#i have. and in comparison to that this is main event ppv quality

[the-kipsabian]

why are so many people so mad about the all in card tho

like i understand the complaint of only one womens match in a five hour show cause yeah same but other than that???

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Money in the Bank 2023 - Quick Review

Okay so I did have a highlights for MITB but when I hit CTRL+Z to fix a bullet I deleted it instead deleted all but half the title, and CTRL+Y didn't fix either, and it couldn't be recovered in the draft so quickfire stuff

Spoilers for MITB 2023

I enjoyed it, it was a good show. All the matches were consistent and the UK crowd was unsurprisingly great. We had 'surprise' returns from Drew and Cena (well, the latter was a surprise), a surprising heel turn by Shayna and valid MITB winners in Damien Priest - the second best option because he's worked his butt off this past year - and Iyo Sky - who has been long overdue a proper push. We had solid showings from the Women's Tag and the IC match, as well as some more unique thinking like using Handcuffs in the MITB or Gunther chopping a foot to soften it. Also as much as the Pre-Show is a nothing hour of nothing, you gotta watch Heyman's promo with Kayla there because it's great.

If there's negatives I'd say that it was still safe, nothing quite thrilled me and thus some felt just like regular matches rather than PPV quality ones, as much as it was consistent there was little peaks and troughs. In comparison to Forbidden Door, a lot clearer and fulfilling finishes but at the same time it was higher lows but lower highs, the men's MITB was messy at times and as much as Cena's promo was great we all know that a Wrestlemania in London will be at least a couple of years away given how we know what next Mania's at Philly, Cody/Dom felt a little pointless without Lesnar showing and Cody winning gives neither man anything, plus all the Bloodline matches remain direly by the numbers, only really being entertaining in the final 5 minutes after the mandatory ref bump...also infinite negatives for not pulling the trigger on LA Knight that was just the most easy open goal they reneged on.

You may've heard people say that Forbidden Door was 'a two match show' but you can argue the same here, you eliminate the Men's MITB and Main Event and it wouldn't have drawn as well just like how Forbidden Door wouldn't have drawn as well without Omega/Ospreay and Danielson/Okada, even though the 10-man was a banger, Punk/Kojima was fun and both WWE's women's matches were the better of the night. I guess that is the main problem, I didn't feel strongly about anything (especially Logan Paul trying to GIF himself with a botched Spanish Fly) a lot of the time it was just 'oh, that happened' because each moment felt more like a stepping stone to the end goal rather than the end goal, the only feud quashed was the Women's Tag - which was basically a reset button to before Liv got injured, Cody/Dom maybe depends when Lesnar's feeling up to it, and the IC title where Riddle wasn't gonna stand a chance anyway, all others like Iyo/Bayley, Trish and Zoey/Becky, Bloodline, and Priest/Balor are gonna continue, which while it isn't a bad thing it's a greater percentage.

However, there's a lot of good to come from the show and come out of it going forward, such is the nature of MITB when you don't immediately try to cash in. WWE sets a clear path to Summerslam with little damage control to clean up after.

So overall yeah, good show; you get your money's worth, consistent on the board with some unexpected twists, and you gotta love a good crowd, I hope to hear that noise in Wembley come August.

Match of the Night: Women's Money in the Bank, it was inventive and layered by different feuds occurring in the match. Becky is once again denied the briefcase while being fingertips away to continue the poetic irony paired with Iyo handcuffing her and Bayley to step over both of them to win. Best Attire: I had to deliberate since Ronda's Majin Vegeta gear appeals to the anime fan in me, and I'm sure Becky was going for a Jean Grey look with hers, but I'm giving it to Liv's Union Jack gear because it's inspired by Geri Halliwell's dress when she was in the Spice Girls. I was more shocked that Seth didn't come out to anything I must admit. Performance of the Night: It's a hard choice because of how consistent everyone was, but I'm gonna give it to Becky given how many spots in the ladder match she was involved in and her narrative with Trish and Zoey was a lot more physical than Bayley and Iyo's one. Spot of the Night: Shayna's surprising heel turn and the Usos surprisingly pinning Roman almost took the top but I'll hand it to the aforementioned clever finish of the WMITB, utilising the handcuffs, getting a strong winner and using Bayley and Becky being outwitted to give Iyo the rub.

