Pro Wrestling Discussion Number IV

[jellydonut25]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

If they do indeed go with Bryan facing Sheamus or Ziggler at WM expect one of them to come in and cost Bryan his match with Reigns that way Reigns can remain a face maybe they'll do a double interference one for Bryan and one for Reigns. (Rollins???)

[jellydonut25]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

After thinking about it WWE has no one to blame but themselves for the situation they're in with Bryan, Reigns and the main event at Mania. Personally to avoid the backlash from fans they should have saved Reigns for a surprise entrant in the Rumble and waited to bring Bryan back until this month. Reigns would have gotten a huge pop at the Rumble when he won and there wouldn't be the backlash from fans because Bryan got screwed at Rumble.

Unless this was there plan all along to get fans upset then try and get more Network subscribers to see if Bryan will get into the main event at Mania. Even then it's a risky plan.

[dramaranger]

This is why I watch Lucha Underground...and New Japan on AXS tv...and Ring of Honor...

[jellydonut25]

Tom, if you read anything that comes out of the backstage reports, it doesn't seem likely that pissing everyone off and building up a possible Daniel Bryan Mania match was part of the plan at all. Word was that pretty much everyone was utterly shocked when the chorus of boos rang out as Roman Reigns won the Rumble.

WWE has become increasingly unwilling to roll with the tide as it changes as they've come further to acknowledge that it's all scripted. As we've gotten further into the "reality" era, they've become less willing or able to adjust their fictional stories to the reality of fan reaction. Reality is, Roman Reigns is just not ready. He's decent in the ring, if at times a bit boring, but he's TERRIBLE on the mic and has been since he started those promos "I'm going to come back and....(oh crap I forgot my line...)...WIN the Royal Rumble". He's just not in a position where he should be the main event star and face of the company. Not when so many other guys are so much more ready: Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, and Dolph Ziggler are all guys who are more ready for a main event push than Reigns. Hell, RYBACK seems more ready for a main event push than Reigns. For whatever reason, WWE thought that Reigns' injury didn't disrupt his momentum at all and thought they could just pop him back into their predetermined storylines without adjusting and realizing how much damage was done to him during the time he wasn't in the ring.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

I was speaking in terms of fans being upset about Bryan.

I've know since about October the plan was to have Reigns win the Rumble so it was no shock to me when he did. Sometimes WWE likes to throw us savy fans a curve ball but for the most part they stick to the original plans. If you read spoilers you can pretty much figure out what WWE is going to do with their guys.

Like I said had WWE save Reigns for a surpise entrant in the Rumble and waited to bring Bryan back after February's PPV there probably wouldn't have been so much booing of Reigns and they wouldn't have to do what they did for the Fast Lane PPV. I totally agree with Jelly on Reigns I don't think he should be in the Main Event area quite yet and I slightly disagree with you on Ambrose and Rollins they haven't been with the company long enough yet that statement is a catch 22 in itsel because on one hand long time fans of the product like you and I are sick of seeing the same guys get the belt over and over but at the same time I don't think guys that have been with the company for about two or three years should be getting the main belt yet.

This is why WWE shouldn't have merged the WWE and WHC belt together if anything they should have merged the IC and US titles together. I miss the days when those belts actually meant something.

[jellydonut25]

In a better world, merging the WWE and WHC belts would actually make the IC title mean a lot more as it's ostensibly now the second biggest belt in the company. I had kinda hoped that merging the two main titles would cause the company to treat the IC title like they used to treat the WHC title.

Instead, the MITB briefcase is basically the second-biggest title in the company, and the MITB holder is in the spot the IC champion used to be back in the old days.

[jellydonut25]

Undertaker is my favorite wrestler of all-time.


but I wish he was sitting out Mania. There are just so many OLD people being injected into every Mania match, that it's hard to envision where the company is gonna go from there...

Reigns-Lesnar features a part-timer, who maybe isn't "OLD" but certainly is losing and won't be around post-Mania...so where does that go from April?
Sting-HHH features two OLD guys whose combined age will be over 100 by the time Mania rolls along.
Goldust-Stardust features an OLD guy who is probably done after Mania.
Cena-Rusev features an aging guy who really doesn't have anywhere to go and should be the one wrestling in HHH's specialty throwaway legends matches.
Wyatt-Undertaker features an OLD guy who should have been buried along with his streak.

It's all so filled with part-timers and old guys...where is the room for Miz/Mizdow, Cesaro and Kidd, Ziggler, Luke Harper (who suddenly seems completely forgotten about for no real reason other than OLD guys are more important), Ryback, Ambrose, Barrett, The Ascension, Rollins...?

That said, I'm much more excited about the undercard than the main event scene. Proper Miz-Mizdow and Gold-Star dust matches would be amazing and Daniel Bryan doing anything against anyone will be fun. I don't care about Cena-Rusev, Wyatt-Undertaker, and Reigns-Lesnar at all and the only reason I care about Sting-HHH is the history being made in Sting's first (and given his age maybe ONLY) match in WWE.

[Henry88]

[Henry88]

[jellydonut25]

I may be taking a break from WWE after Mania.

