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Wrestling

Defending the Stun Gun Ending

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Wrestling fans and wrestlers alike seem to agree that Goldberg losing to Kevin Nash after getting tazed was a bad idea; however, I loved the ending and thought it made the most sense. At that time, Goldberg was 173-0 in his WCW career, and it would take a lot more than interference to make him lose at that time.

I didn’t hate the ending, but I hated what happened afterward. Kevin Nash lost to Hulk Hogan with the Finger Poke of Doom, and we didn’t see Goldberg get his title back. I would’ve ended Goldberg’s streak with the taser ending and then have him beat down worse than anyone ever has in WCW. Thrown through a table, every member of the nWo hitting their finishers on Goldberg and him being off TV for a very long time.

Then, have him return with a vengeance and reclaim his title, but that didn’t happen. Goldberg lost to Kevin Nash on December 27, 1998, and didn’t miss any time afterward. Not even a week, and Goldberg was back on TV.

As a wrestling fan, I’ve seen many matches end because of outside interference, but usually, they lead to something bigger and have a more satisfying ending. Moves like these ultimately led to the downfall of the WCW.

World War Joe

Wrestling

WWE Releases

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The WWE releases have started, and the only surprising names so far for me are Dolph Ziggler and Shelton Benjamin. Sadly, I always felt like both men were underappreciated talents, but the rosters are too stacked at the moment for either man to make a significant impact. The rest of the releases aren’t surprising to me. Elias, Rick Boogs, Shanky, and others haven’t made a dent on any show.

Mansoor and Mace were a dead-on-arrival idea, Dana Brooks hasn’t done anything in years, Dabba-Kato was the product of bad creative, and Quency Elliott….come on. Did they really think that gimmick was gonna work? Riddick Moss was a surprise but not unexpected. He hasn’t had a meaningful feud in a year.

I do wonder what major stars are on the chopping block. I find it hard to believe that the WWE has 5 shows (Raw, Smackdown, NXT, Main Event, and Level Up) and still can’t make many of these diamond-in-the-rough stars into something bigger. Ultimately, this comes down to money, and the WWE doesn’t see a need to pay for a wrestler who isn’t making a significant impact or selling merchandise.

World War Joe

Wrestling

Which squash match was worse?

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Kofi’s loss led to nothing. No rematch, no other feuds. Just an embarrassing 7-second loss. At least Kevin Owens had a feud with Chris Jericho after his loss to Goldberg.

Wrestling

Gresham Wants Out

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If I was Gresham I would want to leave too. There is 0 direction with ROH. No tv deal, no weekly schedule, just random PPVs with very little story or interest. Why wouldn’t he want to leave? Obviously, his main destination would be the WWE.

I would give Gresham a royal treatment, a title shot against the NXT champion after a few months and have him hold the title for about a year and move him to the main roster. There’s a lot of great opponents for Gresham. Dolph Ziggler, Tommaso Ciampa, Finn Balor, there’s a lot for Gresham to do in the main roster.

The WWE should jump at the chance to grab a unique veteran like Gresham who is looking for a spotlight and not to be featured once every other month. I hope the release happens soon and we can get those dream matches.

Wrestling

There’s The Door: The Sale of the WWE

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It has been rumored that the WWE is up for sale and the buyers might be from Saudi Arabia. Without getting too political, because I don’t know enough about the whole situation, a lot of fans and some wrestlers have come out to oppose the sale to the Saudi Arabia purchaser. Some wrestlers have even said that they will leave the company if the deal goes through. My answer to that is….goodbye.

I’m in favor of the Saudi purchasers. Why? Because they have unlimited money. From what I’ve read, on the internet so take that with a grain of salt, Saudi Arabia is making almost a billion dollars a day in oil. Imagine running a wrestling company with unlimited funds?

Imagine a Pay Per View where the card features Roman Reigns, Okada, Seth Rollins, Jay White, Kenny Omega, Drew McIntyre, Brock Lesnar, Jon Moxley, Bobby Lashley, Cody Rhodes and Bryan Danielson, just to name a few. Great storylines? Hire the best writers in the world to write compelling long-term storytelling.

One of the arguments against it is sponsorship and apparently companies wouldn’t want to be linked to the company because Saudi Arabia is in control of it. You’re telling me that NO COMPANY would want to partner up with the biggest wrestling company in the world? That if they didn’t start their own streaming network that every wrestling fan wouldn’t want to subscribe to it? That YouTube and Rumble wouldn’t allow it to be streamed on their sites?

