2017 Wrestling Thread

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WWE Hall of Famer Mr. Fuji has passed away.

[BigLion10]

RIP to one of the greatest managers of all-time

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IT'S THE KEVIN OWENS SHOW!

What a Raw tonight (for the most part)!  Owens is the new Universal Champion, Triple H returns and turns on Seth Rollins and Stephanie McMahon to help Owens win.

I'm highly intrigued as to where this is leading. Maybe Triple H leading the NXT guys and gals that have been called up?

Smackdown better be fantastic this week if it wants to make it 5 weeks in a row over Raw.

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Smackdown was pretty good last night, but Raw was the overall better show this week.

The build for Smackdown's Basklash PPV on September 11th continued and there are now five matches confirmed for the event.


1) WWE World Championship Match: Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles

2. Six-Pack Challenge Match to crown the inaugural WWE Smackdown Women's Champion: Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs. Nikki Bella

3. Tournament Final Match to crown the inaugural WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions: American Alpha or The Usos vs. The Hype Bros or Rhyno and Heath Slater

4. Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt

5. WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler

[Chief_Osceola™]

[VHSCoach2]

Classic video, Chief.

While I have never broken down when meeting wrestlers, it's always a fun experience to meet them.  All of the ones I have met have always been so nice and grateful, especially earlier this year in Dallas.

[Chief_Osceola™]

Classic video, Chief.

While I have never broken down when meeting wrestlers, it's always a fun experience to meet them.  All of the ones I have met have always been so nice and grateful, especially earlier this year in Dallas.

It's one of my favorites.  A real classic.  I just read through this one and thought it was perfect for a WWE thread.  I think I stopped watching wrestling when the Hulk became a bad guy. 

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Alberto Del Rio has been released by WWE. He will either return to Lucha Underground or debut in TNA.

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Anyone watching Backlash tonight?

[BigLion10]

I plan on it

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Randy Orton has been pulled from his scheduled match with Bray Wyatt tonight due to failing WWE's concussion protocol. No word yet on who will replace Orton in the match.

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I enjoyed Backlash a lot! Very enjoyable from top to bottom (except for Kane going over Bray Wyatt.....).

[BigLion10]

Was very happy to see AJ Styles beat Dean Ambrose for the title

[Longfellow]

I was a big AJ Styles fan when he was on TNA, before they ran that promotion into the ground. Glad to hear he's a champion in the WWE. Which title did he win?

[VHSCoach2]

I was a big AJ Styles fan when he was on TNA, before they ran that promotion into the ground. Glad to hear he's a champion in the WWE. Which title did he win?

He won the WWE World Championship, the title that is on the Smackdown brand.

[Longfellow]

Nice. I always wanted him to go to the WWE. I may have to start watching again

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I only saw Raw from 8:15 to the end of the show last night. It was refreshing to only have to sit through two hours of it rather than the full three.

The show was still rather dull, though. I mean, they already had Bayley eat a pin? Sasha Banks should have pinned Dana Brooke...

And they had Enzo Amore lose to Epico? Really?

At least we get Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho at Clash of Champions. That should be a great match!

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TJ Perkins defeated Gran Metalik on the finale of the Cruiserweight Classic last night to become the WWE Cruiserweight Champion.  The cruiserweights will debut on Raw this coming Monday night.

[BigLion10]

Smack down was good Tuesday a lot of action. I don't like how Cena can just show up for the first time since summer slam basically and get a title shot though

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Two days until the Smackdown house show in Little Rock! I'm pumped!

[HorseFeathers]

Smack down was good Tuesday a lot of action. I don't like how Cena can just show up for the first time since summer slam basically and get a title shot though

Name recognition.....Even the folks like me that don't watch this, know who Cena is....

[BigLion10]

I never liked that punk

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The Smackdown house show was a lot of fun tonight!

Monday Night Raw will be coming to North Little Rock on Monday, January 16th, so get your tickets when they go on sale!

[VHSCoach2]

Raw was alright last night.  Seth Rollins vs. Rusev, Sasha Banks and Bayley vs. Charlotte and Dana Brooke, Cesaro vs. Sheamus, Rich Swann vs. Gran Metalik vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Brian Kendrick, and Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns were pretty good.

Not sure why they had Reigns go over Owens in the main event, though. It is my personal belief that the main champion should never lose on the weekly television shows, unless it is to build up the next challenger. Well, Reigns isn't the next challenger so it was pointless.

I have a feeling the two announced matches for Smackdown tonight (John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose and The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship) will be leaps and bounds better than all of the Raw matches, though.

