Official WWE/TNA Wrestling Thread

Nice article on my former APW Boot Camp mate, Sara. Lots of fun stories about his chick from way back when, that I WILL NOT talk about here. But happy to see her get some positive publicity.

http://www.wwe.com/inside/how-sara-amato-is-changing-divas-division-26194085

 

Interesting interview with Roman Reigns who revealed that the original idea for their debut at Survivor Series was to have the three of them come out with actual riot shields that had the word "SHIELD" across them. He said he had visions of the shield getting stuck while trying to enter the ring and blowing the debut. Right before they were to go out, Vince McMahon saw them and asked if they were wusses who needed shields. They responded with no, and he told them to ditch them and just go out there.

Maybe Vince isn't as clueless as we think.

 

As much as I get on Vince, every now and again, he does something smart and makes a lot of sense.

 

I mean, Vince is a ****ing genius. Wrestling is where it is, now, because of Vincent McMahon. Period. The guy knows this sport. He knows this audience.

You know what tested well with recent test-viewers of Monday Night Raw? The Authority and the McMahon angle of them owning the business and running wild as the "bosses". He used to have people kiss his *** on tv to come across as a piece of ****. He let himself get beat for 25+ agonizing minutes by a stroke deteriorated Bret Hart with a chair at Wrestle Mania to give the foaming mouthed fool fans what they wanted.....revenge for the Montreal screw job, however long years later, even if it was at his own old *** expense. He is the cornerstone of the most popular time of Wrestling history....Stone Cold flipping him off, spraying him with beer, stunning his family, stomping a mudhole into his face, spray painting him, cussing him out and all around telling him to **** the hell off, a boss being told to stick it up his ***, and thats the bottom line. That changed the business. And he was the joke of it all. And he took it. Because it was smart, and it made him money. And it was HOT.

He let his son elbow drop off of rafters, get thrown threw glass, and thrown around and "bump" like the boys, just to make them happy, and us squeal. Hes a god damned animal. But hes a rich and smart animal. And he knows what the **** hes doing.

 

Look Vince is a great business man and even the best come up with dumb ideas from time to time. Trying to fill over 4+ hours of TV for 52 weeks a year you're bound to come up with some stinkers but Vince is much more good than bad. Like you said, the WWF/WWE is Vince and that's his baby and he will do anything he can to make the product the best it could be and to make him money. If that means getting beat up or blooded so be it. You got to respect that. And he turned a potentially company killing situation (Bret Hart leaving for WCW) into the hottest angle and period of wrestling with creating the Mr. McMahon character. Vince was always the best, especially creatively, when his back was against the wall and needing to take some risks. Which is why it sucks the WWE doesn't have any real competition anymore.

 

According to Bryan Alvarez of the Figure Four Weekly newsletter there is talk of adding a new stable of "disgruntled" wrestlers like Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler and The Miz. I for one would be incredibly happy for it. I know I said the WWE doesn't need anymore stables but I still think there is money to be made with some of these guys and at least it would give them something to do in the very least. Have the stable be Ryder, Ziggler, Kingston and maybe 2 more guys (not The Miz though because he sucks and is much better as a heel anyway).

Although they will probably end up as JOB Squad 2.0.

 

Holy **** I just mentioned this like 3 days ago!!!

 

Sweet!

 

Yeah good call by you. I hope it goes through and those guys are given a chance to be more than "talent enhancement".

 

TMZ is reporting Mr. T will be going into the WWE HOF this year. He had turned down their offer a few times in the past but it makes too much sense for both sides to come to an agreement. I would have to bet that Hogan will induct him.

 

I wish Thunder Lips would instead....

 

Haha can you imagine?

 

"Thunder lips is here! In the flesh baby!!!!"


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Was it just me or was The Shield's turn flat? I feel like the crowd was thinking Bryan was going to come out and save Kane and turn him face for some reason. A better way for them to turn would have been to save Bryan at the end of RAW perhaps.

Also the WWE is now slowly starting to take shots at CM Punk. Triple H mentioned "taking your ball and going home" in his promo with Bryan last night.

 

I didn't watch RAW (will tonight). How was it?

 

PHP:

It was fine. Nothing that really jumped out as MUST see. But the Bryan/Orton/Batista/Triple H/Stephanie stuff was pretty good as was Heyman's promo, which is stating the obvious.

I didn't watch it non stop from start to finish, so I might have missed a good match or 2.

