₦airaland Forum

pu7pl3:
And it was worth it. He is a chief propagator of the kind of wrasslin you love

i don't know about that. He's more sport-like, but can he act - that's another question.

samistry:
I've given you the history of folks top of smackdown midcard scene from 2023 till now. Non of them were just good wrestlers without character or promo work.

There's also the fact in we're in the era of lengthy championship reigns.
Attitude and ruthless aggression was revolving door of champions. Sometimes, a reign might last only a week.
Santino was a two time IC champ in that era.

Bret and HBK broke the mould being good smaller wrestlers when Vince temporary shifted from his bodybuilder fixation during the steroid trial allegations. Hulkster and Macho had left for WCW.
Who were their contemporaries? Taker hadn't polished his ring work then. Yokozuna, Sid, Lex Luger, Diesel, Razor were serviceable but had looks carrying them. Stone Cold relied more on promo and character work especially after his neck accident.
HBK was the fanciful showman while Bret let his ring work speak for him. They were two good small guys in an era of giants.
Nowadays, we have many skillful small guys competing against one another.

Guerrero also had the Latino lie, steal and cheat thing going for him. Something Dominik inherited to get over with the crowd.

Punk was the indy guy archetype who made way for other similar guys in the modern era. No one was wrestling a similar style(maybe Jeff), doing suicide dives in WWE at that time.
Heyman also batted for him in the office.
Despite having been multiple champion on Smackdown. He had to suffer through the straight edge society /New Nexus storyline before really given the ball after the pipebomb promo (promo work was a factor).

Bryan never really broke ground until his YES/No catchphrases and story with Kane and AJ Lee took off.

Styles was a made guy coming from NJPW in 2016. Perfect timing as that was the year WWE became more indycentric in wrestling style. Folks like Owens, Balor, Rollings were already mixing it up on Raw.

Rey was allowed to shine because there was no similar guy on the roster allowed to do what he could do. Now you get Dragon Lee, Penta and other masked guys. Fenix is floundering hard because nothing sets him apart from other masked guys.

fine, so you're saying Gargano sucks because he lacks character work? Are we not saying the same thing? The guy might be overhyped.

samistry:
CoolUsername no send Johnny Wrestling just as you no send Jade.

maybe it's for a reason. Again, me own issue is perhaps he's overhyped.

samistry:
The Andrade wey una dey praise now for AEW which chance e been see for SmackDown?
If you're less than 6ft tall, depend on ring work rather than promo or character you're cooked in the fed.
All them Melo, ilja suppose dey thank Sami Zayn for using the US open title challenge as medium to get over with their wrestling skills.

The best tag teams on Smackdown took a backseat to MFT vs Ojuju boys for almost 6 months.

I thought we've gone through this phase and are over it. Bret, Michaels, Guerrero, Rey, Punk, Bryan, Styles - all small guys that succeeded in WWE. Maybe we should stop giving them too much excuses.

pu7pl3:
Yea currently he is there in the lower card aka catering but he is not overhyped, he isn't even hyped at all.

back in his NXT days he was really hyped. He, Ciampa, Cole, Keith and some others.

CoolUsername:
Gargano is being used perfectly

getting squashed by Oba?

samistry:
Heyman got what he deserved.

can't argue.

samistry:
He got a tag title reign with Ciampa. You know WWE values looks and promos over ring ability. It's why guys like Fraxiom, MCMG, Los Garzas are struggling.
Melo and guys like Ilja are just getting their break now because the smackdown midcard title scene cleared up a bit.

Logan Paul held the United States title for almost a year in 2023. It then went to LA Knight who had a boring reign and feud with Nakamura before being locked in the Samoan feud between Jacob and Solo.
Where Johnny wan see chance?

if e really good e go see chance. Either that or he's not being used well.

pu7pl3:
There are always going to be people sacrificed for other people to get more screen time, it's just how the business is. Atleast now he is getting some time to show himself again.

Def. But those people sacrificed are the undercards and it seems that's where Gargano falls into.

pu7pl3:
I'm sure you know there is only soomany wrestlers you can fit into a 3hr show.
I'm just happy he is finally doing something.

competition is a thing, but look at the optics. He's been in the company for how long, and not even a midcard title in his name. Even Theory has that. With the way he was hyped.

samistry:
Maybe she bought tickets for the kids.

you're excusing a crime? I'm sure you thought it was really cool what Seth did to Heyman.

Do we blame WWE?