[thesportssoundoff]

“History for one man, history between two women and a load of decent fights leading up to it” A UFC 215 Preview

The UFC returns to PPV with the sort of card that suggests that they need this new TV deal for more than just dollars and cents. This is a good card from the top to the bottom. It has two title fights, both highly intriguing in their own rights, and then a collection of fights on the PPV portion that either have divisional relevance (RDA/Magny, Pedro/Latifi) or the potential to be a slugfest (Stephens/Melendez). The free TV portion pits some of Canada's best hopes for being new leaders in Canadian MMA (Arjen Bhullar and Gavin Tucker) against vet competition (Luis Henrique and Rick Glenn). Also on this card you have some good WMMA fights and some interesting on paper fights pitting Canadian veterans against unheralded opposition. It's a good card----but is it the kind of card you pay $60 for? It's easy to argue that it isn't---but it's also easier to argue that there's no alternative. The average UFC event when worked out on paper roughly accounts for about 2 million dollars. A UFC PPV that does around 150,000 buys at $60 when you remove the PPV providers cut is about $4 million and change plus whatever they get for airing prelims and etc etc. It's just too big a financial relief to put it on PPV. So you're stuck with a card that might not be worth the PPV entirely (although if you bought UFC 208, 212 or 213,  I don't want to hear that shit) but also has no viable alternate. Now with that said, let's get the real meat and potatoes of this bowl of fruits and nuts.

Fights: 12

Debuts:   1 (Arjan Bhullar)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: (Junioe Dos Santos vs Francis Ngannou cancelled)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): (Mighty Mouse, Valentina Shevchenko, Amanda Nunes, Neil Magny, Rafael Dos Anjos, Ilir Latifi, Gilbert Melendez, Jeremy Stephens, Sara McMann, Wilson Reis, Henry Cejudo)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  4 (Henry Cejudo, Mitch Clarke, Jeremy Stephens and Gilbert Melendez)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Ray Borg, Valentina Shevchenko, Tyson Pedro, Amanda Nunes, Demetrious Johnson, Kajan Johnson)

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 24-23)- Arjan Bhullar

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 17-25)- 0

Second Fight (Current number: 22-27)-  Gavin Tucker

Cage Corrosion (11-5)- Kajan Johnson, Mitch Clarke, Sarah Moras, Gil Melendez, Ilir Latifi

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- I'll try to elaborate more on this but what necessarily IS history in the context of MMA? Like if you think about it, the Guinness Book of World Records is filled with "historic" records but do you care about half of them? Even pro sports there are records that people don't give much of a shit about. So what is history for MMA? What is being the champion with the most title defenses in a sport like this really worth? You'd assume a lot given how I'd venture a guess and say MOST champs can't go three title defenses in a row----but is this a record people care about? If so, how do you get them to care?

2- There has to be a part of everybody who is simply tired of talking about this that or the other thing when it pertains to the drawing power of Mighty Mouse. Either you appreciate his gifts and his greatness or you don't and at this point, the only people who should be worried with how many PPV he sells are the UFC and Mighty Mouse.

3- Just for the sake of argument; a brief comparison between the title defenses that Anderson Silva has had and the title defenses that Mighty Mouse has had. Caveats of course being different era, more active contenders, less shows, established weight class etc etc etc. PLUS you have to weed through the fights Anderson Silva had at 205 as well:

A. Silva- 47-18  UFC record at time of title defense; 1 undefeated in org, 0 undefeated overall; longest winning streak- 5 (Patrick Cote); rematches 3 (Franklin, Sonnen and Okami)

D. Johnson- 40-12 UFC record at the time of title defense; 6 undefeated in org; 0 undefeated overall; longest winning streak- 4 (Kyoji Horiguchi and Henry Cejudo); rematches 2 (Benavidez and Dodson)

4- Is there a backup plan in place if Ray Borg misses weight as he's been want to do in the past?

5- We sometimes rail on MMA but when the best fight the best, it can be really fun. After watching Shevchenko and Nunes run through the 135 lb division throughout all of 2016 and the start of 2017, there's no doubt these two are the best 135ers currently going. They're not the stars that Rousey and Tate were (and Holm by extension) BUT they're better fighters as evidenced by the success they've had. Nunes has come a long way (with some flaws that remain since her Strikeforce tenure) while Shevchenko continues to be a consistent ass kicker. They match up well stylistically, both fighters have the ability to finish the other and it's the perfect matchup of slow and steady in Shevchenko vs the aggressive immediacy of Nunes. The weight cut failure/sinusitis (depending on who you ask) doesn't help matters but we're getting the fight and that's what counts.

