Hot take: The December to dismember Elimination Chamber Match should return, the concept of a personalized weapon for each pod was cool, the booking of that match sucked but the idea should come back
I didn't mind Triple H's Reign of Terror. With the exception of Booker T and Kane not going over, that part I agree with everyone on, but everything else didn't bother me
1: WCW gave themselves and expiration date the moment Hogan, Hall and Nash came to town. Hogan had way to much creative control and money, and The Outsiders favored nations clause made it so everyone had the chance to run wild. 2: If Jim Crockett’s World Wrestling Network (WWN) teamed up with Smokey Mountain Wrestling, they could have gotten the NWA back a level of respectability that early TNA had by the late 90s. 3: Kafabe dying was the best thing that could have happened to the business. We could do more outrageous moves and wrestlers are able to live like actual humans. 4: There is room for a proper 3rd national brand
Backstage drama is only interesting when the TV product sucks. Notice we don't want the dirty on bloodline stuff but we do for elite stuff? But couple years ago it was flipped
People focus way too much on the post-Mania 38 portion of Roman's reign. I agree, it's ridiculous that he doesn't defend the belt often now, but he missed like two PPVs between Payback 2020 and Mania 38. My take: The Authority and Eugene are good storylines in principle, but the execution was shoddy at times.
From an in-ring perspective, that's kind of true. You can say whatever you want about his look, his mic work, or his incessant push, but the dude can wrestle and has some of the coolest moves in wrestling.
A lot of Heel work that's given me a smile & made me say "You don't really see that much anymore" because something is an overlooked detail. Example "We Want TABLES" Clap Clap ClapClapClap so he pulls out a table then slides it under the ring. Makes me happy...
My hot takes: Punk was right back in the summer of punk and it annoys me when people say Triple H was right. Undertaker and Vince ruined any chance of Sting vs Taker happening because they couldn't let go of their bitterness towards WCW. Shine in my light was a way cooler theme than Voices for Randy Orton. Can't stand that song. The young bucks are really cringe and I find them impossible to cheer for.
Here’s my controversial opinion on this video: Yes there will be another Brock Lesnar. We already had him for at least 10 years. But I guess everyone forgot about how much Lashley was called Black Lesnar for years. Lashley has been successful in amateur wrestling, pro wrestling, and MMA as well. Is it to Lesnar level? Nah. But the same can be said about all the Omega clones in the indies.
1. Claudio/Cesaro should be talked about in the same realm of in ring workers as Omega, Styles, Okada, Danielson, Rollins etc. That man's wrestling ability, combined with his impressive size, is a sight to behold and it's more impressive considering he's bigger than all the guys I mentioned. 2. Adam Cole was my least favorite in ring member of the Undisputed Era, but his mic and character work was better than Roddy, Kyle, and Bobby combined. 3. Bryan Danielson going to AEW was a major turning point in the company. He was the first huge name to essentially choose AEW over WWE. Everyone before him was a release or not really a big name. However, this wasn't a 100% good thing because it changed the psyche of AEW. AEW was at it's best when it was a group of wrestlers trying to show WWE (and the wider wrestling audience) that they are just as good. Danielson chose AEW over WWE, which meant he didn't have that chip on his shoulder. In a way, AEW got complacent. 4. I have no interest in a CM Punk vs Kenny/The Elite feud. Real life beef doesn't usually make for great wrestling beef. Hell, the best story right now is the Bloodline and we know those guys don't have legit beef. Stone Cold and Vince McMahon didn't have legit beef. John Cena and CM Punk didn't have legit beef. I can't think of a great storyline in wrestling history that was born out of legitimate backstage beef.
Depends on your market and what you're trying to do. I feel like people forget that everything (including wrestling) is situational....and honestly in modern wrestling you can't be a shit wrestler and a good talker. You have to at least be able to work.
In regards to Ryback, he WAS a missed opportunity... About 2 years later, they began trying to right that wrong with Strowman. And his fall from grace, in my opinion, is worse than Ryback's simply because he's damaged goods now, which is sad knowing how over Strowman got at his peak. I warned people, too, while he was turning over trucks and all that. "He's going to be Ryback within X amount of time" and people laughed at me. Oh well, repetition doesn't land for some people, I suppose.
