Official WWE/ECW/WCW/TNA talk, or whatever v2

[droopydrew19]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I'm going today, worth the money?

For 45 bucks US you get professional pictures done that you can download. The autograph tables are cool to interact with the stars but they don’t have anything to sign other than blank pieces of paper. Definitely recommend buying a program or bringing photos of people you want signed.

[CaptainCrunch]

I would expect that Ozzy and the rest are still catching their breath and freaking out.


Once again NXT really delivers, everytime I watch these PPV's I'm reminded of ECW, not because of the blood and guts, but because of the energy, the audience interaction and the simple story lines. This was an exceptional card, and the debate is always going to be, who shows up tomorrow at the Rumble.


NXT Tag team Championship Match War Raiders Def Undisputed Era (C)


This was such a hot start to a PPV, usually you try to build energy in a card, but this started hot right away with a great War Raiders entrance. This match had an unbelievable pace to it, which is always surprising when you have wrestlers like the War Raiders involved. There were a lot of really cool spots in this match, with the War Raiders using O'reilly as a weapon against Strong. I was also blown away by the agility of Hanson who threw in a great cartwheel handspring move late in the match.



***** out of 5


Matt Riddle def Kassius Ohno - This was a grudge match, but it didn't feel like it. Riddle is a sick talent, but at the same time he's not good at story telling, he's more of a spot machine. Ohno on the other hand is very good at story telling, but not a super strong in ring performer. I loved the fact that Ohno stomped on Riddle's bare foot and then bit his toe to escape a move, gross, but a great bit of telling the story of a veteran. At the time, I thought the match was ok, but as the other matches happened, it reduced my mark of it because this was more of a match for a televised show instead of a PPV


*** out of 5


North American Championship Match Johnny Gargano def Ricochet (C).


Gargano has had a great year of storytelling this year as he's slowly gone either insane of Ciampa has completely broken him. This match was amazing because it matched a great story telling wrestler with a great ring technician high flyer in Ricochet. What was cool about this match was the whole point/counter point, where Ricochet threw everything at Gargano but Gargano would have an answer. The answer of whether Gargano was going bad was answered tonight as he pulled back the mats outside the ring and hit a brainbuster to the concrete floor, and once again the WWE camera crew was there to hear a sickening crunch. The one thing that makes NXT so strong is that these PPV's only have a few matches so they can really take their time and tell a great story


***** out of 5


Shayna Baszler (C) def Bianca Belair



I'm a big fan of Baszler who is an amazing heel and has a amazing move set that looks like it legitimately hurts. This was basically a murderer against an athlete, and for most of this match Baszler tortured Belair. There were quite a few cool spots using Clair's hair as the Champ used it to run Belair into the post. But the coolest use was Belair using it as a weapon and cutting Baszlers stomach. This match had an old school booking as the ref was knocked out and henchwoman Shaffir and Duke ran down to interfere, but man those two still look clumsy in everything they do. Neat spot to end it when Belair came off of the top rope and Baszler caught her in the clutch. They did a great job of making Belair look like a million bucks as she tried to fight out but eventually passed out.


**** out of 5


Tomasso Ciampo (C) def Aleister Black



This was a funny match because after the frantic pacing of other matches this was a more precise but slower paced match. Ciampo shows that he's just the ultimate bad guy in a company that's lacking villains. They made a story line around Black injuring his leg and not being able to use his kicks, which was a brilliant piece of booking. In the end we also had Ciampo also pull back the mats but the move back fired on him. In the end Ciampo murdered black with a 4 finishers. But this match made me wonder if Black is going to the main roster tomorrow, because NXT has a ton of contenders for the Championship belt




***** out of 5


In the end Ciampo went up the ramp laughing and pointing out that he won. When he got to the top of the ramp Gargano came out to join him and they both held up their belts with smirks on their faces.

[CaptainCrunch]

Spoiler!

[KelVarnsen]

I loved that ending. And well the whole card.