6- So.....who is the #1 contender post EITHER title fight? That's less of a problem at 135 lbs where Holm can jump down/GDR can pinch hit for the spot/Rocky Pennington is hanging out around. Even Ketlen Vieira could probably get that fight if she beats Sara McMann. It's a little less clear at 125 lbs where Mighty Mouse has beaten, well, everyone. Sergio Pettis is a fresh face although I don't think that fight would do remotely well on PPV or even on free TV. Same could be said for Ben Nguyen although Nguyen has a well earned fight finisher rep.

7- If they kill the 125 lb division if Mighty Mouse wins again, you cool with that?

8- Gavin Tucker looked very, very good in his UFC debut. Even though he's 31, he represents the slightest glimmer of hope for a UFC Canadian scene that's been floundering since GSP left. The UFC is giving him a moderate step up in Rick Glenn; one of those guys who might epitomize a AAAA fighter (too good for the regional circuit, not good enough for the bigger orgs).

9- Speaking of the future of Canadian MMA, Arjan Bhullar makes his debut. Just to show the difference here; Bhullar at 31 would be tied for the 4th youngest HW in the top 10 behind Volkov, Struve and Ngannou. He'd be tied for 4th OLDEST in the featherweight division (Yair, Aldo, KZ, Moicano and Ortego are all younger), Stephens being 31 as well.

10-Henry Cejudo showcased a wealth of improvement from his earlier UFC fights when he took Joseph Benavidez. He didn't get the decision (which most people disagreed with) but the improvement was there. He'll draw Wilson Reis who is about a level above the guys he was beating pre-DJ but below Mighty Mouse and Benavidez. Cejudo is still young, he's still improving and chances are he can maybe make a run in the division again. Assuming he doesn't miss weight/pull out/lose a winnable fight here.

11- Is it wrong to be a stick in the mud re: Gil Melendez vs Jeremy Stephens? Gilbert has had a lot of great fights in his career BUT his UFC run consists of really only one great performance vs Diego Sanchez. Caveats about Mexico's altitude and Benson Henderson aside, Gil's just really not the same dude anymore. Jeremy Stephens has historically been a fighter who has two types of fights; the fight where he brawls his way to a killer finish or a boring fight where he's decisioned/wins a decision. He is a guy who hasn't evolved despite his success; fighting the same way he has since 2010. Now having said that, perhaps there's a chance that the two stylistically match up for some kind of crazy war. I'm just not sold on that being the case; we've seen Stephens booked in these kind of fights before (Melvin Guillard, Donald Cerrone, Cub Swanson, Max Holloway off the top of my head) and it always ends with him being handled.

12- The quality of the 205 lb division has been dragged over jagged rocks plenty of times but Tyson Pedro seems like he could be a guy who has a bright future. The Aussie is undefeated in the UFC, both by finishes, and as we're seeing Khalil Rountree is no joke. The question becomes whether he can handle a serious step up in terms of style which is what Ilir Latifi represents. Latifi is a strong dude who doesn't need to hit clean to hurt folks and he's got an active ground game to match. He is a stern test for Mr. Pedro.

Must Wins

Demetrious Johnson

No duh. This is a must win. History is on the line here and a record that would stand until the end of time is on the line. Let's see if he can get it.

Ray Borg

Mighty Mouse is going for the record. That's without question a massive must win scenario---but a win by Mighty Mouse might legitimately end the 125 lb division in my estimation. That would suck for all involved. Ray Borg wins and there's an IMMEDIATE hot rivalry which would stretch the lifespan of this division out somewhat. Beyond that, Borg as a champion might convince a few new people to give 125 lbs a chance given how the issue seems to be about Mighty Mouse superficially and maybe not so much the division.

Tyson Pedro

I thought about Amanda Nunes here but I get the feeling that all roads will end positively there regarding her and the UFC. Tyson Pedro is a different kind of situation entirely; if he wins, 205 lbs has a new hot face on the scene at a time where Jon Jones is gone (for now), Rumble is gone, DC is going to be gone soon and Gustafsson fights every once every leap year. Pedro is a fight finisher who is 25 years old in a division lacking other fight finishers. He pretty much has to win.

Five Fights You Shouldn’t Miss

1- Ray Borg vs Demetrious Johnson

History is on the line. This is the fight to see.

2- Amanda Nunes vs Valentina Shevchenko

The first fight wasn't just good, it was the launching point for Amanda Nunes' career as it stands. Now they meet again with Nunes as the dominant champion who just iced the two most famous female mixed martial artists ever and Shevchenko chasing the only woman to beat her in MMA. It's a perfect story.

