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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

2023 Men’s Money in the Bank

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Obviously, the winner will not challenge Roman Reigns, so whoever wins will be cashing in on Seth Rollins.

 Shinsuke Nakamura had a great match against Rollins at Survivor Series in 2018, but I don’t see Nakamura getting another title chance after his underwhelming matches against AJ Styles.

Ricochet is cannon fodder, and that’s it. A massive waste of a roster spot at this point. He was rushed to the main roster and, since then, has done very little to jot down.

BUTCH is in Limbo at this point. Teaming with the Brawling Brutes looks good on paper, but he was much better as the Bruiserweight. I see a fun feud coming out of this against Santos Escobar and his team, but nothing groundbreaking.

Santos Escobar’s time will come, but not now. He’s too deep in his faction and isn’t getting enough screen time to warrant being the face of the company. I’d like to see a Heel Escobar holding the title one day, hopefully turning on Rey Mysterio to start that Heel turn.

LA Knight is the obvious choice. I’m thrilled to see his career not flushed down the toilet by bad creative. By that, I mean his lack lustered NXT run and his squash match with Bray Wyatt. Knight has everything you want in a champion, but I don’t see it happening now.

Damian Priest has been reportedly impressing a lot of higher-ups. I’m glad Priest has made many strides since his run as Punishment Martinez. I see Priest winning but not capturing the title. A Priest and Finn Balor have been teased for the past few weeks. Judgment Day is a fun faction to watch, and I don’t want it to end so soon, but this will put Priest on his own and capture singles titles.

What do you think?

World War Joe

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

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

Wrestling

Umaga : Hall of Fame?

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Umaga | WWE

I’m seeing a lot of posts from Rikishi and the rest of his bloodline saying that Umage should be a Hall of Famer. Why? Because he was there? My view of a Hall of Famer is someone who was a big part of the company. Someone who help multiple titles and was essentially running the show for a time. Umaga was a 2-time Intercontinental Champion and that was it. The Intercontinental Championship is a veery prestigious title in wrestling, but having it only 2 times and not really for a significant run isn’t that impressive. And I never felt like Umaga was the biggest threat in wrestling. If anything, he was the biggest springboard of future champions. His matches with Jeff Hardy, John Cena and others were more about building them up vs making Umaga look like a beast.

I don’t think Umaga should be anywhere near the Hall of Fame and furthermore I don’t think Rikishi should either. They tried to make him look like the next big thing, but every time was overshadowed by the likes o Stone Cold, The Rock, The Undertaker and Kurt Angle. Rikishi should’ve been a main title holder. He was being built up as someone who can hold the title for a while, but they never went through with it.

So should Umaga or Rikishi be in the WWE Hall of Fame?

Simptastic Joe