General WWE II: The Most Electrifying ROH Appreciation in Sports Entertainment

[Tyrath]

Groan

WON: Making Stephanie McMahon a mainstream star is a 'key reason' Ronda Rousey was brought into WWE

As far as Rousey goes, the key item not really talked about is the goals and a major reason why she is there from a company standpoint. All the different questions about her value to the company financially I’m told are secondary.

The key to Rousey is more about Stephanie McMahon, which is why they want that super high-profile match (and if they can get Johnson, it makes it even more high-profile). Stephanie McMahon is a big star in wrestling, but she is not a mainstream star at all. It was explained to me that the key in all this goes back to what made Vince McMahon a big star, which was the program with Steve Austin, and what made Steve Austin a breakthrough star past being a pro wrestling top guy, which was hardly an interview at King of the Ring or the WrestleMania match with Bret Hart, as legend has it, but the angle in Fresno with Mike Tyson.

Rousey is a major sports star. The idea that she was the single most searched female athlete in the U.S. on the Internet in 2017, a year she never competed and for the most part laid low in, speaks volumes. The idea for the program is to make Stephanie a star outside of just the pro wrestling world.

[Zealot]

Maybe she should be less completely intolerable first.

[Snprphnx]

Maybe she should be less completely intolerable first.

Unless she's promoting the Womens Revolution... or the main charities they promote.

[Kang]

Where was I when Steph became a big wrestling star? lol

[Tyrath]

Where was I when Steph became a big wrestling star? lol

They're not trying to make her a wrestling star. They wanna make her a mainstream star

[Zealot]

She's going to end up as disappointed as Vinny Mac is about his role in mainstream society.

[Vil]

Yeah, I was going to ask just how big a "mainstream star" Vince even is.

"He did that XFL thing a while back. That bombed, and now he's bringing it back." "He owns the WWF [sic]." "Isn't his wife in Trump's cabinet?"

Those are the types of answers I'd expect to get from most people I know that don't/didn't watch wrestling. What a star!

[Melena]

Yeah, I was going to ask just how big a "mainstream star" Vince even is.

"He did that XFL thing a while back. That bombed, and now he's bringing it back." "He owns the WWF [sic]." "Isn't his wife in Trump's cabinet?"

Those are the types of answers I'd expect to get from most people I know that don't/didn't watch wrestling. What a star!

Ehh even those who didn’t really watch wrestling knew he was the villain to Austin, so I’d say he was still fairly mainstream

[Vil]

Lots of people don't know anything about wrestling programming and would just as likely know about him for the steroids trial. Obviously he has some mainstream attention. My question was about the magnitude, because while this is likely only a stepping stone, I don't know what they should expect for Stephanie.

[Tomiko]

3 title matches at New Beginning tonight:

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight - Ospreay (c) vs Hiromu
Never Openweight - Goto (c) vs Evil
IWGP Heavyweight - Okada vs Sanada

Full card:

https://www.njpw1972.com/tornament/15845?showCards=1

[Vil]

Yeah, they also had press conference for contract signing for those 3. The Ospreay/Hiromu one was um... interesting. The stuff is subtitled I think, or you can just go to the total divas episodes (or w/e it's called) twitter that has about 7 gifs just from that. Not quite Jericho calling a reporter a fuckface, but Hiromu also doesn't like certain questions.

I think they'll all retain, but those could/should all be good to great matches.

Somewhat related, but it's the next NJPW event, and this year all New Japan Cup events will be streamed. In the past, it was kind of like BOSJ, where some of the shows in the middle, they wouldn't be streamed, and only the tournament matches would go up.

[Tomiko]

Rey Mysterio challenged Jushin Liger at NJPW Strong Style Evolved in Long Beach.

https://streamable.com/d6x31

Spoiler: show

Okada retains and says he wants to face Ospreay.

[Vil]

A couple years ago, I would never have been excited for a Mysterio match at all, but I love the idea of him versus Liger. That could be fun as hell.

Junior and IWGP matches were great. The NEVER match just didn't really click for me. It was good, but I know they both can do better and probably should be able to do better together.

Spoiler: show

I missed that, but I closed the tab after the match ended. That might be for the Anniversary show then? I'm not sure when that is, but I know that people who have been mapping out scenarios for getting Okada defenses to break the record have brought that up and the possibility of him fighting a junior there.

[Anoat]

Looks like the female HOF entrant this year is going to be Ivory.

[Zealot]

Looks like the female HOF entrant this year is going to be Ivory.

Makes sense, she's really the last one of that era who actually wrestled to not be in. Barring, you know, the extremely obvious.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[Anoat]

Sasha Banks vs Bayley announced for Raw tonight, as well as Finn Balor vs Matt Hardy vs Bray Wyatt vs Apollo Crews in a last chance qualifier for the Elimination Chamber. Unfortunately wwe.com already spoiled that match result this weekend by putting up an official graphic for EC.

Spoiler: show

It's Finn

[Anoat]

Cena draws his power from Make-A-Wish kids, I should have known he'd win with one ringside.

[Tyrath]

Sasha Banks vs Bayley announced for Raw tonight, as well as Finn Balor vs Matt Hardy vs Bray Wyatt vs Apollo Crews in a last chance qualifier for the Elimination Chamber. Unfortunately wwe.com already spoiled that match result this weekend by putting up an official graphic for EC.

Spoiler: show

It's Finn

GG wwe, the only thing I cared to tune in to find out lol

[Anoat]

I sincerely enjoy Elias. I did not care for him at all in NXT but his main roster stuff has been golden.

[Anoat]

THIS IS THE GREATEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN