Board 8 > The All-Purpose Wrestling Topic Warrior Raiding Experience Machine: Part 482

(+) Yeah! (+)

Also, I know nothing about Kushida but he came out dressed up like Marty McFly so now I love him.
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Honestly now you know everything about KUSHIDA
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https://cdn3.whatculture.com/images/2019/01/b44f1f2bc243d544-600x338.gif
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Smackdown has been crap since 2011 after Edge left srs.

https://www.instagram.com/impactwrestling/p/Bw7rgkBHAFA/?igshid=33drkmyipclc
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So I just thought of the worst possible outcome regarding Becky Lynch at Money In The Bank which will likely piss off all the fans and the worst part is I can actually see WWE booking this.

- Becky faces Charlotte first for the Smackdown Women's championship. They go for 20-25 minutes before ending with Becky winning with the armbar to retain.

- A frustrated Charlotte beats down Becky after the match, injuring one of her limbs in the process.

- Lacey Evans comes out immediately afterwards for her match against Becky, and capitalises on the injuries caused by Charlotte to beat Becky and become the new Raw Women's champion.

- Then just as when you think Becky's night is over, out comes the winner of the women's money in the bank match (probably someone like Mandy Rose) who cashes in for a shot at Becky's SD women's title, and quickly rolls Becky up for the pinfall. They become the new Smackdown Women's champion, leaving Becky without a belt.

How would you all feel if this is what actually happens at MITB?
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That seems pretty fun to me. Would like a long Becky reign but being cashed in on twice is at leaat a new way to use the briefcase(s).
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

Okay this is the funniest take on the decline

https://twitter.com/certifiedjobber/status/1123692422230413314?s=21

Could you imagine turning on the show and all the characters you enjoyed seeing aren't there? Superstar Shakeup seems exciting, but if one week I turn on the Flash and have the cast of Supergirl I might change the channel.

Okay, but if I turned on Flash and the cast of Legends of Tomorrow was there, it would be an upgrade for the Flash!

I mean Legends already basically does a shakeup up every year.
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So they brought up a good point on Filthy 4 Daily. This is one of the best episodes, btw.

They don't have anyone actually earn anything anymore. For the Money in the Bank, they didn't have anyone actually earn a spot. They didn't do any qualifying matches. Bayley has done nothing but lose since WrestleMania and they gave her a shot. And then Sonya willingly giving up her shot. Dana Brooke gets a shot for no reason. There is no sense here at all.

Why have they given up even attempting to make anything feel like it's worth anything? There is no actual presentation for anything. It's just they throw names for people leaving during the Shake Up and then they throw names for people being in the MITB. Why have they just given up making anything seem important? It's not hard.
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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Why have they given up even attempting to make anything feel like it's worth anything? There is no actual presentation for anything

okay, i took an L on the "this is how it's been forever!" argument last week but i really think it applies here. my favourite is still you had robert roode vs. ricochet last week and the one who lost is in MitB and the one who won is nowhere. nothing means anything!
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Yeah them just announcing the participants instead of having qualifying matches was odd. That's part of the reason I dont have a sense of ANYONE CAN WIN because it's mostly jobbers in both matches

To be fair, it won't be a transition if they win! Because they job out whoever wins the Money in the Bank until they cash it in anyway!
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I think they're booting Renee out soon and are trying to be sneaky about it. Yall remember not-Tom Phillips right? Check out not-Renee on this weeks Smackdown during the Carmella and Ember segment

If Dean did choose to go to AEW, I could see that wrecking Renee's WWE career. That would be very Vince.
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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Dana Brooke gets a shot for no reason. There is no sense here at all.

Dana Brooke is the one that does make sense! Shes on a 2 match winning streak on Main Event. She beat Tamina and Ruby Riott

The problem is that they will never tell you this
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Not only did they not explain that, didn't the other girls and the announced act confused why Dana got a shot?

I might be remembering that wrong.
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@Lopen this weeks final Raw rating was a 1.56
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From the Observer, a report about Harper but also with some info about Braun and EC3

The update on Harper is that Vince McMahon, in writing, told him he wouldnt release him.

