Tonight, We Are Going to Hijack The Wrestling Thread!!! - - Part 149

[Hunter Rider]

I'd say that's true to an extent, but the obvious counter to your argument is Roman Reigns.

From the moment he was called up with Rollins & Ambrose, people were questioning whether or not he was ready. Even from the beginning, word was that his inclusion was because people backstage were high on him due to his size and presence. Well, as a part of the unit, he's delivered far beyond my admittedly low expectations... but from his recent singles outings, I think it's pretty clear that he's not ready to be on his own quite yet. They've handled Reigns extremely well to this point, allowing him to pick his spots and not get exposed too much. And it's worked like a charm, the guy is clearly over. He's got a great presence and oozes cool, but a lot of his popularity has been because he's booked fabulously.

My point is, he was always a guy that they wanted to build as a future top guy, and it's worked because his weaknesses have been hidden. I really worry about what's going to happen if they put him on his own too soon though. Unfortunately, I could see him struggling for a while and never really clicking at the top because he was pushed before he was ready.

I think the difference is the way in which he was brought to the fans, he was originally cut slack due to who he was with, the two guys with indie cred got the smarks off his back and they were the most likely to judge him. Then as you say he's been able to pick his spots as the other two carried the bulk of matches in the early part of their run and over time and with hard work he's grown into a big part of their six man tags.

With Sheamus and Bertie you had two guys come in cold and presented as title threats right off the bat, they had no period of time to grow on fans, unlike Roman.

Now I do agree that if they push Roman too soon, despite having a look and cool presence neither of the aforementioned two have, he could fall flat as I don't think he's ready to have big singles matches. If they insist on going solo with him as soon as Mania, then he needs an IC or US title run where he can work with some vets like Christian and a heel turned Goldust, guys who could teach him while putting him over.

This one is for HR as I know his favorites are Bret and El Dandy

That tells you how high on Bray WWE are.

So pretty!

 

[NDX]

Really enjoying the show - guessing Crowe's match was cut?

Next week.q

 

[Wheels]

Adam Rose is going to be crazy over down in Orlando judging by this week's NXT.

 

[cabel]

Watching Wrestlemania 1. JYD's entrance is just not the same without Queen.

 

[NDX]

I hope this Adam Rose gimmick works for Krueger. I liked what he could do, but he always felt like a cheap Roman Reigns. This will allow him to separate from that stigma, and really build a character of his own. Plus, I liked how halfway through the match the party was over and he put his serious pants on.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I thought Neville's promo at the start of NXT was pretty good, he did the Daniel Bryan thing regarding his size and looks but went down pretty well, Renee should have worn flats though.

I guess I'm the only one that thought "What have they done to poor Leo Kruger? " then.

I really liked the stuff between Graves and Zayn, Graves promo was good and I like the way he hangs on the ring post before entering the ring, he definitely has a star quality about him. The match between the two was a good main event and hopefully is just the first in a series.

 

[cabel]

I gotta see how they'd do Roses's intro at WM. That could be real entertaining.

He needs to start crowd surfing in the cheap seats and eventually end up at ringside.

 

[Frico]

Next week.q

Ah, ok. PWInsider said it was tonight.

 

[NDX]

I guess I'm the only one that thought "What have they done to poor Leo Kruger? " then.

Yes, and you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking so.

 

[X Knight]

Spoiler

That's what I heard. Sting REALLY wanted to wrestle Undertaker this year, but WWE had to postpone it because they've been wanting to have the Lesnar Vs. Undertaker match happen since Wrestlemania 27. That was the original plan as Vince had sent Undertaker to that UFC PPV to get Brock to come back, but Dana wouldn't let it happen.

hope it happens.

fingers crossed!!

 

[sweetre15]

- It was reported on Tuesday that Paul Heyman went off his script a bit at last Monday’s RAW in Chicago. Another source confirms Heyman did in fact go off-script but said he was careful not to go into business for himself. Heyman received very high marks backstage for the promo.

