Wrestling

Lio Rush’s Future

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MLW's Lio Rush nearly quit wrestling after WWE release

I liked Lio Rush as a manager. When he first represented Bobby Lashley I thought, “This is exactly what the Titus Brand should’ve been”, but that partnership didn’t last too long and Rush was on the move. Now in AEW, Rush lost another client in Dante Martin to Team Tazz, which was the smart move, but not good for Rush’s progression in AEW.

Can Rush wrestle? Yes. He is still phenomenal and can put on a show with anyone. But they need to really write a good storyline for him in AEW. Rush needs to align himself with a faction or they should give him his own and let him keep it. Maybe go with the storyline of trying to compete with Team Tazz and bring back Brian Cage to team with Rush. Have Cage go for the FTW Championship and let Rush be a big part of him winning it.

So what do you think of Rush in AEW so far and if he was to start a new faction who would be on it?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Solo Sikoa : How I Would Book Him

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Solo Sikoa Makes NXT Debut at Halloween Havoc (Video) | 411MANIA

This is how I’d book Solo Sikoa. He would be a knockout specialist. I would put him in a series of squash matches, where the bell would ring and Sikoa would throw a knockout punch followed by a few more hits and just walk out of the ring, leaving his opponent knocked out. I wouldn’t even care about his record, because if the ref counted him out it didn’t matter. Sikoa wouldn’t care about records, he would just want to knock his opponent out.

So after a month or two of this, Sikoa would find himself in a match against Bron Breakker. Match would start, Breakker would throw a punch, Sikoa would duck and give the knockout blow downing Breakker. Sikoa would walk out of the ring as he would usually do. Then, Breakker would stagger and get up. Sikoa would see on the big screen Breakker getting up and Sikoa turn slowly. Ref keeps counting. Breakker yells at Sikoa to come back.  Ref gets to the 7 count and Sikoa sprints back in the ring and their match really begins.

Solo (@WWESoloSikoa) / Twitter

That moment right there would define the two men. It would create such a moment that would stick with them throughout their career. Especially, if you these two men are booked to be the top of the company.

I don’t think I would keep Sikoa in NXT very long. Breakker I would keep for a title run or two, but Sikoa would fit in perfectly with The Bloodline and that’s a storyline that I can’t see going on for another two years.  You should bring him up right after my idea for the match against Breakker and then eventually have these 2 meet in the future. Possibly for a Survivor Series match where both men are either holding their main or mid card titles.

But what do you think of it?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Kota Ibushi : Things Happen For A Reason

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Kota Ibushi Comments On The Shoulder Injury He Suffered At The G1 Climax Finals, How He Thinks The Injury Occurred

I wanted to start this off with “Wow the WWE really dropped the ball on Kota Ibushi”, because they did have him in the Cruiserweight Classic, a few matches on NXT and that was it. At first, I though the WWE made a huge mistake not signing Ibushi to a long-term contract, but he wasn’t the same man he is now. He was a lot smaller back then. Now he looks like he put on a lot of muscle and looks the part of a main eventer.

The Cruiserweight Classic was in 2016, since then Ibushi has been in matches against Kenny Omega (the greatest wrestler of all time), Will Osprey, Tama Tonga, Tetsuya Naito, Kazuchika Okada and many other Main Eventers.

Wrestle Kingdom 15: Kota Ibushi aims to capture IWGP Heavyweight title - Sports Illustrated

Maybe not signing with the WWE could’ve been the best thing that could’ve happened to Ibushi. He did say he wanted to raise Japanese Wrestling up and he certainly has. Eventually, Ibushi will find his way to an AEW or Impact Wrestling arena hopefully not in a similar way Minoru Suzuki did because I don’t want to see Ibushi come and go without a title run. I’d like to see him come for a year, run the gauntlet of dream matches and end his time holding the AEW or Impact Championship.

Let me know what you guys think.

