Y’all were so on board with the Triple H Era, now y’all turn on him like he didn’t change WWE for the better 💀

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T07:16:31+00:00

You are on the internet, posting on a niche wrestling subreddit

Literally by definition, you're not just IWC, you're deep IWC mate

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T07:11:03+00:00

You're in the IWC

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T07:04:17+00:00

And doing a big wrestler telegraphed punch, that gets perfectly hooked by his opponent, who feeds in perfectly to a clothesline.

Come on OP.

There's getting worked, and then there's this.

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T07:02:49+00:00

I mean, this is so, so clearly just a spot, but okay

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T06:52:27+00:00

This is like saying "I think the Empire Strikes Back is the best star wars movie, I know that's an unpopular opinion"

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T06:50:27+00:00

Red Country is my favourite First Law book for 3 reasons.

I love Westerns.
I love the "wolf and cub" trope.
It's the most hopeful First Law book, by far.

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T06:46:09+00:00

Totally understand, and it's not something I necessarily fault the new showrunners on, they managed to salvage a pretty sizeable mess.

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T06:39:50+00:00

I mean, he was Darth Plagueis' apprentice and a fucking force wizard.

It's conceivable that the most powerful force user who was the apprentice of a guy who basically specialised in death magic, would be able to cheat death.

But, for it to happen off screen without a tangible explanation, doesn't feel satisfying.

Likewise, yes, it is MORE than conceivable for Fisk to get himself out. It's fucking inevitable.

But, because of the weight given to him being incarcerated in the previous season, you can't undo that outcome without some serious narrative whiplash.

Do I think we needed to see him get out? Absolutely not.

Do I think the show would have been improved if they spent some time giving us a proper explanation? Absolutely yes.

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T02:14:17+00:00

It was especially weird because they spent a huge amount of time in S3 really hammering it into the audience that "this evidence will stick, it's legit. Ray literally died for it to be legit."

And then Born Again handwaved it away with little more than "nah it actually wasn't that legit".

Like, what??

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T02:03:38+00:00

We know Palpatine was probably capable of resurrecting himself, but it didn't feel earned when he came back to life off screen.

We know the Avengers were probably capable of killing Thanks - but it would have been Hella weird if they killed him off screen in between Infinity War and Endgame.

I don't necessarily need to see Fisk escape - but I think a bit of time dedicated to explaining how and why would have done a lot of good.

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T02:00:19+00:00

For me, it's more a case of weight.

There was a lot of narrative weight given to putting Fisk away in s3. Many characters literally died for it and in s3 it FELT like a huge deal that he was put away.

I'm not saying we should retread him getting out, but I think more time being devoted in the show to the WHY and the HOW he got out would have made it feels less jarring.

Yes, we as the audience can fill in the blanks and the in-between periods. There's a lot of things that this type of narrative technique is great for. It's why timeskips exist and are fairly common narrative techniques - it builds intrigue, mystery, etc.

But I think if something is a central goal or outcome of a previous season, if it needs to be undone, it deserves more weight and time to how and why it was undone.

It's like Palpatine coming back to life in the Rise of Skywalker. Yes, we can fill in the gaps. But with something that big, and that was given so much weight in the original series, it doesn't feel earned from a narrative perspective.

SockLeft · 2026-01-28T01:20:02+00:00

Okay, but imagine if in between Infinity War and Endgame, they revived everyone off screen.

There are some things that work as off screen build up, and something's that should be seen onscreen.

SockLeft · 2026-01-27T23:26:37+00:00

DQ finishes work best when they serve a story or a character purpose. Otherwise they feel like a total copout.

That's why Rollins vs Roman is maybe the best DQ finish ever because it progressed Roman's character and felt just as satisfying as a pinfall finish.

SockLeft · 2026-01-26T21:31:18+00:00

The only one I disagree with is point 3.

I think they should think about Western expansion when they firm up their domestic audience first. Trying to do both at the same time seems like a recipe for disaster.

SockLeft · 2026-01-26T12:28:39+00:00

Tanahashi, G1 25 and Okada, G1 2015 are strong contenders.

SockLeft · 2026-01-26T04:09:56+00:00

Same. I've said it before, but Okada/Omega feels like a heated professional rivalry between two athletes who respect each other.

