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September Wrasslin' |OT| Almost Brings a tear to my eye

GODDAMNIT BOOTS

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Caspel

Business & Marketing Manager @ GungHo
A few weeks ago I asked people to assess the NXT talent and where they could end up when/if they were called up to the WWE. I'm curious to know what everyone's thoughts of are the underutilized wrestlers on the current WWE roster. Feel free to change the format or add in wrestlers I purposely ignored since they are being used in a regular fashion on TV, but perhaps the following "critiques" could be applied:

'Enhancement Talent'
(similar to Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel)

'Has Potential to be High Mid-card or Main Event' (comparable to say Ziggler, Wyatt, or Ambrose)

'Forever Midcard or Jobber'


'Needs to be cut'
(aka, no real purpose of taking a spot in the WWE like say Great Khali outside of his help on tours in India)

No need to assess them all, but here's a list of the wrestlers typically missing more often than not from Raw.

Fandango, 33 years old (Midcard/Jobber)
Heath Slater, 31 years old (enhancement talent, I wouldn't mind him in NXT so he could show off his charisma)
Titus O'Neil, 37 years old (Enhancement Talent)
Kofi Kingston, 33 years old (Still has potential to be high mid-card or even main event if repackaged)
Xavier Woods, 28 years old (Midcard/jobber)
Big E Langston, 28 years old (has a lot of potential)
Curtis Axel, soon to be 35 years old (Forever midcard/jobber)
Emma, 25 years old (Potential for Main event *DIVAS* division)
Rowan, soon to be 33 years old (Hard to judge without having him break away from Wyatts. Forever Midcard/Jobber)
R-Truth, 42 years old (Unless he forms a tag-team, I think his time with the WWE is coming to an end.)
Tamina Snuka, 36 years old (needs to be cut)
Zack Ryder, 29 years old (Enhancement talent, send him to NXT and let the crowds there give him the love he desperately wants. Let him join up with Enzo and Cassady)
Alicia Fox, 28 years old (enhancement talent. I could see her and Charlotte putting on fun matches)

Also, the three wrestlers below are set to return from injury in the next few months, so feel free to provide your opinion on them, too.

Darren Young, soon to be 35 years old (Midcard/Jobber)
Ryback, 32 years old (has a lot of potential for main event)
Barrett, 34 years old (Has the most potential out of the entire list so long as he stays injury-free.)
 

tm24

Member
Waitaminute,I thought Tanahashi was banned from not getting any more IWGP world title shots, unless he earned them (by winning the G1 or NJC). So is NJPW just going to retcon that?

Wasn't banned, he just said he was withdrawing from challenging for it. He cut a promo after beating shibata that he was re-entering the title scene
 
Owens isn't terrible, I think he'll surprise some people - also, I'm glad they're bringing in this title. The jr's division could do with a second singles belt and it'd be cool to see BUSHI get some gold.

Also, more Bruce Tharpe-des.

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Nah, Tanahashi said he'd never challenge Okada for the title again if he couldn't beat him - also, he earned this with a pinfall over AJ in the G1.

Thanks for that. I was wondering because I figured Naito vs. AJ and Tanahashi vs. Okada made more sense for KOPW (Naito also beat AJ during the G1), but these should lead to bigger matches at least, since KOPW has arguably become NJPW's #2 show (possibly #3 behind the G1 Climax final). Looks like the card is already becoming really stacked, with Time Splitters/Forever Hooligans/Young Bucks, Ishii/Yujiro, Owens/BUSHI, and probably Ibushi/Taguchi and Goto/Shibata vs. Gallows/Anderson. Wouldn't be surprised to see another Nakamura/Fale match as well to get all the belts in there.

As for the shows itself, definitely keeping NJPW on the run it is on. While the results were predictable (although I was surprised to see Nak get the belt back), all the matches were from good to great.
 
Half-confirmed card for King of Pro-Wrestling next month - New Japan look like they're trying hard to sell out Sumo Hall with a line-up like this;

NJPW, "KING OF PRO-WRESTLING", 2014/10/15
Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo

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. IWGP Heavyweight Title: AJ Styles (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
. Tokyo Dome no.1 Contendership: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles: TIME SPLITTERS (c) vs The Young Bucks vs Forever Hooligans
. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs El Desperado
. NWA Jr. Heavyweight Title: Chase Owens (c) vs BUSHI

Ishii also challenged Yujiro, but it hasn't been confirmed if the NEVER belt will be on the line. Also, Nakamura mentioned there's "only one man left" for him to beat, presumably referring to Shibata who has a win over him from the G1 - so, Nakamura (c) vs Shibata is potentially on the cards for the IC title. Plus, Goto has been going on about the Japanese uniting to destroy Bullet Club and today Makabe said he & Honma are with him, so there may be some sort of 6-man tag against the Bullet Club.

