Wrasslin'

**Bhcforlife** · 04-05-2020, 10:15 PM

The Firefly Funhouse ‘match’ was amazing. I’ll have more thoughts tomorrow, lol.

**Bhcforlife** · 04-06-2020, 09:28 AM

WrestleMania was okay, I thought, really carried by the two cinematic "matches". There wasn't anything outside of those that really blew my mind. And obviously, YMMV on enjoyment of the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse match. I like when wrestling is campy and weird, and those fit the bill. The Firefly one in particular was just absolute insanity. Most of the rest was fine for what it was, but none of it really felt like WM - but that's totally understandable. How great must Matt Hardy feel today, knowing his creation back in TNA has led to this. Too bad WWE never committed to him in the crazy gimmick.

I don't like Charlotte but I thought the match between her and Rhea was one of the highlights. I don't know what purpose her going to NXT serves though. She's not a ratings draw so it's going to have minimal impact in their battle with AEW (especially right now) and doesn't need to be down there burying their upcoming women.

WWE desperately needs to get back to having actual matches for the titles. I get the Goldberg/Braun one...you can't do much with Goldberg, so spears and powerslams, okay, given the circumstances, I get it. The decision to put the title on Goldberg really backfired on them, and hopefully they've learned their lesson with that nonsense.

But the Brock/Drew match...I have no idea if the match would have been different if it were in front of a crowd (and Brock wasn't in a "get me back home" mood, per reports), but that was abysmal. These are two guys that can work, so it was a massive disappointment to see what we actually got. Two guys hitting their finishers over and over again in a 5 minute match is not entertaining, it's not fun, it's boring. I am fully aware of the challenges WWE had to just get this event to what it ended up being, but it's a total joke that was the main event.

**Bhcforlife** · 04-06-2020, 01:51 PM

Also, Last Man Standing matches have to be THE single most boring match type in all of wrestling. Every single one of them ends up being the same thing, one guy hits a couple of moves, the ref counts to 8, guy gets up, repeat, alternating, until the big spot that ends the match. This one even fucking started that way with Orton immediately hitting an RKO and the ref starting his count. Why we needed a 36 minute match of this in a match between two high quality competitors is beyond me, we should have gotten a better match given the competitors and build.

**nickh0801** · 04-07-2020, 09:41 PM

I agree with all of that.

Supposedly Rhea's work Visa expired. Not sure if that was the deciding factor on Charlotte getting the win or not. She really isn't a draw at all and more and more people are getting tired of seeing her with a title or getting a title shot. She has the same match everytime as well. She has to get all of her spots in every one of them and acts like it's the first time she's done the moves afterwards.

They wanted Oldberg to hang on to the title so they could have Reigns win it at Summerslam but Oldberg didn't want to work anymore dates. Mania was all he signed up through so they had no choice but to put it on Braun. Braun should have beat Lesnar 2 years ago for it. He just got over a feud with midcarder Sami and they expect him to be the Champ now? Nah. He's definitely just a placeholder until Reigns returns.

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**nickh0801** · 04-08-2020, 10:20 AM

Read a few articles breaking down the Firefly Funhouse "match" bit by bit and they are saying it was Cena's retirement match and he's done, hence the disappearing at the end. Others say that was just the nod to his comments about how he always stuck around in WWE where The Rock disappeared to Hollywood, which Cena is also doing currently. He has disappeared from WWE without a legit retirement. He just up and left the same as The Rock so that was what the ending was symbolizing.

I guess we will find out for sure if Cena shows back up on Smackdown soon or not.

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**Bhcforlife** · 04-08-2020, 10:39 AM

Didn't think about that, but it does make sense.

I don't know. I am not a huge Cena fan but I respect him and think he deserves more fanfare and a real build up to a retirement match. And he deserves to have that in front of a crowd.

