WWE Is Ruining... Aiden English

Aiden English is one of the most fascinating talents in the WWE. He may not be the best, but he does have a unique skill-set that could probably be greater utilized than just having him on commentary.

He’s had a fascinating journey as he went from being hated to loved in the span of one week. His singing was majorly over, but they had Big Cass battle him in singing and decide that Aiden could no longer sing anymore. Then he was part of the Vaudevillains, another team that flip flopped, as they went from good to bad guys. They seemed to get stalled out for hurting Enzo Amore, and then Simon Gotch quit, so they were no more.

So basically if Big Cass and Enzo had self destructed sooner, Aiden English might be a hugely popular champion by now. Instead he is not. Instead, his greatest run was as Rusev’s cheerleader. Rusev didn’t even win anything important while English was cheering for him. It got over with the crowd, but it didn’t actually lead to anything.

And then they turned on each other, and now English is doing commentary for 205 Live. It’s a use for his talents, but it doesn’t seem like it’s the best use for his talents. Last year, he lost over 90% of his matches. This year, it’s 100%. If he keeps working hard, he might be able to give it his all and lose 110% of his matches in 2020.

I’ve brought up this point before in other parts of this series, but Aiden English is the perfect guy to join a stable. Let him be the mouthy guy that can win matches when his buddies help out, but he’s also probably the first one to lose when you want a good guy to overcome the bad guy squad. He’s not going to lead a brand, but he’s damn useful with his mic skills and in-ring work that is definitely good enough. And the man’s singing can’t not get over, so you always have that to fall back on. He’s probably not destined for championships, although tag gold is often handed out at random, but he needs to be better utilized than this.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Akam
Ali
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Apollo Crews
Bayley
Big E
Big Show
Bo Dallas
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Braun Strowman
Brock Lesnar
Buddy Murphy
Carmella
Cesaro
Chad Gable

Charlotte Flair
Curt Hawkins
Curtis Axel

Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Drew McIntyre

Elias

Ember Moon
Epico

Finn Balor

Goldust
Gran Metalik

Jey Uso
Jimmy Uso
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson

Kevin Owens
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Konnor

Lacey Evans

Lio Rush

Luke Gallows
Matt Hardy

Mickie James
Miz

Mojo Rawley

Natalya
Nia Jax

No Way Jose
Peyton Royce
Primo

Randy Orton

Rey Mysterio

Rezar

Ronda Rousey

Ruby Riott

Rusev
Sarah Logan

Scott Dawson
Shane McMahon
Sheamus

Shinsuke Nakamura
Tamina

Tyler Breeze

Viktor

Zack Ryder

2019 WWE Brawl for All: Sin Cara vs. Apollo Crews

Round one of Brawl for All is finally coming to an end with today's matchup. Jonah's picks won the first three matchups before my guys won the next four, so now it's time to see if Jonah has the magic to get his fourth winner with his #2 seed taking on a guy who is just really happy to be in the tournament as he generally seems to be happy anywhere.

Jonah’s #2 Sin Cara vs. Joe’s #7 Apollo Crews

Jonah: Sin Cara is the king of backstage fights, he’s a legit tough guy who doesn’t mind scrapping. Apollo Crews is a big athletic dude, but Sin Cara is like Finley, he loves to fight. He’s taking this matchup by first round knockout, sorry Apollo.

Joe: No need to Apollogize. I do think dismissing Apollo out of hand could be a mistake. He went to a military high school, and I know that you love military stuff, Jonah. He played a bunch of sports and got the nickname Uhaa Nation, because his football coach thought he was as strong as an entire nation. 

I will say that Sin Cara must have some skills as I found at least three times he’s been in fights with other wrestlers, and at worst the fights were even as there are no claims of him getting his ass kicked. Is it probably true that he beat up Sheamus, had a draw with Jericho, and got disqualified for illegal coke can to the face against Simon Gotch?

Jonah: Backstage brawls are no DQ so he’s undefeated. Apollo is a great athlete, but never underestimate the advantage that not being afraid to fight and probably enjoying it gives Sin Cara. He knocks out smiling nice guy Apollo.

Joe: Well, first off, I would very much like to underestimate the advantage of not being afraid to fight, because it is about as minuscule as something can be, especially in a controlled environment. Most great UFC fighters admit that they are scared when they enter the cage, because that’s a normal human reaction. Fighting is not about sprinting forward and throwing haymakers until somebody drops unless the two people fighting are really, really bad at it. 

Secondly, yeah, I am fine with giving Sin Cara the edge in this one, but I will say it goes the distance since it’s not easy to knock a coordinated person out (sucker punches excepted). I know Bart Gunn did it a lot in the original but SO MUCH MORE is known about fighting these days that most guys will be smart enough to fight with some semblance of defense in this tournament.

Jonah: OK fine it goes the distance, I don’t mean fighting in terms of just moving forward, I mean kind of liking to fight. Someone who’s Sin Cara’s size who doesn’t mind fighting much larger people means he knows what he’s doing.

Joe: It does not mean that. There are plenty of people that are always willing to fight who monumentally suck at it.

