2010 Pro Wrestling Thread

Flipping back and forth, both shows seemed pretty good, although I'm sure this won't be the last we'll see of Foley.

And the WWE once again did a 6-Diva tag match in which only two of them actually are in the ring and wrestle. Either somebody went too long (Bret?) or they just don't give a shit about them.

And I'm sick of the whole 'security guards block two guys from fighting' business. It's workable if you have a chickenshit heel like Vince, but Batista is just too big to need bodyguards.

 

But at the same time, he doesn't lose any of his heat.

 

There are other ways it can be done, such as Batista destroying someone until Cena comes out, then running away. A little more entertaining than one guy beating up 6 bodyguards, who keep holding him back.

Having the bodyguard thing is workable if it's done once in a while. But it's been done too often.

 

I think it's a little different with Batista, because he's selling it like he's a rock star more so than a scared heel that needs a layer of protection. Even though it's never explicitly said, it adds this too cool for the room vibe that Batista has nailed dead to rights in the last few months.

 

I will admit that Batista has done a heck of a job in being a heel. I had thought that the fans would have kept cheering him even though he was being a heel. Putting him with Mysterio first for his turn was a smart move.

 

Pretty good Q&As on Kane, DiBiase Sr. and Swagger to hype up WM 26.

Especially like Ted's story about Vince McMahon's creation of the Million Dollar Man gimmick.

http://tv.msn.com/wrestlemania-26-preview/photo-gallery/feature/

 

Using Mysterio for that was brilliant, and that's not a word associated often with the WWE these days.

 

You must not be watching a lot of WWE these days. They've been pretty much on point with their Wrestlemania build the last two months. Batista isn't a top heel because of Mysterio, because a lot of people were still cheering him during the turn and subsequent matches. It was his Edge-like beating a hurt Cena at Elimination Chamber and his insanely awesome mic work in the last month. The build for HBK-Taker II looked shaky when they had HBK go crazy, but now that he has his match, they've built to that perfectly. Edge and Jericho are perfect together and fans have accepted Edge. Even the Bret-Vince build, which looked like it was going over a cliff, has been resurrected nicely (using, of all things as a linchpin, Bret's "accident"). They're giving the former Bryan Danielson a chance to shine on NXT, which if nothing else is at least more tolerable than late-stage ECW was. Big Show and Miz have become every bit as entertaining as Big Show/Jericho, which nobody thought would be any good when Show took Edge's spot.

It's not perfect (jumbled MITB match, Orton/Legacy breakup), but it's not like a rose that grew in concrete or anything.

 

When I said "these days," I guess I meant over the past year. The last two months have been more hit than miss, I'll give them that.

Batista as a monster heel, I'll admit, has drawn me back in. The beatdown on Cena a few weeks ago was epic, and they've done a great job building his character leading up to this match. The only thing I have beef with during this whole Cena-Batista feud is the way Batista won the strap in the first place.

Edge-Jericho and Taker-HBK II has reeled me back in as well.

But for the first part of the year, I felt the programming was a little stale and had more a of been-there, done-that feel. That said, I can't remember the last time I was this amped for Mania.

 

To be fair, it feels like they had an idea with where they wanted to go Mania-wise since around Survivor Series but they didn't know how to drag things out to keep people interested.

Where I think they made their biggest mistake was in trying to build Kofi-Orton too soon. They should have followed through with the Legacy breakup they were teasing back at Breaking Point, had those guys duke it out at Survivor Series and then had Kofi-Orton build to a match at Mania.

Instead, they stopped the Legacy break awkwardly, tried to save face by giving them all a common opponent (Kofi) and weren't prepared for that to get white hot and then fizzle so fast.

That and the overall lack of respect given the WWE Divas are the only two gripes I have right now.

 

The Kofi-Orton feud was awesome, while it lasted. I don't know why that came to an abrupt end, and I really wish it hadn't because that was the hottest thing of the summer.

 

Happy birthday today to the Undertaker, who turns 45.