2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

This is when Punk comes back! Either that, or the crowd will be chanting for him all evening, which will drive the WWE nuts.

Oh, and I found this little tidbit to be amusing. Apparently the White House pulled a petition from its web site that had over 100,000 signatures seeking to have Bryan be put in the main event at WM.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0131/569795/white-house-pulls-daniel-bryan-petition/

Now that, would have been funny in Obama's State of the Union. "I would like to ask employers to give their employees a raise ... and on a special note, I'm going to sign an executive order, tomorrow, ordering Vince McMahon to put Daniel Bryan in the main event at Wrestlemania!"

And Congress and the gallery respond with a bi-partisan "YES!" chant.

 

WWE has been taking Punk signs away from fans at TV tapings since he split, so this will get very interesting.

 

The worst thing they could do with that particular crowd would be to ignore them. What they should do is have Vince come out at the start, acknowledge that Punk left, say that they hope to have him back at some point, and leave it at that. Then they can hope everyone concentrates on the show, instead of Punk's absence.

 

Or Biden picks up one of those fancy chairs, smashes it over Obama's back, and gives John Boehner a hug. A moment later, they do a DX crotch chop over Obama's body.

 

A non-title main event is more and more common these days for PPV events, even WrestleMania. Does "Once in a Lifetime" ring a bell? =)

 

Considering Vince has literally made several hundred million (on paper) since the Network announcement and is a legit billionaire again, I'm guessing he is a lot more likely to be popping champagne.

If WWE Network is a huge success out of the gates, I'm guessing VKM has even less incentive to take risks.

 

But losing a big star like this will probably have some people second-guessing subscribing to the Network. I know I am. If they're going to screw up things with guys like Punk and Bryan and push part-timers like Batista down our throats, it makes me wonder how much longer I'm going to be willing to keep tuning in. The big draw for me before was the PPVs, but without Punk putting on a great match each show, I start to wonder if it's worth it.

 

The moment the WWE signs its next TV deal, be it with NBC Universal or another player, the WWE Network becomes house money. Unless they put utterly ridiculous funding into it, and that doesn't seem likely unless they decide to push to get it on cable, the worst-case scenario is that it flops and they scale back the programming, in essence making it an online version of WWE Classics on Demand, while going hat in hand to the cable and satellite outlets to carry their PPV water.

Even if the current product bores/angers you, the $10/month for the archives is worth it alone.

 

I think you are dramatically underestimating the resources already put into the Network. Also, if fans are used to getting every PPV for ten bucks a month, no way in hell do you get them to start paying 55-65 a pop ever again. Never mind that the buy rates are already down.

Not saying failure of the Network would KO the WWE, but it would be a pretty severe body blow.

 

The thing that annoys me the absolute most about this whole Batista-Orton thing is the timing.
If they insist on shoving Batista-Orton down our throats, I can just about guarantee the Mania buyrate will plummet. But, because this is the first Mania in three years (tentatively) without the Rock in a large role and with the WWE Network set to debut a couple weeks earlier, if the buyrates for Mania do stink, the WWE has two convenient excuses to fall back on without blaming what the real problem is: a horrid main event few if any fans actually want.
I wouldn't want to see Batista vs. Orton as a main event of a regular pay per view. But for Mania? Seriously? That's the best you can do?
And no way the Network fails. Not at first anyway. Too good a deal.

 

It's telling that one of those involves Orton. Orton-Batista couldn't main event Mania when they were in their "primes" after Evolution. It's completely insane for them to think it can now isn't it?

 

Orton's still in his prime, which really didn't start until a few years ago. He was 24 or 25 at the time he was feuding with Batista after Evolution split.