The Random Wrestling Review

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The Random Wrestling Review The Random Wrestling Review is an explicit mess of in-depth wrestling analysis and puerile humour.

NEW VIDEO!RWR plays TEW2020- WCW Lives On!Our attempt to book WCW from May 2001, as if the company never ceases trading ...
07/03/2024

NEW VIDEO!

RWR plays TEW2020- WCW Lives On!

Our attempt to book WCW from May 2001, as if the company never ceases trading begins with this introductory episode!

This is the first RWR plays TEW video where we take on the challenge of guiding WCW in 2001 through an alternative history where Fusient Media Ventures compl...

It can’t just be me who thinks WWE still don’t know what they’re doing at WrestleMania? Heyman’s promo on Raw was a mess...
28/02/2024

It can’t just be me who thinks WWE still don’t know what they’re doing at WrestleMania?

Heyman’s promo on Raw was a mess- he was as inarticulate as I’ve ever seen him, it certainly felt like he didn’t know what to say, perhaps because he was trying to be suitably vague.

The story is a garble too- not least because Cody literally said the words “not at WrestleMania” on THAT episode of Smackdown.

I don’t blame them for ignoring that now but since then they’ve done little to unmuddy the waters.

The Press Conference diminished all involved- Rollins looked like a spare part, Reigns 2nd fiddle, Cody impotent to respond to The Rock’s slap.

The Rock’s last appearance on SD was better than we’ve seen lately, but his logic was completely flawed in terms of what he actually said (and was, similar to Heyman’s promo, pretty confused)

The Chamber segment was a waste of everybody’s time, and merely served to have Cody appear, to pad out what was an anaemic match card.

You’ve got Rollins going on about WM being the ‘last chance’ to escape The Bloodline, even in the context of his own World Title defence against Drew.

After the press conference, it appeared that a tag match was the most obvious solution for night 1- but Rollins is carrying an injury, he, Roman & Cody will be fighting the next night, and The Rock can’t carry the match.

The last few days have suggested a Cody/Rock match on Night 1- is that possible?

Cody working 2 nights on the bounce, could work, but one of the reasons they’ve avoided doing this at WM so far is fear of an injury that would disrupt night 2. It’d be a small gamble for sure.

Is it possible that The Rock himself is unsure what he is willing to do now that the Roman match, and the overall main event, is off the table? Is there a chance he walks away from WM40 entirely?

You’d think that all will become clear on Smackdown this week when The Rock appears, but it certainly feels like, as of Monday, there was still no certainty.

My personal (but unlikely) preference is an 8-man tag on night 1 with Rock, Roman, Jimmy & Solo against Cody, Seth, Jey and Sami Zayn- just IMAGINE the hype video for THAT.

This would also allow you to have Jey, Jimmy, Solo and Sami to carry the match and limit the involvement of others.

- Tinky

From an artistic perspective, I’m not sure this is the best time for Okada to be leaving New Japan at all to be honest. ...
12/02/2024

From an artistic perspective, I’m not sure this is the best time for Okada to be leaving New Japan at all to be honest. If he ended up with WWE it was never going to be an easy fit, but AEW is just a dumpster fire of terrible booking at the moment.

Saying all that, I don’t believe this move was about art at all- Okada wants to get paid- and there is nothing wrong with that. He put himself out on the market and presumably got the biggest contract available- he should be universally praised for that.

As for WWE not getting him (and also missing out on Will Ospreay and seemingly, Mercedes Mone)-WWE are clearly comfortable in their pool of top stars- I’m sure they’d have liked to have all 3- but clearly weren’t concerned enough to offer them what they thought were over the odds.

They are also clearly comfortable that, even if they are talents that could ‘move the needle’ for their opposition, in AEW’s current hands there is no danger of that.

Also, in the cases of Okada and Ospreay, I think WWE have calculated that if they have 2-3 years in AEW, allowing larger portions of the North American audience to become familiar with them in top level positions, WWE can swoop in after that time if they want.

In fact I think they already got to this strategy a couple of years ago- look at what they’ve managed to do with Cody, and on the flip side, look how much of a disaster it would’ve been to sign Kenny Omega to a big money deal- he’d have barely worked for them due to injury.

I think (and I said this a little while ago on The Random Wrestling Review) that AEW have done the best recent business in signing Will Ospreay- an underexposed (to a western audience) main event veteran, capable of phenomenal things in the ring. He’s exactly the kind of talent they need.

But that doesn’t mean it was bad business for WWE to pass on him (if that’s what happened) at this time, same goes for Okada.

-Tinky

Seen/spoken with, a lot of people saying that the 2 rumbles in one night thing is an issue, not just this year, but for ...
29/01/2024

Seen/spoken with, a lot of people saying that the 2 rumbles in one night thing is an issue, not just this year, but for a little while now.

The problem is that most of the solutions I’ve seen suggested either require limiting the Women’s rumble or just scrapping it entirely. Neither of which are realistic or fair in the slightest (in order for the women to have the chance to be seen as important as the men, they have to be given an equitable chance to make an impression).

So, here are some suggestions for what to do about the problem- none of them perfect, but something to explore in an attempt to come up with a fair solution. I’m gonna start by things they could change within the current format before suggesting changes to the format itself.

1. Make the 2 rumbles on each show less similar to one another. We’ve seen in the past, different ways the Rumble can work but for some reason the 6 rumbles of the last 3 years have all been in one style, making watching 2 in 1 night a chore.

2. Stop making the matches about surprises- so many people get disappointed about the lack or quality of surprises that at this point it’s just a burden. From now on (for at least a couple years) announce EVERYONE involved BEFORE, so that nobody is waiting for the surprise.

