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Wrestling Thread Vol. 3


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1 hour ago, Bono said:

Why are they referring to him as Mike Kanellis? Did he take her name in real life or is this WWE's doing? 

WWE's doing. Primary motivation, Id guess, is to do the typical WWE "have to use a new name that we own" bit. But I think the gimmick is that they're motivational speaker / relationship counselors, I think that's why they have the headset microphones. As JR said this week, him changing his name to hers is just a simple heat-seeking technique. I see a lot of potential in the bit - the best gimmicks are when the workers just turn up their personalities to full volume, and it only takes a brief perusal of their social media to see that they are really over-the-top lovey dovey in real life. Using that as the basis of their gimmick is a great call. I just want to see it actually kick off, not just PPV and YouTube vignettes. 

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1 hour ago, axlslash said:

WWE's doing. Primary motivation, Id guess, is to do the typical WWE "have to use a new name that we own" bit. But I think the gimmick is that they're motivational speaker / relationship counselors, I think that's why they have the headset microphones. As JR said this week, him changing his name to hers is just a simple heat-seeking technique. I see a lot of potential in the bit - the best gimmicks are when the workers just turn up their personalities to full volume, and it only takes a brief perusal of their social media to see that they are really over-the-top lovey dovey in real life. Using that as the basis of their gimmick is a great call. I just want to see it actually kick off, not just PPV and YouTube vignettes. 

yeah that makes sense. I used to follow Maria on Instagram but I don't anymore. You're right about their lovey dovey relationship though.  I might be wrong but I feel having them on SDLive or more specifically opposite Miz and Maryse is a missed opportunity. Maybe that feud will play out a year or so from now cause that's the one that seems like just a  natural fit. 

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29 minutes ago, Bono said:

yeah that makes sense. I used to follow Maria on Instagram but I don't anymore. You're right about their lovey dovey relationship though.  I might be wrong but I feel having them on SDLive or more specifically opposite Miz and Maryse is a missed opportunity. Maybe that feud will play out a year or so from now cause that's the one that seems like just a  natural fit. 

Reports are that the "Miz entourage" story is exactly that - they don't want a married heel couple on both brands without acknowledging each other, so roughing up the Mizanins' relationship and adding a posse makes them a stable instead of a couple. I think Bennett and Miz could put on a dynamite match, but I don't want either of them to be a face ever. If they're going the relationship counselor route, though, not doing a story where the Kanellises help the Mizanins fix their relationship and form a four-person stable is a missed opportunity. Either way, I'm optimistic about the gimmick and hope they pick a good first feud for him. 

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Mauro Ranallo is going to be calling NXT. Because a guy good enough to call Money vs McGregor still needs developmental work. How is it that given a choice between JBL, Maggle Cole, and Mauro, Mauro loses? My only reaction? "Mama mia..."

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2 hours ago, axlslash said:

Mauro Ranallo is going to be calling NXT. Because a guy good enough to call Money vs McGregor still needs developmental work. How is it that given a choice between JBL, Maggle Cole, and Mauro, Mauro loses? My only reaction? "Mama mia..."

The only reason he is calling NXT is cause he wanted to get away from Vince and JBL....he's working with Triple now.

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Danielson is still keeping up with suggesting he's going to be back wrestling next year after he's out off his contract. Surprised there isn't more about it here.

Danielson in the G-1 next year facing Naito, Tana, Ishii, Okada and Omega (if he's still around) ect. would be great. This year's should be great as well with Ibushi back (without wrestling sporadically as Tiger Mask W). Ibushi vs. Omega is one of the bigger fresh matches left in NJPW.

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The blocks for the G-1 has been announced;

 

A BLOCK

Bad Luck Fale

Hirooki Goto

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Kota Ibushi

Tetsuya Naito

Togi Makabe

Tomohiro Ishii

Yoshi-Hashi

Yuji Nagata

Zack Sabre Jr.

 

B BLOCK

Evil

Juice Robinson

Kazuchika Okada

Kenny Omega

Michael Elgin

Minoru Suzuki

Sanada

Satoshi Kojima

Tama Tonga

Toru Yano

 

So that means Okada/Omega III in the G-1 this year. Still waiting on the dates. I'd like to see a Ibushi vs. Omega finale. 

People are thinking this is all leading to an Omega vs. Naito final, but the tournament isn't always as obvious as it looks.

For those that don't know what the G-1 is. It's 2 blocks (A+B) of round robin tournament. Who ever gets the most points from each block proceeds to the final to face the winner of the other block. Winner gets the title shot on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome. Think Royal Rumble, with several match of the year contenders.

19 day tournament.

Edited by AtariLegend
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1 hour ago, AtariLegend said:

The blocks for the G-1 has been announced;

 

A BLOCK

Bad Luck Fale

Hirooki Goto

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Kota Ibushi

Tetsuya Naito

Togi Makabe

Tomohiro Ishii

Yoshi-Hashi

Yuji Nagata

Zack Sabre Jr.

 

B BLOCK

Evil

Juice Robinson

Kazuchika Okada

Kenny Omega

Michael Elgin

Minoru Suzuki

Sanada

Satoshi Kojima

Tama Tonga

Toru Yano

 

So that means Okada/Omega III in the G-1 this year. Still waiting on the dates. I'd like to see a Ibushi vs. Omega finale. 

People are thinking this is all leading to an Omega vs. Naito final, but the tournament isn't always as obvious as it looks.

