Category Archives: Wrestling

NXT Spring Breakin’ 2022 Prediction

Grayson Waller vs. Nathan Frazer

Grayson Waller is who NXT should be building up as champion. I think Nathan Frazer is a good opponent, but shouldn’t be the focal point of the future of the 2.0 division. Waller is getting lost in the shuffle compared to his War Games teammates. I would’ve argued that Waller shoudlve been moved the main roster before WrestleMania in a match against AJ Styles, leading to a partnership between the 2 men.

Winner: Grayson Waller

The Creed Brothers vs. The Viking Raiders

The Creed Brothers have been sensational recently. I disagree how they won the titles, but if I had to put the belts on someone it would be them. The team is a more athletic Authors of Pain and even though they are very similar, you can see uniqueness in their moves. The Viking Raiders were a fantastic team on the main roster, I just don’t think they had the right opponents to create instant classics.

Winner: Creed Brothers

Natalya and Lash Legends vs. Cora Jade and Nikita Lyons

Nikita Lyons is the future of the Woman’s Division. This match will be focused on her mostly and the other women just adding her dramatic win.

Winner: Nikita Lyons and some other girl

Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Carmelo Hayes for the NXT North American Championship

Is the Bloodline going to interfere in this match? Is this all part of Roman Reign’s  proficy to get all the gold in the WWE? I think it’s the perfect time for it. the Bloodline and Reign’s title run can only last so long. Sikoa needs to get himself in that group as soon as possible to make sure he gets proper screentime.

If this doesn’t happen then Carmelo Hayes is my favorite to win. The future ids bright for Hayes and I don’t believe in Cameron Grimes. I feel like he is a filler champion and that NXT really doesn’t know how to write him.

Winner: Solo Sikoa

Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for the NXT Championship

Love Joe Gacy, but now isn’t the time to hold this belt. I think they’ve been playing title hot potato too much between Bron Breakker and Dolph Ziggler with all their matches. Fight for the title on a PPV and then it changes on RAW? Kinda weird to me.

The only way I see Gacy winning this match, is if we unveil a new teammate for him. Harland has been released, and Gacy needs a big on his team. I see Gacy as the new Bray Wyatt and needs to start recruiting the future faction of NXT.

Winner: Bron Breakker

Where Are You Going With This?

AEW needs a proper developmental brand to help build up wrestlers. NXT makes sense for the WWE. Wrestlers stay there for a few years before going to the main roster after winning championships or being there for long enough that fans will recognize them on the main roster. My issue with AEW’s lack of developmental brand makes me question the path of Captain Shawn Dean.

Dean has a very bright future in the world of wrestling, but I don’t know if AEW even believes in him. He was thrown in a garbage match against MJF, with resulted in Dean winning because CM Punk came in the ring, attacked Dean and technically ruined MJF’s undefeated streak. And this coming week on Dynamite, Dean will be facing MJF again and I’m predicting Wardlow will come out to the ring, which will distract MJF and Dean can get the rollup win. Maybe sparking a tag match between Shawn Spears and MJF vs Wardlow and Dean.

Whatever the outcome, Dean isn’t booked to be a realistic wrestler in AEW. Sadly, I predict Dean will be a roster filler for the most part, we will see him a little more in this MJF and Wardlow feud, but Dean’s roster spot will be on Dark and Elevation helping other wrestlers increase their win/loss record.

What do you think about Shawn Dean’s future in AEW?

Simptastic Joe

Why Punish Him?

I don’t know the full story of what happened, but Nash Carter (current NXT Tag Team Champion) has been released from NXT following a domestic abuse allegation. Then they stripped Nash and his tag team partner Wes Lee of the titles….why? Why is Lee being punished for Carter’s actions?

This could’ve been a great opportunity for Lee. A storyline could’ve been created of Lee trying to find a tag team partner for an upcoming match. Maybe have him being jumped and be in a handicapped match against the number 1 contenders for the title.

A few members of NXT UK have been wrestling in the United States for a few months, so it wouldn’t be ridiculous to bring over another wrestler for a few weeks to team with Lee and eventually drop the belts. My top picks would be Dave Mastiff. Mastiff has been one of my favorite wrestlers of the UK division and I don’t think he’s been in the title picture enough.

