2013 Pro Wrestling Thread

I keep hearing Punk vs. Taker at WM. I hope that's the case since I'll be there.

 

So psyched for the Royal Rumble. Ever since I was a kid, this is always the one that caught my imagination.

 

I keep hoping against hope that this is one of those times where the plan is so obvious and everyone is predicting it, so they go for a swerve just because they don't want to be that obvious. But yeah, it feels like that scenario has been set in stone for a year now.

Another fun option to get to the same boring result would be to pull the trigger on Chekhov's Shield Gun and actually have them interfere, strip Punk of the title, and let the Rock win the vacant title at Elimination Chamber.

Side predictions:

Miz wins the U.S. title in the pre-show. Good lord, they need to figure out what they want to do with him. You can't keep holding him in reserve for a push but have him lose week after week after week.

Del Rio retains (not a hard pick, obviously. They didn't turn him face and give him the belt just to drop it to The Big Holding Pattern a week later).

The tag team title match has me really intrigued. On a night of really obvious picks, wouldn't this be a great place for a swerve? Team Hell No has to blow up eventually, it's the law of all tag teams. Wrestlemania would seem like the obvious place to do it, but why not surprise people by popping that particular piece of bubble wrap early? Rhodes Scholars work very well together as a heel tag team and could keep the interest in the division going for quite awhile on their own.

OK, for the Rumble itself:

Obviously, Cena wins is the obvious pick. So obvious it hurts, and I'm one of the most pro-Cena adult fans you'll find.

The Shield either get a run with all three of them in the ring (eliminating Ryback along the way) or even better, they aren't in the match but they still interfere, taking out at least Ryback and maybe more.

Ziggler gets a good, long run from No. 1/2 all the way to the Final Four before being eliminated.

Brad Maddox gets in and gets a squash elimination at the hands of someone monstrous.

Miz's title win earlier gets undercut by a quick elimination. Because he's never, ever allowed to build any momentum.

 

A Punk/Rock WWE title match is big enough to main event 'Mania. If you're going to put the title on a guy who doesn't need the push, like Cena, at least make it special. Rock winning the title after all these years would be a big draw. Why waste it on the Rumble?

 

I'm assuming it's because the Rock probably only wants to work between the Rumble and Mania and putting the title on him at Mania would mean he has to work beyond then.

 

Punk's going to lose to Rock, who loses to Ziggler who cashes in MITB. Sunday.

 

As always, if anybody has an interest in a spreadsheet of all Royal Rumble statistics updated through 2012 (average start and elimination positions, actual total eliminations, total time in the ring, et cetera), I would be happy to send it out. Just send me a DM. If I could post an Excel spreadsheet on the board, I would.

 

Isn't Ziggy's briefcase for the World title?

 

Yeah, one of those rules that conveniently keep changing. It used to be, especially when there was just one briefcase, the holder could cash it in against either guy.

 

Punk beats Rock when Maddox or Lesnar interferes. If it's Lesnar, look for Lesnar v Rock Wrestlemania.
If it's Maddox, Rock enters himself in Royal Rumble and wins, this gives him legitimate reason to wrestle for the title at Wrestlemania.
Shield throws Cena out of the Royal Rumble via interference.
Team Hell No loses belts.

 

You can always go to doc2pdf.com and convert it to a PDF, then post that here.

 

This strikes me as the most realistic scenario that I could see occurring that I would also like to see occur. However, like others, I still think the heavy favorite for outcome is Rock beating Punk for the title, and then we have Cena vs. Rock II for Mania. I imagine they get around the "Punk doesn't get a rematch with Rock" thing by having Cena beat him on a Raw between now and Mania.