For those that don't know what the G-1 is. It's 2 blocks (A+B) of round robin tournament. Who ever gets the most points from each block proceeds to the final to face the winner of the other block. Winner gets the title shot on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome. Think Royal Rumble, with several match of the year contenders.

19 day tournament.

Omega and Okada are in. Cody is not. Cody just won the ROH title, potentially setting up the "double champ free agent" angle... Cody is one of my favorite characters in the game right now, but I'm not sure I love the idea of him being the one to dethrone Okada. Unless it's a dirty finish, letting the "outsider" (they're kayfabing this so hard, he's clearly been signed to ROH/NJPW since that rumor first broke a couple months back) steal the belt off the Rainmaker and get that heat, I'm not sure I love it. And Okada/Omega III feels like it deserves a bigger payoff than a round robin match in the tournament. So I'm looking forward to the tournament but a little apprehensive about what it might mean for the title picture. 

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Pretty fucking spectacular spoiler on a new signing from Friday's NXT taping:

BOBBY MOTHERFUCKING FISH!!! Obviously this isn't much of a surprise, we knew it was on the way, but it's official. He's in NXT, and he's keeping his name.

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Dates for the big matches from the G-1 have been announced. If anyone's interested, the last 3 nights and the first night are the obvious ones to look out for.

This is the top 2 matches from each show only;

July 17th --

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

 

July 20th --

Minoru Suzuki vs. Kenny Omega

SANADA vs. EVIL

 

July 21st --

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito

Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

 

July 22nd --

Minoru Suzuki vs. SANADA

Kenny Omega vs. Tama Tonga

 

July 23rd --

Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto

Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

 

July 25th --

Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA

Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega

 

July 26th --

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto

Togi Makabe vs. Kota Ibushi

 

July 27th --

Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega

Minoru Suzuki vs. EVIL

 

July 29th --

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI

 

July 30th --

Juice Robinson vs. Kazuchika Okada

Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenny Omega

 

August 1st --

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi

Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii

 

August 2nd --

Kenny Omega vs. EVIL

Satoshi Kojima vs. Minoru Suzuki

 

August 4th --

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe

Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

 

August 5th --

Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL

Satoshi Kojima vs. SANADA

 

August 6th --

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito

 

August 8th --

Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki

Kenny Omega vs. SANADA

 

August 11th --

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito

Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto

 

August 12th --

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega

Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki

 

August 13th --

A Block winner vs. B Block winner in the tournament finals

Side note: The Ibushi vs. Sabre match on night 3 is the match that would have been the CWC final last year if both hadn't refused to sign for WWE.

Edited by AtariLegend
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Just think: Zacky Three-Belts could have been renamed ZSJ and forced to dab to video game music instead of doing this...

Even if you don't like him, watch Cody's title match with Daniels. There's so much pure, real emotion in the finish. 36 years, almost to the day, after Dream pinned Race. Cody hides his face in his elbow on the final pin, clearly emotional, and tears up numerous times during the celebration. He did contain himself enough to shout a mighty FTR into the Bucks' iPhone though :lol: 

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The Omega/Okada II match is on AXS tonight for those that live in the US with Jim Ross on commentary if you haven't seen it yet.

If you've never seen this before, it's worth checking out;

2015 G-1 Climax final and Nak's last big Metzler 5-star match before disembarking to WWE. A reminder of what WWE could be putting on in their main events if wins/losses and championships meant anything.

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A few thoughts on the NJPW shows at the Weekend;

Omega vs. Ishii was the best match of the weekend. That dragon suplex spot though was a bit too dangerous. 

Zack Sabre J.R. is much better than I thought. He was awesome against Ishii. Looking forward to his run in the G-1.

The Cody match wasn't as bad as expected. Easily the best Cody match I've ever seen, but at the lower end of the scale of Okada matches.

I got a kick out off Ricochet burying Lucha Underground, but that was a brutal promo.

The Tanahashi/Billy Gunn match was the worst Tana match I've ever seen. Really silly, especially when you consider Ibushi was apparently on Japanese commentary, Suzuki wasn't booked for the show, nor Goto... yet Billy Gunn was wrestling Tana. Also a shame when you consider that Marufuji thanks to the end of NOAH/NJPW's relationship was working the opening match of a TNA PPV instead of on this show.

They worked too hard to fit as much as they could of the rest of the roster on the shows though. Few too many multi-man tags. No need for Hangman Page/Jay Lethal to get singles matches at the show. A bit too ROH at times, especially with War Machine working a very un NJPW tag match.

I watched mostly in Japaneses commentary, but heard their were issues with the English version (allegedly Jim Ross calling people by the wrong names).

A few weeks anyway to the G-1. Should be good. Still holding out for an Ibushi/Omega final, but the favorites are Naito/Omega.

Edited by AtariLegend
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Sentences I never thought I'd say: Randy Orton got beaten down by Aiden English before their match as part of the build to Orton challenging WWE Champion Jinder Mahal inside the Punjabi Prison.

Smackdown's creative team is either brilliant or flat out bonkers. 

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12 hours ago, PsychoKiss344 said:

anyone see this coming?

aj-styles-us-champion-msg.jpg

When is the last time WWE did a house show title swap?! I like the choice, though not sure I love taking the strap off KO. Maybe get it back to him at SummerSlam, or fire KO up for a run at Cena post-Jinder?

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