[SuperMatt18]

Was at the show tonight and overall a great card.

War Raiders Vs Undisputed Era, Gargano v Ricochet, and Ciampa v Black were all great matches. Think of the bunch the tag team match may have actually been my favourite though.

Also thought they made Belair look like a million dollars and think they should have put her over feel like crowd was ready to pop and make her an instant star if she would have hit the 450 to win. (Note: Holy crap was the hair whip loud in attendance)

Also wonder if tonight’s result signals a bit of an attitude change for Bro Matt Riddle, seemed to slowly become more aggressive violent as the march went on.

Overall a great show but a little bit disappointed to go to a takeover with no Dream or Adam Cole (Bay Bay!).

[CaptainCrunch]

Final Card with my predictions


WWE Universal Title Match
Finn Balor vs. Brock Lesnar (c)


I don't see Balor going over Brock after a no feud. Brock Lesnar retains, but Finn gets made


WWE Title Match
AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan (c)


This should be a great match, but Bryan is on fire and AJ is pushing for a lower intensity schedule. Take Bryan


RAW Women’s Title Match
Sasha Banks vs. Ronda Rousey (c)


Banks just isn't in the title picture, this should be a good match, but Banks is going to go for the Tag belts. I do expect Baszler and Duke and Shaffir to interfere and kick off the MMA vs WWE feud. Rousey retains



SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Becky Lynch vs. Asuka (c)


I don't think that winning the belt helps Becky all that much, the title stays with Asuka.


SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match
The Miz and Shane McMahon vs. Cesaro and Sheamus (c)


I love the tag team of Miz and Shane. But I expect Shane to turn on Miz and Cesaro and Seamus to retain.



30-Woman Royal Rumble Match
Carmella (at #30), Alexa Bliss, Lacey Evans, Bayley, Tamina Snuka, Lana, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Sarah Logan, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Ember Moon, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Mickie James, Nia Jax, Nikki Cross, Naomi, Zelina Vega, Charlotte Flair, TBA


I always love the Rumble matches for the surprise entrants. I expect Lita and Trish to jump in to this as they will probably be in a tag team tournament. I expect Becky to interject into this match. I tend to think that we're going to get Ember, or Becky or Alexa to win this.



30-Man Royal Rumble Match
R-Truth (at #30), Randy Orton, Titus O’Neil, Rey Mysterio, Mustafa Ali, John Cena, Andrade, Apollo Crews, Elias, Baron Corbin, Jinder Mahal, WWE Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, Jeff Hardy, TBA


John Cena is supposedly injured but it sounds like a work. I don't know who the special guests are, but I need the repo man to jump in. I'm going off of the board, and either Samoa Joe or Andrade or Drew win.


Kickoff Pre-show: WWE United States Title Match
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev (c)


Rusev, Nak is just not getting over in my mind



Kickoff Pre-show: Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Cruiserweight Title
Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami vs. Buddy Murphy (c)


I think that Itami takes this and Buddy who is awesome goes more to main roster

[Ozy_Flame]

Hey guys, had a great night at Takeover. Not much else can be said from what was provided by SuperMatt and Captain. I'll add to what was said:
- Opening match (non-televised) was Kairi Sane/Io Shirai vs. Jessamyn Duke and Shamina Shafir. Fun match, crowd was hot for Kairi.
- 2nd Opening Match: Street Profits vs. The Forgotten Sons. This match was way better than expected, great spots to the outside from both teams. Montez Ford is going to be a star. Jakson Ryker looked like a tank. Crowd started a bit quiet but heavily invested. Street Profits had horrible gear on, body singlets that wrapped around the neck and looked like candy canes. Ugh.

Crowd was insane for the Gargano/Ricochet match. That was just poetry in motion. I would say Ricochet was slightly more over, but the crowd went nuts when Johnny raised the title.

