Wrestling Thread 4: The Ruethless Aggression Era • Page 532

Yeah. I get where you're coming from. I guess I'm just trying to focus on the positives? I definitely think it would've been better if it had just been Corey/Rene/Cole on the call, but I am hoping this still leads to more instances of women actually being able to wrestle with the men, and in those instances JBL and King won't be on the mic.

 

I really enjoyed the past 3 rumbles. This one was good overall but not better than the previous two

 

Vince definitely thought it would be hilarious

 

AJ still thinks early 2000s hip hop is the current popular fashion style

 

When @oldjersey's pick came up, I went, "Annnnnnd TAMINA!" Turns out I played myself

 

Oh yeah we agree. It’s a weird tightrope to walk. Unfortunately when I think back to this moment I’m going to think of Nia taking 3-4 finishers, getting eliminated by the smallest male competitor on the roster and king/JBL giggling at her. It could be so much better then how they handled it.

 

I hope no one thought the rock was gonna rly show up

 

After the lesnar match, I really hope Finn gets the proper push now

 

Screen grab is too big to upload I guess but apparently Candice was wearing one of Tegan’s arm bands during the Rumble.

 

Weirdly, Im bothered by the way they booked her. Just eating finishers from the men as the crowd pops. You wouldnt book heel Sasha that way. Wouldnt book heel Ruby Riott that way.

Chyna entered the 1999 rumble off story line, Mark Henry got a specific comeuppance, and then got eliminated. Doing it this way just felt lazy in so many ways.

 

I miss Roman

 

Yea, I was gonna make the comparison to another woman like chyna who they built up like that. Eliminating the smallest upcoming dude also feels to me like a very men's power grab like, right away she just gets destroyed by everyone instantly simply because they're men. It felt pretty dumb.

 

Let's say Big Show takes her spot instead. Do you see him getting treated any differently? I think it would've gone very similarly. Try to hit him with some finishers, he blocks, gets in an elimination or two, gets hit with a bunch of finishers and then is dumped out of the ring. Agree with you that its a weird tightrope because "treating her just like they would've treated any man" is ultimately the right thing to do, but the optics sometimes don't really reflect that you're doing that. And "Big heel that needs people to gang up on them" might not have been the best choice for them to use to stick their foot into the "Woman actually wrestling men" waters. But I donno. I still see it overall as a positive.

 

Roman is so funny, can't wait till he's back

 

So Nick Hogan is an EDM producer and dating a porn Star? Wtf

 

No big show gets the entire ring on him and he powers through EVERYONE. Nia got some offense in then ate finishers from basically everyone. It’s just a weird choice for a company that is bad with nuance.

 

Thing is, in storyline, Big Show is a threat in the mens Royal Rumble. Its kayfabe to the point of being a joke that he's a threat to win every year because of his size.

They could have built to that Nia moment in other ways. For example, put Nia in the MMC and have her hit a move on the men in each match. Just slowly build to that possibility...instead of it being literally at random after 3 straight months of her losing.

edit: Or if she had been cutting promos for the last 2 months about how she'll enter the womens rumble, because thats what Stephanie said she had to do, but really she should be in the mens...then yeah, they paid off those promos.

 

yeah I get where you're coming from. Also looking at twitter and seeing a bunch of shitty dudes have their takeaway being "LOL I HATE NIA WATCHING HER GETTING HIT WITH ALL THE FINISHERS WAS SO AWESOME" means you're probably right. I just hope this is a sign of more to come with inter gender wrestling from WWE because when you watch the stuff on the indies its clear women can go hard with the guys and WWE are denying a bunch of potentially awesome matches by backing away from it.

 

I was pretty bored tbh.. Rollins seemed like the safest choice.

MITB is kinda filling that niche of surprise winners we don't really get any more at least.

 

Yeah, I just looked at Reddit, and as far as I can tell, their takeaway is "HHH says we book the shows, and Nia eating finishers means its true!".

If they had told a nuanced story that the mouthbreathers also loved, I'm fine with it (Lucha Underground did this all the time...to the point I got uncomfortable with it even when it was well done), but they didnt even get close.

edit: The Nia Jax character they had going into WM34 (I wont be bullied, Im special) would have fit right in to the idea. But she also wouldnt have eaten a collection of finishers

 

it opens the door to getting something like Candice vs Ciampa where they could actually tell that nuanced story right.

unfortunately, WWE is probably going to see everyone going "HAHA LOOK AT NIA GETTING BEAT UP WHAT A DUMB B*****" and conclude "whoops that actually wasn't a good idea lets not do any inter gender spots again"

 

So the people who believe the qanon shit think they booked the show, nothing surprises me anymore. Also how you know some things were bad.

 

First thing I thought when they actually hit Nia with offense. Hope this means Candice can wrestle the men eventually.

 

I really hope those undertaker rumors end up being false, ugh.