March Wrestling Thread/April Thread will be up on the second /WM Week

UPS just dropped off the tee...

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WWE SmackDown Live preview (Mar. 20, 2018): Impaired
4
By Meangene45 Mar 20, 2018, 10:00am EDTSHARE
WWE’s next stop on the road to WrestleMania 34, is the same as the last one, as Team Blue takes up shop where Raw was last night for their Mar. 20 show - Dallas.

The Headliners

Fittingly, as it’s been the lead story for what feels like forever, SmackDown will continue to focus on Shane McMahon’s feud with Kevin Owens as we head toward New Orleans. The commissioner will be... unavailable... both because he announced he’d be taking a leave of absence last Tuesday, and because right after that, Owens and Sami Zayn got back on the same page long enough to send him to a local medical facility with a pop-up powerbomb onto a ladder that left him making really horrible noises.

That means General Manager Daniel Bryan will return to captain the ship. And not only is Bryan kayfabe torn between his job and his empathy for Zayn and KO’s plight as indie-guys-who-might-be-getting-the-shaft-from-a-McMahon, he’s also legitimately torn between his desire to wrestle again and WWE medical reportedly not clearing him to do so.

It makes for a fascinating ‘Reality’ Era stew...

Pro wrestling storytelling logic would be to turn the Owens vs. Zayn ‘Mania match into a fourway or tag that includes Shane and DB. It would be shocking if McMahon didn’t get added, but how will his GM factor into plans. That’s what has everyone on the edge of their seats. And we’ll be watching for signs of The ‘E’s intentions tonight in between scripted updates on Shane O’Mac’s condition, and the angle WWE.com’s official preview is teasing - whether or not his attackers will be punished by Bryan for their actions.

The Title Scene
KO and Sami, and real and kayfabe injury, also factor into the WWE championship scene. AJ Styles’ defense against Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura has been set in stone for a while, but a legit injury which caused the Phenomenal One to miss last weekend’s house shows was explained in-story by an attack by the YEP-pers in Madison Square Garden last Friday. The on-screen angle has been that Nak and AJ are watching out for one another to make sure they’re 100% for their dream match in the Superdome on April 8. Obviously, Shinsuke didn’t do a great job protecting the champ in New York, but we’ll have to see how that, and whatever the doctors had to say about Styles’ injury, is dealt with on television.

The upcoming Women’s title match between Charlotte Flair and Rumble winner Asuka isn’t a rematch of a highly-praised New Japan bout, but it’s getting a similar build as the Styles/Nakamura. What’s different is that the ladies have a Money in the Bank briefcase in the mix, meaning Carmella could conceivably get involved at any time. And there’s a division full of wrestlers who might be feeling overlooked since the undefeated Empress jumped brands to challenge the Queen.

Bobby Roode just wanted to announce he’d be using his rematch clause to try and reclaim the red, white and blue belt from United States champion Randy Orton at WrestleMania, but Jinder Mahal stayed involved in their business. The Maharajah beat the Glorious One to continue his bad week, then ate a RKO. At least they’re not feuding over Bryan’s hopefully forgotten Top 10 list.

A partnership right out of the pages of a comic book between rivals Big E of New Day and Jimmy Uso of tag team champs The Usos wasn’t successful in stopping Bludgeon Bros reign of destruction. What’s it gonna take to cool off Harper and Rowan?

Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- It’s not clear where else this show and the pay-per-view (PPV) extravaganze it’s building to will have time for much more than the above angles. But at least there are two ‘Mania battle royals! Expect a lot of women to declare for the don’t-call-it-The-Moolah over the coming weeks.

- And regardless of how much ‘smart’ fans love celebrating their holiday, or what NFL-ers they’re friends with, or how MmmGorgeous they are, look for the bulk of SmackDown’s men’s roster to end up in The Andre.

Three weeks until WrestleMania 34!

What will you be looking for on SmackDown Live tonight?
 
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Ronda Rousey is the perfect woman to open the intergender floodgates for WWE
3
By Meangene45 Mar 20, 2018, 1:00pm EDTSHARE
rousey.0.jpg
WWE.com
After years of speculation, we’re finally seeing Ronda Rousey as a regular part of WWE programming. And after a mixed martial arts career where she left an incredible legacy only a fool would debate, the possibility exists for her to do something similar in the squared circle.

Rousey was a mainstream star in MMA -- especially during her time in the UFC -- and she was dominant in a fashion that forced the rest of women’s MMA to catch up, resulting in an elevated skill level throughout the sport.

She also was the reason the UFC brought women to the octagon after years of Dana White’s standard answer of “never.”

While women have long been a standard part of WWE programming, and in recent years much of their in-ring work is regarded as often on-par with the men’s roster, intergender matches are still mostly off the menu.

When men and women have mixed it up through WWE history, it’s been exceedingly rare for women to be presented as on the same competitive level and almost always presented as comedy (Chyna, Lita and Jacqueline being the obvious exceptions).

