2013 Pro Wrestling Thread

Well, if all you're looking for is a place to crash for the night and you don't care about which hotel it is, you could try hotwire.com. I just did a search and there are a couple of hotels in the area for as low as $36 per night. The caveat is that you won't know which hotel you're staying at until you book but, honestly, if I were going to New Orleans for this event, I would just book a place to essentially sleep in.
It's what I did last year for Mania in Jersey and my wife, myself and a friend actually landed a place within 10 minutes of Metlife that wasn't bad.
If the hotel is the only thing preventing you from going, give hotwire a look. They've been very good to me and I've been using the service for at least eight years without ever getting burnt.

 

So I'm watching RAW and I had a thought that I'd like to share here.
When you think back on wrestling over the past 20 years or so, I'm sure you're like me and you think of a handful of moments that really altered the course of events. Maybe it's the Hulk-Andre slam, Savage-Steamboat, HBK-Hart in the Iron Man match, Austin passing out, Hogan turning heel, Taker-HBK, etc.
Anyway, let's say you were hired by the WWE right now and your only job was the build up something so memorable that it alters the way the company is currently running.
You have unlimited control of the rosters, of the storylines and can take your time and build it as fast or slow as you want to. Sure, the easy answer is turn Cena heel but would that really change things that much? The thing is, the change has to be something unexpected, something that stands the test of time and really has a lasting impact.
What do you do?
I'll weigh in with my thoughts after some others respond.

 

I would have had Bryan beating Cena for the belt at Summerslam, then manage to fight off Orton when he tried to cash it in. Would have been an incredible torch-passing moment to Bryan.

Orton and the Shield chase Bryan for the belt, who continues to win. Trips finally gets frustrated and decides that he's going to challenge Bryan for the belt at the Rumble. Trips and Co. nearly beat Bryan, until Cena comes down and saves the day. Trips gets so mad, he grabs the mic and announces that he will enter the Rumble as No. 30 and that Cena has forfeited his mandatory rematch from Summerslam. Then out comes .... Vince ... who tells Trips that he is tired of the incompetence and that if he doesn't win the Rumble ... he and Stef are fired.

So the Rumble comes and Punk, who started at No. 1 as punishment for being Bryan's ally, is beaten down, but has lasted until No. 29 comes down the aisle who is .... Cena. Cena beats down Punk even more, until Trips comes in at No. 30. Trips and Cena battle all over, as Punk is basically unconscious. Finally Cena AAs Trips, and he's about to throw him over the top when ... all of a sudden ..... gong.

Here comes the Undertaker down to the ring. Crowd goes nuts. Taker walks down and stares at Cena and Trips, who have bewildered looks on their faces. Taker then does the throat slash. Cena looks stunned, then Trips dumps Cena over the top onto Taker. Trips starts to celebrate, then gets caught by Punk with a GTS and is thrown out of the ring to win. Punk starts celebrating, then looks at a POed Taker, who shakes his head then turns and chokeslams Cena through the Spanish announce table.

The next night on Raw, Punk say he's challenging Bryan for the belt. Cena comes out and asks Taker why he did what he did. Taker tells him that instead of thinking about belts, he needs to think about his legacy, and challenges him. Meanwhile, Trips and Stef are dumped out of the arena.

So it sets up Punk vs. Bryan and Cena vs. Taker and we get rid of the McMahon-Helmsley Era, Version Deux.

 

Baron, I ... I love you.

 

Sorry, I'm not your type. Not that there's anything wrong with that .... ;D

Now that I think of it, since WM is the biggest event of the year, it would have been better had Bryan beaten Cena and Orton there instead of SS. Think of it this way, Bryan beats Cena. Fireworks go off, crowd's Yesssing themselves, then Trips KOs Bryan. Down comes Orton. Crowd shitting itself in New York/NJ. But Bryan somehow manages to fight back. Maybe Cena even lends a hand because of his sense of fair play, then Bryan wins, beating both of the top guys at the biggest event of the year.

The only thing is, I can't figure out how to keep Bryan busy all the way to the next WM to face Punk. Only think I can think of is a rematch with Cena, who gets the title matches by Bryan because he helped him earlier. Plus, Trips/Stef weren't in their power play mode at that time.

Also, now that I think of it ...

The Rumble could also set up Reigns' face turn. During Trips' mic rant, he can announce that Orton will come in at 29th and Rollins and Ambrose will be 27th and 28th. Vince tells Trips that since he already took 30, that Vince gets to choose 29th, but won't say who it is. Trips says, fine, Orton is 28th, Rollins and Ambrose are 26th and 27th, then turns to Reigns, and says that he's pissed off at him as well for not doing his job, so, what's best for business is Reigns will be getting in at No. 2 with Punk.

Reigns and Punk do gangbusters throughout the Rumble, until Reigns gets eliminated by his fellow Shield members, who they themselves get dumped out by Cena. This sets up Reigns at WM with Ambrose, with Rollins is his corner. I thought about a handicap match, but I thought that might bury Ambrose and Rollins.

 

Bad news: Bad News Barrett isn't even bad enough to make fun of. It's just plain bad.

I like how The E has decided to allow the fans to decide what the new champion will be called "The Unified Champion" and then immediately ditches the name on the next show and starts using "Champion of Champions" as a moniker. I'm tellin' ya, it's just going to be the "WWE Champion" end of story. Anyway, enjoy these last few days of seeing Goldie. No way The E spends $50,000 (supposedly) to create that nice, new belt only to retire it after 11 months.

 

That was something I couldn't understand last night.

They've gone from calling it the unified champion to the champion of champions? What the fuck is this shit?

 

I got the impression that champion of champions was more of a euphemism to describe the winner and what he represented. My fear: they call it the WWE Universe Championship.

 

We've already had a "champion of champions" match in 2006, and it lead to some awkward and funny promos between the three world champs (back when The E recognized the ECW title as a world championship) arguing over who had the better movie: WWE Champion John Cena in "The Marine," Big Show in "The Waterboy," and King Booker in "Ready to Rumble."

 

That was fantastic. Also, I kind of miss Captain Insano.

 

The Authoritah ought to make Show dress up in the Insano costume for a match on Raw. I'd watch.

 

So what do you WWE hacks think about the sinking ratings? I haven't watched but maybe 20 minutes of this crap in a year. I don't know of a time in its history that the storylines have been worse.