2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

Or they'll give them four minutes and put it on the pre-show.

 

I keep going back and forth on the whole situation. Did I want Bryan to win? Sure. Did I want Ambrose to win? Nah, he's not ready. Did I want Reigns to win? At one time, yes.

Here's the thing: Roman was bad ass with The Shield, but once he went solo I saw a lot of things that needed improvement. As a cog in the machine of The Shield, he was protected. He had his role, and he did it damn well. He was the muscle. Silent, violent, a bit mysterious. Even in his first two non-Shield PPV matches, he was protected: a multi-participant championship ladder match and a fatal four-way. But in his first singles match? Yikes, Randy had to carry him a bit at Summer Slam. But, I thought, it's okay. If he's the plan for the next 'Mania, he and The E have seven months to work with.

Then he got injured and cut that time by about two-thirds. And once he came back, what has he done? Not much good to write about, and a lot of it isn't his fault. I'm sure he didn't get a say in his packaging. It does strike me as odd that he still clings to The Shield in terms of appearance and music. How did the breakup of the group change him as a person? Apparently, it didn't. It's the same guy. Rollins got to evolve. Ambrose got to evolve. Reigns is still stuck in the same routine.

I'm sure he didn't ask for shitty promos. Surely, by now, The E has realized that the best Roman is just Roman. Not a Roman who's trying to tell a story. Just let him talk about beating wholesale ass. That's all we need. I re-watched The Network's Summer Slam special on The Shield, and he comes across just fine when he's himself. He did okay during the in-studio Raw the other night.

I'm sure he didn't ask to be put in a feud with a talent that has flipped so many times we just don't care anymore. But he's also need to overcome his time off from the ring, and let's face it, whoever books his matches either doesn't believe Roman has the tool set to have a good match or he's too clueless to take advantage of the things Roman does well. No, Roman can't do the things Rollins does. But have Roman be a throwback to the days of bigger men doing power moves. So many current talents use old and established finishers (Diamond Cutter to RKO, for example), just have Reigns add the Jackhammer as a finishing move to go with the Spear. Pump-handle power slams, more suplexes, anything to go along with all the punching and clotheslines. Let him do a damn bear hug. Has he ever showcased a submission?

I'm sure he didn't book the Rumble match itself. I agree with what others have said: the final four/five should have been Reigns, Bryan, Ambrose, Ziggler, Wyatt, Rusev, etc. It should have been a statement from The E that said, 'Here's the future.' Then The E should have let those tell a story in which Reigns got a great Rumble moment after having me take pause, because with a final combo like that, I might have doubted the months-long talk that Reigns was The Man for 'Mania 31. (Now, he just has a notorious Rumble moment.) Instead, most of these guys were tossed liked jobbers early in the match and telegraphed the finish from Pittsburgh. Hence, no drama to the story. Even a dumb mark would know that there was no way in hell Kane or Show were winning that match.

There is potential that The E could survive with this as the plan because Paul Heyman will put this match over. He did, as usual, a fantastic job with the Raw interview. But that's also a saving grace of that snow storm canceling a live show.

So, it's not that I don't want Reigns as a top guy, but The E is totally fucking up the journey there.

But, fuck it, I could be wrong about it all.

 

The guy with the power moves is Ryback. And, in the jobber division, Titus O'Neil.

Want to give Reigns an unforgettable submission finisher? How about tickling?
Guy gets someone down on the mat in a powerful leg scissors and then just starts tickling his armpits until he submits. How many times have you been tickled unrelentlessly by a sibling and screamed "Stop it! I quit!" within seconds. It's a devastating move.
OK, maybe it won't work for a serious wrestler like Reigns, but for a comedy act like Santino it could be goofy and awesome.

 

Observer from Feb. 2:

- Because of the backlash from the “Cancel WWE Network!” Twitter thing, the WWE got proactive with releasing that they had 1M subscribers since the end of September. However, internally it seems like not that many people actually cancelled. A bunch of people always cancel after a PPV, and the number post-Rumble wasn’t any more than usual.

The free month in November was also reportedly a big success, and another one is planned for February. The thinking is that the free month will end in late March, right before Mania, and people will want to ride it out for at least a month after that.