Now the Woman’s Division might be a touchy subject, but in recent years, women have been able to wrestle in the Saudi Arabian shows at Crown Jewel. Strides are being made for more inclusion of the Woman’s Division.

The deal seems great for the wrestlers, the company and more importantly the fans. The WWE wanted to expand the reach of NXT to other parts of the world and with the Saudi Arabi backing they can do that easily.

In conclusion, unlimited money, unlimited reach, best wrestlers in the world and still keep the woman’s division, so what’s the problem here? I saw, again on the internet, that Sami Zayn has some religion reasons of why he wasn’t able to attend the recent Crown Jewel event. But can’t we use this purchase as a way to connect more than divide? That maybe we can work out our differences, biases and move past it to a more productive and fulfilling future?

Art is AI generated from Dream by WOMBO

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Apollo Crews: The Future Isn’t Bright

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I remember seeing Apollo Crews for the first time and thinking “this guy is a mid-carder at best” and since I made that prediction, the WWE hasn’t done anything to elevate or make Crews even remotely relevant. Crew’s more notable feud on the main roster was teaming with Kalisto and the going against Dolph Ziggler in a handicapped match. Nothing else comes to mind when I think of Crews. Then came his gimmick change where he became African and teamed with Commander Azeez, which was one of the worst character changes to both men’s careers.

Now Crews is on NXT. He is putting together a string of good matches. His last feud with Carmelo Hayes was good, but it didn’t elevate Crews at all. After the match was over, Azeez attacked Crews to start a new feud, which will end……..I don’t care. Both men aren’t doing anything of value now. This feud won’t propel them to title shots or faces of the company. They are B or C- wrestlers, not by their own ability, but by the creative decisions around their characters. Maybe a fresh start in a new company might be the best thing. Zack Ryder took full advantage of his WWE release to become Matt Cardona and now looks ready for the big stage.

What do you think about Apollo Crews and how would you book him going forwards?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Reigns vs Zayn: Not Over Yet?

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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

Wrestling

Cody Invasion

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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

Shelton Benjamin : Snubbed

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Shelton Benjamin is probably the most talented wrestler in WWE history that was never given a fair shot at a heavyweight championship. Mid card and tag titles he’s won, but Benjamin should’ve won a World Champion by now. Now sadly its too late for him, but I wonder if it would be best for him to end his career somewhere else. Impact Wrestling would be the safest move. AEW is too heavy in the world title run and NJPW doesn’t really have the impact like it did a few years ago.

I thought Benjamin would’ve been good at leading a faction of Chad Gable and Jason Jordan calling themselves the Gold Standard. It would’ve been nice to see Benjamin getting more screentime as something more than a match filler. Being a part of the Hurt Business was probably the most interesting thing they did with him in years, but sadly that ended too fast and now Benjamin is just cannon fodder to make Bobby Lashley look better.

Where do you see Benjamins, future going in the WWE and if you had a dream match for him who would it be against?

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

No Way Jose : Dead From The Start

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Terrible name. Boring moves. Horrendous finisher. No Way Jose was poised to fail from his first moments in NXT. Having a dancing gimmick hasn’t worked out since the days of 2 Cool, and those guys were never really found themselves in the main event picture. I don’t really remember Jose having any main roster moments of value.

Is there a way to save Jose? Not without a total overhaul. He does have some good size and athleticism. A change in finisher is the first thing. Something simple like The Freak Accident or a reverse Samoan Drop is what I would choose for him.

Character wise I would’ve put him in a multi man ladder match on NXT or pair him off with someone like Kona Reeves, another wrestler devoid of purpose. Have them make a run in the Dusty Rhodes tag Team Classic and see if they catch on with the fans. Some matches against Sanity and AOP would really boost their credibility. Maybe move them up to the main roster together. I still think Reeves is on NXT somehow after all these years without a meaningful feud yet.

That’s how I would’ve fixed Jose. I don’t think he would’ve been a main star in the WWE or NXT, but he would be someone that fans would want to tune in to see. Someone who would be in Royal Rumbles, fill out Money in the Bank matches and maybe, with alittle push, be able to jump into a successful singles career.

Simptastic Joe