Official WWE/TNA Wrestling Thread

Jericho and Batista are your new World Champions. I saw Jericho winning considering the feud he is having with Edge. So, it'll be Edge vs Jericho at WM.

so batista vs cena for the title? Can't say I like that. Jericho vs edge though is coo....

Yeah I don't get the Batista winning the title there. If they want to do Cena vs. Batista for the title, they should have just kept Cena as champion because all it does now is cheapen the belt. I don't understand what they're going to do with Triple H now since it looks like HBK will face the Undertaker. I'm guessing it will end up being yet another 3 way with Cena vs. Triple H vs. Batista.

I'm glad Jericho won the title even if he's just keeping it warm for Edge.

The best guess I cna make is that they want Cena/Batista to headline...which is fine since they are arguably the largest stars in the company right now (in terms of recognition). So since Bret and Vince are involved, and assuming Vince is going to finally get his at the hands of Bret at Wrestlemania, you now have your Wrestlemania moment of Vince succumbing to the sharpshooter during th emain event of Cena beating Batista for the title. Kind of an odd occurrence as I assumed Sheamus/HHH for the title, Batista/Cena for the Bret Hart thing, Edge/Jericho for the Smackdown title and HBK/Taker to round out the top of the card.

I assume HHH could still face Sheamus at WM. HHH eliminated Sheamus so all it would take is for Sheamus to give HHH a severe beatdown on Raw to set that up. I would actually have Sheamus kick the **** out of him each and every week leading up to WM and then beat HHH clean at WM. It might be the perfect way to keep Sheamus somewhat as an entity.

So I assume WM looks like this currently:
UT/HBK
Batistia/Cena
Edge/Jericho
HHH/Sheamus
Punk/Misterio
Orton/Dibiase

And obviously the tag belts will be on the line at some point. It looks like MitB will not be on the card this year. And I am not sure where Christian comes in either.

Couple of other notes: Undertaker was burned during his entrance.

Dan Bryan is Bryan Danielson aka the American Dragon. I actually trained under him very briefly years ago. He looks like he is going to get a puch on this NXT thing, which is fantastic. He is an HBK protege, fwiw.

Miz now holds all the Raw titles since Batista is listed as being the champ on Smackdown. If he doesn't brag about that, than the writing team isn't paying attention.

The Miz should really defend his US belt too. I'd love to see him one week come out and brag about being so awesome and holding two belts and whoever the guest host is says if you're so good then you got two matches at WM.

Also I'm glad the MiTB match won't be at WM anymore as I'd rather see straight up one on one matches to settle/end feuds instead of taking the most talented guys and sticking them in a giant spot fest.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

The Miz should really defend his US belt too. I'd love to see him one week come out and brag about being so awesome and holding two belts and whoever the guest host is says if you're so good then you got two matches at WM.

Also I'm glad the MiTB match won't be at WM anymore as I'd rather see straight up one on one matches to settle/end feuds instead of taking the most talented guys and sticking them in a giant spot fest.

I used to have the same mentality as you when it came to one on one fueds. And for th emost part, I still do. But MitB has become somewhat of a staple and a great way to get guys on the PPV that otherwise, would not see a payday. So when you look at it from that standpoint, it will be missed by me.

Plus, they are usually fun matches, which, at the en dof the day, if I am going to pay money to see WrestleMania, it better be worth it.

Regarding The Miz, I was actually thinking the same thing as you. I think it would be great to see his ""rookie" Dan Bryan end up being the one to dethrone him as U.S. Champion. In fact, it would be great to see Miz have to defend both titles against mystery opponents one night on Raw (or WM) and have the first one be for the tag titles where Bryan and a partner defeat MizShow. Then, after that. Miz gets on the mic, berates Bryan because he couldn't beat him without using a partner and he is still the U.S. Champion and will brove how awesome he is against any challenger...only to hear Bryan's music again and Bryan ends up kicking the crap out of him to walk away with both titles.

"Samphin wrote:

I used to have the same mentality as you when it came to one on one fueds. And for th emost part, I still do. But MitB has become somewhat of a staple and a great way to get guys on the PPV that otherwise, would not see a payday. So when you look at it from that standpoint, it will be missed by me.

Plus, they are usually fun matches, which, at the en dof the day, if I am going to pay money to see WrestleMania, it better be worth it.

