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WWE/NXT/AEW/NJPW Thread

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Rollins could totally be HBK of today's era.

Hope he beats Lesnar
Rollins is awesome. He’s basically carried Raw as IC champ throughout 2018 since Lesnar is hardly hardly.

I’d be shocked if they didn’t take his momentum, run with with it, and make him champion.
 
Lynch winning was awesome, but the women’s Rumble mostly blew whereas the men’s Rumble was pretty damn good throughout.

I think they made the right call. After 7 hours, even a Becky Lynch victory wouldn’t have gotten a much bigger pop.

Well, the simple solution to that is to just book it better. The men's Rumble wasn't great either imo. There were some fun surprises, like Gargano and Dunne, but far too many jobbers and no legends or nostalgia acts outside of Jarrett (and zero in the women's match, strangely). I don't count Angle, as he's wrestled for WWE recently and wasn't really a surprise (although how quickly he was unceremoniously tossed was a bit of a surprise).
 
Well, the simple solution to that is to just book it better. The men's Rumble wasn't great either imo. There were some fun surprises, like Gargano and Dunne, but far too many jobbers and no legends or nostalgia acts outside of Jarrett (and zero in the women's match, strangely). I don't count Angle, as he's wrestled for WWE recently and wasn't really a surprise (although how quickly he was unceremoniously tossed was a bit of a surprise).

I thought the action in the men’s match was really good from start to finish. I’m glad they limited the nostalgia acts in both matches this year given how deep and talented the roster is.

Was hoping for Owens and Zayn to return, and Velveteen Dream to have a spot, but overall I liked who they had in it.

I couldn’t even watch the women’s match outside of a few spots until they got closer to the finish.
 
By the way, I thought it was pretty funny that probably the two biggest pops of the night (in the men's Rumble) were for Gargano and Black, two NXT guys. Shows how terribly WWE has booked the men on the main roster, because no one gave a fuck about most of them.
 
By the way, I thought it was pretty funny that probably the two biggest pops of the night were for Gargano and Black, two NXT guys. Shows how terribly WWE has booked the men on the main roster, because no one gave a fuck about most of them.
Don’t forget Pete Dunne breaking fingers
 
Don’t forget Pete Dunne breaking fingers

He didn't get a huge pop when he entered (I assume he's just less known than Gargano and Black, and unlike them he didn't put on a great match in front of largely the same crowd a night earlier). He was typically awesome, though, and definitely helped get the crowd back into the match, as it was lagging when he joined it. He's got a great, entertaining style that can work with just about anyone.
 
Just re-watched Gargano/Ricochet. That match is like pure, mainline heroine in wrestling form.
 
Just re-watched Gargano/Ricochet. That match is like pure, mainline heroine in wrestling form.

Was there. I’m a massive Gargano fan, second favorite athlete behind Baker by a smidge. My soul felt like it was being ripped from my body. It was amazing.

Women’s rumble should have closed to allow the Becky points at sign moment. So glad I didn’t go. 5 hours.
 
I liked the majority of the women's rumble match. Not sure what I saw that you missed or visa versa but I thought it was entertaining as hell.

I will say I cannot wait for another Bryan and AJ to move onto different workers. They do a deliberate and too slow of a pace for their match. I simply don't enjoy those two together.

Banks and Ronda also didn't have much chemistry, but it was sloppy and painful and a whole lotta fun to watch. I cannot imagine either of those two are feeling too good this morning.

Everything was pretty good, it was one of the few times I felt like the main show held a candle to Takeover the night before.
 
The pacing of the show was just brutal.

The women's rumble lasted legit 15 minutes longer than the men's.

Bryan/Styles didn't need to go 25 minutes if they were just going to do a telegraphed TV finish anyway. Could have chopped 10-12 minutes off that easily since they were doing that finish anyway.

They also didn't need to show so much ridiculous celebrating and post match nonsense after seemingly every match too. They hung on Miz/Shane's celebration and Ronda/Sasha's post match nonsense for at least five minutes too long in both cases.

It was a 5 hour show they easily could have done in 4 flat with just some basic timing improvements.
 
I liked the majority of the women's rumble match. Not sure what I saw that you missed or visa versa but I thought it was entertaining as hell.

I thought it went way too long, was poorly booked overall, lacked memorable spots, and didn't have enough surprises. The right woman won, and there were a few moments where it actually got interesting, but that's about all the good I can say about it. They also waited way, way too long for anyone to enter that the audience gave a shit about, which really killed the first half of the match. The fans were popping hard for Nikki Cross, but basically everyone else in the first half of the match got no reaction at all. Like, there was literally no reason for Xia Li to be in that. It was a waste of a spot that could have gone to someone that the fans actually know, like Toni Storm, or Shayna Baszler, who had just put on a match in front of the same people a night earlier and thus would have gotten some reaction.

For what it's worth, though, a lot of those complaints could be leveled at the men's Rumble as well, which was about half jobbers. The two biggest pops in the men's Rumble were Gargano and Black, which tells you all you need to know about the state of the main roster men's division.
 
Never even heard of AEW until this broke out, thanks for being petty WWE

 
You know, given that Johnny Gargano is from Cleveland, we really need to have Baker Mayfield show up and help him win a match at some point. Baker would be a great heel.
 
One of the top stars is leaving WWE after Mania. Won’t spoil it, but you can find it online.
 

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