With all the cost cutting the WWE has done, it’s expected that they’ll be profitable for 2015. To reach profitable status, they need to average 1.15M subscribers for the year, and to reach pre-Network yearly profit, they need about 1.35M. Both of these numbers factor in the cost cutting the company has done, and newer TV contracts, so even if they hit 1.35M it’s not quite as profitable as years past.

The numbers and good response to his match also make it more likely that Lesnar re-signs with the WWE. It’s now believed that he’d be open to taking a similar deal from the company to one he’s currently on. There is more money for him in MMA, but it’s much more strenuous for him to train for that (he’s now 38), and if he loses it hurts his value when and if he goes back to the WWE.

- The “snowed in” Raw got 4.41M viewers and did a 3.27 rating, the most watched since April 2014. However, last year’s post-Rumble raw did a 3.67 and 5.01M viewers. Smackdown did a 1.97 and 2.81M on Thursday, and the move has been really successful.

- A note on the “cancel WWE” trending thing: It only took about 75 people to make it trend. Twitter’s algorithms are heavily weighed to live tweeting, so it can be somewhat easy to get a term like that in the list.

- Re: Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan, internally the company is huge on Reigns and sees him as the next Cena-type star, at least. As a result, Bryan is seen as a #2 or #3 babyface going forward. It’s noted that Bryan’s merchandise didn’t really ever sell like a top guy’s… but also that Reigns’ merchandise moves even less than Bryan’s.

Meltzer noted that it was also a self-inflicted wound by the company at the Rumble. Nobody was expecting Bryan back for it, given all the news about his various injuries, and they could have just brought him back at Fastlane or some other PPV.

Internally, the company cared about three things for the Rumble: 1) Making Reigns. 2) Protecting Bray Wyatt for a potential Undertaker match. 3) Protecting Rusev for a John Cena match. Everything else was an afterthought. Also considered odd was that Lesnar turned into a face the week before on Raw, and the Philly crowd made him a superface. But Reigns is also still being treated as a face.

- Bully Ray / Bubba Ray Dudley was a one-shot deal, but he would probably be open to more dates. He’s not under TNA contract because they won’t meet his price. He is 30 pounds heavier than he was as TNA champion.

- The usual poll from Observer readers after a PPV: About 19.7 percent likes the Rumble. Thumbs down from 47.4 percent, and in the middle was 32.9 percent. The triple threat for the title got all 442 votes for Best Match, and the Rumble itself got worst match with 224 votes, vs. 119 for the women’s tag and 72 for Outlaws vs. Ascension.

- Randy Orton, Sheamus and Bo Dallas are healthy, and will be reintroduced soon. With them and Alex Riley, the company decided the Rumble was already crowded enough to use them / re-debut them. Jericho was asked to be in the Rumble but declined, because he doesn’t want to be on TV for a while.

- Justin Gabriel quit the company last week. He’ll be wrestling idies, but it’s unknown if he has an outside wrestling job yet. He was the guy in the bunny suit most of the time. Layla is also out of action after surgery for an unknown amount of time.

- UFC might now get into New York thanks to luck. Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the house there, was arrested and charged with bribery and taking kickbacks. He was strongly aligned with Vegas and NY culinary unions, and the UFC owners have non-unionized casinos. Silver is expected to be forced to resign, and he was the guy blocking the bill in past years. Silver’s replacement will likely still be pro-union and a Democrat, but it would be hard for them to be more strongly against it.

- Since TNA is no longer on Spike, Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling is free to negotiate with the network. It’s unknown if they’d have any interest in the product.

- The Izod Center, which was to host SummerSlam in August, will be closed in March. As a result, WWE is looking for venues for the event, with the Prudential Center, Madison Square Garden, the Barclays Center and Red Bull Arena lined up as potentially available. While the last couple SummerSlams have been held on the West Coast, it’s believed WWE wants the event on the East Coast this year.

- Daniel Bryan’s autobiography is scheduled for release April 1. It was moved up from July 28, to capitalize on Mania.

- Tough Enough is coming back in the spring. So, they had a long “where are they now?” on the past participants.

The last winner, Andy Leavine, is now out of wrestling. He never made it out of WWE developmental, and had a short stint in Puerto Rico before retiring. Luke Robinson, the favorite before being injured, did some indy work and then retired to run a personal training business. Jeremiah Riggs got a tryout, but had a terrible attitude and wasn’t signed.

