I haven't done one of these wishlists for professional wrestling for a few years now, so today on New Year's Eve, I've decided to take a shot at it with a few things I want to see in 2019.
General
I want to see wrestling Twitter/social media as a whole stop being so butt-hurt about everything. That's one of many reasons why I stopped covering everything under the sun for my own sanity. All of this hate from podcasters and writers who get mad at fans who say "stop watching" if the only thing they do is rant on how bad WWE is when their rebuttal is that "It's our jobs and we make a living off this" is just getting asinine hearing on a constant basis. There's a TON of wrestling to cover out there other than WWE. I stopped watching RAW and SD during the early part of this year and I'm forever grateful for that extra peace of mind and free time on Mondays and Tuesdays. I would like to see wrestling fans on social media come together in a positive manner instead of focusing on the negatives 24/7.
On the other half of that spectrum, I wish to see wrestling personalities use Twitter to their advantage rather to their detriment. I've lost count on how many times that I've seen great characters/gimmicks killed the second that said wrestler goes on Twitter and opens their mouth to tweet a reply to a fan and instantly shoot themselves in the foot. The smartest wrestler on Twitter in terms of using it to their advantage is Becky Lynch. She's destroying anyone and everyone who manages to even mention her by name. All I ask to use to enhance your on-screen characters instead of destroying them.
WWE
Ugh, where to begin?
How about making RAW and SmackDown! being must-see TV week-in, week-out. I don't mean this crap where they do one "above average" show then shit goes back into the toilet for weeks and months on end until WrestleMania season starts. The tag team divisions on the main roster are on life support. I don't know what the hell they are doing with the midcarders and the main event scene is hit or miss at best. It honestly makes me sick as a fan and outright disgusts me that WWE goes out of their way to sign so many remarkable men and women in this sport, only to have them to amount to cannon fodder and strip them of everything that made them great to begin with before stepping into one of their rings. You can't even say that it's the fault of the damn talent when Vince McMahon is so out of touch when it comes to wrestling in 2018 going into 2019.
NXT is currently packed to full to capacity at this point. While their events have been great, I feel that their weekly product has stagnated. It feels too much like Ring of Honor from a few years ago when I first jumped back into their product and it's coming off as too much deja vu in terms of "been-there, done that". I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing but there's a lot of cases, especially in their homegrown talent where I feel like NXT is setting them up for failure on the main roster. Case in point goes to the bulk of the call-ups over the past year and on the horizon.
I hope they don't rush this whole thing about pushing Shayna Baszler's friends in Jessamyn Duke and Marina Safir because they both seem like they aren't going to take to this wrestling thing like a fish to water like how Ronda Rousey has. There's no reason to rush them learning their craft slowly instead of fast-tracking them to the main roster to join up with Ronda. On the other side of that, I hope Io Shirai and Kairi Sane stay in NXT for a long time after seeing what the main roster has done to Asuka after calling her up.
I recently spent a few hours rewatching the HHH/CM Punk in-ring promos on YouTube and I want Becky Lynch to get to that point of her popularity. She's the biggest star they have right now and they would be MORONIC not to keep tossing fuel to this fire. I just fear that WWE will swoop in and clip her wings the very same way that they did CM Punk along with AJ Lee when they got to that point, but for some reason this is the same company that allows Brock Lesnar to do whatever pleases... Rumors are pointing to that the WrestleMania main event was "promised" to Charlotte Flair next year, but she can settle for second place for once. The world will NOT end without her being champion or not going for a title at WrestleMania. My dream scenario for WrestleMania would see Becky vs Ronda in the match that we didn't get due to her injury. Becky would get here after dumping both Charlotte and Nia out of the Women's Rumble. To be honest, I rather see Charlotte vs Asuka II anyway, with Asuka picking up the win in their rematch.
Speaking of Lesnar, my wish for the Universal Championship is anyone but Lesnar at this point, especially if he's going to hold both UFC and WWE by the balls.
I know I'm going to get heat for saying it, but if WWE wants to do another all-women's PPV, how about lay off on shoving so many "firsts" down our throats for the women? It's not our fault that they are the last ones to the party when realizing that women's wrestling is actually marketable and there's a demand for it currently... WWE were patting themselves so hard on the back about that this past year that I could've sworn that Stephanie McMahon burped during one of the press events for it.
Impact Wrestling
I hope their move to the Pursuit Channel is temporary and wind up on a network that puts more eyes on their product. PopTV definitely didn't do them any favors, much like their move to Destination America. In the words of Jim Cornette, they are better off playing slides on the side of a barn at this rate.
The roster on Impact Wrestling are busting their ass (as always) with the in-ring product and TBH the storylines aren't bad at all, definitely better than some of the crap they've done in the last 2-4 years. I've honestly enjoyed their product this year. They just need more eyeballs on their product. Their free Twitch streams are a step in the right direction, but not by highlighting every other garbage indie federation that would work with them.
