2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

That's Jameson's kid?

 

It's a rental, and he declined the optional insurance?
That whole scene was awful. It was a like a scene out of a Friday the 13th movie.

 

This thing is completely heart breaking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RAhxhIHdpM&feature=youtu.be

 

Dusty in here.

"Stop your craziness."

Classic!

 

Who says Trips never jobs to younger talent?

Seriously, that was unreal.

 

For all of our bitching about who doesn't get the right treatment, The E definitely knows how to take care of young fans who've been dealt a shitty hand in life. I'm sad he has passed, but I'm glad he was able to have fun and make the most of what time he had.

 

And great form with the pin, even hooking the leg. That video was awesome. Thanks for sharing it.

 

Bryan just seems like the coolest most down to Earth guy in everything he's in, this, his Mania special, Divas etc.

Makes you realize why Cena's so reluctant to turn though. Those little guys are just special and he must meet so many.

 

Saw that video yesterday too.

Too awesome that Bryan, in the midst of everything going on at the end of Mania, came over to him and hugged him and spoke to him.

Bryan doesn't need a belt to prove he's a champ.

 

That video is awesome.

Got a bit dusty when I watched it last night. I know it's all scripted, but seeing wrestlers and higher-ups out of character like they were in the video still blows my mind.

 

The cynic in me appreciates that the kid wasn't a Cena mark, otherwise The E would have turned it into a Cena lovefest. LOOK AT HOW MUCH HE DOES FOR THE KIDS! LOOK! HOW CAN YOU BOO HIM?

 

Tons of good stuff in this week’s Observer:

- Among readers, Extreme Rules got 70 percent thumbs up, 20 percent thumbs middle, 8 percent thumbs down. Cena vs. Wyatt narrowly edged out Rusev vs. Truth as the worst match. (Newsletter readers tend to strongly dislike Cena.)

- WWE was not happy with the performance of Matt Singerman, who was the executive VP of programming and the primary guy planning the content of the WWE network. He was fired at the end of April / beginning of May. He worked directly under McMahon, and it’s believed to be a bit of a scapegoat firing, although apparently not much on the network is moving subscriptions beyond PPVs.

Talent is also unhappy because payoffs are down, thanks to the launching of the network and the restructuring of the video game contract. The WWE hasn’t really decided how they’re going to divvy up payoffs now that PPVs are being deemphasized. Video game royalty checks have declined from $70k to $100k for top performers to $10k to $15k, and 2K Sports only pays out $14M as compared to the $24M that THQ did. However, it is believed that the latest game has hit a sales goal, and as a result, talent will see at least half of what they use to get.

WWE spent $3.3M more in talent fees from 2012 to 2013, suggesting that Rock and Brock are expensive dates. They were the only significant big talent additions in that time frame.

The Goldberg DVD is still a shockingly high seller, at about 113k units in the past nine months. It’s about 30k more than The History of the WWE, which is a 50 year retrospective, and other DVDs on Triple H, mid-south wrestling and ECW. Future DVDs: Paul Heyman in August, and Batista in June, along with Greatest Factions (DX, NWO, Nexus, Shield, Evolution, etc.), date TBD.

- AJ Styles won the IWGP heavyweight championship on May 3, and he’s only the seventh foreigner to do so. He will defend on May 17 in New York, and then on May 25 in Japan if he wins. The show Styles won the belt on was overall full of good matches, but in contrast to WWE stuff, the crowd clearly waned because it was a non-Mania level PPV that went 4.5 hours.

- Dragon Gate’s Dead or Alive show on May 5 was said to be an all-timer, with at least two 4.5+ star matches, and maybe as many as five overall. Getting rave reviews was Flamita, who is seen as the heir apparent to Rey Mysterio. He can basically go over to WWE whenever he wants, even though he’s only 21, but he likes the stiff style of Japan more for now.

- The latest TNA Impact, the lowest rated quarter was the main event that they spent the two previous hours building up.

- Both ROH shows for May are sold out, with attendances of 1,500 and 1,800 respectively.

- There is a full WWE talent roster list, so if you want to know anyone’s status, just ask. There are some surprising names still on there, like JTG, CM Punk (still not officially done) and all of the McMahons.

They also have a background listing for talent, which is interesting. Santino is 0-1 in MMA fights but a four-time judo champion, Aksana is a woman’s bodybuilding champion, and a dozen guys were college football players. Unsurprisingly, more than half the roster did some form of high level amateur wrestling. Ryback played college baseball, and Summer Rae was in the lingerie football league. Billy Gunn actually did rodeo, and Barrett actually was a bare knuckles boxing champion.

