Just watch an old episode of Prime Time Wrestling. I don't have WWE Network but if I did that's what I would pick.
The latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the new 24/7 belt was actually an idea from the USA Network, who has been pressuring WWE to do something about the declining ratings in the third hour of RAW. We previously noted that WWE has been trying to add luster to the third hour in order to keep fans around, which is why the title was debuted to kick things off this past Monday. USA had been pushing Vince McMahon to fix the third hour as the 10-11 PM hour had been the highest rated on RAW (even for the three hour RAWs for a time) until recently. One of the moves was the Wild Card rule, which allows Smackdown talent to appear on RAW (which will also keep Smackdown from looking like a secondary show as they prepare to move it to FOX). USA Network has been sending “all kinds of ideas” to WWE, which were said to be “terrible”. McMahon knew he had to pick one of them so he went with the 24/7 title, which was described as the best of the bunch. While it can be defended at any time, the reason Mick Foley said that it will be for the third hour of RAW is specifically in the hopes that fans will tune in to see what happens with it.
The stand-alone Takeover will surely be more entertaining than Super Showdown, with no strings attached.
If it maintains the quality of the two shows they did there in 2018 I think its a safe bet Takeover will be worlds better. Taker/Goldberg is likely going to be awful Taker is too beat up and Goldberg won't look good in anything but a short match. I have zero interest in seeing yet another HHH/Orton snoozefest those guys wrestled dozens of times between 2004-2009 and they never really had amazing matches then. Reigns/Shane is just meh and I don't think anyone cares to see Shane McMahon treated as if he were a legit top tier wrestler especially in 2019. The Battle Royale will be a complete and utter mess.
I recently watched the Hart Of Gold blu ray. He was such a talented wrestler. Some incredible matches. He and Davey Boy were great against one another.
Thinking along the lines of some of his underrated work, I'd also recommend his matches with the 1-2-3 Kid, specifically King of the Ring '94 and another from Raw in August '94. Both excellent matches.
So did anyone catch the AEW PPV? I read the recaps and it sounded pretty good from what I read. Would just like to get someone's thoughts on it that actually saw it.
Rick Rude was fantastic. I know he didn't like having Bobby Heenan as a manager in the WWF since he felt Heenan took some of his heat away - that was when fans always chanted "weasel!" at Heenan no matter which of his wrestlers was having a match - but he still did a tremendous job of making fans hate him. And he was awesome in the ring. Great mix of wrestling and brawling, and he was phenomenal at selling and making his opponent look like a million bucks. Legend.
rude had a 4 star match one night....well at least i thought it was a match until i realized he was warming up with the turnbuckle
The Rhodes match was close to perfection: they told an emotional story. Dustin can still go! Main event was solid (Omega and Jericho) with a cool ending. Overall, a strong show. Great, hot crowd. I will keep an eye open for the next show for sure. Sorry, no time to go fully in details!
He has always been good in-ring only issue has been how WWE used him for the majority of his time in WWE.
Moxley/Ambrose/Goode really opening up on the WWE creative process on the latest Talk Is Jericho... maybe he burnt his WWE bridge on Saturday night, but for arguments sake... this podcast blew it up... never say never, but actually, why would he ever want to go back.
I haven't heard it yet but I did read some highlights for it and I have to agree with him. I disliked Dean in WWE because he had some stupid promos. I didn't realize he hated doing them. Looks like I will enjoy him more in AEW.
He's doing some stuff in NJPW as well, it looks like. Should be interesting. I did end up seeing the AEW show and it was pretty good overall, but definitely felt like their first show (not necessarily a bad thing). The one thing I didn't care for is that the Dustin/Cody match ended up being a bloodbath, which doesn't do it for me at all. A little blood isn't the end of the world, but when it gets to be too much it's just not my cup of tea. I really hope that this was the result of accidentally cutting too deep and not a sign that we should expect some heavy bloodshed from AEW...
I actually took the time to listen to the entire thing (a rarity for me). It made me like him more, and want to watch the WWE product even less.
Watching the stupid crap that the creative team has put The Revival through as "punishment" for wanting out of ... well, doing stupid crap ... makes me think they'll be doing a shoot interview just like Moxley's when their WWE time is up.
They qualify for the types of people who will do the shoot/podcast circuit when/if they are ever released. Typically it's your mid/lower card guys who are the ones to speak out about this type of stuff. Then you have your WWE-Lifer guys like Big Show, Kane, and The Miz who will always be associated with the company and generally not say anything controversial about it.
As I listened to the podcast I remembered the time Moxley was on the Stone Cold Podcast on the network and it stirred up some interesting thoughts... I remember thinking that maybe Moxley isn't as good a 'talker' as I thought he was. On the Stone Cold Podcast he come across as very awkward... almost disjointed... same thing when he was on Talking Smack. Now in retrospect he was probably just a guy who was trying to walk the line of being his authentic self, and by that I mean the 'character' that he wanted to present as an 'artist' and not the 'lunatic fringe' that he was being pigeon-holed in to. It was so refreshing to listen to him speak intelligently, coherently and passionately for an hour and a half with Jericho... when it was over, I wanted more. The other thing about the Stone Cold Podcast was Austin egging him on to break out of that creative ********... almost like 'son, trust me... I did it and became a mega-star and I see that in you... shatter that glass ceiling... I know you can do it". Moxley brought up an interesting point when it comes to all of these Attitude era guys blaming the talent for not taking chances and that if they are unhappy with creative then the blame is on the performers for not taking chances. Moxley stated around 2002 Vince created a 'creative' infrastructure and process around himself that has grown more and more rigid and unresponsive to talent to this day... so for guys like Austin and Foley to challenge today's talent to do what they did, it really was a totally different creative situation along with things like losing the Monday Night Wars withstanding. Tommy Dreamer also bought up an interesting point on the Busted Open radio show. As fans we can see how creative (Vince) in WWE has completely lost the plot... but numbers don't lie. Can Vince really look at his product as failing when a major TV network just gave him a billion dollar check to broadcast his product. The only thing that is gonna get Vince's attention is consistently low ratings and advertising dollars disappearing... not the complaints of a bunch of disillusioned wrestling fans who now can find solace in how AEW wants to reinvigorate the Professional Wrestling business. And I wouldn't put too much faith in things changing when Triple H takes over for Vince when and if the day comes... even in Triple H's words... the WWE is a "content provider", not a Professional Wrestling company. And Oh God... as a result of the podcast, I hope we don't have to suffer through Renee Young appearing in horrible skits where she has to bark like a dog and crap like that.