If you want to go with a current NXT member in the US then Xyon Quinn (my new favorite wrestler) would be a great pick. Quinn is being booked perfectly as of late and it would be cool to see him in some tag matches. Or you can go with a current main roster wrestler who has done absolutely nothing and needs a rebranding. T-Bar (barf) sorry I mean Dominik Dijakovic was amazing on NXT, but never won any titles before going up to the main roster. Or if you want to trying building up someone on Smackdown devoid of a story then Mansoor is perfect. I think Mansoor should have an amazing year as the WWE is looking to branch out and make an NXT company in the Middle East. Mansoor needs to get better if he is going to lead that brand. And a great way to get him more screentime is teaming him up with Lee and holding those belts for a while.

Who would you team Wes Lee with and do you think striping him of the belt was a smart idea?

Simptastic Joe

Cody Invasion

Imagine this. WrestleMania. Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar in a title vs title match. The ref is knocked out. The Usos charge the ring. Brock takes them both out with double clothesline. He starts beating them down. Heyman comes in with a chair and hits Lesnar across the back. Lesnar grabs Heyman by the throat and yells in his face. Reigns gets up and goes for the Spear, but his Heyman instead. Lesnar hits Reigns with the F5. 1. 2. 3. Lesnar celebrates, holds up both belts and makes his way up the ramp. He takes one last look at a defeated Reigns who finally made it to his feet. Then it happens. Cody Rhodes jumps the barrier, slides in the ring and hits Reigns with the Cross Rhodes. Then he takes a look at Lesnar and we cut to black.

How good would that be?

Simptastic Joe

What Team Taz Could’ve Been

A couple of months ago, I thought Team Taz was going to be the best faction in all of wrestling. They have Ricky Starks (current FTW Champion), Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook. All three men are very talented and have a big future ahead of them, but I miss what could’ve been.

At one point you had Brian Cage there. Cage, one of the biggest and toughest looking guys in wrestling on Team Taz. And I don’t know if its contract or some other outside circumstances, but Cage hasn’t been in AEW for a long time. He is being used on other shows, but not any worthy of mentioning.

The Dante Martin storyline was one of the biggest disappointments for me. Team Taz had the big men (Hobbs and Cage), the charisma (Starks) and the wildcard (Hook) so Martin could’ve been the high flyer. That faction could’ve ran AEW for the foreseeable future.

What faction can compete with all that? Even teams like the Elite and the Inner Circle aren’t equipped enough to beat Team Taz.

World War Joe

Yes It Does Make You Look Weak

The Young Bucks Explain Their Unique Twitter Strategy

Body shaming is bad. Nobody should ever be shamed for their appearance. We get that. It still happens and it will forever happen until the end of existence so you can put up all the hashtags you want on Twitter, but that’s not going to stop anything.

The reason why I bring this up is because of the Young Bucks have a new bio on Twitter. It reads, “If we threaten, body shame or say inappropriate things to you, we should lose our jobs. If you do it to us, we need to have thicker skin”.  

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I read this and don’t think the Young Bucks are the toughest team in wrestling. I know that’s not a polite opinion to have, but it ruins the mystique of the tag team. I don’t think wrestlers should be in control of their social medias. Not because I don’t believe in free speech, but because Tweets and posts like this ruin the wrestlers reputation.

Imagine Mike Tyson, arguably the toughest and most feared human being at the time. Let’s pretend Twitter existed back then and Tyson tweets out, “I know I have a speech impediment, but you don’t need to point it out. I know I sound ridiculous so please stop pointing it out”. How would that ruin the image of Tyson? I think immensely.  

Maxwell Jacob Friedman™️ on Twitter: "Fuck that kid." / Twitter

Now when I go on MJF’s Twitter page its all about wrestling. Its all about his brand. Its all about his character. He makes fun of Brodie Lee’s son. He talks shit about CM Punk. He disses Wardlow. But at no point in MJF’s Twitter feed to I see “If we all ate turkey burgers instead of beef climate change wouldn’t be a thing anymore”

Now lets take a look at the Young Bucks in recent weeks on tv….they dress like idiots. I mean they never really had the toughest outfits in wrestling, but it was never a problem for me. They had the Randy Savage tassels on the boots and the pattern was interesting. But now they dress in multi colored onesies and wearing gemmed headbands. So do the Bucks not want me to point out how ridiculous they look? I don’t know and at this point I have no idea what their characters are supposed to be anymore.

AEW Full Gear Results: Falls Count Anywhere Match - eWrestlingNews.com

I saw a very interesting video of Karrion Kross and he was explaining that he went to acting classes to workshop the character he wanted to portray in the ring. And if you look at his social medias it all about his character, upcoming matches, fan art of him and Scarlett and all other things accompanying his brand. And his brand is that he is the biggest toughed guy in the ring and a threat to everyone.

