Psyko’s random thoughts on wrestling: Crown Jewel status, Street Fighter, more

It’s been a while since I did one of these, but with so many subjects to write about and not a lot of material to generate a full column, I decided to write another installment of my *Random Thoughts* column. So here we go with subject No. 1.

The WWE Crown Jewel Situation

Not a lot can be written about this situation that hasn’t already been covered, but while I do feel like WWE should seriously consider moving the show outside of Saudi Arabia, I don’t think it’s as simple as having every wrestler and employee boycott the show.

We have to remember that we’re not in the Vince McMahon era of WWE anymore, where wrestlers could just skip the show if they wanted to. We’re in the TKO era, and from everything that’s been reported, the only people who can make the call are Ari Emanuel and his partners. Nick Khan and HHH have no power over this decision. In fact, from what’s been reported, they’re actually against going to Saudi Arabia for this show, just like many of the wrestlers and crew members, but it’s out of their hands at this point.

The biggest roadblock right now isn’t the money because TKO isn’t going to lose any money if it moves the show elsewhere. The biggest problem is that TKO is scared of being on bad terms with the Saudi government if it doesn’t hold the show in a few weeks. Since the Saudi government already has money invested in TKO boxing and the next big event is still happening, it has put TKO in a very awkward position.

The other thing to consider is this: Do you see wrestlers risking their jobs over this? While it’s great that wrestlers have options outside of WWE, nobody outside of WWE is going to pay them the amount of money they’re making in WWE, with the exception of AEW. However, AEW’s roster is already more than full, so for most wrestlers, the only option is to do their jobs, even if they really don’t want to.

The only reason I could see TKO moving this show out of Saudi Arabia is if the Saudi government cancels the whole thing, which I doubt will happen.

The Lack of Believability in Wrestling

I’m a big fan of former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas and his *Ref N’ Rant* segment, which he does on his Facebook page. On Thursday, he brought up a point about guys not working to their size and used the trios match on Dynamite as an example. I actually agree with him.

I feel like modern wrestlers, especially those who are either self-taught or went to a B-level wrestling school, have never learned the art of making matches look believable. Small guys aren’t wrestling like small guys, and big guys aren’t wrestling like big guys. So, when you have a cruiserweight wrestling a heavyweight, all you see is the athletic stuff. The smaller guy ends up looking equal to the bigger guy, which makes no sense and takes away from the believability the match is supposed to have.

I get that modern wrestlers, especially those who come from the indie circuit, have the mindset that everybody knows wrestling is scripted and fake. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make an effort to make it believable for those who buy tickets or watch on television.

In any other combat sport, if a smaller guy fights a bigger guy, the smaller guy would have to fight from underneath for the entire match and would probably get killed before the end of it. So why, in wrestling, is that same smaller guy able to go move for move with a heavyweight? That makes no sense.

The same goes for heavyweight wrestlers. I get that you’re able to do flips and dives, but that’s not why we buy a ticket to see you wrestle. We want to see you beat the living shit out of your opponent, not hit a 450 splash from the top rope and perform suicide dives.

Wrestlers really need to learn how to work to their size because, if they don’t, they’re just hurting themselves and the matches they’re in. When you fail to make a match feel believable, all you’re doing is performing moves for the sake of doing moves, and that has become forgettable.

A Quick Street Fighter Review

I wanted to end on a lighter note with a short review of the new *Street Fighter* movie, which stars Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. I saw this movie yesterday, and I have to say that I enjoyed it as a popcorn movie.

Cody Rhodes does a really good job as Guile and is probably the funniest part of the movie, in my opinion. I think he might have a career in Hollywood waiting for him after his WWE career is over. The same goes for Reigns, who was perfectly cast as Akuma. Reigns pretty much just played the role as himself and showed how charismatic he can be as a villain.

As far as the movie is concerned, it’s a fun ride overall, even if the filmmakers tried to fit way too much into a two-hour movie. I feel like they didn’t need to have every character from the game show up in the movie just for the sake of including them all.

It’s also a movie that mixes live action with animation, as all the flashback sequences are animated. Unfortunately, they don’t have the same tone as the live-action scenes, and the two styles don’t fit together particularly well.

In the end, it’s still a good movie, and I want to see where this franchise goes, considering that they set things up for a sequel. I recommend it if you like really dumb movies with almost no plot.

Conclusion

So, those are my random thoughts on wrestling for now. We’ll see what happens with Crown Jewel in a few weeks, and let’s hope the show gets moved for the safety of everyone in WWE.

After that, we have Survivor Series, which should be a really strong show for WWE based on the way they’re setting up WarGames this year.

So, like I always say, let’s celebrate wrestling instead of being overly critical of it, and let’s stop being toxic toward one another.