Official WWE/TNA Wrestling Thread

The problem with the "Diva Revolution" is the WWE is trying so hard to get it over instead of simply letting the women wrestle long matches to get it over on its own. I forget who said it, maybe Scott Keith, but the WWE is like the dad trying to be cool by always mentioning it and giving the women these stables with names etc. Hell even Stephanie McMahon was the one that "started" the movement by bringing in the NXT women. The WWE just needs to take a step back and let the talent take over.

 

Well..they explained it tonight...but if you remember, Rollins and Stewart had a "rivalry" on the daily show for a while, that ended with a fawning interview and Rollins presenting Stewart with a commemorative belt for his last show.

 

Yeah I knew/heard of the "rivalry" between the two but didn't know what it was about or what happened etc. The explanation is what it is, I mean I get why the WWE went that way to get a lot of press, still the ending felt flat to me.

 

I saw on youtube the ending of cena/rollins. I think its safe to say, Jon Stewart had the worst acting/sell job/chair shot attempt in professional wrestling history. And it happened in a PPV. And yes history, decades of professional wrestling and his chair shot is by far the worst. The whole crowd was confused, everything went out of balance, he looked like he wanted to hit cena but cena didnt stand up on time, then he tried to recover from that blooper and pretend like hes there to hit rollins, then 15 seconds later cena finally stood up and stewart gave him a very delayed chair shot to the abdomen.

Just a bad moment in WWE history.

Only thing worse than that chair shot was Owen Hart falling from the ceiling. Keep Stewart away from future WWE events.

 

I was just happy Cena lost, Rollins clearly outwrestled him on a move for move basis and Cena was botching all night and just was bad in general.

 

Yeah so RAW's ratings have been pretty awful lately, you have to wonder if the WWE will start to panic soon and do something drastic or if they'll just put the WWE title on Cena and/or Orton again.

 

Without looking, are they lower than normal for the summer? Typically ratings drop due to kids being out of school and family vacations, etc. and again once Monday Night Football starts. If they are lower than that usual decline, then I could see them making a switch.

Quite frankly, I want to see Sting with the title for selfish reasons. So maybe they go that route to try to pop a nostalgia rating or two.

 

Yeah they're much lower than normal and have been since WM. This past RAW was the lowest since Christmas Eve of 2012. The night after Summer Slam was pretty low too especially when the first RAW after PPVs (especially a major one like Summer Slam) draws well. It's one of the reasons why the WWE decided to dust off The Undertaker and bring him back.

One of the rumors going around is Rollins loses the US title to Cena earlier in the night (apparently either the WWE ordered more Cena US Champ t-shirts or made new ones so that's probably a lock to happen) then either Sting wins the belt and Sheamus cashes in the brief case (whether he wins or loses it doesn't matter) or Sheamus gets involved in the finish of the match with Sting winning by DQ/Rollins keeps the World title to set up a Four Way match between Cena, Sheamus, Sting and Rollins for the title at HiTC, possibly in the cell. With the ultimate goal to turn Rollins face.

I don't think it would be the smartest thing to give Sting the title but if they want to pop ratings that certainly couldn't hurt. I'd probably just keep the belt on Rollins until WM and have the Shield Triple Threat match while starting to tease a break up in the bromance between Ambrose and Reigns.

 

You can justify having Rollins dropping the belt due to having to face TWO legends in one night. Losing it to Sting, causes the rift between Rollins and HHH to occur since HHH and Sting have their, well documented issues. Whether HHH then forces Sheamus to cash in to take it off of Sting or not, I could live with, or without. But the franchise of WCW winning the WWE Title would probably peak the interest of a few people who may have strayed from watching weekly. You can have Sheamus and Sting pair off for the big title, Rollins and HHH start their feud, Cena can either be involved in either feud, really.

Eventually having Rollins take the big beat down from HHH and Co., only to be saved by The Shield and ultimately having a reunion in center stage to end a show or PPV. Works for me.

 

Raws ratings dropped more between hours 2 and 3...than Nitro did when the infamous Mankind title win was spoiled on air before it happened. Its a big deal. WWE needs to do something, Shameus/Orton 745 is not it.

 

I blame The Dudleys

 

RAW needs more McMahons clearly.

Seriously though RAW is just way too long (and boring).

 

They have too much talent at this point, they need to split the roster again imo.

