2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

Wow. Just, wow. Like Baron said, Slick wasn't the biggest name or most entertaining character during the golden age of managers but he was big enough that it blows my mind you watched in the late 80s and early 90s and don't remember him at all. That was right during his time period.

 

Surely, even WWE isn't THAT stupid.
Are they?

 

It kind of seems like Miz is trending more toward tweener and eventually face right now. I could be wrong but that's my read on it. I think Ziggler is in that same category. But I'd add Sheamus and a returning Randy Orton as big name faces.

 

There are some guys I don't want to see as faces. Orton was one, and they blew that. And the Miz is another. He plays the smarmy heel so well, why mess with it? Tweener is fine, but not full-blown face.

 

A soon-to-return Wade Barrett will add depth to the heel roster. I think they'll eventually swing Orton in that direction once he returns.

Last night was a B+, with much of that coming in the final 10 minutes. Loved the guy who yelled 'TNA' midway during the Punk/Cena match. Can't say I'm thrilled about the prospects of AJ as GM; there has to be a shadow person behind her. Heyman is still genius. Stephanie McMahon = yummy goodness. For once, the E gave us something unpredictable. Now comes the hard part: three solid hours on a consistent basis. My bet is that they'll go back to two hours within a year unless they dial up the intensity.

If I'm Jack Swagger, ROH or TNA looks better by the day....

 

Unfortunately, if last night was any indication, WWE plans on filling that hour with more gratuitous self-promotion and Touts.

I think A.J. will be fine as General Manager. She's done a fantastic job in every role she's had so far. Why not manipulate all the men and women the way she successfully messed with Kane, Punk and Daniel Bryan?

 

If they hadn't put Slick's name up I never would have known who it was and I was definitely following wrestling then. (I remember watching him runaway from Matilda the bulldog and falling and breaking his arm). He looks like he is on the Kamala diet.

I laughed like hell at Mae Young's grown-up hand, no way in hell was I going to try to explain that to a puzzled Huggy Jr.

 

I got to attend last night's show. On the company dime, no less.

I don't have cable anymore and haven't followed wrestling in about 3 years, but I still knew enough of what was going on to have a great time. The WWE puts on a show like no other.

My favorite part was Kane and Undertaker kicking arse. It was like being 12 again. And I feel like I got a treat getting to see a lot of people live who aren't usually on the program anymore.

As for no Stone Cold - they played a video in the arena that was mostly highlights of the Attitude era, which of course are basically all Stone Cold, and when that played, I looked at my buddy and was like "Well, that means we're not getting him live tonight."

 

Right, but the discussion was that the E is now short on faces. If Miz and Ziggler stay as heels and Orton and Barrett are heels, there are very few true faces save for Cena and Sheamus.

Maybe now is the time to pump a guy like Ryback if they want or even Brodus Clay. I guess they still have Mysterio and Jericho has been trending that way but he's not going to be around much longer it seems.

 

That's the other thing. Last night's 3 hour show was very good. But that was by throwing almost everything but the kitchen sink on it. How are they going to sustain that week by week?

What they're going to need to do, heaven forbid, is actually have some ... wrestling. A 15-20 minute match each week that takes up a couple of segments. Even if it's between two midcard guys. I sure as hell don't want to be watching constant screams about Twitter and social media.

 

The best-case scenario is that a three-hour show forces them to actually develop a midcard, with developed storylines deeper down the roster. One can hope.

 

Didn't Trips mention recently that they were going with more developed storylines?

They'll probably get a pop in the ratings for last night, which will buffer them if the next couple of weeks are slagtastic. As for Lawler, last night showed that it's time to dethrone him off the announcer's booth. I'd gladly take some combination of Cole, Mathews and Regal; hell, if there's a chance for a Road Dogg or X-Pac/Syxx to grab the mike, I'd be more open to that instead of Lawler's declining act.