Meanwhile, the independent scene has normalized the concept of men facing off with women by presenting the matches as ... well, matches.

There are size and strength differences at play, but there are with male vs. male or female vs. female matches as well. And as long as matches aren’t played off as “watch this man beat up this woman,” there’s little disturbing about the contests.

WWE’s flirtations with the idea have been evident over the past year with James Ellsworth routinely involved with women’s matches until being taken down one-on-one by Becky Lynch.

And NXT has layered the right interactions to make such matches possible throughout its history.

Rousey has been presented as an absolute killer, dominating Triple H physically and not backing down from the idea of a fight with one of the most accomplished men in wrestling history.

Their staredown during the WrestleMania press conference last week was a brilliant bite-sized example of her presentation.

Rousey, clutch in hand, looks ready for a fight no matter the size difference.

Following WrestleMania, it would be a shame to see her slotted into the women’s division for whatever schedule she works for the company.

Far more interesting would be for her to scrap with anyone and everyone she has issue with. Her MMA bona fides make her a believable threat to anyone in the cartoon world of pro wrestling. Let’s not forget how much of her MMA career featured a segment of fans and media outlets debating the winner in a hypothetical showdown with Floyd Mayweather.

Rousey could be the bridge between the men and women.

Imagine Rousey battling on an even level with Triple H and then going back-and-forth with Charlotte a month later. There’s some simple math there suggesting “well, if Rousey could hang with him, and Charlotte could hang with her, I wonder what would happen if…”

As intergender wrestling has become a bigger staple of the wrestling scene, WWE is looking out of touch and missing out on opportunities to freshen up their product.

Of course, the PG rating and concerns over the almost certain stories decrying violence against women and missing the point of empowerment that has spawned from intergender wrestling on the indies. And there’s the matter of Rousey’s in-ring capabilities, which remain a mystery.

But if there were ever a right person to test the waters, it’s Ronda Rousey.
 
Last edited:
Ronda Rousey is the perfect woman to open the intergender floodgates for WWE
3
By Meangene45 Mar 20, 2018, 1:00pm EDTSHARE
rousey.0.jpg
WWE.com
After years of speculation, we’re finally seeing Ronda Rousey as a regular part of WWE programming. And after a mixed martial arts career where she left an incredible legacy only a fool would debate, the possibility exists for her to do something similar in the squared circle.

Rousey was a mainstream star in MMA -- especially during her time in the UFC -- and she was dominant in a fashion that forced the rest of women’s MMA to catch up, resulting in an elevated skill level throughout the sport.

She also was the reason the UFC brought women to the octagon after years of Dana White’s standard answer of “never.”

While women have long been a standard part of WWE programming, and in recent years much of their in-ring work is regarded as often on-par with the men’s roster, intergender matches are still mostly off the menu.

When men and women have mixed it up through WWE history, it’s been exceedingly rare for women to be presented as on the same competitive level and almost always presented as comedy (Chyna, Lita and Jacqueline being the obvious exceptions).

Meanwhile, the independent scene has normalized the concept of men facing off with women by presenting the matches as ... well, matches.

There are size and strength differences at play, but there are with male vs. male or female vs. female matches as well. And as long as matches aren’t played off as “watch this man beat up this woman,” there’s little disturbing about the contests.

WWE’s flirtations with the idea have been evident over the past year with James Ellsworth routinely involved with women’s matches until being taken down one-on-one by Becky Lynch.

And NXT has layered the right interactions to make such matches possible throughout its history.

Rousey has been presented as an absolute killer, dominating Triple H physically and not backing down from the idea of a fight with one of the most accomplished men in wrestling history.

Their staredown during the WrestleMania press conference last week was a brilliant bite-sized example of her presentation.

Rousey, clutch in hand, looks ready for a fight no matter the size difference.

Following WrestleMania, it would be a shame to see her slotted into the women’s division for whatever schedule she works for the company.

Far more interesting would be for her to scrap with anyone and everyone she has issue with. Her MMA bona fides make her a believable threat to anyone in the cartoon world of pro wrestling. Let’s not forget how much of her MMA career featured a segment of fans and media outlets debating the winner in a hypothetical showdown with Floyd Mayweather.

Rousey could be the bridge between the men and women.

Imagine Rousey battling on an even level with Triple H and then going back-and-forth with Charlotte a month later. There’s some simple math there suggesting “well, if Rousey could hang with him, and Charlotte could hang with her, I wonder what would happen if…”

As intergender wrestling has become a bigger staple of the wrestling scene, WWE is looking out of touch and missing out on opportunities to freshen up their product.

Of course, the PG rating and concerns over the almost certain stories decrying violence against women and missing the point of empowerment that has spawned from intergender wrestling on the indies. And there’s the matter of Rousey’s in-ring capabilities, which remain a mystery.

But if there were ever a right person to test the waters, it’s Ronda Rousey.
 
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