2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

I'm betting "work" on that.

 

Foley is Foley. It's not like he's shy sharing his opinion on anything.

 

There's also a report that after the show went off the air, Batista was walking toward the back and got into a verbal altercation with a fan. Then stood at the entrance and did the Yes! chant with middle fingers raised at the crowd.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0126/569615/batista-flips-out-on-fans-after-wwe-royal-rumble-ppv/

If a heel turn doesn't happen on TV, does it count?

 

The more I think about this, the more I'm starting to believe this whole thing is a giant work but, honestly, that's just the naive wrestling fan in me. I doubt, very highly, that the WWE gives a shit about these Daniel Bryan reactions and my only hope is if they're dumb enough to go with Orton vs. Batista as the main event of WM30 that the sell-out crowd in New Orleans shits on it like never before.
Oh, and if that happens, I sincerely hope the crowd the night after Mania spends the entire three-hour broadcast chanting "Mania sucked!"

 

I think they'll switch things up in some way. There is precedent for it - Floyd Mayweather and Big Show flipped because the reaction to Money was so caustic.

 

Do you guys think WWE expected Batista to close the show to an adoring crowd gleefully cheering for the triumphant return of The Animal?

 

With the egos involved, hell yes I believe that. Batista has a really high opinion of himself.

 

Can we also discuss how old Batista looked yesterday? He is still a freak, but for a guy whose entire selling point was his body, he looks pretty run down. His skin looks kinda loose and he doesn't have near the definition that he had just a few years ago.

 

Yes. Because Vince loves him some Batista, and so does Triple H.

Part of me was kind of hoping Vince was in the back, saw the reaction Batista was getting toward the end of the Rumble, and then switch things up to give Reigns the win. I've watched a lot of WWE shows over the years, and I've never seen a crowd turn that quickly.

 

I think this is a valid question after thinking about it some more. If nothing else, Batista got a good but not great reaction on Raw. But if the E was going to make him full on face, why did they have the Authority -- the group actively and openly holding back fan favorite Bryan -- sing his praises and hug him and such in the ring the other night. I'm not quite sure what their intent was in terms of positioning him moving forward. But anything short of making him the newly preferred face of the organization would be silly moving forward. I'm not sure how they get there but could the real end game be Bryan-Batista for the title at Mania?

 

One more thing that needs mentioned RE: last night; the short promo the Shield cut before the Rumble was absolutely hilarious. Ambrose "I've got all the numbers." More personality than we usually see from those three. All of them acquitted themselves quite well in the match too. While Reigns clearly was the star, Rollins was in nearly the entire match. They must like his potential, too.

 

At this point, the only way Bryan gets into the title bout at Mania is if he wins the EC match and Orton gets his rematch at Mania and we get a triple threat for the title. Short of that, I see no scenario in which we get Bryan-Batista straight up, though it would be interesting as hell to see that. For sure.