I'm guessing the next two weeks should be good as they are getting closer to WM.

 

Man I thought RAW was REALLY good. The bray/Cena build up video was austin/rock xm17 limp bizkit good. Had me in chills. Bray wearing the Cena shirt and wrist bands, Cena finally putting Bray over saying he's afraid of him, then dropping the rock, hogan etc in the same breathe as him. Gunna be a classic match. Absolute classic.

I barely fast forwarded anything. The brock/taker hype video was good too. Loved the Usos/Real Americans match. They keep hyping cesaro and Swagger breaking up, but now it seems they will get a shot at the tag titles after their clean win against the Usos in a non-title match.

The ending was......perfect. HHH is a MEGA heel. I mean.....he's incredible at playing the bad guy. The dude is the Ralph Fiennes of the WWE. People don't realize hes YOUNGER than Batista. And not only that, one of the more decorated wrestlers of this generation. He should be on TV and in the title match whether hes COO, banging Stephanie....or not! If Batista can be, why not H?

Him absolutely destroying Bryan was vital. This match had a ton of build up already....the slow burn since SS, but now? It's personal. It's Austin/Vince'esq but BETTER because HHH has the power Vince had creatively (kayfabe) WITH the power physically of a top wrestler. If you watched backstage pass post-Raw you saw Bryan being loaded up into an ambulance.....his Bella G/f crying getting in with him, with guys like Big E, Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry, Damien Young looking scared for him, yelling to text them with updates etc. They are playing this amazingly. It reminded me of Attitude era with the baby faces all in street clothes backstage worried about Bryan being loaded into that Ambulance. **** was awesome.

I see WM going like this.....HHH winning by bull****, and Vince or hogan making it a fatal 4 way. Or Bryan winning clean, and Hunter putting himself in the Main Event anyways making it a fatal fourway.

Oh and for the record....Hunter going off on Batista calling him a part time Hollywood star, and Orton the most gifted physically with mental problems made me mark out like a mofo. Hunter is unstoppable right now, and if/when Bryan comes out on top, this will be GIGANTIC!!!! What a push.

Also, love the Punk **** talk from Hunter....."respecting Bryan for sticking through the bs and not taking his ball and going home" haha.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed RAW but I think you're going a bit overboard with comparing Triple H to Vince or saying the Triple H/Bryan stuff is better than Austin/Vince. The Austin/Vince stuff totally changed the wrestling landscape in the 90s and was the bigger feud during the most popular time period in wrestling. Triple H/Bryan is nowhere near that level.

The main difference with Vince and Triple H is Vince was willing to do anything to get the talent over. He had no problems looking like a complete fool or getting beat up from time to time but his goal was always to put talent over. Without Vince neither Austin, Foley or The Rock would have been as popular. With Triple H is it always about him first and foremost and I HATE the fact that he always has to play the "too cool for school" heel. He always has to smirk or put down the talent. How in the world is calling Daniel Bryan a solid B+ helping him out? Or saying he doesn't belong in the main event or be the World Champion? I get that the WWE is trying to put sympathy heat on Bryan but the problem was while Triple H was knocking Bryan during the fall, Bryan wasn't getting his push and the WWE had no plans to give him that title run. Triple H did nothing to help put Bryan over during the fall. I'm not saying Triple H should play a wimpy heel like Vince did but I also don't want to always see him get the last word or try to be funny all the time. Now I will say the last two weeks Triple H has really upped his game, no pun indeeded, and I have enjoyed his stuff with Bryan but before that Triple H's character was just in a word inconsistent.

The WWE can keep saying the slow burn stuff all they want but the truth is, if CM Punk didn't leave and if the fans didn't turn on Batista, Daniel Bryan would either be in the battle royal or facing Sheamus at WM30. They literally got backed into a corner with those two things happening and had to change plans completely but that's wrestling and it happens. It did with Austin with the King of the Ring and also his neck injury at Summer Slam 1997, sometimes you get lucky. So they need to stop with the "this was our plan all along and the fans need to be patient" stuff but the WWE has always been at their best when their back is against the wall.

As far as WM30 goes, I think Bryan will beat Triple H in a screwy fashion, like Stephanie hits Triple H by mistake leading to the Bryan pin or Triple H "slips on the banana peal" and Bryan gets the fluke win and then in the main event Bryan makes Orton tap out to win the title. I can't see how Triple H beating Bryan and then someone like Hogan puts Bryan in the match anyway really helps anyone involved and I think if Bryan doesn't win the WWE title at WM it will kill his heat. In a perfect world without egos, Bryan should beat Triple H clean and maybe then gets beat down by Triple H post match to put even more heat on Bryan and they can run the "will he be able to wrestle in the main event" angle and then Bryan makes Orton tap clean in the middle of the ring.

