2009 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

With RAW, I'd go with Jericho as WWE Champion. Have Cena and Shawn Michaels going after the belt, meet in a triple threat PPV match. Jericho wins and the following night on RAW, the last segment has Cena viciously attack HBK, aligning himself with Jericho. Jeff Hardy comes to the rescue of his hero Michaels, and we have four main eventers (HBK/Jeff Hardy vs. Jericho/Cena) in an interesting feud that could last for months. I'd also have The Undertaker as an upper-midcard attraction on the show, with MVP as a rising heel who occasionally headlines PPVs and Mysterio as a dependable face work-a-holic who works great matches and feuds with up-and-comers like Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger.

On SmackDown, I'd realign heel Edge/Christian (in a faction with Matt Hardy and a returning Lita as GM) and have them dominate the show, Edge as World Heavyweight Champ and Christian with the IC strap. Triple H, Batista, and Randy Orton, led by Ric Flair, reform Evolution to try and dismantle the alliance and there are constantly questions about Orton's allegiances. Meanwhile, CM Punk refuses to join any group and is a tweener who takes them both on. The Miz is constantly trying to join Edge's faction with no success. I'd make this be a more tag-team oriented show, with Edge/Christian, Big Show/Kane (heels), Mark Henry/Great Khali (faces), The Colons (heels), and The Hart Dynasty (faces) battling for the belts every week.

With ECW, I'd have a conflicted Tommy Dreamer still holding on to the strap. Although he manages to outsmart the likes of Shelton Benjamin and R-Truth in the ring on a weekly basis, Tiffany begins to allow old ECW stars to return for special one-time matches to face Dreamer in brutal PPV Extreme Rules matches. Tommy realizes that he misses the bloodshed and hectic violence of the old ECW, so with the clout of being Champion, urges Tiffany to let him fight in violent bloodbaths with other contracted talents. Vince McMahon sees that his roster is being systematically destroyed and forces Dreamer to stop the Extreme Rules matches. When he refuses, a rivalry breaks out, with McMahon trying to stack the odds against Tommy and much of the rest of the roster rebelling against McMahon and wanting to revert back to the old ECW's intentions.

 

Past and present? Day-um. I won't go too far into this at this hour, but let's just say John Cena gets buried by The Rock on the first show.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing the Ultimate Warrior coming out and destroying Batista.

 

Can they both lose?

 

Them two would find a way. Especially given the amount of steroids both have obviously taken over the years.

 

Bump.

I think the collective geekiness of Baron, Harley, Kevin and yours truly was too much for the thread to handle

 

If by stand out, you mean get squashed by some dude in the New Superstar Initiative or whatever the hell it's called...methinks Shelton might get buried. Again.

 

He's had his chances (the initial win over HHH on Raw, his classic with Michaels), but he just doesn't have a great persona. He was most over as a heel when he had Big Momma.

Shelton is the perfect guy that could use a manager. Looking through history, I could have seen either the Grand Wizard or Jim Cornette (if he teamed with Haas) as very effective mouthpieces for Benjamin.

 

I definitely agree with Baron Scicluna - Shelton would be great with an old school manager, someone who would make up for his deficiencies on the microphone. Too bad the WWE doesn't believe in them any longer; it's not like Bobby Heenan ever got over or made the Hall of Fame or anything

Just watched Smackdown, and I was shocked at how dead the crowd was at points. While it was understandable and good for Punk's promo, since he's now a tweener on his way to a heel, you could hear a pin drop during the Finlay-Ricky Ortiz match. Not that I care that much, since neither one is a favorite of mine - Finlay is somebody that smarks claim to love, like Regal, that nobody actually cares about - but the lack of sound was so shocking. I also just finished watching a shoot with JJ Dillon, where he talks about sweetening the sound with Vince back in the good ole days, so I guess they're no longer doing that.

On the bright side, I thought the main event tag match, Jericho and Edge vs. Punk and Jeff Hardy, was really good. I don't really know where they're going with Jericho and Edge, but both are great performers. And Smackdown was still much more watchable this week to me than Raw.

 

It appears that Edge tore his Achilles tendon last night at a house show. Early reports are several months, up to a year, on the shelf.

 

Needless to say, this SUCKS for the E and for SmackDown!

RB

 

Damn. PWInsider.com story says he could be out until January.