WWF/WWE/ECW/WCW

Watching the debut episode of AEW on TNT and so far I'm enjoying it if only because it's great to hear Jim Ross and Tony Shiavone on commentary together again. It brings back memories from when WCW was on TBS back in the day.

The production values on this show are MUCH better than I thought they'd be.

It's not WWE standards but it's a lot better than ECW or Impact/TNA had/have.

Forgot to DVR this, will have to wait until the encore this weekend.

Oh man, it was fantastic! As Toho said the production was much better than I expected it to be and the crowd was really into it. Nothing tarped off like WWE shows. The matches were pretty solid (there were a few botched moves but that is to be expected).

Since you haven't seen it yet Dallas I won't ruin it but I loved the end. Some great surprises!

Tony and Jim, yeah it brought back some memories. I even like how they would have Tony interview at ring side just like the old days.

The Wrap reports that AEW Dynamite drew 1.409 million viewers last night, easily beating NXT on USA which drew 891,000 viewers (which is down 11% from last week).
Dynamite also more than doubled NXT in the key 18-49 demographic, drawing 878,000 viewers to NXT’s 414,000. Dynamite finished #2 in the key 18-49 demo for the night, behind only the MLB Wild Card game (which did a 1.03).

Watching AEW on the TNT app right now. Indeed good to hear J.R. and Tony again, the two best voices from the Monday Night war (nothing against Heenan, Zbysko, or Lawler).

The show itself wasn't anything great but it DID feature more wrestling than stupid backstage crap and skits than normally appear on WWE programming.  And having the Ross/Schiavone broadcasting team definitely elevates the on-air product.  

We'll see where it goes from here.

It's a shame AEW is running head to head against NXT because I'd like to see what that show is all about too. But if I have to pick between one or the other I'm watching AEW because I'm so sick of WWE having a monopoly on the business and not even trying to put out a decent product.

Currently watching Smackdown's debut on Fox.

Outside of the Rock's appearance (which only reminded me of how great WWE programming used to be) this just seems like Smackdown on a different network. Meh.

All that build up with Kofi and Brock beats him in seconds. Way to kill months and months of building.

Oh, and there is only four matches booked for Hell In A Cell. Talk about throwaway PPV.

Yep, Rock reminded me that the people there today need work when it comes to cutting a promo. And where were all the promised legends? Sting? Never saw him or any other legend.

Then Braun draws the attention of someone in the first row. Someone I have never seen before and don't know who he is.

Finally, Brock wins in seconds (which I thought was kind of hilarious). Then ANOTHER guy I don't know and never heard of walks out to OMG LOOK WHO IT IS!! So I turned it off because I really don't give two craps about who Rey brought out. So I've watched my Smackdown for the year and done til Mania.

Watched Smackdown's debut on Fox myself. Thought overall it was okay, but didn't blow me away. The Owens/Shane match was really good IMO. I was really tired last night and ended up falling asleep for a moment and missed the Lesnar/Kofi match and woke up just in time to see that UFC guy standing in the ring having a stare down with Lesnar.

Leatherface wrote:

Watched Smackdown's debut on Fox myself.  Thought overall it was okay, but didn't blow me away.  The Owens/Shane match was really good IMO.  I was really tired last night and ended up falling asleep for a moment and missed the Lesnar/Kofi match and woke up just in time to see that UFC guy standing in the ring having a stare down with Lesnar.

That reminds me one time I was really tired while watching Raw on the DVR. I was FFing thru commercials and dozed off while it was going. When I woke up I was at the end of the program lol. No idea how long I was out.

WWE has done them no favors this night. Bray Wyatt's Fiend is the most over thing they have right now but while they have kept him strong, they've gone about it the wrong way. First of all, it was too damn early for him to have a title match. So that was bad enough, but they also had a to find a way to keep the title on Seth. So what where they to do?

