August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023179 That was a hell of an angle for Bronson. Hopefully it leads to a more than a TV loss. Thiccer E? Definitely played out better than I would've thought but not holding my breath on anything.
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023180 Also, how long has main roster Gunther been German? Is that new or have I not been paying attention?
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023181 2 minutes ago, WingedEagle said: Thiccer E? Definitely played out better than I would've thought but not holding my breath on anything. Odyssey Jones is a transphobe, so fuck him. 2 minutes ago, WingedEagle said: Also, how long has main roster Gunther been German? Is that new or have I not been paying attention? Austria used to be part of Germany, but not in GUNTHER's lifetime. German is still the official language of Austria.
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023183 1 hour ago, C.S. said: LET'S GO, BRONSON!!! That Bronson beatdown reminded me of the good ol' days when an Heenan Family behemoth was destroying Hogan in the middle of the ring or on the set of the Brother Love Show. That ruled.
August 6, 20241 yr Author comment_6023184 I don't think even Bronson was expecting that big of a reaction. Holy shit.
August 6, 20241 yr Author comment_6023185 Also, American Made vs Wyatt Sicks has some good ol' 2013 trios energy. The power is back motherfuckers (it does help that the workers are really fucking good, helping elevate a shit gimmick)
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023186 Jones had that "green but good" energy in NXT before he got hurt, but he's been out for so long you wonder how much of an effect that will have.
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023187 Everyone (including the entirety of WWE) seems to have acknowledged the problem with Bray Wyatt was how limiting the gimmick was when it came time to have a match. If anything this match made it clear this isn't going to be the case with the new Wyatts*. *except it seems for Nikki Cross, she seems to be portrayed as actually her gimmick not just someone embracing the symbolism of the others.
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023192 Shawn Michaels announced NXT is going on the road for the beginning of the CW era. October 1 in Chicago and October 8 in st. Louis. CM Punk will be in Chicago. Randy Orton said he'll be there for St. Louis. AEW will also be airing Dynamite on 10/8.
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023193 17 hours ago, C.S. said: (...) Austria used to be part of Germany, but not in GUNTHER's lifetime. German is still the official language of Austria. So were a lot of other countries during WW2 (like Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, France (partly), Italy ...) - obviously do so less willingly than Austria (but even there was a military component) - and you would not confuse those countries with Germany. If you were thinking about the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation you would also be off (as that was an Empire on paper only, Habsburg Austria was a completely independent empire).
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023194 41 minutes ago, Robert S said: So were a lot of other countries during WW2 (like Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, France (partly), Italy ...) - obviously do so less willingly than Austria (but even there was a military component) - and you would not confuse those countries with Germany. If you were thinking about the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation you would also be off (as that was an Empire on paper only, Habsburg Austria was a completely independent empire). Sure, but WALTER/GUNTHER has leaned into German/Nazi iconography pretty much from the start. Imperium reeked of Hitler Youth vibes, and WALTER led a stable called Ringkampf in the indies. This is nothing new for him. (Never mind the rumored Gunther Stark Nazi name.)
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023195 21 minutes ago, C.S. said: Sure, but WALTER/GUNTHER has leaned into German/Nazi iconography pretty much from the start. Imperium reeked of Hitler Youth vibes, and WALTER led a stable called Ringkampf in the indies. This is nothing new for him. (Never mind the rumored Gunther Stark Nazi name.) I agree with your point reg. Nazi imagery, I still think the name "Gunther Stark" was just bad luck as that was such an obscure officer that I am sure no serious historian would have recognized that name. They just threw two German names together (Stark meaning "Strong" which I suppose is why they came up with that name). Looking at an index, there were 1401 people serving as commander of a U-Boot at one point or another during WW2. And he was commander of a type of U-Boot of which apparently 661 units existed. Should they have googled the name? Yes, but who knows what would have been the first results that would have popped up at that point. LinkedIn lists 10 people of that name, for example. Actually, going a bit deeper into the Google search results, there was another guy with that name, who was a witness in the 1960ies in a trial reg. Auschwitz (defendent in that trial was the brother of that "Günther Stark", looking at the transcript, he was only there to establish some timeline). Here the brother of that "Günther Stark": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Stark
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023199 I think it is a bit extreme and unfair to say Gunther/Imperium leans into Nazi shit. His presentation is pretty standard snooty Euro in America, it just happens to be with German/Austrian instead of British or French. A German speaker using "kampf" shouldn't be seen as some Nazi dogwhistle. Kampf is used in pretty much all sports in Germany, particularly combat spots. Because that's like...the word for fight/battle/struggle/combat. Like is Gunther's presentation really that much different from Regal's when he was being taken seriously?