I could see the WWE doing a Fatal Four Way at Extreme Rules though and it makes sense for storyline purposes.

I will say it was be interesting to see how the WWE positions Bryan if he ends up winning the title at WM. Right now he's all over RAW and is the main face of the company. I wonder if that will continue once he wins or if he will be pushed to secondary feuds and not main eventing like CM Punk was for the most of his WWE title run.

 

Yup, that was Sting.
/my bi-weekly contribution to this thread

 

I ****ing love this gif.

 

I didn't wanna come across as comparing it TO austin/vince. It just has that feel. Nothing will top that, I know.

I just like the way this is being built the last couple of weeks, finally.

I agree they backed into it, but the fact is its happening, and it's working. Like you said, sometimes you get lucked into a great story line.

I could honestly see Bryan beating Batista and Orton saying he never technically lost and beginning a feud with Bryan or vice/versa.

 

Yeah like I said the last 2 weeks the story has really developed nicely. It would have been interesting to see what direction the storyline would have gone if it was Punk vs. Triple H because really a Bryan/Triple H match would have made more sense from a long term booking perspective anyway.

I think Orton loses because the WWE will want to keep Batista strong. Plus we've seen Bryan vs. Orton a hell of a lot of times since Summer Slam so I'm not sure if the WWE will want to put another Bryan/Orton singles match on a PPV right away. I mean we got Bryan/Orton this week and had another Bryan/Orton match on RAW 2 or 3 weeks ago and had another Bryan/Orton match on RAW before the EC PPV. I'm kind of over the Bryan/Orton one on one matches for awhile, that's why I think at the EC PPV we're going to see a 4 Way or a Triple Threat rematch, then Orton can move on to feuding with Sheamus' of the world again.

 

My biggest hope is that Bryan wins the Title, has his WM moment, and then the next night on RAW, he goes out to celebrate and during his speech, The Cult Of Personality hits, the place explodes, and Punk walks out, looking pissed, and annoyed at the crowd's reaction. He congratulates Bryan for winning the title, HIS title at what was supposed to be HIS WM. But Bryan stole that from him. He considered Bryan a friend, but in the end, he is nothing more than a vulture and a hyena, content with picking up the scraps of a kill that others (Punk) made.

He doesn't deserve that title, he doesn't deserve the praise these idiot fans give him and he doesn't deserve, to main event Wrestlemania while Punk is forced to sit on the sidelines.

At that point, Bryan interrupts and correctly reminds Punk that he LEFT. He took his ball and went home because he was unhappy. In other words, he quit.

Ultimately this leads to a submission/I Quit match at the next PPV and perhaps an extended feud.

 

Yeah that would be great for Punk to come back and return the favors Bryan did for him in 2012 but unfortunately it seems like Punk is gone for good or at least for good long while. Can't see Punk returning for random spring/summer PPVs and not for WM. You would have to think that if Punk met with the WWE in Chicago they probably could have worked out a deal where he would have been in the main event at WM in a Triple Threat match for the title. Still find it funny people are still blaming the WWE for Punk walking out.

The WWE has recently removed him from a Flintstone cartoon project he was scheduled to be in and have edited him out of any and all videos played. They have also reportedly scaled back on the merchandise of his they have been selling at live events.

 

Updated WM Card:

WWE Title Match: Orton vs. Batista vs. Bryan/Triple H
Undertaker vs. Lesnar
Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H
WWE Tag Team Title Match: Usos vs. The Real Americans vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
The Shield vs. Kane & The New Age Outlaws
Andre The Giant Battle Royal

Pretty good card, I'm sure they will throw a Divas match in there.

 

Nice, called that too! Glad Rybaxle and the real americans are getting that shot. Tag division is strong right now. Funny how they teased Shield and Real Americans breaking up, and both are having significant matches together at WM. Wonder why they put those on hold?

 

I wish they would have added a 4th team like Cody and Goldust so there wasn't 2 triple threat matches at WM.

Probably saving the Real Americans break up for WM or shortly after. I think they realized that keeping The Shield together and just turning them face is probably a better idea for the short and long term then breaking them up and one or two of them getting lost in mid-card hell. Plus as much as they want Roman Reigns to be the next biggest thing, he could still use work on the mike and in the ring and being part of a team will help mask his weaknesses while he hopefully turns those into strengths.

