2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

WrestleMania 31 Tech Tour in Silicon Valley | WWE.com

With the way these two men have fought for our freedom, I'm shocked that they are asked to wear visitor ID badges anywhere. Haven't they sacrificed enough for our way of life?

 

Observer from March 2:

- Dr. Christopher Amann has filed suit against CM Punk because of the comments Punk made on Colt Cabana’s podcast. Cabana was also sued. Amann is seeking $2 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages. In the suit, he claims that Punk never told him about the growth in his back, and he never even saw the growth.

Unsurprisingly, WWE is supporting Amann in his lawsuit, and said the first time the lump was brought up was August, well after he was fired. The lump can’t be seen in the Royal Rumble match, which Punk claims to have work with it. But he definitely did have surgery to remove it at some point.

- Also in the news, AJ Lee for tweeting about the WWE being hypocritical with its female performers. However, she was exaggerating a bit; they do not sell merchandise at a very strong rate, and they don’t ‘star’ in the highest rated segments.

That said, the WWE clearly has a problem with female talent on the main roster. It’s noted that no man with the skill set of Rosa Mendes or Eva Marie would have ever been on the main roster. And wrestlers who can go, like Melissa Anderson (Cheerleader Melissa) and Sara Amato (Sara Del Ray, NXT’s trainer), never got serious looks.

Lee’s comments weren’t part of any angle, and Stephanie McMahon was said to be really pissed over them. However, Vince made her respond how she did on her Twitter because of the big picture issue. And as a side note, Total Divas filming began this week. The Bellas, Natalya and Paige are the only definites for screen time so far.

- Re: Lesnar not appearing on Raw, it was reportedly a dispute over a new contract with WWE, with him and Vince not wanting to budge on an unspecified aspect. Lesnar has four dates left on his contract; March 2 Raw, March 9 Raw, Mania and the Raw-after-Mania.

- Adrian Neville could be on the main roster soon, because they’ve been having him do jobs on NXT.

- Hogan is currently not in the WWE’s plans for Mania. They are probably going to do the Andre the Giant Battle Royal again. Jon Stewart could be involved in the Rollins match.

- The Bushwhackers are now in the Hall of Fame, which was a little surprising, but not really, given that they were super over as a face tag team. However, the next inductee could be Alundra Blayze / Madusa, who’s perhaps best known for dumping the WWF women’s title in a trash can on Nitro. She’s been a monster truck driver since leaving wrestling.

There are two other rumored inductees – Ray Stevens, and Kevin Nash. Larry Zbyszko is an outside possibility, but it’s more likely that they save him for a Northeast Mania. Triple H has worked to mend fences with him, since there was heat between him and Vince McMahon Sr. from the 1980s.

- As WWE expenses and revenues stabilize, they will look to add more animation, a talk show and reality shows to the network. Ticket sales for Mania are slower this year than past years. As a result, the WWE has been giving out more comps. In 2014, WWE posted a loss of $30 million.

- The widow of Big Daddy V / Mabel has sued WWE for wrongful death, but given that he died of a heart attack and well after his WWE career got over in 2008, it’s seen as a long shot for success.

- Ring of Honor has had exploratory talks with AXS and Spike. AXS currently shows New Japan, and aren’t expected to be all that interested. Spike could be interested in running a show once-a-month, as part of a rotation with Bellator, Glory and boxing. Sinclair Broadcasting, the syndication company that owns ROH, would have to sign off on it.

- Although ROH’s budget is tight, they’ve added Samoa Joe for four shows. Joe is also in talks with the WWE, as well as New Japan, NOAH, AAA and Lucha Underground. Alberto Del Rio has two ROH shows left.

- TNA talent is getting restless, as they’ve realized the company is going to do far less house shows this year. Since they’re mostly on per-date contracts now, that means far less money.

- There isn’t much of an update on Global Force Wrestling, Jeff Jarrett’s new promotion. He’s looking to start running shows in Vegas on Fridays, possibly starting in late March / April. However, there is still no network or TV deal lined up.

- Legends of Wrestling is a one-off event June 7 at Citi Field in NYC. Scheduled to appear are 30 wrestlers, including Bret Hart, Goldberg, Ric Flair, Mr. Kennedy, Scott Steiner and Jim Duggan. WWE isn’t happy, because they’re doing SummerSlam in August.

- Vince Russo is said to want to get back into wrestling in some form, but Lucha Underground was insistent to talent that they weren’t hiring him after he came in to record a podcast last week.

- It got mainstream attention in Japan and some linkage on American sites, but there was a major “shoot” incident at a Stardom show, which is Japan’s #1 women’s wrestling promotion. In the title match of a Feb. 22 show, Yoshiko gave Yasukawa a concussion and fractured cheekbone and orbital with legit punches. The two had heat between them before the match, and the ref was confused and didn’t initially stop it because he didn’t realize it was a shoot. Yoshiko was stripped of the title and suspended.

- Jericho is in Sharknado 3.

 

I'm actually intrigued to see where this goes.

 

Oh I know where this road leads.

 

Well, we do know that Stewart is leaving The Daily Show. Maybe this is their way of writing him off of TV for a while.

 

He'll be in Orton's corner for the Rollins-Orton Mania match. Hell, he might even sell an RKO for the "unstable face" Orton they seem to be building again

 

It would be awesome if Orton RKOd Jon Stewart. I bet the internet would SKEWER Orton for it!

 

It'd also be awesome if Stewart took a curb stomp.

 

OUTTANOWHERE!

 

Multiple Superstars are walking around with the IC title, handing it off and calling them "title defenses" in an obscenely effortless and lackadaisical manner.

I have never seen more honest booking in my life.

 

Roman Reigns will be the first Wrestlemania main eventer who is younger than Wrestlemania itself.

 

Steph got a Yes chant, and the crowd chanted Axelmania. Gotta love a smark crowd.

Great promo by Steph.