I did enjoy hearing Jesse’s moronic announcing again. Unlike McAfee, Jesse’s sounding moronic on purpose.
They’ve been given some decent pushes along the way.
To that point, they actually did an angle after the end of the shoe that was posted to Twitter - Owens came back out to beat down Cody, Cody got stretchered out, and Owens left with the Winged Eagle belt and subsequently got into a shove fight with Triple H backstage which resulted in Hunter reclaiming the belt.
I like that approach. Tell as much of the story as you can in the match itself, and save the rest for the internet instead of wasting TV time on it.
Is Punk wearing a hairpiece?
Rey Mysterio Sr. has died at 66.
Shinsuke Nakamura’s new Last Samurai gimmick is very scary.
It’s almost January, which means it’s Wrestle Kingdom season! This year is (sorta) back to being a two-night event; Night 1 will be Wrestle Kingdom proper, while Night 2 will be Wrestle Dynasty, a new NJPW/AEW/CMLL supercard along the lines of Forbidden Door.
Here’s the card;
Night 1
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Shota Umino
- IWGP Global Championship: David Finlay (c) vs. Yota Tsuji
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Douki (c) vs. El Desperado
- NEVER Openweight Championship / AEW International Championship, winner-take-all: Shingo Takagi (NEVER) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (AEW)
- NJPW Television Championship: Ren Narita (c) vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Ryohei Oiha vs. El Phantasmo
- Ladder match for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA (c) vs. Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita vs. TJ Perkins & Francesco Akira vs. Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney
- IWGP Women’s Championship: Maiyu Iwatani vs. AZM
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL; if Tanahashi-sama loses, he must retire
- New Japan Ranbo to determine the #1 contender for the world championship, all participants TBA
Night 2
- IWGP Tag Team Championship: Great O-Khan and partner TBA (c) vs. the Young Bucks
- ROH Tag Team Championship: Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara (c) vs. SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Winner of Takagi/Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii
- NJPW Strong Women’s Championship / RPW Undisputed British Women’s Championship, winner-take-all; Mercedes Mone (Strong) vs. Mina Shirakawa (RPW)
- David Finlay vs. Brody King
- Shota Umino vs. Claudio Castagnoli
- Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd
- Yota Tsuji vs. Jack Perry
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet
- Willow Nightingale vs. Persephone vs. Athena vs. Momo Watanabe; winner gets a title shot against the women’s champion of AEW, ROH, NJPW, or Stardom, their choice
- Lucha gauntlet match: Four NJPW and four CMLL wrestlers TBA
I’m not as familiar with the new generation of NJPW guys as I was with the Okada/Tanahashi/Nakamura generation of ten years ago, but both nights sound like a lot of fun, especially both ZSJ matches.
Ricochet’s got a new personality! He’s now an annoying nerd, and it seems to suit him. He wasn’t pulling off the wrestling version of Spider-Man so well, but this could work.
AEW’s streaming deal with HBO Max kicks in today. As of now, their weekly shows will all be streaming live there. They’ve also got up the PPVs from 2019 and some old Dynamites from that year, as well as the last few months worth of Dynamite/Rampage/Collision.
After a year and a half as just plain old Adam Copeland, the Rated-R Superstar formerly known as Edge finally has a new ring name for AEW…
…and it’s “Cope”.
It’s not a good name.
Yeah, “Cope” doesn’t sound that confident, or victorious.
I’ve been watching the CFP, and it’s interesting how Joe Tessitore can adapt between that and WWE commentary. He seems to understand how to portray somebody as “epic” whether it’s a storyline or real life. At the same time, he treats wrestlers like sports personalities rather than “sports entertainers.” VKM wanted wrestling to be fantasy, and wound up making it boorish and childlike. Tessitore makes it mainstream cool.
Then there’s Pat Mcafee. I watched the Peach Bowl on ESPN2 last night, where instead of Kirk Herbstreet calling the plays (thank god) I got Mcafee and his pals commenting from the sidelines. They talked like they were drinking beers at a sports bar, and they were hilarious. They had their own lingo and would break out into an occasional chant like “this is the SHIIIIIITE!” (kind of like the Geico Camel shouting “Hump DAYEEEEE!”) When he comes back to WWE, I’d love it if he brought them with him and crowded Michael Cole out of the commentary booth.
We all knew it was coming eventually.
Tiffany Stratton cashes in her Money in the Bank briefcase on Nia Jax! It’s Tiffy Time, baby!
Good for her! She’s an excellent wrestler, charismatic, extremely athletic. Her gimmick demonstrates a deep understanding of wrestling psychology. I hope WWE Creative doesn’t wreck her.
Today I learned that her very first professional match was televised: the November 16, 2021 episode of 205 Live.
OK, so we knew the Netflix debut was going to be promo heavy, but so far just one match in the first half.
But PENTA’s coming!!! CERO MIEDO!
New referee shirts.
New Women’s World Champion, Rhea Ripley.
John Cena has announced his entry into the Royal Rumble.
The boos for HH (not HHH) were music to my ears.
I missed that. The moment he came on, I left to go piss.
I muted him.
HH?
extra characters
Anyway, after the snoozefest tribal chief match until all the interference started the rest of the show didn’t look bad. That’s what curtain jerkers are for. The announce team was awful. Michael Cole is capable of much better but not when he’s saddled with that laughing hyena McAfee.