2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Grantland also has a long piece on Tiny Lister, a.k.a. Zeus from No Holds Barred and Deebo from Friday: http://grantland.com/features/tiny-lister-deebo-friday-career-zeus/

 

According to a report, Vince has lost 750 million in the last two months.

 

According to a report, people who don't understand the context of those reports annoy me.

 

Care to enlighten me.

 

Stock market speculators: We think that company's about to make three times as much as it does now, starting next month.

*rush to buy stock, stock price triples*

Guy who owns the company, i.e. a billion shares of that stock, is now "worth" triple what he was before, even though he can't really sell all his stock at the inflated price so it's pointless.

A month later, it turns out the company is only going to make 1.5 times as much as it used to. The stock price is cut in half.

Pundits: COMPANY OWNER LOSES HALF HIS FORTUNE!!!!!!!

 

double post

 

Ricochet would be useless in the WWE so it's a good thing (for him) they didn't sign him. All the crazy high-flying stuff he does which makes him special would never be allowed by the E today. That was part of the issue Sin Cara had during his time with the company. Granted all his injuries didn't help his cause.

 

There's been rumors of a cruiser weight show on the network, and if that happens, guys like Ricochet could get a look. It appears they may have their new Rey Mysterio in Kalisto.

 

Thank you for posting that.

Although, anyone who bought at $30 was a sucker because a lot of people should have known it was way overvalued. Given what the product is pulling in terms of ratings, attendance, merchandise, etc., Vince shot himself in the foot by boasting he could do a million Network subscribers for WrestleMania. He did two-thirds that. Then boasting he could double the TV deal. Not his fault other analysts hyped it up to insane figures like 300 or 400 percent. A 50 percent increase is still a good deal, but it was the best The E was going to get. Really, besides USA and SyFy, what cable network really wants these shows? The E isn't going back to Spike. The rumor of Fox Sports was absurd. Fox Sports isn't going to tarnish its image and deal with UFC to carry the fake fighting show. TBS or TNT? Never.

So, it's a $10 to $15 stock. Depending on what happens with the international roll out of the Network, the stock could see a small bump. But I'm also reading that getting subscribers may not be that easy given some of the Internet/streaming/bandwidth restrictions other countries have that the US doesn't. I see it doing well in Canada, the UK, parts of western Europe, and Australia.

On a tangent, I used to know someone who worked with refugees from places like Nepal. There are parts of the world that still believe The E is 100 percent legit. I wonder how'd they react to the Network and all the inside stuff posted, like the documentaries.

 

Payback is in two nights, and The E will once again rely on The Shield to carry a non-major PPV without a champion. It was 18 months ago, TLC 2012, when The Shield made its in-ring debut by defeating Ryback, Kane, and Daniel Bryan in a TLC match. WWE Champion CM Punk was recovering from knee surgery, but instead of stripping the title The E allowed the champ a show off as to not ruin the build to Punk's Royal Rumble encounter with The Rock.

Was that the thinking 18 months ago? That The Shield would put on the match of the night? Probably not. After all, there were two world champions (Big Show vs. Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship) plus John Cena, who was then the non-champion main eventer.

But times have changed. One world title. Cena's been mostly shoved to the midcard to feud with Bray Wyatt, and I doubt that their Last Man Standing match will go on last. Where the concept of Wyatt wearing down Cena's resolve seemed like an interesting story line, it's really just the same old shit: throw everything you can at Cena, but he'll shrug it off, make jokes, whatever, because his character hasn't grown in a decade. While The E knows it can't put the cash cow that is Cena to rest because of strong merchandise sales, The E is at least wise enough to know it can no longer build the entire card around it. Otherwise, would The E allow its champion to miss two PPVs (as Bryan is expected to miss Money in the Bank as well)? Hell no. Maybe one. Had this happened a few years ago, The E would have the GM strip the champ and name a pair of No. 1 contenders with good ol' Cena in the mix. My, the times have indeed changed.

Thankfully, there's a fairly hot feud between two factions, and personally I love faction wars. When's the last time we had a good faction war? Sure, some of the Raw segments have been weak (factions signing contracts? eh...), but the Extreme Rules match has proven that these guys can tell a great story with a match. I'm salivating at the thought of how they can top the first match.

As for the rest of the card? Well, Bryan's injury has nothing to do with the lackluster build for this show. This is all on creative. Paige is being pushed as a strong rookie Divas champ (two PPV title matches in a row!), but so many of the segments are buried on Main Event that I can't tell you exactly what the story is between Paige and Alicia Fox. Bad News Barrett is the IC champ ... I forgot about that. What's his beef with RVD, other than RVD needs a program because he's on the payroll? And why is Barrett IC champ again? How many IC runs is he going to get? This is the fourth or fifth. He'll just lose the title again in three months because it's time to cool him off. Cesaro ... I don't know what to make of Cesaro. I feel that pairing him with Heyman looked good on paper, but The E again killed his face heat with a random heel turn that people seem to be shrugging their shoulders about. And feuding for the US title again? Like Barrett, this is a retread. This is old ground. We saw this shit two years ago. Where's the growth? Where's the (no pun intended) evolution of characters? And please turn Sheamus heel. He's so so so bland. Does The E think that no one has noticed that we're getting the same thing we saw then that we're seeing now? Maybe it's why ratings are down again.

Usually, I know what's on the card the week of the show. I actually had to Google it because I forgot. I know there's always a post-WM lull between now and after the Fourth because of graduation, vacations, holidays ... but it seems so much worse right now.

No Holds Barred Six-Man Elimination Tag Team Match
Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista) vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns)

Last Man Standing Match
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt

Intercontinental Championship
Bad News Barrett (c) vs. Rob Van Dam

United States Championship
Sheamus (c) vs. Cesaro

Divas Championship
Paige (c) vs. Alicia Fox

Mask vs. Hair Match
El Torito vs. Hornswoggle

 

Hopefully the US/IC championship bouts are good. The show has some pressure on it for those guys to deliver after the matches put on on NXT Thursday night

 

There's word going around that tomorrow's show will be pretty good because the muckety mucks don't want the NXT show to out-shine the main-roster PPV.