Anyway, here is the final card for this Sunday's Raw PPV, Clash of Champions:

Preshow: Alicia Fox vs. Nia Jax

1. Match 7 in the Best-of-7 Series: Cesaro vs. Sheamus

2. Chris Jericho vs. Sami Zayn

3. WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: T.J. Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick

4. WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson

5. WWE Raw Women's Championship Triple Threat Match: Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

6. WWE United States Championship Match: Rusev vs. Roman Reigns

7. WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

[chaoslord]

The Smackdown house show was a lot of fun tonight!

Monday Night Raw will be coming to North Little Rock on Monday, January 16th, so get your tickets when they go on sale!

Seconding this, had a blast. Glad to see AJ. I'm very surprised Raw is coming. NLR has always been a smackdown town as far as I can remember. Pretty excited for that.

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Smackdown was once again the better show this week from top to bottom.

Fun fact: Dean Ambrose pinning John Cena last night was Cena's first clean pin fall or submission loss on Raw or Smackdown in almost SEVEN YEARS. The last time Cena lost clean on either show was on Raw on October 19, 2009 in a match against Triple H.

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Clash of Champions was very good on Sunday, but Raw was, once again, a drag to get through last night.

It seemed as though the writers had the mindset of, "Well, we're going against Monday Night Football AND the Presidential Debate tonight...might as well make this a throwaway show."

And they did just that.

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Sasha Banks became a two-time WWE Raw Women's Champion by defeating Charlotte for the title last night.

Rumors now that these two women will clash in the first-ever women's H-I-A-C Match at the pay-per-view of the same name on October 30th.

[J.D.]

Sasha Banks became a two-time WWE Raw Women's Champion by defeating Charlotte for the title last night.

Rumors now that these two women will clash in the first-ever women's H-I-A-C Match at the pay-per-view of the same name on October 30th.

Could be the actual Main Event of the PPV as well.  Blows my mind.

[VHSCoach2]

Could be the actual Main Event of the PPV as well.  Blows my mind.

I mean, it deserves to main event.  It's the only one of the three Cell matches that has been going on for the majority of the year.

Back in the day, these Cell matches were used to blow off a feud such as the one Sasha and Charlotte are having.  In my opinion, neither Roman Reigns vs. RUsev nor Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins should be in the Cell, but it is what it is these days.

[J.D.]

I mean, it deserves to main event.  It's the only one of the three Cell matches that has been going on for the majority of the year.

Back in the day, these Cell matches were used to blow off a feud such as the one Sasha and Charlotte are having.  In my opinion, neither Roman Reigns vs. RUsev nor Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins should be in the Cell, but it is what it is these days.

My statement above was directed more to the approach of how far women's wrestling has come since debut of Charlotte, Sasha and Becky.  While Becky Lynch is doing the best she can with what she has on Smackdown, Charlotte and Sasha Banks have completely transformed our views on what used to be a dumpster fire of a 'divas' division. 

With the addition of Bayley, one can only hope for a Sasha/Bayley III at this year's Wrestlemania.

The Raw main event scene is wierd at the moment for me.  I love Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. I also think Jericho has done a fantastic job lately with his position as well, he continues to change my mind on why he should be considered as one of the greatest of all time in the business. 

It just feels like something is missing, doesn't it?

[VHSCoach2]

My statement above was directed more to the approach of how far women's wrestling has come since debut of Charlotte, Sasha and Becky.  While Becky Lynch is doing the best she can with what she has on Smackdown, Charlotte and Sasha Banks have completely transformed our views on what used to be a dumpster fire of a 'divas' division. 

With the addition of Bayley, one can only hope for a Sasha/Bayley III at this year's Wrestlemania.

The Raw main event scene is wierd at the moment for me.  I love Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. I also think Jericho has done a fantastic job lately with his position as well, he continues to change my mind on why he should be considered as one of the greatest of all time in the business. 

It just feels like something is missing, doesn't it?

I actually prefer Smackdown's Women's Division over Raw's.  Actually, I prefer everything about Smackdown over Raw, but that's for another discussion.

With Smackdown's women, they just go out there and wrestle. It seems like the writers for Smackdown don't care about having their women go out and say, "This is what I am doing to help the 'Women's Revolution'" or "Look at me, I'm a proper women's wrestler who deserves what she has gotten." They just go out there and prove it every Tuesday night. Also, it helps that there are two distinct, different women's feuds going on at the Blue Brand right now. You have the consensus favorite in Becky Lynch, as the Smackdown Women's Champion, facing the young and hungry number one contender in Alexa Bliss, who doesn't take crap from anybody (fans, ring announcer, referee, opponent, etc.) and is proving to be a force to be reckoned with. In the other feud, you have the ring veteran in Nikki Bella trying to prove that she can still hang with the young crowd, most notably Carmella, while Carmella is ready to send Nikki out to pasture like Old Yeller. We even see Natalya and Naomi every week in some form, and we were seeing Eva Marie every week before she was suspended.

