Does Anyone Watch Wrestling? (WWE, AEW, TNA, NWA, etc)

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And now that it's confirmed, even more baffling decisions to it for me..
It potentially might do well just on basis of fufilling a niche if it'll be held in the east.

Elimination Chamber: Perth was well, in Perth. Western Australian as a state isn't as populated or visited by tourists (even though I think it's a far better City in Australia than Sydney). Which was always going to hold it back with less attendence than Super Showdown in 2018 (which average attendence isnt as high back then as it is now). If AEW gets to do a east show in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or the Gold Coast before WWE, it'll feel the niche for a larger Australian audience and do well on that fact alone.
 
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Speaking of the 2024 5Star GP:
Final standings for the block stage of the 2024 5Star GP:
RED STARS A:
  • Maika (12 pts)(first to go undefeated in the block stages)
  • Natsupoi (9 pts)
  • Hazuki (7 pts)
  • Konami (6 pts)
  • Manami (5 pts)
  • Ruaka (3 pts)
  • Yuna Mizumori (0 pts)

RED STARS B:
  • Mayu Iwatani (10 pts)
    (AZM, Tomoka Inaba, and Mei Seira are in an unbreakable 3-way tie at 8 points as their respective head to head matches ended in draws. As such, a play-in to determine the second place spot (and the other person to advance out the block) will be held on the 28th, with the first to win two matches getting the tiebreaker advantage)
  • Momo Watanabe (4 pts)
  • Saya Iida (4 pts) (lost tiebreaker to Momo)
  • Tam Nakano (0 pts) (which blew up my predicted Nakano/Watanabe picks to advance out the block stage)

BLUE STARS A:
  • Syuri (8 pts)
  • Starlight Kid (8 pts, lost tiebreaker)
  • Saori Anou (7 pts)
  • Anna Jay (6 pts)
  • Koguma (6 pts, lost tiebreaker)
  • Xena (4 pts)
  • Miyu Amasaki (3 pts)

BLUE STARS B:
  • Saya Kamitani (8 pts)
    (Suzu Suzuki and Hanan are in another unbreakable tie at 7 pts, match will be run back again on the 28th to determine the tiebreaker)
  • Risa Sera (6 pts)
  • Saki Kashima (6 pts, lost tiebreaker but did beat likely finalist Saya Kamitani which technically fills her spoiler role in these tournaments)
  • Thekla (4 pts)
  • Ranna Yagami (4 pts, lost tiebreaker but still a good showing for a rookie not initially booked for the 5Star at all)



Brackets for the next stage on the 28th:
  • Syuri v.s(winner of Suzu Suzuki v.s Hanan)
  • Saya Kamitani v.s Starlight Kid
  • Maika v.s (winner of AZM/Inaba/Seira play-in)
  • Mayu Iwatani v.s Natsupoi

Semi-finals and finals will be on the 31st, which is the last night of the tournament. Since my original pick for the finals went bust real fast (Tam Nakano def. Saya Kamitani), then 🤷‍♂️

Card that night so far:

  • Natsuko Tora (c) v.s Tam Nakano
    (World of Stardom Championship) (1st defense)
    TL;DR story: Kicking someone while they're down. Go winless, get banged up the entire time, get title shot by champion set out to destroy your entire everything
  • Rina (c) v.s Hina
    (Future of Stardom Championship) (11th defense)
    TL;DR story: Add another record to your already record-breaking reign (days held, youngest to win) by successfully defending the belt against your twin sister and taking the defense record from your older sister
  • 5Star GP semis
  • 5Star GP finals

    Since my bracket has been shot to hell, then either AZM or Maika def. Saya Kamitani to win the tournament this year.
    AZM because new booker not afraid to flip the table (see the two unbreakable ties in the block stage), Maika because revenge on being screwed over from the belt by Kamitani
 
It potentially might do well just on basis of fufilling a niche if it'll be held in the east.

