2010 Pro Wrestling Thread

I think the Internet sheets hypothesized that either Orton or McMahon got really pissed when Kofi botched a move. I'm not sure if this affected the booking or not, but I don't think the WWE did enough with Kofi in the feud. He seemed to get beat down by Orton and Legacy a bit too much, and he was always a third wheel in that storyline, since he wasn't going to team up with Orton or Legacy when that whole thing did dissolve.

That's why I pushed the idea that they should have done a face vs. face title match, him vs. Cena, even if he wasn't completely ready. I think that ultimately would have gone over a lot better than the three-month reign (or whatever it was) of Sheamus, who will probably vanish quickly from the title picture once HHH beats him at Mania, a la Khali and Umaga and Snitsky and all the other monster heels the WWE built up way too fast.

All that being said... Batista's promo on Monday's Raw was by far the best moment he has ever had on the mic in a WWE ring. My eyes were glued to the set the entire time, which is normally something that only happens with me and Jericho.

 

Yeah, there was a match involving Kofi and Orton a few months ago where Kofi was supposed to be punted, but he forgot and kept standing up. Orton finally screamed at him "STAY DOWN!", but Kofi didn't take the hint. Orton finally just RKO'd him and screamed "STUPID! ... STUPID STUPID STUPID!" at him after he got the pin. Kofi hasn't done a whole lot since.

As in-ring tantrums go, Orton's was right up there with mid-90s Shawn Michaels.

 

Fucking up with Orton is a pretty good way to get yourself in the doghouse. That's why Mr. Anderson is in TNA instead of Mr. Kennedy being at Wrestlemania (not that his penchant for getting hurt and shooting off his mouth wouldn't have sent him packing eventually, but the in-ring sloppiness with Orton during the 10-man Nuggets-Lakers match was the tippling point)

 

One of the best interviews of a WWE star I've ever read. Solid questions and great insight from Chris Jericho. Where was it? On ESPN.com and it was a video-game reporter. A must read.

http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames/news/story?id=5021566

 

That was tremendous.

I seriously hope he never stops the "Ask him!" bit. It slays me every time.

 

OK, I have not been on here since the thread started. Just saw something from way back when about Shane McMahon. Is he seriously out at WWE? Not only was he one of their best personalities, but his matches with Kurt Angle were epic.

 

Left on Jan. 1. He's been mulling new opportunities. There was even talk of him getting involved with MMA, but so far nothing.

 

There are links to other interviews as well on there. I never knew ESPN had all those interviews. My favorite one was Ted DiBiase's story of how he took his dad's Million Dollar Belt to school one time for Show & Tell.

 

As I won't have much time to post my Mania thoughts here tomorrow (Or, today, I guess), I'll do them now.

10-Diva Tag Team Match: Guess this was just announced. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the dark match before the show starts. Either way, I'll take Beth Phoenix's tag team, even though I couldn't care less about this bout.

CM Punk vs. Mysterio: Since they dropped the Mask vs. Hair idea, I'll take Punk in this via an assist from the SES. I just think Mysterio in the SES makes for a more compelling angle post-Mania than Punk losing here. That and it furthers one of the only legit stables left in the WWE.

Orton vs. Dibiase vs. Rhodes: I'll take Orton here solely because I think he's due for a Mania win and I could see them moving Dibiase vs. Rhodes into a legit feud post-Mania. I'd expect Orton to be back in the title picture by mid-May.

Triple H vs. Sheamus: Kind of liking the upset here. I think Hunter jobs for two reasons. First, it establishes Sheamus as a legit up-and-comer, something he has yet to do, even with the title run. Second, it paves the way for a decent feud between the two, something I could see going deep into the run up to SummerSlam.

ShowMiz vs. R-Truth/Morrison: No way Showmiz loses here. Morrison/Truth are far from a legit tag team. I could see this match being booked either fairly early (I.E. right after MITB) or in between title bouts. This is one match I don't mind skipping,even though I am a huge Miz mark and am glad he's getting a chance to shine.

Money in the Bank: As much as I'm pulling for Shelton Benjamin to win, like I do every year, I'm no idiot. I know why he's in this match. He, like Bourne, are in this match to do a couple of crazy spots that will be replayed for years. That's why my heart tells me McIntyre wins. They've been pushing him like crazy, though I don't know why. Also, I feel like this could be the year the MITB winner cashes it in and loses, something that would be great if McIntyre wins. Still, I'm going to say Christian wins because, well, I'll explain later ...

