What Kinda Wrestling Thread You Runnin' Here? - Part 193

[DarthSkywalker]

This is just awful. Reigns wins with a spot HBK did in 97 to Vader and Yoko. fail!


eh , I think Rock's coming out now.

96, and unlike HBK, his execution was horrible.

 

[RetroNaz]

The writing was on the wall as soon as we heard his pod cast with Stone Cold. The guy has absolutely no idea. None. Not a single clue. And that buck toothed moron is just as bad behind the camera. Bunch of old, egotistical men that somewhere along the line lost sight of what makes their product so good.

Let's see how they go continuing with this crap without an audience. I'm not watching Raw and have cancelled my subscription. It's the best I can do.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Cena's progression felt a little more natural as his thug life gimmick was what won him over with the audience, followed by a decent build to the top.

Reigns has been around for a cup of coffee and has won the rumble. He hasn't earned anything (in my eyes). Which is not his fault.

Yeah, that is a very good way of comparing the situations.

Theoretically speaking, I think there's one way to potentially salvage this situation (I mean anything would be better at this point)....

Now assuming if some big Miracle happened where Vince decided that he needs to change things big time, there would be one way to possibly change things.

The Authority could come out with some B.S. excuse and say that Roman's RR is not valid because of the Rock having interfered (even though the RR match is technically No DQ) and actually use the kayfabe reason of the company's stock's going down as a result of Reigns's victory to convince the so called "Board" to overturn Reign's victory.

A new tournament would then be set up to establish a new challenger to the WWE Belt, where the new winner would end up being someone that the WWE audience would approve of (Bryan, Ziggler, Ambrose, etc)

What do you guys think?

I think there is very little chance I order the WWE anytime in the net 2 and a half months.

 

[Wheels]

WWE's current plans are so blah. Forgetting about the title match for a second, we've got Undertaker vs Wyatt and Triple H vs Sting......yay. Ziggler and Ambrose are probably going to be shoved in the battle royal as well. I've got other wrestling shows I like so whatever I guess.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The writing was on the wall as soon as we heard his pod cast with Stone Cold. The guy has absolutely no idea. None. Not a single clue. And that buck toothed moron is just as bad behind the camera. Bunch of old, egotistical men that somewhere along the line lost sight of what makes their product so good.

Let's see how they go continuing with this crap without an audience. I'm not watching Raw and have cancelled my subscription. It's the best I can do.

The thing is, what use to work doesn't work anymore. Austin was never a plan. How they pushed Rock didn't work. They didn't want Foley. Vince misses the days when he could tell the fans what to like, but with Attitude and the Monday Night Wars, the fans discovered their power and how much they matter. Vince was forced to give the people want they wanted to save his business.

Then Vince won his war, and almost now seems to resent the idea that the people who saved them have more say then he does. He seemed to think he could do what he wanted because we had no other place to go. It is like he has started a second war with the fans, which is resulting not in them jumping ship to a rival company, but just changing the channel and doing something else.

 

[RetroNaz]

 

[RetroNaz]

The thing is, what use to work doesn't work anymore. Austin was never a plan. How they pushed Rock didn't work. They didn't want Foley. Vince misses the days when he could tell the fans what to like, but with Attitude and the Monday Night Wars, the fans discovered their power and how much they matter. Vince was forced to give the people want they wanted to save his business.

Then Vince won his war, and almost now seems to resent the idea that the people who saved them have more say then he does. He seemed to think he could do what he wanted because we had no other place to go. It is like he has started a second war with the fans, which is resulting not in them jumping ship to a rival company, but just changing the channel and doing something else.

Completely agree.

I told my wife earlier (she had to listen to me yelling at the TV) that it would be like me going to the shop and buying her a really delicious cake. Taking a 7 day grown dump on the cake and then making her eat it, all the while saying it's best for business (her).

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Steph looks nice though.

My only regret. Well missing her, the Bellas and Paige.

 

[RetroNaz]

WWE's current plans are so blah. Forgetting about the title match for a second, we've got Undertaker vs Wyatt and Triple H vs Sting......yay. Ziggler and Ambrose are probably going to be shoved in the battle royal as well. I've got other wrestling shows I like so whatever I guess.

Sting vs HHH is a little exciting, if simply to see Sting at Wrestlemania. Though, they completely dropped the ball on his appearance and left it about 4-5 years too late when he could have made a bigger impact.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Sting vs HHH is a little exciting, if simply to see Sting at Wrestlemania. Though, they completely dropped the ball on his appearance and left it about 4-5 years too late when he could have made a bigger impact.