Riddle/Ohno . . . I actually skipped much of this match getting food, seems like it was an OK match. Crowd was sorta hot for Riddle, but loved booing Ohno. The toe-biting really set the arena off, I think Ohno has some serious heel potential, given his in-ring psychology and likeness to Jake Roberts during the height of his run.

Baszler vs. Blair was OK. I hate Blair as a character, so nothing much to say. Glad Baszler picked up the win.

Main Event: as Cap said, slower paced match that took more time to build. Last 10 minutes. Ciampa playing the ####### heel the whole time, crowd was on pretty good. I think people generally loved Black's effort in the match, but there was definitely a murmur that they knew he wasn't going to win this because of Gargano's win. Place went nuts when Ciampa exposed the concrete floor and took the bump.

After the match (possible non-televised): Velveteen Dream came up on stage and the crowd went nuts. Honestly I think he got the loudest reaction of the night. THere was a dust-up on the stage with Dream/Black/Ricochet/Cole/Gargano/Ciampa and the crowd was dying to have a six-man tag match but it didn't happen. Black, Ricochet and Dream came out and pumped up the crowd for about 10 more minutes. I think at least one of those guys is going to show up in the Rumble tonight, most likely Black IMO.

Also went to WWE Axxess and basically spent the entire afternoon watching NXT, NXT UK and Worlds Collide Tournament tapings. Ringside seats, I should be on the tapings in the elevated front row for the next few episodes haha. Great matches, although the tiny crowd didn't know how to handle the UK guys, it was kind of a shame.

So far through the weekend i have had way more run-ins and interactions with wrestlers than I ever thought possible:

- Most of the NXT guys were staying in the same hotel. This was just coincidence, but really cool to be around them quite regularly.
- Saw Walter/Barthel/Aichner the first night (as mentioned). Got a cheers out of Barthel.
- Taynara Conti kept bumping into us as they moved around the crowded bar.Definitely a stunning person in real life, loves her wine haha.
- Saw Robbie Brookside and Norman Smiley leaving the bar as we were going in
- Ran into Taynara Conti again the next morning in the hotel. Got a smile and a blush from her which was hilarious haha. I think she remembers who we were. Saw her again during brunch (she was with her girlfriends), then saw her again at the same bar last night. We basically just smile at each other now and I'm sure we'll run into her again.
- Chatted with Alexander Wolfe at a vegan thai restaurant (as mentioned). Super nice guy, very humble, was on his own. Saw him perform at the Axxess taping later and I think he saw us in the crowd and waved during his match.
- Saw JBL wandering aimlessly.
- Vic Joseph was pacing in front of Axxess on his phone. Dude is really tall.
- After Takeover we passed Dunne/Bate/Gibson/Drake/Flash Morgan Webster and I think Travis Banks just mulling about outside. Very dapper guys, all of them. Went into the pharmacy, for what I have no idea.
- Saw Dave Mastiff, Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and I think Wolfgang getting late-night Frozen yogurt. Dave Mastiff was building a huge cone, it was hilarious.
- Saw Drew Gulak and Tony Nese get in an Uber, then later at the bar later they were there drinking. Gulak actually has a bit of a beer gut (or he was distended, not sure which haha).
- Matt Riddle was hamming it up with fans all night at the bar last night, super chill guy who is loving interacting with fans. Was wearing his sandles and had the whole bro thing going, it was great.
- Barthel/Aichner were also there, getting a #### ton of female attention and ignoring most of it. Seemed to really enjoy talking to the WWE referees who were also there.
- Had a good chat with WWE referee D.A. Brewer. was elated we recognized him and went up to chat with him. Said refereeing was the easiest job in the world and is lucky to have it. I complained we didn't get a six-man tag match after Takeover went off the air. He said "just wait, something is coming".
- I was wearing my NJPW gear, and Shane Thorne spotted it and was trying to make out the logo/design. I went up to him and said it's NJPW, but I'm a fan of NOAH and I enjoyed his work there. He was surprised and happy to hear it, and we complimented him on his Axxess taping win (oops, spoiler haha).
- Was using the can, and the Forgotten Sons were in there. As we were all leaving I said they had a great match at Takeover and they thanked me and said it was the start of something great. Jakson Ryker was especially appreciative of the whole thing, I think he's glad that he wasn't forgotten haha.
- Angelo Dawkins was just hanging out on his own, dude is huge in real life.
- Taynara Conti and Vanessa Bourne were dressed to the nines. Made eye contact again (this is a thing haha), and we are pretty sure Shane Thorne was trying hook up with her. She has RBF in real life so I didn't want to go say hi, looked like she could kill us haha.
- Fist-bumped Pete Dunne getting coffee this morning, he was checking out of the hotel already. Not sure what that means for tonight though.
- Also during the Axxess tapings, Chelsea Green made her debut and did the "hot mess" gimmick. We were the only ones in the crowd who knew what was going on, she gave us a wave during her match because we were the only guys who knew who she was haha.