3- Sara McMann vs Ketlen Vieira

Ronda Rousey is not coming through that door. Miesha Tate is not coming through that door. Holly Holm is a 145er now (I suppose). You need new talent in the ranks and that ultimately means that Ketlen Vieira is of importance. The 26 year old Brazilian faces Sara McMann who at this point kind of is what she is. She's a frustrating fighter who when she puts it all together could beat anybody---but seems reticent to put it all together.

4- Henry Cejudo vs Wilson Reis

First, the challenge is on Reis to show he's not completely cooked and burnt out after getting thrashed vs MM. Wilson has had a long career and has fought up in weight, down in weight and in the middle. He's a good veteran fighter but he's got a lot of wear and tear on him. Henry Cejudo looked great in a loss to Joe Benavidez----so which Cejudo shows up? The one who upped his game vs Benavidez or the dude who slept through fights with Juissier Formiga and Chris Cariaso?

5- Rafael Dos Anjos vs Neil Magny

Tarec Saffiedine was a decent challenge for RDA at 170 lbs. Now comes a more perplexing challenge; a long limbed guy who exists in that "good enough to win but not great enough to win in one way." Magny has no true calling card; as a striker he's able to mix things up well enough. He has an understanding of angles and a variety of tools he uses to outpoint folks. He doesn't have the power to finish a guy outright and whenever he gets touched, he seems to react in the exact opposite fashion you'd want someone to. On the ground, he's good enough to challenge with subs and get to his feet but not good enough to stop takedowns and when it becomes chain for chain, he loses.  Dos Anjos on paper is good enough to beat Magny but in the words of Kevin McHale; good big beats good small every single time.

[d2kvirus]

15/1/20 Fact or Fiction

Statement #1: The Chris Jericho/John Moxley Inner Circle membership angle in AEW was predictable and thus lame. FICTION - Was the payoff for the angle predictable? Sure, it was a payoff that we could all see coming from a mile away, but does that make it lame? No, no it does not, because sometimes going the predictable route is going the correct route - while trying to subvert expectations is the wrong one, case in point Lesnar going over Reigns clean at WM34 may have subverted expectations, but also subverted common sense

Statement #2: If you could see Shawn Michaels in his prime versus one wrestler today, in a PPV main event, it would be Seth Rollins. FICTION - For me it has to be Daniel Bryan, although I'd be keen to see him go up against Adam Cole as well

Statement #3: Tessa Blanchard is currently the best female professional wrestler on the planet. Special Task: Quick Hit – please write your response using only one sentence FICTION - Asuka, Io Shirai, Becky Lynch, Kaira Sane and (when motivated) Sasha Banks all spring to mind as being better wrestlers

Statement #4: Andre the Giant really did beat Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III following the failed bodyslam attempt in the opening minutes of the match. Special Task: Please write your response in pro-wrestling kayfabe FICTION - Do you not remember Jack Tunney addressing this? He said the referee saw a mosquito on the ring mat and quickly ended its life before it spread malaria to all 183,706 people in the Silverdome, it’s just he happened to be doing this while counting an unsuccessful pinfall attempt

Statement #5: The Mount Rushmore of NXT Tag Teams is: American Alpha, #DIY, The Revival, Undisputed Era FACT - While some might argue The Ascension should be on there due to the length of their title reign, the counterpoint to that is The Ascension were a boring team who only held the belts so long because there weren't any other tag teams in NXT at the time, because their body of work doesn't so much pale in comparison next to American Alpha, DIY, The Revival and Undisputed Era as fades from existence

Statement #6: Your opinion of a wrestler can change based on the quality of their merchandise. FICTION - Following ROH so long is a damn good reason why this isn't the case: Bryan Danielson never had a good shirt and I remember that Claudio Castagnoli had at least one bad one too, but that didn't make me think less of them or their matches - yet on the other hand Age of the Fall had some great shirts but I dreaded their every appearance as that always ran the risk of yet another long, meandering Jimmy Jacobs promo and, even worse, their original entrance theme blasting out

https://411mania.com/wrestling/411-wrestling-fact-or-fiction-was-aews-jon-moxley-inner-circle-angle-too-predictable/

[vrheadsets]

VR vs. The Showcase Of The Immersives

As I am writing this I can tell you I am pretty damn tired. That’s because, being the wrestling fan that I am, I was up most of the night watching WrestleMania. The show of shows. The granddaddy of them all. The showcase of the immortals.  Mr McMahon’s Punchy Kicky Jamboree. We’ve mentioned before on VRFocus, and it’s usually me doing it for whatever reason, how World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has been investigating and ‘testing out’ immersive technologies for some considerable time, as far back as 2015. It would be nearly a full eleven months before we would see their first efforts on the stage of virtual reality (VR) thanks to some 360 degree highlights of a couple of matches from their 2015 SummerSlam and NXT Takeover Brooklyn pay-per-view (PPV) events.

