2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

I think the majority of fans will argue that Seth Rollins has excelled in his role as the smarmy heel and has exceeded their expectations as a breakout star.

 

Sure, because he was standing alongside Triple H and Stephanie (#1 heel and #2 heel). That gave him the rub.

Now's the true test ... can he be the true #1 heel?

 

I don't think H and Steph will be gone too long.

 

One of the great "what-ifs" of wrestling is how Magnum T.A's career would have played out had he not been injured in that car accident.

 

That would have been my pick. Him or Nikita Koloff.

In terms of anyone relevant from the Monday Night Wars on, I don't know of anyone too prominent outside Joe/Styles/Austin Aries types. There aren't many WCW guys of consequence to not cross over -- Disco Inferno? Stevie Ray? Tank Abbott? I guess it'd be Kevin Sullivan, who apparently never wrestled for WWE, even when it was the WWWF.

 

Actually, Sullivan did wrestle for the WWWF in the 70s, mostly as a jobber to the stars babyface.

There was a Youtube match with him and Brody at MSG in '76 with Vince on commentary. Pretty surreal.


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBhvYTYL0d8

 

Disco Inferno rules.

 

That makes sense. But using your "barring some obscure jobber match" criteria, he still counts.

But it's definitely slim pickings as for anyone else who wrestled in WCW but not WWE/F

 

His Wikipedia page said he was in the WWWF for three years from. '74-'77. What I mean by an obscure jobber match is if the guy is in for only a couple of matches or less.

 

Punk goes on Colt Cabana's show, and finally dishes the dirt, and it's a doozy.

Apparently, the main issue was his health, and the E was basically ignoring his complaints. He said the E wanted him to work in the ring with a concussion (!), and he was working with a mass in his back that the E's doctors did little about it, which ended up being a staph infection that he could have died from.

Also very pissed off about his WM money, because they said his Taker match was the main event, and he didn't get paid as well as the others.

Also ripped on Ryback, who he said broke his ribs and never apologized.

http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2014/11/27/7298557/cm-punk-story-walking-out-on-wwe

My favorite one is when he refused to take a drug test, and Trips brought up that Batista had taken h is. Punk responded by asking Trips if he had taken the same test, and Trips didn't say anything.

Very fascinating read, and I'm looking forward to listening to the podcast at some point.

 

CM Punk has finally broken his silence.
Boy, has he broken his silence.
He did a long interview on Colt Cabana's podcast that was released today. Haven't listened to it yet, but here's a link to a good recap of it. Among the highlights:
• He wrestled for three months with a staph infection that was either ignored or misdiagnosed by WWE's staff doctor
• He was unhappy as long ago as MITB 2011, but re-signed for three more years to see if things improved. They didn't. A number of factors ranging from injuries to PPV payouts in the Network era, to creative decisions combined to grind him down.
• He was fired via FedEx on his wedding day.
• The royalty issue was a major one post-walkout, as was WWE calling him "a quitter" during a Raw in Chicago.
• Punk and WWE reached a lucrative settlement, but if he ever returns to work for them it won't be for a very, very, VERY long time.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_81998.shtml#.VHe6S76Fbdk

 

Dammit, Baron beat me to it by about 30 seconds

I guess that interview will put the "Punk returns" speculation to bed for a while.