2015 Pro Wrestling Thread

Kofi.

 

Here's a story on the event, which will be live on the Network at 5:30 a.m. EST.

Notes On WWE 'Beast In The East' Network Special Main Events, How Long The Show Is, More - WrestlingInc.com

 

Kofi? Jesus. Was Barry Horowitz not allowed through customs?

 

Batman after making that post.

 

Ha! I actually do steal that move. Rather often, too.
Write a good story?
Self back-pat.
Make deadline on a football Friday?
Self back-pat.
Make love to the wife?
Self back-pat.
It really is appropriate for any situation.

 

Observer from July 6:

- Jarrett is doing an invasion angle with TNA right now, because TNA is desperate to preserve their TV deal. His coming in was kept secret, to the point that Destination America people didn’t know, and had to ask TNA management why some guy from another wrestling company was on their TV.

If the invasion angle goes as planned, it would start sometime in August, because TNA already has July’s shows taped and in the can. TNA has tried to do a similar angle in past years with ROH, but ROH hasn’t been interested. Jarrett will get exposure for Global Force Wrestling from the deal, but TNA is balking at letting him use much of their talent.

- Per feedback to the Observer, the response to TNA’s Slammiversary was on par with a Dragon Gate show. Basically, well-below past TNA, ROH and New Japan shows.

- A few months ago, it looked like it was a good market for independent / uncontracted wrestlers. New Japan and ROH were on the upswing, Jarrett was trying to get GFW off the ground, and WWE was hiring for NXT. However, thanks to TNA flopping and Lucha Underground still not getting word on season two, things are much softer now. Jarrett is only paying $300 to $500 per wrestler, and mostly staffing his shows via favors.

- Speaking of releases… The following wrestlers have either not have their contract renewed by or left TNA: Sam Shaw, Gunner, Magnus, Mickie James, Cowboy James Storm, Austin Aries and Low Ki. Some will probably be used again on per-show deals, but none are under TNA contract currently.

Gunner (Chad Lial) has the size and look WWE likes, but he’s 33, which would be old for their developmental. Low Ki has a rep as being difficult to work with, and already burnt out on WWE. Magnus (Nick Aldis) doesn’t work great, but he’s believed to work well enough and look good enough to get a WWE contract of some sort. WWE has shown no interest in bringing James back, who is engaged to Magnus. He is already announced for some GFW dates.

Storm and Aries both have the in-ring and mic talent to fit in WWE, but they’re 38 and 37 respectively, and strongly associated with TNA vs. having indy cred. Aries would probably get more money if he wanted to go the indy route.

General morale in the company is incredibly low. The production staff is again behind on getting paid.

- Because of TNA’s screwy taping schedule, in the span of a week Matt Hardy did a handicap match, a tables match, a ladder match, a Full Metal Mayhem match and a King of the Mountain match.

- MMA was not legalized in New York this year, as UFC couldn’t get the 76 sponsors it needed to force a vote on the House floor. It’s a political issue there, as pro-union legislators in NY have been pressured by union brethren in other states to keep UFC out, because their owners are rabidly anti-union.

- Tough Enough’s debut did 1.21 million viewers, which was very disappointing, because USA’s prime time average is 1.5 million. For comparison’s sake, the 2011 season with Steve Austin did 3.33M on debut, and 2.79M in week two.

Josh Bredl is said to be Vince McMahon’s favorite to win the series, probably because he’s a 6’8” former college football player. He was also almost eliminated in the first week. Bryan is said to be taking the show seriously.

- Raw also hit an 18-year seasonal low on Monday, doing a 2.51 rating and 3.46M viewers. It hasn’t been that low since Nitro was beating it. There was no sports competition of note. The show did grow, from 3.36M to 3.54M and 3.48M viewers.

TNA was worse. Despite promoting on social media that Jarrett was going to be there and it was a live broadcast, they did 451,000 viewers, barely up from 449,000 the week before. They’ve increased from 369,000 their first week on Wednesdays, but it’s still well below the 570,000 they were doing on Fridays. ROH is doing about 330,000 viewers now, despite no commercials on Destination America.

- Wrestle-1 has money problems, and had to cancel a planned U.S. tour. Funaki has also left the company.

- For Mania, Vince allegedly already has six matches in mind. Daniel Bryan is not involved because of his health issues, and Vince is also “meh” on Sting vs. Undertaker. However, Sting isn’t retired and they do plan to use him in the future. Rock and Rousey vs. Triple H and Stephanie is planned for a main event slot, or possibly singles matches of either.

- Ziggler has gotten a contract extension offer, but hasn’t signed it. He’s countered, asking for a few things, but it’s believed they’ll get it done.

- 2K Sports is planning to have 120 playable characters in WWE2K16. Last year’s version had 67.

 

Lol. I've been known to do it myself from time to time.

 

I watched the first episode of Tough Enough the other night. Pretty terrible production. The background music was so loud, you couldn't hear what anyone was saying. And did they send those idiots to an empty bar? The whole thing was just terribly produced. The two "challenges" were running back and forth on a football field and then running the ropes. First show and all, but that was a big, steaming bowl of MEH.

 

It was during Russo and Bischoff's "pull up the curtain" phase, when they thought every single wrestling fan ever was scouring the Internet dirt sheets 24/7 and knew every inside reference and back story ever told.

Russo did a "shoot" on how he was sick of Hogan playing the creative control card and demanding to beat Jarrett for the title. So he had Jeff lay down so Hogan would become champ, and then Russo fired him and had a replica belt made for Jarrett, "the real champ," to defend against Booker T later that night.

From what I read, it was originally all a work, but Russo got carried away in his promo on Hogan and said a bunch of really nasty things that weren't planned, resulting in Hogan filing a real lawsuit.

Just typing that all out makes me feel almost as dumb as I felt for watching it in the first place.

 

Supposedly, some lawyer had just forgotten about it and Vince had thought the contract was suppose to expire the day a of the PPV.

In a way, it's kinda like Vince got a comeuppance for Wendi Richter's Screwjob and Montreal.

 

I watched the second one yesterday. First, the elimination rules are complex. Second, so far, the only one who looks like they have any redeeming personal qualities is the pudgy guy. Everyone else keeps bickering about bullshit, especially the women, who are more cattier than Catwoman.

It was funny seeing the one guy who said he didn't care about history to get blasted by Hogan.

 

The best part?
The thing that reportedly sent Hogan overy the edge was when Russo called him "bald."