They probably didn't want to have too many turns/stable break ups in a short period of time or it would take away from them and not seem as important. The WWE decided against splitting Cody and Goldust and having a match between them at WM because they felt there wouldn't be enough time to build the story up and give it it's full attention nor wanted it to simply be a filler match.

 

/ok last contribution for two weeks

 

Just got the WWE Network this afternoon, since this is the last day to get a free week. 5 minutes into playing around the app I nearly had a panic attack with all the content they have. I watched a random MSG house show from Dec 1991. Tonight I'm going to watch the 1991 PPV This Tuesday in Texas. This Network is unreal and can only get better once they start adding WCW shows to it.

If it was available when I was a kid I would probably skip school everyday and just watch this, if I had it in college I would probably fail out.

God bless the WWE.

 

Scott Hall will be inducted in the WWE HOF. The Kliq will apparently induct him.

Have to figure Nash will go in next year.

 

Watch the "Legends of Wrestling" Shows. They are awesome.

 

Honestly, I have no clue how I'm going to find the time to watch everything. But just playing around with the app I saw those shows and they look interesting.

So far I've watched This Tuesday In Texas, an old MSG house show from Dec 1991, KOTR '94, Rumble '95, an episode of the Countdown show about backstabbers and the first 2 episodes of RAW. I would have watched more last night for whatever reason everytime I tried to fast foward part of a PPV, like skip a few matches, after it rebuffered the picture quality sucked and wasn't in HD anymore.

The one and only complaint I have with the Network right now is they don't have a playback/resume feature like Netflicks does nor does it have a chapter selection option on the iPad, like it does with the PS3, or maybe it does and I don't know about it yet, so its a pain to manually skip around a PPV if you happen to stop it at a random point.

 

They made it VERY clear that it wasn't Scott Hall being inducted, but the character Razor Ramon. I thought that was extremely odd.

It would be, however, HILARIOUS, if Rick Titan comes out to accept the honor in Hall's stead...

 

He better start his speech with "hey yo!" Or I'll riot.

 

Well of course, it's the WWE where if it didn't happen in the WWE it never really happened. But yeah it was strange how they're saying Razor Ramon instead of Scott Hall. Kind of weird when more people might know him from being Scott Hall. Wonder if Kevin Nash will go in as Kevin Nash or Diesel.

Or maybe they're just saving inducting "Scott Hall" into the HOF when they induct the nWo group. Which each year they should add a stable as part of the Hall. They already induct 1 Diva and 1 Foreign star, they should also induct 1 manager (which they usually do anyway) and 1 stable.

EDIT: Didn't Ron Simmons go into the WWE HOF as Ron Simmons and not Faarooq? Kind of strange.

 

The Shield vs. Real Americans tag team match was just great. I find it interesting that Seth Rollins has really been getting the spotlight in The Shield since the Elimination Chamber PPV. They really showcased him last night and the announcers were really hyping him up big time during the match. I love how if the WWE machine gets behind someone watch out. A few weeks ago it looked like The Shield was going to break up and Reigns and Ambrose were going to move on to bigger things and Rollins was going to be lost in the crowd. Really happy they aren't breaking up yet, there's still more they can do as a team and probably better for their careers if they stay together right now.

 

Agreed I like the face turn as opposed to the break up.

Edit: Maybe not even a full face turn, but like a Dead Pool group where they arent good or bad.....just equal opportunity justice servers......BELIEVE THAT!

 

Los Matadores have been added to the WM30 tag team title match. Still bummed out that it's not Cody and Goldust instead. I feel like they deserve a better match than being in a battle royal.

The reason why "Razor Ramon" is being inducted into the HOF and not "Scott Hall" is because Vince is really proud of the fact that Razor was the first heel character that fans cheered for and that the WWE can always induct Scott Hall as part of the nWo and/or The Outsiders tag team.

 

I feel like it comes across as a bit of a slap to Scott Hall, but I doubt he's complaining. Just happy to see him doing well and getting in the HOF in any way. Will probably always be my favorite wrestler.

 

Ah I don't know about that. I mean he's probably smart enough to realize there is money on the table for multiple inductions. Plus like you said he's probably not complaining either way. He's probably thrilled to have gotten his life back on track and to be back in the good graces of the WWE again.