And as I was posting my response, we get this from Bootay. Thanks for killing my card, bro!

Seriously though, I figured Ibushi would be next in line for a shot (although I have heard he wants to concentrate more on DDT)
 
Wrestle kingdom prediction

Tanahashi(c) vs okada- IWGP title
Nakamura(c) vs AJ styles -intercontinental
Adam Cole (c) vs Kushida -ROH title
Goto and Shibata(c) v the Briscoe brohers -IWGP tag titles
 

Ithil

Member
Raw really lacked star power last night. Looking back on it, Ambrose still has a way to go before hitting that upper echelon of stardom and becoming an actual draw.

Two notes on that. First, it was a shitty crowd from start to finish, the exact same show next week in Chicago would probably come off differently. Second, there's no need to talk about Ambrose becoming a draw, that sort of things takes a long time of continued pushing.
Last night was Ambrose's first ever night in the number two babyface spot.

Bryan was heavily featured (and granted, much of his booking was terrible) from Summerslam 2013 on, but he only became a ratings/merch draw around Wrestlemania.
 
Seriously though, I figured Ibushi would be next in line for a shot (although I have heard he wants to concentrate more on DDT)

When Ibushi returned from injury he announced he'd be competing as a heavyweight from now on, which was quite surprising to me - I saw Ibushi as the star they'd build the Jr's division around, but perhaps they'd prefer that role to go to a New Japan guy like KUSHIDA or Desperado.

Wrestle kingdom prediction

Tanahashi(c) vs okada- IWGP title
Nakamura(c) vs AJ styles -intercontinental
Adam Cole (c) vs Kushida -ROH title
Goto and Shibata(c) v the Briscoe brohers -IWGP tag titles

I like this, I'm sticking with Okada vs AJ as the main event though.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
"Accidentally" yeah, right.

I have been an Atheist since the time I was studying for my Holy Communion and decided I didn't quite believe what the pastor was selling. So yeah, it just happened to he right below the Formula One OT. :)
 

Gustav

Banned
Just started watching the latest RAW. Started with yet another Miz - Ziggler match. I need to fucking vent.


WHAT THE FUCK? This has been 3 straight months of the same fucking fights. Are the poeple at WWE really this dumb? What a dumb fucking decision. God, I really want to like this but WHAT THE FUCK????
 
Just started watching the latest RAW. Started with yet another Miz - Ziggler match. I need to fucking vent.


WHAT THE FUCK? This has been 3 straight months of the same fucking fights. Are the poeple at WWE really this dumb? What a dumb fucking decision. God, I really want to like this but WHAT THE FUCK????
yeah but the outcome of the match was a good one
 

Pavaloo

Member
sami zayn is getting his own action figure, of course he's going to be in the game. plus they already had gabriel and kidd in the games prior. considering how many animations they keep over, they may as well re-use those assets. plus the nxt guys are probably wayyy easier to scan since they're not on the road all the time.
 
This is the same company that openly tells the PPV buyers that they are fucking stupid for paying full price for their shows when they could have just signed up for WWE Network.

Would've been funnier if they responded to NeoGaf quotes. I think Jared or one of them has shown up in the thread before.
 
This is the same company that openly tells the PPV buyers that they are fucking stupid for paying full price for their shows when they could have just signed up for WWE Network.
Yep. That is hilarious.


When the Zayn fig gonna drop. Might break my word and buy a Mattel fig.....



I emailed DGUSA last week and asked them why they are a year behind with their DVD releases. They haven't emailed me back.
 

Xater

Member
This is the same company that openly tells the PPV buyers that they are fucking stupid for paying full price for their shows when they could have just signed up for WWE Network.

I head about that and how they even had a graph or something on RAW. I should maybe try and catch the German broadcast to se if they cut that shit out. I bet fans her will be thrilled to see something like that with the WWE Network still not being available here...
 

Alucard

Banned
Btw, I'm shocked at the lack "How the hell did Ambrose get inside that box?" posts after the final angle last night. Zero logic whatsoever.
 
I emailed DGUSA last week and asked them why they are a year behind with their DVD releases. They haven't emailed me back.

LOL! Not surprised, they don't take criticism well - also, they've prioritised releasing the latest EVOLVE shows on DVD from the recent 'reboot'. So EVOLVE's 31-35 should be their next releases, although god knows when.
 
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