2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

I do think that the crowd is like a jilted ex-girlfriend. Meaning, they're going to keep at it until you acknowledge them. They will not be ignored:

 

Bless you for your Ralphus sig.

 

Jericho never failed to entertain on PPVs. He was one of the few guys not afraid to do the cowardly heel bit when everyone else wanted to be the cool heel/antihero face. The Bash at the Beach match didn't feature Mysterio much because he was returning from the first of his eventual 27 knee surgeries. Showed a bit of rust. Also a short match because it featured interference from Malenko, extending the Jericho/Malenko fued following his return a month prior at Great American Bash (WCW sure did love their Bashes).

Turned it back on this morning. Goldberg/Hennig was decent. I almost forgot that he got the CM Punk treatment in being a non-main event world champion for a few months. I don't think he headlined a show until later in the fall. The Hogan/celebrity matches always took top billing.

Speaking of, this was the big Hogan and Rodman vs. DDP and Malone match, which could have ended sooner had Malone and Rodman not circled each other for 15 minutes. Kinda forgot how big this was back in '98, following the Finals between the Bulls and Jazz that year. Turner defintely got the attention he wanted. I wonder just how much money he threw at Rodman and Malone?

Anyway, the match was so awful it was funny. The highlights were Malone diamond cutting everyone in the ring at some point, even Charles Robinson. Thing is, given the lazy work rate of most of the WCW main eventers of the time, Rodman and Malone didn't look that bad.

 

Bringing Heyman out to Punk's theme last night was genius. And, in a way only he can, Heyman quickly moved back to heel mode when he blamed the fans for Punk leaving and then segued into Lesnar. But the segment lost a lot of steam after that, especially when Lesnar spoke.

The rest of the show was pretty damn good -- and we had two really good tag matches in the Usos-Outlaws and Shield-Wyatt's part two. God, that six-man tag match was fucking epic, and I'm glad to see they're finally starting to show more cracks in the Shield. Rollins walking away was fantastic.

 

I can't overstate how much I loved that Shield-Wyatts match last night. Everything about it was perfect.

 

Alright, so given that last night was supposed to help "shape" the Mania card, what are we looking at right this moment?

1.) Main Event: Orton vs. Batista (Maybe vs. Bryan?): I'd say this is a near-lock at this point. Bryan has to get in there somehow, some way. Otherwise, why intersect his storyline with Orton and Batista's? For a month away from Mania, they've really done little to advance the Orton vs. Batista story so I can't imagine, at this point, that Bryan isn't interjected.
2.) Taker vs. Lesnar: Booked.
3.) Cena vs. Bray Wyatt: Seems like a lock.
4.) HHH or Kane vs. Daniel Bryan: Seems like a lock, though the exact combination is unclear right now. Could make Bryan run a Kane-HHH-Main Event gauntlet, could be a handicap match, could just be a straight up HHH vs. Bryan match. Not sure where this is going, or if Bryan will earn his way into the title match without facing one of these two at WM itself but I'd say this is 50-50 right now.
5.) Ambrose vs. Rollins vs. Reigns: Seems like a lock. Possibly for the US title?

So, given that the big Mania matches tend to go a half-hour or so, what's that leave us with? Half the show booked? More? I'd say you're looking at three-four more matches, including the dark match before the show. My bet is we're looking at something like this for those last bouts:

6.) IC TItle Bout: Big-E vs. Cesaro vs. Swagger vs. ?-> Assuming the Main Event is a triple threat and the Shield match is a triple threat, I can't see this also being a triple threat but I don't think Cesaro vs. Swagger is a big enough draw for Mania and Big-E needs something to do. Might be a good spot to put Rusev since it seems they want to use him but it might be too early to bring him up to the big show.
7.) Tag Team Title Match: The Uso's vs. Cody Rhodes and Goldust-> I would have bet this would have been a spot for the NAO, and it might still be, but given the title switch last night I doubt there's another change before WM and the Outlaw's get their rematch tonight so they would, in theory, be out of contention by the big PPV. If they are, there aren't too many other quality tag teams out there and given the focus on the tag belts they've had the past couple months, I can't imagine the belts get left off the show entirely. Though this could be a dark match contender.
8.) Diva's match: AJ vs. ? -> How sad is it that the WWE can't seem to do anything with the Divas division? AJ is one of the best Divas they've had in years and right now she's completely forgotten about, though I assume some of that is in response to Punk. I'd say we could see an AJ vs. Tamina match but I doubt they'll develop that in time for Mania given that she wasn't even on the show last night. More likely, I'd bet we see AJ vs. Emma or Summer Rae so that they have an excuse to get the Mania crowd to do either the Emma dance or the Fandango dance (though no one does that anymore).
9.) Alberto Del Rio vs. Ziggler? OR Christian vs. Sheamus-> It seems odd to me that any of these four miss making the card, especially considering how much they have all been at or near the main event for the past two years. My bet is we get one of these two matches as a break in between two of the bigger bouts and they get 5-10 minutes tops to tell a story.

Thoughts?

 

They're going to push the title fight down the card. I mean, they might call the "main event," but it won't be treated that way.

 

Depends. I think if Bryan gets in, it absolutely closes the show.
If he doesn't, yeah, the match is getting pushed WAY down the card. Probably after HHH vs. Bryan and Taker vs. Lesnar.

 

If they haven't realized by now -- and especially after last night -- that Batista-Orton isn't the way to go, they never will. They seem hellbent on having that as the main event, no matter how much people complain about it. You still have that whole heel vs. heel dynamic, and these two can't deliver a match worthy of that status, so I don't see any way Bryan isn't in the match at this point.

If he isn't in the match before the show, I could see Hogan using his power as guest host to put Bryan in the match.

This match -- or at least the run-up to it -- is going to be pretty damn good. I can't wait to hear Taker and Paul E. going back and forth on the mic, so long as Brock isn't allowed to talk again.

And after the way they've built him up the last two weeks, they really need to give Bray the win.

Who's the face in this scenario? Folks have been firmly behind Reigns for a while now, but Rollins is also getting a damn good face reaction.

He debuted at the Rumble, but hasn't been in the ring since -- correct? I can't see them putting him in this spot, so who could it be?

Honestly, I could see the tag match getting scrapped. There isn't really a No. 1 contender at this point, but we're still a month away -- so who knows what'll happen.

 

I only say Rusev because they've made a point of promoting him the past couple weeks and last night they brought him out right before the main event. I'm thinking if they really intended on having him debut post-Mania they wouldn't be hyping him so much right now. Plus, you need someone else in that scenario and I can't think of anyone else that could naturally just be inserted for the hell of it.
As for the Shield breakup, I honestly don't know if they need to change anything right now. They could just see where the crowd goes with it. Ambrose is clearly the heel here, what with his actions and the whole "he's left them high and dry!" arc and Reigns is obviously being groomed to be a future face but Rollins has gotten a huge pop since the chamber match and they've really developed him well.
I honestly could see the three just warring with each other ahead of the show and the crowd reaction really determining how things play out.

 

I tell you what, I was already impressed by Seth Rollins, but damn he lit it up last night. And I'm so glad he didn't break his freaking ankle on that top rope suplex spot. He could've easily snapped it in two.

 

The cool thing is, after Rollins did his flips, the camera briefly panned to Reigns, who had a huge smile on his face. He was enjoying the Rollins show as much as the audience.