Swagger can give MMA a try.

Yeah, he's pretty close already.

You'd think WWE would have learned this lesson from Daniel Bryan's or CM Punk's situations. They want their "hand picked" guy to succeed because reasons, but someone who actually resonates with fans has them scratching their heads as to why. Hopefully, as I know nothing about the TE finalists, this is a similar case and not a singing reality show style troll where the shitty person keeps getting upvotes for the sake of disruption.


Would you blame him?

That gif makes me wanna see him with a mountain man gimmick of some sort. Just gotta grow the beard out a little more. Have him get depressed that he never lived up to his potential and now he lives off the grid while rasslin' just for fun. No money. He lives off the land. He doesn't need your money. Just wants to pummel and stretch some folks.

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To me, that was up there with the "Mother" promo. Only thing is, Bray sounds like he's nursing a headcold here.

Ha, I remember when Swagger asked for his release and Vince was like 'we'll do better, promise."

I would like to see swagger fued with kurt angle

TNA is done with Destination America...will that mean we'll get 2 hours of ROH?

ROHHH

Sounds like GFW may have just found the centerpiece to their promotion.

I think Swagger should have beat Russev. It wouldn't of hurt Russev, and would have bumped Swagger up some

Swagger didn't deserved to be pushed right after he put Bad News Barrett on the shelf. Even though it was clearly and accident. That's bad for business.

Oh come on now Barrett is always getting hurt some how. I'm surprised he lasted this long

Forever blamed for Dolph Ziggler!

Watching old ECW. Forgot how hilarious the F.B.I were especially Tracy Smothers and his dancing. Lol "hailing from Nashville, Italy: Tracy Smothers".

Swagger would be perfect for NJPW.

It wouldn't have hurt Rusev to have his undefeated streak broken by Jack Swagger?

No, it wouldn't have. Could have just become "more angry".

stop it

Yeah, "I'm more angry now because I jobbed to Jack Swagger" wouldn't be nearly as effective as "I'm unstoppable" heading into a WrestleMania showdown with John Cena.

Dirtsheets sponsored by Slice Bread #NOPE:
http://i.imgur.com/x7L8eML.gif

Spoiler tags used since it related to another possible surprise planned for Summerslam. Original plans had to be scrapped because of someone else getting hurt.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: International Superstar Jushin &quot;Thunder&quot; Liger to appear at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NXTTakeover?src=hash">#NXTTakeover</a>: Brooklyn! <a href="http://t.co/vDUBfSHSD9">http://t.co/vDUBfSHSD9</a> <a href="http://t.co/7mVUtPmwV5">pic.twitter.com/7mVUtPmwV5</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/621845975540310016">July 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Some other sheet news includes:

• Former WWE star Edge was recently signed to be a villain for Season 2 of The Flash tv series. http://comicbook.com/2015/07/16/the-...-atom-smasher/
• According to the Observer, Lucha Underground was confirmed to be getting a second season but the promotion desperately needs another network besides El Rey and Unimas for funding to prevent more financial problems in the near future. Supposedly they are close to a deal with a very big network in Mexico called Televisa.
• Supposedly CHIKARA recently tried to get a tv deal with Destination America to boost their Wednesday lineup and ended with DA being completely confused on who they were since they never heard of the promotion. Didn't get a deal but CHIKARA instead will be showing their weekly shows on their own website and Youtube channel. http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/7/...d-its-a-plucky

My dream WWE vs. NJPW card is one step closer to actually happening

<font color=goldenrod>Swagger beating Rusev would have only worked if they had big plans to make Swagger important in the months that followed. That way Rusev's first loss isn't wasted on a meaningless angle and Rusev doesn't look bad for having jobbed given the guy he lost to wound up setting the world on fire.

Given WWE's track record of booking, they'd have put Swagger over and then done absolutely nothing to capitalize on it. Based on that alone, Rusev winning was absolutely the right call.</font>

Remember when Big Show was the first person to pin Roman Reigns (one on one)? lol

Edge seems on his way to having a better acting career than Cena.

Liger on NXT? If Vince has delusions of people knowing who he is, then prepare for a shock.

Also, is it wrong that I want to see Barnett snap a shark in half?

Cena is in a bigger movie right now.

A lot of NXT fans would know who he is. Not just because a lot of them are marks and know random Japanese wrestlers either. He was a big part of WCW's cruiserweight division early on so he's got tons of stuff available on the network. And I'm sure they'll heavily promote that heading into the match.

Liger is one of the most well known Japanese wrestlers here in the states.

He's made any number of appearances here with ROH & etc.

I am pumped for this one!

Sting has stuff all over the Network and still considered him "obscure."

But yeah, Liger is up there with Muta and Tajiri.

Movie was great. See it.