ECW Paul Heyman dey learn work.

pu7pl3:
Which explanation do you want? He hasn't had anything to do on the main roster for months.

and why's that?

pu7pl3:
Please don't start

fine, I'm sure you can do a better job explaining this. Or let me guess, he's only there because he wants to elevate the NXT guys.

samistry:
They don't have any plans for Johnny on the main roster. I don't see him beating Myles Bourne who's just starting his reign.

maybe Johnny is overhyped.

samistry:
Can't explain it here so others won't see but I left you a message there.

I saw a follow.

This is a demotion.

Seth "Felon" Rollins.

samistry:
When I no be Ricochet.

how did you find out. It's good you told me cos I've been thinking of changing my username, it's too similar.

Some convos are silly. Now Matt doesn't deserve a Hall Of Fame?

samistry:
I've seen Valee on Facebook.
I have the height and size advantage plus pu7pl3 in my backpocket.
It will be a Valentine's day massacre

really? On FB? Don't bring any stuff here, this platform is faceless for a reason.

CoolUsername:
Remember what Gunther told Ludwig Kaiser when he broke Imperium up? He said "go and make a name for yourself". Gunther went on to win championships and retire legends while Ludwig floundered in the midcard. The only time he was in the conversation was when Charlotte used his name to hurl a cheap shot at his girlfriend at the time.

What happened next can only really happen in pro wrestling. Gable dons a luchador persona to make fun of Penta and all the other luchadores giving him a hard time. This culminates in Penta attacking Gable and putting him on the shelf for months. But guess who was lurking in the background at the time? Ludwig Kaiser, waiting to seize the opportunity to make a name for himself.

Basically, his character is actually still Ludwig Kaiser. But Ludwig Kaiser is taking the mantle of a luchador after the original got injured in order to finally make a name for himself.

and? This won't work long term and everyone knows it. The next thing is when they're eventually released, they go to AEW and say "I can finally be myself". If I can't be entertaining as myself, then I don't deserve it.

CoolUsername:
Punk used to be a tweener but is now a face. Roman Reigns is a tweener. Crowds cheer for tweeners all the time.

If he's a tweener then he's doing a bad job. He hasn't even been booed once.

CoolUsername:
But won't that be sports entertainment?

all wrestling is sports entertainment. But if you mean 'garbage wrestling' then yes it is, I was already in it when "special guest referee" was introduced, I'm only playing by the rules.

Fro5t:
You as special guest referee? How Valeelove wan take win this match? 😂🤣😂

maybe knock him out by 'mistake'.🤷🏿‍♂️

Brock paid his dues? I'm seriously interested in this story. From what I heard, the only person he ever listened to was Heyman and Cornette perhaps. He was paid 10 times an average OVW wrestler while he was there. He was rushed to the main roster, was given private locker rooms and other benefits, was most likely hotshotted to the main event in 2 months and won the title, never attended the Kangaroo courts, intimidated everyone and even made refs cry. He basically did what he wanted and got away with it. At what time did Brock actually pay a due?

CoolUsername:
This shows how little you understand Roman Reigns' character. He is liked now but he never changed, he is still the same power hungry, manipulative tribal chief that he has always been.

And I can't believe we are blaming the new VP when the shows have improved since she got the promotion

this was the same thing people were saying about Drew that time and i called it out. Say the same thing about Austin, I'll still call it out. There's 3 characters, a babyface, a heel and a tweeners (temporary). You're either these 3 or nothing in wrestling. It's either Roman is a babyface, a heel or at least a tweener. The crowd has been cheering, which means he's a face. That's what I know.

CoolUsername:
@samistry and ValeeLove

1 hour Ironman Hair vs Hair match. Pure wrasslin', real graps. I'll be the special guest referee. Fro5t as the play-by-play commentator, pu7pl3 in colour commentary.

Ahh, "Pu7pl3 in colour", see what you did there.

samistry:
PG era Vince dress code for wrestlers. They were always in gear at that period even not scheduled to wrestle.

they should tighten these stuffs up even if they want to do their stories. You don't see Conor in ring attire for his UFC interviews and press. Oba is feeling too aesthetic is where I'm driving at. I liked him when he came to address Cody, looking well dressed, talking and acting normal - no gimmick in display. I guess he's on the main roster full time now.

CoolUsername:
You feel bad for the dude that finally got his big break? Also, newsflash: all wrestlers are playing someone else. Do you really think Marcel Barthel is walking around and talking about European elegance in real life?

yeah he's playing someone else in this context. The face and heel character should be the only difference between a wrestler and their real self. But now he's also mexican. Why can't he succeed as just Ludwig at least? Because the whole thing is a joke.

Who is he anyone?