2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

They don't even need to drop the US belt. Just have whatever GM change the rule, where it has to be defended weekly.

And every once in a while, have a title change at a house show, to mix things up.

 

Please let it be true:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1978481-report-cm-punk-to-return-on-raw

 

i agree. a defend-it-every-raw belt would be perfect for someone like cesaro who is a great ring worker but whose personality isn't quite at the same level

 

#HijackRaw

 

I've seen this bandied about for a while, and I don't get it. Are they going to suddenly reverse course and make a smark-friendly Wrestlemania card and results list based on being in a city that for years has been known in-office as Bizarro Land? If Punk returns or Daniel Bryan gets inserted into the main event, it's going to be the product of the ENTIRE fanbase shitting on Batista's return and wrongfully yawning at Randy Orton's main-event work, not because a bunch of fans decide to make themselves the star of the show. To blow up the Road to Wrestlemania to appease one subset of fans would be as crazy as stubbornly sticking to a path that isn't leading anywhere.

I liked the post-Raw Wrestlemania as much as anyone else. But now it's becoming so common as to be almost cliched. Ooh, very funny, you guys are chanting for Randy Savage and JBL because the match in front of you wasn't cooked to your specifications. How witty. Fuck off. This is why wrestling fans can't have nice things. If this goes the way the Occupy Raw crowd wants it to go, one of two things are going to happen: a) the powers ignore it and double down on the current shitty direction out of spite, or b) they sloppily realign characters to match the fan reactions, in the process stripping away the elements of their characters that made them so popular with the fans in the first place See Dolph Ziggler. Or hell, CM Punk in the months after the pipebomb. Appreciate the Wyatt Family all you want, but if you start cheering them in full throat, within months they'll get turned into full-on Duck Dynasty ripoffs and you'll wonder why you liked them in the first place.

I understand that wrestling is different than most forms of televised entertainment because you're doing it in front of new crowds in new places every week, but imagine fans of The Office hijacking tapings until Kevin becomes the star? Voice your displeasure with the product using any and all means at your disposal, but stop acting like the show exists for your specific satisfaction. That's what's wrong with today's class of smarks. At least the last generation kept their Benoit-worship in the desktops in their mothers' basements. And a good thing, it turned out ...

 

I think the problem with these hot crowds is they forget the show is the show and they're not the center of attention.
And I blame that strictly on this year's post-Mania crowd. Yes, it was fun for one night but because that crowd achieved legendary status, every other podunk crowd on the schedule thought "Well, we can be special too."
Once everyone is special. no one is.
Previously, hot and crazy crowds enhanced the in-ring product (Think WrestleMania 18's crowd in Rock vs. Hogan; WrestleMania 22's crowd in Cena-HHH; the Hammerstein crowd for RVD's win over Cena at One Night Stand; the MITB crowd for Cena vs. Punk). But that night after Mania last year, the crowd did a huge disservice by making the show about them. Yes, it was awesome to see Ziggler cash in MITB and win. That's a moment I won't forget for a while. But the stupid JBL, Savage, King, Cole, etc chants do nothing to help what's going on in the ring.
Worse, it buries the wrestlers in the ring that don't deserve to be shit on.
Last year, Orton and Sheamus were fighting at that post-Mania Raw and, yes, the match sucked. But was it really worth shitting on that badly?
I don't think it was.
Tonight, my fear is that lost in all the rabid fandom craziness for Punk and Bryan and the hate for Batista/Orton--which I'm all for by the way--will be a bunch of stupid chants that do nothing but scream 'Look at me!'.
I hope I'm wrong but I doubt it.

 

There's a right time and a wrong time for a crowd to shit on the match. Batista/Big Show at Hammerstein was the right time, because the E clearly didn't understand their audience. Orton/Sheamus didn't need to be shit on.

 

I think the breaking point for me was last week when they started doing the RANDOM WREST-LER *clap clap clapclapclap* chants during the Bray Wyatt-Roman Reigns match. It's one thing when it's a garbage match with garbage booking, but for god's sake, it's the two most heavily-pushed members of the factions engaged in the most interesting angle on the show, and people are getting bored and self-absorbed because in three minutes it isn't Cesaro-Zayn. Yeesh.

Speaking of Cesaro-Zayn, would the WWE crowd give that match a chance to breathe, or would they start chanting for Tito Santana and Festus during the first 30-second stretch without a European uppercut? God only knows what hell the announcing team would visit unto it. LOOKIT THAT FLIPPY LITTLE GUY MAGGLE, HE'S ANOTHER ONEA THOSE B+ GUYS, WHY THE HELL IS HE EVEN OUT HERE WHEN THE AUTHORITY IS DEMANDING THAT BIG SHOW APOLOGIZE TONIGHT

 

It's the crowd trying to get themselves over.

 

In my fantasy world...

Daniel Bryan kicks off RAW with a whine and dine about how he demands Triple H face him at Wrestlemania once and for all. Suddenly...CM Punk's music hits. The crowd goes wild. CM Punk chants galore. Punk stands atop the stage, smug little grin on his face...and tears Bryan to shreds. He talks about how he's been sitting home watching Bryan make a joke of himself, crying about every missed opportunity and failing to step up to the plate when it's really his turn to hit one out of the park. And frankly, he's done sitting back and letting his old pal have the spotlight.

Punk believes he is the best in the world, of course, and that he, of everyone on the roster, should truly be the face of the WWE--finally. Rather than complain about how things have gone for him since his epic title reign last year, the BS with The Rock, etc. Punk offers a simple challenge: you vs. me at Wrestlemania XXX in a Ladder Match (maybe MitB style with a title contract on the line) or Ironman Match (because I would love to see these two go one-on-one for 60 minutes and it's been way too long since we've had a good one of those).

Triple H comes out, pleased to see CM Punk and saving his backside from getting it handed to him by Bryan at Wrestlemania. "Best for business" and so on and so forth, Punk, in essence, becomes a heel of sorts in this situation just by ripping the WWE's biggest face right now and at least somewhat siding with Triple H (though I think it would really go against his character to align him with The Authority completely).

Meanwhile, though we may not be getting Bryan in a title match at Wrestlemania (which we should), we're really getting something better than watching him and Orton square off for the thousandth time and Bryan outclass him in every way. Instead, you get two of wrestling's best performers going up against one another in what would unquestionably be one of the greatest Wrestlemania matches ever. Stipulations or not.

 

I would be fine with that starting at any Raw but tonight's. In Chicago, a Punk pipebomb turns Bryan into a heel.

 

They're going all out so far tonight. Terrific start with Heyman coming out to "Cult of Personality" and heeling his way into talking about Lesnar. Then the Usos win the tag titles.