Chris Jericho to challenge Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12!
But before our reactions to that let’s get to some WWE news and notes.
1) Rumor has it that Smackdown is looking to do a double turn with Rusev turning face and Tye Dillinger turning heel. What are your thoughts?
Corey: I would only support Rusev turning face if he was allowed to keep his sarcastic commentary that he generally shows on social media. Tye Dillinger turning heel might be what he actually needs because he hasn’t actually done much since his main roster call up. If this is actually true it will be interesting to see what they do with both wrestlers.
Josh: Not a fan. What I like most about Rusev is the weird comedy bits mixed with his ruthless wrestling style. Rusev on Twitter is pure genius. If he’s a face then we start to lose part of what is so charming about his character. Good guy’s don’t go around yelling about having holidays dedicated to them. On the Dillinger side of things, I think we’re fine there too. I liked the program he was running with Baron Corbin and AJ Styles, and the next step is just a program that we can get behind. Idea: run a program with Dillinger and Dolph Ziggler where Ziggler keeps getting the upper hand. Just run that for a couple weeks and let the audience build behind Dillinger like it did in NXT. Dillinger is really good at drawing sympathy from a crowd for a hard effort that comes up just short. If that doesn’t scream babyface I don’t know what does.
2) Sin Cara recently signed a new deal with WWE which would explain his recent small push. Do you see him making it higher on the card?
Corey: Sin Cara will end up being somewhere around high mid-card if he can just find something else that will make fans gravitate towards him. He’s a decent high flyer but now with 205 Live as well as regular veterans like Finn Balor and AJ styles doing moves like they’re cruiserweight it’s going to take more than high risk moves for him to stand out. Now if he continues to get this push I won’t have anything against it just as long as he develops something to keep me interested in his character.
Josh: This is higher on the card than he was. Sin Cara will be a mainstay with WWE for a while because he sells merchandise. Masked wrestlers sell masks to kids. It’s a winning formula. It’s a shame because what I liked most were the Lucha Dragons. I’m still not sure why that tag team was separated.
3) With Survivor Series slowly approaching, which match has you the most curious?
Corey: Ever since Dolph Ziggler had his amazing showing at Survivor Series as the last survivor I feel like WWE has actually made the 5 vs 5 matches matter again so I’m definitely curious about that, but this year it’s going to have to go to Jinder Mahal vs Brock Lesnar. This match is screaming for some type of swerve. Josh even mentioned earlier this week that his title match with AJ Styles could end up being a title switch that makes us have Styles vs Lesnar which would be amazing. Personally I’d love Finn Balor vs AJ Styles Part 2.
Josh: The traditional Survivor Series match is by far the most interesting. The structure of that match alone is akin to something like the Royal Rumble where you have to be meticulous with who eliminates who and when. It’s an opportunity to make stars and this year I fully expect Braun Strowman to be your sole survivor!
4) What do you make of Johnny Gargano’s recent losses?
Corey: In wrestling, wins and losses don’t really matter as long as the booking is done right. Personally I would like to see him pick up a few more victories before his former tag team partner Ciampa returns so that way they both look strong. But then again, they can just build around the story that Gargano can’t win without Ciampa which fits what’s going on perfectly so in short I don’t mind his losses at all.
Josh: No problem at all. Sympathetic babyface consistently coming up short because he’s haunted by his past. Sounds like a dope storyline. I basically just advocated to do a similar storyline to boost Tye Dillinger’s profile on the main roster.
5) Late last night it was announced that Chris Jericho would be challenging Kenny Omega at this coming January’s Wrestle Kingdom. What are your thoughts?
Corey: I am absolutely ecstatic. I just knew that the way that these two had been going back-and-forth on social media that they would end up having a match on Jericho’s cruise but once again Jericho showed that he’s always one step ahead of even the smart fans. This just seems like a dream come true. And if Vince has anything to do with this then I’m going to call it now that Kenny Omega may end up having an appearance in the Royal Rumble.
Josh: Genuinely having a hard time processing this information. Chris Jericho hasn’t wrestled for a promotion other than WWE since 1999. This is insane and is a huge boon to the Wrestle Kingdom card, specifically for the US audience. It certainly has the online wrestling world talking.
Additional Notes
Corey:
– I am still reeling from the Chris Jerich news. Hopefully Vince was smart enough to realize how big this was and have some type of talent exchange set up because this could turn into a lot of money for both WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Corey Stewart
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