He was earmarked to work a program with Zayn after Mania, but the decision was made not to do it. One person close to the situation told us that he needs to get out because they made a call that they werent going to use him after Vince saw him in his return. Vince said that he didnt get him and complained that he couldnt even do a Southern accent (that was from them wanting him to do a Southern accent four years ago).

He was regularly pitching ideas when he was out with an injury and they turned down every pitch. He wasnt booked anywhere after being cleared but Fan Axxess, and then Vince McMahon out of the blue wanted to know why he wasnt in the Battle Royal, so thats why he was put in at the last minute. Apparently the end was a mess as Strowman forgot his spots, which is one of the reasons Strowman hasnt done much since winning.

He was booked to start the Zayn program the day after Mania, but was then told after Mania he wasnt needed for TV. So he went home, but then was called to comeback on Tuesday for a match with EC 3. He was basically used as the opponent to test out the EC 3 and Maverick pairing as wrestler/manager. The agents set up a bunch of manager spots in the match. Vince then watched it and said he hated the manager spots. The creative meeting the day of the draft when it was asked about which brand Harper would be on, Vince said how the guy cant even do a Southern accent, said the match with EC 3 was bad, so they didnt put him with either brand and thats when he asked for his release.

Braun dont tell me you had to be coached through your spots by SNL guys
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We dont know what the issue was, but Bryan was at TV on 4/30 in Columbus, OH and medically cleared and will be written back into the storylines, perhaps as soon as next week.

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Not that this wont change 25 times in the next year, but the reason they are putting Lynch vs. Flair at Money in the Bank is that they have a different match planned for next years Mania for Lynch. The only thing we know is that shes slotted to be the top woman on that show, and her opponent is not scheduled to be either Flair or Rousey at this point. If Rousey wants to return for that show, that match isnt out of the question but it is not the planned match.

Originally Lynch vs. Flair had been the lead idea for 2020 leading to this past years Mania and was part of the reason for the three-way. Another part was to try and use Mania to elevate two women, and not one, to true superstar status so each could carry a brand.

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a h o y

(it'll be like Nia or something but let me dream)
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Jakyl25 posted...

@Lopen this weeks final Raw rating was a 1.56

T-N-A! T-N-A!
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See that Harper stuff seems more petty to me than the Dash stuff (which is still petty AF). That's basically we won't release you and we also won't use you so you're stuck with us until we decide otherwise. Like the fuck are you supposed to do in that situation

I can't do anything with this Luke Harper guy because he can't even do a southern accent.

This is peak Vince McMahon.
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And poor Harper.

He pitched ideas. He was poised to be in a singles position and was pulled from it. You have a match that Vince hated for seemingly dumb reason. And then you don't get drafted because your boss says you can't do an accent properly.

So you ask to leave because you tried everything and you keep getting dumped on for frankly idiotic reasons and your boss says "No, fuck you. And you're staying for even longer."

Like what the hell.
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I also think Vince is maybe the only person who could dislike EC3 + Drake
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So...can I just watch NXT and not WWE at this point? I don't know if any of these stories are true, but my god, this sounds too stupid to not be true...that makes no fucking sense, but it makes ALL the sense in the world given Vince.
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I want Harper and all the guys who want a release to just go on John Oliver and talk about the contractor issue candidly.

That seems like a quick way to get released.
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If you're watching NXT and not WWE because WWE's product is garbage, you should've done that long ago.

If you're watching NXT and not WWE to "make a statement" consider the statement you're making first.
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Man Harper and Zayn would have been great for matches.
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Lopen posted...

If you're watching NXT and not WWE because WWE's product is garbage, you should've done that long ago.

If you're watching NXT and not WWE to "make a statement" consider the statement you're making first.

The first one...
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https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/exclusives/exclusive-lio-rush-gives-fightful-his-side-wwe-heat-rumors

Heres Lios side of the story on his heat that got him taken off TV
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My issue isnt with my on screen role. My issue is the fact that I havent been on meet & greets with Bobby, havent been getting paid for merchandise for us that has my catchphrases on them. (I) have been sent to live shows and TVs and forced to pay for my own rental for 5 days as well as hotel while not making enough money to do so.