Jonah: True, but he’s constantly winning against fellow pro wrestlers, he knows how to fight.

Joe: Constantly = Beat up Sheamus once, but that is plenty enough to get him to round two in this one.

1st Round
Akam vs. Curtis Axel
Jason Jordan vs. Shelton Benjamin
Heath Slater vs. No Way Jose
Rezar vs. Luke Harper

Eric Bischoff vs. Oney Lorcan

Bo Dallas vs. Mojo Rawley

Chad Gable vs. Titus O'Neil

My First Ring of Honor Show

I went to my first Ring of Honor show last night in Lakeland, Florida. I am a pretty big wrestling nerd, but the first thing I noticed is that, oh man, I've got nothing on these wrestling nerds. Although I have gone to some independent shows, the only things that I follow on a weekly basis are WWE and Lucha Underground. The only champion I could have reliably named in Ring of Honor or New Japan is that Cody is the ROH World Champion. Still the show was going to have the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega on it, and even as a WWE fanboy, I knew how big of a deal that was so I decided that this was definitely a show I needed to see.

After going, I will 100% be back.

Ring of Honor put on an awesome show from beginning to end. My only real complaint about it is that it lasted nearly five hours, and five hours is simply too long of a wrestling show. Three hours is really the sweet spot where you are getting your money's worth but not being totally worn down by the end of the night. But even though I was worn down, they gave enough cooldown matches where the entire crowd was still hyped for the main event.

I told a buddy that I was going to the show (tried to convince him, but he decided he wasn't a big enough wrestling fan to fly from Iowa to Florida for wrestling), and he recommended watching "Being the Elite" YouTube videos. I told him that I had no interest in stupid YouTube shows, but then I ended up giving them a shot, and I'm glad I did. it made everything The Elite did that night make way more sense, because there are a lot of inside jokes that you would only know by watching their YouTube show.

Speaking of The Elite; they are pretty damn awesome. Cody (formerly Rhodes) does a great job as the arrogant heel. Hangman Page, who I knew very little about, put on an awesome match with Flip Gordon. The Young Bucks are super fun, and Kenny Omega might be the best wrestler on the planet. But the MVP was probably Marty Scurll. I had seen him one other time, but only as part of a 10-man tag match at WrestleCon, but he was my favorite part of The Elite that night. His entrance is fun, his wrestling is fun, and he just put on a really great show.

Other guys who stood out were Flip Gordon, former Bachelorette contestant Kenny King, and Dalton Castle who has a ton of charisma. One other thing were how big former WWE guys are. Sometimes they look small compared to the massive human beings in the WWE, so you forget how big guys like Simon Grimm (formerly Gotch) and Trent Baretta are.

It was five hours, but outside of a little longer breaks between matches since it was for TV tapings, the matches flew by, tons of incredible spots, and overall it was well worth the time and money spent. It's really tough to beat great pro wrestling, and this was definitely great pro wrestling.

Finally, I would just like to point out this hero.

But he woke up just in time for the main event, and he was as hyped as you would expect from a guy who just had a three hour nap. This guy lived Sunday Funday to the fullest, and for that, I salute you.

The Vaudevillains Are the Most Entertaining Thing in Pro Wrestling

Right now is a really great time for pro wrestling. Yes, there are issues with the main product that WWE puts out, but even that area is having some fantastic matches from their top guys as opposed to just having bodybuilders with limited movesets. Still, wrestling is truly shining on the smaller stages, most notably through Lucha Underground and WWE's minor league organization, NXT. Living down in Florida, I'm partial to NXT, because I am fortunate enough to see it live. Recently, NXT has lost some of their biggest stars with promotions for NXT Champions such as Kevin Owens, Adrian Neville, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks, the singles division, although still great, is a little thin. This has given the tag division its time to shine, and no team has shined brighter than The Vaudevillains, as they are currently the most entertaining thing in pro wrestling.

Now I will admit to being a huge Aiden English fan since his days of opera singing before his singles matches, but it did take me a while to warm up to Simon Gotch. But since coming back from a short break, both guys are on fleek (I don't totally know what that means, but I'm nearly positive it's a good thing).

Through the magic of NXT, they have become these fully developed characters that are impossible to root against. In its simplest form, they are old timey strongmen who still believe in chivalry. They cannot hurt women, because how could any decent human being hurt a woman? And when a woman like Alexa Bliss hurts them, they are shocked, but their brains cannot even comprehend a reaction outside of standing there stunned.

It's work like this that can overshadow how great they are in the ring, but don't make that mistake, as they fully live the characters with every move. As Vaudeville performers, they not only want to win to show how manly they are, but they also want to perform, so every move is designed to entertain the masses. These guys aren't Adrian Neville or Sami Zayn with high flying acrobatics; despite their average sizes, these are strongmen, and they wrestle as such. What they lack in acrobatics, they more than make up for with crisp moves that match their characters. The whole combination is just fun to watch.

And that's really what's most important. They convey their characters, and anybody who watches them can get swept up and forget how stupid pro wrestling can be and just have fun. That's what makes The Vaudevillains the most entertaining thing in pro wrestling.