2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

It could be argued that being on the WWE Network, and the promotion they get on WWE TV, put it above ROH at least. I guess you're right about TNA, although it'd be interesting to see NXT's viewership on the Network (if it can be measured reliably) vs. TNA's rating on Spike.

 

I fully expect the stock to take a gigantic hit once McMahon passes away, his biggest draw is the company itself. That means they should be just fine. Since gaining more power, Trips has made some good calls, which gives hope that he'll be able to handle things once he doesn't have McMahon in the background waiting to give his thumbs up or down. I do think that the first few years after McMahon's death will be critical to the company's long future. In the past, an owners death can have severe effects on his company. Look at what happened in Japan years after Rikidōzan's death. If NOAH one day dies, a major chapter in their death is Misawa's passing away. To be honest, you could say the same thing about Baba dying in All Japan and how their future was changed in an insanely huge way with basically their entire roster sans Kawada leaving. You could make a case for the management just not being there to run such a big company like JCP following Crockett Sr's death. At the same time, without McMahon Sr. passing away and the power obsessed McMahon Jr to take over, the WWE wouldn't have become the company that it is today.

So while I don't think the WWE will be in any sort of trouble immediately after McMahon's death (Unless you own some stock), the next few years will be what you'd want to keep your eyes on. They're either going to successfully transfer into yet another generation of the McMahons or many, many years later, when the Death of the WWE is written, McMahon Jr's death is going to be where it all begins.

 

I agree with much of what you said, but with a clarification. Junior bought out his dad roughly two years before Senior died. They were still working together, but Junior was starting to make his big push in '83.

I've never figured out why Senior just didn't will the company to Junior upon his death instead of making him buy his stock. I guess he just wanted to semiretire and thought he'd live longer than the two years. Or maybe there were tax implications?

 

So it appears that Reigns and Ambrose have quietly split and The Shield is really no more. But, who can tell? A lot of the fine details need tweaking as the weeks go by to set these guys apart. Right now, it isn't enough.

For one thing, Reigns hasn't changed at all. He's still in the black fatigues. He's still using the same music, or at least a variation. Rollins has changed his ring gear, but instead of the vest look ... well, it looks like he raided Christian Bale's Bat-wardrobe. Seriously, a sleeveless shirt with padded pecs and abs? Ambrose is taking his visual cues from Diamond Dallas Page by wrestling in jeans. Then there's the music. Each man has his own music, but you can barely tell. It's still the same '90s heavy guitar riffs. Watch SmackDown from a few days ago and catch the Rollins/Ambrose segment. Both themes play, but you can't tell them apart.

I didn't expect them to be completely overhauled overnight, but now that the group is done we need to see more personality beyond "I'm a bad ass, and here's my bad ass guitar music, where I kick ass while wearing a bad ass non-wrestling outfit."

And, I'm oh so happy to see two ladder matches later this month. Had a feeling that there was no way that MitB was only for the title. The briefcase adds so much more to the overall picture to be ignored for even a year.

 

This week’s Observer stuff:

- WWE is believed to be in cost-cutting mode overall; Jay Gibson, who managed writers for Raw, was also let go on June 11, the day before they cut a bunch of wrestlers.

Aksana was cut instead of Rosa Mendes because Mendes was picked by Bunim-Murray to be in Total Divas. She hadn’t pissed anyone off backstage, but she had gained weight since being signed initially, she’s past 30 now, and the WWE has a way of better female workers and bodies behind her in developmental.

McIntyre was seen as a big effing deal when he was first signed and debuted, but gradually lost favor. Backstage, he also had heat because of incidents with his then wife Tiffany / Taryn Terrell. While he was considered to be doing good work in a joke gimmick, it wasn’t enough to justify keeping him, or Mahal.

They weren’t happy with Clay’s development, noting that his body or ring work hadn’t really gotten better. (It’s believed he’s going to use the name The Funky Dinosaur for indy bookings.) The same with Mahal, although he was in shape.