3. CONSIDER removing the stipulation that the winner gets the main event of WM. This limits the field of potential winners & hugely reduces the drama. If the prize was just ‘get a title shot of your choice at ‘Mania’ (as opposed to main event) it would open up the possibilities.

4. Hold only 1 Rumble each year but alternate between the men and women. This will annoy some because it means the men’s rumble wouldn’t happen every year but I question at this stage whether we really need one, especially if insisting we have one of each every year is a problem.

5. CONSIDER reducing the number of entrants in each Rumble- could we go down to 20 participants for each? One complain I’ve seen a lot this weekend is general lack of star power/lulls in over entrances- less entrants would reduce the risk of this.

6. WILD CARD- hold both matches simultaneously in 2 rings next to one another. Everyone draws their number from 1-60 (or 1-40 if you have 20 entrants in each), and they come out as drawn (so might be multiple women’s entrances in a row or vice versa).

- Tinky

The RWR crew have laid down their predictions for tomorrow’s That surprise entrant for the Women’s Rumble from Old Ma...
26/01/2024

The RWR crew have laid down their predictions for tomorrow’s

That surprise entrant for the Women’s Rumble from Old Man 👀

Any comments? Tell us yours!

One question I’ve seen asked a lot in relation to the WWE Netflix deal, specifically in relation to Raw in the US is, ‘w...
24/01/2024

One question I’ve seen asked a lot in relation to the WWE Netflix deal, specifically in relation to Raw in the US is, ‘will it be shown live?’, presumably because Netflix (as far as I know) hasn’t done live streaming before (as opposed to simply, on demand).

For what it’s worth, I’d instantly assumed that it would be, but it’s telling that there are lots of people out there who don’t see Netflix as functioning in that way (which of course, they currently don’t). But it got me thinking about how people will watch Raw on Netflix.

Will they watch as it streams live (assuming it does)? Or will they simply just pick it up when convenient to them (as many do already though DVR)? Presumably, as it’s on Netflix, the latter option may become more popular.

Is there any creatively minded person in AEW looking at this and thinking to themselves “should we move, say, Collision, to Monday nights in 2025?” with Raw off traditional TV, it leaves a gaping hole on Monday nights where wrestling has had a home for 31 years.

Of course it’ll still be on Netflix, and most likely streamed live at the same time. But there will be even less necessity for fans to watch at that specific time. Not to mention many who don’t want to, or can’t, afford Netflix- is there an opportunity for AEW to fill the hole?

If I were AEW, I would very seriously consider dumping Rampage, keeping Dynamite (the legacy flagship) where it is, and moving Collision to Mondays from the beginning of 2025, to see whether it could be a success there (it’s not gonna last much longer on Saturday nights anyway).

There’s a chance they gain a bunch of viewers who are used to their Monday night slice of wrestling but aren’t bothered enough to chase Raw across to a different medium entirely (while retaining the Collision audience).

And if it doesn’t work, what have you lost? Collision is pretty much dead in the water as it stands anyway, and if they end up cancelling, experiment failed, they still have Dynamite which is their main programme anyway.

- Ben

Thoughts?

The work WWE have done the past few weeks to layer the possibilities at the Rumble itself and on to WM has been excellen...
23/01/2024

The work WWE have done the past few weeks to layer the possibilities at the Rumble itself and on to WM has been excellent- Punk, Rhodes, McIntyre, Gunther all feel like they have a legit chance of winning the rumble match.

They’ve also worked hard to sew the seeds of rivalry between Punk and Rhodes, Rollins and Punk, Rollins and Gunther, Rollins and Drew as well as Cody and Drew, so that you genuinely believe any of these COULD be a match at ‘Mania.

That, coupled with the POTENTIAL of a Rock match somewhere in the mix, makes the variations of possible matches at Mania seem endless.

The likelihood is that we will still get Reigns v Cody and Rollins v Punk when it gets to the big one, but because WWE have hinted towards all kinds of alternatives, there will be that crucial element to a seemingly obvious conclusion- doubt.

It’s that doubt that will make the babyface victories when they come, feel special and not just an inevitability. In the meantime, just watching it all play out should be an absolute joy week to week until we get there.

- Ben

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Videos

This is a clip from Episode 3 of The Random Wrestling Review Podcast. In 1992, WWE presented Wrestlemania 8 and the main event saw Hulk Hogan face Sid Justice in what was to be Hogan's last match in the company for nearly a year. Sam, Tom and Ben discuss whether or not that was always the plan, or whether the company were originally planning for Hogan to face 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair. The Random Wrestling Review podcast is available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and most other podcast apps. New episodes out every Sunday.

Why Was Shawn Michaels Booked To Win The Royal Rumble From Number 1?
Why Was Shawn Michaels Booked To Win The Royal Rumble From Number 1?

This is a clip from Episode 1 of The Random Wrestling Review Podcast. At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith were entrants 1 and 2, and went on to be the final two men in the match at the end. In this clip, Tom, Sam and Ben discuss one reason why this might have been. The Random Wrestling Review podcast is available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and most other podcast apps. New episodes out every Sunday.

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW TEASER! In a short clip from our review of WWE Royal Rumble 2021 which is set for release tomorrow, Ben and Tom discuss whether or not The New Day should ever split up...

Is This The Worst Angle In WCW History?!
Is This The Worst Angle In WCW History?!

This is a clip from Episode 2 of The Random Wrestling Review Podcast. In January 1997, WCW presented the first ever nWo pay-per-view, Souled Out, and the event featured a 'Miss NWO' contest. In this clip, Sam, Tom and Ben talk about the finale of the contest, suggesting that it could be the worst angle in WCW, if not all wrestling, history. The Random Wrestling Review podcast is available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and most other podcast apps. New episodes out every Sunday.

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