2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

I was so hoping COP would hit but how much could they put into a RAW that was pretty much as solid as a post WM RAW, without the blazing hot crowd.

Wow.

Jerico-Wyatt on the mic against each other? Yeah, TAKE MY MONEY!

 

For the first time in his career, I'm actually excited about a feud involving Swagger.

Just so long as they let Zeb and Lana do all the talking.

 

Nah, I will not believe Punk is returning until I actually see him. I've accepted that he's done for a long time.

But, yeah, damn good Raw and not just because of all the surprise returns. Turning Zeb and Swagger should be interesting to see. Paige and AJ should have a stellar feud over the next few months (and how hilarious is it that the Total Divas still can't get a whiff of that title?). Ambrose/Rollins and Reigns/Orton are going to be my favorite programs over the next few months. Damn, Orton sure is a workhorse right now. He's been doing phenomenal work for a while now. I think the only time I was down on him was early in the year when he was paired with Cena, and that's not on Orton. I'm just fucking tired of Cena's booking.

Overall, I'm of the feeling that while the matches are top quality, I'm once again left with the feeling that the endings are too predictible with Bryan out of the picture. CenaWinsLOL against all odds in the ladder match. He'll win the fatal fourway -- Rollins won't be able to cash in because Ambrose will continue to be a thorn in the side -- so the Authority, who feel disrespected, will bring in Brock to get the job done at SummerSlam. Where's the intrigue if I know what's going to happen through August? Every program except the title program intrigues me because I can't tell where it may go.

EDIT TO ADD: I guess the logo change is definitely happening given the WWE 2K15 logo. And do you get it? Cena's a 15-time world champ ... it's 2K15? Get it? Get it? No, Vince, I need you to lay it in a few more times. I'm not gettin' it.

 

I know we've talked about this before, but I was just thinking about Cena and WWE's reluctance to turn him heel. It's been 10 or 11 years since he was considered one of the bad guys, IIRC, as his rapper gimmick was at first a heel character.

Not counting Hogan, who was a face up until the nWo debuted in 1996, for obvious reasons. But has any wrestler gone so long without a turn of some sort? Only other guys I can think of are Flair, who was heel for several years with the Horsemen and then Evolution, and Sting, who never really turned heel after switching to his Crow-inspired gear.

Every other major player went back and forth throughout their careers, but those four -- Cena, Hogan, Flair and Sting -- are the only ones I can think of who had prolonged face/heel runs.

 

Sting turned heel when he was in TNA, but kind of like a tree falling in the woods, if no one is around to hear it... Also, it was noted at the time that he wasn't really behind it, and as a result it didn't stick for long. I believe they pulled the same crap with Jeff Hardy, who finally sorta, kinda got heat because of his drug issues and working impaired, not because people believed him as a heel.

Past them, I think you'd have to look at the midcard level. I don't think Kofi Kingston has ever been heel, probably because of his in-ring work and weak mic work. Not that he's super over now, but I think it would be even tougher for him as a heel, unless you gave him a really good manager. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan? I don't think he was ever a heel. Heyman was on Talk Is Jericho last week and noted that Raven never got cheered and was pretty much always a heel, but I believe his run in WWF/WWE and WCW was pretty short.

 

Hacksaw joined Team Canada in WCW's dying days.

 

Iron Shiek never was a face.

 

Rick Steamboat.

Jimmy Snuka (I think).

 

Sting also had a very brief heel run in the dying days of WCW. Similar to Goldberg -- terrible idea to turn him, nobody booed him, then they handwaved it away at the first opportunity.

Ricky Steamboat, to the best of my knowledge, never played a heel on a national stage. I think they were verging toward him being a heel authority figure in TNA a long time ago, but that never happened.

Oddly enough, I was thinking about TNA's roster and how many of them have kept their alignment from this time last year. It's not a long list: Eric Young, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle (though he may not be an active competitor anymore), Madison Rayne, ODB (though she's not around much), Taryn Terrell or whatever her name is (also out for some time), and ... I'm at a loss. If Daniels and Kazarian were around still, they'd count.

Who's the heel with the longest current run? Kenny King?

 

He was a mid-carder, but I can't recall Tito Santana ever turning heel. If he did, it wasn't a memorable run.
Arriba!

Way back in the day, of course, but Bob Backlund was a face throughout his championship run.
I don't think Bobby Heenan was ever more than a tweener.

 

Backlund also turned heel in his 1990s run in the WWF, when he refused to let go of the crossface on Bret Hart.

 

I knew Backlund was a heel in the '90s (and still is to some extent, when he shows up occasionally), but I was talking about his late 70s/early 80s title reign. I think he held the belt for almost five years as a face.