Pro Wrestling Discussion Number IV

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

The ladder matches where amazing themselves and I did enjoy the tag match. Not going to lie I skipped over a majority of the PPV because I didn't watch it live.

[Henry88]

Daniel Bryan is keeping busy as he recovers...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/20 ... /13187847/

[jellydonut25]

Going to Raw tonight in Houston. Gotta wear my Macho Man shirt since my two other wrestling shirts are CM Punk and Daniel Bryan (and I very nearly bought a Barrett shirt, except I don't like any of the designs). I'm holding off on getting a Stardust, Ziggler, or Reigns shirt because apparently, if I like a guy, and get his shirt, he leaves the company indefinitely.

Probably most looking forward to seeing Brock tonight, honestly. Second-most is the Nation of Re-Domination that seems to be forming. Malcolm X(avier Woods). That interests me. Literally the only thing I am CURIOUS to see develop as I believe I know where everything else is going.

[Reaper G]

Word is that SpikeTV is cancelling TNA's "Impact Wrestling". Which sucks, because as bad as the company's booking and leadership is, they have a plethora of talent.

I was at an indy show last night and Matt Hardy, Kenny King, the BroMans and EC3 were there. I suspect there will be a lot of available bookings soon.

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

[jellydonut25]

I never watched a single second of TNA. Okay, I lied...I just thought about it for a minute here...I tried watching a grand total of less than one episode worth of run-time over the years. I remember Jeff Hardy, something about Abyss or Abomination or something, and then something where either Kurt Angle or DDP or Jeff Jarrett was sleeping with one of those other guys wives.

Oh, and some biker gang with 8s on their shirts.


WCW only ever gained a competitive edge on WWF because they were able to get Hogan, Savage, Stink, Luger, and sorta tread water from there until the nWo. I truly believe the only way a non-WWE show could have a CHANCE at building something right now would be to get CM Punk.

Isn't it incredible when you look back on the rise and fall of WCW that it basically all revolved around mistakes made by Vince? Its rise was due to Vince letting Diesel and Razor walk, and its fall was due to the Attitude Era brought on by the Montreal Screwjob. That's obviously way oversimplified, as WCW contributed greatly in its own fall, but I think the point kinda stands.

[Mysterio]

[jellydonut25]

Going to a Raw is a fun experience to be involved with the crowd and into the cheering and stuff, especially when you're like me and throughout the night you cheer for the likes of Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, Bo Dallas, The Miz and Dolph Ziggler both despite them fighting each other, and Stephanie McMahon because holy crap, f*** the Bellas.

But sitting through a show is also a reminder of why when I'm at home, I absolutely don't ever watch the entire show from end to end nor do I ever watch live.

The show started off solid to great. John Cena's promo was by far the best he's done in a long LONG time. Rather than spew his usual GARBAGE about fighting for everyone in the WWE Universe whether they cheer or boo, he seemed to actually get mad at the people who would delight in his getting beat, chastize them for cheering on Lesnar, and showed some real emotion rather than just smile at the heel and laugh off Heyman's threats. This was great, and shows why people LOATHE John Cena sometimes...because when he's on his A-game, he really is awesome.
Then Cesaro vs. Cena was a great match. Cesaro was made to look strong, Cena did some stuff he normally doesn't do. Again, stuff like this, John Cena being GREAT for a night, just makes people hate him more when he's boring for a six-month stretch. But still, greatly entertaining beginning to the show.

Paige/AJ was a bit of a comedown from the awesome opening, but oh well. Just about anything would have been. Not the worst Divas segment ever (that comes later).

Triple H gave a solid promo, and while it was really WEIRD that Jericho would be the one to interrupt, it led to an interesting matchup that got us all excited to see a match that we knew would feel fresh and different and not like one we've seen before, so it gets a pass for that and the night is still clipping along great.

Then the six-man tag, though underwhelming in terms of action, had some good storytelling. The Nation of Re-Domination made their presence known still, and Miz/Ziggler have some great chemistry both in terms of personality and in-ring style. This IC feud is the best in a long while. I wouldn't mind seeing it continue for a while.

Then even though Bo Dallas's streak ended rather lamely, I think the segment did what it needed to. Too many people were cheering for Bo, and exposing him as a sore loser, and a definite heel was necessary to make all the kiddies and typical wrestling fans understand that he's sarcastic with all his promos.

Then we get a solid back-and-forth between the Real Americans and the Russian Federation and though it's not exactly advancing the storyline, it's all too fun not to dig it and get into it.

Again, at this point Raw is still going along very good. It's a great show. Tons of fun to be there.

Then Adam Rose shows up....UGH. This guy sucks. I'm fully OUT on the whole Rosebud experiment. He only shows up for a couple seconds at a time. It hopefully won't be too much longer before fans realize this whole thing is going about as far as Funkasaurus and just stop paying attention to this.

