Tag Archives: brock lesnar

Wrestling

Jay White’s Future

Leave a comment

Jay White is reportedly torn between the WWE and AEW as his next destination. There are pros and cons to each company, so I wanted to go over each.

I wrote that line and spend the next 10 minutes trying to think of a single positive of White going to AEW. The way AEW is operating now, with their lack of storytelling and a not split-up roster on the Tony Khan’s 6 shows, White will be lost in the shuffle very quickly. The WWE is the best and only option for him.

White will be a game changer in the WWE, much like AJ Styles was when he entered in 2016. Styles had one of the greatest years in the WWE in 2016, having feuds with the top talents in the company before winning the WWE Championship.

White has a ton of dream opponents and feuds in the WWE. Austin Theory, AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, Cody Rhodes, Edge, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Matt Riddle, Karrion Kross, Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, and that’s just the main roster. On NXT, he has Carmelo Hayes, Greyson Waller, Bron Breakker, Dominik Dijakovic, JD McDonagh, and more to go up against.

Triple H did tease the Raw after WrestleMania being a huge reveal. Could White be that reveal?

Wrestling

Cameron Grimes In Limbo

Leave a comment

Cameron Grimes has been patiently waiting for his Main Roster call up and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I don’t recall a moment of Grimes in NXT that screamed he’s going to be a top star. That’s not an attack on his ability, but on the creative team.

Grimes played an old timely coal miner in NXT and then was showered with money when he joined forces with Ted DiBiase, which eventually dissolved into nothing. Or is still going on…like I said Grimes was very forgettable in NXT.

If he does go to the Main Roster after WrestleMania, it should be a total character change. Go full heel, attack a mid-card champion, probably join someone like Bray Wyatt or bring back AOP. Whatever the case, don’t make Grimes have to go out on his own and build himself up. Put him in a faction, take the pressure off him, build on some big matches and then off to the singles division starting with a Money in the Bank match or a multi-man match. Not original, but it’s effective.

Where do you see Grimes going on the Main Roster and who would he fight first?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Reigns vs Zayn: Not Over Yet?

Leave a comment

I said many times that I have a Love/Hate relationship with Brock Lesnar. I’ve seen many fantastic matches where he fought Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Triple H and others, but there have been a lot of terrible matches with Lesnar as well. the bad matchres consist of German Suplexes followed by an F5 and sprints to the finish of the match. A lot of high spots that get a quick reaction, but nothing long lasting.

This match was a bad Lesnar match in reverse. Slow, painfully slow. To the point where I questioned if Sami Zayn is even a good wrestler anymore. Zayn’s last couple of years in the WWE have been more theatrical than focusing on in ring ability. Yes, he was great in NXT, but I would say the most impressive thing he did on the main roster was his feud with Braun Strowman in 2016, which was 7 years ago. Since then, he has been bottom tier on the roster, lackluster feuds and essentially struggling to hold any type of spotlight. This could very well be the first time watching a wrestler be elevated to potential WrestleMania Championship match based on emotional storytelling and not in ring ability.

All this match did was show that Roman Reigns can command an arena doing very little wrestling. Roman yelled at the crowd, yelled at Zayn’s wife, mouthed off to Zayn’s father, yelled at the crowd again. Every now and then Zayn caught Reigns monologuing and took advantage, but not for long. It felt like watching a retirment match where Zayn’s career was on the line and we saw glimpses of great moments from his past.

Of course the referee went down, bringing in Jimmy Uso to Superkick Zayn until the ref woke up. The Jey Uso hesitation with the chair was interesting, but makes me wonder if this is leading to Jey and Zayn winning the tag titles, which wouldn’t surprise me, but would be an immense letdown of storytelling. Zayn winning the title from Reigns is the only outcome that makes sense. Anything else is a massive letdown.

So what did this match accomplish? That Zayn isn’t at the level that Reigns is? That the fans will chant for you more if your parents had unprotected sex in that city? This feud is over to me. Obviously, we have WrestleMania and an unfinished Jey Uso moment of truth, but this is now Cody Rhode’s time.

Did they bring back Rhodes to win the Royal Rumble and not be the focal point. That we are getting a Triple Threat Match for the titles that again reiterates the fact that Zayn can’t win the big one? So now, they’re sacrificing Rhode’s potential WrestleMania moment for Zayn, when his moment should’ve been in Canada. What a waste.

Art work from Dream by Wombo AI Art

Simptastic Joe

Movies and Shows

Lightyear Damage Control

Leave a comment

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I don’t think certain things get leaked without a reason. Disney has announced they have a woman kissing woman scene in the new Buzz Lightyear movie. Many people think this is in response to a new bill proposed by Ron DeSantis, banning schools from teaching about sexual orientation until after 3rd grade. The bill is now being trolled as an anti-gay bill and Disney is mad about that.

Now all of a sudden, it is leaked that the same sex kissing scene will be in the movie…after apparently being cut from the movie. My issue is why is a kiss the most talked about thing in this movie? I haven’t heard a single thing about the plot, any secret cameos or anything important.

