*Official* Pro-Wrestling Thread II

[Agent TBY]

Ospreay's fine where he is, trending towards the upper midcard. At least until he can stop killing himself every time he has a match, anyway. As for White/ZSJ/Juice, let's just say long, rambling promos that most of their audience has a hard time giving a **** about is not the answer.

There just isn't anyone on the roster who can fill Omega's void for the considerable future. They spent years building him up and forming a connection with the fans. So instead of shoehorning a foreigner into a top spot because of the expansion, they really should be focusing on the overseas draws they already have: Okada, and to a lesser extent Naito and Ibushi. Their stateside shows suffer because they're practically non-canonical, glorified ROH cards, not because they don't have Stone Cold Steve Austin as their token white guy.

If they're still serious about the expansion, their biggest priority should be the non-wrestling side, anyway. Build a ********* service that isn't ****ing Google translated, hire some ****ing editors for their main site, and subtitle everything better and more quickly. Basically, make their existing content and their existing stars more accessible.

 

[Athlai]

To be clear I also wouldn't have Ospreay winning the belt yet either. But Ospreay starting feuds with Tana/Okada/Naito to get him ready for a year or so from now instead of White would've been better. Ospreay joining the bullet club as their new ace would have also been a pretty major heel turn moment. White joining flat a bit flat, the only big surprise was Gedo which could've happened with anyone.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

The biggest problem with the Gedo gaijin obsession since AJ is that they've built up no credible Japanese talent. Who was the last Japanese heavyweight they strapped the rocket to? Okada. That's crazy. They need someone new at the top, Tana is gonna die if they don't.

Oh and Ospreay is a bad heavyweight, a bad promo and an even worse person. He should never be near being the top gaijin.

 

[Agent TBY]

Yeah, they really need to start doing something with the EVIL/SANADA generation soon (pretty incredible that they're around Okada's age, lol). Or hell, if Takahashi comes back healthy, he has to be their guy.

 

[Athlai]

Okada will be the top guy for the next decade. He only 3-4 major supporting players.
Naito will be around for most of that, Tanahashi the next few years, White is apparently also one of those figures. Ibushi/Omega might be around too. Is there even another young heavyweight around thats close to ready?

SANADA is over I guess.

Disagree on Ospreay as a heavyweight, hes more than just flippy ****. He's also pretty over in Japan. Definitely a total ****wit and bad promo but it's hardly like Kenny or AJ were great promos. Heel gaijin just need to talk in English to get a rise out of the Japanese audience.

 

[Athlai]

Thats some 4D Chess by Vince there.

"How will they insert Charlotte into the match?"

Vince: lol Charlotte is in, Becky out. Get ****ed nerds.

 

[Mike5181]

I enjoy Jay White's in-ring work more than Will Ospreay, surprisingly. Obviously there's a difference in athletic ability, Will's close to a living breathing superhero. But his matches tend to look like elaborate dances where they barely touch each other. I don't remember ever being invested in one of his matches like White vs. Robinson for example.

It's like when Jeff Jarrett came back and everyone was raving about his punches looking legit compared to guys like Ambrose. Shouldn't that be the first thing you nail down, rather than all the flippy ****?

 

[Mike5181]

I find the Switchblade gimmick impossible to take seriously because it always just reminds me of this.

Tana tho

I think White would be better off just leaving behind the exaggerated anime villain voice he slips into occasionally. It didn't work when Omega did it, and it doesn't work when he does it either.

Other than that, he comes across quite well in promos, I think. Seems to have a good mind for it.

 

[harsh.ag]

Tuned into Raw after a while, and holy **** Ronda Rousey has the Freaks and Geeks theme as her intro

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

She used Bad Reputation in UFC as well I'm pretty sure.

 

[sledger]

This new era of Raw is a lot like the old one. I. E. ****

 

[Dan]

Surprised anyone who posts on here still watches it tbh. Brieflly skimming results to keep up with PPV build + YouTube highlights for interesting bits >>>>>

 

[sledger]

Yeah that's usually what I do, but honestly, even sitting through a 15 min highlight vid on YouTube of RAW these days is tough. Just can't do it.

Still watch the PPV highlights and then full matches if they look good. But damn the weekly TV has got too bad even for me.

 

[Mike5181]

Smackdown in 2016 was the only time I haven't skimmed through episodes or just looked at highlights on Youtube.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I think I've watched at most 5 WWE matches in the last 10-12 months, but it's not for me anymore so no problems here.

 

[andmark]

Yeah, I've not watched the WWE for a long time- even NXT. I don't even watch the likes of Cultaholic anymore. Come to think of it, other than glancing at wrestling news occasionally, I barely follow wrestling now other than my brother's stuff (which is unavoidable and worth it just to hear stories). I guess there's only so long you can wait and hope they push your favourite wrestler.

 

[Athlai]

I watch most WWE PPVs, all the big ones, all the NXT PPVs. Some youtube highlights that look interesting. The big NJPW shows too, and the G1 usually though sometimes just highlights.

Cultaholic podcast, E & C podcast and wreddit.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Cultaholic? smh.

 

[Athlai]

Maffew is hilarious on it and I generally like a podcast that can be critical without taking massive pains to **** on everything. Ross isn't quite my cup of tea though.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Did Jack do his bit about wanting to fight some people on Twitter for calling him out when he doubled down on his idiocy on the podcast, or was that somewhere else?