Tag Archives: cody rhodes

Wrestling

HookHausen

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Hook might be one of the best written characters in AEW. They are smartly pacing his build, picking the perfect opponents and setting up meaningful feuds. But aligning Hook with Danhausen might be a detriment to his character.

The title picture in AEW is very crowded, but I can see Hook making that jump next year. Right now, the goal is building him more. Fighting against Tony Nese is a fantastic move in the right direction. Nese is highly athletic and is skilled enough to put on a show against anyone in AEW. I would make this a main event match for Rampage and give them a 20-minute match of pure wrestling and hard hitting. Hook needs to win the match, but only by a hair. Not his usual endings, where he puts his opponent in Red Rum and walks away after a tap out. I want to see Hook get the submission and then lay there in the middle of the ring, exhausted and beaten.

Now, to HookHausen….no…..just no. I don’t like Danhausen at all. When I said that online, I was sent a bunch of matches of Danhausen’s top matches and I wasn’t impressed at all. Danhausen isn’t good for AEW. The company is going in a more serious direction with its signings.

I will admit, I find some of Danhausen’s antics humorous. I was at Revolution and jumped and pointed to Danhausen appearing from under the ring and then cursed Ricky Starks, However, antics doesn’t translate over to money. Maybe merchandising, but try booking Danhausen as a main event fighter and see how that does.

So, pairing the men together isn’t going to be good for anyone. It might seem “fun” on paper, but overall, we aren’t going to see the duo going against FTR, the Young Bucks reDRagon, The Gunn Club, the House of Black and the Lucha Brothers.

Even having Danhausen manage Hook in some way is bad for business as well. Team Taz is a fantastic team and due to bad booking they could’ve been even better. Hook is an essential piece of that team and Team Taz having Danhausen walk to the ring with Hook doesn’t make the faction look as strong.

What do you think of the pairing of Hook and Danhausen and what teams do you picture them fighting?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

NXT Spring Breakin’ 2022 Prediction

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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

Wrestling

Why Punish Him?

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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

Wrestling

The Wrestling Merger

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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