2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

Seriously, another boring-assed Batista match?

 

Yeah, he's really looking to boost that title count, with one title win in the past THREE YEARS.

I'm surprised how many people have Hardy cashing in MITB at the end of the show in their fantasy booking. Demanding the title match with no notice against a guy who just wrestled is a total heel move. The only way it works without Jeff looking bad is if he does it against Edge, since it would be Edge getting a taste of his own medicine.

But even then, Edge needs to be somewhat fresh, like if he purposely got himself DQ'd or counted out in his match with Undertaker. It'd piss everyone off, Jim Ross can go "We can't end Wrestlemania like this!", and then cue Jeff's challenge. But Edge can't be laid out in the ring or something, Jeff would just look like a punk if he went in there and pinned him.

 

He did miss nearly a year with an injury. HHH mostly gets criticized because he is Vince's son-in-law, and tends to do things that just don't look right. (i.e. beating up the top two tag teams by himself).

Some other thoughts:
1. Batista/Umaga wouldn't have been so bad. But Umaga has been buried ever since he lost to Lashley in the hair match. When was the last time you saw him beat a main-eventer? Plus, without Armando, he doesn't have anyone to talk for him.

2. I liked the Flair/Michaels segment on Raw. I kept expecting Michaels to super-kick him as Flair was leaving, but it didn't happen. I also liked Flair taking the approach that he is confident he will beat Michaels, rather than the recent approach he has taken, in which he is getting lucky with his wins.

3. I still don't get the Hornswoggle twist. Didn't that lawyer say that DNA evidence showed Vince was his dad? And why the hell would JBL care about Vince's paternity issues anyway?

 

Umaga was built up huge at the beginning of '07, getting the title match against Cena at the Rumble and participating in the huge WrestleMania hair vs. hair match. He definitely misses Estrada as his mouth piece. Still, he's one of the best big men in wrestling in the ring. Even his squash match last night against DH Smith was semi-entertaining. Him and Batista (who can be good in the ring during bigtime matches) could put on a decent match, at the very least one that's way better than last year's Kane vs. Khali.

I'm not excited about this triple threat match. The buildup just seems very standard and dull, especially compared to the other matches on this card. But it's going to deliver in the ring just like the WrestleMania 20 triple threat main event did. Honestly, call me crazy, but I see Orton retaining at WrestleMania somehow. If I was booking, I would have Cena and HHH take each other out of it in a huge brawl in the last half of the match, with Triple H hitting a pedigree on the announcer's table on Cena. While they are battling on the outside, Orton is smirking and relaxing inside of the ring. Triple H is a bloody mess when he crawls inside the ring and Orton stalks Trips, until he stands up and the RKO is hit for the clean win.

While he is celebrating (and JR is screaming about the unfairness of Orton's tactic) out comes Hardy who cashes in his MITB match and finally wins the title. This way it wouldn't make Jeff seem like a heel for cashing it in, since Orton barely wrestled in the main event and used psychology to face limited action in the match. And one of the most popular WWE superstars of the moment would get his big, deserved WrestleMania moment and a title reign for a few months, before finally losing the strap to Cena in a PPV main event. I would then move him to Smackdown in a trade for Batista (he could use a change of scenery and some fresh feuds) to go after Edge's World Heavyweight strap.

 

Triple H was an asshole long before he married the Billion Dollar Princess.

It was his clique with Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and X-Pac that got me to being a Game-hater. Even then he was lobbying to get finishes changed and keeping others down with the glass ceiling.

He always was an asshole and he always will be an asshole.

 

Unfortunately, that's common sense, and the WWE doesn't do common sense.

 

Honestly, I saw that coming a mile away. When they first had those encounters backstage with Fit talking about their secret arrangement, I was like, come on, now they are going to say Horny is Fit's son. When is this angle going to end?

 

Did anybody else find it curious that Kennedy was the only one to hit his big finisher during the tag match on Raw, then had his music played as he's walking out? Might he finally be in line for the big push he seemed headed toward last year?
Everybody's leaning toward Hardy winning the MITB match and cashing in that same night, but that scenario could also work with Kennedy if he's in it. Kennedy wins MITB and, learning from his mistake last year (trying to wait until this WM and then getting hurt and losing the shot) he cashes it in right away. Also lets him keep that promise he made last year the day after WM, when he said he'd cash it in.
Just a thought.

 

A good thought, although usually, WWE likes having the babyface win at the end of Wrestlemania to make the fans feel good. Of course, they could have Kennedy turn on Orton as well....

 

All this talk about Hardy/Kennedy immediately cashing in the Money in the Bank is almost too hokey, though. When you talk about the legitimacy of a champion, it would look weaker for Hardy/Kennedy to come out, challenge the winner of the three-way who has already been beaten down than it would for him to win the strap on an event that's been promoted for weeks - months, even.

If I'm doing this, I have Hardy (probably wouldn't work with Kennedy) win the match, then immediately proclaim the next night on Raw that he's challenging Orton for the belt at Summerslam. That way, you can get a good, solid long-term program going like the two had throughout January and keep them apart for several months. If you get the Vince McMahon training exercize vignettes that they used leading up to the 1999 Royal Rumble spurring Jeff Hardy on, and you get this whole David vs. Goliath thing going by having Orton crush HHH, Cena, Bradshaw, The Big Show, Batista, etc. in main events leading up to the match, it will make Orton look so much more dominant and Hardy like the new people's champ.

That's a program. The ticky-tack, win-the-title-off-a-dead-guy idea will do nothing for Hardy save for five minutes of spotlight at a WrestleMania where he wasn't the featured performer.

 

I agree that could happen but it's simply too obvious. How many times was that hinted at last night? Kennedy even told Orton straight out that he would cash it in that night. It wouldn't be much of a surprise at all and it'd be a letdown in the main event.

 

But how does Hardy know that Orton will have the title come SummerSlam? It'd make every PPV Raw main event incredibly predictable. I think my idea works better. Have Orton mostly stay away and gloat while Cena/HHH beat the hell out of each other and then RKO's one of them for a cheap victory. Hardy comes out, says Orton is not a fighting champion, he has disgraced the WWE and WrestleMania by not participating in the title match fully, and that he's cashing in tonight. Hardy runs to the ring, they fight for a back-and-forth 10 minutes, and Hardy comes out on top with a swanton. I'm definitely not advicing for something this off course to happen at every WrestleMania, but for this once I think it'd work very well.

The hot Orton/Hardy feud continues through Backlash, while Cena/HHH go at it in a seperate match, perhaps to be named number one contender.