Chris Jericho vs. Edge: And by later, I mean here. My thoughts on this match are pretty simple, yet effective. I'm getting a very WMIX feel from this match. I can see Jericho beating Edge and then, after the match, working on that injured ACL of his. Christian, who won MITB earlier in the night, runs out to defend his brother and cashes the briefcase in. Christian wins the title, setting up a nice three-way feud post-Mania.

Cena vs. Batista: God, I wish Batista wins this. It won't happen though. Like Hogan, Cena is only going to lose at Mania when it helps his character. He'll get the nod here in a snooze-fest. My only hope is that Batista's newfound coolness doesn't die after this bout. I'm not hopeful.

Hart vs. McMahon: Is there any question? Love him or hate him, McMahon does a great job of getting his ass kicked at Mania. (Anyone remember the bout vs. Michaels a couple years ago?) Look for the sharpshooter, a couple of signature moments but nothing really worth writing home about. This feud really lost some of it's luster and I'm skeptical about it getting it back.

Michaels vs. Taker: I've been tossing and turning about this one all week. On the one hand, Taker's streak is cool and something I'd love to see him go into the Hall with. On the other, I look forward to Michaels stepping up at Mania every year and am not ready to see him go away quite yet. I get the feeling this is Michaels' last match though. My bet? He wins it, it's a classic and he announces his retirement immediately following the bout. Then, next year, Taker can chase him around and force him to come back for one last match, a winner-takes-all bout and Taker then joins him in retirement, the two going out like the legends they are.

Other predictions: 1.) Kevin Rudolf will show up. No one will know who he is. 2.) Apart from the SES interferring, every match at Mania ends clean. 3.) Benjamin misses the last 10 minutes of MITB because he did something ridiculous. 4.) Santina makes another appearance.

 

My thoughts:

Divas: Who cares, really? They'll probably spend 5 minutes just on intros, then have a 2-minute match with just two women. My pick: I'll say the heel group, since there's two champions on their team.

MITB: I was torn between Kofi and McIntyre, because they're really the only two guys who have gotten any real push in the last 6 months. Christian and Swagger have been pretty ignored as of late. Shelton and Bourne are there for the big spots. Hardy is just there to guide things along and Kane sure as heck isn't going to win. My pick: McIntyre, since Kofi seems to be in the doghouse after botching his match with Orton.

Punk vs. Mysterio: A Mysterio win pretty much ends the thing, unless there's an attack after the bell. Having Mysterio lose would make things very interesting, with Mysterio refusing to do things for the Society and a build up to Summerslam. My pick: Punk

Jericho/Edge: With all the buildup over Edge's spear, it's hard to see this match ending by any other way. My pick: Edge

Triple H/Sheamus: They don't want to bury Sheamus yet and he's Trips' boy, so Hunter does the job for his buddy. My pick: Sheamus.

Show Miz/Morrison, R-Truth: This should be quick. My pick: ShowMiz

Vince/Bret: I'm a little intrigued by Vince's remark of 'You're screwed' on the last Raw. Unless it was just a little-trash talking, I'm wondering if Vince is going to have something up his sleeve (maybe one of the other Harts gets involved?) Still, it's hard to see this ending in any other way other than Vince tapping out in the Sharpshooter. My pick: Bret

Orton/Rhodes/DiBiase: Orton wins this, in anticlimatic fashion. WWE really blew a chance to push DiBiase against Orton. My pick: Orton

Michaels/Taker: A small part of me thinks it's too bad that Flair is in TNA. He could interfere in trying to end Michaels' career as revenge. But this doesn't need any interference. Michaels is about done, sad to say. This decade was a real bonus for us fans, since Shawn should really have been finished in 1998. My pick: Undertaker, setting up Cena for next year.

 

Seeing these picks makes me think - Any interest in doing a "pick em" game for the next year of WWE PPV programming? They do it at another board I'm on, and it's pretty popular, and I think it would be easier to manage over here, since there are only about 10 people who regularly post in this thread, as opposed to an entire message board of wrestling fans. Typically, you get points for picking the winner of a match, along with how (pinfall, submission, DQ) they manage to win.

 

A random thought on MITB. Since it's such a weak field, there are some solid feuds for the big belts right now, and there's some sort of MITB pay per view on the summer schedule, is this the year they use it on a minor belt?
Depending on the finish, you could have someone unexpected winning (Bourne would be perfect for this) cashing in immediately on a down-and-out McIntyre to take the Intercontinental title. On the last Smackdown, they did kind of toy with the idea of everyone in the match hating McIntyre. A few people could hit their finishers on McIntyre, Bourne tells them to ring the bell and hits the shooting star press for the 1-2-3.
Maybe it's wasting the MITB match, but it would be an interesting spin on it -- and play up the idea of ANY title at any time.