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

[Johnny1996]

Yesterday I went to the kitchen for a snack and walked past a family member watching Raw. I haven't watched anything wrestling and certainly not WWE in a pretty long time. When did they add the LED board to the ring apron?

 

[Gotbeefboy564]

I think before they changed the ring posts. I haven’t watched Raw shows except for ppvs on the network and the YouTube recaps.

 

[Darla Starch]

Yesterday I went to the kitchen for a snack and walked past a family member watching Raw. I haven't watched anything wrestling and certainly not WWE in a pretty long time. When did they add the LED board to the ring apron?

Earliest I recall the LED ring apron was WrestleMania 31.

 

[Johnny1996]

I think before they changed the ring posts. I haven’t watched Raw shows except for ppvs on the network and the YouTube recaps.

Earliest I recall the LED ring apron was WrestleMania 31.

Yep I definitely haven't watched in a long time.

Is it only on the side that faces the cameras or all four?

 

[Northstar]

Yep I definitely haven't watched in a long time.

I stopped watching for about 8 years and felt the same way when I started again.

Is it only on the side that faces the cameras or all four?

Just the one side, the other 3 are the normal fabric.

 

[Darla Starch]

CARD ROUNDUP!

Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome
1/4/2019
Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega(c) v.s Hiroshi Tanahashi

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Chris Jericho(c) v.s Tetsuya Naito

IWGP United States Championship
Cody Rhodes(c) v.s Juice Robinson

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
KUSHIDA(c) v.s Taiji Ishimori

NEVER Openweight Championship
Kota Ibushi(c) v.s Will Ospreay

RPW British Heavyweight Championship
Tomohiro Ishii(c) v.s Zack Sabre, Jr

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga/Tanga Loa) v.s Los Ingobernobles de Japon (EVIL/SANADA) v.s The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Suzuki-gun (El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru)(c) v.s Los Ingobernbles de Japon (BUSHI/Shingo Takagi) v.s Roppongi 3K (SHO/YOH)

Kazuchika Okada v.s Jay White

PRE-SHOW:
No New Japan Rumble , but a gauntlet to determine the #1 contenders for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Titles. Teams are:

• Togi Makabe/Toru Yano/Ryusuke Taguchi
• David Finlay/Jeff Cobb/Yuji Nagata (subbing for an injured Michael Elgin oh nooooo)
• CHAOS (Chucky T/Beretta/Hirooki Goto)
• Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki/Davey Boy Smith Jr/Lance Archer
• The Elite (Hangman Page/Marty Scrull/Yujiro Takahashi)

Thoughts: My boy Taichi got snubbed.
Depending on how the rumors of Kenny Omega and his unofficial crew leaving to start their own promotion are, results could be interesting.

NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool
1/12/2019
Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England

NXT UK Championship
Pete Dunne(c) v.s Joe Coffey

Winners become the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions
Mustache Mountain (Trent Seven/Tyler Bate) v.s Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson/James Drake)

NXT UK Womens Championship
Rhea Ripley(c) v.s Toni Storm

No DQ
Eddie Dennis v.s Dave Mastiff

NXT TakeOver: Phoenix
1/26/2019
Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona

NXT Championship
Tommaso Ciampa(c) v.s Aleister Black

NXT Womens Championship
Shayna Bazler(c) v.s Bianca Belair

Royal Rumble 2019
1/27/2019
Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona

WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar(c) v.s Braun Strowman

WWE Cruiserweight Championsip
Fatal Four Way
Buddy Murphy(c) v.s (winners of the following matches on next week's 205 Live: Kallisto/Lio Rush, Drew Gulak/Akira Tozawa. Fourth opponent will be decided on the Jan. 9th episode's contest between Cedric Alexander and Hideo Itami)

Men's Royal Rumble:
30 participants, confirmed entrants are-

• Drew McIntyre
• R-Truth (#30, won Mixed Match Challenge w/Carmella)

Women's Royal Rumble:
30 participants, currently the only confirmed entrant is Carmella, who enters at #30.

 

[Johnny1996]

Just the one side, the other 3 are the normal fabric.

I'm glad to hear that. I was getting ready to say that I'd miss the days of a guy reaching under the ring and pulling out who knows what. You could say the ring apron is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

WWE had their now annual Boxing Day show at Madison Square Garden last night, Vince made an appearance, Cena return to have a match v Corbin and Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax was the main event for the Women's title.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

This weeks Raw and Smackdown was taped over the weekend, Raw tonight has a steel cage match between Ziggler and McIntyre. Smackdown does feature something with Cena and Becky Lynch, you might have heard about it as it did make news!