I think we'll see him again, just sporadically at this point. Probably somewhere between the infrequent Rock appearances and semi frequent Taker appearances. Although, I do think that Boneyard match was potentially Taker's last match. It was good, given his age and ability at this point, that's probably the best thing we're going to see from him anymore. It's a good match to end his career on, and I say that as a lifelong fan of Taker, he's always been one of my two or three favorite wrestlers.

**nickh0801** · 04-08-2020, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Bhcforlife

Didn't think about that, but it does make sense.

I don't know. I am not a huge Cena fan but I respect him and think he deserves more fanfare and a real build up to a retirement match. And he deserves to have that in front of a crowd.

I think we'll see him again, just sporadically at this point. Probably somewhere between the infrequent Rock appearances and semi frequent Taker appearances. Although, I do think that Boneyard match was potentially Taker's last match. It was good, given his age and ability at this point, that's probably the best thing we're going to see from him anymore. It's a good match to end his career on, and I say that as a lifelong fan of Taker, he's always been one of my two or three favorite wrestlers.

I agree with Cena deserving a legit chance at retirement in front of a crowd. He will 100% go into their HOF where he can hear the "Thank you Cena!" "Cena Sucks!" chants, but it's not the same.

I can see Taker being finished, but also he looked better in that match than he has in years and even he said he feels better, so who knows. I'm pretty sure he is a traditional guy and tradition in wrestling is, or used to be, lose your first match, and your last.

I'd love to see him and Sting in a match like that where they won't have to work it live and it can edited. I'd have them both go out in a draw though and be done. That match should have happened years ago and it won't serve anything now other than filling the fantasy aspect of it actually happening, but I know Sting still wants it. Taker won't do it unless he can give it his all though. Maybe next Mania and done? Probably still wishful thinking/fantasy booking. Lol.

The way it ended, it looked like he was riding off into retirement, but that match showed he still has it and isn't done just yet. He has said multiple times he doesn't want to go out as a shell of himself so I can see that being his way out too.

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**Bhcforlife** · 04-09-2020, 07:49 AM

Good point about Sting having a match with Taker in that manner. I'd be okay with that! One way to have that match without it being awful which it probably would be in the ring, plus you can protect Sting's neck a little better. I think the reception to these matches, which has been overwhelmingly positive from what I have seen (other than maybe some wrestling purists - no idea what Cornette had to say lol) probably makes it likely we'll see them again even in a post-coronavirus world. So I'd say there is a chance!

I think AEW continues to be better than the WWE empty arena shows, but you can definitely see the cracks, it's not as good as it was (for me) before this started which is understandable. The Omega/Nakazawa stuff last night against Best Friends was way too Japan (a common critique of Omega) with all the nut shot stuff and baby oil. Shida/Baker was Britt's best match I have seen, but Shida could get a good match out of Kelly Kelly so no surprise there. The color was a nice touch although they slightly botched the enziguri (sp?) so it was kind of noticeable it was fake lol.

I don't get any value out of squash matches, AEW didn't really have them frequently before the 'rona, so the stuff with Archer and Brodie is just filler to me. Give them real opponents. I will say it is good to see AEW get some bigger guys. Not familiar at all with Archer but he has a cool look and is absolutely gigantic. Brodie's expanded moveset compared to WWE is nice but I just don't see him as a star, the McMahon vignettes are not helping, the ring attire is atrocious, and the gimmick doesn't work in the current environment. I guess we'll see when crowds return how they react to him, that can make a difference.

Cody/Spears was good, but I am often confused about the rules in AEW. Spears suplexed Cody onto a metal barrier from around ringside, then later in the match tossed him from the ring out through a table - shouldn't either one of those be a DQ in a standard singles match? I don't know. It doesn't ruin the match for me.

Chris Jericho should be on commentary every week right now. Best part of the show hands down. I had a really crap day yesterday, Jericho's commentary was the one thing to make me smile, lol.

