Reacting to Pro Wrestling HOT TAKES Vol. 2 

That DiBiase take is outstanding and I'm hard pressed to come up with an argument against it

When I saw the take about Darby Allin being called a “goth Spike Dudley” I was howling with laughter

Hot Take: Bray Wyatt was never really great. He was just different and charismatic. My proof is that everyone, except LA Knight, came out worse than when they went in. And LA Knight only survived because he didn’t sell Wyatt.

Hot Take: 2011 is the most underrated year in WWE. It had The Rock’s return, R Truth had a great heel turn, Summer of Punk, Rise of Daniel Bryan, Orton and Christian’s rivalry, Mark Henry’s Hall of Pain, Cody Rhodes brought back the classic IC Title, Christian Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan won their first world titles, Zack Ryder was showing anyone could get over on their own, and the in ring work started to drastically improving. It was the year it started to develop into the WWE we know today.

Okada has said it himself. The Rainmaker is a cheat code, because people get infinitely more invested just by having someone duck.

Hot take: The idea that matches should be between a face and a heel because otherwise people wouldnt know who to cheer for needs to die. Audiences are not stupid and will cheer for whoever they want.

Hot take: I liked the Spirit Squad. They did their job well as annoying heels, and innovated with gang-up special moves and unorthodox cheating using their trampoline.

I remember as a kid Eugene being over as hell! He always got massive (and positive) reactions. Perhaps I’m misremembering but it felt a lot of people were laughing with the character and rooting for him, rather than laughing at him and cheering ironically. Eugene’s character was definitely in poor taste but some of that is our own failure to divorce our contemporary sensibilities with the time period of when Eugene’s character was prominent.

Hot Take: Solo Sikoa's inspiration and tributes to Umaga hurt his character more than help it most of the time. I want to see him do his own unique things and contribute to the Bloodline more than just look menacingly at something in the background. He simply doesn’t have the size, the look or explosiveness in the ring (in my opinion) to make what he's portraying in the ring feel believable. I do enjoy his BWAHs though. They always get me chuckling.

Darby is just the love child of Sting & Spike Dudley. I've been sayin that 4 years

If Jeff Hardy would’ve stayed clean, he would have surpassed John Cena in all time popularity, Hardy had an MTV show lined up around the time he left wwe in 2009 but everything fell through after the felony charges

Here’s a hot take: There really isn’t an “advantage” in WarGames. Sure, you could have the numbers advantage at the start, but you could also save your biggest or freshest member for the end to come in last and clean house.

My hot take: Vince Russo did a good job in TNA, before Hogan and Bischoff ruined it. After Jarrett got sent home and Russo started running the show we got: The Main Event Mafia storyline which was fun. A bunch of young talent getting elevated AJ established as the top guy

As a person on the Spectrum I'm totally okay with Eugene

Marko Stunt is probably a more apt comparison to Spike Dudley. Watching Brodie Lee yeet him across the ring was glorious.

Hot Take: The infamous 'Shockmaster' moment was staged. People say he was supposed to be some intimidating guy when he debuted but the fall turned his character into a clumsy goof, but just look at him: A big guy in a furry vest and a glittered up stormtrooper helmet, with Ole Anderson doing his 'Black Scorpion' voice. There's no way in hell this was originally meant to be taken seriously.

Hot Take: The worst moments of the PG Era are no where near as bad as the worst moments of the Attitude Era, New Generation Era, and Ruthless Aggression Era

I got one I actually liked the two-man powertrip

My opinion: john lauriniatis is responsible for the vacuum of lower card talent in the 2000’s WWE because of his tampering of OVW

Didn't Bret say that the "agreed" plan was he would win at Survivor Series, but then relinquish the belt at Raw the next night? Or am I having a Mandela Effect moment? Lol

Hot Take: Christian and Orton’s 2011 Rivalry was better than the Summer of Punk

Here’s a fun game; take a shot everytime a Eugene segment made you feel uncomfortable

Damn you can't argue that Million Dollar man take he brought greatness to the industry

Hot take: Finn Balor is a high level depth guy who will have feuds with top stars, but from here on out, will never be anything more than a transitional world champion if he wins one

Implying that AEW doesn't do storylines, and thus AEW fans like straight up matches is an extremely horrible take.

My opinion: the elite (omega, bucks, page) used bullet club more as a stepping stone than anything else.

Here's One I Prefer Samoa Joe's Undefeated Streak In TNA than Goldberg's In WCW he's limited In the ring

I am in total agreement with Robert's hot take! 🔥 Very logical!

I always saw the Rainmaker finisher as more of a “For Good measure” manuever than anything else. In his big fights, it’s very often kicked out of as opposed to other finishers from NJPW’s roster. Often it’s the spinning tombstone followed by the Rainmaker that puts Okada’s opponents away.

I was a kid during Eugenes debut and I loved him lol

Hot take: Logan Paul needs a new finisher. Literally has lost every boxing match he’s been in except for one draw and we’re supposed to believe that his right hand can actually win him any major matches

I don't know if u guys noticed but Austin Theory is now the 3rd longest reigning US CHAMP under the WWE umbrella after MVP and Dean Ambrose 🎉

Woah woah woah. The name on the contract said McMahon, but it was Shane, not Vince.