From there, we had an okay segment with Orton going nuts on Reigns, but it was WAY too long (like most of these beatdowns are...WWE has gotten to thinking that just being outside the ring for 10 minutes makes something brutal), more Fandango and Summer Rae and Layla than I ever want to see again (and I was REALLY disappointed with the crowd here for not starting some "Boring" chants), ANOTHER Divas segment (and a terrible one at that, with ANOTHER one yet to come), Jericho and Rollins worked a solid match that ended insanely predictably and without the crowd being much into it after the onslaught of the previous 40 minutes of boredom...
and then the show ended with a Bella. The Bellas are atrocious. Steph is selling this whole thing, and her being so good at what she does is the only reason the crowd thinks they care about the plight of Brie and Nikki. I'm not very in on this feud though, and by this point in the night I was just kinda tuckered out.

Dark Match to end the night was Big Show and Ambrose vs. Rollins and Wyatt. Solid little match that let the crowd go out on a high note.

[Henry88]

[EricDent]

It's possible that if TNA really gets taken off Spike TV, that the new GWF would take its spot.
This is the Global Wrestling Federation which is being put together by Jeff Jarrett & Toby Keith.

They have reached out to various other federations for free agents & international talent exchanges.
If TNA goes belly up, I can see most of those guys/gals going there.

BTW there's also some rumor of ROH being up for sale as well.

I totally forgot that Raw was going to be in Austin this week, or I would have tried to go.
Been about 2 years since I went (it was when HHH got attacked by Kevin Nash).

Since I don't have cable, and don't like using my phone for videos, I only can watch the ROH TV show.
It is a decent show, and seems a little less "spotty" since The Wolves left.

Though Micheal Elgin looks good as the champ, he's a bit too soft spoken sometimes IMO.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

So Del Rio was released this weekend from WWE because of unprofessionalism. Apparently he slapped a worker for making racist remarks against Mexicans.

[mr.negativity]

CBR @ SDCC:

[Henry88]

Brock Lesnar Destroys John Cena In SummerSlam Main Event
http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Bro ... dance.html

behold a part time world champion.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Wouldn't be the first time *cough*Rock*cough*

I'm glad Lesnar won hopefully he doesn't drop the belt back to Cena anytime soon.

[KaiserGhidorah]

Lesnar deserves it. Regardless of his schedule, he's still better than 95 % of your WWE roster and in a legit fight could probably easily whipe the floor with any one of them in 10 seconds or less if he wanted to. I enjoyed the match tonight as it showcased his dominance. Usually when him and Cena square off, it's pretty entertaining.......that match from Extreme Rules 2012 was brutal and nasty. It seemed kinda like Brock took it easy on him this time as Cena didn't leave the ring a bloody mess but I imagine he was pretty sore after the beating he took.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Cena should have donned the crimson mask I think. Overall it was a good match and I believe this was their rubber match. Their first match was back in 2002 or 2003 when Cena was an up and comer and basically got owned. Then there was the Extreme Rules match for 2012 so this should mark their rubber match. Obviously they'll have a rematch next month at NoC.

[jellydonut25]

I thought the match itself was a tad dull but it absolutely told the story it needed to. I think I was taken out of the match a bit because I kept expecting "AA out of nowhere. Cena Wins. Lolz" given the way the match was progressing.

I wouldn't be super surprised to see Cena take some time "off" (ie appearing on the show, not wrestling) with an "injury" in order to further hype Lesnar, and Lesnar appear in a series of squash matches until somebody (probably Cena) finally beats him.

All in all it was a great show. Just about every match was satisfying, even if a couple of them (Steph/Brie comes instantly to mind) figure to keep their respective feuds alive. I still think Wrestle Mania was the best of the year thus far, but this is a solid #2. If WWE can get back to at least making the big four (Royal Rumble, Wrestle Mania, Summerslam, Survivor Series) into must-watch shows, then I'll be perfectly happy keeping my WWE Network membership.

[jellydonut25]

Also, I kinda hope Lesnar's title reign is exactly like Cena would hate it to be. Lesnar should appear tonight on Raw to celebrate and then not on another Raw until MAYBE the go-home show for NoC, and they should acknowledge this. Have Paul Heyman come out week to week and say that being on Raw is beneath a champion of Brock's standing. That with how he manhandled Cena, he doesn't need to be a fighting champion; nobody can take him in a match anyway, and Heyman doesn't want to see innocent WWE talent being hurt on a weekly basis by his monster. It could be really good. I don't know if anything like that will happen, but with a part-time champion, it COULD.

[Reaper G]

Good thing: Going to "Raw" after work.

Bad thing: Missing Chris Jericho's signing because I'll be at work.

[Henry88]

[Reaper G]

i hate Brock Lesnar but love Paul Heyman.

(Well, not in that way)

[Henry88]

Backstage News on Why Brock Lesnar Destroyed John Cena, Lesnar Films Segments at RAW
http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Bac ... t_RAW.html

[jellydonut25]

[Reaper G]

Too much no Lesnar matches. Anyone else remember the 30-day title defense rule? Just feed Brock a Heath Ledger or Zack Ryder once a month and I'll hate him less.

As much as the focus is on Reigns ascending to the throne, I also envision a scenario where Lesnar's so out of control that the Authority turns to Daniel Bryan to get the belt off him.

[jellydonut25]