Simptastic Joe

Movies and Shows

Steve Let Sharon down

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Civil War: Why Steve Rogers Really Kissed Sharon Carter

After watching Falcon and the Winter Soldier I was left wondering why didn’t Steve Rogers help Sharon Carter out? After she helped Rogers in Civil War, she was backlisted and forced to move to Europe and eventually become the Power Broker. Carter wasn’t always evil, but being on her own, cutting all ties with SHIELD, essentially being betrayed by the very government she swore to uphold all compounded to make her into a criminal.

Rogers was able to smuggle Bucky into Wakanda. Why couldn’t he do the same for Carter? And in Infinity War, Rogers, Falcon and Black Widow were able to keep tabs on Vision and Wanda. Why didn’t Rogers get Sharon into that group? How was he ok with her moving to a place controlled by gangs and kingpins? Just seemed like he really dropped the ball on Carter and could’ve saved her from a life on crime.

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

AJ Styles Royal Rumble Winner

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AJ Styles Set to Appear On This Week's WWE NXT | 411MANIA

I think AJ Styles needs to win the Royal Rumble this year. He had NOTHING interesting going on now. Teaming with Omos has been interesting, but I felt like that took him out of a lot of interesting storylines and feuds. Maybe the constant WWE firings stopped a lot of great dream matches for Styles.

Styles could’ve gone against Karron Kross, Keith Lee, Andrade, Lars Sullivan, Buddy Murphy, Killian Dain, Bray Wyatt, Bobby Fish to name a few. Styles has been losing his main event status for a very long time and now it’ll be hard to bring him back to that without a massive change. The Royal Rumble is an easy way to set this up.

So what do you think is in store for AJ Styles in 2022?

Simptastic Joe

Movies and Shows

Invincible: Secret Identities

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Invincible' Arrives on Amazon Prime With a Young Hero for Mature Audiences - The New York Times

After watching the hit new series Invincible on Amazon Prime, I was left with one question. Do Omni Man’s neighbors know he lives there? Omni Man might be the most well-known person on the face of the Earth and doesn’t wear any mask so are all his neighbors blind to the fact that a literal God lives next door?

When Mark was practicing flying for the first time, his mother heard the sounds of him plummeting into the backyard over and over again. How come nobody went outside to see what’s going on? You think the sound of constant crashing would make even the most agoraphobic of neighbors curious.

\And when Cissel blew up the neighbor’s house after Omni Man turned evil, he made a point of saying they evacuated the block. So clearly people live there.

Invincible season 2 - Amazon Prime release date, cast and plot

I mean Superman puts on a pair of glasses and nobody notices a thing, but its not like he’s busting out of the room, taking half the door with him and returns saying, “Sorry bad Chinese food,”. A friend of mine said that apparently where they live is controlled by the government, but I don’t recall the show mentioning that.

What do you guys think of it?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Kyle O’Reilly EDIT (Facepalm)

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I write a lot of these articles, especially wrestling articles, well in advance. I started writing this the day after Adam Cole had his final match with Kyle O’Reilly. It was obvious Cole was leaving, but we were kind of uncertain on O’Reilly’s future in NXT and the WWE. Here’s what I started writing and where I stopped:

The WWE should go all in on Kyle O’Reilly and make him the new Daniel Bryan. Both men are very similar in style. Hard strikes and an excellent submission game. O’Reilly is a feel-good story. Small, overlooked, but has the ability to be champion one day. I never believed in O’Reilly as a singles competitor, but I didn’t think Bobby Fish could either, but I’m loving his AEW work.

Right now, the WWE is devoid of a spark plug in their stories. Roman Reigns and placeholder Big E (I’ll get to that later) are still champion. I don’t think keeping O’Reilly in NXT is a good idea. They are building up too much new talent and I O’Reilly gets gold in NXT he will hinder a lot of new talent progress.

The best thing to do with him is send him RAW

And that’s all I finished on that article. I just witnessed O’Reilly make his AEW debut and stand in the ring with his two best friends. It was an AWESOME moment for the fans, but I find myself a bit pessimistic.

