2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Do not feed the zoo animals while passing through.

 

I was checking out iTunes for the Wyatt music and also found that the E released quite an extensive collection of WCW themes last week. Not everything is there ("Voodoo Child" an obvious one as I'm sure The E isn't paying a fee to the Hendrix estate) but there's a lot of good stuff. I was always fond of Kidman's theme. nWo Wolfpac is there, but nWo Hollywood. Also stuff like Sting's dark theme, Savage's "What Up, Mach," plus who can forget "Buff Daddy"?

And there's a theme for Adam Rose and Paige, the new Diva love of my life.

Fun Adam Rose note: So dad and I found The Exotic Express in Birmingham, but I hadn't fully grasped the concept of Adam Rose until I saw the promo later that night. We got such a kick out of it. Apparently my little 3-year-old niece did as well. She keeps handing me two of her Barbies and says, "Do the accent."

"This is my current ex-girlfriend. This is my future ex-girlfriend." She thinks it's hysterical. Three-year-olds, right?

 

The theme's catchy, but still not as good as his original one.

 

That feud actually started at the 1996 Survivor Series ... Bret came back and wanted to take on the "best wrestler" in the WWF or something like that. The Million Dollar Dream plays a critical role in the finish ... fantastic match, as expected with those two.

If you have the Network, here's the link to the PPV: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31291109

 

This week’s Observer stuff:

- Mania did way more PPV buys than they were internally projecting: About 400,000, as opposed to 200,000 to 300,000. This is despite Mania costing $70 on PPV, vs. $60 for a full year of the network. While it’s a short-term boon for the WWE, it’s seen as a bad sign overall, as people are slow to trust the network.

Also, DirectTV announced it was dropping WWE PPV immediately, and Dish Network is expected to follow suit. If inDemand also drops them – which is seen as a possibility – it would mean the WWF is completely off PPV.

Overall business is about the same as last year, which is seen internally as a win, because they don’t have a real special attraction like The Rock to prop things up at all. Top five DVD releases: Best of Goldberg, a 50-year WWE history retrospective, Legends of Mid-South Wrestling, the latest Triple H DVD, and the Best of ECW Volume 2.

- Vickie Guerrero isn’t under contract, but like Eve Torres, still has a good relationship with the company and will still be doing things with them from time to time.

Darren Young tore his ACL in a house show match on April 12, and he’ll miss the next five months at least.

Summer Rae was spun off from Fandango because she’s filming “The Marine 4” with The Miz. (And oh, by the way, he’ll also be gone.) Both return around May 16.

The New Age Outlaws’ deal expired, and they’ve been removed from the active roster.

Mysterio is transitioning from an active performer to an ambassador role, as his contract is expiring and he again is having knee issues. Foley’s ambassador deal has expired; others still on the list are Stone Cold, HBK, Eve Torres, Ricky Steamboat, Sgt. Slaughter and Bob Backlund.

Renee Paquette (Renee Young) is getting a lot of interest from ESPN and other networks, based on her live TV performance and poise.

Steven Walters of NWA Anarchy starts in developmental soon. Enzo Amore (Eric Arndt) is returning to action after being out with a broken leg.

Cody Rhodes’ wife, Eden Stiles (real name: Brandi Runnels) is being used as a house show ring announcer and fill-in.

- Trivia: Dean Ambrose is 11 days away from holding the US title for 344 days, which would surpass MVP’s record for longest reign while it was a WWE title. Luger has the longest reign in the belt’s history, about 17 months.

- Jarrett’s promotion is proceeding, with no TV deal announced just yet. TNA talent has been told to not take any photos with Jarrett, or to be involved with the promotion at all. Shane Douglas is also working on a wrestling promotion, but it’s believe to be more local indy in scale, not a national deal.

- Gina Carano is believed to be interested in fighting Rousey if she wins her fight in July, but she needs time to train properly. She hasn’t made 135 in eight years, so she and the UFC aren’t sure if she can still make it. Cris Cyborg is not in the plans for UFC, because she held them up for money to face Rousey a year ago.

- TNA is hosting shows on June 25, 26 and 27 in New York. It’s believed they’ll use them for four weeks of TV.

- Chris Sabin’s contract is expiring, and he’s already booking indie dates, suggesting he’s gone. TNA has made no effort to renew Christopher Daniels or Kazarian either. Austin Aries isn’t being used because he’s in the doghouse for blowing up backstage at a TV taping. Robbie E, Gunner and James Storm signed multi-year contract extensions. Low-Ki has been signed, but it’s unclear when he will debut on TV.

- “Oculus,” a horror movie released by WWE Studios, made $12 million in its opening weekend. If it hasn’t turned a profit already, it’s on its way.

- Punk is still getting royalties from his merchandise sales, as he’s technically on leave, as opposed to released, fired or suspended. Because he hasn’t said anything negative about the WWE, it’s believed the checks will keep coming for him.

- USA’s recent programming hasn’t been drawing well, so it’s believed that there is no way NBC Universal (parent company) is going to let the WWE get away from them. By contract, they have right of first refusal, to match any offer the WWE gets. SyFy is in worse shape – 13th overall with WWE, but if you subtract Smackdown, they drop to 20th.

Spoilers section:

- Eric Young won the TNA title at the April 10 tapings, which was seen as a poor attempt by TNA to just copy the WWE Daniel Bryan storyline. There was no build-up over previous weeks for it, so there was a bit of a surprise pop from the crowd. He will defend against Magnus at Sacrifice on April 27.

- Angle returns to TV tonight.

- AJ has asked for time off, which is partially why the title was taken off of her, and also why it’ll be Paige vs. Snuka at Extreme Rules.

- Sting still hasn’t signed his contract as of April 14; it was sent to him after Mania. However, there hasn’t been any feedback that he’s unhappy with it, or that it’s not going to get done.

- Lesanr isn’t expected to wrestle again until Summer Slam, with the idea of building toward a big Bryan vs. Lesnar match.

- Hogan will be on the May 20 Smackdown from England. They sometimes have trouble drawing two nights in a row in the UK, so he’s on the second night as a special attraction.

 

I could see Renee Young being very big for ESPN, like Michelle Beadle at her peak prime. She's got a great presence, very conversational tone without sounding like she's forcing it or pandering, seems well-versed in her subject matter, obviously very pretty. She'd be a great replacement for Tony Reali on PTI.

 

Ring of Honor announced today it is putting on a live pay-per-view, Best in the World 2014, on June 22. I hope it works out for them.

 

I wonder if the E, or Punk, or Jericho, or whomever has that phrase copyrighted.

 

Jericho will have the copyright, technically with the subtitle, with his third book: "The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea."

 

The show has been held each year for the last three years, and they've had some damn good ones. First one was in 2006.

 

But this will be their first cable PPV. All their other shows have been iPPVs and almost always go to pot.

 

Here's the announcement: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/roh-debuts-live-ppv-w-best-world-2014-sunday-june-22

They got a plum spot, Sunday night at 8 p.m., and it's $24.95. No matches listed yet. I didn't see A.J. Styles among the names listed to appear, but I have to believe he'll be involved in some way.

Count me in.