I was at a 300 capacity WXW show in my hometown. I was sitting ringside and knew close to nothing about the wrestlers and their storylines but I had the time of my life! So yeah, small indie shows are awesome.
It just dawned on me how weird it is that Steve and Larson sitting in the same room rather than on zoom makes my stress away but damn it it's true, it's seeping away faster than it can come.
While I think HOOK is great, i feel like he hasn't really evolved as wrestler. His in ring skills are good but he hasn't moved pass glorified squashes. He's only wrestled over 10 minutes twice (the six man tag at this year's Double or Nothing and the Firm Deletion). Again I like HOOK but i think he's capable of so much more
In the world of wrestling, the most important character in history is million dollar man Ted dibiase, he financially started the nwo, was the one who discovered and managed the ringmaster who became stone cold, got Andre to win the WWF championship, and have him give it to Ted, and also discovered the undertaker who he brought in at survivor series. Tell me who's done more in wrestling than Ted.
Take: I like the minimalist Titantron graphics WWE currently uses. Most of the video edits and curated footage they used to use for their trons was cheesy and felt forced.
My controversial opinion is that Sasha banks is just about average, no charisma, crap gimmick and good in the ring. Cant hold a candle to Asuka, Charlotte, Rhea, Alexa Bliss, Deonna, and so many others
Charlotte is truly great, but in this short of time she shouldn’t even be near to beat her dads record. Hot potato title wins took me out of ever being a Stan of hers. She just had go away heat with me. That being said, I truly believe her and Rhea had one of the greatest Wrestlemania matches ever. Easily the best women’s wrestlemania match ever.
1:46 okay, you guys gotta come to Long Island for Dynamite. I had floor seats there and it's such a surreal thing when MJF is out there. Cheering for ADHD and calling a teacher a stupid beach was wild.
Steve and Larson…the friendos. Haven’t seen you guys since the gaming top 10 Days. You guys have always been an allstar duo. Love that you’re doing wrasslin stuff now as well!
Mine is I don’t buy the hype behind the rain maker finisher like Okada has thin arms and the momentum isn’t there at all for the impact to be believable as a finisher especially knowing he has better and more brutal moves that are not finishers
Turns out there was a lot of talent in the New Generation. They were just buried under shit gimmicks like "Generic Asshole Steve Austin managed by Ted DiBiase", "Dentist Glenn Jacobs", "Race Care Driver Hardcore Holly", and "Dont do Crack Rikishi"
Thumb Tacks are the worst, no one, not even the referee is safe from these. And this was set in stone after the stupid foot in tacks spot with the young vucks at Doubke ir Nothing.
AEW should do an all-female International Women's Day edition of Dynamite or Collision. Every year. And if they can't fill the card themselves, they should invite some special guests. I think it could really catch on as a special TV event (and maybe transition to a PPV later after they've proven they can deliver on a consistent basis).
I don't think this is controversial but WWE shouldn't push LA Knight simply because of fan support. I've seen people resent Triple H's creative direction for focusing on storytelling because he's not shotgunning booking decisions based on pops and moments. The kind of directionless creative people hated from WWE for years. Support is great but not everyone can be world champion because they're flavor of the month. We just went over this with Sami Zayn 5 months ago and it's like everyone has amnesia.
There's also the fact that I don't think in-ring that Knight could carry a main event match. I've been watching the dude since he was in NWA Championship Wrestling Showcase/CWF Hollywood probably over a decade ago when he was tagging with Brian Cage and then being managed by Paul Bearer/Percy Pringle III, followed him to Impact/GFW, then to Corgan's NWA and the constant has always been that the dude's far more over on the microphone than he ever will be in-ring. There's a reason this dude's been in and out of WWE development for the past 10 years. He's got the gift of gab, but on his best day he's mediocre in-ring.
