Category: Wrestling Musings

Source: https://omny.fm/shows/talk-is-jericho/the-emancipation-of-jon-moxley

No time for anything worth a damn today due to a dentist appointment among other things, so here’s that one time Dean Jericho and Box Johnley talked about the terrible creative environment over at McWrestling. It doesn’t say anything new that has been touched on by everyone else in regards to the overall creative direction, but to hear those words from a guy who was one of their top stars (for whatever that’s worth these days) is validation to anyone who dared challenge the creative process and call it shit.

A genuinely good and enlightening listen that everyone who cares about quality storytelling in wrestling should take the time to check out.

So on last night’s RAW, WWE Hall Of Famer, Hardcore Legend, and legalized pervert Mick Foley unveiled a new championship: the 24/7 Championship. The idea is reminiscent of the old Hardcore championship from the Attitude days, where the title can change hands at any time or any place so long as there was a designated WWE official to administer the three-count.

Now, first off, the belt itself looks cheap. It’s another one of those “penny belts” like the main tag titles with a very basic, very simple center plate and almost no details on the side-plates. The only positive is that it’s not a broken-down, beat-up belt, so the prize is a little more worthwhile.

As for the revival of the 24/7 concept… I like the theory behind it. The Hardcore segments with Crash Holly trying to elude getting pinned in all sorts of wacky places were short, but provided a nice break from the “arena” bits. They were brief, they were harmless, they provided some genuinely fun moments, and gave the guys on the lower rungs of the card something to do.

If done well, I could see these being a fun thing to fill the three hours and maybe even provide some bits for the website if they’re so inclined. However, these things are best in short bursts – maybe one or two times a show – and like anything really, runs the risk of getting run into the ground before people start getting sick of it. Not only that, but these are only short burst things – they’re not going to fix the problems that have plagued WWE programming for years – namely the long runtimes and atrocious storytelling.

Yes, these’ll be fun bits for the folks watching it and might even bring in some strays for the short term, but it’s just a pothole to a road full of craters that need a reconstruction. Something new is needed…

Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/aew-tnt-announce-tv-deal-live-weekly-matches-begin-year-283816

So that’s it. TNT is back in the wrestling business, AEW has a TV deal of sorts, and Jamie Kellner is nowhere to be found. No real details on when the show will begin, what it will entail, and anything concrete, but give them credit. Four months in existence, they got a pretty sweet gig.

Now I don’t know what happens next, but hopefully, they will do well.

Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-announces-goldberg-vs-undertaker-saudi-arabia-283666

So, from what I’ve gathered, WWE has been doing whatever they could to get people to care about their Saudi shows aside from the somewhat controversial nature of the shows… you know, the stuff about women not being allowed to compete or that one time when WWE went ahead with their second Saudi show despite the murder of that one journalist.

The first time around, it was a fifty-man Royal Rumble event that was won by Straw the Braunyman. The second time around, Shawn Michaels wrestled with three old guys while Shane McMahon won a World Cup Tournament To Determine The Best In The World… fun fact: I have still yet to watch that show. And now, for the third go-around, dubbed the Super Showdown, Saudis can look forward to the dream match that was teased at a Royal Rumble years ago.

Bill Goldberg going one-on-one with the Undertaker… what’re the chances that the entrances last longer than the match itself? Also on tap for the show is Triple H going one-on-one with Randy Orton… again… as well as a FIFTY-MAN BATTLE ROYAL.

Oh yeah… I’m really excited for this thing…

Actually, no… no, I’m not.

WWE has two taped episodes of their weekly programming and have attempted to answer their recent rating woes by announcing MOAR TALKING SEGMENTS.

In the case of tomorrow’s edition of Monday Nitro, there will be an interview segment with ROMAN REIGNS AND THE MIZ, as well as a double contract signing between Becky Lynch, Baby Flair, and that other girl whose name I don’t remember; the one with the military background who plays dress-up for some reason no one on the television show has bothered to explain to me. Meanwhile, over at Smackdown, Kevin Owens invited pancake-tossing Kofi Kingston (your reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion if you’ll recall) to his talk show segment because sure, why not?

As for matches… well, how about another Baron Corbin match? A couple four-ways that means nothing? A nothing tag match between the two Joshi with the Brit girl against the other two girls that the one Brit girl used to manage, but stopped for reasons… actually, I wouldn’t mind any match with Kairi Sane or Asuka in it because they’re awesome. They should invent new Women’s Tag-Team championships and let ’em run with it for a good long while.

Wait… what’s that? WWE have tag champs for the ladies? And it’s a geek tag-team?

Oh, yeah. Those are some prestigious and important belts… much like the other tag belts held by MOAR geeks… and also another set held by… The Vintner and Daniel Bryan Danielson?

This company confounds me with its booking sometimes… but hey, Money In The Bank should be a fun show at least. Maybe… kinda… sorta…

When’s Double Or Nothing again?

Source: https://www.wwe.com/article/wwe-most-infamous-lost-match-has-been-found-bret-hart-tom-magee-wwe-network

So this is a match where Bret Hart wrestled a strongman named Tom Magee and somewhere along the way, the match was lost until it was found and now everyone wants to know about it because it’s a thing that happened. So, naturally, WWE Network is going to do a special about the match… maybe even show the match.

I expect this to do better numbers than RAW.

Those WWE folks need not worry about getting some heat because this week, we’re getting a whole bunch of week. We’re already hitting the high-teens to low-twenty degrees (celcius) this week, which gives way to a rather scorching summer in the coming months. Even in a work place that is normally cool, the heat is being felt and the A/C isn’t quite keeping up. So, try to keep cool this week, folks, because it’s a bit of a HEAT wave.

So, in other words, keep that Corbin fellow off my TV and we’ll be fine.