2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Doubt they'll go that route.

 

I can't wait to see Rose debut, but they really need to get the rights to his original theme.

 

Using the tag line "Believe in Evolution" will certainly get you booed in Alabama, even if you don't beat up the babyfaces.

 

I thought that was a pretty weak Raw, especially the ending.

 

It had its moments. Wyatt and Heyman were great, as usual. It's weird seeing Cesaro with no music. Ending, I thought, was OK. Not awesome, but decent.

 

Ugh, so I finally get to see a live Raw after 21 years of viewing ... and it's a lame show. After the Superstars matches were taped, Justin Roberts announced prior to Raw going live that Daniel Bryan was not in attendance because of the honeymoon. It killed the mood of the crowd for the rest of the night. (And I spent two fucking hours making a Yes sign I didn't even get to use.) I haven't had a chance to catch the show on my parents' DVR, but I'd say the crowd just wasn't into much. No decent chants, nothing sustained, we were just meh.

I'd say the biggest pops were for The Shield, The Wyatts (kayfabe, most of us Southerners are related you know), and Cena. RVD should have gotten a better pop, but the poor guy came out after the Bryan announcement, when everybody was a little pissed. And what did we really have to cheer for besides that? As for heat? Heyman and Evolution. I think more people might have popped for Evolution just for the old theme. It's not like we didn't see this coming. Kind of a lackluster show.

For one thing, having a single world champion and a poorly booked IC champion exposes how shallow the depth of the show is. When the world champ takes a night off, it leaves a Grand Canyon of a hole in the program. And where was the IC champ himself? Big E taped a match with Del Rio for Superstars and wasn't seen again for the rest of the night. We got a graphic of the tournament on the tron, but no explanation of what was going on. I'm guessing the announcers put it over better, but the live crowd was left in the dark. How were we to know if this is a big deal?

I think I was four or five rows too high to be on TV. I dunno. The only other signs I got finished in time was a Fear The Shield and one with my wife's name.

A few odd notes just from being there live:

- The Warrior tribute didn't seem like much other than the 10-bell salute at the beginning and the few clips we saw. The paper Warrior masks were handed out to everyone at the gate and during Superstars tapings.

- We were also giving those 8x10 YES! papers to folks across from the hard camera. I asked the event staff had he not just heard the announcement that Bryan wasn't showing. No answer.

- The five people to my left were seat fillers for the hard camera. They had seats higher up and were upgraded for free. Pisses me off that I paid more for the same seats. Fuckers. The dumbass immediately next to me talked to his buddy the entire show, not remotely paying attention to anything going on.

- Hillbilly lady behind me was complaining she couldn't find the WWE Network channel on cable. I shit you not. I had to explain it to her.

- One of those trying-to-be-obnoxious-to-get-himself-over smarks kept trying to start Cena Sucks chants during every segment. It just got old after the second attempt, and this is coming from a guy who does the latter half of the Cena arena chant.

- Another reason why the B-ham crowd couldn't get a decent chant going: the acoustics at the BJCC are weird. You can't hear other people, and if we could then we couldn't quite get in sync.

- I didn't realize how much hurry-up-and-wait was involved with Raw. Seemed like a ton of commercial breaks with not a lot to do during those times. Instead of seeing matches, most of our breaks were during entrances. Half the time, I think we saw the same commercials you guys did.

I'll give some more thoughts after I catch the broadcast. I went with my dad, and we had fun for the most part. (I DID find the Exotic Express, after all!) But it seemed like the momentum from WrestleMania is already gone. Hopefully it's just a weird one-off week.

 

Count me as not a fan of the ending. I guess they had to get in some heel aggression before Extreme Rules, but it just reminded me of when I would watch Monday Nitro in the mid-90s and see an NWO beatdown close the show for the 10th straight week.

 

I know it's fairly obvious, but it would have been a good touch for a brief explanation on why the heels all agreed to do Trips' bidding. Even Trips grabbing the mc after the first beatdown, and saying to everyone, "good job, you'll all get bonuses in your next paycheck," provides a little context.

Sometimes, it's the little things.

 

RAW was indeed meh.

Didn't have a problem with the ending because I knew they were going to do it anyway.

Paige had a much better showing of herself. The modified Scorpion Crosslock is fun to watch.

Pretty good matches involving RVD/Del Rio and Barrett/Ziggler

Be interesting to see who they put over next week in RVD/Cesaro (Swagger interferes and thusly Cesaro interferes) giving us Swagger/Cesaro at Extreme Rules (Zeb's mustache on a pole match!)

 

In case anyone was wondering where Rusev's spokeswoman Lana came from:

http://bustedcoverage.com/2014/04/15/lana-wwe-diva-cj-perry-florida-state/

 

The conversation between my boss and one of our writers during that match:

Boss: That doesn't look like it hurts very much.
Other guy, who isn't a wrestling fan, after she puts the Scorpion Lock on and him admiring the move a bit: ... Now, that looks like it hurts.

 

I have been to three RAWs in the past four years and can confirm attending RAW pretty much sucks. Prefer PPV or house shows by a mile. There is a TON of time spent during RAW where you are just watching PSAs or highlight clips during commercials or backstage segments. Really kills the momentum of the show unless it is a very special show. Fortunately I had the opportunity to attend the RAW after a WM XXIX, but wouldn't wish the other two shows on my worst enemy. The entire fun of the post Mania show was shitting on the product being shoveled on the fans.