Topic: Wrestling?

Damian Sandow wins a slammy and is not even on the show anymore. I am really lost for words for stunts like that.

Half the winners weren't there to accept the awards--and they played that ridiculous Miss Universe stunt with Paige which was BS--is the Diva of the Year thing a pop culture joke every year? And then Paige and Nikki totally broke Kayfabe like 100%. The days when the Curtain Call got Triple H in huge trouble are over.

Despite missing Damian Sandow, I liked that #SuplexCity was hashtag of the year. Bork Lazer all the way!

And on a sidenote, the glorification of Roman Reigns continues with his beatdown offensive against the league of nations.

Hell of a four way tag match on NXT this week. It's really amazing just how good Gable is, and Jordan had an suplex spot near the end.

Former IWGP and TNA Champion AJ Styles, former IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows (aka former WWE star Luke Gallows) and Karl Anderson have all given notice to New Japan Pro Wrestling following Wrestle Kingdom 10 and have agreed to terms on deals with WWE according to multiple reports by Dave Meltzer and MLW Radio.

Probably for NXT?
Luke Gallows, although an experienced, solid worker and a good addition for the stable of CM Punk once, is no one WWE will push to the top. And Raw and Smackdown are filled with Jobbers already, so maybe he has something akin to a Rhyno or James Storm deal.
The same with Karl Anderson. Strange that he would agree to such a deal. Wasn´t he once the tag team partner of
A-Train aka Prince Albert aka Albert aka Lord Tensai aka Tensai? He should know better.^^
And for all the former TNA fans who have to probably change their pants by now it´s AJ Styles. That´s great, but he´s 38. Edge and Christian already had to retire around that age, and Styles wrestled similarly to them. Of course Kevin Owens is not a spring chicken either and has made it to the main show, but if Lightning strikes twice on the same spot?

Old_Man_Tai wrote:Former IWGP and TNA Champion AJ Styles, former IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows (aka former WWE star Luke Gallows) and Karl Anderson have all given notice to New Japan Pro Wrestling following Wrestle Kingdom 10 and have agreed to terms on deals with WWE according to multiple reports by Dave Meltzer and MLW Radio.

Assuming the reports are true, I've got some very mixed feelings on this. Always liked Anderson, but never really loved him, but pretty much always hated Gallows. Was my least favorite on the NJPW roster by far. But as a team (if they stay as a team in WWE), they'll likely fit much better in the WWE style than they did in Japan.

Styles, hate to see him leave NJPW because he was doing so damn amazing there. Easily some of the best matches of his career happened there over the last year or two, and another one just under a day ago at Wrestle Kingdom 10 against Nakamura. Instant classic, and anyone who hasn't seen it should go out of their way to as soon as it's up on Dailymotion or wherever. But, he's also getting to the latter end of his career, and I'm sure WWE will pay much better than NJPW did. So I get it. I just hope he's able to put on as good matches with WWE's roster as he has in ROH and NJPW, and even TNA. Not that I doubt his skill, cause I think he's easily one of the best wrestlers on the planet right now. But...well, you know.

As for Nakamura, his jump worries me. The WWE Network just became available in Japan, and with Hideo Itami out, it makes sense they'd want a high profile Japanese star people would really want to see. But I'm very worried they won't make the most of his talents. The guy has the charisma and in-ring ability to be a main event player anywhere, but a lot of times that doesn't matter very much at all in WWE. I'm scared his career in WWE is at best going to amount to some decent NXT matches, an initially impressive start on the main roster at some point, then a long drawn out period on the midcard either jobbing to much less talented people or winning matches of little-to-no value until he retires or gets released. I'm worried he won't be much better off in WWE than Yoshi Tatsu was, and he deserves SO much more than that. (And tbh, as much as I'd love Hideo Itami to take off and become a big star at some point once he's recovered from his injury, I'm not holding my breath on that either.)

Maybe I'm just paranoid about it all. I hope that's all it is, and I hope they prove me wrong. I'd love to see Nakamura in high profile, classic main event ppv matches for the world title, or something. Idk. I want to be optimistic, but I'm just finding it really, really hard.

As for Nakamura, his jump worries me. The WWE Network just became available in Japan, and with Hideo Itami out, it makes sense they'd want a high profile Japanese star people would really want to see.

From what I was checking the other day, Hideo's more or less healed up, and should be back within the next few months.

And I share your concern, but I'm not too worried. I had much the same concern when Kana came over, but they've done great with her (in NXT mind you, but still) so they CAN make it work, I think. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Also FUCK YEAH, CHRIS JERICHO IS BACK, BABY!

So, Royal Rumble match for the WWE title for the first time since 1992, so is it going to be Roman having 29 guys making him look strong or Cena matching both of Flair's major accomplishments?