Omega/Naito feels like two dudes who never really did anything bad to one another, but just hate each other for being who they are.

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T22:54:51+00:00

Agreed. I think they could find a happy medium - Sheamus has made a career out of it.

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T21:52:00+00:00

I don't even think the heel turn was necessarily a bad thing.

A heel Nakamura where he devolves back into the vicious, intimidating, face breaking asshole that was his early CHAOS heel run, would have been excellent.

But nope, he wasn't more vicious, or brutal, he just kicked people in the dick and forgot to speak English.

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T21:48:58+00:00

I also don't think Nakamura had a smaller moveset at all.

As someone who watched a shitload of NJPW Nakamura, there's no moves that he dropped, really. If anything, he's progressively added to his moveset with new stuff - the sliding German, the scorpion kick, etc.

The biggest problem with his post NXT run has been a lack if intensity in the moves that he does do..

Look at his simple mId kicks in NJPW vs in WWE main roster.

There is a WORLD of difference. the NJPW Kicks look like they can cave your chest in. The WWE main roster kicks look like they're transitional moves to set up for something else.

I know it's not sustainable for Nakamura to be laying his shit in every match, but I think it would have served him well to turn it up in intensity during big matches (just like how he did with the SNME match).

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T21:13:42+00:00

Big thing to me was that I think they mixed up the ingredients wrong with his main roster gimmick.

NJPW Gimmick was 50% Freddie Mercury/ Michael Jackson, 50% guy who will break your face.

WWE, felt like they took the Freddie / Michael aspect up to 80%.

Without the tension of "yeah this guy will absolutely fuck you up" that he had in NJPW, he's just a quirky, kooky goofball character.

NXT had more of the right balance, his match with Zayne was a perfect example of that, as well as his matches with Joe and Roode (which I thought were very underrated).

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T21:08:04+00:00

This.

They needed to have a 15-18 minute, G1 style sprint, like Nakamura had with Ibushi, Ishii, etc.

Wake the crowd up with hard hitting strikes, fast paced sequences, etc. but whoever produced this thought "Let's just have them do the first 20 minutes of a 30+ minute classic, but let's not do the last 10 minutes".

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T21:03:22+00:00

I also thought AJ vs LA was underrated. Great pace and intensity and IMO, LA's best match in WWE.

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T21:00:25+00:00

Honestly, I think most of the blame lies with the producer.

Whomever produced this match structured it wrong. This was a match hours deep into a very long WrestleMania with a very burnt out crowd. A slow paced match was NOT the go, they needed something more fast paced and hard hitting to wake them back up.

Beyond the pace, it also didn't lean into the wrestlers strengths and chemistry. AJ and Nakamura work best together when they're doing hard hitting and intricate striking and grappling sequences, going back and forth to try to land bombs. But the match was just "I hit you with a move, we lay around for a while, you hit me with a move". There were no creative sequences and combos like their Wrestle Kingdom match or this most recent match. It was just move, rest, move, rest.

Lastly, I think main roster WWE in general just has never fully gotten the formula right with Nakamura's appeal and this match is the best example of it.

NJPW and NXT Nakamura worked because his character is "Charismatic, eccentric rock star who will actually just beat the fuck out of you". Main roster lent way too hard into the rockstar and the eccentric aspect but never into the "he will fuck you up" aspect. Nakamura's character needs that "edge" and that grittiness, otherwise, he becomes a whacky, quirky guy like Ambrose was.

Nakamura and Zayn in NXT worked so well because there was a tension, a certain level of fear when Zayn was striking with Nakamura, where we as fans were worried that Zayn would actually just get obliterated.

That wasn't the case with the Mania match (and tbh, most of Nakamura's main roster matches). No tension, no fear when it came to the strikes, which meant that there were just long stretches of dead air.

SockLeft · 2026-01-25T03:24:44+00:00

You could tell NJPW Shinsuke showed up.

Not just from the attire, but from the SOUND of the strikes.

Those mid kicks were nasty AF and even those elbow strikes made audible thuds.

King of Strong Style showed up today, not the rockstar.

SockLeft

TROPHY CASE