**nickh0801** · 04-09-2020, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Bhcforlife

Good point about Sting having a match with Taker in that manner. I'd be okay with that! One way to have that match without it being awful which it probably would be in the ring, plus you can protect Sting's neck a little better. I think the reception to these matches, which has been overwhelmingly positive from what I have seen (other than maybe some wrestling purists - no idea what Cornette had to say lol) probably makes it likely we'll see them again even in a post-coronavirus world. So I'd say there is a chance!

I think AEW continues to be better than the WWE empty arena shows, but you can definitely see the cracks, it's not as good as it was (for me) before this started which is understandable. The Omega/Nakazawa stuff last night against Best Friends was way too Japan (a common critique of Omega) with all the nut shot stuff and baby oil. Shida/Baker was Britt's best match I have seen, but Shida could get a good match out of Kelly Kelly so no surprise there. The color was a nice touch although they slightly botched the enziguri (sp?) so it was kind of noticeable it was fake lol.

I don't get any value out of squash matches, AEW didn't really have them frequently before the 'rona, so the stuff with Archer and Brodie is just filler to me. Give them real opponents. I will say it is good to see AEW get some bigger guys. Not familiar at all with Archer but he has a cool look and is absolutely gigantic. Brodie's expanded moveset compared to WWE is nice but I just don't see him as a star, the McMahon vignettes are not helping, the ring attire is atrocious, and the gimmick doesn't work in the current environment. I guess we'll see when crowds return how they react to him, that can make a difference.

Cody/Spears was good, but I am often confused about the rules in AEW. Spears suplexed Cody onto a metal barrier from around ringside, then later in the match tossed him from the ring out through a table - shouldn't either one of those be a DQ in a standard singles match? I don't know. It doesn't ruin the match for me.

Chris Jericho should be on commentary every week right now. Best part of the show hands down. I had a really crap day yesterday, Jericho's commentary was the one thing to make me smile, lol.

Cornette absolutely hated the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse matches. Says it will most likely catch on and more and more will take place and further kill the business.

AEW is definitely putting on more entertaining shows, even with their flaws but you can tell they are having fun with it and know the circumstances they are dealing with in the process.

The main issues I had with the Cody match was he was dead on the floor through the table and barely made the 10 count to get back in the ring, to all of a sudden have monster energy to perform 2 CrossRhodes for the win and celebrate as if he hadn't gone through a table. That was a surprise from me because he knows better than to the zero to here spot that green guys always do

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**2bynight** · 04-09-2020, 04:15 PM

Does Cody have a permanent scar on his forehead now from a prior match? Did not see early AEW episodes to know what happened.

**Bhcforlife** · 04-09-2020, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by nickh0801

Cornette absolutely hated the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse matches. Says it will most likely catch on and more and more will take place and further kill the business.

AEW is definitely putting on more entertaining shows, even with their flaws but you can tell they are having fun with it and know the circumstances they are dealing with in the process.

The main issues I had with the Cody match was he was dead on the floor through the table and barely made the 10 count to get back in the ring, to all of a sudden have monster energy to perform 2 CrossRhodes for the win and celebrate as if he hadn't gone through a table. That was a surprise from me because he knows better than to the zero to here spot that green guys always do

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Lmao. Jim Cornette thinks everything is going to kill the business. Gotta evolve! What worked in the 80’s and 90’s isn’t going to work today.

Yeah, good point on that, it was weird to see him hulk up like that. He was also selling most of the match iirc. Weird flow but overall wasn’t bad. AEW Cody has been a lot better in the ring than WWE Cody in my opinion. I like Spears too and think he’s underutilized, especially compared to a few of the guys who do get more TV time.

**Bhcforlife** · 04-09-2020, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by 2bynight

Does Cody have a permanent scar on his forehead now from a prior match? Did not see early AEW episodes to know what happened.

He’s got a couple. One on the back of his head from a botched no protection chair shot to the head from Spears that busted him open. One on his forehead from the match against Y2J at Full Gear, did a suicide dive and landed bad. I was at that one.