Daniel Bryan set up Roman Reigns PERFECTLY...
Roman: All the doubters out there...
<Interruption>
Bryan: Doubters? You think you have doubters? PLEASE! The ONLY doubt anybody has about you is that they doubt your heart. That's why they like me and they boo you. You seem heartless. You proved to me last night that you have the heart.
Then Paul Heyman said some stuff, but whatever...

The important thing is, this SHOULD have been the moment. The moment that, combined with the way he was a pretty good tweener last month, Roman Reigns gained enough confidence to be able to show a SLIGHT lack of confidence, or failing that, a TOUCH of humility.

He SHOULD have said something like, "You're right Paul. Lesnar isn't a man and isn't like anything I've faced before. All I know is I'll believe in myself, my passion, and my heart and you can believe that" (which would include his nauseating Believe That catchphrase that he shouldn't have anymore now that there's no Shield to believe in).

Instead, Reigns opens his yap and out comes tumbling everything we hate about him and John Cena:
Artificially stacking the deck, "I've overcome so many odds in my life." Really? Being a tall, handsome, muscular, athletically gifted guy put a lot of extra roadblocks on your path?
Terrible catchphrases/"quips" "I just wana get my Samoan blood a-boilin!" Really? Part of your job is essentially motivational speaking and "Samoan blood aboilin" is what you got?
Running around in circles, stumbling, and not really saying anything while saying a lot of words..."Respect. Nah man, it's not about respect. I said I respect him and I'm gonna make him respect me, but there's no respect involved. Respect ain't got nothin' to do with nothin'. And you can respect that."
And of course, complete and utter arrogance, "I'm not just gonna BEAT Brock Lesnar, the man who's not been beaten since throttling the Undertaker. I'm not JUST gonna pin the man who literally tossed JOHN EFFING CENA around the ring for 20 minutes one time just for fun because Cena had the arrogance to kick out of one of his finishers. It's the WAY I'm gonna beat him. I'm gonna embarrass him. Because I'm Roman Reigns and I respect things and I'll overcome all the odds with my Samoan blood and you can BELIEVE THAT!"

And I felt myself go from hoping against hope that I was going to wind up actually slightly liking Roman Reigns, if still thinking he wasn't quite capable of working main event level matches, to just hating this clown and his utter lack of charisma or ability to work a mic or a crowd, and his futility at making himself come across as even remotely likable.

Everything we saw from Roman Reigns during his month-long feud against Daniel Bryan was a lie. The real Roman Reigns is the WORST.

[Reaper G]

I was at Ring of Honor's 13th Anniversary show last night. Maybe I was caught up in the moment, but that may well have been the best wrestling show I've ever attended live, despite the overbooking in the main event.

[Henry88]

[jellydonut25]

As long as Samoa Joe comes in and railroads Roman Reigns and tells him he's not a true samoan and drops him down to the undercard, go for it.

Roman Reigns is the WORST. I may turn off Mania before the main event this year, because I legitimately don't care to see anything involving Roman Reigns.

[Henry88]

The build for the IC title ladder match has been fun too and that match should be great.

[jellydonut25]

[Henry88]

Another Former WWE Developmental Talent Makes Accusations Against Bill DeMott

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Ano ... eMott.html

[jellydonut25]

Smackdown spoilers say Stardust just stole the IC belt and Goldust tweeted about the IC title

<sigh>

I wanted a proper Rhodes bros. blowoff at Mania. Especially since I'm already not getting a proper Miz-Mizdow blowoff.

I grow LESS excited for Mania by the day.

[Henry88]

Chyna Knocks Triple H and Stephanie McMahon In Bizarre New Videos
http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Chy ... ideos.html

[EricDent]

Might check out the Inspire Pro show that's coming to Austin.
Also a co-worker invited me to watch WM 31 at his house.

Kinda tempted to try to go to the ROH TV taping near San Antonio, but not sure if I could get off of work.

[jellydonut25]

I don't watch SmackDown, but I did see the Daniel Bryan segments from this past week's episode and I basically hate WWE right now, and I'll be taking a much-needed break from their garbage after Mania, which I basically only feel obligated to watch at this point because it's WrestleMania and not because I think it will be any good at all.

[jellydonut25]

So I'm sure the Tag Title Fatal Four-Way and Intercontinental Ladder Match will be good matches, but there's no personal rivalry, no deep-seeded animosity. These two matches will be fun, but I don't care.
The Andre the Giant Battle Royal is only a success if Miz and Mizdow are the last two and have an epic back and forth, which of course means the last three will be Ryback and Kane/Big Show.
The Undertaker-Bray Wyatt feud is just dead in the water. We haven't seen the Undertaker yet and won't until Mania itself and Wyatt hasn't wrestled a match since...before the Royal Rumble? Seriously, I don't even know...
Orton-Rollins could be good, we'll have to see.
Sting-HHH got a much needed shot in the arm on Raw.
Cena-Rusev only has the old-school USA vs. Russia thing that Cena keeps jacking up by making it impossible to root for him (and the USA)
And the Main Event is just blah.

Yay WrestleMania?
Ugh. WTH happened?

[klen7]

Max Landis on Pro Wrestling

[Henry88]

I don't know what WWE's problem is with fans dressing up like old school wrestlers..
http://www.wrestlingnewssource.com/news ... eit-Their/