The same thing happened before the movie the Eternals came out. In that movie, there was a man kissing another man for a second and that was all the internet was talking about. I didn’t read anything about how this movie tied into the MCU, nothing about the after-credit scenes, nothing about anything of value except the kiss. And Disney blamed the low box office numbers and bad reviews on that kiss.

Is Disney already writing the narrative of why Lightyear is going to fail? Are they going to go with the Liberal 3 (catchphrase pending), that the hate is from homophobic, misogynist, white supremacists? Or is the hate going to be well deserved because the movie might be poorly written?

I don’t expect this movie to crush the box office records by any means. The creation of Disney+ makes me ok with waiting for the movie to come to streaming for the included price. I think the only Marvel movie I saw in theaters in the last few years was No Way Home because it wasn’t going to be on Disney+. So why would I pay extra to see the movie in theaters of pay a Disney+ premium price to watch a movie that I can just wait a few months to see for no extra cost?

More importantly, will the Chinese release have this same sex kiss in it? Disney has kowtowed to China many times over the past few years. Making Finn smaller on the Chinese Star Wars poster and putting Black Panther in a mask in the movie poster didn’t really scream China really like black people. The Eternals didn’t have a release in China because of the same sex kiss. China is a massive part of Disney’s profits, so it’ll be interesting to see what the new Disney direction will be without China’s influence.

Do you agree with my theory that Disney is pushing the narrative? Do you think Lightyear will fail in the box office?

Let me know.

Wrestling

Where Are You Going With This?

Leave a comment

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

Wrestling

Cody Invasion

Leave a comment

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

Wrestling

The Wrestling Merger

Leave a comment

AEW has changed the wrestling landscape forever by making deals with Impact Wrestling and NJPW. The WWE has yet been public about making a deal, but I imagine some sort of agreement will be happening soon. It’s a win/win for the WWE and wrestling fans for a deal to be put in place and here’s why.

Wrestler Swapping is the best way to keep fans engaged and stories fresh. The WWE’s biggest mistake is focusing their attention on a select few wrestlers rather than expanding on the talents they already have.

There is Raw, Smackdown, Main Event, 205 Live, NXT, NXT UK, AEW Dynamite, AEW Dark, Impact Wrestling and NJPW. After many painstaking hours, I have come up with a potential shakeup of wrestlers and unsigned free agents that can populate those shows and make for compelling matches.

The only issue is bad blood with firings. The WWE fired a bunch of wrestlers during the Covid months. Would wrestlers be willing to come back if it means being put in meaningful feuds and championship matches? ACH left NXT at his highest career point citing racism and burned his WWE bridges, but what if he was to return to a prime spot?

The salary would be easy to negotiate. Let’s say (I don’t know what he makes but using a round number) Johnny Gargano makes 1 million dollars this upcoming year. The writers would write out all the potential storylines for Gargano and ship him around to the companies. Gargano spend some time on NXT, Impact, RAW and rounding out the year on Dynamite. It would get split up evenly be his time in each company. How they would negotiate his time and need in each company while excluding others will have be ironed out before a deal is made. The swapping of wrestlers is to keep storylines fresh in EACH company and making sure ALL have an equal amount of talent to shine.

Main Event, AEW Dark and 205 Live I feel are shows made for wrestlers that don’t have anything major going on and give them a place to show their talents as time slots open up for them to shine. Mojo Rawley and Slapjack are not main eventers, but have had impressive showings on Main Event. I wouldn’t make these shows simple hour long shows with many commercials, but 2 hours with compelling storylines and feuds that fans would like to see.

For some wrestlers, the situation matters more than the company. Most of the time it’s not the companies fault entirely. WWE has made it clear they don’t know what to do or have time for Aleister Black and Andrade. It doesn’t mean they aren’t main eventers; it just means they are preoccupied with their bread-and-butter talents like Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman. Now if you take Aleister Black and ship him off to NJPW and have him fight the likes of Okada, Taiji Ishimori, Kenta, Tama Tonga, and Jeff Cobb that can be some good wrestling.

There will be no ratings war. Monday you have RAW, Tuesday you have NXT followed by NXT UK, Wednesday you have Dynamite, Thursday you have Impact, Friday you have Smackdown and Saturday you have NJPW. The potential main event matches for these days can be Seth Rollins vs Jay White, Johnny Gargano vs Marty Scurll, Kenny Omega vs Randy Orton, Hangman Page vs Matt Riddle, Roman Reigns vs Lance Archer and EC3 vs AJ Styles. It would be the ultimate set of dream matches for fans. Every promotion will be filled with a massive amount of talent. Main Event, 205 Live and Dark can be a preshow to RAW, Smackdown and Dynamite featuring matches like Colt Cabana vs R Truth, Stu Grayson vs Kalisto and Tucker Knight vs Chris Hero.

I will be making a massive shakeup video soon and be talking about specific wrestlers’ futures and different shows and also the feuds they can expect to have soon. But what shakeups would you love to see happen?

Simptastic Joe