After watching RAW last night, I came up with an idea for a backstage sketch with CM Punk.
He’s walking around, bumping into people, and they either welcome him with open arms or tell him to go to hell. He then comes across a batch of NXT greenhorns, like the big blond doofus from Chase U, and the kid’s saying something along the lines of “I figure I can get into a limo match, get my face smashed into the windshield, blade big time, and then get a couple weeks off for medical leave!” Punk immediately goes ballistic on him, beats him silly, and throws him into a dumpster.
The other greenhorns mumble among themselves and say “Wow, he really is a backstage diva! Is one of us going to have to walk his dog?”
NJPW is teaming up with eight other promotions, including All Japan, NOAH, and Dragon Gate, to create a Japan-wide interpromotional alliance and industry group.
Seems like their main goal is to form a lobbying group to look out for wrestling’s interests in the Diet, but they also mention cross-promotional shows and creating a worker’s comp fund for injured wrestlers, which is A VERY good idea that I’d love to see in this country.
New Japan is launching a new Global Championship at Wrestle Kingdom to replace the US title - maybe they’ll end up making that an NWA-type thing where the champ has to defend it in all promotions.
Things of minor interest…
MJF and Max Caster both made appearances at Create-A-Pro (CAP) Wrestling Frostbite 2 last night (Thursday), with Caster wrestling (he won, but last month he actually ate a pin). Also wrestling was VSK (butler for the Trust Busters) who is one of the current CAP Tag Team Champions. Bear Bronson was also in the audience, to watch his girlfriend wrestle. All of them (and Kris Statlander) trained at Create-A-Pro, run by Bryan Myers and Pat Buck.
Also coming out of retirement for the show was ECW alum (and Taz’ cousin) Chris Chetti. As this was a free “TV” (YouTube) taping, I doubt he was getting paid anything more than an Applebee’s gift certificate (Applebee’s is just around the corner from the school). Nice to hear the tiny crowd cheering to him “You still got it” when obviously he did not still have it.
And Kenny Omega is out of AEW World’s End (diverticulitis). Was looking forward to seeing him live for the 2nd time. While I don’t see it happening, maybe I’ll get a late Christmas present and Joe will walk away champion.
I’m just wondering how all those egotistical rivals are going to work together and consent to have their top talent put over somebody else’s top talent. There were only a handful of WCW and ECW stars like Booker T and RVD who benefited from being bought out by WWE, and even they had to put over B-listers every once in a while.
I mean, playing well with others is NJPW’s strognest suit. Okada, Tanahashi, Naito, Ibushi, ZSJ, and others have all put over AEW/ROH/WWE talent in cross-promotional shows before, they’ve put on several joint shows with NOAH in recent years, and even all the way back at the first ever IWGP Championship match Antonio Inoki himself put over Hulk Hogan. Even the infamous Inoki vs. Ali fight was co-promoted by New Japan and WWWF.
After 60 years as a fan of professional wrestling I’m getting tired of it. The quality has reached a new low, it’s become extremely repetitive and boring. I’m thinking of giving it up. But before I go I want to see Randy Orton take the title from Roaming Rains. Not with the usual stupid storyline that’s been done to death where Randy gets constantly beat up and cheated out of wins until with one last messed up match he comes away with the belt. I want to see him dominate Ranes and his cousins. I want to see Reins and Jimmy and Solo get RKOed again and again until the title match finally occurs. Then during the match when they try to interfere Randy takes each one out easily. When finally it’s just Randy and Reigns in the ring Randy drops him with a TKO and a clean 3 count. No chance that’s what will happen which is why I’m getting tired of it.
You are probably getting tired for the same reason I keep needing to take breaks, after 50 years of fandom. The storylines and outcomes keep getting repeated over and over and over and so on. It’s also the reason I can’t watch most TV. There is no innovation in the storytelling, there is no more even pretending it is a real contest. Some superstars can elevate stories, just like some writers/actors can make the same jokes/dramas I’ve seen and heard 100 times before entertaining. It is repetitive and predictable. The same referee distractions from 50 years ago still work. It hasn’t evolved and now it is not only lazy, but overused. Goes for nearly every other aspect of the matches. I still watch, and I still enjoy it more than most new programming (which is more a commentary on the state of programming than on wrestling), but I don’t get hyped, even at the live shows, like I wish I could.
God yes. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve said wrestling could be improved if they stopped acting like it’s still the '30s and acknowledged that there’s a camera pointed at the ring even when the ref is distracted and ran the show as if it were an actual sport where there are consequences for breaking the rules. If the Dodgers were leading the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series, and suddenly in the 9th inning the starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions rushed the pitcher’s mound and beat up their pitcher while the umpire was inspecting the third base pad, they wouldn’t just play through.
that lists pretty much everything Corny says whats wrong with wrestling today
heres a wild scenario… ok say Vince cashes out and leaves permanently…how ever Time Warner drops aew/roh Tonys dad looks for a buyer for it
vince being Vince gets bored after a week and does two things … buys AEW and 2 installs Heyman to shape the place up making it harder-edged than WWE but not quite ECW… whats the first things they do?
Went to the Dynamite/Rampage taping in OKC. Best match of the night hands down was Vikingo vs The Black Bull (or something similar) for the AAA Mega Championship in the Rampage Main Event. Vikingo was as great as ever, and his opponent worked very agile for a big man.
Post cameras, Dark Order shit talked OKC, so hometown hero Jake Hager came in with the JAS remnants and shut them up to send the crowd home happy.
It’s almost January 4, which means it’s almost Wrestle Kingdom time! They’re cutting back to one night this year after the two-night shows of the last few years, and all but one match is for a title.
Here’s the card;
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: SANADA (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
IWGP Global Championship (inagural match): Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay
NJPW TV Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Tag Team Championships / Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, winners-take-all; Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi (IWGP) vs. Hikuleo & El Phantasmo (Strong)
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Clark Connors & Drilla Maloney (c) vs. TJ Perkins & Francisco Akira
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado
NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tama Tonga
Okada vs. Danielson is probably going to steal the show, and since this’ll be their second meetup, it’s probably going to set up a rubber match that’ll rival Okada/Omega III as the greatest match of all time. Tanahashi vs. ZSJ oughta be good, and I’m definitely rooting for Naito to win back the gold.