Last night was the 34th WrestleMania event – though if you asked WWE they would tell you it was the 34th anniversary of WrestleMania. Because, as we’ve known since WrestleMania 25, they apparently don’t know how words and numbers work.

If you get married your wedding day isn’t your first anniversary, you twits…

In any case, the build-up for their use of VR has been relatively long, but they’ve seemingly been growing in confidence over the years. The message has been consistently positive, when an executive has commented on the potential uses of VR it has always been positive. Always being a matter of when, and not if. Whilst previous WrestleMania’s have resulted in 360 degree videos, that usually find their way into post-Mania Life in 360° posts – and no doubt will again if they are released. (Like I say, wrestling fan.) WrestleMania 34 will go down as first time VR was truly a part of the broadcast.

We knew back in January that the company the company was finally taking the next big step as it announced a partnership with NextVR, NextVR’s Vice President of content Danny Keens describing it as “a match made in heaven” and trials done by the company as “by far the most compelling VR content I’ve seen”. Which, as I mentioned at the time, was a pretty bold statement when you consider just how much content NextVR have been involved in.  Well, Sunday night NextVR and watching VR were actually given a call out during the opening of one of the main events of the night, the WWE Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles.  Their coverage of everything starts this Thursday incidentally, and I’ll be interested to see how it plays out on such a big stage. I have some thoughts about sport and VR I’d like to get into a later date but being highlights this’ll be interesting.

However, it wasn’t just VR recording that WWE had going, it also went full tilt into augmented reality (AR) too. Beyond what had been revealed initially – that the company had partnered with Snapchat, was releasing a new 3D Bitmoji lens that brought a cartoon John Cena to life on your desk or car dashboard, or wherever, and that it had teamed with Microsoft’s Mixed Reality capture studio and Littlstar to create an AR precursor to the same Nakamura/Styles match. A video about which you can see below, incidentally.

The broadcaster also (for the first time so far as I am aware) brought AR into the WrestleMania presentation itself with some 3D graphics, and in the majority of instances boy did it look bad.

At a time where AR is still riding high in the public awareness thanks to the likes of Pokémon GO, the first time it is used predominantly at a major, internationally watched event such as WrestleMania it looked at best cheesy and at worst… Well, it looked as though the technology was primitive. Giving the impression that the whole thing would appear dated even before the end of the broadcast. We had angled graphics at the beginning and a cloud of floating buzzwords for when The Miz came out, which probably looked the best of the bunch since they more ‘traditional’ uses of AR in a sporting context. Then there was The New Day coming out between two stacks of poorly rendered AR pancakes (long story), and Asuka immerging from the back surrounded by giant floating 3D masks and strange solid laser beam effects that looked ripped straight out of the early 1990’s.

It actually looks better as a static image, which isn’t much of a compliment. The whole scene looked as though Reboot‘s Hexadecimal was coming out to challenge for the title. The irony being the series which began in 1994 (and don’t get me or Rebecca started on The Guardian Code, incidentally) looked a darn slight better than what was on show.

Nobody is ready for Hexadecimal!

The audience response was, to be generous, split – at least based on the responses I was immediately tracking on Twitter. Some people thought it was pretty amazing, others thought it looked clunky and as I mentioned, dated. Perhaps the most concise summary came from a friend of mine who I do a wrestling related show with. When you compare what was shown to what was presented by Riot Games during the League of Legends Worlds event last year; which had an Elder Dragon come swooping in to the arena before landing on stage and getting kind of pissed at everyone in attendance. There’s really no comparison.

Yes, that was more of an elaborate piece that took more time to create – but it was 100 times more effective and wowed the crowd. WWE have one of the best video and graphics production houses in the world. That’s both on a technical and quality point. Unfortunately, this first public dalliance with introducing elements from this part of immersive technology remains really didn’t help AR. What should’ve been a talking point was for the wrong reasons, and the resulting quality wasn’t up to the level the company usually produces in such things. More people were turned off from AR that on to it.

I hope WWE do stick with it and am intrigued where they are going to go with it but if there was an immersive report card they’d be receiving a note which would say ‘must try harder’.

  from VRFocus https://ift.tt/2IFM7BM