August 6, 20241 yr comment_6023200 21 hours ago, SirEdger said: That Bronson beatdown reminded me of the good ol' days when an Heenan Family behemoth was destroying Hogan in the middle of the ring or on the set of the Brother Love Show. That ruled. I was having flashbacks to Earthquake flattening Hogan. This was awesome.
August 7, 20241 yr comment_6023201 The crowd turned Tatum babyface in her match and seemed a little deflated when Kelani won.
August 7, 20241 yr comment_6023203 7 hours ago, Robert S said: I agree with your point reg. Nazi imagery, I still think the name "Gunther Stark" was just bad luck as that was such an obscure officer that I am sure no serious historian would have recognized that name. I'd normally agree, but it has become increasingly hard to give Vince era WWE the benefit of the doubt. 3 hours ago, strobogo said: A German speaker using "kampf" shouldn't be seen as some Nazi dogwhistle. Kampf is used in pretty much all sports in Germany, particularly combat spots. Because that's like...the word for fight/battle/struggle/combat. Except, WALTER was doing this for American audiences, where the word "Kampf" is pretty much exclusively associated with Hitler. It was cheap indie heel heat, which a lot of wrestlers do, but let's not pretend he didn't. I'm not calling WALTER/GUNTHER a full-blown Nazi or anything like that, but there are definitely traces of it - especially with Imperium.
August 7, 20241 yr comment_6023205 He clearly leans in to the Germanic ubermensch stuff, but what makes me not want to give any benefits of the doubt is Lemmy fan and Iron Cross enthusiast Triple H being in charge now. Like Vince would have done something un-subtle like name him Nazi McNaziface but Uncle Paul is slicker than that.
August 7, 20241 yr comment_6023206 6 hours ago, C.S. said: I'd normally agree, but it has become increasingly hard to give Vince era WWE the benefit of the doubt. Except, WALTER was doing this for American audiences, where the word "Kampf" is pretty much exclusively associated with Hitler. It was cheap indie heel heat, which a lot of wrestlers do, but let's not pretend he didn't. I'm not calling WALTER/GUNTHER a full-blown Nazi or anything like that, but there are definitely traces of it - especially with Imperium. The team/stable started in Europe, particularly in WxW, which you may know was based in...Germany where "kampf" is not exclusively associated with Hitler. I'm pretty sure it started as a fashion brand like SPLX and absolutely did not have any Nazi undertones. This is really on some "all Germans are evil and Nazis by default" American media diet shit. Change the German to French and keep the presentation exactly the same and you might as well say he's a Napoleonic gimmick.
August 8, 20241 yr comment_6023217 14 hours ago, strobogo said: This is really on some "all Germans are evil and Nazis by default" American media diet shit. Change the German to French and keep the presentation exactly the same and you might as well say he's a Napoleonic gimmick. Fair enough on this starting in a German fed, but we both know I'm not saying all Germans are evil and Nazis by default - come on now!
August 8, 20241 yr Author comment_6023222 19 hours ago, sek69 said: He clearly leans in to the Germanic ubermensch stuff, but what makes me not want to give any benefits of the doubt is Lemmy fan and Iron Cross enthusiast Triple H being in charge now. Like Vince would have done something un-subtle like name him Nazi McNaziface but Uncle Paul is slicker than that. I dunno, man. While I don't think GUNTHER's gimmick is anything more than the rigid German bad guy, I don't think a dude using HHH as his ringname, who essentially inserted tons of nazi iconography (it wasn't just the Iron Cross, but there's also merch where he's essentially printed the nazi Eagle into it) in part because he's a massive Lemmy fanboy is subtle.
August 8, 20241 yr Author comment_6023234 Listen I want Otis to have his singles run but Danny Garcia's type of comedy fits him so well.
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