2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

Miz vs. Mizdow and Gold vs. Stardust were two of WWE's hottest angles? Oof.

 

I liked the way they did Orton at the end of the show. That got me interested in that match big time when I'd been hoping for Rollins vs. anybody else for a while. That could also be a reflection of how little I'm looking forward to the big 3 matches though. HHH especially....I guess they had to keep him off the show to explain why he didn't save Rollins but that Sting feud needs something badly.

Heyman's promo was great, but I don't understand why they bother having Lesnar on the show just to stand there next to Paul and look menacing. That promo would've been a home run with or without Brock there in the ring, why waste the money and an appearance?

 

I keep asking how dumb they can be, but they keep lowering the bar.

It's like they're afraid to make anything simple, easy and fun.

 

Miz-Mizdow absolutely was.

I don't think anyone cared about the Dust Bowl, but they did dedicate an awful lot of TV time to it.

 

I didn't care until the end of the Fast Lane match when Cody attacked Goldust. I thought that was really well done and the two obviously have enough chemistry to put together a solid 15-minute match.
As it stands, we've got a four-hour show and we're looking at, what, nine matches? Given the scheduling of the most recent Manias, the time line would probbly be:

Lesnar-Reigns - 30 minutes (Does anyone care?)
Sting-HHH - 30 minutes (Seriously?)
Taker-Wyatt- 30 minutes (Gross)
Cena-Rusev- 20 minutes
Andre the Giant Battle Royal- 20 minutes
Orton-Rollins- 20 minutes
IC Ladder match-20 minutes
Divas Tag Match-15 minutes
Some sort of tag team match for the titles?- 15 minutes

Assuming they stick with these VERY generous time slots, that books 3 1/2 hours of the four-hour show. And, right now, I'm looking at a solid maybe 50 minutes of intriguing programming therein.
I just don't get it. I don't get it. How do you have a room full of industry professions planning for months and this is the best they can come up with? Even if you told me this was the card you were going with for the show, I (or any of 1,000 other smarks) could have booked this better.
No one gives a shit about Sting-HHH and it feels to me a lot more likely we'll get a repeat of McMahon-Hart at WM26 than something worth watching. Very few people care at all about Lesnar-Reigns and try as he may Heyman can't bring me over. Taker is by all accounts showing his age so there's another uncertainty and we've already seen Cena-Rusev.
While it's Mania and I'm sure it will somehow deliver, I'm PUMPED I didn't buy tickets this year because this card sucks ass.

 

I'm sure they'll have some sort of "comedy" skits, and a half hour concert from someone that nobody will give a shit about. So there's an hour right there. Plus they do their videos to introduce each segment, which, if it takes 5 minutes per video, can take up another 45 minutes (maybe a little less for the battle royal and Divas, etc.) And then there's 10 minutes for the Hall of Fame intros.

So, cutting out all the dreck that people are paying good money for, and it's down to 2 1/2 hours, counting entrances and exits.

Times include entrances and post-match stuff
30 minutes for main event
30 minutes for Trips/Sting (entrances will take up 10 minutes of that since Trips always gets a big entrance, and Sting will have something special, post match will be 5 minutes, so it's a 15 minute match)
Cena/Rusev: 20 minutes, including about 8 minutes of flag-waving celebration.
Orton/Rollins: 20 minutes
Taker/Wyatt: 20 minutes (with entrances also taking about 10 minutes with all the druids, Bray having something unique, a couple minutes postmatch, so about an 8 minute match. Not unreasonable)
Andre BR: 10 minutes
IC Ladder: 10 minutes
Divas: 5 minutes
Tag match: Bumped, because it's the E.

 

Welp. Good to know I'm not missing much between the PPVs.

 

The IC ladder match this year is the biggest fault of Vince trying to squeeze everyone on the show. Having a WM match was a big deal, but now any talent cam get thrown in a clusterfuck of a match. No logical story at all.

After all they've been through fighting the Authority at various times in the pat 12-14 months, I'm supposed to believe that Bryan, Abrose, or Ziggler give a shit about the IC title? OK, maybe Ziggler since the Authority used Barrett to screw him out of the title. Still, my point stands.

Oh, and I still don't buy the battle royale as anything prestigious just because they slap Andre's name on it. Big deal.

I just want developed feuds that lead to strong singles (and at least one tag) matches. Leave the jobbers backstage. Is anyone really clamoring to see Heath Slater get thrown out of the Andre match?

 

I am.
Also, don't belittle the Andre the Giant battle royal. The winner of that match, if he's lucky, will get to be on next year's Mania in a dark match fatal four way with a tag team partner they throw him into the ring with because they have nothing better for him.

 

heh... I mean, the first Royal Rumble was won by Jim Duggan. There's some precedent for something like this starting out shitty, and developing into something more! (Not much, but still.)

 

Not shitting on the match as I really thought it was one of the highlights of last year's Mania. Just sayin' that the E, in all their glory, didn't do shit with the winner of last year's contest, even though he arguably got the second-biggest crowd pop of the night and seemed poised for a breakout character turn thanks to the rub.

 

I take it you haven't been watching very much lately? Gold-Star might not have been as hot, but the way they were building Miz and Mizdow up was great. The crowd was firmly into that split and it was, in all honesty, one of the only angles they were truly developing.

Gold-Star just kind of fell off the face of the map, which is disappointing because of the way that had been building.