The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania XL - 6/7 April 2024

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Another one was the stretcher, pretty much goes over head on, close up shot of the stretcher being in a different position.

I've never really seen the guy before but the Indian guy on steroids and horse meat is he known to be a sloppy worker? Finn's face looked strawberry floated after the match.

It's jinder mahal. You probably saw him in his last run before he went away to take his steroids. There's nothing special about him, I have no idea why they bought him back. There's not much point in having a tall, heavily built guy who looks like he should be able to be a almost everyone in the company but is basically a jobber.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Owens on SD and the big messy beard (always looked like he would get food caught in it) has gone too

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Corbin looks massive compared to Owens.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Sami Zayn is on SD. This is great, I'm looking forward to going to SD live in may now. Owens, Zayn, Styles.

[Mafro]

Sami Zayn is on SD. This is great, I'm looking forward to going to SD live in may now. Owens, Zayn, Styles.

Yep pretty much everyone I like apart from Sasha and Balor is on Smackdown now.

[captain red dog]

The shakeup had only been minor really keeping the core of both shows intact which is a good thing whilst being slightly disappointing.

Bumping AJ Stylesdown to the US title scene is very disappointing, although I'm guessing the intent is to continue to elevate the title. They did some decent work which was kind of dropped during Y2J and Owen fued but it looks like they are going to continue to try and raise the profile of the belt. The IC title feels totally lacklustre ever since they took it off Miz.

[Floex]

The shakeup had only been minor really keeping the core of both shows intact which is a good thing whilst being slightly disappointing.

Bumping AJ Stylesdown to the US title scene is very disappointing, although I'm guessing the intent is to continue to elevate the title. They did some decent work which was kind of dropped during Y2J and Owen fued but it looks like they are going to continue to try and raise the profile of the belt. The IC title feels totally lacklustre ever since they took it off Miz.

I just assumed he was there because Bray is feuding with Orton. Plus, AJ's is the MVP, he needs to hold every title in the company. And a feud with Owens? Yeah, that is some good TV right there.

Speaking of Bray, he's future is looking bleak at best. If he's losing to Orton, moving to RAW, then feuding with Finn he's going to be losing right through the summer

I hope they do something interesting, have Bray win the title and just appear where he wants to.

[KK]

Bray Wyatt: Eater of Pinfalls was the sign of 2016.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

The shakeup had only been minor really keeping the core of both shows intact which is a good thing whilst being slightly disappointing.

Bumping AJ Stylesdown to the US title scene is very disappointing, although I'm guessing the intent is to continue to elevate the title. They did some decent work which was kind of dropped during Y2J and Owen fued but it looks like they are going to continue to try and raise the profile of the belt. The IC title feels totally lacklustre ever since they took it off Miz.

I just assumed he was there because Bray is feuding with Orton. Plus, AJ's is the MVP, he needs to hold every title in the company. And a feud with Owens? Yeah, that is some good TV right there.

Speaking of Bray, he's future is looking bleak at best. If he's losing to Orton, moving to RAW, then feuding with Finn he's going to be losing right through the summer

I hope they do something interesting, have Bray win the title and just appear where he wants to.

Yeah I have no problem with AJ mixing it around the U.S title. There's some good matches to be had there. His only other option is just. Apointless fued with someone whilst he waits to face Orton for the title.

[Fade]

Sami Zayn is on SD. This is great, I'm looking forward to going to SD live in may now. Owens, Zayn, Styles.

Me too. I was scared AJ would get traded and he was the main reason I bought tickets to Smackdown.

The fact I'll get to see Charlotte too now

[KK]

The suit Kevin Owens was wearing last night made him look like the manager of a Carphone Warehouse.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Just thinking about it, does SD only have 6 womens wrestlers? what's the point?

[captain red dog]

Just thinking about it, does SD only have 6 womens wrestlers? what's the point?

Well when you think about it, how many male wrestlers are really in the frame for a title shot at one time? 6 is plenty to be fair and they have the option of calling up anyone if need be when things get stale.

I could see a point though sometime in the future when they could justify splitting off the women's division into its own network show with IC and Tag titles etc.

[KK]

I couldn't help notice how JBL laid off insulting Saxton at all on SD, even when the set-ups were obviously there to do so.

[Mafro]

I like how they've changed the font on Nakamura's titantron to make it look more Japanese.

[Fade]

Just thinking about it, does SD only have 6 womens wrestlers? what's the point?

Are you taking the piss?

RAW LITERALLY had 4 since the draft.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Just thinking about it, does SD only have 6 womens wrestlers? what's the point?

Are you taking the piss?

RAW LITERALLY had 4 since the draft.

Neither brand has a sufficient amount for ongoing storylines without it all feeling too much of the same, that's what happened before the 'shake up' and that's what will happen again in a few months. Although considering they only get a maximum of two appearances a show maybe it is enough.

Active wise I would say raw has more. 8 or 9 with summer Rae due back very soon form what I read. Whilst SD has six.

Raw
Alexa Bliss
Alicia Fox
Bayley
Dana Brooke
Emma
Mickie James
Nia Jax
Paige (apparently)
Sasha Banks
Summer Rae

SD

Becky Lynch
Carmella
Charlotte Flair
Eva Marie (does she count?)
Lana (I assume she's not wrestling when she arrives)
Naomi
Natalya
Nikki Bella (will she actually come back)
Tamina

[Slimgrady]

Wasn't Eva Marie's contract not renewed or something? I think Lana might wrestle, hasn't she been doing house shows and stuff? Although if her gimmick is a lap dancer I'm fine with that With the women's tournament in June I'm sure a good few of the women will be signed, similar to what happened after the CWC. Also Asuka should just sit in the background during that whole tournament like Shang Tsung then win it.

[KK]

Rene Dupree in an interview said that the last three years he was in WWE, after he was moved to SmackDown, he was miserable.

“Every day going to work, I was called a French ******. Every day, I don’t want to go to work and be called a ******. What if I was gay? Isn’t that sexual harassment? He’d make jokes and every now and then they were kind of funny, but after a while, it’s like, Jesus Christ...Maybe I didn’t act the right way...No (when asked if he ever complained about it to those higher up). I was just quiet and shy, which maybe came across as arrogant.”

The reaction was such that in Boston on 4/11 during Smackdown, there were several chants of “fire JBL,” and Layfield, who is usually wildly cheered when he comes out before the show, was booed. There were also “We Want Mauro” chants. Worse, a clip went through social media of a fan with a sign that said “I Got Bullied by JBL,” instead of getting his sign confiscated as others were, was kicked out of the building in front of fans who shot the incident with the cell phones.

On the air, it was a very different Layfield. Layfield was a smiling babyface and did nothing to insult the babyfaces, nor his broadcast partners Tom Phillips, who took over Ranallo’s play-by-play roles on the two shows, and Byron Saxton, who was moved over from Raw.

While publically claiming there was no bullying culture in WWE, Jonathan Coachman himself did an interview a few years ago where he talked about how Vince McMahon and others got the local police to fake arrest him for conducting an office football betting pool, and he was so scared, he went into an empty room and cried for ten minutes. Others have noted to us that when he worked in WWE, that Coachman was a favorite target of Layfield.

[Floex]

I like how they've changed the font on Nakamura's titantron to make it look more Japanese.

Yeah, what the hell was that about besides the normal dumbing down for audiences. The font was perfect in Nxt