2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

Big man vs. Big man matches usually are. He's gotten better, but still feels like he's headed for a role similar to Kane and Big Show -- the big monster enforcer everyone dreads facing, yet he rarely wins a match.

 

Hard to believe this will be only the second time Lesnar has main-evented 'Mania.

Also hard to believe the first was 12 years ago against Kurt Angle, which was a great match until Brock botched the shooting star press.

 

The Miz tried, he really did. However, he could only do so much with the shitty booking he had. Perhaps the most important thing is that it did elevate his star status. Miz could have really used a major win during his reign. Even if it was just by fluke, it would have been huge for him to beat Cena or Orton. At the end of the day, I just did not feel as if he could beat one of the top guys. A guy like Morrison? Sure, but Morrison was just a midcarder. That's the one thing that Ric Flair always had going for himself. Regardless of how many times he's cheated to win, I believed he was capable of winning fairly if he chose to.

If there's one thing I'll remember the most from the title reign was how Miz was heading towards main eventing Wrestlemania, yet he was just an afterthought. That's hardly a great title reign.

I did enjoy Lawler vs Miz one of the best matches of the year at the time. Classic storytelling at it's finest with a legend going for one last shot at glory.

 

I just watched that match yesterday, or the day before. How did he not die there? Jesus. I also watched the debacle that was Lesnar v Goldberg at WM20. Hoo boy was that bad.

I've also noticed that WWE has taken the little move-ahead dots away from all the Chris Benoit matches. So if you hover over each one, you'll never see a Benoit match. Sneaky and effective since who sits there for 3 hours watching full shows?

 

You mean that win over Cena at Wrestlemania (yes, I know The Rock aided it) and the two PPV wins over Orton weren't enough? But yes, he did have shitty booking and shouldn't have been immediately removed from the title picture after losing to Cena at Extreme Rules and then the night after (which led to Riley's face turn). As we all know, the E just has a hard time getting away from the tired main event acts and elevating fresh faces (especially in those years).

Apparently, Bleacher Report agrees with me: 5 Most Under-Appreciated WWE Title Reigns of All Time | Bleacher Report

 

The dots were taken away a while ago, I thought.

 

I thought Miz's title reign was pretty good, considering. The Lawler feud was going on at the same time as Morrison was challenging for the belt, so to me, it was like Miz had to deal with two contenders instead of one. Considering how the E had been booking things for years, it was actually kinda old-school instead of just focusing on one contender at once, or doing the tired three-way in which the two contenders end up feuding themselves.

The Lawler ladder match, especially considering that his mom had just died, was one of my favorite matches of that year, considering the storytelling. I remember Meltzer even putting in that they could have called an audible and had Lawler win the belt for a week, and it would have been fine.

But then it turned into the Rock/Cena show at WM, and Miz has never been the same since. And the E brass acted like idiots and blamed him and Truth for the poor sales at Survivor Series when in reality, it was their own damn fault for being so predictable and not building MizTruth up as a credible threat that fans could take seriously.

 

I completely agree with this take. Jericho went through a similar thing - Yes, he was the first undisputed champion, but then he was booked like a bitch and picking up Stephanie McMahon's dog's crap. I think Daniel Bryan was in a similar spot last year, but the fan response was so overwhelming the WWE had to acknowledge it.

 

Itami beat Balor in the final and will be in the battle royal.

If he is getting a call up after thi,s it maybe down to the possibility that the Japanese TV contract could be due up.

If he is on the main shows they will get a lot more from the TV companies over there.

 

They really need to bring Tyler Breeze up. His character is hilarious. Adding the selfie stick was great and his moveset works well. Hell, call up the entire NXT roster and send some of the others from WWE down. I actually would like to see Zach Ryder in NXT for a while.

 

In a way, I'd like Lesnar to retain to keep the part-time champ going. I've changed my mind on it. I think it's a great thing to make the world champ a special attraction. And I think The E would be doing the right thing by putting lower level titles on main-event guys. The IC and US belts have been fairly worthless for a long time. Having guys like Bryan and Cena sustain feuds with a title at hand while the world champ is away is the way to go about it.

But, Lesnar can't be the champ forever ... but does that mean the world title has to be defeneded every month at a PPV like before? No. Just defend it once a quarter, the big four shows. The champ can be on TV, doing promos or wrestling matches as exhibition or as No. 1 contender matches. Beat the champ, be the next in line to challenge for the title. So, full-time performer who defends the title four times a year. Of course, the Money in the Bank winner could pop out of nowhere to win it, say in June. Then the rematch still doesn't happen until SummerSlam in August. You've got a program to carry through and there's time to let it simmer. So, would it be so bad for the world title to only be defended four times a year? I don't think so.

 

On the one hand, it adds to the realism if the title is only defended so often. But to do that, you need compelling storylines, strong secondary champions or both to make up for the champ not being on TV.

Put it this way, while we can't go back to jobber matches, an 80s formula of the champion rarely wrestling on live TV can work if there is something else to compel viewers to watch or for fans to buy a ticket, or the network, or a PPV. When Hogan was champ, backing him up was Piper vs, Snuka, Savage as IC champ, a terrific tag division, and eventually, the Warrior. Each of which could sell tickets and, in today's world, would bring eyeballs to the TV.

But whatever is compelling today has been neutered by the E because they can't concentrate on more than one or two things at once. They have a roster that is much more interesting than it was four years ago, and a whole crop of new prospects in their developmental system. But yet, they spin their wheels due to a lack of compelling storylines.