According to the Observer, WWE and NJPW have a new working agreement with Liger being the start. Also teased something involving WWE/NXT and ROH might be in the works as well.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Only downside is none of the NJPW nor possible ROH guys would show up on the main shows since the WWE likely don't want them to outshine their own stars. Also likely doing it to pluck another bunch of guys for NXT.

The NJPW stuff is pretty great. They could send Swagger to NJPW and have him do a heel super-proud American gaijin thing.

Someone go take out Yujiro so Cesaro can be in the G1

May have been, but I don't think so. The last one I know of was Brie kissing A.J. during A.J.'s match with Nikki for the Divas' Championship @ Survivor Series last year.

http://dailywrestlingnews.com/wp-con...fs-001_001.gif

This seems related. Intentional or no.

It was :)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">U were big in Japan? Good for u I was watching attitude era and punchin people in the mouth the whole time <a href="https://twitter.com/WWENXT">@WWENXT</a> by the way ur name again?</p>&mdash; Alex Riley (@AlexRileyWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexRileyWWE/status/621715627594645504">July 16, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Alex Riley is a dumbass.

who was he referring to?

Jushin Liger is an internationally known superstar the last 20-25 years.

Alex Riley is barely a blip on the radar here let alone internationally.

If you walked by 30 people on the street and asked whether they knew Jushin Liger or Alex Riley they would say "No"

But if you walked past 50 people I think 2 might know who Liger is, as opposed to the 0 who know Riley.

What number of people would it take to find a person that knew Alex Riley?

100? 1000? 10000?

Are we sure Alex Riley hasn't had too many concussions and should be locked away fro his own health? Corey Graves can't wrestle any more because his brain only works like 85%, but comparing the two Twitter accounts, I'd never be able to tell.

Over the past week I've caught up on the past 3 months of TNA, and its a shame they may be on the verge of going tits up.....some great stuff in the "Best Of 5 Series" between The Dirty Heels & The Wolves, EC3's rise to TNA Champion, crazy EY ripping of a prostestic leg and his metamorphosis in general and an intriguing female group in The Dollhouse..... but they then take 10 steps back in the Mickie/Storm/Magnus feud, The Rising/Beatdown Clan clusterfuck and the over use of gimmick matches

Alex Riley: "I was in the main event of WRESTLEMANIA 29!"

Either that or maybe its a hint he's the one that took out Itami. Would barely make any sense but not the first time he's used Twitter to vaguely reference future stuff.

Or it could be referencing Balor, the guy who succeeded where Riley failed.

Not sure how watching the Attitude Era equips him better than a career in Japan.

Um..I think you mean 27

MVP is out of TNA

I guess the Beatdown Clan is now just Kenny King

Very likely related to a lot of his stuff having to be edited out of upcoming TNA shows because of Hernandez's recent stupidity.

Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE Life-size dominoes:
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Was speculated for a while that Slammaversary was likely going to be the last big show TNA was ever going to be able to do.

ROH, Dragon Gate, and Evolve's Gabe Sapolsky on all the recent stuff involving possible WWE deals and the Wednesday Night Wrestling War. One potential big downside though is the Observer thinks ROH could lose out on their NJPW deal if the WWE gets too close to NJPW or tries to push ROH out as part of their terms.

Recent interview that was debunked by Daniel Bryan as being fake and he has no plans on retiring any time soon. http://officialfan.proboards.com/thr...ryan-interview

From Virgil's GoFundMe fundraiser that he recently started: http://www.gofundme.com/makevirgilamillion

Regarding the surprises planned for Summerslam and the post-Battleground episode of RAW.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It really is as simple as me making a call to a friend I've known since 1986 to come and compete for <a href="https://twitter.com/WWENXT">@WWENXT</a>.Really.Now please stop asking.</p>&mdash; William Regal (@RealKingRegal) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKingRegal/status/622149042068451328">July 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Regal on how he managed to get Liger to show up for the next NXT special.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dave says the next chapter in the WWE/ROH war was described from someone close to the situation as &quot;They'll never see what's coming next.&quot;</p>&mdash; DTAM (@DeathToAllMarks) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeathToAllMarks/status/622181649263009793">July 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Apparently the WWE's been feuding with ROH ever since NXT starting touring and them trying to block indie events from happening on Mania weekend.

Why is WWE a whore when it comes to mainstream media, but even if you watched all their product you'd have no idea Cena was in Trainwreck? I understand it's an R rated movie, but I don't get it.

Goes against what they have build and portrayed as Cena's character in the WWE.

Either that, they didn't help fund the film, or the studio itself didn't pay them any ad money to promote it.

Can we change the thread title of the "R.I.P. Rusev" thread to "#LOLRIPTNA"? I don't think it's fair to the company, or their 3 remaining fans, to leave it in it's misery any longer.