One WWE insider said there is a bit of a problem in talent relations now, in that guys like Bourne that they don’t have plans for are just allowed to drift off, despite being under contract. Triple H is seen as the contact for talent with issues, but he’s so busy with other stuff that he’s hard to get ahold of, and the two people under him don’t have a wrestling background.

TNA is also in cost-cutting mode, so it’s unclear if they’re interested in any of the cut WWE guys. New Japan is overloaded with foreign talent right now, so they probably aren’t, outside of Yoshi.

- A higher-up at Bellator was axed (Rebney), and they’re believed to be in talks with Kimbo Slice now to bring him back into the fold.

- The Rock, HBK, Missy Hyatt and Bob Backlund have biographies in the works.

Booking stuff for WWE, and contract stuff regarding WWE, ROH and TNA in the spoilers section:

- The plan was originally Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan for SummerSlam, but they are now not expecting that, or even penciling in DB for Battleground on July 20. So, it’s likely the MitB championship winner vs. Lesnar at SummerSlam. Reigns is getting a mega-push right now and seen as the favorite, with an outside chance that it’s Cena or Cesaro who wins.

- Big Show will be off TV for a while to film Vendetta, a WWE Films production.

- Ric Flair could be managing The Miz, or his daughter, who might be on the main roster soon since she’s advertised for a house show on July 12. Nobody knows what his role is going to be yet.

- Kevin Steen’s last ROH date will most likely be July 19. His contract is believed to expire between then and Aug. 15, which he isn’t booked for.

- Matt Hardy is believed to be done with ROH, and signing with TNA. While ROH is more competitive and trending toward #2, and TNA is seen to be on the decline, ROH only had a couple guys under exclusive contracts. As a result, Hardy was able to leave right after the June 22 PPV (scheduled to be on it, at least). Bobby Fish, Jay Lethal and Kyle O’Reilly have also been contacted by TNA. Matt is expected to reunite with Jeff as a face tag team, at least for a little bit.

- Low Ki is expected to be back for a few TNA shows, most likely the ones in NYC. Some other past X-Division stars are expected to be there, and the six-sided ring will probably be back as well.

- Team 3D was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame at their most recent PPV, with the other two members of the class being Sting and Kurt Angle. It’s unknown if Devon, who had left the company, has re-signed for anything beyond the HoF ceremony stuff.

- About 30 people were brought in for the most recent WWE tryout camp, men and women. However, it was believed to be mostly non-indie talent.

 

I caught up with NXT from two weeks ago wow.

Tyson Kidd and Adrian Neville put on one hell of a match in Kidd's rematch for the NXT title.

Kidd's definitely going heel soon, the build up to his frustrations have been done well IMO. Neville can work but there's nothing that screams next big thing to me because he's piss poor on the mic and lacks an overall charisma .

 

There's talk that they're putting Tyson under a mask at some point. If he catches fire with a heel gimmick in NXT, that may change, but the thinking is that he's damaged goods as Tyson Kidd, so why not work him up a new identity?

 

That might work.

Speaking of which, I chuckled at Bo Dallas' "Mr. NXT" bit. But they carried it way too long with trying to get him out of the building. Although the immortal "He touched by bum!" line did make me laugh out loud.

 

At least according to The Observer, they've pivoted away from this, since they didn't think it would go over super well. Hence, why he's turning heel right now instead.

 

That makes sense. If the heel turn doesn't pan out, and they still see something in him, they can always go to the hood then.

Masks apparently sell like bacon-wrapped cupcakes off a food truck in the arty section of town, so they're looking to develop more masked stars for more merchandising opportunities. Despite his many many many issues, Sin Botcha masks sold well. Right now the only masked guy on the main roster (Kane doesn't count) is Rey Mysterio, who hasn't wrestled in months and may not wrestle again. Kalisto gets rave reviews in NXT, but he's tiny. I don't forsee El Local making it. Mr. NXT has a better chance.

 

I'm waiting to see if they move up The Ascension anytime soon. They have a cool finisher, a modified Total Elimination and they both work well.

Just don't know how well they'd get over in the bigger arenas, though.