2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Well, Cesaro and Big E put on an amazing match from a couple of fresh talents. Daniel Bryan got twice as much screen time as Orton or Batista. The Shield is still being awesome. Presumably the Wyatts are still cool even if Cena is onscreen with them.

 

I misunderstood your original post. I thought you were referring to the WM card.

 

Let's say they do put in the provision that if Bryan beats HHH he gets to participate in the title match, how and when do you go about announcing that?

I would think they'd do it in advance so people will be ordering the WWE Network and sure to tune in. But I don't know if that's how they think.

 

They would, which is on the big list of reasons you can tell it's not happening.

 

Still 40 days to Mania which in the WWE universe is forever. Plenty of time to insert DB and still have enough announcement momentum to sell it

 

Nothing has changed since the Royal Rumble. If they weren't doing it then, they still aren't doing it now. Honestly, I thought the crowd was cooling on him a tiny bit last night. The momentum's going to run out a bit eventually.

As someone put it on the internet last night: "He's getting a McMahon feud. That's better than a title run in their mind. That's their version of inducting him into the HOF."

He's going to get tons of air time promoting the match, he's going to get tons of match time at Wrestlemania. I wouldn't be surprised if his match at WM ended up closing the night. And then he's going to get a title run over the summer.

Is it as cool to me as if they'd hot-shotted him in to win the Royal Rumble that night? No. That would have been awesome to me. But I'm not the only fan they sell too, and there's nothing wrong with them getting their cheap Marvel tie-in to draw in a little outside interest. It's not overshadowing Bryan in any way at this point.

 

I can easily see it going this way...

Daniel Bryan keeps challenging HHH to a match at WrestleMania XXX.
HHH keeps declining the offer.
HBK gets involved saying something about how HHH might not have it any longer.
HHH accepts match, but says if he wins Bryan can't challenge for the title any longer.
Daniel Bryan says that's OK, but if he wins, he gets put in the main event later that night.
Daniel Bryan beats HHH, gets put in the main event and wins the title

Daniel Bryan gets his WrestleMania moment.

 

I'm kicking myself for not going to last night's RAW (even though I knew Hogan and Lesnar were going to be there ... skeptical about Taker but had a slight hunch he could be). Proud of the Green Bay crowd for shitting all over Batista. I was worried that he was going to receive a face pop.

More disappointed that I didn't go to see Wyatts, Shield, and Cesaro.

 

Chanting "Husky Harris" and "Randy Savage" during Wyatt and Reigns was dumb as heck.

 

My guess is Hogan factors into this in some way as the "host" for Mania.
I'd be willing to bet either one of two things happens.
One, Bryan gets put in a stip where he can get put in the title match if he beats HHH, or HHH and Kane back-to-back earlier in the show. He then does that, gets in the title match, overcomes all kinds of odds and finds a way to win, closing the show out with the largest YES! chant ever.
Two, and I think this might be more likely, I think Bryan and HHH tear the house down at WM and Bryan wins, setting off a large YES! chant. Saying he is impressed by the crowd's support of DB, Hogan uses his role as host of Mania to insert Bryan into the title match, saying his job is to give the crowd what it wants. Now, this either happens right after Bryan's win over HHH (leading to a couple of promos from Orton and Batista bitching out Hogan for it prior to the match) or right after Orton and Batista hit the ring for their bout in a complete surprise.
If I were booking it, I would go with the second option and have Hogan's music hit right after the first round of boos from the crowd come in. That, to me, makes it seem the most memorable and really gives you some material to work with with Bryan as champ post-Mania.
Plus, the crowd finally gets the big payoff, after they weren't expecting it, and erupts for the length of the match like the rabid fans they would be.

 

I think they are dangerously close to missing the boat with DB. Even if they plan to strap him in the near future, this bizarre booking may have killed his opportunity to be a top level player.

 

That I can't disagree with.