 

[Northstar]

All Elite Wrestling has officially been announced with backing from Jacksonville Jaguar's owner Tony Khan. It will be interesting to see how they do, especially if they can get a good TV deal (early rumors suggest they're targeting SmackDown's current slot after it moves to Friday).

They also announced All-In 2 at the same time, which I'm guessing will be the official start date of the new promotion.

 

[Darla Starch]

Things just got interesting if everything pans out (then again, Global Force Wrestling got the same reaction from me and look how that turned out).

Omega/Tanahashi in a few days just got more interesting.

 

[Northstar]

Things just got interesting if everything pans out (then again, Global Force Wrestling got the same reaction from me and look how that turned out).

The difference is Impact is cursed no matter what name it's under.

Omega/Tanahashi in a few days just got more interesting.

I think it's made it a guarantee that this will be a very interesting year in pro wrestling as it seems like everything will be linked to AEW in some form or another. I also have have a feeling the landscape will look very different by the time the dust settles. I just hope that if they find the success they are looking for it doesn't come at the expense of Impact and RoH (granted the former could very well fold all on their own).

 

[Darla Starch]

"Mean" Gene Okerlund has passed away.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Hulk Hogan will return to Raw this coming week to pay tribute to Mean Gene...

 

[Darla Starch]

Spoiler: Wrestle Kingdom 13 results

Togi Makabe/Toru Yano/Ryusuke Taguchi win the pre-show gauntlet to become #1 contenders to the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, title shot likely coming tonight/tomorrow depending on timezones at New Years Dash, where New Japan's general storylines for the next year are laid out.

Main card:

• My least favorite flippyman Will Ospreay won the NEVER Openweight Championship for the first time, defeating Kota Ibushi.
• The Los Ingobernobles de Japon team of BUSHI and Shingo Takagi claimed the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles for the first time both as a team and individually, defeating the previous champions from Suzuki-Gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Roppongi 3K (SHO/YOH)
• Zack Sabre Jr. began his third reigh as RPW British Heavyweight Champion by defeating Tomohiro Ishii
• Pretty good night for LIJ as EVIL and SANADA began their second reigns as IWGP Tag Team Champions by being the Guerrilas of Destiny and The Young Bucks.
• Juice Robinson became the first two-time IWGP United States Champion by defeating Cody Rhodes.
• Taiji Ishimori def. KUSHIDA to begin his first reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
• So Jay White's gonna have a good year considering his win over Kazuchika Okada in the Tokyo Dome.
• Los Ingobernobles de Japon went 3/3 in their matches as their leader Tetsuya Naito began his third reign as IWGP Intercontinental Champion with a win over Chris Jericho.
• GO ACE as Hiroshi Tanahashi became the first person to successfully use their challenge certificate for winning the G1 Climax and defeated Kenny Omega to begin his eighth (and likely final) reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

Major events were announced:

• The New Beginning series of events is going cray-cray. Case in point:
  January 30th: New Beginning in USA, Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California
  February 1st: New Beginning in USA, Grady Cole Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
  February 2nd/3rd: New Beginning in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefectual Sports Center
  February 11th (likely main show of the series): New Beginning in Osaka, Edion Arena Osaka
  
  
• The 2019 G1 Climax will begin in the USA as the first night was announced as being from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
  
  
• London is getting in on the action with an event August 31st at the Copper Box Arena.
  
  
• New Years Dash 2020 might actually be a bigger thing as it too is in the Tokyo Dome the day after Wrestle Kingdom 14.

 

[Northstar]

I just finished WK13, overall a very good show. It will be interesting to see how the dominos fall now that it's over.

Hulk Hogan will return to Raw this coming week to pay tribute to Mean Gene...

Since it's Hogan, it will be more about him instead of Gene. I really wish he would just go away as he really has nothing left to offer the industry.

 

[BKGlover]

The 2019 G1 Climax will begin in the USA as the first night was announced as being from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

And I now have a reason to plan a vacation. The venue is OK, but I don't intend to miss this if I can help it.

 

[Darla Starch]

And I now have a reason to plan a vacation. The venue is OK, but I don't intend to miss this if I can help it.

If you do go for it, I hope you end up getting one of the nights Minoru Suzuki will wrestle if he's in the tournament.

 

[Northstar]

Currently there are 4 wrestlers either confirmed or rumored to be on the move. Kenny Omega and Kushida both announced their departure from NJPW while Fenix and Pentagon are rumored to be in talks with AEW. I'm guessing any bigger name wrestler who has a contract expiring soon will be looking at a nice payday.

