2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

Jericho's return is damn near as bad as the return of the nWo in 2002. It seems like he's there just for the paycheck.

I also have to agree on JBL. I'd rather see him with the belt than Triple Haytch. Hell, I'd rather see Funaki with a title run.

 

I gotta agree with HandsomeHarley ... RAW sucked donkey dicks.
A few things:

** Unlike most people, I don't have much of a problem with JBL challenging Orton. It's a decent feud at the top. Orton beats him and continues to build himself up as a true world champion, so that when he is eventually defeated, it actually means something. Underneath, I'd put HHH and Cena in a feud for a while. They can be pissed at each other for getting in each other's way at WrestleMania. Have them feud for most of the summer, and then at SummerSlam, whoever emerged from HHH-Cena could challenge Orton. ... Instead, we get another three-way/four-way match and, instead of JBL being a strong No. 1 contender, he looks like a joke next to HHH and Cena.

** Where the hell was CM Punk? You have all these people challenging for the title and the guy holding "the briefcase" is nowhere to be found? He should've at least been called out by William Regal and asked, as a courtesy, if he wanted to be involved, if only to remind fans that Punk is eventually going to be a player in the title picture. Instead, all we've seen of Punk on RAW is him doing the j.o.b. to Y2J.

** Michaels vs. Batista. I think this has the possibility to be a pretty good match, but creative needs to give Batista better reasoning for being mad at Michaels. Fans like Batista, so turning him heel for the long run is gonna be difficult. So, creative should've came up with a reason for Batista to be angry at Michaels. Why wasn't he angry at HHH, who tried to retire Flair on the New Year's Eve RAW? Or any of the other guys who tried to retire Flair. It's what Flair wanted. He asked Michaels to do his best and to beat him. It makes Batista look stupid.

** Have the tag team champions ever won a match while wearing the belt? Holly and Rhodes lose almost every week. Geez.

 

To me, JBL has become an instant channel-changer. He breeds the wrong type of heat.

 

Eh...so you'd put a heel vs. heel and face vs. face as the two top feuds on Raw? I just don't see it working. People aren't going to buy a PPV headlined by Orton vs. JBL.

Triple H vs. Orton haven't had that money feud yet, while Cena-JBL have the necessary history to make an extended rivalry decent. Those should be the top two for the spring. Or maybe have Batista challenge Orton after the program with Michaels ends, plus Triple H vs. Cena and JBL vs. HBK. That'd work as well.

This 4-way feud is just lazy booking to me.

 

Backlash is a hangover PPV for WWE to me coming off WrestleMania. It's an instant rematch PPV. Hopefully it will also feature a freakin' tag team title match and either an IC or U.S. title bout, too.


One other question: Where's Mr. Kennedy ... Kennedy? Will he challenge Jericho perhaps for the IC title?

 

It's kinda hard to be built as the true world champion when you're jobbing to Triple H and getting the crap beat out of you every week.

 

See, I don't see Cena-HHH as face vs. face in the typical sense. Most nights, Cena is boo'd out of the building, while HHH is cheered wildly. I think you have HHH straddle the heel/face fence for a while, while Cena is the white-meat babyface and the atmosphere would be intense with the mostly male demographic booing Cena, while the females and kids would be cheering him. Fans won't care if it's "face vs. face" or "heel vs. heel" if the storyline is entertaining.

 

What happened to JBL vs. Finlay? That had the makings of a good, three- to four-month long feud going on there. They can't drop it that fast, can they?

 

Maybe they think JBL isn't going to be around very long before his back gives on him, so they want him to make one more run at/with the title? Also, JBL-Finlay was a side effect of what I assume will be the final unveiling of Mr. McMahon's son. Maybe they'll go back to Kennedy as the son?

I'm okay with CM Punk not being on this show, though obviously he should disappear for long stretches. You don't want him waving around the briefcase every week because you want his cashing it in to be a big surprise.

 

I'm kinda new to this, but what's the record of MITB winners actually winning the title when they cash in? And who would they actually put Punk over anytime soon? It sounds like SD wants to give 'Taker a long run, and Raw is too busy clusterfucking its main event...

 

By quick recollection:

-Edge won the briefcase in 2005, defeated John Cena in that Elimination Chamber rush job when he used it.
-2006 was RVD? Yeah, beat Cena at One Night Stand. "If Cena wins, we riot."
-Last year it was Ken Kennedy, who lost the briefcase to Edge when he tried to defend it. Edge then used the briefcase the next night on SmackDown to hotshot the title off The Undertaker.

So, I guess, it's 3-for-3.

 

So chances are Punk will hold a strap when it's all over...anyone see him taking one before, say, SummerSlam?