Sting at WM is completely about stroking HHH's ego. I wouldn't even be surprised if he won at this point. If should have been Taker/Sting, even in their horrible states. The crowd would have lost their minds.

 

[RetroNaz]

Sting at WM is completely about stroking HHH's ego. I wouldn't even be surprised if he won at this point. If should have been Taker/Sting, even in their horrible states. The crowd would have lost their minds.

I guess. I just couldn't really see a Sting vs Undies match working too well given their shape. HHH can still go. I don't disagree with you though, it's totally an ego thing.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Wow. I can't say the Royal Rumble result was shocking, but it certainly vindicates my decision to have all but given up on WWE - half the time I can't face even reading the Raw results these days!

I know a lot of people will play into the outrage over the Royal Rumble being sour grapes, hard feelings over "their guy" not winning. My fave wrestler is Daniel Bryan, but I can get why they maybe didn't want him to win the thing. He's been injured a long time, maybe they weren't sure he was ready to be thrust into a title program. Of course, Reigns too has only recently come back from a lengthy injury, with less heat behind him than Bryan, and Batista won last year on like his first match after an absence of YEARS, but I digress. The issue is less with him not winning but rather than HOW he lost, unceremoniously ditched after hardly any time like a midcard nobody. WWE are determined to present him as exactly that, it seems.

I was starting to tell myself, "Maybe you can't blame WWE. Last year they backtracked and got behind Daniel Bryan, went all in. And it blew up in their faces with one of the worst-timed injuries ever." But like others said, it this were Cena, or Austin, or any other top guy, an injury - even a long-lasting one -hasn't been enough to stop that talent coming back right into a top spot upon their return. And that's because, of course, WWE have never been all in on Bryan. He only got his title win because the fans forced their hand, and WWE has never forgiven us or him for that. Look at how they handled the respective absences of Bryan and Reigns. Reigns gets hype videos and regular interviews hyping his eventual return, attempting to keep him relevant. Bryan vanishes, just getting Steph and HHH periodically coming out to tell us he's a loser and was a fluke champion and was injured because he wasn't a proper top-tier guy. Stuff they never said when Cena was injured. There's an age-old rule in wrestling, guys like Cornette and Foley have talked about it, in that when cutting a heel promo, even when insulting the face you have to be careful not to bury them, because why should people care about you beating them or them beating you if they are so worthless? And yet that's what HHH and Steph do all the time, and Bryan never gets the right to reply. The guy won two matches at WrestleMania, he beat HHH, Orton and Batista on the same night. When does he start getting some (kayfabe) credit as being deserving of a top spot?

And it's not just Bryan. Ambrose and Ziggler both get unceremoniously dumped in the Rumble, all to make Reigns look stronger. Now, I have nothing against Roman Reigns. I quite like the guy, and in time, he could potentially have been a legit top player. In time. But anyone with any amount of observation skills could tell you that time wasn't now. He's still green in the ring. His promo skills are lukewarm. He hasn't really got his momentum back post-injury, so crowd response was still quite tepid. He hasn't really had that great solo feud outside of The Shield yet, with Ambroe benefitting from the heat of matching against Rollins instead. If I were on WWE Creative, I'd be holding off on a Rumble win until he was ready. But instead WWE cram it down our throats now, determined things are going to happen on THEIR timetable, and what they don't realise is that not only have they hurt the talents they snubbed, they've hurt Reigns. In the name of a short-term Middle finger to the "smarks," they've damaged Reigns' long-term legitimacy.

I'd have been booking Reigns with an eye to maybe setting him up for a WM32 title win. Right now, the best option available to WWE is likely to have Reigns beat Lesnr at Mania, but immediately afterwards Seth Rollins cashes in his briefcase and wins the title. Then Reigns has been cheated out of his WrestleMania moment, you have a reason to Ben nested in him winning the belt in future beyond "the powers that be have decreed it to be so." And then, I'd have Reigns win the next Money in the Bank, and hold it for months like a Sword of Damacles over Rollins' head. Then, if you can hold off long enough, have Ambrs win the 2016 Rumble, Reigns cash in ahead of time for a Mania title shot, and you have a triple threat between the former Shield members for the world title set up for Mania 32. But even then, this scenario involves Lesnar's big title loss and possible last match being thrown away on an angle advancement. WWE have booked themselves into a corner here.