Elimination Chamber: Perth was well, in Perth. Western Australian as a state isn't as populated or visited by tourists (even though I think it's a far better City in Australia than Sydney). Which was always going to hold it back with less attendence than Super Showdown in 2018 (which average attendence isnt as high back then as it is now). If AEW gets to do a east show in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or the Gold Coast before WWE, it'll feel the niche for a larger Australian audience and do well on that fact alone.
I'm still not sold that AEW has enough of a name-value here to fill Suncorp though. Sure, we can all say "well it was done in Wembley" but, AEW (and the wrestling scene as a whole) has more name value than in Australia.

On the other side of the coin, I'm quite certain the largest arena in the country (Sydney Superdome?) would probably be 18-19k once set up for wrestling? Anything more than that can realistically be labelled a success.
 
The Intercontinental title number one contenders tournament started on Raw last night, its four triple threat matches where the winners will progress to a fatal four way in two weeks, last night Jey Uso beat Kofi Kingston and Karrion Kross with Pete Dunne beating Miz and Xavier Woods to progress.

Braun Strowman v Bronson Reed ending up in backstage brawl which resulted in Reed hitting a Tsunami on Strowman on a car roof, McIntyre had a bit of a brawl with a strap, main event last nigh was Uncle Howdy's in-ring debut against Chad Gable which Howdy won with Sister Abigail after a ref bump and interference. The whole presentation of Howdy and the rest of the Wyatt SICKS is great and I'm fully on board with it.
 
Here is the card for WWE Bash In Berlin which takes place tomorrow.

Damien Priest & Rhea Ripley v Dominik Mysterio & Liv Morgan

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship.
The Unholy Union (c) v Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill

Strap Match.
CM Punk v Drew McIntyre

Undisputed WWE Championship.
Cody Rhodes (c) v Kevin Owens

World Heavyweight Championship.
Gunther (c) v Randy Orton

Only the five matches so far, keeping in line with the PLE's under Triple H lately, I think the World title match will main event because Gunther and Berlin.

Smackdown is also taking place in Berlin and is happening as I write this, its also a big WWE weekend with NXT No Mercy taking place on Sunday.
 
So Bash In Berlin was a good solid B-Show, I think everything went as expected with the only title change being the women's tag titles, the crowd was pretty insane as we have come to expect from the international shows lately.

On to Raw tonight and there will be a change in the commentary team, Joe Tessitore is joining from ESPN and will team with Wade Barrett on Raw for the next few months at least, Michael Cole will move to Smackdown teaming with Cory Graves, we know that when Raw will move to Netflix in January that the comms team will be Cole and McAfee so I don't know why they have changed the teams around now.
 
I must've been the only person disappointed the person Rhea was teasing to be Damians partner was Jey Uso.

Was the perfect chance to bring R-Truth into this... :lol:

In News; Odyssey Jones is taken of the active roster list, unsure why it is though
 
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Speaking of NXT No Mercy...

And unrelated but also technically related:
Final standings for the block stage of the 2024 5Star GP:
RED STARS A:
  • Maika (12 pts)(first to go undefeated in the block stages)
  • Natsupoi (9 pts)
  • Hazuki (7 pts)
  • Konami (6 pts)
  • Manami (5 pts)
  • Ruaka (3 pts)
  • Yuna Mizumori (0 pts)

RED STARS B:
  • Mayu Iwatani (10 pts)
    (AZM, Tomoka Inaba, and Mei Seira are in an unbreakable 3-way tie at 8 points as their respective head to head matches ended in draws. As such, a play-in to determine the second place spot (and the other person to advance out the block) will be held on the 28th, with the first to win two matches getting the tiebreaker advantage)
  • Momo Watanabe (4 pts)
  • Saya Iida (4 pts) (lost tiebreaker to Momo)
  • Tam Nakano (0 pts) (which blew up my predicted Nakano/Watanabe picks to advance out the block stage)

BLUE STARS A:
  • Syuri (8 pts)
  • Starlight Kid (8 pts, lost tiebreaker)
  • Saori Anou (7 pts)
  • Anna Jay (6 pts)
  • Koguma (6 pts, lost tiebreaker)
  • Xena (4 pts)
  • Miyu Amasaki (3 pts)

