2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

http://www.kayfabenews.com/leaked-birth-certificate-reveals-zeb-colter-is-actually-dutch/

 

SvR > 2K, IMHO.

 

Whaddyaknow, an "Onion" for wrestling fans. Never seen that before but some very amusing stuff on there.

 

Huh, SvR better than 2K? Well, if I go the route of getting an older console, I'll still get a copy. Who am I kidding? The roster of my SvR2010 still has the damn Hardys, long-hair Punk, and no Daniel Bryan.

Anyway, am I the only one not really hyped by Sunday's show? It's clearly a C-level PPV that will likely feature a totally predictable outcome in the title picture: CenaWinsLOL.

Instead of ranting, I'm going to move on in topics: podcasts. Someone else mentioned Jericho's, and I've listened to his from the start. Of the wrestling podcasts out there, his is among the top three. Jericho, Grantland's Cheap Heat, and Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling are must-listen material for me. Depending on the guests, Stone Cold and Jim Ross have some great shows. Sometimes, Stone Cold just rambles on about shit I don't care about (another one of his reality competition shows, and I don't have cable so I'm not going to watch). Ross will rant for 20 minutes about closed-fist strikes in matches. Goldberg and Piper are damn near a nightmare to get through. Goldberg is just boring, while Piper isn't coherent.

Grantland's Cheap Heat has a great show this week, discussing this Atlantic article about race in wrestling (http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/07/the-not-so-fictional-bias-in-the-wwe-world-championship/374042/), more specifically why The W won't package and push a credible black world champion. According to the panel (which includes the author of the Atlantic article), the WHC runs don't count because it's the 1b title where the WWE Championship is the 1a title no black man has ever won. And these guys don't think The Rock counts because he isn't black enough as he doesn't listen to rap music. Seriously, that was one of the issues.

 

SvR is better, IMO, but I still think you should give 2K a whirl.

I reset Universe mode again and now have Raw on Monday, WCW on Wednesday and Smackdown on Friday. It's unreal the amount of stuff you can customize in the mode, but it still gets redundant.

 

To be fair, I think their main point was that The Rock doesn't identify as black - he identifies as Samoan. And even if you want to call him the first black world champion, it still seems odd that they've had one holding the main title in X years. I do agree with Shoemaker though that Lashley probably would have been the first one if he hadn't abruptly left.

 

Maybe it's just me, but this is one of the best PPV cards we've had in a long time. The build hasn't been comparable to a major PPV, but I am really looking forward to it. It's got star power, several intriguing title matches, and, hell...even a women's match I care about (shit, even Cameron v. Naomi has a decent build by WWE women's standards). Swagger v. Rusev has been one of the few low-card PPV matches with decent hype in a long time.

Pretty much every match on the card has a purpose and will be used to further an ongoing storyline. I really don't see what's to dislike about Battleground.

 

Cena-Lesnar has leaked out as the Summerslam main event, which doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be for the title, but the odds are pretty strong. I guess Lesnar could surprise everyone by showing up at Battleground and helping Orton win to set up a non-title match, but you shouldn't blow one of what few dates he has on an unannounced appearance.

 

My bet is Cena overcomes the odds and we either get a Lesnar debut right after the match where he lays him out or he does it on Monday.

 

Prediction: Cena wins, but Rollins comes out to cash in. He either loses clean because he's still busted up from his match with Rollins and Trips is forcing him to cash in because Cena is down, or Ambrose costs him the match (though I'd love to see Kane be the one who helps Cena win over Rollins -- set it up by having him come out to help Rollins against Ambrose and Rollins end up nailing him with a chair or something). Then comes Plan C -- Lesnar comes out and decimates Cena to set up Summerslam.

Yes, it wastes the MITB contract, but if it's done right, it could be worth it.

 

Fatal 4 Way for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Kane vs. Roman Reigns
Result: John Cena via pinfall(pins Kane)

Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt
Result: Bray Wyatt via pinfall

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins
Result: Seth Rollins via pinfall

Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal
Result: Cesaro wins by tossing someone over the ropes

2/3 Falls Match for the WWE Tag Team Championships
The Usos (c) vs. The Wyatt Family
Wyatt win via first pinfall, Usos win via second pinfall, and Wyatts win third and final pinfall(Harper pins Jey)

WWE Divas Championship
AJ Lee (c) vs. Paige
Result: AJ Lee by submission

Jack Swagger vs. Rusev
Result: Rusev by submission

Kickoff Match
Cameron vs. Naomi
Result: Naomi by pinfall

 

I'm figuring Rusev wins this, but with the tensions on the world being what they are, I wonder if they call an audible here.