Ultimately, it feels like the Royal Rumble itself has been devalued. It should be the ultimate David vs Goliath story, a match where anything is possible, anyone can win. Instead, Goliath wins every damn time.

 

[Wheels]

Most people will love the legends matches. I don't care because I have no desire to see Sting or Undertaker wrestle again. Sting's final matches in TNA sucked and Undertaker vs Lesnar was meh. No disrespect to those guys but I'm not interested.

 

[The Sage]

I guess. I just couldn't really see a Sting vs Undies match working too well given their shape. HHH can still go. I don't disagree with you though, it's totally an ego thing.

Who knows? It probably would've been Taker/Sting if Taker was in better condition. Maybe Haitch thinks he can carry Sting to a better match.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I guess. I just couldn't really see a Sting vs Undies match working too well given their shape. HHH can still go. I don't disagree with you though, it's totally an ego thing.

Sting hasn't been able to go for years. This isn't about a wrestling match. This is about history, about nostalgia. Taker v. Sting is that. HHH's presence is already a black mark.

 

[cyclone]

I can only echo what everyone else has said. I've cancelled my WWE Network subscription. Is there genuinely a board of directors at WWE? Not a storyline one, an actual one? Because if so, how can such bad publicity and such a hit like that many network cancellations go un-actioned? Yes Vince owns the WWE, but surely a board can legitimately file a vote of no confidence in him?

 

[RetroNaz]

I just re-watched the last ten minutes now that some of the sour taste has been washed out of my mouth.

The match is still rubbish, Big Slow and Pane completely phoned it in and look to be in a combination of being bored, blown up and constipated. The unceremonious dumping of most of their top level talent completely nails it for me. What in the hell are they thinking.

 

[The Sage]

Love how muting the boos didn't muffle the crowd's anger over the results. It poured right into social media.

Thinking about it, they can salvage this mess is by:

A) Declare the Rumble match null and void because Curtis Axel was never eliminated, do a full-on Royal Rumble on RAW and have Bryan win, or Ziggler, or Ambrose, the other two popular faces.

B) Bryan uses the fact that he never lost the title and forces himself into the Wrestlemania main-event, and Rollins uses MITB to force himself in as well, turning into a Fatal Four Way.

C) Reduce the WWE Network cost to $2.99.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Most people will love the legends matches. I don't care because I have no desire to see Sting or Undertaker wrestle again. Sting's final matches in TNA sucked and Undertaker vs Lesnar was meh. No disrespect to those guys but I'm not interested.

Which I completely get. Granted, Taker apparently had a concussion, but still it was really underwhelming. Heck I honestly never want to see either guy wrestle again. But if you are going to do it at this point, might as well make it something people actually want to see.

 

[RetroNaz]

I can only echo what everyone else has said. I've cancelled my WWE Network subscription. Is there genuinely a board of directors at WWE? Not a storyline one, an actual one? Because if so, how can such bad publicity and such a hit like that many network cancellations go un-actioned? Yes Vince owns the WWE, but surely a board can legitimately file a vote of no confidence in him?

Probably just a bunch of yes man:

http://corporate.wwe.com/governance/board-committees-charters

 

[NewYorkSpider]

WWE World Heavyweight Championship match was good, but it was beyond predictable. Especially when it looked like Brock was seriously injured. I knew what was coming even before the stretcher came out.

Royal Rumble match was stupid. Did Kane and Big Show pretty much eliminate themselves? I don't think I saw Reigns or The Rock throw them over?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Thinking about it, they can salvage this mess is by:

A) Declare the Rumble match null and void because Curtis Axel was never eliminated, do a full-on Royal Rumble on RAW and have Bryan win, or Ziggler, or Ambrose, the other two popular faces.

B) Bryan uses the fact that he never lost the title and forces himself into the Wrestlemania main-event, and Rollins uses MITB to force himself in as well, turning into a Fatal Four Way.

C) Reduce the WWE Network cost to $2.99.

 

[The Sage]

At least the title match was great.

Sorry, I keep trying to find the silver lining to last night.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Remember when Rey Mysterio got booed at last year's RR, due to being a victim of circumstances? He never really fully recovered from it, because people STILL kept on booing him months later until he became inactive.

My point is these wrestlers are getting indirectly punished, due to the whims of a 69 year old man who's clearly out of touch.

This is a brilliant point.

 

[RetroNaz]

I'm just pissed there was no Otunga.