that the WWE has forgotten how to book feuds, because Jericho vs Owens could have had a five star WM blowout like that last year.

i just finished wrestle kingdom 12, it was pretty great but it's the first wk since i started watching (4ish years ago?) that didn't completely blow me out of the water. the 4-way was def a highlight for me.

Same here. Though in fairness, even mediocre NJPW is more rewarding than most WWE shows on balance.

That Mixed Match Challenge looks like it could be fun, but viewers outside the US will be shut out unless they put replays on the Network or something.

These epic WK main events can be kind of a bummer to people conditioned by WWE to the idea that at the big show, the guy whose turn it is to get made triumphantly goes over in the main

Can't say Gedo hasn't set up a lot of interesting stuff for 2018 though

Rusev is one of the most complete pro wrestlers alive, I need him in long singles matches as a babyface champ selling everything like death

i'm a mark for being excited about the mixed tag tournament but this is so good

https://www.facebook.com/WWEMixedMatchChallenge/videos/148362645943818/?hc_location=ufi

RAW 25 made me question why I ever liked wrestling.

Raw 25 was horrible but Gargano v. Almas will make you remember. It was incredible

it was so freaking good and i’m glad the ciampa bit was held for the very end

As close to perfection as wrestling gets. Loved it, the main event and the whole show.

already getting chills thinking about the pop johnny's gonna get when he kicks the shit out of ciampa

I agree with everyone (here and everywhere else online), Gargano/Almas was a great match. It's my favorite all weekend so far pretty easily, over the Suzuki/Tanahashi (which I didn't like as much as a lot of people), Young Bucks/Roppongi3K, and Kenny Omega/Jay White matches from NJPW. No mean feat! And I really doubt anything from the Royal Rumble will top it.

So much wrestling in the past two days! Caught only the main event of the Takeover special, and it was awesome. Saw the first New Beginning show with Tana vs Suzuki and I'm not liking it nearly as much as most people, but it told the right story and sets up the inevitable rematch once Tanahashi returns from whatever rest/surgery that he desperately needs. I love how these guys completely avoid the counter-recounter finisher spamming that is the norm for NJPW main events. There wasn't a single near fall in the match, or in their 2012 classic. Tanahashi was completely immobile in this one (I think he did only three or four moves where he had to run or leave his feet) but can still put on good matches because of his character and selling.

From the Rumble last night I've seen only the women's Rumble, which more than lived up to expectations. There were no dead spots, great surprise entrants, and the right person won.

Caught most of the men's Rumble match on a stream last night, total pish really. Just nothing whatsoever of interest. Nakamura winning was a trip tho, will definitely check out his WM match with styles

my house had 10-12 ppl in it for the rumble (every1 loves a rumble! mix of more and less casual fans) and the pop when nak eliminated reigns was louder in my living room than anything ever, incl. big canadiens playoff wins, which was remarkable considering half the room didn't know who nak was at the beginning of the night

Whoa this is a thing.

what did i miss?

I'm just happy this thread exists.

I'm not usually a Rollins fan but Raw was one of the best shows I've watched in a long time. That's how you make someone who isn't your usual guy stand out.

Also Braun Strowman is coming close to replacing Scott Steiner as my favourite ever wrestler.

Is Raw worth watching for that gauntlet match? I usually don't watch it or SD anymore.

it was very good. rollins’ performance in particular. (he pinned cena clean!)

i’m curious to see how the post-mania recombining of the brands on ppvs works out. you already have people who are over like rusev and fashion police (and most of the women) being bumped aside on smackdown, even with its commercial/action split screens.

Daniel Bryan cleared to wrestle!

I never thought it would happen in WWE.

I am so happy.

Hell except for the "Stephanie McMahon pretends she can fight Ronda fucking Rousey" pissbreak and lol the us title match WM is looking pretty fucking boss.

went to the NJPW show in long beach yesterday. was pretty legit. been to a a handful of raws/ppvs/even a wrestlemania and the energy in the crowd was something else, man. tons of fun.

I watched the main event. I think the Undertaker is like "damn i'm glad i never wrestled the young bucks earlier than brock in the streak". They kicked out of so many murderdeathkill super moves! It got to the point where i just felt "ok i know wrestling is fake but fucking hell guys". I've never watched enough of the bucks to join in the hate, and they seemed alright until the match just got downright silly.

I like how no matter where Minoru Suzuki wrestles everyone will just absolutely bellow KAZE NI NARE during his entrance as if compelled by an unseen force

Well Takeover NO was remarkable. Every single match exceeded expectations, which were already high. Absolutely in contention for the best Takeover OAT (R Evolution might still take it for me due to the finish, and toronto because i'm biased and was there? not sure). It was a struggle to find moments to use the bathroom, it was wall-to-wall incredible.

never hated a wrestler more than ciampi when he was stomping on gargano's head lol, amazing stuff

Takeover was incredible ... the ladder match went a bit too long but everyone came out of it looking strong, and I think Gargano's match vs Almas was better, but those are about the worst things I can say about it. I happened to watch Austin vs Bret from WM 13 for the first time in years and Gargano vs Ciampa was great for many of the same reasons. They're both fairly basic matches, but the intensity was off the charts, and you can feel the hatred in everything they did. Those kinds of matches are timeless and will still be great when you rewatch them in twenty years.