 

With the lack of true star power on the roster I don't think that would be a good idea.

 

Pretty good article on Forbes about the WWE and their recent ratings:

http://www.forbes.com/sites#/sites/...-slumps-put-more-pressure-on-the-wwe-network/

In a nutshell, it isn't looking good for the WWE. I'd be really shocked if big changes weren't made soon.

 

I watch the 90 minute hulu version and it feels right to me. No idea how it compares to the live cable version, 90 minutes of content with no commercials. Cable version is what, 3 hours with commercials?

 

Usually 3 hours and 10 minutes or so with commercials. It's painful to sit through.

 

WWE is possibly looking into bringing back The Hardy Boyz when their contracts expire in Feb. It would be interesting to see if they do return and you have to wonder why the WWE would bring them back but not someone like Kurt Angle, since all 3 guys are big risks because of "personal demons".

It would be cool to see The Hardys back though to give the mid card and tag division some fresh match ups.

 

Meltzer is reporting that the WWE is considering putting Rusev and Lana back together as they feel like both characters have become weaker since the split. Much like the Wyatt Family the break up never made sense for either character and it was obvious both would be hurt by it. The WWE is always in a rush to break up a couple or team way too soon to get them feuding instead of letting things play out more. It's the whole flip flop and 50/50 booking that's hurting the product nowadays. It's hard to get behind anyone not named Cena.

 

How often does the fighter who submits/pins/wins the brawl at the Monday Night before the pay perview wins the championship? Pretty obvious Seth wins on Sunday.

 

I just can't see Sting winning the WWE title but with the ratings in the crapper for about 6 months now they might do something crazy to get people talking. Plus I'm sure Rollins is being used as the scapegoat as to why the ratings are terrible.

I'd be shocked if Cena doesn't win the US title though.

 

The theory has always been that individual stars are what makes the WWE money. Not groups, tag teams or couples. Those are used as vehicles to break a star out. Shawn Michaels had The Rockers as his vehicle. Bret Hart had The Hart Foundation, The Rock had The Nation, etc., etc.,

Obviously guys like The Undertaker, Austin, and others broke out on their own.

Point being, WWE is quick to break up a budding duo/team/faction, that is starting to catch on, in hopes that they can market the individual personality as something greater. In some instances it works, in others (Billy Gunn by himself, for example) it does not.

Lana and Rusev were better together, than apart. Let Lana go back to being the Ravishing Russian. Have her turn on Dolph, become Rusev's mouthpiece again and drop the chauvinistic male pig portion of Rusev's character. Get the crowd back to booing him for the right reasons.

 

And how long was Bret with The Hart Foundation and Shawn with The Rockers? Or Macho Man and Elizabeth? Even The Rock was with The Nation for over a year and the only reason the WWE broke them up was because of how over The Rock got. Triple H had DX for nearly 2 years. Which is kind of my point that the WWE breaks up teams way too soon instead of letting guys help each other get over and get credibility and let the team/group run its course first. I don't disagree with you though.

Actually Demolition touched on this subject on JR's podcast this week about how back in the day the WWE would put you in a team you were in a team. Now WWE puts people together only to break them apart months later and it usually doesn't work.

Serious question when was the last time the WWE broke up a group too soon and it helped?

But I guess the business has changed so much there's no longer than real long builds to anything. Everything is gear towards people with ADD because they don't think people can focus and wait for things.

 

As long as they don't break up A New Day, they're my favorite thing about WWE right now. Rusev isn't being booked as the monster he once was, that's what is hurting his character. Not the lack of Lana.

 

Everything is accelerated in today's society, though. The days of long standing tag teams are a thing of the past. The Dudleyz are back, but pretty much only as a nostalgic act. As for breaking up a group too early and it working out, My first inclination is to say The Shield, as all three members have settled in to nice singles roles, despite me thinking they were six months too early for the split.

Edge & Christian split which bummed me out, but was probably to the benefit of both, and certainly Edge.

Hot shotting Randy Orton to the title and OUT of Evolution is probably the clearest cut example of making a positive out of a sped up process like that though. They wanted to erase Brock Lesnar from the history books as the youngest WWE Champ of all time, so they decided to put the title on Orton early, which meant having HHH and Batista turning on him. Even then, the face turn wasn't tremendous, initially.