In terms of storylines/gimmicks, I want them to drop the "Crazy" Eddie Edwards vs. Coming to America Moose feud. Moose's heel turn was one of the stupidest choices/decisions for Impact in 2018 in terms of storylines. It made absolutely NO sense. I can understand that they had cold feet in terms of having him dethrone Aries at the time and relying on him in the position to promote Bound for Glory around, but after the massive support behind him, only to turn him heel as part of Aries' faction made no sense at all. I still can't get how great that video package leading up to Moose's title shot against Aries was, yet they decided to turn him heel. (Shakes my head) Turn the guy back babyface and give him a shot at the gold unless they plan on getting Lashley back by this time next year because his WWE return ain't doing anyone any favors outside of Lio Rush...
In terms of the Knockouts, I've loved the whole storyline between Allie, Keira Hogan, Rosemary, and Su Yung. More of that, please. Same goes with the rise of Tessa Blanchard. Even though I'm positive that they are setting Taya Valkyrie to dethrone her at the next PPV, they should be building up a confrontation between Tessa and newcomer powerhouse Jordynne Grace by this time next year.
While I've enjoyed Scarlett Bordeaux's antics since her debut, I want her and Killer Kross to bring their pairing from the indies to Impact Wrestling. For 2019, they need to scrap the rocket to that dude's back as he just seems to scream money. Lucha Underground had the right idea in mind and who knows when they'll be back on air to capitalize on his growing popularity. Plus, it's only a matter of time before WWE gives him an offer he can't refuse...
I would love to see Impact Wrestling continue building around Johnny Impact/Mundo/Morrison (or whatever he's going to call himself...), Fenix, Pentagon, oVe (along with Jeremiah Crane/Sami Callihan), LAX (Impact better renew their contracts before WWE snatches them up...), and especially Brian Cage in the new year as those are definitely their biggest players.
New Japan Pro Wrestling
While I haven't kept up with NJPW's product as I should have over the past year or two, I hope they continue to set and raise the bar on the standard of quality in-ring wrestling with Wrestle Kingdom 13 at the start of the year.
Following that event, I hope they lock down their talents who are up in the air in terms of whether or not that they are renewing their deals with the promotion or not. At this point, it's obvious that The Elite (Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, the Young Bucks, etc.) are out of the door following that event, but don't allow the rest of their guys to walk out of the door without a fight. Hell, I hope Shinsuke Nakamura along with Gallows and Anderson return to the promotion when their WWE deals expire.
Lucha Underground
I hope they get renewed for a fifth season and fans don't have to wait as long as the gaps between the last few seasons. They have a lot of stories to wrap up, especially with the revelations at the end of Season 4 (boy do I need write about that at some point in the New Year...), while simultaneously bouncing back from a bulk of their talent being raided by WWE and other rival promotions, i.e. MLW and Impact Wrestling.
Ring of Honor
My main wish for them in the new year is the same as previous years - a sensible time slot for their weekly TV tapings. For the Sinclair Broadcasting networks in my area, it's like playing the lottery on figuring out when their show comes on the weekends. On Saturdays/Sunday mornings it's either anywhere from midnight to 3AM following news/sports coverage or reruns of Hell's Kitchen. Then there's a chance to catch it Sunday evenings occasionally 10:30PM, but I tend to forget that time slot with everything else going on Sunday evening in terms of getting ready for bed to start for the work week.
Outside of that, I hope they are able to snag some noteworthy talent for their Madison Square Garden show for WrestleMania weekend. If they were smart, they would just bite the bullet and just do a collaboration with Impact Wrestling and pool resources and talent to make it the biggest show possible. We already know that they won't have the Elite to peak interest there and they've pretty much ran the well dry in terms of relying on the NJPW partnership to garner interest on their product.
Independents
MLW (Major League Wrestling) was my personal favorite non-WWE product in terms of a new fresh take on wrestling. There's something for everyone here but at the same time, I wish they were on a more accessible network. Sure, I've stumbled onto their product from episodes being uploaded in full on YouTube but not everyone is going to go that far to check them out. I hope they get a better television deal to put more eyes onto their product. That being said, Court Bauer needs to make sure WWE doesn't swoop in and snatch up more of his talent because that was something that was plaguing his promotion (along with their recent widespread amount of injuries to marquee talent) this past year.
Outside of that, I hope the indies continue to thrive on their own with more great talent coming to surface, along with more events to highlight that fact. We saw ALL IN last year, spearheaded by the Elite, but the chances of that happening again is unlikely as they are rumored to be a part of the rumored All Elite Wrestling promotion set to debut in 2019 and I wish them nothing but the best for starting that from the ground up.
Post a Comment