Mania was looking like an all-timer through the Cena/Taker segment, and then ... well, I just don't know what to say. The Rousey match was the best of the night, it was 1000000X better than I was expecting.

can't say i expected stephanie mcmahon to have a better match than aj styles and shinsuke nakamura, but here we are

You're both objectively wrong.

Also match of the night was clearly Nia Jax/Alexa Bliss, in spite of the crappy angle.

so 11am is the pre-show and 12 is the show for greatest royal rumble... seems like a crock of shit but that CARD. :/

hoping i cna stream some of it from wokr at least.

For once, a live show at a reasonable hour in this part of the world. It's still a glorified house show, though.

idk i have a feeling some kinda belt will switch hands. they've been promoting this thing more than they've been promoting the next ppv lol

Belts switch hands on house shows sometimes.

yeah but it's really rare (a... little less so recently? maybe twice in the past couple of years if you count samoa joe/finn nxt? possibly also a jinder one? i can't remember)

from wrestle kingdom classic to double dick-dick no contest, now there's a tragic trajectory

ngl i have watched that finish several times, giggling like a child

someone set a montage of all of their low blows to the jackass theme song which is *hand kiss*

I've just got the WWE network! It's been awhile since I've properly been watching the wrestling but my god it's good to be back. I can't wait to get into NXT, not sure I'm going out for the next month!

Enjoy it! I need to catch up on NXT myself and get my mojo back.

nah rawley's been on the main roster for a while now

Ba-dum tish.

but in all seriousness nxt has really been nailing it lately, not quite to the heights of 2015 (zayn, neville, owens etc) but much better than the weird low period it had after that (balor/joe/nakamura/roode era just didn't work for me (altho that was the best time for the tag belts!))... the recent call-ups made a lot of room for new faces, a lot of whom are developmental wrestlers, with great skills and gimmicks. apparently kassius ohno is in a kind of player-coach role in developmental which is pretty awesome. the women's division is starting to really shine in the post-asuka dominance era now, with a bunch of Mae Young Classic folks getting tv time and storylines. geez what a fun show. i'm a week behind, time to go home and fix that!

I agree about the NXT Title era the last few years - I missed out on the Neville era as I don't have Sky and didn't have the Network then.

I got the impression that was meant as a rehearsal spot for the main roster, and it was accordingly dull compared to everything else they've been doing. Balor is great but he did not shine in that position; ditto Nakamura. Roode is just a guy, and same for McIntyre.

The turning point for me was Gargano/Almas; with one match they elevated the title to the level where it should've always been. Now that we've shuffled Black and others to the top of the card, I hope the bookers know what to do.

Anyway, when my main complaint about the show is 'well the NXT Title match was kinda boring' that says a lot about the rest.

Everything from around May 2014 (starting w/ the first TakeOver) through the next year is some of the best wrestling programming I have ever, ever seen - maybe my favourite ever, period. Can't recommend that little window highly enough. Even when it's bad (lol, Bull Dempsey/Baron Corbin) it's still kinda great?

oh and everything that charlotte/sasha/bayley/becky were doing on that run was just astounding too. sasha vs becky for the championship was one of the greatest matches i've ever seen, followed by three absolute classics w/ sasha and bayley (incl. a 30m ironwoman match). don't sleep on the becky match tho, it is a complete star-making moment. the dates i mentioned plus a little bit further gets you thru that bit too!

Agreed. All of that stuff is what kept me engaged. I still weep for Bayley and how much they botched her move up.

I think the problem with bayley is the same problem with cena and reigns, the one dimensional should be big face in he olde Vince times but finds it hard to process the initial character problem. Hogan never grew, it just took till 91-93 to wear thin. Bayley was a really good bayley a couple years ago... and then what? I feel like this company would do well from a lecture from people who write sequels.

i mean there's also the problem that she was never a great talker. it was totally endearing and WORKED at full sail because the crowd loved her and she fit into a room of that size (as well as a tv show so slickly produced and edited) but when it's live and either on a TitanTron(TM) or in the middle of a stadium with a mic it just maybe doesn't play? her character also virtually requires her to be the centre of attention for it to work on the big stage, which just isn't how it's gonna work on the big shows (i still think a move to smackdown would do her massive favours, tho). when she's just 1 of ~15 talented women on the roster all getting equal time, she just seems kinda... dumb? it really bums me out that she isn't "working" but afaik she is still pretty young, plenty of time for her to get her shot!

i had similar problems with the way sami was used during his callup (despite a big opportunity starting against cena in his first main roster match! when he dislocated his shoulder during his entrance!) and tbh him as a heel, while entertaining, is like completely contrary to everything that made his nxt run perfect. he's way too good to not end up being seriously featured at some point tho. i really think he's the most talented and untapped guy in the wwe now.