Raquel Rodriguez's Tron looks like the intro to a lunchtime talk show

Hot take Charlotte flair character is actually Stephanie McMahon but an amazing wrestler

Thanks for answering my take friendos!

I can kind of agree with the "I just want good matches" take. I'm way too busy to keep up with weekly shows so I just go with matches most people really seem to enjoy and just kick back and enjoy good wrasslin

Def should do more of these

I dont actually hate the Eugene character and honestly he was super over. You go back and watch he was super over the crowd loved him. Nick Dinsmore said the Eugene character was his idea mainly cause he was sick of not being called up to the main roster so he met up with Vince and pitched the character and he approved it. I think the problem with Eugene other than the obvious is that he was a little bit overexposed on the show like on average he had 2 segments most weeks and it could fluctuate from 2-4 a week and perhaps that was the crowd turning on him plus his injury in 2005 didnt help. Ive recently been watching RAW where Eugene turned heel and honestly it could be in poor taste but i dont think it was bad just didnt seem to mean much turning on Jim Duggan. Eugene wasnt the best character but definitely not the worst

Super hot take: Kerwin White done today would be great, especially if you take into account current day things like Hispanics for Trump, etc. I think it would be a gold mine for hilarious heel work

I'd love if they gave Raquel a titantron but instead of clips of her finisher it's clips of her flexing her back lol

Wow thanks so much for reading my comment. Love you guys 😁

Regarding the screw job, it could go the other way. As in they decided to do it on a night with a mass amount of cameras around in case Bret got out of hand with his reaction and somebody got seriously hurt. The cameras, and fear of being filmed commiting a murder, may have been the reason Vince only received one punch.

Raquel’s tron looks like a business card for a personal trainer, also I just realized her flexing arm is the L in her name 🤦🏻‍♂️

Not sure if it's a hot take or not but: Adam Pearce is one of the best Authority figures in the past few decades. Also he should've had his match with Roman at the Rumble

Hot Take: CM Punk is the biggest whiner in pro wrestling history. His pipebomb was just him sitting on that stage crying that the company he worked for didn't see him as big a star as he sees himself.

If you only care about good matches you are a mark

The Eugene story with Triple H was great, triple H taking advantage of the fact that he was Eugene's favourite wrestler.

I'm a wrestling match fan first and storylines are just a bonus

Honestly Steve's Stone Cold is pretty much how heel Stone Cold talked. If you go back and watch some of his Manic in ring promos it's damn near 1 to 1.

I love the rainmaker

Hot take; the WCW US title from '96-'01 is the best looking midcard title ever

I really enjoyed the inVasion storyline and at times I miss it.

The people's elbow was a standing elbow with theatrics.

Eugene was amazing loved it said what I said I loved the execution thought it was perfect absolutely amazing

Eugene as a character always felt like Vince's feelings about wwe fans,

11:25 I swear I heard somewhere Lex didn't stay on the bus. He would stay in a hotel.

hot take: i have no real opinion on cm punk. i dont like him, i dont hate him, im just neutral on him.

The Million Dollar Man did it all wow didn’t even think about it like that - Too Sweet baybay

The Lex talk made me rewatch OSWs review of the Lex Express. Lex looked miserable the whole time😂

There is no single punch related finisher that is good. If the big shows M.W.D, Roman’s superman punch or Logan Paul’s titanium fist is so powerful, why don’t the lead with this finisher (especially when these guys punch people in the gut instead of the head)

As to the having film crews backstage during the screwjob, Vince loves content baby.

Hot take: the argument that WWE shattered the UK indie scene, can be applied to AEW regarding the US indie scene

Pretty sure Jim Cornette mentioned in one of the times he was asked about Montreal that the plan was for Bret to show up on Raw the next night and hand the belt off to Vince

I don’t think this is a hot take, but Darby should turn heel and join the House of Black

The only tron that matters is Theory's Beyblade tron

Hot Take : THE STREAK ENDED AT THE RIGHT TIME. look at Undertaker matches after the streak ended, not one you can call 'good'. Vince knew Taker was finished before Taker did

I think the rainmaker's believably is almost entirely from NJPW's fantastic camera work. It doesn't feel nearly as impactful anywhere besides New Japan.

My opinion: the claw move should make a comeback.

Hot take, i dont understand the hype behind minoru sazuki, he may have a legit background but all he does is smack wrestlers chest and do a pile driver, at a painfully slow speed.

Hot take : Arn Anderson is a way better worker than flair, flair had the same match over and over but his promos were so entertaining everyone over looked how same same his in ring work was. Arn was so good in the ring and his heel work was amazing. And to this day man, no spine buster comes close.

Hot take(?): ref bumps that result in heels cheating to win should be banned from now on. It's a lazy and boring plot device that all wrestling promotions use too much. It's the one thing in pro wrestling I can't suspend my disbelief over, since thousands of people and dozens of cameras witness the cheating.

