2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

I have a feeling the Rock will be making an appearance at WM25 anyways, seeing that he is introducing his dad and grandfather into the Hall of Fame. Not neccessarily in a match, but a run-in, maybe like Hogan's against Mohammed Hassan.

The Hornswoggle segment was flat. How can JBL just visit him in the hospital? Isn't there some security? At least when Foley visited Vince with Mr. Socko, they had a nurse explain that a visitor wanted to see him.

Mayweather/Show segment was awful. Who was the guy that Show squashed? And that satellite interview made little sense.

 

How did Mayweather go from getting cheered by the fans at NWO to being booed now? I saw watched Raw for the first time since NWO and Mayweather was talking like a heel to Lawler.

I missed the couple of Raw shows between NWO and this past Monday night, how did Floyd end up being a heel so fast?

 

Re: Mayweather ... I have a feeling they had the second "via satellite" segment with JR and King due to the fact that the first one came off so poorly.

 

It didn't help that his first Raw appearance after NWO was in Anaheim ... Oscar De La Hoya country.

It has just snowballed from there.

 

WWE was stupid for even bringing Floyd to Anaheim.

 

The bigger question with Big Show is what to do with him after this farce. Do they set him up with a feud against the champ (Cena?) as a monster heel or just throw him into what is becoming a crowded field of Raw's main event talent stuck in lame, confusing mid-card tilts?

My guess is that Jericho turns heel, and he has the easy out to do so: he can go with the "I've been screwed" card (and would be validated) since returning, which could put him in position to feud with the champ or set up something with Michaels again. If Trips gets the belt, you could keep him as a face and let him go after him.

What happens to Orton once he's lost the belt? I can't recall a recent champ who has been treated as a chump as much as he has. He's matured to the point where you would think he'd be a solid champ, but WWE has done so much to weaken him at the expense of Trips and Cena.

 

I think Show will stay on Raw's upper midcard as a monster heel. There are many top faces for him to work with -- Cena, HHH, Jeff Hardy, Jericho, HBK, Ric Flair.

Orton could use a win at WrestleMania much more than Cena or HHH. It'll be his first WrestleMania main event and a victory would really rise his stock. If I was booking the show and couldn't use my preferred Jeff Hardy finish, I'd easily have Orton win. Cena begins feud with Big Show while filming his new movie. Orton starts a lengthy title program with Trips and eventually Batista is traded to Raw (for Jeff Hardy) to add some sizzle to the ex-Evolution feud. HHH finally wins the belt and Cena-HHH is the Raw feud for the summer, while Jeff Hardy-Edge headlines Smackdown's card.

 

And with the Jeff Hardy-Edge feud, you can throw in the extra dynamic of Matt Hardy.

I could see Orton holding on to the belt ... yes it goes against the philosophy of sending the fans home happy from the biggest event, but that hasn't always happened (i.e. Austin turning turning heel on the Rock and aligning with McMahon in 2001).

 

The majority of fans certainly weren't happy last year when Shawn Micheals lost to Cena in the main event.

And I agree, it would be wise to include the Matt Hardy/Edge history in any potential Jeff/Edge feud. I would love to see the old-school, top-notch MVP/Matt rivalry continue, and I would consider putting MVP in Edge's little stable. The WWE could even have a rare Hardyz reunion of sorts for a PPV tag match vs. Edge/MVP.

 

I'll admit I was so pissed about that WM outcome, not only did my favorite wrestler lose again at WM main event but Austin became a heel as well. The fact that Rock just won the title from Angle only a month earlier at NWO, I thought surely he would win. Also WM 2000's Fatal Four-Way was also heart-breaker.

 

That match Fatal Fourway match sucked. Hard.

What's everyone's favorite WrestleMania? I'll go with WM 23...I'm slightly biased since I was in Detroit for last years and had a fantastic time going to The Condemned world premiere, meeting and talking to guys like Foley, Austin, Cena and Edge, attending the Hall of Fame ceremony, attending a Q and A with a bunch of wrestling legends, and of course going to the actual show. I felt WM 23 itself was pretty good, although there were basically five above-average matches and too much filler. The MITB match was tremendous and Undertaker/Batista had probably the best WWE match of '07.

The best WrestleMania I've seen is X-7. Strong undercard (Jericho vs. Regal, Angle vs. Benoit, Eddie Guerrero vs. Test), a few entertaining "hardcore" matches (Kane vs. Big Show vs. Raven, Vince vs. Shane), the most fun TLC match of all time, and two very good headlines matches (Trips vs. 'Taker, Rock vs. Austin) including the infamous mentioned heel swerve at the end. It is also a well-known PPV since it is unofficially the end of the Attitude Era as this was the exact time WCW/ECW folded. There have been better individual matches for sure on WM cards, but never a better overall 'Mania from top to bottom.

 

I'd have to say X-7 as well, if only for the fact I won two free tickets to the Saturday events and had a chance to spend time with my then 11-year-old nephew for the weekend. We did the Playstation thing on Friday night, did a fantasy baseball draft the following morning (we picked Bonds in the second round...guess that paid off) before heading out.

In hindsight, it is kind of bittersweet in that the one wrestler who took the time to make the experience a blast for him happened to be Chris Benoit.