WWE made five cuts from NXT and developmental – Oliver Grey, Danny Burch, Shaul Guerrero (Raquel Diaz), Sarah Backman and (the biggest surprise) Mason Ryan. Although Ryan couldn’t work well, he was said to have a great attitude and work ethic, and obviously he has the look the WWE loves. Guerrero’s cut was mildly surprising, given her name, but she also had a long injury history despite only being 23. It’s believed that Gerald Brisco is bringing in 6 to 8 guys from the amateur wrestling ranks to replace them, the results of the WWE scouting the NCAA wrestling tournament.

Mysterio met with the WWE on April 30 about a new contract. He’s believed to be transitioning into part-time and ambassador status, and it’s thought that it’ll be a smooth transition for all sides. His lack of screen time lately has hurt his earnings, as he’s fallen out of the Top 10 in merchandise sales, even behind the little used / constantly changing Sin Cara.

Nobody from the March tryout camp – Kevin Steen, ACH, Rocky Romero and Roderick Strong – has been contacted yet. Regal is back from scouting in Brazil, and a few people from that region are expected to be called in for developmental tryouts.

- Jericho got David Benoit’s match cancelled, because he hasn’t trained much if at all. He allegedly is fully trained according to Smith Hart, a.k.a. someone who shouldn’t be trusted. Jericho apparently still tries to mentor and key an eye on Benoit, and he was furious when he learned about the booking. Chavo was going to tag with Benoit, and he was under the impression Benoit was trained. In the past, Benoit had been told to train with Lance Storm by Triple H and Steve Regal, but he no-showed training sessions.

- Quinn “Moose” Ojinnaka, a former NFL lineman, is wrestling in the indies in Florida and attended a WWE camp. No word yet on whether they’ve offered him a development deal.

- Kurt Angle shot a TV pilot, Emergency LA, where he would be one of the leads. He isn’t being advertised for TNA shows in England in January, because his contract will have expired. Jeff Hardy also won’t be on those shows because of his drug conviction; he can’t get a visa there.

- Cena’s merchandise sales still overshadow everyone else’s. The only guy who’s beat his sales out recently was Warrior in April, given his passing, and that was just via online sales. Arena sales only, he was still the best.

- Triple H and the company have been purchasing as much old wrestling footage as they can find, as well as memorabilia.

- Lana and Rusev are dating in real life.

- There was allegedly a backstage encounter / fight between Sheamus and Jorge Arias, the current Sin Cara. Arias allegedly got the better of it, but it’s unconfirmed.

Spoilers section, about future WWE shows, story lines and other stuff:

- A new season of Tough Enough has been greenlit for the WWE Network. They’re thinking of just using talent already under contract, meaning, the people in development who aren’t yet on NXT, as a way to give them some TV time before NXT. There might also be a few tryout people, but in comparison, the past Tough Enoughs were almost all tryout folks, with only a few “ringers” with decent wrestling experience already. It will probably film in June over a 30 to 40-day span, and air in late 2014.

There will also be a Monday Night War series that has been advertised here and there, but not produced yet. For 2015, they’re planning on season two of Tough Enough, Legends House and Countdown. Ric Flair is in play for Legends House, because shockingly, he always needs money. Also, his appearance on Raw the other week did great numbers, so he’s in consideration for a regular TV role of some sort.

- Batista is momentarily done with the company, but contrary to Internet reports, it’s not because he didn’t want to put Bryan over. Batista was one of the few guys who would sell for Bryan when he came up, and it’s believed that they have a good relationship with one another. He was initially supposed to job to Bryan on the way out at Payback, but he told them he wanted out, at which point the Extreme Rules finish was changed to have Kane sit-up. After that PPV, they managed to convince Batista to stick around until Payback, but didn’t want to switch him back into a match with Bryan.

- Originally, The Shield was going to break-up after Mania, and also at some point, Orton was going to turn back face. However, neither seems to be in the immediately future. Reigns was seen as a singles competitor going forward, but The Shield is so hot as a group that they want to continue with it for a few months. Instead, they might be building toward Cesaro vs. Lesnar, given the Heyman connections, either for SummerSlam or Mania. Sheamus was originally going to turn heel on his debut back, but this was delayed for merchandising reasons, but now seems to be back on.

- Jericho has been asked to come back by the WWE, but he’s currently too busy with other obligations.

- Daniels and Kazarian are expected to join Ring of Honor as a tag team once their TNA deals expire.