2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

Awful. Just absolutely awful.
That Rumble match may not be the worst Rumble match of all time but it's damn well up there.
I can forgive them for giving Reigns the win. But to eliminate Bryan like that? That was dumb. Killed the crowd. Killed the match. Killed the night.

 

One factor with last year's Rumble was that Batista was supposed to be a surprise entrant. How different the crowd reaction would have been if they didn't know he was in it is a factor. That said, they sure seemed tone deaf for the groundswell of Bryan.

This year, they also had a Philly crowd to contend with, who are notoriously demanding. Had they put it in a different city, Reigns might have had a different reaction. But he really just doesn't seem ready yet for the top spot.

 

Sad thing was, the first half of the match was really, really good. The Bubba/Bully pop was great, Wyatt had a nice run and was building momentum, Bryan looked like he would have a nice, long run to the finish, and whatever filler there was was fed to Wyatt and disposed of neatly and quickly.
And then Bryan went out, the upper mid-carders took over, and it was like somebody let the air out of the balloon and sent it flying all over the arena. The last best hope to save it, IMO, went over the top rope when Wyatt was unceremoniously dumped. That was the moment everyone knew for sure that Reigns was winning, and when the crowd turned on the match.

 

It seems like the crowd died completely when Bryan went out. They didn't really come back, at all, until Mizdow entered. And even then, it was muted compared to earlier. Once Bryan left, the crowd was behind Wyatt, Ambrose and Ziggler and noticeably groaned when each were tossed.
At this point, the only way you'd save a Lesnar-Reigns WM bout would be to have Reigns win, Rollins cash in and Rollins close the show as champion.
Fingers crossed.

 

That's the biggest thing about the match. Bryan comes back, there were high expectations for him, and he was eliminated roughly halfway through? Even if he had been eliminated near the end, it would have kept the crowd in it.

Instead, the crowd dies, and they end up hating your future franchise. Now, they may have hated him anyways because it's Philly, which is why they brought Rock out, but they aren't doing themselves any favors.

 

When your crowd is chanting "We want Rusev!" and Rusev is supposed to be one of the company's only true, 100 percent, bone fide heels, that's not good. Not good at all.

 

This was much worse than Boo-tista because they brought in The Rock, seemingly specifically to prevent Reigns from going off the air getting boo'd off the stage. And he got it anyway. Instead, they boo'd the Rock. The guy is so nuclear right now he got Rock boo'd. Not the guy you want for Mania, and vs. an expiring contract Lesnar? No chance that stands. None.

The triple threat was awesome too. Unfortunate it got overshadowed by that hot mess of an ending. No real feuds built for the big time players, Bryan, Wyatt, Ziggler...they all just got tossed out by the seat of their pants by Big Show. Sucks.

Much like last year, still time to save it. What the hell is Trips gonna say about this in Austin's podcast? Are they middlefingering the fan base? Do they believe Philly doesn't represent the majority?

 

Here's the thing with Philly... Why do you effing book the finish like tonight for a major event like the Rumble? Philly is Philly. I love it, but I understand some don't like that the crowd takes over the event. Whatever. But we now have tons and tons of evidence that they do it every year, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Reigns hasn't been connecting well with the crowd. It's a "problem" that can be seen a million miles away.

So basically, three things could happen from here. One, Vince is completely out of touch and he's going to keep shoving Reigns up the card, regardless of the crowd response. Two, they go with the crowds and just turn Reigns heel. (I don't think this is such a horrible idea.) Or three, they hastily get Reigns out of the match at Mania via an injury angle or having him put up the stipulation at a match before Mania.

This was way worse than Bautista, because at least the WWE could claim some ignorance on the crowd response he was going to get, since that negative response was also partially because Daniel Bryan wasn't there. But with Reigns, it's just been a build-up of the crowd turning on him for weeks. It's not just a Philly thing either. And the most awkward / unintentionally hilarious aspect of it was trying to hear the announce team explain it away.

 

If Bryan wasn't winning, I can see the logic of eliminating him when they did. You hopefully give the crowd a chance to voice its displeasure and then reset in time for the finish. What they were trying to avoid was a repeat of last year, when the crowd shit on the match at the finish.
Unfortunately, the finish this time wasn't one the fans could get behind. No one is fired up for Reigns right now, and once it was obvious he was winning -- a 5-year-old could tell Big Show and Kane weren't winning -- it was Boo-tista all over again.

In that sense, this was actually a worthy sequel to last year's Rumble. Reigns had a starmaking turn last year with his performance, and the fans were behind him then. Mostly because he wasn't Batista, but that's beside the point. Reigns was also on the rise before his injury. In the months since then he not only cooled, his flaws have been exposed. One of those is that the WWE Machine is behind him and poised to force him down our throats like they do Cena.
Reigns will be a star eventually, but this was the wrong place and time to give him the green light. Last year or next year? Fine. Now? Terrible, terrible timing.

 

Reigns isn't ready. Am I supposed to believe that the guy who can't take down Show and Kane is supposed to beat a monster like Lesnar?

It's already a double turn. Fans have been cheering Lesnar since he squashed SuperCena at SS. Fans have been booing Reigns since his return. So, have Lesnar squash Reigns at WM31, and if his contract is done, he retires because there's no one worthy left to conquer. Then, have a title tournament or something in April. It sure beats the completely unbelievable scenario of Reigns beating Lesnar clean and expecting people to cheer that.

Ugh. Could you imagine if this had happened in 1998? Stone Cold would have went out after 20 minutes, and somebody like Ken Shamrock had won. I don't know. It's so unbelievably out of touch I can't even think of a decent parallel.

But, damn, if that wasn't one of the best title matches I've seen in a while. Nice standing ovation for Rollins, too. Seth's the man.

 

One other thought: Maybe with the Authority coming out watching both Reigns and Rock, they'll set something up,where Reigns gets hurt, perhaps in the EC, and Rock gets put in the title match.

Still kinda sad, having two part timers main eventing WM, but it would be better than having an unprepared Reigns slogging through the match. And Rock/Heyman promos could be great.

 

It's crazy to me how much the crowd was cheering for The Miz's shadow guy. Aside from the world title match, that was damn near an entire PPV full of mid-card dopes. Was very cool seeing Bubba, though. Big fan of his back in the day.