- Luke Harper was seen nursing his shoulder after the six-man match against The Shield on Monday’s RAW. Backstage chatter was that Harper did not suffer a serious injury and he will likely be fine going forward.


- TNA officials are worried about Samoa Joe departing the company when his current contract expires in December of this year. Word going around is that Jeff Jarrett has interest in bringing Joe into his new company.

There’s been talk within TNA that officials realize they need to keep Joe happy because he’s made it “very well known” that he doesn’t plan to re-sign if he’s not used in a more prominent role.

There’s a feeling within TNA that guys like Joe could end up having a very viable alternative if the Jarrett project works out.


Source: Dailywrestlingnews

 

[H.U.S.T.L.E.]

I guess I'm the only one that thought "What have they done to poor Leo Kruger? " then.

I'm torn on it to be honest, because I thought Leo Kruger had a gimmick that could have worked - there's probably no obvious answer to why it didn't quite click, but I think it's telling that he doesn't have an extremely memorable moment with that character. The short vignettes he did in the dark were probably his most entertaining segments and while his ring work was solid in that gimmick, his matches had a tendency to drag. Plus, there was always a bit of a disconnect for me in the fact that his promos portrayed him as a wild man, but his matches were very methodical.

I dunno, I just think the Adam Rose character is flat-out fun and I enjoyed it more than anything he ever did as Leo Kruger. Can't speak for everybody though, but that's just my opinion.

 

[JabarR]

Who's watching Arsenio right now?

 

[sweetre15]

Yeah I think the Kraven The Hunter type shtick was pretty entertaining at times for Kruger but his ring style didnt fit the gimmick...Loved the theme he used to have though.

But yeah this whole Aldous Snow-influenced thing he's doing here is pretty funny stuff so far.

 

[Wheels]

His entrance got "That was awesome" chants. At least Leo has another chance to get over and people are responding to him.

 

[NDX]

His entrance was awesome, why I want to see it get the WrestleMania treatment.

 

[Wheels]

His entrance was awesome, why I want to see it get the WrestleMania treatment.

If he continues to use that entrance then it will help him. It's memorable.

 

[JabarR]

Total Divas, up next on Arsenio!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TX85]

I don't know about others but I don't give a damn about Total Divas on Arsenio!

 

[sweetre15]

Seth Rollins recently spoke with ArkTimes.com to promote next Tuesday's WWE SmackDown tapings in Little Rock. Here are some highlights:

Do people still ask you whether what you do is real or fake?

Fake is like the worst word you could possibly use to describe anything, you know? What are you talking about? What is fake? It's a television show, and a live performance. Nothing's fake about it. We're not telling you we're out their fighting each other. We're going out there to entertain you. I consider myself an athlete.

I train like an athlete, I eat like an athlete, I recover and get sore just like any other athlete. We're not lying to anybody. People just don't understand the art form of what we do. It's a mental and physical grind. You can't be a dolt in this industry. On the opposite end of that, you can be the smartest guy in the world and not understand what it is to have a presence on stage. Being a character, executing a live performance, understanding what it is to connect with a crowd and elicit a specific response at a specific time using moves and body language and emotions. What we do is very complex. It's underappreciated.

How much goes work goes into a single show, like Tuesday's Smackdown?

I couldn't even describe it to you. You think we're just putting on a show, but it's a full-on team effort. What we do in the ring—we're not even the hardest workers there. There are guys working third shift just to set up the stage and clean it out and put it back on the buses and clean out the arena. Then you've got the production team, the stage managers. There are so many elements that go into what we do on a nightly basis. If you've never been to a live WWE event, it's pretty awesome. A few hours of action-packed family fun. Bring everybody, from your babies to your grandparents.

Was the independent circuit very different from what you're doing now?

I mean I started training in a shipping warehouse, and I'm in Wrestlemania XXX this year, in front of millions of people worldwide, you know? I spent a few years cutting my teeth in the Midwest, I worked for Ring of Honor, then I went down to Florida and relearned everything there. It wasn't different, but the crowds are bigger now. The paychecks are nicer, but that's not really why I do it, so it doesn't make much of a difference for me.