Cameron was the only cast member of the last season to make the WWE roster. Matt Capiccioni (Son of Havok) and Ivelisse Velez work for Lucha Underground, and AJ Kirsch, Ryan Howe, Eric Watts and Martin Casaus still do indy wrestling. Austin Aries was a cut before the show aired.

The first season had Maven and Nidia, who spent a couple years on the main roster. Runners up included Chris Nowinski (main roster but injured and now a concussion expert), Taylor Matheny (indy wrestler, married to Brian Kendrick), Josh Matthews and Jessica Kresa (made a splash in TNA after getting implants as ODB).

The second season had Linda Miles and Jackie Gayda as winners. Gayda married Charlie Haas and had short runs with the company, and Miles had a very short stint on the main roster, and was ranked one of the worst in OVW. Matt Morgan and Kenny Layne / Kenny King were runners up.

The season two cuts before the show were ultimately more successful. Shad Gaspard – later part of Crime Time – failed a drug test. John Morrison was cut because they didn’t think he wanted to be a wrestler badly enough. Shelly Martinez (Salinas in TNA, Ariel in WWE) was cut, then got implants and hired, and Awesome Kong was also cut.

Season three, Morrison and Matt Cappotelli won. The latter would have made the main roster, but unfortunately, he got a brain tumor. Also on the season was Melina, who started dating Morrison. She got implants and later made the main roster. Shawn Daivairi and Daniel Puder (the season four winner) were late cuts before the show aired.

Famously in season four, Puder got Angle in a Kimura. The whole season was basically the WWE at its worst, as it served as an elaborate joke on the competitors. They had them do an eating contest, then squats in the ring, and then had Angle wrestle them, hoping they would throw up. Puder got a ton of popularity, but he wasn’t a wrestling fan, and The Miz was seen as the best wrestler that season. Puder’s $1M contract was actually only guaranteed for one year at $250k, which wasn’t renewed after one year.

From season four, the Miz and Ryback (Ryan Reeves) are still on the main roster. Daniel Rodimer was the company’s biggest hope, since he was 6’5” and 280, but he was a shitty worker and quit because he made more money in real estate. Nick Mitchell was in the Spirit Squad. Justice Smith was on American Gladiators. The Boogeyman was actually 40, not 30, and was cut midseason, but brought back because the company thought he had too much charisma to not use. Doc Gallows (Drew Hankinson) is now in New Japan.

Spoilers about Fastlane and Mania booking plans:

- For Fastlane, Rusev vs. Cena, and a confrontation between Triple H and Sting, are planned as the headliners.

- For Mania, Lesnar vs. Reigns and Triple H vs. Sting are the only guarantees. Wyatt vs. Undertaker is believed to be happening, given how strong they’re keeping Wyatt. Orton vs. Rollins is likely, as is Ziggler vs. Bryan; it’s not just BS’ing on Twitter.

 

Daniel Bryan's merch didn't sell because it looked like shit until the last two shirts came out. Did The E really think grown ups would want to wear T-shirts depicting a cartoon, bearded goat? No shit, it didn't sell. To be honest, are there any really great T-shirt designs anymore? Cena's are designed in bright colors for children. I'd never wear one in public unless attending an event. I still wear an nWo shirt sometimes. It's black, it's simple. This isn't the late '90s anymore. Wearing wrestling T-shirts around just isn't cool right now.

 

The WWE shirt designs are horrid. The only two I like are Paige and Kevin Owen's.
Ring of Honor has a couple of decent ones I'd wear in public now but, yeah, overall it's a piss poor job.

 

Only current T-shirt I'd wear is Orton's. Always have liked his designs.

 

Seems like they're trying to tie up a lot of loose ends. They had Bryan bring up that he still hadn't received his rematch, and even had Axel go off on a rant that he had never been eliminated, which brought Ambrose out to throw him over the top.

Pretty good show so far. I'm eager to see Rollins against Bryan and see if they try to reset everything.

 

Judging by how they mentioned Randy Orton backstage, for the first time in weeks, I can't imagine anything but Randy returning and costing Rollins in tonight's match.

 

Yeah, I was thinking that too.

 

I'm thinking Reigns comes out, goes after Bryan to cement a heel turn, then Orton comes out to RKO Rollins and win.