Pro Wrestling! (For Everything WWE, Impact, Indies, AEW, & Japan !) 2021

[Noodle]

I'm was surprised the fans actually boo'd Reigns. I would think having real fans will turn him face.

I think it's more of a respect thing. It's like with MJF. Fans love how good he is as a heel that they boo him because they want him to get that reaction.

That or people are terrified that if they start cheering Reigns now Vince will turn him back into the old babyface Reigns that everyone hated.

[BeastieRunner]

So ... back on the 14th, AEW was outselling Dynamite over a same-day Smackdown taping in NEW YORK AT MSG. Venues were the same size but AEW's tickets were cheaper.

Flash forward to today ...

AEW sold out, city of New York released a presser that this will be the highest attended NY show of any kind post-pandemic, it will be the largest audience ever for AEW, and it will be the highest attendance in America for a non-WWE/F show since 1999.

AEW has out sold a televised WWE event in MSG. On their home turf, if you will.

Titan Towers must be fun to be at today ...


The WWE fan boards have looked like this all day today ...


I hope this wakes WWE up and they start to fix their issues.

[EmeraldGladiator]

I was watching my ECW DVD collection I made, made up of WWE (and Pioneer) DVDs. And it dawned me just how much Vince McMahon basically saved and greatly enhanced ECW as a historic artifact.

When I was growing up and watching ECW on VHS in the late 90s, via the tape trading scene and ECW's Commercial tapes (VHS)...in retrospect, it really sucked compared to WWE Home Video/WWE Network. The ECW Commercial tapes had unbelievably poor pictures, not even VHS quality despite being on VHS. You have to wonder if the poor quality was possibly deliberate, to seem "underground." Even at the time, with no other options, I knew ECW's VHS output left a lot to be desired. VHS, as a medium, was a big vehicle for my consumption of wrestling growing up (via all the Coliseum Videos I owned, rented, and re-rented constantly), so ECW VHSs really hurt my consumption of ECW.

But man, you watch all the various ECW WWE Home Videos (or stuff from WWE Network, though I don't have WWE Net exactly), and you get a very different and infinitely better view of ECW. A much better vantage point to judge or reassess ECW. So many matches I was not able to see or review when I was a teen in ECW VHS land. And of the ones I saw had terrible quality to the point of sucking your enjoyment right out of even a decent or good match, so bad that it somewhat lowered your desire to own other ECW VHSs.

Of course, the present "musak" entrance music substitutes suck, and do take way from getting the full ECW experience, but even Pioneer DVDs had entrances cut out and music gone or mostly so. So, that's nothing new.

I've been a more technical wrestling oriented fan (once I grew up enough), but man, there's something so satisfying, so fun, so raw about watching ECW in good clean quality. So many more good or fun ECW matches than I ever appreciated in the late 1990s, even despite being a fan (who even had the privilege of seeing a 1998 ECW house show in my hometown). The ECW Pioneer DVDs started improving my perception and love of ECW in the late 90s/early 00s, but there were just too few of those, and so only Vince McMahon, of all people, truly opened my eyes to the full record and library of ECW. Vince will go down as the great preservationist of wrestling history, a role that still surprises I'm sure many today considering the kind of seemingly ruthless competitor he was (who long hardly acknowledged even the mere existence of other promotions). That Vince's "preservationist" role is in substantial part motivated by money, in a way, just doesn't matter.

a lot of my love for ECW was about the pirated music, when I had the WWE network I tried to watch some classic ECW and it just wasn't the same. I was never a Public Enemy tag team fan but there was something about them when ini kamoze hotstepper comes on that was magic, true the Road Warriors lost something when not coming out to Iron Man but they are still the Road Warriors, so they don't lose much. When I think of ECW back in the day, I think of Come out and Play with Raven, back in black, man in the box. Paul E did a great job of picking the songs to run his show off of.

[EmeraldGladiator]

If the WWE can get Cena for Roman then they can dang sure do better than Goldberg for the All Mighty. I am not even sure the joy of a Goldberg squash would outweigh the disappointment of Lashley being saddled with that hack at SummerSlam. They need to make Brock happen.

[Username taken]

That Cena pop was nuclear.

Damn…

[EmeraldGladiator]

That Cena pop was nuclear.

Damn…

just you wait, before SummerSlam is done, the rapppado, John Cena Sux, John Cena Sux chant will be back guaranteed

[JBatmanFan05]

a lot of my love for ECW was about the pirated music, when I had the WWE network I tried to watch some classic ECW and it just wasn't the same. I was never a Public Enemy tag team fan but there was something about them when ini kamoze hotstepper comes on that was magic, true the Road Warriors lost something when not coming out to Iron Man but they are still the Road Warriors, so they don't lose much. When I think of ECW back in the day, I think of Come out and Play with Raven, back in black, man in the box. Paul E did a great job of picking the songs to run his show off of.

Yeah, I really know what you mean. The music was a huge part of the magic. Too Cold Scorpio dancing to "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & The Gang. Sandman of course seeming extra badass as Enter Sandman played. Pantera for RVD. "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" (by Prong) for Justin Credible. Man in the Box for Dreamer, like you said. The sheer power and energy of those entrances was something to be experienced. They could make any wrestler seem cooler.

[Immortal Weapon]

If the WWE can get Cena for Roman then they can dang sure do better than Goldberg for the All Mighty. I am not even sure the joy of a Goldberg squash would outweigh the disappointment of Lashley being saddled with that hack at SummerSlam. They need to make Brock happen.

They should have tried to get the Rock for Roman. He's the logical end goal for Reign's arc.

[Jcogginsa]

They should have tried to get the Rock for Roman. He's the logical end goal for Reign's arc.

That's a mania match.

Apparently the current plan is for it to me a tag. Roman and Jey vs Jimmy and Rock

[chachi]

for the 427th week in a row - its Sheamus vs. Humberto!

[choptop]

just you wait, before SummerSlam is done, the rapppado, John Cena Sux, John Cena Sux chant will be back guaranteed

That kinda faded out in 2014 or so.

[Noodle]

Nice to see that in the two title matches at the second biggest show of the year, neither challenger did anything to earn the shot other than just show up.

[Jcogginsa]

So tonight on RAW

Keith Lee came back, and lost to Bobby Lashley to set up Goldberg

and Karrion Kross lost to Jeff Hardy.

[Jcogginsa]

Jesus christ, can Charlotte just cannot hold a title for long can she?

[Kal-El Summers]

So ... back on the 14th, AEW was outselling Dynamite over a same-day Smackdown taping in NEW YORK AT MSG. Venues were the same size but AEW's tickets were cheaper.

Flash forward to today ...

AEW sold out, city of New York released a presser that this will be the highest attended NY show of any kind post-pandemic, it will be the largest audience ever for AEW, and it will be the highest attendance in America for a non-WWE/F show since 1999.

AEW has out sold a televised WWE event in MSG. On their home turf, if you will.

Titan Towers must be fun to be at today ...


The WWE fan boards have looked like this all day today ...


I hope this wakes WWE up and they start to fix their issues.

Pretty sure that has more to do with COVID vaccination guidelines for MSG, which are pretty strict, over Arthur Ashe, which is a bit more lax since it's an outdoor court.