 

Yeah I figured that you'd say The Shield. But again The Shield debuted at Survivor Series in November 2012 and broke up in May of 2014, they were together for 18 months before the split. I agree I think they should have waited a few more months for the split, I thought it was too early back at the time and still think that. I think Reigns would have benefited the most from staying with the team and Rollins would have been fine waiting to turn too.

Edge and Christian were essentially together for almost 3 years.

Even Evolution was a team from January 2003 to August 2004 when they dumped Orton out, again that's 19 months being a team. The Orton face run was a complete disaster though and killed his character until the Legend Killer/Foley feud 2 years later so I wouldn't say that was a great example.

 

If i was a wwe fan that bought a ticket i would have left right after the cena/rollins match. Talk about overselling and making the last match totally predictable. I knew Cena would have beat Rollins, and for him to deliver a second AA after the match is over to make him "weaker" against Sting, we all know rollins will now win in some broken rule sort of way, a chair shot or outside help when the ref gets knocked out.

I already said before there is zero chance sting beats rollins again after performing both his signatures on the raw before the PPV, but now they oversold it even more. Just amateur writing.

 

Just read Sting officialh lost, yep. Predictable just like i said. The people who write for WWE are amateurs..

 

Ratings are at an all time low, there's panic in the WWE so what do you do?

Book Kane in a World Championship feud of course! Big Show must be busy I guess.

Actually for a C level PPV with Brock/Taker main eventing I don't mind it that much. Sure as hell beats WWE Champion Sheamus.

I'm totally shocked that we're getting Brock/Taker at HiTC, wonder what that means for WM for both men.

As far as the PPV goes, it was entertaining but nothing special (I feel like I say that a lot for non WM PPV lately) but thought of a lot of the finishes were weak. Sting put on a pretty good showing tonight minus that weird deal in the end of the match. I do wonder if he hit his head on the table spot and was a little out of it by the end. Beginning of the week word was Vince was impressed with Sting during RAW, so maybe he's thinking about Sting/Taker at WM. I do wish Rollins won in a more screwy way though.

But again at least we don't have WWE Champion Sheamus.

 

Theyre saying stings injury is potentially career ending.

 

Meltzer is reporting that Sting was pretty significant neck injury from the powerbomb turnbuckle spot. Not a lot of details yet but due to Sting's age it could be career ending.

 

PPV was fine, for what it was.

As is the case with WWE, I enjoyed the matches as athletic contests but I'm not any more invested in the long term storylines. The undercard is what it is at this point - a bunch of guys trading wins back and forth. It was nice to see Owens get the title win, but I feel like that ship has already sailed with him. I'm bored to tears by the Ziggler/Rusev angle, but it appears that it's going to continue. Jericho made his annual "surprise" return and got hugged to death. I had no problem with Cena winning as it keeps him out of the title picture for the foreseeable future. Rollins continues to be the best performer on the roster. But we closed the show with Kane. In 2015.

I do want to talk about Sting. That dude put on one of the gutsiest performances I've seen for a guy that's 56. The announce table bump, the leap to the outside, and the twin turnbuckle powerbombs were all brutal. It was almost difficult to watch. never been a huge fan of the guy's in ring work but that match last night was as good as you can expect. He was clearly injured but he was able to finish the match even though he could barely stand. I've It's absolutely awful that he suffered what sounds like a serious injury. Here's hoping he makes a speedy recovery, and can walk away.

Also, Brocktober might be the best thing that WWE has ever done in terms of presenting Lesnar.

 

I'm willing to hold judgement on Owens until I see what they do with him now that he has the IC title. There were loud whispers that neither Vince or Kevin Dunn was high on him because "he's fat" and being IC champion for the past what 15 years is basically death sentence in terms of hopes of getting more over and pushed. If they continue to do the usual IC Champion is basically a jobber to the main event guys, then I'd agree with you. I do think some of Owen's appeal/mystic is over due to him losing to Cena twice in a row and losing to Balor twice as well. The guy is mega talented and is the best true heel on the roster, I hope the WWE lets him evalue the IC title but yeah I don't have high hopes.

Speaking of high hopes, I'm pretty shocked with how far Rusev has fallen. I was never a fan of him or his work and thought he had a limited self life with the character but I'm surprised he lost to the WWE's favorite whipping boy last night. The love triangle story is terrible and doesn't help with having 4 people that can't really act or have any chemistry with each other. It's probably for the best that this angle ends as soon as possible.