On a related note, NJPW is rumored to be choosing RoH as their U.S. partner over AEW, which is kind of surprising.

Edit: Also, starting this week Impact will be simulcast on Twitch along with Pursuit.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

The Gene Okerlund tribute segment on Raw was done really well, they had a 10 bell salute, Hogan was good and showed another top class video package. 👍

 

[Darla Starch]

Currently there are 4 wrestlers either confirmed or rumored to be on the move. Kenny Omega and Kushida both announced their departure from NJPW while Fenix and Pentagon are rumored to be in talks with AEW. I'm guessing any bigger name wrestler who has a contract expiring soon will be looking at a nice payday.

On a related note, NJPW is rumored to be choosing RoH as their U.S. partner over AEW, which is kind of surprising.

Edit: Also, starting this week Impact will be simulcast on Twitch along with Pursuit.

Speaking of AEW, they've got a decent roster going, based purely off their Double or Nothing rally they're putting on today. Double or Nothing event itself is May 25th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

AEW roster as of when I'm typing this:

• CIMA
• Chris Jericho
• Christopher Daniels
• Cody (Rhodes)
• El Lindaman
• Frankie Kazarian
• Hangmam Page
• Joey Janela
• Matt Jackson
• MJF
• Nick Jackson
• PAC
• Scorpio Sky
• T-Hawk
• Brandi Rhodes
• Britt Baker
• Penelope Ford

 

[Northstar]

Speaking of AEW, they've got a decent roster going, based purely off their Double or Nothing rally they're putting on today. Double or Nothing event itself is May 25th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

AEW roster as of when I'm typing this:

• CIMA
• Chris Jericho
• Christopher Daniels
• Cody (Rhodes)
• El Lindaman
• Frankie Kazarian
• Hangmam Page
• Joey Janela
• Matt Jackson
• MJF
• Nick Jackson
• PAC
• Scorpio Sky
• T-Hawk
• Brandi Rhodes
• Britt Baker
• Penelope Ford

I was literally in the middle of posting a list when I got the quote notification, good thing I checked the notification before posting!

Billy Gunn and B.J. Whitmer have also been named as producers and I'm guessing Omega will be named once his NJPW contract officially ends (thought I heard it ends at the end of the month).

I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited, but at the same time I'm a tad worried they're underestimating the challenge that's ahead of them.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

WWE didn't take long to react to the Jericho/AEW news, he was replaced by Cesaro on the 'Then, Now, Forever' ident before Smackdown last night, some eagle-eyed fans spotted that he wasn't on it last night but was on it before Monday Night Raw.

Becky Lynch won the triple threat match last night, which was the main event and a really good match, and will now face Asuka for the title at Royal Rumble, one match that could also be made for the show is the Bar v Miz and Shane McMahon.

 

[Northstar]

Rhea Ripley is quickly becoming the female Ciampa when it comes to being dedicated to being a heel.



If you don't know, Toni's accounts were hacked and some pics were leaked. She has since deleted her social media accounts due to harassment.

Spoiler

Rhea and Toni are friends in real life, so I'd imagine she wouldn't have posted this without Toni's approval.

 

[Morgoth_666]

She was great at that press conference the picture is from. Probably the best I've heard from Toni on the mic in NXT UK too. Hope all the crap in the past few weeks doesn't cause Toni any internal problems. Apparently one of the "fans" harassing her got banned from PROGRESS events due to being dumb enough to troll with his real identity attached.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

WWE have opened a Performance Centre in the UK just outside London, NXT UK first ever Takeover show from the Winter Gardens in Blackpool is on later tonight at 7pm GMT/2pm Eastern.

Apparently they have plans to open more PC's across the World.

 

[Northstar]

So far this year is 2/2 when it comes to big shows delivering. NXT UK was very good and featured an appearance by Finn Balor who replaced Travis Banks in his match against Jordan Devlin.

Spoiler

Walter also debuted by staring down Pete Dunn after he defeated Joe Coffey.

It will be interesting to see what they do now as I could see them doing something in New York or doing another UK TakeOver a couple weeks before/after WM.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Fantastic show last night, didn't know a lot of the people performing beforehand but I was impressed with what I saw, Dunne v Coffey was superb, this Walter guy looks interesting...to say the least!

 

[Northstar]

Finn Balor has replaced Strowman in the title match. It should be much better as Lesnar seems to actually try when facing a smaller opponent.

They also debuted the Women's tag belts and they look rather good!

 

[GTPVenomZombie]

This arrived in the post