2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

Watching the Punk-McMahon match, I also wondered, why do they have kendo sticks under the ring?
I can see things like chairs, sledgehammers and tables. Those are all things you'd need to either set up the ring or to have handy at ringside. It makes some sense to store them under the ring for easy access.
But kendo sticks? I can accept them being used as weapons in a match, if they're already there. But there's no logical reason for them to be randomly stored under the ring most nights.

 

This video shows him swiping at someone in the crowd.

 

That guy just got an all-expenses paid trip to Wrestlemania, and tickets to every Sacaramento WWE show for life.

Some other fan touched Punk, then Punk turned around, hit this other fan who was just putting his glasses on, and then hit him again.

What I can't figure out is where security was. Usually they have a bunch of guards surrounding the wrestler when they're in the crowd. The guards didn't show up until after Punk hit the fan.

Otherwise, from what I saw of the show from flipping around MNF and Yankees/Orioles, it seemed pretty good. The Vince/Punk scene told a very good story, although, like I said, it should have been told last year. Heck, it should have been the precursor to the Trips storyline, instead of that convoluted thing with Nash and Laurinaitis.

The problem with the ratings is that the show, although it's been better on the wrestling front, just hasn't been must-see TV. The Vince/Punk "match" (although it ended up not actually being an official one), should have been built up from the previous week's Raw. Instead, we find it out from earlier in the night.

The three hour show also hasn't done them many favors. It's just too long, except as a special episode. While I applaud them for emphasizing tag teams for the first time in a decade, the midcard and undercard still seem interchanagable.

Ryback's push is intriguing, but we've all seen it before with Goldberg, who took nearly a year before he faced Hogan, and was built up by facing main event guys. Ryback, if I'm remembering right, has only faced Miz. He hasn't had that long a buildup.

 

I don't see how putting the title back on SuperCena is the answer to The E's problems. After all, championship belt prop or not, the fucking guy has still been in the main event consistently. How is giving him the belt going to change anything? Won't change the storylines one bit, as The E has made it perfectly clear that the belt is a prop and SuperCena is the main event no matter what.

Hey, it's been a good, 10-year run at the top. But SuperCena is stale, and unless VKM wants a kid's show with little adult viewership, things have got to change at the foundation. The E's problems go way beyond whether SuperCena has a 35-pound prop around his waist. VKM has got to start building main-event stories around other guys. Guys like Punk and Miz are given the ball, but told they can't cross the goal line. SuperCena is still the main event, whether you have a damn belt or not. It's time to move on past John Cena.

Again, it's too many titles, too many shows. Even if I got Ion, I don't have another hour for The E during the week. Shit, I'm unemployed, and I don't have an extra hour to give.

... on a tangent, The E cannot control some of these issues with viewership. After all, had we possessed DVRs back in 1998, how much of a three-hour Nitro would we watch later, only to skip through probably 90 minutes? I certainly didn't enjoy sitting through filler matches like Glacier vs. Wrath.

 

How dare you insult Glacier!

Just kidding, he wasn't that good.

As an aside, WWE.com has their "Where are they now?" feature. Glacier was profiled a while back. Pretty interesting.

 

Mrs. Rockbottom asked me last night who this really muscled dude is in the ring chasing CM Punk ... I said "A dude going Goldberg 12 years later."

She immediately understood Jim Cornette's Law: The statute of limitations on gimmicks is seven years.

rb

 

haven't seen any part ofthe show yet but damn, wtf was Punk thinking there?

That guy has a legit lawsuit, unless something happened before the cameras went on him or Punk thought he was in some kind of danger (which looks like total bullshit).

 

I went to bed before the Punk/McMahon whatever happened. I have no interest in seeing old guys go out there and take a "beating," and I have no interest in McMahon managing to insert himself into the spotlight yet again.

 

haven't seen it yet, but any chance those people were plants? Punk likes to push the envelope as far as storylines go. This strikes me as going back to the "was it real or not?" stuff.

 

Thing is, plants are usually at ringside, not that far into the crowd.

At least from what I remember. It's possible as always.

 

I'd say I'm 60/40 leaning toward plant. It looks very real, but betting fake is always the safe money.

 

Oh of course, it is the E after all.