Unpopular Wrestling Opinions XIII

[Generations]

Those ladders might be designed to break with wooden frames...but the steps are still aluminum, and even wooden supports aren't a walk in the park. We've seen the same ladders climbed and broken before. If they're strong enough to be climbed, then they are still gonna make you sore in the morning if you crash through them.

 

Gimmicked ladders are one of the gimmicked weapons that I can tolerate just fine. Because they still have a satisfying break and they still look really unpleasant. On the other hand...almost everything that they use in AEW bothers me a lot. From the foam cracker "barrels"...to sugar glass tables and bottles (or even bags of sugar glass poured on the mat)...to barbed wire that I'm pretty sure was plastic or rubberized...and even their "steel ramp" which appears to be a wooden ramp with a layer of faux-steel rubber padding on it. I'm not just trying to attack AEW for no reason...but they use so many really fake looking props and weapons that I can't ignore it.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Generations

[Bushy.]

Yeee I thought Lars had potential for that too.

 

I agree with the hosses. I'm bored of commentators telling me that big men move like cruiserweights, it's become normal and isn't wholly impressive anymore. I think Keith Lee and Killian Dain are great wrestlers, but them doing dives and shit isn't unique anymore.

The problem is, I dont really see how you can rectify it. The new era of big guys mostly train to do high flying stuff. Being a traditional big man is rare in this sense.

 

With that being said, I rather watch a guy like Keith Lees matches over a guy like Mark Henry. We just need less of EVERY big guy being a high flyer and more of traditional bigs.

[Creepia]

 

Yeee I thought Lars had potential for that too.

 

I agree with the hosses. I'm bored of commentators telling me that big men move like cruiserweights, it's become normal and isn't wholly impressive anymore. I think Keith Lee and Killian Dain are great wrestlers, but them doing dives and shit isn't unique anymore.

The problem is, I dont really see how you can rectify it. The new era of big guys mostly train to do high flying stuff. Being a traditional big man is rare in this sense.

 

With that being said, I rather watch a guy like Keith Lees matches over a guy like Mark Henry. We just need less of EVERY big guy being a high flyer and more of traditional bigs.

Sure I agree, but I wouldn't particularly wanna watch Mark Henry anyway. I would point to WALTER as an example. Gallus too.

[Generations]

Mark was awesome in his prime. Hall of Pain was quality.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Generations

[Counting Lights]

Mark in his prime was a great character. Like, when that man really got to cut promo's in 2011-2012, oh man, that shit was good. Between the Orton stuff and then the Cena stuff, it was gold and made his World title run really great. In the ring? Eh. He had the occasional unexpected good match, like I remember he and Show doing really well at Survivor Series, but otherwise? Nah.

 

They had a great hoss on their hands with Braun, then they fed him to Brock because...reasons? I dunno what Braun's really up to these days, but I still can't help but think back to his amazing feud with Roman and what he could've been after that.

[AONO.]

I remember watch his match vs Orton, I didn't really paid attention to the build up as it seemed like he is just being fed to Orton... but damn was Inpleasently surprised. I think he put him down with WSS and didn't go for the pin, and thought, "oh ok, here comes the RKO...", but he did another one and 1, 2 , 3... and then the no nonsense hall of pain promo... that was dope.

[Bushy.]

His character was great at the time but I wasnt as invested around 2012-2013 as much and wasnt watching much PPVs either.

 

But yeah prime Braun shouldve been that dude. Crazy to see how THEY squandered him.

[Creepia]

Bianca Belair sucks. She's just a spot wrestler, only getting a pop when she gets to show off her strength. She shouldn't be anywhere near the title picture. She should be the hot tag in a tag team.

 

She just reminds me of a 13yo girl pretending to be a wrestler.

[St★rstrucꓘ]

His character was great at the time but I wasnt as invested around 2012-2013 as much and wasnt watching much PPVs either.

 

But yeah prime Braun shouldve been that dude. Crazy to see how THEY squandered him.

It still boggles my mind that Braun has yet to win a major title, even during the brief period where he was somewhat of a heel leaning towards a tweener.

[Lunchbox]

Its so weird that they dropped the ball on him. People actually like him as opposed to other monsters they tried to push.

[AONO.]

how did they really drop the ball on him? or squander him?

 

yes, his booking was shitty on some ocasions, and yes, he was one of the many victims of Lesnar hogging the title for longest time... but despite all that, he was one of the WWEs top stars, and still arguably is. It's not like he got the Bray Wyatt treatement.

 

tbh, I never saw him getting the main strap even during his peak period. And I don't think his potential world title run would met peoples expectations either. He is probably taking the strap from Nakamura anyway, and that's pretty cool.

 

also, his feuds and were fun yes... but still kinda lacked in the match department.

 

if anything, I'd argue that they dropped the ball on Joe a couple if times. he is still one of the best promo guys too, and always *censored*ing deadly.

[St★rstrucꓘ]

I always felt like a World title run from Braun wouldn't have met people's expectations, either - especially as a babyface. I'm just surprised that Bruan's booking never saw him win a major title after spending a good amount of time in the World title scene since debuting. What makes it even worse, is that Braun has faced a guy like Lesnar on at least 3 different occasions for the title and never won. Yeah, WWE has definitely dropped the ball on Braun for sure - and that's not to say that he SHOULD HAVE won the World title by now, but I feel like his position and credibility should be better than it currently.

[AONO.]

I don't get it, you are not saying that he should have won a world title, but yet still the dropped the ball on him? That's why I was asking how did they drop the ball on him?

 

Credibility? He can have a feud with someone and go back on the rampage whenever. Currently he is feuding with Nakamura and has to deal with Sami Zayn and Cesaro at the same time. Not too long ago, there was that feud with Lashley where they both were just *censored*ing each other up.

 

And he has been a top star for a long time now like I've said...

[Counting Lights]

You haven't noticed his hype die down a ton since his initial mega-run? Dude's been treading water since his last loss to Lesnar, and it's not a good look for him to lose every big match that matters.

[AONO.]

Of course it did.

 

That's not to say they have "dropped the ball". I mean, I that's why I'm interested what people mean by that. Because tbh, I don't think he would d much with being a world champion. That's not saying I liked Lesnar being in the position that he was in.

It's not even solely due to the losses in itself, I think his worst period was with how his holding of MITB briefcase played out, and then that horrible thing with Ziggler, Drew and The Shield.

 

I'm not sure hot to explain it exactly at the moment, but I remember after his loss to Lesnar people going "oh, yeah, Braun looks like shit now" and they decided that he looks like shit and that's it. Dumb part about the Lesnar feuds was that he took out Braun, Joe, and others with one F5, but it took multiple ones to take out Reigns. Whole roster was suffering due to that Lesnar vs Reigns crap.

 

What I'm trying to say is... there wasn't even a ball to begin with. Yes, he was over because he was fun, that doesn't mean he could have been some super mega star or even a good world champ. Yet, in spite of all that, he still is a pretty big star in WWE.

[St★rstrucꓘ]

I don't get it, you are not saying that he should have won a world title, but yet still the dropped the ball on him? That's why I was asking how did they drop the ball on him?

 

Credibility? He can have a feud with someone and go back on the rampage whenever. Currently he is feuding with Nakamura and has to deal with Sami Zayn and Cesaro at the same time. Not too long ago, there was that feud with Lashley where they both were just *censored*ing each other up.

 

And he has been a top star for a long time now like I've said...

What I'm saying, is that I was never opposed to him winning the title at all. I'm also not saying he SHOULD have won the World title, but given Braun's presence and how over he got, I'm very surprised he hasn't won the belt at this point. Granted, his reign probably wouldn't have lived up to whatever expectations people had for him. Often times they never do, especially as a babyface.

 

I'd be more okay with the fact that he hasn't won the World title yet if he hadn't took several losses to Brock over the past 3 years. He always looks unstoppable during the months prior to headlining a show and fighting for the Universal title, but always comes up short - and looks a bit weak, too. That makes it even worse. That's why I think they dropped the ball on him. Of course they can build him back up to that position, but they should have FULLY hit the switch on Braun back in the Summer of 2017 when he was nearly white hot. Dude was a beast that whole year and ending up going into WM the following year and won the RAW Tag Titles with a *censored*ing kid.

[PaperThinWalls]

Agreed with the above. Braun was incredibly over and was built as a major credible threat to Lesnar's belt. You pull the trigger and give him a 2 - 4 month reign. Since they didn't do that he's been more or less booked as an attraction like they typically do for giants and monsters and they rarely have substantive reigns with the main title in the WWE. Once it became clear that was their game plan, I lost interest in him.

[St★rstrucꓘ]

Almost like a novelty act.

[Lunchbox]

Its crazy how much is being held back by Brock holding that belt.

[PaperThinWalls]

I've had no problem with Lesnar being champion in the last year. A few years ago I did but now not so much.

[Bushy.]

Dont know how anyone can sit there and seriously type out that the WWE didnt drop the ball on him.

 

They shouldve put the title on him during the many of 3 opportunities he had to win it. They didnt. He cooled off majorly. They dropped the ball. Pretty simple.

 

And the whole expectations argument is stupid. This isnt people wanting Kenny Omega to beat Okada for the title. People just wanted to see how hed do as champion. I rather see for myself than second guess.

[Lunchbox]

He went from top of the card to kinda not really doing much of anything minus Saudi Arabia and his recent feud.

[Creepia]

Wait so are we saying novelty acts can't become champion? Or remain on top? Then what the hell was Andre?

[PaperThinWalls]

Andre won the title and immediately sold it to DiBiase, which was then vacated by Jack Tunney. He had no title run with the belt.

[Creepia]

Alrighty then. Irregardless of Andre having the WWF title, he still remained on top of the wrestling world for the majority of his career. He remained on top because he was a novelty act, so Space Cowboy's logic of Braun not being able to do the same because he's an apparent novelty act doesn't compute.

 

Brock is a novelty act too, and he doesn't need a title in order to remain on top. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Braun could fulfil a similar role in his career. Titles are just props, if WWE want someone to remain on top without giving them one then they can easily do it.

Edited January 24, 2020 by Creepia