2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

It would suck either way. If he's retiring, that majorly blows. If he's in the Rumble, why bother announcing it? It's be better as a surprise.

 

Well, the Authority is back. That was quick. One friggin month.

Rollins was awesome, though.

And unless I missed something, what a waste of an appearance by Brock. All he did was come out on the stage at the end?

And while I'm glad Bryan will be back, they really should have made it a surprise at the Rumble. The pop would have been deafening.

 

Rollins is great. But that was such a waste of what could've been an intriguing character twist and turn with Cena and bringing them back. Just to save frickin Edge? Its so simple minded and dumb.

Bryan being back should recharge the main event scene, a scene that needs it badly. Yet having Trips and Steph back at the same time actually just rewinds everything 11 months instead of moving it forward. Ugh.

If this gets us to Bryan-Rollins somewhere next summer, maybe it'll be worth it.

 

Brock came out at the beginning, when Edge and Christian kicked off the show.

And what a fucking lame way to bring the Authority back in to play. There were several ways they could have gone about doing that, and it could have lasted a little longer. But yeah, Rollins was pretty great in that closing segment.

 

I missed the beginning of the show, so I missed Brock's appearance.

I kept thinking they were going to use tonight as one step in Rollins' plan to tease Cena into bringing back the Authority that they could have spread out for weeks. I kept thinking Orton would come in for an RKO or something to stop Rollins.

Heck, they could have had Bryan make his surprise return in that segment and have him do his announcement next week.

They could have continued it with Rollins threatening Nikki Bella, or Hogan, or putting Cena's head on a cinderblock, held by Show, with Rollins threatening to stomp him unless he announces he's bringing them back.

There were so many ways they could have gone with this and build it up. Nope.

 

So I actually enjoyed RAW tonight. Big shocker actually.
First, regarding the Authority. I'm glad they're back. Putting the stipulation on that match that only Cena could bring them back was incredibly stupid and made it so you knew they'd be back pretty quickly. Better to right that wrong now and enter 2015 nice and fresh instead of potentially ruining the road to Mania with the "Will he? Won't he?" crap.
I also imagine this means we're getting HHH vs. Sting for sure now. Maybe a Lesnar-Taker retirement match too?
I LOVE having Bryan in the Rumble but I'm a little unsure of what they're going to do with him now unless they let him win the Rumble and challenge for the title (Doubtful). They don't really have much time to develop him between now and Mania, especially if he's going to be off until RR. Maybe this means we get Bryan vs. Rollins, which would make the most sense storyline wise. I'd be OK with that.
I'm trying not to judge on first impression but everything about the Ascension's debut was what I feared. They looked horrid.
Love the character development for Cesaro and Ryback tonight. Those two could be good if given the chance.
Anyone know what the hell happened to Paige? She needs another push. Now.
Other than that, a much better effort than recent weeks. I'm intrigued heading into 2015.

 

Yeah, what the. Heck were they thinking about by having The Ascension come in and squash the team that was the tag champs entering the night? Might have been better if they brought them in against a jobber tag team so the Raw crowd could become familiar with them. Not everyone is paying $9.99 a month or follows NXT, as awesome as the show sounds like it is.

Crowd was totally dead for them, and not payng much attention to Mizdow during that segment either.

 

They would have been better served bringing them in 1.) At the end of the Miz/Mizdow vs. Usos match and had them crush both the new and old tag champions or 2.) without the promos leading up to today saying they were coming. Seriously. Those promos are horrible. Might be the worst I've seen in a decade. I can't think of a worse vignette tease for debuting characters. Just dreadful.

 

It's about getting subscriptions for the Network for the Rumble. They knew they needed something to draw people, and what better than Bryan's return.

Do they need to develop him? He's barely been on TV lately and every time he shows up he gets the biggest pop of the night. I know all the rumors are for a build to Reigns-Lesnar, but Bryan-Lesnar would go over soooo much better. Set up a Shield triple threat for an undercard match and let Reigns win that. Have Bryan win and then have Rollins cash in the same night. You set up Bryan as the face of the company for the immediate future, lay the seeds for Reigns to be the next behind him and make Rollins hands down the biggest heel in the company in a LOOOONG time all in one night on your biggest show.

 

Yeah, they pretty much ruined The Ascension already.

I would've preferred them being brought in by Goldust/Stardust as some sort of hired henchmen type gimmick. Would've tied them to an established tag team and heck, maybe put a new stable out there, because we all know New Day just isn't doing it for anyone.

Loved that Edge was wearing at Sami Zayn t-shirt. Very nice rub.

Also, Kevin Owens tweeted out during Raw: "I heard Edge really wanted to wear a Kevin Owens shirt, but they are all sold out."

Nice way to keep the heat on him and build the feud with him and Zayn.

 

My issue with the Ascension is that they seem to be trying to build them up like a Road Warriors-type team when they physically don't look enough like the Road Warriors. I think the angle just doesn't work if the team isn't ripped more like Ryback. They're not small guys, by any means, but they didn't make the Miz or Sandow look small, and they should if they're going to squash them with power moves like they did last night.

And their finisher is meh. It's one of those that if all three guys don't hit it perfect, it doesn't look impressive. And last night it looked lame.

 

I still hate that they brought them back so soon, but it is a way to freshen things up.

Seth was freaking on point in that final segment, morphing from someone who's close to being the top heel to becoming the top heel going today. That was an excellent segment. That was probably the best I've ever seen anyone play the role of heel doing whatever it takes to get what he wants.

Not sure why they just buried the former tag champs. After that, why the hell should they get a rematch?

The vignettes were awful and so was the debut. I wish they had gone with one of the original rumors and made them the newest Wyatt Family members.

Their finisher, when it's executed well, is pretty damn good.

I don't know if Miz didn't take it properly or what happened last night, but that sucked.