I do think it's time people stop complaining about Cena. He's been the best/consistent wrestler the WWE has had this year putting out good matches each and every week. The guy 99% of the time delivers in big matches and I'm hoping he continues with the US title Open Challenge which was the best thing on RAW all year. I agree I'm more than little tired of his act/character but if keeps delivering in the ring I can look past it.

Yeah the Kane stuff is complete non sense and it would have been a waste of time in 2005 and like you said it's 2015. Again with Taker/Brock being the main event and focus for the October PPV, I don't mind it as much as Rollins needs another challenger and obviously won't be losing the title to Kane.

And yes completely agree with you about Brocktober. This is the stuff the WWE needs to keep doing with the Network. I have no idea how much it costs to air a live feed of house shows but this is something they should do maybe every other month or once a quarter. I'd love to see them have a themed house show. Like film one in July with a beach theme ala WCW's Beach Blast/Bash at the Beach, it doesn't have to be outside but have sand in the entrance way. Or in October have it a halloween theme ala Halloween Havoc. Just make these house shows/Network specials look and feel special. I don't want to see the same sets used for the regular PPVs or TV shows. Make it have a different look/feel to it. Otherwise why should I watch it if it's going to be the same as a random episode of RAW?

I am surprised the WWE is using the October PPV for the blowoff match between Taker/Brock. Why not just wait and do it at Survivor Series, since it has a bigger name value? I guess it doesn't matter as long as we don't get the Brock/Taker match at WM. I want to see new match ups with both guys.

 

By the way the best part of last night was when the random fan jumped into the ring and stood next to Ambrose and Reigns and when security was taking him out of the ring Bray Wyatt was laughing and asked them if that was their partner. Why was it great? Because it wasn't scripted and it was a normal and honest reaction. And damn funny too.

 

Dean responding with the headshake saying "yes that's our guy" was classic.

 

I think that's another one of the problems with the WWE today, everything is way too scripted and guys just can't be themselves because everything is so micro-managed. Imagine guys like Flair, Austin, The Rock, Dusty Rhodes, Piper, or Jake Roberts being given a script and being told to learn it in 3 hours instead of being told you've got 5 minutes cut a promo on Wrestler A talking about the big match on X date say whatever is on your mind.

 

From a story telling perspective, last night was very good. Matches were all solid to good, the appropriate people won in each match, more or less. Very much a transitional PPV.

Kane coming back is meh. But I think we are seeing the final stand of him, The Big Show and Undertaker. I think that within a year, you won't really see these guys too much as active competitors. Obviously, Taker is already there. Kane gets one last main event pay day and I think he starts to go away.

My guess as to why they are doing Undertaker-Brock next month is ratings. They need SOMETHING to get people to tune in. So why not have the most violent man in the sport, beat up and old man inside of a cage, right? Right. Plus, this may free Brock up to tear through the Rumble and be in the main event of Wrestlemania 32, rather than be apsaddled with Undertaker.

Jericho got fat. And I assume he sticks around to put over Dean Ambrose and possibly someone else before he takes off again, too.

Sting I think, will be okay. He put in a hell of an effort last night, but it is time. Leave your boots in the ring and let's us thank you for your time. Go be an ambassador for WWE. He is perfect for that role.

It will be interesting to see what happens between Charlotte and her teammates. Paige didn't seem terribly excited for her when she won the title. Probably time to split them all up and pair them now that The Bella's are out of the way.

Owens winning the IC Title is nice, if for no other reason, for the pedigree and resume padding. I wouldn't mind if Cena brought back the U.S. Open challenge, only to see Kevin answer it and merge those titles. Kevin is a guy who I think, gets a lot out of being a title holder. Lance Storm was that way too. At one point, Storm had a ton of titles at the same time in WCW, and the visual was stunning. I could see Kevin holding both mid-card titles and then focusing on the big prize.

Would like to see Cesaro back in the picture somewhere, as well. Maybe Kevin Owens, Maybe Cena. Just utilize the guy, already.

 

Sting is announcing something "big" tonight to start RAW. My guess is he officially retires. And I bet he goes into the WWE Hall of Fame next year.

 

I doubt they will merge the IC and U.S. titles any time soon. The U.S. title is now considered part of the Grand Slam Championship.

 

I missed the opening of RAW, but it doesn't seem like Sting came out, or did anything, despite the WWE announcing he was going to be there.

Oh well.