2010 Pro Wrestling Thread

So WWE.com announced their top 25 matches of 2010 today and, yep, you guessed it...they couldn't decide the best match either.

http://www.wwe.com/inside/top25/topmatches2010/

Love the fact that the two matches I thought were 1 and 2 were, actually, tied for first on this list.

(I still give the nod to Bryan vs. Ziggler though).

 

So I guess this eventually leads to Barrett becoming one of those reluctant babyfaces where he and Cena team up, but don't trust each other.

 

It's an interesting swerve.

The Punk-Cena intro to open the show was not a great effort. Cena didn't put the angle over in a convincing manner at all. He's trying to be funny, and it's just not his thing.

I fell asleep during the Morrison-Riley match (I blame Riley, not Morrison). My wife said The Miz cut another awesome promo.

 

I guess heel Cena ain't happening then.

 

Seeing Rowdy Roddy Piper Sunday night brought back fond memories of what I think were the WWE ( WWF) golden years. Piper still one of the great all time ball busters of pro wrestling.

 

Why should it, other than "some fans don't like him so he should go heel because"? Cena is a merchandising cash cow, and nobody else comes close (except perhaps if they bring back DX yet again). If they turn him heel, they have to do so knowing the increase in TV/PPV/house show money would offset the dramatic drop in t-shirts and armbands sold. My suspicion is that it won't come close.

Plus you turn Cena heel, then who's your go-to face? HHH isn't that effective as a lead face and is may be out for a while still. Orton is miscast in his role and while he has fans, he's not the rallying point for the program. Undertaker is a special attraction. Mysterio is better suited as an underdog face, not the top guy. Daniel Bryan's reluctant superstar schtick is entertaining, particularly to the ROHbots, but nothing around which you'd build a franchise. None of the heels strike me as blockbuster faces in waiting, with the possible exception of Sheamus, but that's a long while down the road.

Turning Cena now makes absolutely no sense. It's too reminicient of the Goldberg and Sting heel turns at the end of WCW's run -- nobody buys it, nobody wants it, and the show is weakened for it.

 

Gonna have to disagree.

They had it set up perfectly--perfectly--with the whole Nexus angle. Make Cena do a bunch of heel moves but only because he's in the group. Ultimately, he turns because he wants to. Then he tears through the ranks as super heel who never loses and then you can elevate whomever you'd like to be the next big face because their beating a Super heel Cena who everyone hates would push them through the roof (Morrison? Kofi?).

Instead, they make a decision based on $$$ and, as anyone in this industry can attest, that weakens the shit out of your product.

 

What happened to this rebel Nexus group attacking all who stood in its way of controlling the Raw brand, not just John Cena? I want that Nexus back. Curious to see where this goes, but ultimately sure it will lead in more disappointment.

And agree on Barrett, does he become the new Orton? Reluctant babyface? How close is Skip Sheffield to returning? What about Tarver? We've only seen Young in bits and pieces since being booted out of Nexus. Oh no, I see NWO Wolfpac v5.3 coming on.

 

I think Punk as the Nexus leader works pretty well in isolation - Punk is an outsider by WWE terms, and the Nexus' agenda has been pretty unfocused outside of "beat up John Cena."

However, the timing seems all wrong. Cena has been feuding with Nexus for months now, and it seemed like it was finally over... only for Punk to be revealed as the new leader, which probably sets us up for at least a match at Rumble, and maybe a return match at the new PPV, at least.

Is Barrett hurt? I definitely don't think he becomes a reluctant babyface. Maybe they just split him off because he's clearly better than the rest of the group, who are pretty green except for Punk.

 

It would have made more sense for Barrett to have not re-hired Cena and the Nexus beat him down and send him off for a week or so. Throw him over to SmackDown and have him make an immediate impact in a stale world title picture.

Punk running Nexus? We'll see. But my god, how awful is the writing staff? Punk as an independent was great on the mic. He's just saying the words at this point because the words are crap.

I love Punk and love to see him in major feuds, but I hate that they will bury him under Cena in due time.

Elsewhere, I'm loving the new faces in the WWE title mix. Miz, Morrison, Sheamus ... who's going to step up next? I'm looking forward to 2011 if things keep moving in this direction. Screw Triple H, let's keep the roster the way it is and keep the moving the younger talent up. Now, if only they could do that with SmackDown.

 

Oh, they could. The problem is they keep raping Smackdown every draft and pluck all but maybe one or two of the top stars, giving Raw too many superstars to keep things moving smoothly and making it so that the SD world title picture is a joke for seven of the 12 months every year.

Watch, I'll predict it now. Smackdown will get CM Punk, Santino, Koslov, Nataylia, David Hart Smith, Tyson Kid and maybe that tan troll guy who used to be in Nexus. In exchange, they'll lose Edge, Alberto Del Rio, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, Swagger, CHristian, Drew McIntyre, Layla and Michelle McCool.

But it's cool though. They'll still have Mysterio for three good matches a year, Undertaker for six weeks and Kane for every other dumbass idea they can cook up.

 

It's too bad for SmackDown. With Swagger, McIntyre, Rhodes, Kingston and others, they could have some quality matches revolving around the world title. I'm not sold on Del Rio yet.