I think every company should have a team of social media managers whose sole job it is to be the voice of the wrestler online. Post about their ongoing feuds, share links to previous matches and things that are relevant to wrestling. Again, not saying free speech is a problem. The problem is how a little thing like banning the username Lets Go Brandon can impact a business. I that because Peloton’s stock has crashed recently because of their political views. Which is now resulting in longer ship dates for customers because so many people have canceled their orders and they are not assembling them fast enough because of the lack of orders. You’re a bike company. Sell bikes. Don’t lecture me on usernames. If I wanted to call myself ChildToucher69 it shouldn’t matter to the company. And if someone is offended by it, they should be able to press a button that says “hide the username”. Peloton I just did your job for you.

My point is that every Tweet that’s sent out and every opinion given should be reread before sending or thought about before speaking. Bully Ray is having a massive heat because of some comments he said about Jon Moxley. Comments that people have made compelling arguments for and against.

New look Young Bucks show off new heel attitude in Tag title defense -  Cageside Seats

Now obviously the Buck’s bio wasn’t as severe as the other examples, but it does show a lack of maturity and business sense from them. I don’t want the best tag team in the world giving me a lecture of how I should behave. You two are not real people to me. I don’t know either of you personally, we are not on a first name basis and when I watch a wrestler, I don’t want to know any of their non wrestling opinions. Essentially your life isn’t

Bryan Danielson is a vegan and when he was in the WWE, he turned the title into a hemp title because it was better for the environment. They took a real-life aspect of his life and turned it into a gimmick that worked. Danielson as a heel talked down to people who didn’t believe with his cause and would regularly lecture fans on their bad decisions. Why did this work? Because it part of his character.

Backstage Reaction To Joe Gacy's Controversial Woke Gimmick In NXT

Joe Gacy’s character on NXT is a social justice warrior. That’s how he’s written. So his social media is littered with inclusive content. And I predict that Gacy will one day be broken and go to the other side, his social medias will reflect that. And its going to work because it makes sense with the character.

Back to the Young Bucks. They are devoid of character development now. They teamed with Don Callis, started dressing like a pair of grandmothers and wearing brand named shoes. If an opponent during a match says they should do more sit-ups will the Bucks cry and leave the ring?

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I watched an entire ECW arena chant “Fuck you” and “Cena swallows” and did John Cena get mad and walk out? Did he cry it to the media? No, he ate up every second of it and used it to make the match better. He played to the fans hating on him and resulted in one of my favorite matches of all time.

Now a hostile crowd has all the ammo they want to hurt the Bucks. They can chant “Do a sit-up”, “Rogaine” or “Bitch tits” and it would utterly decimate them emotionally. Kurt Angle’s “You Suck” and Stone Cold’s “What” chants are still relevant today even though they happened over a decade ago. Why the Bucks are actively choosing to be this socially inept is beyond me.

The Young Bucks Sign New Long-Term Contracts With All Elite Wrestling

But what do you guys think of their new bio and the Young Bucks now?

Simptastic Joe

Warhorse : No Real Contract?

I never heard of Warhorse until he battled Cody Rhodes during the Pandemic Era for the TNT Championship. It was a good match. Hated how it ended. Warhorse tapped out to Rhodes and the Dark Order attacked them and then Matt Cardona came out and helped Rhodes out which led to some matches of them vs The Dark Order, but no Warhorse?

Especially during that time when a lot of wrestlers were staying home, I would’ve thought Warhorse would at least be there for a few more matches. I don’t know all the ins and outs of AEW contracts, but I remember Eddie Kingston had a similar match with Rhodes and got a contract right after. Fuego Del Sol somehow has an AEW contract and Warhorse doesn’t?

I admit my knowledge of Warhorse is limited to that one AEW match and some clips I saw on YouTube, but it looks like he can wrestle. He can sell, has a nice look, is unique, definitely someone who shouldn’t be overlooked so quickly. If not AEW then I’d like to see him head to Impact and see what happens. Warhorse vs Josh Alexander would be a fun match to watch. Maybe have him take on Eric Young, Christian Cage and Moose would all be great matches to watch.

So what do you guys think of Warhorse and what brand would you like to see him on?

Simptastic Joe

Control Your Narrative Promotion?

