2012 Pro Wrestling Thread

This is going to be a really strange Pay Per View.

I'm confident some of the stuff will live up to my expectations: Bryan-Sheamus, Undertaker-Triple H, Jericho-Punk.

The rest? Could be bad.

 

Interesting pull by Cena, that he's been active longer than Rock. I also liked the line about Rock leaving when it wasn't cool to be a wrestler anymore. I've enjoyed a year-long build, but it's definitely something they could only pull off if one guy isn't full-time.

That said, I hope it doesn't become a trend. I also hope there's not a trend of two guys facing off for years and years, like Undertaker facing HBK twice and now Triple H twice. It's nice for these characters, but that's about it. Of course, the E will probably beat this idea to death.

One kind of match I'd love to see again is an Iron Man match, but I doubt there are two guys who can go 60 minutes and tell a story.

 

Most of the guys who could go 60 minutes and make it interesting probably wouldn't be given the time by the WWE - Cena, Bryan, Punk, Jericho, etc. Maybe Orton or Barrett or Miz, if you build in some rest times and what not. They could also do a triple threat iron man match; have they ever done that before?

 

Also, it's nice to see Otunga being basically marketed as The Narcissist Version 0.5. It's hard to have less charisma than Lex Luger, but somehow he pulls it off.

 

I do like his entrance music.

 

I've always kind of hoped when the day comes that Punk-Bryan get in a feud that the payoff would be an Iron Man Match.

 

I don't have much to add on this because most of the build has just been repetitive.

But I am really growing to like Cody Rhodes. He has star written all over him. I really hope they don't let Show squash him. Don't care if he wins by nefarious means, just hope they keep building him. In my mind, he should be next in line to challenge for one of the big titles.

 

I can't say for sure, but I heavily suspect that if Money in the Bank had gone off as planned, Rhodes would have won the briefcase, possibly cashing in against Randy Orton (who would have won the Rumble and beating Daniel Bryan at WM). Now that he's gotten away from Anonymous Lackey Cody Rhodes, Dashing Cody Rhodes and GROTESQUE DISFIGURED Cody Rhodes, we'll see him make a run for a major title by the end of the year. He might be better positioned than Dolph Ziggler, who patterns himself to a degree after Mr. Perfect and appears to be aping his close-but-no-cigar performances, as well.

Wrestlemania isn't all that super sexy this year, with two matches involving three part-time/retired guys slowly boiling for a year. But the final result should be more satisfying than it appears on paper.

It's easy to say that Undertaker-Triple H isn't a sexy matchup, but that's what we were saying last year and they produced the second-best match in WWE that year. Nobody's getting thrown off the top of the Cell, but they're smart enough to use the structure to mask their physical shortcomings.

Rock-Cena, same deal. They know how to use moving parts to produce a better match than would be expected, given that Rock hasn't been a regular competitor in eight years. Rock had a similar match with Hogan at WM, and what it lacked in technical execution it more than made up for in epicness and drama. This will be a better worked version of that.

The two title matches will be ***1/2 at minimum, with three of the best workers in the world and a serviceable, improving big man in the mix. The 12-man will at least move the angle along (aside: I would have gone the nWo formation route for this match, having the sixth man on Team Johnny be a question mark until the match itself, then have Lord Tensai make his debut at the end to get the win). Rhodes-Big Show will be perversely entertaining. Orton-Kane will be fair to middling. At least there's no Cole-Lawler.

 

Can't wait for Wrestlemania to be over so Monday Night Raw can get back to actual wrestling instead of posturing.

 

And he's got the jacket/cape thing going better than Wade Barrett did/does.

rb

 

From The Rock's promo last night... Anyone get the feeling that they might build toward Rock vs. Taker for next Wrestlemania? Rock specifically mentioned that at Mania, he had beaten Hogan, Stone Cold and someone else (HBK, maybe; can't remember). If he beats Cena this year, you could gear him toward Taker the following year, and both guys are of such stature that it wouldn't be a big deal that both wouldn't be on TV regularly to hype the match.

 

Rock-Undertaker would be 18 thousand bajillion times better than yet another repackaging of Paul and his buddies.