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

[Kanbei]

Seems like the Moxley/Jericho podcast is worth a listen.

[Senor_Coconut]

It's as good as when CM Punk went all in on the podcast he did when he walked.

[KK]

A really great listen. He talks about this crap in particular:

[captain red dog]

Christ it's like they took that gimmick and just stuck it on Sami Zayn! On the Post Wrestling podcast this week they suggested that Ziggler's latest gimmick is what would have been KO's gimmick as they straight up transplanted Ziggler's line about how it "should have been me" at wrestlemania.

I think the WWE is now so creatively restricted and then filtered through Vince that it is destroying talent. You could see flashes of Moxley when he was initially in the Shield but he has been given dogshit ever since.

[Slimgrady]

God I hope the XFL does somewhat well next year so Vince can go focus on that for a while, give Hunter a chance, see if he’s as good as people say he will be. NXT is a good indication that he knows what he’s doing, but transferring the same Vibe from NXT, a weekly 1hour prerecorded in bulk show, to Raw and Smackdown, 5 live hours of TV (minimum!!) every single week seems damn near impossible. No wonder Vince has lost his Midas touch with so much pressure on him to fill that much TV time.

[Dig Dug]

The only way WWE's system of having so much air time can work is if they were to commit making Raw and Smackdown radically different things which they simply won't do, it's all WWE and therefore must have a universally shared presentation and feel. Their programming is homogenised, the only thing resembling alternative options is the likes of NXT and even then the apple isn't falling too far from the tree.

[KK]

It’s all about producing content. No matter if it’s worthwhile content, makes any sense or is any good, it’s about banging out hours of TV every single week. So irrespective of whether the storylines were amazing, you’re burning everyone out. Bored of the same old faces having the same old matches on countless shows that with the exception of NXT UK and aspects of NXT (and even that on PPV night now looks like the 3rd hour of RAW) all look identical.

As the UK soaps are also finding out, once viewers decide to skip the one show and struggle to invest in the storylines (either because they’re rubbish or there’s too much of it) that one show soon becomes two shows. And then three. And then viewers are only coming back for the big names they remember from the past. Then even that stops working. And before you know it its in terminal decline.

One of the simplest things AEW can do is leave fans and the audience wanting more, and if they stick to the template of 6 or 8 PPVs a year and 1 show a week then they’ll already have an advantage over WWE.

[NBK]

I'm back to playing catch up with Best of the Super JRs again, but Rocky Romero vs ELP from last week was brilliant. Couple of botched exchanges at the end, but that can be forgiven considering how long the match went for, and result was perfect

Any chance Minty or Dangerblade could point me towards the highlights of the past few shows...pleeeeeeease

[coldspice]

I'm back to playing catch up with Best of the Super JRs again, but Rocky Romero vs ELP from last week was brilliant. Couple of botched exchanges at the end, but that can be forgiven considering how long the match went for, and result was perfect

Any chance Minty or Dangerblade could point me towards the highlights of the past few shows...pleeeeeeease

I haven't actually watched all the shows, but Ospreay/Eagles was great. I need to catch up, but from what I've heard, Sho Vs Gresham and Shingo Vs Ishimori from the last show are the must watches.

[Dangerblade]

I'm back to playing catch up with Best of the Super JRs again, but Rocky Romero vs ELP from last week was brilliant. Couple of botched exchanges at the end, but that can be forgiven considering how long the match went for, and result was perfect

Any chance Minty or Dangerblade could point me towards the highlights of the past few shows...pleeeeeeease

I haven't actually watched all the shows, but Ospreay/Eagles was great. I need to catch up, but from what I've heard, Sho Vs Gresham and Shingo Vs Ishimori from the last show are the must watches.

Definitely watch the following (wrestlers listed alphabetically so don't read anything into the order)

Night 10

Robbie Eagles vs. Will Ospreay

Night 11

Jonathan Gresham vs. Shingo Takagi
Dragon Lee vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Night 12

Bandido vs. Robbie Eagles
DOUKI vs. Will Ospreay

Night 13

Jonathan Gresham vs. SHO
Dragon Lee vs. Marty Scurll
Shingo Takagi vs. Taiji Ishimori

[NBK]

I'm back to playing catch up with Best of the Super JRs again, but Rocky Romero vs ELP from last week was brilliant. Couple of botched exchanges at the end, but that can be forgiven considering how long the match went for, and result was perfect

Any chance Minty or Dangerblade could point me towards the highlights of the past few shows...pleeeeeeease

I haven't actually watched all the shows, but Ospreay/Eagles was great. I need to catch up, but from what I've heard, Sho Vs Gresham and Shingo Vs Ishimori from the last show are the must watches.

Definitely watch the following (wrestlers listed alphabetically so don't read anything into the order)

Night 10

Robbie Eagles vs. Will Ospreay

Night 11

Jonathan Gresham vs. Shingo Takagi
Dragon Lee vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Night 12

Bandido vs. Robbie Eagles
DOUKI vs. Will Ospreay

Night 13

Jonathan Gresham vs. SHO
Dragon Lee vs. Marty Scurll
Shingo Takagi vs. Taiji Ishimori

Excellent, thanks to you both for that. Just need to figure out how to fit all that around Takeover...

[Mafro]

The next NXT UK Takeover is on the same day as the UK New Japan show. Good timing there. It's also the same day as All Out but it's not like that really matters given the time it'll be on at.

[coldspice]

Wales v Ireland in Cardiff that day too

[NBK]

Another TakeOver, another load of 4 and 5 star matches. It's just getting boring now...

Also, I take it that's Gargano popping up on Raw tomorrow night.

[Irene Demova]

The next NXT UK Takeover is on the same day as the UK New Japan show. Good timing there. It's also the same day as All Out but it's not like that really matters given the time it'll be on at.

twitter.com/thesuperjcast/status/1135520058220793857

twitter.com/thesuperjcast/status/1135520333996339200

twitter.com/thesuperjcast/status/1135520428162609153

lmao wwe rule

[Mafro]

Excellent

[KK]

If ticket sales end up being slow, apart from discounting, I wouldn't be surprised if they do what they did last year at the Royal Albert Hall during the England World Cup game and throw some names from either the main WWE roster on there or legends (like Shawn Michaels).

Odds on alternatives: a cage match.

[coldspice]

Just came here to post that

That's real good gooseberry fool.

[coldspice]

twitter.com/TIMEBOMB1105/status/1135549788647071744

EYES EMOJI

[Dangerblade]

twitter.com/TIMEBOMB1105/status/1135549788647071744

EYES EMOJI

I've been thinking all tournament that he's going to have a face off with the winner of the tournament on Wednesday