1. Roman's reign got stale real fast because it became too much of the same, and I will never understand how the Bloodline storyline needs the title at this point. 2. Viewership numbers have created a subgenre of annoying people who use views over the quality of the show for an argument. People don't realize there are many, MANY shows that double or triple in views you may not even like. So, using them for the sake of an argument is bothersome.
The Attitude Era is overrated. When people wax nostalgic about the Attitude Era, they’re only remembering the 20% of content that was really good and not the 80% of content that was absolute fucking garbage.
My controversial wrestling take is that the Seth Rollins vs Triple H Mania match was better than people give it credit for and a really well told story
My hot take: The Go to Sleep is a boring, low impact move that looks bad performed by either of the two guys who are known for it. Alabama Slam and Flapjack are underrated moves.
How’s this 1. Jericho v omega in Japan( Jericho still in his prime WWE style wrestler) was the first showing how over rated omega is as far as a in ring wrestler and how on a different level in ring psychology is to just a work rate match is.
Maybe controversial but the build to every kenny Mox match has been better than the eventual match. They just don’t work that well together, it’s not bad but it’s not the apex of AEW matchups which it often feels like it’s being built as.
2 takes: 1) the second worst chant behind the "WHAT!?" chant is "We want tables!" The amount of times I've been to indie shows or even WWE and AEW events, and someone starts the chant despite the match not needing or hasn't built up to a table spot has been ridiculously frequent in the past couple of years 2) WrestleMania 39 is the best WM of all-time and night 1 was the WWE's best produced single night of wrestling ever
Hot Take: HBK carried the tag team match against Taker and Kane in Saudi Arabia. People say it was hard to watch but Shawn was the only good part of that match and at that point, he could still go. Not sure about now though
Randy Orton's "Legend Killer" gimmick/storyline back in the day was not all that amazing. Orton is amazing, of course, but that being the time he branched like "omg who's this kid?? whoa!" It wasn't all that ppl lol.
I would 100% rather go to a DPW show than a WWE show. It's probably the insufferable hipster inside me, but smaller venue shows are way more appealing to me.
Hot Take: People give shit to Cena and his 5 Moves of Doom yet RVD is the same f'n thing and people love him. Frog Splash/Rolling Thunder/Van Daminator/Van Terminator/Split-Legged Moonsault.
I could not disagree more on the storylines. I think pro wrestling desperately needs to focus on storylines. Does WWE overcome WCW without the Stone Cold/Vince McMahon storyline? Does the Four Horseman take off without the Dusty Rhodes storyline? I could go on and on. For me, without storylines you are just watching really strong gymnast/stunt routines.
I think my most controversial opinion is Stone Cold should have lost to Kevin Owens at Wrestlemania. I'm fine with legends coming back, but i perfer they go out on their back. I have similar problems with Edge's return.
My "controversial opinions": Brock Lesnar was a damn good choice to end the streak, it really revitalised him in WWE and the aura of him beating it gave him that needed credibility again. The Spirit Squad was unironically a great gimmick and would get over today
Jinder Mahal wasn’t an awful champion. The internal logic was sound: just like his entire career beforehand, if you got him alone, you could beat him. Jinder’s success came from his alliance with the Singh Brothers. It’s consistent, it’s logical, and it made him someone you just hated to see.
Live shows were actually a lot of fun at one point. Now if you are at a TV taping, being in the audience means that the show is not really for you. They are doing everything for the cameras and not working the crowds as much. Could only imagine a WWE event where there is like 5-15 minutes per hour of wrestling, and half of it will be during a commercial. Also never saw the HHH thing before but he looks like a ripoff of that Mortal Kombat antagonist.
A guy with decent in ring skills + top tier mic skills (MJF, LA Knight) has more chances of getting over than a guy who's just decent on the mic but can wrestle like a machine(Shelton Benjamin). If the wrestling is great but mic skills suck (Timothy Thatcher), that doesn't get him anywhere.
Roman’s part time reign is the worst thing I’ve seen in wrestling, it’s so bad that I’ve come to appreciate HHH and Cena’s reigns of terror! At least they showed up!