Regarding The Miz, I was actually thinking the same thing as you. I think it would be great to see his ""rookie" Dan Bryan end up being the one to dethrone him as U.S. Champion. In fact, it would be great to see Miz have to defend both titles against mystery opponents one night on Raw (or WM) and have the first one be for the tag titles where Bryan and a partner defeat MizShow. Then, after that. Miz gets on the mic, berates Bryan because he couldn't beat him without using a partner and he is still the U.S. Champion and will brove how awesome he is against any challenger...only to hear Bryan's music again and Bryan ends up kicking the crap out of him to walk away with both titles.

I'd actually like to see The Miz face Morrison. Morrison has been almost a non factor on Smackdown since he lost the IC title, and the two guys never really had a feud about them splitting as a tag team. They can use that as the start to the feud and both guys have worked well together in the past. So maybe a move to RAW will be a good shot in the arm to Morrison.

Good point on the MiTB match getting more people involved and them getting a paycheck. And yes they're fun matches and sometimes they're the best match on the card but it bothers me to no end when an IC or US champion wouldn't defend his belt because he was in that match. I guess the WWE could always have a battle royal with the winner facing the US or IC champion later in the show, that way it gets everyone involved as well, they can even do a tag team battle royal that they have done in the past with the winners (whether its a real tag team or two random guys thrown together) facing the tag champions.

I think the WWE is naming a PPV (September I think) Money in The Bank and the main event will be the MiTB match. While I realize in the last paragraph and my last post I said I didn't like seeing the most talented guys wasted in that type of match at WM, I REALLY don't want to see guys like Cena, Triple H or Orton in that type of match since they won't be able to really do that match justice but it's going to happen. It would actually make sense to have the MiTB match happen at the June or July PPV and have the winner face the champion at Summer Slam, so the MiTB match turns into almost a mini Royal Rumble type event. That way fans know when the pay off match for the winner is going to be instead of after a random match the champion just fought in.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

I'd actually like to see The Miz face Morrison. Morrison has been almost a non factor on Smackdown since he lost the IC title, and the two guys never really had a feud about them splitting as a tag team. They can use that as the start to the feud and both guys have worked well together in the past. So maybe a move to RAW will be a good shot in the arm to Morrison.

Good point on the MiTB match getting more people involved and them getting a paycheck. And yes they're fun matches and sometimes they're the best match on the card but it bothers me to no end when an IC or US champion wouldn't defend his belt because he was in that match. I guess the WWE could always have a battle royal with the winner facing the US or IC champion later in the show, that way it gets everyone involved as well, they can even do a tag team battle royal that they have done in the past with the winners (whether its a real tag team or two random guys thrown together) facing the tag champions.

I think the WWE is naming a PPV (September I think) Money in The Bank and the main event will be the MiTB match. While I realize in the last paragraph and my last post I said I didn't like seeing the most talented guys wasted in that type of match at WM, I REALLY don't want to see guys like Cena, Triple H or Orton in that type of match since they won't be able to really do that match justice but it's going to happen. It would actually make sense to have the MiTB match happen at the June or July PPV and have the winner face the champion at Summer Slam, so the MiTB match turns into almost a mini Royal Rumble type event. That way fans know when the pay off match for the winner is going to be instead of after a random match the champion just fought in.

I actually wouldn't mind a battle bowl style approach to finding a competitor for the tag team titles. I will give credit to the WWE in that I think the tag titles have gained some sort of credibility given the lenghty reigns of Jerishow, DX and now ShowMiz. Them being unified helps as well. The division overall is still somewhat weak in terms of stables of teams, but the titles seem to have a sort of importance to them. Spending some time on both Raw and Smackdown to do a Battle Bowl style tournament with the match taking place on the PPV.

Morrison and Miz fueded briefly and Miz seemed to get the better of it, against conventional wisdom. Although those wins seemed to lend Miz some much needed credibility. I have a feeling these two will fued down the road once both of ther profiles are even higher within the company. Bryan Danielson is a wrestling machine, so he will need to be carrying some gold early to help get him over since...his personality doesn't seem to be what the WWE or its audience is looking for. You almost have to build him up as a Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko style wrestler. No nonsense, wrestling machine.

