2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

Having Barrett hurt and Miz in the doghouse set off a pretty nasty chain reaction. Take that out of the equation, there's a good chance we have a Money in the Bank match and it results in one guy getting over and at least one other guy looking really good in the process. The tag match offers less opportunity for breakout performance, especially with some of the questionable names involved (Otunga is growing on me as a character and it's hard to deny Santino a push based on his following, but it's hard to buy them in the same match with Mark Henry and Dolph Ziggler. And don't get me started on Ezekiel Jobber).

I'm not super holy shit excited about WM28, but I'll still watch. Taker-HHH in a Cell has the potential to be very good, though I'm concerned having HBK as the ref is too many HOFers in the kitchen. Despite Rock's (deliberate?) missteps on the mike, you know that match will come off as epic as any WM match since Rock-Hogan. Sheamus and Daniel Bryan will work hard and have a good match, and Sheamus is about ready to be the No. 3 face in WWE, close to Punk for second. Speaking of Punk, his match with Jericho will be technically sound and probably the best one on the card, even if I think the drug/alcohol angle is a desperate attempt to put flames under what's been kind of a disappointing runup for this program and Jericho in general. The show falls off a cliff after the four main events, but those four matches are top-to-bottom one of the better uppercards in WWE history.

The problem, as you point out, is only three of those guys are definitely going to be around in three months. On the other hand, you'll have a returning Wade Barrett, Rey Mysterio, Evan Bourne (maybe), Sin Cara (maybe) and a healthy Christian. That'll potential help the Summerslam build.

 

GREAT opening promo by Punk, even though Jericho and the whole direction the feud has taken feels really forced.

Cody beating up Show with the boxing glove looked goofy as **** but they did their best to make it serious.

Liked Bryan beating Ryder clean with a sick finish, wish they'd do more to build his WM match though.

Laurinitis doing the Trumbone was greatness.

Rock promo was the best he's done in a while. Cena vs Henry was great for the time it went, and even though Henry lost he wasn't buried. Liked Rock sending a message even though I wish it had been on someone else.

Orton promo was bad.

Shawn's smile was great.

 

All-time Wrestlemania buy rates.

http://www.thewrestlingcafe.com/wrestlemania-buyrates-history.php

Pretty interesting stuff. Main event was Cena and HBK for the WWE title and also Undertaker vs Batista for the World title. The big attraction match was Trump and McMahon and the Lashley vs Umaga match.

 

I always thought it was really bizarre that that was the most "popular" Wrestlemania of all-time; I have to think there is something spiking the numbers oddly. Trump's show was pretty big at the time, I think, but it wasn't like it was the Super Bowl or drawing Seinfeld numbers.

 

The difference in buyrates for XIX and XX are also pretty surprising to me. I think XIX is singlehandedly the most underrated 'Mania of all time (for in-ring product, I think an argument can be made that it is THE best WM). XX had HBK/HHH/Benoit main event. I don't really see that as a huge draw. WM 21 also didn't have any absolutely huge names on the card that should have made it sell that much more than XIX.

 

If I remember right, most of the XIX marketing surrounded Hogan vs. McMahon, which was not going to be a good match no matter how many MacGyver tricks you pull out.

Austin-Rock III was the end of an era, though nobody knew it at the time. But it was when Austin was having massive butthurt episodes in the back and Rock was getting ready to put wrestling in his rearview mirror, so it wasn't nearly the anticipated match of the previous encounters.

Triple H-Booker T was just a brutal program; Triple H being a racist asshole on camera and in the middle of his "bury everyone and ID them later" run off camera, while Booker never looked the part of a serious contender.

Angle-Lesnar sounds awesome in retrospect and wasn't a bad match, but Lesnar was still really green, having debuted a year prior and only a few months removed from a face turn.

The undercard was no great shakes. Undertaker vs. Big Show+A-Train was ... huh? Plus they hadn't started marketing the Streak yet. Plus also Undertaker was still working that biker gimmick that was past its sell-by date. And the abhorrently awful Nathan Jones was supposed to be Taker's partner but was so shit they pulled him. HBK-Chris Jericho was a fine match but they were kind of thrown together, sort of like this year's Randy Orton-Kane match. None of the other matches were consequential.

It still doesn't explain why the numbers were so aberrantly low. Probably a lot of little factors. It was the first dual-brand WM, so maybe the marketing was a little more fractured. Who knows?

 

Looking at those numbers, it's stunning how the rates tripled between WM 13 and 14. Talk about what a difference a year makes.

I was also surprised that WM9 had an increase over WM8. Who knew that togas, Giant Gonzalez and the return of Brutus Beefcake would be such a draw.

 

It's a good week for fat ex-wrestlers. King Kong Bundy gets name-dropped on Raw, and today it was announced that Yokozuna is the next member of the 2012 HOF class.

 

Years ago I was covering a hockey game in Owen Sound, Ontario (home of our own Double J) and when I walked in the media room I was amazed to see Bundy sitting by himself at a table. Apparently he was in town promoting a card he was appearing on that was happening at the same venue a day or two later.

So I sit down, introduce myself and we talk a little hockey (apparently he is/was a big Flyers fan). I asked him about a match he had with Hogan I had seen on TV (I think it was a Saturday Night's Main Event).

I said, "You had him beat, one-two-three! Then you went for the five count and he kicked out! Why? You were the champ! Was it an ego thing?"

He starts to laugh - and even that was amusing since he is a very round person.

"It must drive you nuts to think how close you were to the title and ending Hulkamania for good!"

"Yeah," he said, still laughing, "I think about it all the time."

 

I can never see King Kong Bundy the same way after he wrestled on an Insane Clown Posse wrestling PPV. One of the ICP on commentary said Bundy looked like a massive penis that broke through a black condom.

 

The five-count thing was a strong gimmick.

rb

 

I would have been tempted to ask him, "Did you ever think, just once, of 'forgetting' to do the five-count and just get up?"