2011 Pro Wrestling Thread

Agreed. He's a big guy and can actually wrestle - it seems weird that they can't find more for him to do. I thought he was pretty over when he was doing the All-American schtick, but then they made him into more of a cowardly heel and he lost a lot of heat, and THEN they gave him the MitB and championship, which made no sense. To me, he's in the same sort of limbo as Sheamus - Both look like they could be players down the road, but for now, they're just biding time a bit.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Sad, too, if they don't, because that gives a great chance for people to show their stuff who would otherwise never get a whiff of WM, like Shelton Benjamin.

 

By the way, I'm going to go out on a limb and play fantasy booker with my (wet) dream for Wrestlemania - turn Cena heel and put the belt on Morrison.

- Continue to have Cena and The Rock feud up until Mania, maybe with The Miz laying both out at some point to establish that he's a legit thread.

- Keep Morrison on the backburner, protecting him and building him up. Have him doing his exciting moves and what not and put him over clean in matches with Sheamus, maybe a few faces who can work really well (Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston). If you're feeling really generous, maybe even a clean pin over a top guy like Triple H, Cena or Punk. (I'm a big fan of a non-DQ or non-interference win as a way to elevate a guy.) Keep him off the mic, kind of what they did with Jeff Hardy; he's awesome enough in the ring that he doesn't really have to speak that much.

- At Mania, Morrison wins MitB.

- At Mania, The Miz wins clean over Cena, with Rock as the special ref. Afterward, you have Cena lay out The Rock and Miz, turning heel in the process. (The way Raws have played out lately, I think it's going to be hard to keep Cena as a babyface in anything involving Rock.) As Cena leaves the ring and goes to the back, it looks like the show is going to end with the (new) heel on top...

- ... Until Morrison's music hits and he cashes in on The Miz in a short match. Face wins, fans go home happy.

The actual chance of this happening is in the negative, hypothetical percentages, of course. But if they did it, I think Morrison is the new HBK. Heck, you could even have them do a backstage vignette saying as much in the weeks leading up to Mania.

 

Not bad. I think the problem with giving Morrison the final push to the top is that he's not a good promo. He shows glimmers occasionally, but too often it's a tortured reach for what he's going for.

I think Cena can only turn heel if Rock is going to be around for a while. Otherwise, you're still stuck with a post-turn face roster of Morrison, Orton, R-Truth, maybe HHH and maybe Sin Cara, depending on what they do with him. All have major negatives that preclude them from being a Cena-level face (Orton really isn't a face, HHH isn't particularly likable, Morrison needs help on the mic, R-Truth isn't very good, Sin Cara is a total X factor). And none of the heels are in a good spot to turn (Miz isn't ready to make that move, Sheamus is completely compromised, Del Rio is way too early in his heel run). Jericho, if he comes back after DWTS, is a possibility.

Longshot, but one that could work well if executed properly, is Swagger. Have Cole beat Lawler with Swagger's help. Cole, cocky as ever, stars calling out JR. Cole eventually gets him in the ring for a dueling promo, Cole eventually stars slapping around JR and tells Swagger to jump in. Swagger instead attacks Cole and comes to the defense of a fellow Okie. JR then becomes Swagger's manager (at least in the early going) and Swagger starts building momentum as a face, following the Kurt Angle trajectory of going from goofball heel to intense heel back to goofball heel to principled face.

 

Sgreenwell,

I had a similar idea but for Christian to win MITB and cash it on on Del Rio that night.

I know it won't happen, but I can dream

 

Jericho is headed for "Dancing with the Stars."

 

Ring Posts also has the first of a five-part interview with him online now: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/

 

Sting this week. No, I'm serious.

 

Gee, a 50-something-year-old guy (I'm too lazy to look it up) as champion. That'll draw ratings and put butts in the seats.

At least when the WWE did it with Flair and Hogan in the 00s, they did it more as a feel-good thing in which you knew they weren't holding the belt for more than a few weeks, and thus, didn't have to take it so seriously.

 

TNA is run by some of the most egotistical, self-centered assholes in wrestling history.

Every time I hear anything about that company, it makes me sick, because some of my favorite current wrestlers (Angle, Styles, Kaz, Roode) are there.

Pitiful.

 

Anybody going to Wrestlemania? If so, PM me and hopefully we can meet up.

 

Flair never held the top belt in WWE in the 2000s.