The Wrestling Thread

[djchapsticks]

14 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

Kevin Kelly had a bit of a poor start with AEW but he's turned into the best commentator in the business otherwise IMO.

He should have succeeded JR instead of Michael Cole IMO.

He suffered from the Vince trope of an announcer looking a bit geeky and wimpy so would get constantly emasculated on TV at every opportunity.

Also see JR, Michael Cole (early days) and Coachman

 

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

It looks like the expected WWE talent cuts are happening today. Mustafa Ali, Rick Boogs and Emma all sacked so far. A bit shite to do this to Emma on the same day they announce a huge Aussie PPV.

Edit - Elias and Aaliya gone as well. No word on Ezekiel yet

Edited September 21, 2023 by Sherrif John Bunnell

[DA Baracus]

Ziggler and Shelton Benjamin punted. Top Dolla gone too.

[8MileBU]

Freeing up a wage for big boring Jade?

[Bert Raccoon]

You've got to imagine Tony Khan will be straight on the phone to Ziggler the rest are much of a muchness

[GNU_Linux]

Could see Shelton back in Japan where he had a five year spell in the 2010s.

[Ignoramus]

Any person losing their job is of course nothing to rejoice in but I do find some of the obituaries and hand wringing online about wrestlers like Aliyah and Rick Boogs a little bit much. Realistically nobody was calling for them to be given time on TV and they’ll probably be able to do more on other promotions.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Ignoramus

[forameus]

To be honest, if you're looking at it from a business standpoint, none of the releases are particularly mental.  They're not like when they dropped Bray Wyatt when he was still a massive merch seller, or someone like Braun Strowman.  The ones you could maybe argue with are Emma (if you're announcing an Australian show, might be worth keeping an Australian around, even cynically) and Ali and Ziggler.  But the latter two are only because they're really talented.  Ali is in a story in NXT, but can probably be replaced.  Ziggler's done f**k all for a while.  It's hard really to argue with them going.

Ali and Ziggler almost certainly going to end up in AEW though.  Ziggler especially.  Sure he's not exactly top level, but he can do pretty much everything you need him to do and to a pretty high standard.  If someone actually gives him the chance, he could do really well, as he proved at the times WWE tossed him something.  Still time for them to bring him in purely to cuck Miro though.  Again.

[djchapsticks]

Ziggler is a bit of a strange one. 

Good company guy, solid hand and could turn his talents to most things. Though they do have Miz playing that 'veteran getting new talents over' role now so guess there was little need for Dolph.

He could end up in AEW and do a good job and Ali would be a definite pick up for them.

Emma and Riddick almost certain to go back to Impact.

[FairWeatherFan]

26 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

Ziggler is a bit of a strange one. 

Good company guy, solid hand and could turn his talents to most things. Though they do have Miz playing that 'veteran getting new talents over' role now so guess there was little need for Dolph.

He could end up in AEW and do a good job and Ali would be a definite pick up for them.

 

43 sat at home. Done it all at that level. Even that stint in NXT. Supposedly had interest in leaving when his last contract was up, but that was when WWE were offering silly money to keep people from AEW.

I'm not sure what he'll do. Don't think he's a major pick up. Depends on how motivated he is, but I can see another Johnny TV/Hennigan type. Where they have a lot of z-list side projects (like his comedy career) and wrestling just pays some bills.

Someone I'd rather see go to Impact if he's looking to carry on wrestling.

[cdhafc1874]

Add Dana Brooke & Mace/Mansoor of Maximum Male Models to the release list.

 

Bunch of folk from lower reaches of NXT going as well by looks of it.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Out of the confrimed releases, I think Mustafa Ali has the best potential to make it big elsewhere. He's still young, charismatic and a great worker. He's also from Chicago. He'll be in AEW by Christmas.

From the others, I can see maybe Mace and Mansoor being a popular indy tag team. I imagine many of the rest won't be heard from again. Maybe Top Dolla can give NWA a shot now that Tyrus has retired.

Ziggler and Shelton might get a similar occasional gig in AEW like Morrison and RVD currently have. I'm sure they have both earned more than enough from WWE to never have to work again.

[TheGoon]

Was really surprised at Ziggler, I’d inagine he’d be AEW bound. I could see them taking Shelton on too, but Japan’s a shout. 

I feel like Ali could do with some Indy dates though. They rehabbed him a wee bit towards the end, but he was such a dud in the latter WWE days he could do with reminding folk just how good he is and getting his stock a bit higher.

[djchapsticks]

7 hours ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

 

From the others, I can see maybe Mace and Mansoor being a popular indy tag team.

Proper comedy chops on the pair of them. It's a shame the MMM thing didn't pan out as both of them, Mansoor especially, are funny as f**k.

Even now, they are working their releases online.

[GNU_Linux]

Ikemen Jiro also released

[Lyle Lanley]

Riddle gone. 

[djchapsticks]

1 hour ago, Lyle Lanley said:

Riddle gone. 

Clearly talented, clearly a legit athlete but a complete walking disaster of a guy. 

Don't think they could give him any sort of leverage or platform without making an arse of it in his personal life which is a shame as he definitely had a uniqueness about him and on the few occasions he did get serious, he was pretty damn good as you know that he's a goofy stoner but would legitimately f**k up about 98% of the roster.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

He was lucky not to have been fired long before now. In an industry full of terrible people, he somehow always managed to make himself look worse than most.

I'll be very surprised if AEW sign him, especially with all the locker room beefs they already have.

[forameus]

I remember listening to an interview with him around the time he was an indie guy and had just left MMA.  He came across quite well talking about how he wasn't going to be coming into wrestling and being overly stiff just because he could.  But seems like in his personal life he was more than a bit of a disaster.  Character wise, I couldn't really stand him, and his continued push as a goofy face just seemed like a complete waste of someone you could properly hate.  If someone seems like a dick, may as well lean into it, and with his legit athletic background in MMA, it seems like a complete waste to have not leaned into that at some point and portrayed him as an absolute killer.  

Question now is always about whether he is going to go to AEW. I don't think he should, as he seems like the sort of character you really don't want amongst plenty of other tetchy characters.  But he seems like exactly who they'd go for to be honest.

[GNU_Linux]

I fucking hate House of Torture.