Getting to share the ring with guys I idolized is never going to stop being surreal for me. Getting to share the ring with guys like The Rock or The Undertaker or CM Punk or John Cena, guys I grew up watching. To have them appreciate what I do is just humbling.

The fans are awesome too. With social media now, everybody's faceless, but I assume these kids sending me pictures of myself of Instagram are twelve, thirteen years old. But I don't know. We've all got twitter handles and aliases, and so I don't really even know what my fan base is like. But everyone's very kind. I don't have any crazy people or stalkers or anything like that.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news...-talks-about-people-saying-wrestling-is-fake/

 

[TX85]

Nice interview with Rollins!

 

[H.U.S.T.L.E.]

I think the difference is the way in which he was brought to the fans, he was originally cut slack due to who he was with, the two guys with indie cred got the smarks off his back and they were the most likely to judge him. Then as you say he's been able to pick his spots as the other two carried the bulk of matches in the early part of their run and over time and with hard work he's grown into a big part of their six man tags.

With Sheamus and Bertie you had two guys come in cold and presented as title threats right off the bat, they had no period of time to grow on fans, unlike Roman.

Now I do agree that if they push Roman too soon, despite having a look and cool presence neither of the aforementioned two have, he could fall flat as I don't think he's ready to have big singles matches. If they insist on going solo with him as soon as Mania, then he needs an IC or US title run where he can work with some vets like Christian and a heel turned Goldust, guys who could teach him while putting him over.

This discussion brings up an interesting point - guys like Sheamus & Del Rio were pushed into the main event almost immediately upon their debuts, but I think the WWE would be hard pressed to do something similar in the coming years if they're serious about keeping the top titles unified. Having two brands & two "top" titles necessitated that more guys be in a main event spot, but that's not quite the case any more.

Just for reference, look at the Elimination Chamber main event a few weeks ago. It was arguably the strongest group of six performers in that match in the last 5+ years - and that's a good thing in my opinion. But maybe the trickle down effect is with the main event scene being so crowded, it forces the midcard to be more competitive and curtails the mega-push out of the gate that guys like Sheamus & Del Rio received. This is all hypothetical obviously and totally dependent on the powers that be, so who knows what really is going to happen.

 

[Slushy]

I think fans would've bought Sheamus as the WWE Champion if he had beaten Cena straight up in a regular match instead of making him fall into a fu**ing table.

 

[NDX]

I think fans would've bought Sheamus as the WWE Champion if he had beaten Cena straight up in a regular match instead of making him fall into a fu**ing table.

Wasn't even in a spectacular move. That might have helped if he did a White Noise or a Celtic Cross. Nope. Shove.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Yes, and you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking so.

It just reeks of being Fandango'd to me.

This discussion brings up an interesting point - guys like Sheamus & Del Rio were pushed into the main event almost immediately upon their debuts, but I think the WWE would be hard pressed to do something similar in the coming years if they're serious about keeping the top titles unified. Having two brands & two "top" titles necessitated that more guys be in a main event spot, but that's not quite the case any more.

Just for reference, look at the Elimination Chamber main event a few weeks ago. It was arguably the strongest group of six performers in that match in the last 5+ years - and that's a good thing in my opinion. But maybe the trickle down effect is with the main event scene being so crowded, it forces the midcard to be more competitive and curtails the mega-push out of the gate that guys like Sheamus & Del Rio received. This is all hypothetical obviously and totally dependent on the powers that be, so who knows what really is going to happen.

Good points. Quite a few felt that essentially the WHC had just become the IC title in status and thus Bertie and Sheamus were always upper mid card pushes I guess, even though WWE tried to play them off as more by giving both a brief flirtation with the WWE title before shifting them prominently to SD and the WHC.

I think the hope most of us have from the unification call is that the IC title will return to it's former prominence in the company.