Bayley needs a heel turn.

was the zayn/lashley segment as bad as the one-sentence recap i read made it sound? until i read more i am in absolute denial but it sounds like on the level of never watching this shit again (and sami is my favourite which makes it hurt even more)

ugh i just saw pictures, it's that damn bad

it was awful

Is there backstory involving Bobby Lashley that I'm supposed to be aware of? They just keep throwing him into main events - usually teaming with Braun as if they are equally main-event worthy, but I know literally zero things about him.

He was at or near main event level in WWE 10-12 years ago, his most famous match being the Trump vs. Vince hair vs. hair match at WrestleMania 23 where Lashley wrestled on behalf of Trump against Umaga.

Ooh I didn't realize that was him. It seemed like he was abruptly reintroduced during shake-up and they don't give him much time during promos to build up his character. But that is helpful context for sure.

He was also the winner of the worst ppv of the modern era, ECW December to Dismember 2006

Ah here, December to Dismember was literally engineered to fail so it doesn't really count.

uh i think official kayfabe holds that @mountain_goats was the final straw for bayley’s heel turn

— Constable Cornbread (@korbermite) June 26, 2018

The G1 hasn't come close to the quality of the last few years, but Ibushi-Ishii is must-see. Naito-Omega and Ishii-Goto are right up there.

I think there have been a lot of "fun things" going on during and around the G1, but the matches have been varied. Some of them have been exciting to watch (Omega vs. Ishii, Ibushi vs. SANADA, Okada vs. EVIL, to name a few I really enjoyed), but it hasn't been as solid as previous years.

I've had a bit more fun watching the tag match-ups outside of the actual tournament than watching some of the official matches.

I've been too busy to watch any of the G1 so I'm just gonna make time for the Yano matches before this weekend's final shows. When is the first Sumo Hall show, Friday?

Oh wait it's Budokan not Sumo Hall. Friday it is.

yes please!

Kenny Omega -VS- Pentagon

September 1st #ALLin pic.twitter.com/3ej5rn659z

— All In (@ALL_IN_2018) August 12, 2018

where can i watch this??

The G1 definitely nailed the landing. The overall quality still wasn't as good as past years but the best stuff was some of the best pro wrestling you'll ever see.

Mordy, I don't know if you're still trying to find the match, but NJPW World has All In available on their streaming service.

thx!

going to the njpw show in long beach on sunday - where every man, woman and child owns a bullet club tshirt. the last one was excellent so I'm pretty pumped. in spite of the fact that the line to get in, food, drink and bathroom situation is fucking abysmal

How was it? So far I've only watched Scurll vs Ospreay from that show, I have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't watched anything from All In yet. KOPW is around the corner but I'm not really feeling it.

How were the lines this time? 'Cause the place looked about a third empty for the first half of the show.

Had a great time and great seats. The opener with Liger was great, everyone seemed like they were really enjoying themselves. Bucks match wasn't nearly as good as the last one (but thats kind of unfair) but the back injury plot was kinda stupid, imo. I guess they needed an excuse for the Bucks to lose. I didn't take detailed notes or anything but the show was definitely less crowded than the last, filled in more as it went on. there were dedicated beer vendors for the first time which made life 100% better unless you wanted to eat food. then you were fucked either way bc there were only two kiosks for the whole venue.

Did not expect that news on Raw. Damn.

Huge bummer, rooting for him

It's obviously trivial in the scheme of things but he'll finally be the mega-over top babyface he was meant to be if he makes it back after this

Brutal. Hope he Superman punches leukemia back into remission.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Ambrose heel turn happening on the same night.

i feel like if it had been drawn out for weeks of “brotherhood above all” the leadup to the turn would have seemed too over the top

i liked this former wwe writer’s spin on it (thread). grief does crazy things to people

See, even that, I think, can be explained. I don't think Dean (the character) planned this. I think they won, because that's what Dean does. And then he turned.. and he saw Seth smiling.. and in that one second... that one moment after Roman ripped open his soul... and...

— Tom Casiello (@tommiecas) October 23, 2018

That's how I rationalize it too, the turn had been building for weeks and Ambrose (the character) is unstable enough as it is. When Reigns made his announcement, something inside him snapped. He still needed to win the tag title to prove to himself that he could.

There are plenty of storyline ways to explain it, but every one of them involve using someone's life-threatening cancer diagnosis to manipulate the fans and help get a wrestling angle over. If there was ever a week to send people home happy, it was this one. Couldn't the same storyline goal have been achieved by doing the turn next week?

i mean roman probably signed off on this turn because it’s “good for business”

I'm sure they asked him and he said he was ok with it, but it's still tasteless.