I sincerely hope that it is a work.

I assume it probably is a work.

Wasn't WWE talking through some stuff with EVOLVE too? Very curious times for the WWE's developmental network.

Man, TNA is not in great shape. Oh well, I guess it's everyone else's gain.

Think the speculation was Evolve would become their true developmental brand while NXT stays what it is now with having indie stars and almost tv ready people as the main focus.

WWE quickly realized that NXT no longer was an actual developmental brand once they started touring and were getting rave reviews compared to the main shows. Ended up being an unintended side effect of Triple H/WWE being very hands off with the brand that it started to do a much better job than RAW/Smackdown was doing with creating great shows and storylines.

The WWE should probably have a few little learning leagues over the place. With the growth and specific vision that NXT has, it would make sense to have other places for guys to round themselves out some more. A place in Memphis run by Jerry Lawler could be cool. Tracy Smothers, Tom Prichard and Brian Kendrick could all be trainers there.

Well they put that kid on the cover that blew up Boston so Fuck them i don't care what they say.

Yes, that's right, Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev both TOTALLY destroyed the entire city of Boston, as opposed to just horrifically maiming and killing dozens or hundreds of people in the Boston Marathon bombing. :roll:

I've been a huge proponent of reviving the territories as a developmental system and such. The actual tours feature your top champ, tag champs, whoever they're feuding with, and a special attraction feud, but use the locals to fill the rest of Raw and Smackdown.

As for the territories themselves, I say 7 is a good number. Why? Each night on WWE Network, you have a show featuring each territory. They get their own titles and develop their own stars. Every so often, the local stars move, the feuds change, etc. Want to be on the tour? Step up your game.

Best of all, the Casuals won't get burned out from the 834th Orton vs Sheamus match of the year. Especially if Sheamus is the top dog of NXT NW and Orton rules NXT Midwest.

The title needs to be approved by STD.

Tracy Smothers won't work for WWE he is up Billy Jack Haynes ass

Tracy Smothers vs a bear.

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Your argument is invalid.

"If it doesn't work on a bear, you don't do it in the ring!" -Daniel Bryan

I don't know, guys, unless Alex Riley's gimmick is "dumb motherfucker posting insane things on Twitter."

This isn't a one-time thing. That's pretty much what his entire account is like.

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I miss the World Heavyweight Championship. Cena could've made it important instead of the United States Championship.

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/photo_la...2026146133.jpg

Remember when people were wishing for the Undisputed belt to be brought back when Cena was running around with the spinner belt?

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/photo_la...1058881362.jpg

According to Dave Meltzer from the Observer, besides the likelihood of WWE trying to get NJPW away from ROH, the WWE is also going after arenas ROH runs shows at.

Trying to get exclusive deals done with those arenas so the only wrestling shows they'd allow would be ones from the WWE. Those arenas are a lot smaller than what the WWE usually runs shows in but WWE is making concessions just so that ROH has fewer places to run their own shows.

In turn, ROH would have to start looking at more expensive places to run their shows if the WWE ends up succeeding with this plan.

I hope it works, if ROH starts doing shows in bigger arenas it would grow that brand if they can fill them.

What's Vince trying to achieve with this?

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fuckin cool

A monopoly. Get all the good young talent to go to NXT instead of other promotions.

I don't know. Triple H is behind development these days, and I think he knows how important it is for young guys to get experience before coming to the WWE. Shows like Tough Enough run counter to this, but I don't think the WWE is really trying to bleed ROH out.

I think it's more likely we see some ROH guys used to bolster NXT and help the guys that the WWE really wants to be its next crop of stars get to that next level in the ring. It might be some sort of thing like they initially had with Samoa Joe, where they can trial some guys and use them for tour shows, but there won't be any immediate plans to main roster them.

Fuck, given that Sinclair Broadcasting own ROH now, it wouldn't surprise me to just see the WWE buy ROH and let it keep running and essentially use it as a developmental territory.

I think the New Japan stuff is to advertise the guys they have, so they can tell complete stories about them and get some emotional investment behind them from viewers. But I also think it's an attempt to boost the WWE Network's sales in Japan. With such a large population that embrace new technological media -- Japan would be an idea market for the WWE to get into. Professional wrestling is on a downturn there too, but New Japan have been holding up and manage to create legitimate pop-culture stars out of some of its guys, and New Japan World is up and running. I don't think the WWE is going to try and run New Japan World off the market, but I think they want to get nice and cozy next to them -- and that might mean appealing to their fanbase.

Really? None of them?

I don't recognize him either, and I'm a pretty large consumer of crap.

He's on Walking Dead

John DiMaggio is a true clone of the Fella King.

