Wrestling News & Rumours Thread ***NO CHAT***

titan18

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

I mean TK did recently let slip on WOR (I believe) that he's interested in Zelina, just wasn't sure if her contract 90 days were up. Said he was always impressed with her on the Largo Loop shows he'd attend as a fan.

Man with a crowd imagine the pop La Sombra and Zelina would get at an AEW show.

No way he's going back to Mexico full time. CMLL is a mess plus probably in no rush to go back there (the pun is entirely intended). Would love to see him work NJPW too, but I'd be shocked if he left America on a full time basis.

Again, who knows with these. Everyone worked themselves up imaging how great it would be to have Ricochet unretire, I won't get hyped about Sombra til he's out.

Ya, I'd imagine with his relationship, ROH cos of Rush, Dragon Lee etc and then AEW (more money and stardom there) are probably his two main choices. If Vega joined him there too, he could get over big imo. Then hopefully Black will join Vega down the line.

LineOfBeauty

titan18 wrote: »

Ya, I'd imagine with his relationship, ROH cos of Rush, Dragon Lee etc and then AEW (more money and stardom there) are probably his two main choices. If Vega joined him there too, he could get over big imo. Then hopefully Black will join Vega down the line.

Honestly ROH are on such an island when it comes to signing the guys with big reputations that I just don't see it. They've got a nice little roster but La Sombra is a level above anything they have. He's a guy who, on the back of his NXT work (luckily that came at a time when people were still watching the thing) has enhanced his reputation with casual American audiences, and he has a body of work pre WWE you can point to as to why he's great. Or, not to get horny, you can just look at him. This one really doesn't take a genius to figure out. Even though his connections are in ROH, he's perfect for AEW. And a fantastic age too.

LineOfBeauty

I've tried not to but I've worked myself into a shoot just thinking about La Sombra actually doing stuff in wrestling again. WWE probably did me a favour by having him disappear, the dude is far too beautiful, distractingly beautiful and I'd have struggled to focus on any wrestling with him around. So, ye good job WWE.

That's the last I'll say on it unless he is confirmed gone.

titan18

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

Honestly ROH are on such an island when it comes to signing the guys with big reputations that I just don't see it. They've got a nice little roster but La Sombra is a level above anything they have. He's a guy who, on the back of his NXT work (luckily that came at a time when people were still watching the thing) has enhanced his reputation with casual American audiences, and he has a body of work pre WWE you can point to as to why he's great. Or, not to get horny, you can just look at him. This one really doesn't take a genius to figure out. Even though his connections are in ROH, he's perfect for AEW. And a fantastic age too.

True, but he might just want to wrestle with his friends and ROH had a closer partnership with CMLL and also have one with NJPW so LIJ is still very possible there. AEW are pretty good with allowing their guys wrestle elsewhere but they don't have a partnership with CMLL, so will probably depends on if Andrade wants to do some wrestling there.

LineOfBeauty

titan18 wrote: »

True, but he might just want to wrestle with his friends and ROH had a closer partnership with CMLL and also have one with NJPW so LIJ is still very possible there. AEW are pretty good with allowing their guys wrestle elsewhere but they don't have a partnership with CMLL, so will probably depends on if Andrade wants to do some wrestling there.

Given how things ended in CMLL for Rush and Dragon Lee I don't think we'll be seeing La Sombra in there for quite some time. Maybe ever.

Agent Coulson

The WWE will probably just do a PAC on him and put him out on gardening leave till his contract is up.

beakerjoe

Man, I. Not gonna say Andrade and Ricochet are Eddie and Rey level, but man they havent a hope of achieving their potential in modern day WWE.

Ricochet could easily be as good as Rey if given the right opportunity. I dont think Rey was a top guy, he got the push and he fell a little short. Always better chasing the title than winning it. Ricochet was pulled giod tv matches out of his ass this year with AJ and Ali, both effortless.... if he was booked oroperly he could easily be a top upper tier guy.

But Andrade is special and he never ever got a fair shake on the main roster.

Pre WWE you could see he was a star, for those ego doubt gis aura .......please.... please check out La Sombra v Atlantis from 2016 i think. Its a banger, MOTY calibre match. If you watch it and dont think he is a star, youre in denial. Hes amazingly good.

WWE did the right thing with hin initally bringing him in without the mask, he has a great look and great facial expressions. They missed the boat at first presenting him as a white meat babyface but they transformed him in NXT. He was only just finiding his groove when he moved up to the Main Roster.

WWE misfired big time. Could easily be a top guy. Hes git differnet strengths and weaknesses to Eddie, he is different but every bit as a star if used right.