When I first heard of the Control Your Narrative movement, I thought this was just a wrestling faction, but I later learned this is going to be a new failing company in the world of wrestling. The company’s 3 main stars are EC3, Killer Kross (Karrion Kross) and Adam Scherr (Braun Strowman). In their mission statement, the men explained what the company is. They first took shots are shareholders and billionaire owners.  Saying that owners collect wrestlers like “toys”. Clearly these men have never ran a company before. The “toys” they are talking about are employees, not friends and not members of a bigger picture. If a wrestler or “toy” is not putting in the work, not loved by the fans and making for lower ratings, then a change will be made. That’s running a business.

The letter than goes on to name drop popular wrestlers that have joined the company. Names like Moose, Matt Sydal, Matt Cardona and some no names. Now, are you telling me that Moose, a superstar in Impact Wrestling who is probably being paid very well, is planning on leaving Impact to join this company?

Who’s paying for this? You don’t have a billionaire owner like Tony Khan or Vince McMahon, you don’t have or want shareholders, so where is the money coming from? The top 3 wrestlers starting this company I imagine have some savings, so they can go a little while without getting a regular paycheck, but the others can’t. Matt Sydal was never a “run the company” wrestler. He has been bouncing around from company to company since he left the WWE. And more importantly, why would he want to leave AEW in any capacity?

I don’t know what to think about this company after reading this letter. I’m very confused with a lot of wrestling companies these days. The WWE looks like the only real wrestling company and the others are just all working together in some way.

Jon Moxley still does shows in Japan and backyard wrestling promotions, but still works for AEW. This move I find incredibly stupid because why would AEW be ok with letting one of their most popular wrestlers go to other places? More importantly, Mox went to some unknown company for his first match after rehab, kinda dulling the moment of his return. Why would Impact Wrestling be ok with Moose playing in this other company. If he gets hurt that’s a MAJOR blow to your company.

The whole promotion just seems like a great faction idea, one that would thrive on grabbing wrestlers who are lost or on losing streaks to be more, but as a company they are failing before they even got started. My prediction gets stronger when I read their website. Apparently, if I’m reading this wrong, fights (not matches) are decided by Tap Out, Knock Out or Can’t Stand……so not wrestling. Is this a better version of Raw Underground?

Another section of the website says “FTN blends professional wrestling, cinema, and harsh reality”. The cinema part throws me off. Because they are going to have live crowds. Are these planned out fist fights? I HATED the cinematic matches during the Pandemic Era for the WWE. I thought nothing had to change with the style, just put on great matches and you captures your audience interest.

If I was running this show, the first thing I would do is write up a REAL mission statement of their promotion, take it to Rumble and do shows exclusively on there. Rumble was ready to give Joe Rogan $200 million dollars to be exclusively there. I wonder how much they would pay for the exclusive rights to a wrestling promotion? I wouldn’t do shows on the road. Like NXT, I would do shows exclusively in one location. Buy a simple warehouse or property you can make into an arena and that solves where it would be. I would put the arena somewhere in the South or mid-West because it’s cheaper to buy property there. Maybe one day take the show on the road, but when you’re stating a new company saving money is key.

The next step does against everything they believe in, getting shareholders. They NEED some big money bankrolling this operation. Let’s say if the Rumble deal happens, they give, let’s say 10 million dollars, you still have a lot of things to buy. The biggest would be the location. I saw just use one because you don’t have to worry about costs of travel and you can control the environment more than using someone else’s building.  

Getting wrestlers shouldn’t be that difficult. Yes, I crapped on Sydal before, but he’s a good wrestler. Not someone who can lead the company, but a suitable wrestler. Moose would be way out of their pay range, but Cardona might be a great addition. The 3 creators would be taking a pay cut for the first few months so that’ll save some money. There are a ton of unknown wrestlers and released wrestlers looking for a shot to be on tv again. If anything, this new promotion might be a way to help them. But that would be a WRESTLING promotion and not a….whatever this is.

I don’t think the Control Your Narrative promotion will be a success. The idea is enough to get some early viewers, but this doesn’t seem realistic and will fail pretty soon.

World War Joe

Jay White Vs The Best Friends

After Jay White beat Trent in his AEW debut, I saw something that really annoyed me. The camera panned over to Orange Cassidy before the show cut to black……is AEW seriously going to give us Jay White vs Orange Cassidy? Are they really going to push a fight between White, who I say is top 5 in the world, against one of the least imposing threats in AEW? Not only that, I can see White fighting the entire Best Friends group, probably ending in a multi man tag match.

I figure this might be a good idea for a feud in theory, White is very popular overseas, but if you don’t watch him on YouTube then you probably never heard of him. My problem is that this feud is a waste of time, especially for White. I would have White attack Cassidy before he enters the Face of the Revolution Ladder match this weekend. Attack him backstage, knock him out of the match and get White in that match against the best the company has to offer.