Considering Sinclair barely gives them enough money as is, them having to run in larger or more expensive arenas probably going to wreck their finances maybe even to TNA-type levels.

Supposedly they lost a good amount of money from the NJPW-ROH ppv events this year. Only reason they managed to get some big names this year was them constantly begging for Sinclair to open up their checkbook for the events. If Sinclair had their way, either was going to be just 1-2 NJPW stars or a couple lower tier cheaper guys.

ROH just needs to take over TNAs studio at Universal since they won't be needing it much longer

Oh, that's John DiMaggio. I know his voice. Cheese it.

Watched Trainwreck in theaters on Friday night.... saw a whole bunch more of John Cena than I was thinking I would....lots of Naked Cena ass.....

My now ideal SummerSlam card:

Triple Threat Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns

-Rollins retains the World Title at Battleground when The Undertaker returns and makes Lesnar his target. Reigns defeats Bray Wyatt and wants the title shot. Dean Ambrose interjects himself (possibly violently) and doesn't want to be overshadowed. Cue the Triple Threat everybody wants to see.

The Beast vs. The Phenom
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker

-The gong goes off at Battleground and Taker is in the ring ready to Tombstone Brock. I know this isn't everybody's favorite match, but it does make sense for Taker to have a rematch with Brock in mind, and it keeps the WWE World Title on Rollins for a little while longer.

WrestleMania Rematch
Triple H vs. Sting

-I'm not too big on Sting being at SummerSlam, but if he is, I guess it would make sense for Sting to get his win back. I'd be all for Cesaro vs. Sting, but I can't see that happening.

United States Championship
If John Cena loses, he can never challenge for the United States Championship again
Kevin Owens (c) vs. John Cena

-Owens vs. Cena has been a bright spot for the WWE. When Owens wins the US Title at Battleground, does Cena just walk off into the sunset? Of course he's going to try and get another match against Owens. The caveat being added that Cena needs to win this match to ever be US Champion again is both a heat-builder for Owens, and something that would put the Cenation on edge.

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt

-Orton beats Sheamus at Battleground. I know people don't like MITB winners losing all the time, but a loss to Orton hardly hurts Sheamus. Orton looks good in his hometown and reminds people that he matters. Bray Wyatt, off his loss to Reigns, targets Orton as a sharpening tool for his own skills, so he can one day challenge Reigns again and beat him. "Make me better, Randy."

Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler

-This one is pretty obvious. These two have issues and want to fight at SummerSlam. Lana is in the corner of Ziggler and Summer Rae is in the corner of Rusev.

3 vs. 3 vs. 3
The Bella Army vs. Paige, Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Team BAD

-These girls are good enough to make this work. They could knock this off at Battleground, but they might be saving it for SummerSlam. Fair enough.

Intercontinental Championship
Cesaro (c) vs. Chris Jericho

-Ryback plays injured for a bit longer and Cesaro wins the IC Title in a re-established Triple Threat at Battleground. Lana is the force behind getting Cesaro into the match, as she's taken him on as a client after being impressed by his victory over Rusev on SmackDown. Cesaro becomes a fighting IC Champion, and defends the title against The Miz, Big Show, Rusev (with a little help from Ziggler to protect Rusev) and Neville heading into this match with the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time. Jericho gets announced as being from Manhasset, New York for this one.

WWE Tag Team Championship
The New Day (c) vs. Stardust & Neville

-The New Day steal the Tag Titles from The Prime Time Players in the coming weeks. Maybe not at Battleground, but sometime. Stardust & Neville's little rivalry comes to a head in a third match, where Neville gets the clean win with the Red Arrow. The Ascension come out and say that when they are down trawling the WWE, there will be no more heroes. Welcome to the wasteland. They beat-down Neville, but something snaps in Stardust and he returns to the ring to make the save. Stardust begins his journey to hero status, or pretends to still be a villain whilst clearly having a heart of gold. Something like that. They become the #1 Contenders for the Tag Team Titles and we have this fun little match. Oh, and Arrow shuts up Xavier Woods in this match.

Kickoff Six-Man Tag Team Match
King Barrett, Big Show & The Miz vs. The Prime Time Players & R-Truth

-I really don't want Barrett vs. Truth to continue, but I'm just scrapping this together. The Miz and Big Show find themselves united after being thrown a curve-ball at Battleground. Miz reasons that they worked well together, even if they do loathe each other. "Do you want to be a champion or not?" They also both feel a bit abused by The Authority's lack of recent support for them. R-Truth turns on The Prime Time Players here, and joins rank with Miz and Big Show. Miz sort of puts together a bit of a faction to try and make himself relevant again.

It's not John DiMaggio. But Bender is the true Sheamus clone.

No way Beeker is