If you dont think hes got it in spades, youre not paying full atte tiin. Dont judge him on his main roster abomination run, hes not alone in being misused. Look deeper.

JP Liz V1

The White Wolf wrote: »

I wouldn't see Charlotte's position in the company as any particular reason why he would stay.

There's a bang of Cena and Bellas off their relationship all due respect to them.

beakerjoe wrote: »

Well not her position, but generally speaking as he is ina relationship with her and may be fairly content working on WWE as he gets to spend more time with Charlotte.

In what context are you comparing them to Cena / Bella.

Does Charlotte want marriage and babies now not later, more invested in the relationship than him

Andrade is definitely a star alright.

Headshot

I couldnt believe they move Andrade up to the main roster, he was barely in NXT and never really gotten time to develop.

J. Marston

Not that Dave Meltzer needs any help looking like an absolute fúcking clown but this is an all-timer in idiocy, even by his low standards...



Apparently it's racist to be proud of your Nigerian roots. The first aide to the President of Nigeria seems to have no issue with it...

https://twitter.com/BashirAhmaad/status/1368135728450985985

https://firstsportz.com/nigerian-presidential-aide-endorses-apollo-crews/

But I'm sure Dave knows better. How people worship that man's every word, I will never understand.

LineOfBeauty

J. Marston wrote: »

Not that Dave Meltzer needs any help looking like an absolute fúcking clown but this is an all-timer in idiocy, even by his low standards...



Apparently it's racist to be proud of your Nigerian roots. The first aide to the President of Nigeria seems to have no issue with it...

https://twitter.com/BashirAhmaad/status/1368135728450985985

https://firstsportz.com/nigerian-presidential-aide-endorses-apollo-crews/

But I'm sure Dave knows better. How people worship that man's every word, I will never understand.

Just to add to this, thought this weeks Observer was really strong. The breakdown of the Network to Peacock stuff and impact of NHL selling one of their packages to ESPN+ rather than NBCU was great stuff.

bennyl10

J. Marston wrote: »

Not that Dave Meltzer needs any help looking like an absolute fúcking clown but this is an all-timer in idiocy, even by his low standards...



Apparently it's racist to be proud of your Nigerian roots. The first aide to the President of Nigeria seems to have no issue with it...

https://twitter.com/BashirAhmaad/status/1368135728450985985

https://firstsportz.com/nigerian-presidential-aide-endorses-apollo-crews/

But I'm sure Dave knows better. How people worship that man's every word, I will never understand.

Ah come on, you can’t seriously have heard the ‘wakkanda forever’ accent and not have thought it’s, at the very least, borderline racist? Let alone the ‘elite guard’ the spear


I’m glad some powers in Nigeria have no issue, but to use that as something to beat Meltzer with is silly

Agent Coulson

Honestly this forum is going to the dogs now with the points scoring sh1t.

LineOfBeauty

bennyl10 wrote: »

Ah come on, you can’t seriously have heard the ‘wakkanda forever’ accent and not have thought it’s, at the very least, borderline racist? Let alone the ‘elite guard’ the spear


I’m glad some powers in Nigeria have no issue, but to use that as something to near Meltzer with is silly

It just means Vince has gotten around to "Beasts of No Nation" on his Netflix. And that was the 1st Netflix exclusive movie, he's got so many to catch up on! I can't wait for the Dolemite style pimp character in 5 years time when Vince watches that.

Sirsok

And McIntyre wearing a kilt and carrying a sword.

And Sheamus drinking pints and wearing Paddy Caps.

Regal being a pompous ass and drinking tea.

Walter being an Austrian who has adopted Germany and become a fexking war General.

Nation of Domination, early iterations of the new day, fecking early Kofi, we can try and find problems with all these things if we want.

At the end of the day they are characters in a TV show. Chadwick Boseman doing the same accent in a marvel movie is no different to Appolo Crews doing it in WWE.

CastorTroy

I look forward to him trying to scam money from people

beakerjoe

CastorTroy wrote: »

I look forward to him trying to scam money from people

Or a 90 Day Fiance angle with Nia. :pac:

Im ok with the character once Jerry Lawler isnt asked for his thoughts on the spear.

LineOfBeauty

By the way, you can do a character that pays tribute to Apollo's Nigerian heritage without having him be accompanied by quasi militia, carrying a spear and doing an accent. Like, there's a way of making this gimmick a positive representation of Nigerian culture (and, as a whole probably only gay characters have gotten a worse go of it in pro wrestling than African characters). Instead you got a redundant caricature of Nigerian culture lifted straight out of a 1970's film.

Sirsok

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

By the way, you can do a character that pays tribute to Apollo's Nigerian heritage without having him be accompanied by quasi militia, carrying a spear and doing an accent. Like, there's a way of making this gimmick a positive representation of Nigerian culture (and, as a whole probably only gay characters have gotten a worse go of it in pro wrestling than African characters). Instead you got a redundant caricature of Nigerian culture lifted straight out of a 1970's film.

But he is a heel?

LineOfBeauty

Sirsok wrote: »

But he is a heel?

I know! It makes the thing worse. You could get away with it in the territories, I mean Kamala's heel shtick was inherently racist but even that had to be altered by the early 90's.

There's absolutely a way of doing a positive homage to modern Nigerian culture that doesn't include militia, tribesmen spears or silly accents.

But anyway, I'm not gonna get caught up in this dumb debate. And maybe Apollo is the one who pitched this, but this gimmick shouldn't have seen the light of day (or TV). It's a character that 40 years ago would've been on the edge of being passé, in 2021 it looks prehistoric.

But not to crap on Apollo, that guy is a great talent.

https://twitter.com/WONF4W/status/1370546118124245000?s=19

Has anyone been granted a release since AEW started? Not including contracts expiring or people being fired?

Sirsok

But we are what three weeks in a character shift on a television program? And there is talk of having a heel act as a positive representation of a culture?

Not everything needs to be positive, especially as a heel.

J. Marston

bennyl10 wrote: »

Ah come on, you can’t seriously have heard the ‘wakkanda forever’ accent and not have thought it’s, at the very least, borderline racist? Let alone the ‘elite guard’ the spear


I’m glad some powers in Nigeria have no issue, but to use that as something to beat Meltzer with is silly

No?

It's a black guy doing a gimmick where he's proud of his background. Why does Meltzer and people on Twitter get to proclaim that as racist?

https://twitter.com/Jimmie_Jaymz/status/1368137513223790595

So the spear is a thing where Apollo's parents are from.

I'm sure Apollo is aware of his heritage etc

Also, you'd need to be pretty brainless to think this is all Vince and Apollo has had no input on this character, especially with how America is with race right now.

Agent Coulson

If wrestlers really want their release and the WWE refuse just keep using Twitch etc the precedent has been set by the sacking of Thea Trinidad that's the easiest way out I see and you keep making money that the WWE don't get their hands on.

Loughc

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Honestly this forum is going to the dogs now with the points scoring sh1t.

We’ve literally gone back to the days when Rovert was on here and he would shout down anyone who had an opinion different to him with big long winded arguments.

The content itself is hard to find in between the arguments/“debates”

LineOfBeauty

Loughc wrote: »

We’ve literally gone back to the days when Rovert was on here and he would shout down anyone who had an opinion different to him with big long winded arguments.

The content itself is hard to find in between the arguments/“debates”

Am... I the Rovert?

LineOfBeauty

Sirsok wrote: »

But we are what three weeks in a character shift on a television program? And there is talk of having a heel act as a positive representation of a culture?

Not everything needs to be positive, especially as a heel.

True, but caricatures and outdated stereotypes are a bad look. Even if you wanted to go heel with it, at least get something that actually represents modern Nigeria. I mean, I don't know about you, but any Nigerian friends I've got aren't part of a local militia, don't carry spears and they speak with their natural accent (2nd generation, born in Ireland). Like there's a million ways to do it without doing a character that's wandered off the set of "Roots".

Sirsok

To be fair the place has become alot more livelier in recent times and thats a good thing.

Its a discussion forum, nothing is personal.

Sometimes there can be an air of high and mighty but sure thats everywhere on the Internet.

Its really the only forum I participate in. Things should not be an echo chamber.

If we don't like someone's take, so be it. They probably don't like yours. If you don't want to be challenged on opinion then don't give someone the opportunity to do so.

Sirsok

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

True, but caricatures and outdated stereotypes are a bad look. Even if you wanted to go heel with it, at least get something that actually represents modern Nigeria. I mean, I don't know about you, but any Nigerian friends I've got aren't part of a local militia, don't carry spears and they speak with their natural accent (2nd generation, born in Ireland). Like there's a million ways to do it without doing a character that's wandered off the set of "Roots".

But there are an infinite amount of ways that a character can be represented in television. And maybe we will look back on it as lazy, or maybe we will look at it as a positive step taken in Apollos development.

I mean storyline arcs are crucial to a television show. I look back at Bubba Dudley wanting to bring his Bully character to WWE, and WWE balking at the idea due to their Be A Star programme. However his tale on it, was for the whole thing to act as a redemption arc. Where he realises the error of his ways. Which in the grand scheme of things turns the narrative into a positive.

Maybe Apollo will eventually turn from an Angry African Man into a positive African role model over the next year. Its the beginning of a journey, let's ride with it instead of shouting it down.