Well it started with Seth going after him with a kendo stick which the Fiend no sold it perfectly. So far so good. Seth tried everything he could but the Fiend kept getting back up and knocking him down. The fiend even got out his oversized hammer and belted Seth in the gut. Rollins hit Wyatt with three superkicks and dropped him with a Curb Stomp on the mallet. Two springboard knees rocked Wyatt and another three Curb Stomps still couldn’t keep the Fiend down. Rollins hit the Pedigree and another Curb Stomp for a one count. Another several Curb Stomps didn’t phase Wyatt.
Wyatt was finally down and Rollins nailed him with a chair shot to the head for a one count. Rollins hit Wyatt with a ladder for a near fall. The BeastSlayer hit Wyatt, with a ladder on top of him, with a tool box. Rollins got a sledgehammer but the referee stopped him. Rollins hit the ladder on top of Wyatt with the hammer and the referee called for the bell. (used a Wrestle Zone transcript for most of that-too much typing )

This was of course how they handled Seth keeping the belt and making Wyatt look strong. Didn't work, the crowd booed very loudly. For damage control when the medics were working on the Fiend, Seth stood over him and got the mandable claw as Wyatt sprung back to life and proceeded with Sister Abigails on the floor (once without padding) and put in the madible claw while fake blood poured out of Seth's mouth.

The entire time the crowd was chanting "AE Dub! AE Dub!" Not a good sign.

DallasBlack wrote:

Not a good sign.

For WWE that is. Good for AEW.

More old school style wrestling, this time in a studio just like the old TBS days. FF to 3 minutes. Even a jobber squash around 34:30.

Flipping thru channels the other night and Smackdown was on.

My wife: "Oh look, I love Bayley's haircut! And she turned bad, that's cool!".

Me: "Wait, you know who Bayley is?"

Well, that only took less than four months. WWE officially announced today that Bruce Prichard has been named as the new Executive Director of Friday Night Smackdown. Under this role, he will be reporting directly to WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon. You can check out the full announcement below.

According to the announcement, Prichard is replacing former Smackdown Executive Director Eric Bischoff. Bischoff was previously announced in the role in late June. With the assignment, Prichard is set to oversee “creative development” for Smackdown on FOX. Prichard had already been working for the promotion after rejoining the company’s creative team earlier this year.

UPDATED: Fightful reports that Eric Bischoff is no longer with WWE in any capacity following the news today that Bruce Prichard will be replacing him as the Executive Director of Smackdown.

I always thought Bischoff was OK as the hateable heel manager type guy on camera but I never thought he had a great mind for wrestling. He's not in the same league as Paul Heyman, Jim Cornette or even Triple H.

Anyone see the sick piledriver Christopher Daniels took on the ramp at the opening of Dynamite? It looked absolutely brutal!

DallasBlack wrote:

Anyone see the sick piledriver Christopher Daniels took on the ramp at the opening of Dynamite? It looked absolutely brutal!

Yeah, I saw that! I also like how the "third" member was totally unprepared and head to wrestle in street clothes and tennis shoes.

Need to watch the latest NWA POWER, they have new episodes every Tuesday at 6:05 on YouTube

mikeinfla wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Anyone see the sick piledriver Christopher Daniels took on the ramp at the opening of Dynamite? It looked absolutely brutal!

Yeah, I saw that! I also like how the "third" member was totally unprepared and head to wrestle in street clothes and tennis shoes.

Need to watch the latest NWA POWER, they have new episodes every Tuesday at 6:05 on YouTube

I thought that Darby Allin vs Chris Jericho "street fight" match was great. Yeah I wished there was some blood just because it was after all a "street fight" but that Allin kid did some amazing aerial moves with both hands duct-taped behind his back. A plancha over the top rope like that? A moonsault from the top rope like that? Are you kidding me? Just getting to the top rope with no hands is a feat by itself.

Watching Raw. 

Meh. New names, new music, new commentators, same uninspired storylines.

tohostudios wrote:

Watching Raw. 

Meh. New names, new music, new commentators, same uninspired storylines.

Raw has been this way for years.

nevermore wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Watching Raw. 

Meh. New names, new music, new commentators, same uninspired storylines.

Raw has been this way for years.

And Smackdown is too, the Fox deal hasn't improved anything. I'm leaning toward just reading results and keeping my focus on NXT and AEW, both of which have been pretty darn good. They are the on the same time but luckily I can DVR two different shows at the same time.