2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Except he didn't entrust the future of the company to him. He didn't even main event the PPVs when he was champion.

 

I think Punk made it pretty clear on the podcast that a lot of it fell on him for taking that Harley Race/Bret Hart I'm going to work hurt and take one for the team because I'm the champion mentality. The E didn't "make" him work hurt but it knew which buttons to push to get him to do it. Sounds a lot like any other pro sport.

 

I wouldn't go as far as to say it will never be a WM main event though. Let's face it: Taker is done, Lesnar is on the back nine, HHH and Rock both maybe have a handful of bouts left. Who could you get to put into that big spot and build to feel like a true, genuine WM main event?
I highly doubt Punk comes back anytime soon but I could see it happening. Especially if he feels slighted over never headlining Mania. Bottom line is now that Warrior cleared his conscience with Vince and Sting just came in, I will never again say there's a wrestler who's done with WWE forever. If the price is right, I could see him back there.
But this interview definitely hurt his chances of coming back anytime soon and I wouldn't put it past Vince to start an angle on Raw Monday where AJ is getting banged in the ass by Ryback before her matches and she goes to the ring with his "jizz" in her hair. Vince is definitely not one to let a punch go.

 

Observer from Dec. 1:

- Sting will probably do sporadic appearances to build up for a Mania match with Triple H (likely outcome) or Undertaker (Sting’s desired opponent, but it’s unclear if Taker can go at this point). The Rock in the past had always expressed interest in wrestling Sting, but he has a movie in the spring, so Rock vs. Sting would have to be in 2016, if they’re both on board.

The trigger was pulled on Sting for Survivor Series because McMahon felt like they needed a major draw for the show and the Network, given that it was free for the month. It had been decided a couple weeks ago, because they were able to film that intro for him, and Sting kept the information secret. The only other “free agent” out there is Goldberg, based on the popularity of his DVD, but they were far apart on money and signing him when they negotiated last year, when Ryback was popular.

- The post Survivor Series Raw started at 5M viewers, but rapidly fell off in popularity as people realized Sting wasn’t going be on, perhaps. It ended at about 4M viewers, which was still really good for a Raw vs. a football game.

- Orton was never in the plans to come back at Survivor Series. It was just a coincidence that he was at the St. Louis airport around that time frame, since he lives there. He’s supposed to be back at some point in December.

- For TLC, likely so far is Ambrose vs. Wyatt, Kane vs. Ryback in a chairs match, Big Show vs. Rowan, Harper vs. Ziggler, Nikki vs. AJ, and Cena vs. Rollins vs. Orton. Reigns, Mysterio and Lesnar are also all likely to be on TV regularly in some form.

- Survivor Series had pretty much no build in ticket sales. Shortly after they went on sale, about 11,000 had moved, and the attendance of the show was about 12,000.

- Meltzer’s list of the biggest retired wrestlers of the past 40 years to never wrestle a WWE/WWF match: Fitz von Erich, Abdullah the Butcher, Nick Bockwinkel (he was a road agent who would break up fights in the 1990s), El Santo, Blue Demon and El Solitario. Others: Gary Hart, Ole Anderson, LA Park, Bobby Eaton, Jushin Liger, Love Machine, Bob Armstrong, Great Muta, Magnum TA, Nikita Koloff, Gori Guerrero, Danny Hodge.

- New Japan has signed a 13-week TV deal with AXS TV, which debuts Jan. 16. It’s believed that the first shows will actually use footage from as far back as January 2013, given that the American audience is probably unfamiliar with the product. If the show is popular, then it’ll likely run about six months behind New Japan’s current product, to give time to properly build things using hindsight. Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett will be doing the announcing. (It’s separate from the one-shot deal Jim Ross has doing one of their PPVs.)

It’s believed that this could potentially cause issues with the New Japan and ROH partnership, since New Japan matches will now be on TV. However, given how much the deal was kept under wraps, it’s unclear what the ROH reaction will be. ROH received no advance warning from New Japan that the announcement was coming.

AXS is in about 43M homes, compared to 52M for Destination America, the new home of TNA. Lucha Underground is doing about 200,000 viewers a week on a lowly-available network, but it could be a game-changer if moved to Univision. Lucha gets only about 16,000 viewers on its initial airings, but around 192,000 on weekend airings on Unimas, which is the sister network to Univision.

- Want to book Jeff Hardy in Canada? You can! It’s $6,000 per booking, but because of his felony conviction, he can’t do tours or stay overnight.

- TNA is coming back with a live show in January, and Josh Mathews is replacing Mike Tenay as lead announcer. Tenay remains with the company. There will also probably be widespread cosmetic changes – there is a lot of speculation that it’ll include a name change from TNA to Impact Wrestling – and wrestlers currently under contract haven’t been informed if they’re coming back or not.

-- It’s unknown if Sheamus was actually hurt or not when he was put through a table by Mark Henry. It was supposed to be an angle, but he apparently was legit hurt according to backstage reports. The company hasn’t announced a surgery though.

- Kevin Steen will debut as Kevin Owens at NXT Takeover on Dec. 11, or at the TV tapings the next night.

- Lesnar is scheduled for Dec. 8 Raw, Dec. 29 Raw, Jan. 12 Raw, Jan. 25 Rumble and Jan. 26 Raw. He might also be on the Jan. 19 Raw, the go-home show for the Rumble.

- Barrett should be returning in a few weeks, and he also now has his green card.

- The Rock and Bruce Willis are rumored to be in Transformers 5. If so, that would obviously effect his availability, since it’s a huge franchise.

- Ryder has a torn rotator cuff, but he’s trying to avoid surgery by resting it and getting a stem cell injection therapy option instead. He’ll be re-checked in two months, and if it hasn’t healed, he’ll get surgery.

- According to stats compiled by a reader, of the last 48 Raw main events, 24 have ended with a non-clean finish.

 

Source: PW Torch

WWE are defending the wrong doctor there.

 

The E can't throw their doctor under the bus, so of course, they'll issue a generic statement of support. However, if Punk had his records of treatment from both the E's doc and his own doc, if he so desired, he could produce them and show if the doctor fucked up.

And the E's doctors should have records of treatment. If not, they're being negligent.

 

Punk mostly called out another guy, not the "lead" doctor Maroon. Who knows how the E's practice works.....the "lead" doctor could be based in Stamford and may never see the talent. Sounds like the guy Punk had issues with was on the road full time. The staph thing is downright horrifying.

 

Sign in the crowd: "Can someone check my staph infection?"

 

Supposedly, Vince is going on Austin's podcast tonight and will talk about Punk. What he will say, who knows?

As for raw, as silly as the thought that the Bunny would have been half of the top contenders for the tag titles, it could have been comedy gold with him and Mizdow.

 

If no member of the McMahon family ever appeared on camera again, the product would be better. They just can't help themselves.

 

This show is awful so far. All these new teams debut and the Usos win again? I like those guys but I don't get it.

Are the Bellas heels now? All AJs potential partners in that match were 'faces' at least by diva standards?

 

Heyman showing he is the master of the universe, again.

Rest of the show, and MNF, both putting me to sleep.