I was never a huge fan of O’Reilly on NXT. Yes, the Undisputed Era was the best thing in wrestling, but Adam Cole was clearly the only one deserving singles run and the rest were just tag team wrestlers. Bobby Fish I fell in love with in AEW because I only recall one singles match, he had in NXT and that was against EC3. Both Fish and O’Reilly we never got to see their full potential. And now that Fish and O’Reilly are back with Cole, are they back to being tag team wrestlers and that’s it? When I say “tag team wrestlers” I mean guys who can only function in a tag team aspect and aren’t unique at all in their own right. Obviously, O’Reilly’s time in AEW is less than an hour, but I do hope they don’t make the same mistakes in AEW with Fish and O’Reilly as they did in NXT.

Simptastic Joe

Videogames

My Friend Pedro

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My Friend Pedro on Steam

Sometimes a really ridiculous idea works out perfectly. My Friend Pedro is a run and gun side scrolling shooter were the main character is taking directions from a sentient floating bandanna. Sounds really dumb and they could’ve literally just had a help icon come up and tell you what to do, but they chose a banana for some reason.

Besides that ridiculousness, this game is fantastic. There is a wide variety or weapons, you can ride on skateboards and throw them at your enemies, there’s melee, slow motion, toss a frying pan and ricochet the bullets around.

My Friend Pedro Review

SPOILER

The plot is pretty interesting. You’re an unnamed protagonist whose family is involved in criminal activity, but you can’t bring yourself to stop them, so you knock yourself out, erasing your memory and Pedro directs you to kill them all. When this is revealed, you then have to fight Pedro himself and after you kill him its revealed that you are Pedro and the banana was just a figment of your imagination.

Weird, but different and a hell of a lot of fun. I would totally recommend My Friend Pedro to everyone. I give it a 10/10. It has everything you’d want in a game, I had nothing to complain about and most importantly it had replay value.

Simptastic Joe 

Wrestling

Not Looking Good For Styles

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NXT 2.0 Preview 12/21: AJ Styles Comes To NXT For Grayson Waller

AJ Styles is set to fight Grayson Waller on NXT, so is it fair to say this is the end of Styles in the WWE? You don’t see top talent like Styles going down to NXT for a good reason. We’ve seen some superstars sent back down to build them back up again. Notably Finn Balor, but after that he’s back on the main roster doing nothing again.

I said many times that this year Styles should win the Royal Rumble. After his split with Omos there really isn’t much going for him. A big change is needed in Styles future, but I don’t think NXT is the place for him. This isn’t CM Punk making his long-awaited return to the ring and having dream matches against new talent. This is a multiple time WWE champion, who is in the prime of his career. This isn’t like EC3 or Mustafa Ali where creative has admitted they don’t know what to do with them anymore. You can put Styles in any feud and it would be great. Yes, going against Waller will be fun, but the goal of NXT is to build superstars to one day go against the likes of Styles, not the other way around.

What do you think about AJ Styles now and what would you do with him?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

I Wouldn’t Sign Them

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Can't Knock The Hustle: What Does AEW Do With CM Punk & Bryan Danielson?

I’ve been flip flopping on this one for a while. When I heard the rumors of CM Punk and Bryan Danielson making the move to AEW I first wrote “I wouldn’t sign them,” I would’ve rather AEW focus on the talent and stop bringing in new guys.

Then when they showed up I wrote “I was totally wrong. This is an amazing moment for wrestling fans. I can’t wait to see what happens,”. And now my opinion is “I wouldn’t have signed them and would rather AEW focus on the talent already there,”. CM Punk is putting on great matches. Seems like a dream match every week. But again, he’s taking time away from other AEW talent and there is so much there that a lot of them get pushed aside.

Now Danielson is next in line for an AEW Championship match. What about Lance Archer, Brian Cage, Pac, the 4 Pillars and others? Every time AEW signs one of these big-name talents, everyone on the roster gets pushed down a peg. Realistically, I would rather see Danielson challenge Hangman Page for the title rather than a Pentagon or a Sammy Guevara, but still, I would rather them get a shot at a main event match and build off of that.

That was what CM Punk argued with Vince McMahon and Triple H about at the end of his WWE tender. He wanted that WrestleMania main event to build his character more and put him into that top tier of wrestlers.

I’m not saying these aren’t great matches the two men are having. It’s just storyline we aren’t seeing a lot of other talents getting the top spots like they deserve.

Simptastic Joe