2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

Eh. The belts have been devalued so much that, really, the stakes simply wouldn't be high enough for that kind of match to mean anything.
With MITB, when it was at Mania, it was looked at as a guaranteed title hanging in the balance. That same kind of desperation could be great to see in an NXT-style contract match.
I just can't see anyone getting that worked up for an IC title or US title belt.
I can't see JBL screaming at the top of his lungs "The Miz is going up for the belt. He's got the belt!!!! He's got the belt that has been defended like three times this year!! What a moment!"
Then again, who knows? At least it's not as bad as the Divas division was at WrestleMania 23. I just watched Melina vs. Ashley and they brought out every Diva as a lumberjack. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable but I had no idea who most of those "Divas" were. More like a cast of disposable blondes.
If the Divas division has ever been worse than that moment, I haven't seen it. That's about as low as it could go in my humble opinion.

 

Meh to lesser belts and meh to NXT "contract" MITB.

8 guys I have no reason to care about spot monkeying for a chance to get three RAW appearances and a regular spot on Main Event?

Just give me the classic MITB, please.

 

One more NXT note: Not sure if I've ever pimped these here (or if someone else already has), but these have to be the best Raw and NXT recaps on the Web, and this one on Arrival really nails what made this such a unique and, dare I say, special show: http://www.uproxx.com/sports/2014/02/best-worst-nxt-arrival

That said, I don't know if having NXT guys fight on WM makes a lot of sense. Unless you're a network subscriber and/or wrestling nerd, most of these guys aren't going to be known to most of the audience. The Ascension and Tyler Breeze? Neat! If you know who the hell they are. Otherwise, it might as well be JTG and Justin Gabriel.

 

So I went ahead an ordered the Network today. With another snow/ice storm coming through, this is going to be the most phenomenal way to kill time that I can think of. I'm starting the day off with some old Royal Rumbles. 1991 is up first. Streaming it through my PS4 and it looks great. And beyond that, I love that they have controls on it so you can fast forward regularly if you want but you can also skip ahead to the next match, etc.

 

So a question to those who have subscribed: How much is the initial charge -- $10 or $60?

 

I'm still on the free trial but from all indications, it seems like it's going to be $60.

 

It is $10 unless you want to pay all at once.

 

They take 10 bucks right off the bat, even for the free trial, then at the end of the trial they take the remaining 50. If you cancel in time, they refund the 10. There was quite a drama from people who signed up for the free trial and then got hit with overdraft fees. Today's lesson: Some wrestling fans are poor and not very smart.

 

In the fine print when I signed up, here's the difference:

If I signed up via WWE.come and used my bank card, it it $9.99 per month, cannot cancel for six months. If I signed up via Apple/Apple TV and use my iTunes account, it is $59.99 all up front for six months.

 

Also, I could see a ladder match for the IC title as a WM match, but the US belt needs to be merged/retired. When that happens, the number of titles is four: World, IC, Tag, Divas. Four belts is good. I could see more meaning placed on them if The E books them right. I think the IC belt got a little prestige back starting with Cody Rhodes' run and bringing back the classic IC belt.

 

I agree with this idea. I watched a bunch of old WWE PPVs yesterday and it really stands out how much value is placed on the IC belt. I forgot how much, actually. Many of those old cards had the IC title match as the second biggest match on a card. It even was mentioned by announcers that the IC champion was the No. 1 contender for the title (this is back in the Warrior/Rude IC runs). I'd love to see that at least as a possibility, even if the IC champ never really gets a shot. It's a good way to take an upper level mid carder and keep him on the radar as a potential main event guy.

 

The only problem is that if you make the IC champ the No. 1 contender, you're going to get a lot of vacant titles with the belt, presumably, as IC title holders win their world title match.
Me? I'd make a six-eight person title match for the IC title at Mania and start a new rule that if you're the IC title holder and you can keep the belt for three months (defending it at least once a week), you get an automatic world title shot at a PPV. Then you could keep track of how long each person has the belt and, as it gets closer to the three-month period, the drama for each title match gets increased.