"Samphin wrote:

I actually wouldn't mind a battle bowl style approach to finding a competitor for the tag team titles. I will give credit to the WWE in that I think the tag titles have gained some sort of credibility given the lenghty reigns of Jerishow, DX and now ShowMiz. Them being unified helps as well. The division overall is still somewhat weak in terms of stables of teams, but the titles seem to have a sort of importance to them. Spending some time on both Raw and Smackdown to do a Battle Bowl style tournament with the match taking place on the PPV.

Morrison and Miz fueded briefly and Miz seemed to get the better of it, against conventional wisdom. Although those wins seemed to lend Miz some much needed credibility. I have a feeling these two will fued down the road once both of ther profiles are even higher within the company. Bryan Danielson is a wrestling machine, so he will need to be carrying some gold early to help get him over since...his personality doesn't seem to be what the WWE or its audience is looking for. You almost have to build him up as a Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko style wrestler. No nonsense, wrestling machine.

I read that The Miz does a lot of impro acting classes in his spare time, which is something The Rock started to do after he turned heel and joined The Nation in 1998. And I believe Kurt Angle did that as well too. I'm surprised more guys don't do that, or the WWE doesn't make it a rule to have guys go through acting lessons considering how much the business has changed.

Too bad the WWE killed off managers, it seems like Danielson could use one. Imagine if he had a Paul Heyman like mouth piece challenging any wrestler to try and beat his 'wrestling machine' and then Danielson destorying the guy? He'd get over pretty quickly, much like Brock did (although Brock looked the part of a monster so that didn't hurt either). As good as Benoit and Malenko were, it took them a very long time to get over as a wrestling machine. And Malenko was never really over in the WWE after the initial debut. Because really the only difference in Benoit, Malenko, Jericho and Guerrero were that Jericho and Guerrero had charisma and personality. I think not being able to talk even started to hurt Goldberg once WCW gave him the mike to try and work promos.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

I read that The Miz does a lot of impro acting classes in his spare time, which is something The Rock started to do after he turned heel and joined The Nation in 1998. And I believe Kurt Angle did that as well too. I'm surprised more guys don't do that, or the WWE doesn't make it a rule to have guys go through acting lessons considering how much the business has changed.

Too bad the WWE killed off managers, it seems like Danielson could use one. Imagine if he had a Paul Heyman like mouth piece challenging any wrestler to try and beat his 'wrestling machine' and then Danielson destorying the guy? He'd get over pretty quickly, much like Brock did (although Brock looked the part of a monster so that didn't hurt either). As good as Benoit and Malenko were, it took them a very long time to get over as a wrestling machine. And Malenko was never really over in the WWE after the initial debut. Because really the only difference in Benoit, Malenko, Jericho and Guerrero were that Jericho and Guerrero had charisma and personality. I think not being able to talk even started to hurt Goldberg once WCW gave him the mike to try and work promos.

Goldberg's whole over-ness, was that streak. As soon as he lost, he simply had nothing else to offer really. He wasn't defined enough to have anything else to do.

I loved the manager era. I think they add so much to a program and help get people over. Heyman, Callis, or even D'Amore do a fantastic job to this day of talking and knowing how to keep the focus on the wrestler.

The idea of having Danielson paired up in CM Punk's group has also been floated since Punk is such a great talker, but I think Danielson can break out on his own if done proper.

I would love to see Kaval (Low-Ki) come up too, but he looks like he might be held back until the second season of NXT.

WWE just announced that there will be a Money in the Bank match at WM this year. Tonight on RAW there will be qualifying matches.

Also there is talk of the WWE turning the Undertaker getting burned into an angle since it's all over the internet with videos etc by having HBK come out and say he was behind it.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

WWE just announced that there will be a Money in the Bank match at WM this year. Tonight on RAW there will be qualifying matches.

Also there is talk of the WWE turning the Undertaker getting burned into an angle since it's all over the internet with videos etc by having HBK come out and say he was behind it.

Yeah I just read that myself. I think the MiTB thing is good news...the burning...not so much. Why would HBK want to burn UT? If all he is after is ending the streak, is BBQing UT so that he wouldnt be able to compete at WM really the best idea?

HBK is pretyt good with turning anything into gold, so I would have to wait and see how they handle it, but I would just chalk it up to an accident and move foreward with no mention of it.