The faction didn't have potential, but some of the individual members did. Barrett was probably hurt the most by it, but in the long run his career would've recovered if his body held up. Bryan met his potential outside of Nexus, same with Bray and arguably Ryback. The only big question marks for me are Michael Tarver, who I think could've been something, and Michael McGillicutty whom was doomed as soon as they denied him his family name. It's nuts to think about how many members of it are still active in WWE and elsewhere though. With that kind of in-ring longevity, maybe something more could have been accomplished with the stable if Cena hadn't actively buried them.
@@ItDoesntMatterReally I'm sorry but for stable made up of a bunch of jabronis and Bryan the WWE just spent 2 months telling me we're not good enough to be top level stars to suddenly be a feared stable just didn't work for me
I wouldn't say that AEW wouldn't exist BUT they wouldn't be anywhere near the level they are at now. AEW would likely just be Dynamite, Dark (Elevation is debatable on if that would be around) and their 4 PPVs. This is on the assumption that everyone else AEW signed up until Punks debut would still happen and anything past that would be up in the air.
@ryukami404 I'm not talking about aew's trajectory as a company. I'm saying without guys like Punk, Danielson, Jericho, Brett Hart, Shawn Michaels, etc. breaking into the mainstream, there would be no place for AEW to exist. AEW is full of smaller, more athletic dudes almost exclusively. This never would have happened for them without the work of the people that came before them.
Hot Takes: Def Rebel>CFO$ Shinsuke is really boring in WWE, except for his low blow phase I don't get Liv Morgan Damien Priest was the right choice to win Money in the Bank (and im an La knight fan) I actually liked the Mountain Dew match between Bray and LA
I think it depends. If you have a weekly show with a limited roster, it starts to feel too much. But something like what New Japan does, where they have 13 titles, but don't do weekly TV (except for Strong I guess, but even then, they have exclusive titles for that "brand" that don't usually appear on other shows) then I think it's fine.
My controversial opinion is that Cesaro was often overhyped in WWE. While he possessed exceptional in-ring skills, his character development and microphone abilities were lacking. In a wrestling promotion where character work and strong mic skills are highly valued, Cesaro came across as a generic individual, which made him ill-suited for WWE.
I've been watching through WWF in 1993 and Onward, mostly so I could familiarize myself with Brett Hart's career. You are right, RAW is incredibly boring for the first few years. The endless string of jobber matches makes the product very stale. That said, Brett Hart vs 1,2,3 Kid for the title on RAW in 1994 was one of the best matches I have ever seen.
Hot take, but everyone needs to let go of their nostalgia and JR should never go on air again for AEW unless it's a special circumstance...they could do a lot better by giving an opportunity to someone like Veda Scott so that she's already a part of the broadcast team once guys like JR and Schiavone fully retire...
Bret Hart was in on the Montreal screw-job. There's no way that someone like him whose family had been in wrestling for that long thought that he was just going to casually take their top title win and then move on to another company the very next day.
If you hear him talk about it. He told Vince that he'd agree to appear on the following Raw when they were out of Canada and drop the belt to someone other than Shawn. That was the plan as far as he knew.
Young bucks vs FTR 3 is a lose/lose for everyone involved and the teams don't wrestle styles that mesh well enough to live up to the standards people would expect.
0:24 is a stupid take since literally anything can be called overanalyzing. That was unintentionally absurd and I'm glad y'all disagreed with that even if you had different reasoning than I did.
Oh Larson, you are so wrong! You haven't lived until you have been to an Impact live show! Even if WWE and AEW has hit or miss live shows, Impact tapings are the most fun you will have in your life, you'll love it.
I guess my hot take is the AEW refs need to stop acting like they're blind or not watching the product. There have been way too many times they see interference spots happen right in front of them and don't boot the people interfering out or admonish them. The Ruby Soho vs Britt Baker match last night is an obvious example. It just sucks me out of the match and kills the logic to me. Don't get me wrong, ROH was infamous for this with Todd Sinclair as a ref, and it bothered me then too. This feels way too bush league.
I absolutely cannot get into the AEW wrestling style. I still believe in at least trying to make it feel like a contest, but the AEW style is overly choreographed and it takes me out.