Fully expect to see more today. Basically no WWE main roster folks, but NXT wrestlers seemed to be pretty accessible so no need to get their autographs at Axxess.

Hoping to run into Mauro Ranallo before it's all done and talk about late 90's Stampede Wrestling! haha. . . . Will post as well tonight or tomorrow after the Rumble.

[Gundo]

I fully expect Lars Sullivan to show tonight in the Rumble and be a force. As mentioned above as well Black losing to Ciampa makes me think a main roster spot could happen as early as tonight as well.

[CaptainCrunch]

Thanks Ozzy, I love that you had that kind of interaction, its not like the old days when you didn't want to talk to wrestlers in the bar because they were just as likely to tell you to F off


(Thanks a lot Dynamite Kid and Davy Boy).


Looking forward to your thoughts on the Rumble and the Burger.

[CaptainCrunch]

Add on I'm not a fan of Blair, mainly because she just reminds me of another Naomi and her character kind of bores me. Think that Baszler is one of the best heels in the company, and her move set just looks devastating. When she curled up Blair's arm and then stomped it, I cringed. I think that out of all of the NXT wrestlers, Black and Baszler are the most ready to move up.


How were Duke and Shaffir in their opening match? I'm only seen a couple of their matches and they just don't look close to ready and actually seem really clumsy.

[Ozy_Flame]

I'm saving my gut and intestinal fortitude for that abomination and I'm looking forward to it!

[Ozy_Flame]

Honestly nothing special cap. They just started their slow cooking on NXT, Baszler is almost done stewing and should be good for the main dinner table. Miles ahead in terms of in-ring talent, she appears to be a good ring psychologist as well.

[CaptainCrunch]

I still really believe that we're going to see Shayna and Belair in the rumble tonight. It just seems like a natural way to promote those two, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sane show up as well.



Right now they have 25 woman in the rumble. I again wouldn't be surprised to see Carmella out and Becky in. But lets say they put two or three NXT woman and two old school Diva's.


I also found it funny that Toni Storm was front and center at Takeover last night.

[Ozy_Flame]

Looks like the Royal Rumble burger is already sold out. Not sure if that is an indictment on Chase Field, WWE fans or Americans in general ....

[Superflyer]

Just announced a 6 man tag during the Super bowl halftime show. Gargano, Cole and Ciampa against Dream, Black and Ricochet.

Interesting that they are going to do it during the half time show but I think I remember years ago a match between Mankind anf The Rock during halftime.

[CaptainCrunch]

What's with the audio work. the crowd sounds quiet.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

What's with the audio work. the crowd sounds quiet.

Microphone under the mat gave too much feedback on the stadium speakers, so they turned it off. Fans couldn't react to the sound of the slams and mat rumble. Guarantee it's not because we're not invested, although the first match isn't usually the hottest for the crowd.

[Gundo]

Shane is a goddamn legend !!

[CaptainCrunch]

Oh god, Not a fan of that booking decision.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Gundo

Shane is a goddamn legend !!

Ssp at 45 is crazy