You can have Cassidy interfere and cost White’s chances of winning the match, setting up their feud. But having Cassidy in that match is such a waste. Cassidy isn’t equipped to be the face of the company ever, but White is. Maybe White running through all the Best Friends might buy him time until some of the other feuds are finished and he can get inserted into the main title picture or against a higher profile talent like Hangman Page.

Simptastic Joe

AEW Needs A Developmental Brand

Right now, NXT is really bad. I mean almost unwatchable at times. From the hideous new arena to the ridiculous gimmicks of their top talents, but at least NXT makes sense. The whole point of it is to bring in talent, put them into meaningful feuds, give them title runs and let the fans get a glimpse of what the future of the company will be. In a year or two, the main roster will be guys Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Solo Sikoa, Grayson Waller to name a few.

Let’s look at AEW’s developmental brands in Dark and Elevation. These aren’t developmental brands, these are fillers. Some people argue that the other companies are the developmental brands and AEW is the main roster now in wrestling. A few months ago, we watched the final matches of Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole on NXT. Now the trio is on AEW and all the developmental work done. Their names have been built up; their brand is still there. The trio didn’t lose a step from their NXT run. Tony Khan just brought them all over and they’re doing the exact same thing.

Dark and Elevation are poorly managed. Lets me give you the matches on February 8th of Dark.

Julie Hart vs Kelsey Heather

Powerhouse Hobbs vs Gus De La Vega

The Gunn Club vs who the hell cares.

Mercedes Martinez vs Queen someone

Anthony Ogogo vs Someone

Lee Moriarty vs I don’t care

Anna Jay vs some woman

Fuedo Del Sol vs Serpentor

And last was Wheeler Yuta vs Aaron Solow

Who do you think won the matches? The AEW wrestlers that are featured on Dynamite and Rampage? Or the random people nobody cares about? The only match that wasn’t obvious was Yuta vs Solow. Everything else on the card was a waste of time. It didn’t elevate anyone. It just filled time and let wrestlers that aren’t featured in a while a chance to be in front of fans.

And worst of all, look at some of these records. Powerhouse Hobbs, a guy that I absolutely LOVE. A guy who I think will be running this company in a few years is 39-17. When the hell was Powerhouse Hobbs in all these matches?  And the Gunn Club is 35-0! You’re telling me this team is undefeated and running through opponents like this are just now going after the tag champions? That Christian Cage and Billy Gunn had to have a discussion about the worthiness of an undefeated team?

This card had 9 matches on it for an hour-long show. So, each match was about 6 minutes long. What exactly can you do in 6 minutes? You can’t have much going on. You can’t cut many promos. You can’t really have a lot of interference.

Did any of these matches elevate the winners? Anna Jay is a main roster wrestler, one of the most popular women on the roster, doesn’t need to be in any match against an extremely unknown wrestler whose name I already forget. It shows she can beat an unknown talent. So does she get a title match next week? No? then what was the point?

What is the point of putting Santana and Ortiz in a Dark tag match and then put them on Rampage? Santana and Ortiz, arguably one of the best tag teams in the world of wrestling do not need to be in a match that doesn’t matter.

I went to an AEW live showing. They film Dark before the show so we got to see a few matches. Preston Vance fought QT Marshal. Was the best Dark match because these were two main roster wrestlers, but it didn’t set up for anything. I was hoping it would set up for the Dark Order to fight The Factory. Two tag teams with interesting talent. I know I crap on the Dark Order every time I talk about them, but I would rather see them wrestle and maybe do something besides looking like fools online.

AEW is doing a massive disservice to its wrestlers with how they’re handling Dark and Elevation. They should have maybe 4 matches at the most. That’s about 25 minutes for each match in terms of entrance, match, finish, promo and future match teases. What an absolute waste of 2 shows.

Another great example is Captain Shawn Dean. I don’t know wither or not to care about him. He has Dark matches and he was featured in a match against MJF where CM Punk ran in and knocked out Dean to give MJF the loss. Soooooo is Dean going to be a future AEW star? Or is he cannon fodder? Or is he a realistic prospect? I know Grayson Waller is going to be a featured star in NXT. Why? Because he’s featured more. He’s in big matches like War Games and he’s having a feud with AJ Styles and LA Knight. You see progress. You see screentime. You see potential. You see a guy that is being smartly pushed.

AEW has 0 idea what they’re doing half the time. The whole company is just a dream match factory and that’s it. what do you guys think?

Simptastic Joe