Over on Raw, we have Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks, which has been a great feud and provided some great matches, but that's all we have. Bayley is facing local competitors every week and then getting beaten down by Dana Brooke, so I guess that it Raw's secondary feud, but it's not as compelling as Nikki/Carmella on SD (shocking, since Bayley and Dana are better workers than Nikki and Carmella), and then the rest of the Raw's Women's Division is very rarely seen.

[chaoslord]

After heck in a Cell, I think I am done with Raw for now.

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https://twitter.com/HistoryInPics/status/795332523882610690

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Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Texas:  CLICK HERE

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Big Survivor Series weekend this weekend.

Personally, I hope all of Smackdown's teams beat Raw's teams.

Also, NXT TakeOver: Toronto on Saturday is sure to be a great show.

[bleudog]

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/11/16/big-van-vader-heart-failure

[bleudog]

http://wrestlingnews.co/superfly-jimmy-snuka-in-poor-health-with-less-than-6-months-to-live-not-competent-to-stand-trial/

[J.D.]

Big Survivor Series weekend this weekend.

Personally, I hope all of Smackdown's teams beat Raw's teams.

Also, NXT TakeOver: Toronto on Saturday is sure to be a great show.

Did you enjoy TLC? 

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Did you enjoy TLC?

Very much so.  It was a good show.

[J.D.]

Very much so.  It was a good show.

Here's to hoping there are bigger things in store for Wyatt/Orton. 

Glad to see Bliss win as well.

I just wish I could watch a Styles/HBK match just once.  Styles might be the most phenomenal (pun INtended) wrestlers I've ever seen.

[VHSCoach2]

Here's to hoping there are bigger things in store for Wyatt/Orton. 

Glad to see Bliss win as well.

I just wish I could watch a Styles/HBK match just once.  Styles might be the most phenomenal (pun INtended) wrestlers I've ever seen.

Agreed on all accounts.

I do like Becky Lynch, though. Her title reign had run its course, though. Hopefully Alexa Bliss gets a long run, but something tells me Becky wins it back soon and defends against one of the other heels at WrestleMania.

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Hopefully we get a good go-home Raw for Roadblock: End of the Line tonight.

Raw has been better lately, but it sure does feel like a chore to get through all three hours.  I still enjoy Smackdown much more.

If I had to rank the 5 WWE shows in order of enjoyment, it'd be this for me:

1. Smackdown
2. NXT
3. 205 Live
4. Raw
5. Main Event

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Roadblock: End of the Line was... well, it was something, I guess.

Match of the night was New Day vs. Cesaro and Sheamus.  After that, I couldn't get invested in anything else on the card, including the Iron Woman Match between Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair.

Not a good way to end the 2016 PPV calendar for WWE.  Let's hope they can rebound from this and build up the Raw matches for the Royal Rumble better.

[J.D.]

Roadblock: End of the Line was... well, it was something, I guess.

Match of the night was New Day vs. Cesaro and Sheamus.  After that, I couldn't get invested in anything else on the card, including the Iron Woman Match between Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair.

Not a good way to end the 2016 PPV calendar for WWE.  Let's hope they can rebound from this and build up the Raw matches for the Royal Rumble better.

The best thing to come out of this PPV was the fact that WWE now has 6 weeks to build for the Royal Rumble.  (RAW in Little Rock will be the go home show.)

A PPV every two weeks seems quite tiresome for me.  Like a couple of things here and there grab my attention, like AJ Styles for example, but outside of that I do my best to try an find the positives from so many gosh darn PPV's.

Now I might sound like a scrooge saying that, as there really are a lot of undervalued matches that come from the shows, it just makes it hard to invest in fueds that I feel like WWE is trying to get our attention with.

Heel ADRIAN Neville might have been the second best thing to come out of the PPV because he will help restore life into the Cruiserweight division.

Perhaps my negative outlook is derived from that 10 minute match with Strowman an Zayn.   Meh, whatever.  I'll get over and begin looking forward to the Royal Rumble. 

Something tells me that we are going to get AJ Styles vs Undertaker soon.

[Longfellow]

Has the Royal Rumble been good the last few years? It used to be my and my grandpa's favorite PPV

[J.D.]

Has the Royal Rumble been good the last few years? It used to be my and my grandpa's favorite PPV

I mean, it's been fine I guess.  The winners the past few years have been questionable, but that's just me.  Obviously Vince McMahon knows how to run a multi-million dollar buisness better than me lol

[RZback]

I mean, it's been fine I guess.  The winners the past few years have been questionable, but that's just me.  Obviously Vince McMahon knows how to run a multi-million dollar buisness better than me lol

money maker

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Two names have been revealed as inductees for the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017:

Diamond Dallas Page

"Ravishing" Rick Rude

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