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Yeah, I know Lio probably rubs some people the wrong way, but listening to his end of things makes sense. It's messed up. I guess at this point he doesn't really care if he gets released or not?

I honestly respect him for this. He took a stand and gave a response, which is a big no-no, but he understands that it's stupid that WWE would be upset at him if he spoke to a "dirt sheet" and is doing it anyway.

Remember when WWE used to punish people for releasing them, but now they punish them by forcing them to stay as long as they can?
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https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/bjvtnc/mark_henry_on_lio_rush_i_pulled_him_aside_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app

Mark Henrys take

I admit I am not hard enough to lie to Mark Henrys face like Lio
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I mean, it's about as small of a lie as you could ever make.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

That conversation happens to thousands of people a day when they know something is wrong.
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Strife2 posted...

So...can I just watch NXT and not WWE at this point?.

Isn't that the majority here by now
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Dave with a note on WWE Corporate ethics

There are a few things notable in these numbers. The first is that taxes make the gap between the two years seem closer than they really are in profit/loss. The companys net, before taxes, this year was a loss of $11,349,000, but the company received $2,953,000 from the government due to the losses when it came to taxes. And the losses were actually due to $12,828,000 in senior management compensation due to bonuses paid this quarter based on meeting performance levels in 2018. Last year the executive bonuses were $7,073,000.

Theres something totally legal but amazingly unsettling when you think about the tax implications in this first quarter, a company that paid nearly $13 million in bonuses and got a $3 million tax break to cover a percentage of losses both in the same quarter.

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So basically Vince and the gang have cooked the books so that they can create tax breaks for the company by giving themselves enough bonuses to tip the revenue from profit to loss
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Dave says that if ratings continue to drop through the NBA Playoffs at the same rate as they did last year, by the end of the Playoffs Raw should be at around 1.76M viewers

Yikes
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The question is posed Is this bad for AEW because WWE is killing the appetite for wrestling in general, or is this good for AEW because the people dumping WWE want an alternative?

Your thoughts
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I would say it would be bad if AEW had come in a boom period that was spiraling downward, as the departing fans there probably aren't coming back.

But people who were still watching wrestling at the beginning of the year or even last year are your more hardcore types, be it hardcore into wrestling or hardcore into new cable programming or whatever. They're actually going to notice an alternative and come back I think.

But I also think that it gives AEW a bit less slack than it'd normally have. Like if they don't knock it out of the park for their first few shows in terms of quality and showing that they're different than WWE, those people aren't going to have nearly as much patience as they would if WWE had continued to hold them.

So I think it's good but maybe not as good as you might think. People who are abandoning WWE now would likely abandon WWE if AEW were to make a splash anyway. I guess it gives you a slightly better initial hype pool to work with though, making it easier to make a splash.
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By the time Vince is finally out of decision making power, people will be so disgusted that the company will be beyond repair.

Get rid of Vince!
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RaidenGarai posted...

By the time Vince is finally out of decision making power, people will be so disgusted that the company will be beyond repair.

Get rid of Vince!

What next nostrodamus, will Brock end undertakers wrestlemania streak?
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Jakyl25 posted...

The question is posed Is this bad for AEW because WWE is killing the appetite for wrestling in general, or is this good for AEW because the people dumping WWE want an alternative?

Your thoughts

It's obviously somewhat concerning if AEW's TV deal hasn't been finalized yet and this ratings drop has TV execs tugging their collars.

Absent that issue, I'd say it's good. Most wrestling fans that still exist at all want to watch wrestling.
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What do you make of the rumor that AEW turned down a paying offer from Showtime because they didnt want to be locked behind a pay-TV paywall?
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Seems a plausible course of action from both sides never really thought of it beyond that
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Are we talking about how Brock is probably permanently in WWE now?
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Its the only financially viable path for him after UFC sold their PPV business over to ESPN+.

They have no more incentive to break the bank for anyone
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https://twitter.com/davemeltzerwon/status/1124022655747751936?s=21

Maybe Rambling Rabbit?
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