My Hot Take: On average, the Ruthless Aggression era has aged better than the Attitude Era has. And WWE has never been better than it was during the 2002-2004 run of Smackdown

So with Booker vs HHH I do agree, but honestly I blame Goldberg coming in the next night and Vince wanting a heel champion for him to chase as to why Booker lost instead of any sort of HHH backstage politics

WHAAAT Steves Stone Cold is over the top!?!??!?!? Noooo way! ... It´s aweseomly unrealistic, you can hear where the impression is rooted, but he poots his own Stunner of Stamp on it! Luv you guys, keeep it up! Steve .... & Larson!

AEW should sign David Benoit and If he comes out with the name “Chris Benoit Jr” then Tony Kahn will be the bravest man in wrestling. Yeah, it could be in poor taste but David himself said he’d be fine with using that name and it’s been 16 years!

Orange Cassidy is the Undertaker of AEW and that’s not a good thing

I will always argue that Triple H was way more reasonable with his power than 99% of the other wrestlers who have had the same sway (or who wish they did)

I guess my hot take is that I already fell out of love with CM Punk when he came back to work for the WWE for that talk show thing. Not only did he go back to work for the very people that ruined his life just to make some money, his whole AEW run has really made him come across as a massive hypocrite by showing up and immediately getting a main event and championship run before guys that had been there longer than him. Kinda like what he complained about all the way back in 2011

Hot take: Y'all only consider the shield the greatest because of the main two years. But truth be told, the shield was only good when they started feuding with the Wyatt family. Everything going forward was great. Like realistically we are not talking about matches or what they did individually. Name something outside the entrance and matches that made them great. I'll wait.

Hot Take: Matt Hardy's Legacy is far superior than Jeff's. Jeff is a Walking Bump Spot with a Face Paint.

I don't hate the Eugene character either. But only because Nick Dinsmore was so all in on it. It was a horrible idea and gimmick but I thought he pulled it off better than just about anybody else could. He actually came off as endearing to me.

Why does this guy strangely look like John Cena and Wes Borland at the same time?

Hot Take: Wrestling as a whole relies too hard on audience knowing and understanding Wrestling tropes. For instance, I had to try to explain why grabbing the rope magically makes pins 10x harder, bcause its not clear by the in ring action nor does commentary explain it. There are dozens more examples of this.

Eugene Eugene Eugene !!!! I loved it he got huge pops I’d he came out as Eugene today he would get a massive pop

The rainmaker take is so wrong. The best finishers are the ones that can be pulled off on anybody at any moment of a match. This is why it works so well like a cutter/RKO and a stunner. No need for a setup, just hit it an pin them

Honestly and I say this as a fan of 2001... I feel Wrestlemania X7 isn't as good as many romanticize it as. Yes it was the climax of an era beloved by many but Austin's heel turn soured an otherwise solid show.

Hot Take: Daniel Bryon shouldn't of ever been above the mid card miz feed was his best run and miz isn't considered a top contender

I could have sworn Eugene turned heel at one point stated he faked his disability the whole time but could very easily be a Mandela effect situation

Hot Take: I have and never will get the hype around Liv Morgan. She’s not charismatic or a good promo, and she’s not that good from an in ring standpoint either. Say what you will about Rousey’s cringe promos, but I can name you multiple good singles matches she’s had. Can’t name you one Liv Match.

As of June Nick Densmore was still wrestling using the Eugene character. I saw him at our county fair/carnival in full on Eugene gear and still acting like someone with “learning disabilities” He had a fairly hot wife or girlfriend as a valet though and wrestled in the main event against Robert Gibson. Sad really .

Eugene wasn’t bad. He didn’t do anything offensive. He played a character. It’s not like cartman at the special Olympics…

In ovw he was basically the American version of Chris Benoit minus the murder

Sorry, but THANK YOU NOAHTURTLE

1. The Nexus absolutely deserved to lose at Summerslam. There wasn't enough talent to keep the Nexus strong. Barrett at best was only ever gonna be a mid-carder. 2. X-Pac or Chyna should've won KOTR '99. 3. Edge's Rumble return may be ICONIC (the expressions on his face as he soaks in the crowd then he bosses up and goes into his entrance pose/pyro was IMMACULATE) but his matches since don't offer much, plus they wasted a rumble win on him, too. He should've have the rumble return then immediately went to managing someone/some team. Or even just be an agent and help this generation develop promo abilities and storylines. 4. Bret is the only guy who would absolutely be a part of the screwjob and continue to sell it forever. I legit think he had a part in it because he knew WCW wouldn't know what to do with him. lol.

yo i hate the minimalist entrance vids, like alexis bliss rn is wack lmao i miss being hyped over seeing a superstar's moveset

Was Eugene his idea or Vince... because it seems like 102% Vince and -2% his idea.

Daniel Bryan should have gone to NXT in 2018..

_Would put a Hot Take but it would be Anti CM Punk and I'm not about that on a Sunday. So instead:_ *_That Milliondollar Man one is genius!_*

As much as I love Jeff Hardy he's just a lesser in ring worker than RVD