BLUE STARS B:
  • Saya Kamitani (8 pts)
    (Suzu Suzuki and Hanan are in another unbreakable tie at 7 pts, match will be run back again on the 28th to determine the tiebreaker)
  • Risa Sera (6 pts)
  • Saki Kashima (6 pts, lost tiebreaker but did beat likely finalist Saya Kamitani which technically fills her spoiler role in these tournaments)
  • Thekla (4 pts)
  • Ranna Yagami (4 pts, lost tiebreaker but still a good showing for a rookie not initially booked for the 5Star at all)

Brackets for the next stage on the 28th:
  • Syuri v.s(winner of Suzu Suzuki v.s Hanan)
  • Saya Kamitani v.s Starlight Kid
  • Maika v.s (winner of AZM/Inaba/Seira play-in)
  • Mayu Iwatani v.s Natsupoi

Finals ended up with Maika going over Saya Kamitani, stringing together a few statistical notes in doing so:
  • first woman to go undefeated in the tournament
  • second to go to the finals in back to back years
  • third to make the finals twice
The other three semi-finalists would've been historical regardless:
  • Mayu Iwatani as the first two-time winner
  • Hanan as the youngest to win (20 years and 20 days, which would've edged out Suzu Suzuki's 21 years and 14 days)
  • Saya Kamitani as the first to win the 5Star and Pro Wrestling Wave's Catch The Wave tournament in the same year
 
Braun Strowman and Ilja Dragunov both advanced to the IC title number one contenders match next week, Strowman replaced Bronson Reed who tested positive for Covid just a few hours before last nights show, I'll be very surprised if its anyone other than Jey Uso who will win that match, Strowman will probably get attacked by Bronson and Sheamus is feuding with Pete Dunne so it will be between Ilja and Jey and Jey should win.

If you thought Drew v Punk was done then think again, Drew launched another brutal attack on Punk and he tore the bracelet up and forced it in his mouth, Punk left in an ambulance and it will likely lead to a HIAC match at Bad Blood. Sami Zayn stepped up to challenge for Gunther's World title which I really like.

The Odyssey Jones things has really picked up in the last 24 hours, people initially thought it was a storyline with Xavier Woods somehow involved in him getting fired but now these domestic violence allegations have come out, he has never been charged or arrested.
 
So this thread has been a bit dead lately hench why I haven't been posting any previews much, but I thought I would post one for Smackdown tonight as its a pretty significant show.

Tonight's Smackdown will be the last on Fox, it moves to USA next week. it moved to Fox to much fanfare and hype five years ago and I think it has been a success overall but it has tailed off more recently, mainly thanks to the Blood line stuff, anyway here is what's advertised for tonight.

Cody Rhodes responds to Solo Sikoa's title challenge.
Bayley v Tiffany Stratton
Giovanni Vinci returns

I think it will be Michael Cole and Corey Graves on commentary duty after the recent change around.
 
I thought the Vinci thing was quite funny, I don't think it will do him any harm and apparently the whole thing went to plan and no-one was unhappy with it.

Cody will defend his Undisputed title against Solo in a steel cage match next week on the season premiere on USA, Kevin Owens will have a mystery tag partner for his match with Waller and Theory, I bet it will be a returning to the blue brand Randy Orton.
 
Pretty big Raw tonight.

Bret Hart appearance.
Ilja Dragunov v Jey Uso v Braun Strowman v Pete Dunne-fatal four way to determine the number one contender for the Intercontinental title.
WYATT SICKS v American Made-eight person street fight.
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill v The Unholy Union-women's tag title match.
Drew McIntyre appearance.
Dominik Mysterio v Dragon Lee
Zelina Vega, Lyra Valkryia & ???? v Pure Fusion Collective.

The first hour will be commercial free and the street fight will kick off the show, any guesses for why Bret Hart will be there??
 