RAW was pretty good tonight, predictable but good. Wrestle Mania is pretty much is rounding out. Glad they're putting up HBK's career vs. Undertaker's streak. That should be the main event, since it's probably the biggest draw match-wise.

Interesting to see Wendi Richter being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Most people don't know this but she was the original victim of the McMahon screw job and hasn't been mentioned in over 20 years by the WWE. Good to see Vince seems to be trying hard to patch things up with former wrestlers.

Raw was okay to solid. I enjoyed seeing Jericho all happy and Edge attacking from the crowd was a perfect touch. We all knew it was going to this point, but those two have a built in fued as it is and with the title on the line, it makes for a perfect match up in my opinion.

Not quite sure what they are going for with this Cena/Batista thing. I still have a feeling that Bret Hart and Vince will be involved to some degree. Perhaps Vince calls for the bell, Bret intervenes and Cena is able to win the title back while Bret finally closes that chapter in his life? I can't see them completely seperating these storylines.

Christian on Raw answers that question. I figured he would be on Smackdown. I really think he would be a better fit there, but I wouldn't be opposed to him winning MitB and then (assuming Cena wins) having him taunt Cena from afar while holding onto his title opportunity for a long time. Meanwhile, teasing that he may go after Jericho/Edge's title as well.

Undertaker-HBK will be good. Both of these guys are the walking wounded so I am really not sure which one walks away the victor here. I know Shawn is winding down his career, but Taker has some serious replacement surgeries coming up which could in fact, end his in ring career for all intents and purposes. Should be an interesting build.

No HHH or Sheamus tonight was interesting. I thought for sure that Sheamus would have been at ringside to witness the outcome of the mian event. Nothing would have had to change either. Batista kicks Cena and gets DQ'd. Sheamus gets into the ring to be like WTF? Batista throws him right out and continues his beatdown of Cena. But I suppose he and HHH selling the Chamber injuries is effective too. I am curious if he goes into the MitB match now, or if he goes forward with his own program with someone.

The top of the WM card is stacking nicely as Ray said. I may end up breaking down and ordering this card.

Cena vs. Batista
Jericho vs. Edge
Undertaker vs. HBK
Money in the Bank
Rumored Punk vs. Misterio
Rumored Orton vs. Dibiase/Rhodes
Rumored HHH vs. Sheamus

I can get with that if they throw in a couple more solid undercard matches.

Also, yeah the Richter thing was interesting. I wonder if she says anything during her speech or not...

what was the deal with Richter? what kind of screw job went down? i was a huge fan back in that time frame and don't remember.

"charlestonphan wrote:

what was the deal with Richter? what kind of screw job went down? i was a huge fan back in that time frame and don't remember.

Per wikipedia...

The Original Screwjob
In 1985, after losing and then regaining the title from rival Leilani Kai at the inaugural WrestleMania, Richter was scheduled to defend her women's title at Madison Square Garden on November 25 of that same year against a mysterious masked opponent known only as The Spider Lady.[1] Moments into the match, The Spider Lady broke from the pre-scripted events and pinned Richter's shoulders to the mat. The referee—who was in on the plan—delivered a swift three count, despite Richter kicking out after a count of one.[12] Richter ignored the bell and continued to attack the Spider, unmasking the new champion to reveal that it was The Fabulous Moolah in disguise.[12]

It was reported that the plan to rid Richter of the title was concocted by WWF Chairman Vince McMahon, who brought in Moolah after Richter refused to sign a new contract with the WWF.[12] Richter, however, claims she was still under her original five year contract, but that she regularly had disagreements with McMahon about her compensation.[13] She also claims that when she arrived at the arena that day, she was surprised to find Moolah backstage, as she never showed up to events for which she was not scheduled to wrestle.[13] After the match, an infuriated Richter left the arena in her wrestling gear, took a cab to the airport, and booked herself on a flight out of New York.[13] Afterward, she never spoke to either McMahon or Moolah again.[13]

I'm still not 100% sold on Triple H taking a backseat and being in a non main event match at WM. I still have a funny feeling he's going to stick his nose in one of the title matches, even if it won't make any sense booking wise. It was interesting to not see him either him or Sheamus but I guess RAW had to be used to set up the more important WM matches.

I also think HBK is going to lose to the Undertaker and take some time off. I don't think the WWE would or should have the Undertaker lose to Michaels. They should keep the streak alive to help sell his future WM matches. I still wish it was HBK vs. Triple H since I don't think UT/HBK 2 can top what they did last year but we'll see.

