Professional wrestling thread

And while I'm thinking of it, I'd like to know what exactly Randy Orton needs to do to lose his job. They're now saying he did $50,000 of damage to a hotel room. But instead of firing him, they fined him an undisclosed amount and kept him in Sunday's PPV main event. What a joke (although you know damn well who is taking the pinfall in that match now).

 

Agreed. That's the reason I like Edge so much now, because he's in the perfect role. Don't change what works.

And I just watched the Cena-HBK match tonight. Wow, I did not expect that. (I never click on this thread until I've seen RAW on my DVR.) To echo everyone else, awesome match. Glad there were no run-ins to spoil it.

 

CitizenTino has by far the best picture I've seen so far. It looks like Fred McGriff did that spot twenty years ago! ;D

 

Edge has replaced HHH as the best heel in the business. It would actually hurt his career if he went otherwise. Having him with the belt definitely drives up his heel heat and while I doubt he gets the belt Sunday, I would love to see him and HBK go at it before HHH comes and takes it at SummerSlam.

As much as I loathe Cena, I have to give him his due. He has improved as a wrestler over the last 8-12 months and is becoming a more solid performer. What happens to him once he loses the belt will be very interesting. Where do you go with him? A heel turn is less likely with Orton's uncertainty.

I don't see Orton at WWE much longer. I know his potential is limitless, but even Vinny Mac runs out of patience. I don't know his contract status, but -- provided there's a Coming to Jesus meeting in the near future -- once it laspes, I don't see the WWE putting up much of a fight to keep him.

My nephew and I were talking last night and wondered what matches we would like to see if organizations didn't matter. I'd love to see an HBK/AJ Styles match or Paul London/Christopher Daniels. Thoughts?

 

My guess with Orton is he's too big a star for the WWE to release him because they can't afford for him to go to TNA (although I don't think he'd really fit in there).

So they'll either bury him and use him as a main event jobber until he gets his head on straight or else they will merely send him home and let him sit out the rest of his contract.

 

I think Orton is still employed by WWE because of one man: HHH. HHH groomed Orton while they were both in Evolution and they are still close friends. If this was any other wrestler, he'd be gone by now (look what happened to Rhyno, for example). How many second chances can this guy get?

Orton is a star, but he's no bigger or better than Kurt Angle in any way. And it's not like Angle helped TNA much, in terms of popularity, buyrates, ratings, merchandise sales, revenue. TNA will never compete with WWE until they stop filming the vast majority of their events in the same Orlando studio and begin touring nationally.

 

I can't see Orton going anywhere. WWE doesn't want to see him on another brand.

As for turning someone heel/face -- it seems to me like they're grooming HBK for a heel turn. And Carlito, for that matter. But I think a heel HBK with the title would make for a good feud with HHH when he returns. As for what they would do with Cena at that point... I don't really know. We've seen Cena-Edge done before, so hopefully not that. Maybe we could get Cena-Carlito. I like Carlito a lot and wish they'd do more with him.

 

Carlito has tons of potential, but much like Mickie James, he has flopped as a face. Carlito has to go back to being an apple-spitting badass and after a few months I really beleive he could be a main event calibar wrestler. He's a natural heel.

Who will Cena fued with next? It's tough to tell...but it's obvious to me that the WWE could use a few wrestlers switching brands. I'd like to see Chris Benoit and Mr. Kennedy on Raw while Carlito and Umaga switch to Smackdown. Imagine a Benoit-Cena fued for the summer with a big payoff at SummerSlam? Would be an excellent match. Meanwhile, HBK could go after Kennedy and help cement him as a legit star until Trips returns.

 

Carlito is this year's Shelton Benjamin. They're not giving him a good push for a long time. I wish they'd transition Flair to a managerial role.

I'd like to see Kennedy jump ship and use his MITB contract on Cena. He had an angle a few months ago where he wanted to go to Raw anyway (which started his Undertaker feud), he's one of the few wrestlers of any consequence to not wrestle on both brands, thus creating new matchups, and he's kind of wrestled everyone on SD anyway.

The problem TNA has is that when they get new wrestlers, they tend to be pushed hard because they're better (or at least more known) than the guys they have. So if Jericho or Orton came to TNA, it shakes up the main event scene, which is fine except it's been plenty shaken in the last year. Joe is the only wrestler in the last year or so to work his way into the top of the card; everyone else has already been there (Jarrett, Abyss), coming back there (Styles) or entering from outside (Angle, Christian, Rhyno). Plus they have their main eventers involved in multiple angles, which gets confusing quickly (Joe and Abyss's relationship changes on an hourly basis, and that's just an ancillary angle).

Also, Mickie's great as a face. She's filled the Trish role pretty well, and certainly better than any of the other candidates would have. I still say they should hire Lizzie Valentine because she's wicked hot and was trained by Homicide, so you know she can work.

 

I would argue Shelton is still this year's Shelton. At least Carlito wins once in a while.

 

I thought they'd give TWGTT a bit of push, given how the crowd reacted when Shelton announced they were reforming a few months back. I'm a little surprised that they went wide Cade/Murdoch in the top challenger role to the Hardyz instead, though I know they're pretty high on Cade.

And Shelton will be next year's Shelton too.

 

Unless he was staying at a 5-star hotel suite, the only way he could have done that much damage to one room is by gutting it down to the studs.