The first hour will be commercial free and the street fight will kick off the show, any guesses for why Bret Hart will be there??


To receive the wrestling burn of the year :sly:
(That and I think the arena they're in is being demolished later in the year and wanted to do something there one more time)
 
Just a bit of merch news. WWE are now selling replicas of CM Punks bracelet on WWE.com

Be a funny novelty however the bracelet was a handmade gift made by a fan and she has come out and said she had no idea they were selling replicas and there is not even a mention of her being the original creator which does sound like a scummy move
 
Three matches made for Bad Blood following Raw last night:

Liv Morgan v Rhea Ripley for the women's world title.
Damian Priest v Finn Balor
CM Punk v Drew McIntyre in a hell in a cell match.

I don't think there was any surprise with those matches and they have all been coming.

Jey Uso won the fatal four way match and will now face Bron Breakker for the IC title, WYATT SICKS won a great chaotic opener against American Made in a street fight, Belair and Cargill had a successful title defense against Fyre and Dawn.

The big news coming after the show is that Raw will move back to two hours temporarily from October 7th until the Netflix move, I don't know how long Raw has been three hours but I'm sure its something like 11 or 12 years.
 
The big news coming after the show is that Raw will move back to two hours temporarily from October 7th until the Netflix move, I don't know how long Raw has been three hours but I'm sure its something like 11 or 12 years.
12 years and 2 months, or:
  • ~2.2 Monday Nitro runs
  • ~2.9 Confederate States of America
  • ~3.4 Roman Reigns most recent run as Universal Champion
  • ~1.6 Bruno Sammartino's first reign as WWE Champion
  • ~2.1 AEW existences
  • The current Future of Stardom Champion Rina was five and a half years old at the time of Raw going three hours
 
Its interesting to talk about Raw moving back to 2 Hours. I originally wouldve been all for it and celebrating but now under HHH booking Raw has been able to fill up those hours with actual content while the 2 Hour show Smackdown has serious problems managing it wrestlers (though might just be the fault of the Bloodline storyline).

Though if Netflix won't do commercials I guess it wont be much of a different. Unless the 1st Hour is commercial free, Raw really only airs for 2 Hours while the other Hour is commercials...
 
Big night on Smackdown, the first on USA.

Cody Rhodes v Solo Sikoa-Undisputed title steel cage match.
Andrade v Carmelo Hayes part five.
Kevin Owens & ??? v A-Town Down Under.

the steel cage match will open the show and the first 30 minutes will be commercial free.

Not only is Smackdown on a new channel but its also got a new logo and theme song.
 
Spiffy new graphics and pretty cool new look for the SmackDown! logo for the Season Premiere of SmackDown! tonight. Pretty cool!
 
Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns v Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu has been added to Bad Blood.

Cody had a successful title defense against Solo in the steel cage but the rest of the Bloodline got involved after and attacked Cody until Roman returned after a four week absence. Both Roman and Cody then cleaned house and after Solo laid down the challenge to Cody and Roman but Cody said no initially, and then at the end of the show we finally heard from Roman before Cody and then the Bloodline interrupted with the Bloodline attacking them both, the show ended with Roman and Cody signing the contract.

It looks like LA Knight v Andrade will be added to Bad Blood for the US title as Andrade beat Carmelo in their fifth match, and then after Knight said that Andrade is his next challenger.

Another interesting thing happened last night during one of the backstage segments with Nick Aldis the WYATT SICKS logo was visible in the backround.
 


Wild timeline

MCMG vs Axiom and Frazer.

Donald Trump Eating GIF by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert



Lucha Bros are supposedly signing with WWE too? Maybe this means the tag titles might actually become relevant again. Probably.
 
Chris Saban and Alex Shelley(?) coming to the WWE? I loved those dudes in TNA! MCMG held their own against the likes of Beer Money, Inc. and the Dudley Boys among others. Interesting news.

Part of me feels sorry for Kevin Owens' partner against A-Town Down Under... until Owens' real partner arrived. Or... maybe not sympathetic...
 
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