I think it's also time to fire Mark Henry and turn MVP into a heel again. The WWE after WM should really take a good hard look at their roster and really cut the dead weight loose and start giving some new guys more TV time.

The odd part about the disbanding of ECW is that...I sort of assumed some of the guys would stick around the new place, but then the format was announced and that pretty much made it impossible.

Guys like Yoshi Tatsu are now put on Raw while being undercooked, so to speak. He really needs at least another year to carve out his niche and to possibl be anything. AS it is now, he will get lost in the shuffle and probably be off tv within a matter of months, of not weeks.

Furthermore, is forces guys like Santino and Swagger off of tv as well. Which, for me, is a bad thing. Poor Jack Swagger. I almost think at this point he either needs to go to Smackdown, or get released. They have lost all faith in the guy. He is another guy that would have benefitted from a mananger. Could you imagine a stable that started off with the All American American and then added a Wrestling Machine like Dan Bryan? Throw in one more legit guy and you have a nice little heel stable and a manager that could get them over. Sometimes it is just that easy...sigh.

And I am not sure about HHH. He seems to be entering a phase of his career where he doesn't seem to mind playing second fiddle. He tapped cleanly to Cena and has spent the better half of the last half year in a comedy troop with Shawn Michaels and a midget. He seems content with his place in history right now and might be looking to add to his legacy by helping younger talent get over. Especially since he will be running the show with his wife sooner, probably than later. You may very well be right, and I expect at least one more run at the top, but I am not sure if it happens at this year's WM.

I give the WWE credit for having a fairly healthy and loaded main event scene right now. Orton, Batista, Cena, UT, Michaels, HHH, Jericho, Edge, Misterio and Punk are all guys hat you could put in the main event and not lose anything. For WM, its one of the few PPVS where I wholeheartedly agree about putting on the best matches with the biggest stars. A complete blow out, and they look to be doing as such.

Word going around is that the Ultimate Warrior was originally asked and agreed to be put into the Hall of Fame this year but he has since backed out.

Also Sheamus didn't show up on RAW last night because he got a concussion at the PPV and wasn't cleared to wrestle. He was suppose to face Cena with the winner going on to face Batista at WM.

Hey, what are your thoughts on WWE NXT?

"Silverphin wrote:

Hey, what are your thoughts on WWE NXT?

I thought it was ok, and much better than what ecw has been.
I really have no idea what they plan on doing with it down the road though.
Daniel Bryan actually got over with the crowd which surprised me.

David Otunga was on VH1 reality show as "Punk" : "I love New York" season 2 which I thought was funny.

Hometown: Elgin, IL
• Is a lawyer
• Is a bodybuilder
• Graduated from Harvard Law school
• Considers himself to be religious

http://www.vh1.com/shows/i_love_new_york/season_2/cast.jhtml

"TheAnswer385 wrote:

I thought it was ok, and much better than what ecw has been.
I really have no idea what they plan on doing with it down the road though.
Daniel Bryan actually got over with the crowd which surprised me.

David Otunga was on VH1 reality show as "Punk" : "I love New York" season 2 which I thought was funny.

http://www.vh1.com/shows/i_love_new_york/season_2/cast.jhtml

That's because everybody and their mother knows Bryan Danielson.

Hey WWE released Paul Burchill,Hurricane,and Maria today.Pretty crazy regarding Maria

"Thunderbolt89 wrote:

Hey WWE released Paul Burchill,Hurricane,and Maria today.Pretty crazy regarding Maria

No big losses here. I figured Hurricane would be gone once he got into trouble with the law a few weeks back and especially now that ECW is done.

WWE released Charlie Haas today, again can't argue with this move as I actually forgot he was still on the roster. It is too bad that the WWE never gave the tag team of him and Shelton Benjamin a real shot when they reunited a year or 2 ago, especially since at the time the tag division was pretty weak (it still is since there are no real tag teams out there, just a bunch of single wrestlers thrown together).

Rumor going around is that the WWE is working on a Ricky Steamboat DVD which is all kind of awesome if true.

The WWE also changed the name of the May PPV from 'Final Four Way' to 'Over the Limit'. Both names suck, bring back The Great American Bash.