2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

I doubt they'll even wish him well. They'll offer a one-sentence announcement saying he's gone and that's it.

A real shame, though. He was somebody you wanted to root for to have a good career because his kid was really sick.

 

With the loaded WWE roster right now, what are some of your dream feuds? You can take guys/girls from the main roster and NXT.

 

Samoa Joe-Brock Lesnar.

 

I like that one. Would love to see Lesnar take Samoa Joe to Suplex City quite often. For me, I would love to see Owens vs. Lesnar.

 

Cena/Styles, although we know who would go over in that. But it's two mainstays of the past decade.

Orton/Corbin. Similar builds and philosophies.

The Shield vs. The Bullet Club (I hate this The Club bullshit. The Club is a steering wheel thingie)

Lesnar/Samoa Joe. Just a hoss fight.

Asuka/Charlotte. Just two great athletes

Nakamura/Rollins. Would be fun

 

Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles. I don't think there are two guys more capable of looking like a million bucks in the world right now.

Also true fantasy booking if I could see a tag feud or match with Jordan and Gables vs Kidd ane Cesaro.....

 

The Bullet Club is technically involved in 4 brands right now: New Japan (Omega, Bucks, GoD, Naito, Fale, Hall, C. Owens), ROH (Cole & Paige), NXT (Balor) & WWE (Styles, Anderson & Gallows).

 

Nakamura vs. Owens, Nakamura vs. Rollins, Nakamura vs. Ambrose.

We will see at least one match between them. They're on the card for the E's show in Hawaii coming up.

Balor isn't technically involved in that story line, yet, so you can't really count him.

 

Dude, when he comes out wearing the garb and doing the hand gestures, he's involved in some way.

 

On that topic......seems "the club" is being panned as a silly way to refer to those guys. Place holder for Balor Club?

If not is all the Balor Club merchandise a botch?

 

They can make Balor into a mega heel if they pull this off correctly. But we all know that won't happen.

 

Observer from May 16:

- UFC may or may not be for sale. The number rumored has topped out around $4 billion. Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta own 40.5 percent of the company each, Flash Entertainment (Dubai government entertainment arm) owns 10 percent, and Dana White owns 9 percent. The brothers could sell majority stake without involving the others, or all four could sell. They could also be looking for another minority owner, which would dilute the ownership, but would likely produce a sky-high new valuation. Any sort of sale is unlikely until July, given all of the legal hurdles and signoffs needed.

- WWE released a bunch of financials, and so far, 2016 is equal or stronger in almost every aspect than 2015. However, viewership is down huge with males. It’s actually equal or growing with women, probably because of Total Divas and the women’s division bringing in new viewers. But year to year, Raw is down 25 percent with men, and the past two years, it’s down 39 percent.

- Lesnar is scheduled to return in August for the SummerSlam build. Also, he won’t be on the sold out Hawaii show on June 29. It’s not a network special either; that and the Lesnar thing was incorrect info leaked out.

- Beyond the guys already announced as released in this thread, Christian’s talent contract also technically expired. He has a separate contract for his show with Edge. Christian’s last match was in March 2014. WWE haven’t used him because of multiple concussions.

- Adam Rose has been indefinitely suspended after being arrested for domestic violence. He was on the bubble for being cut anyway, given his drug suspension and low place on the card. He’s likely gone once his legal case with his wife / ex-wife is resolved.

- Barrett was technically cut a month before his contract expired, at his request. He’s the only guy who left of his own will.

- Sandow has already taken some indie bookings. He’s probably not a good fit for New Japan or ROH, but TNA would likely have interest.

- Riley, TNA might also have interest, given his look and ability to announce. However, WWE lost faith in him after repeated knee surgeries.

- Ryback’s merchandise has all been slashed in price, and it’s expected that his contract won’t be renewed. He allegedly asked for a guaranteed contract and the payment of road expenses if he came back.

- Naomi has a torn tendon in her ankle, and Tamina had knee surgery recently, so Team BAD is off TV for injury reasons.

- Dana Brooke was brought up to pair with Emma, and to feud with Lynch and a TBD babyface (Banks or Paige, most likely). Bayley won’t be up anytime soon because they like her as a strong draw for NXT, and they don’t have a good face on that promotion to replace her yet.

- ROH’s Adam Cole is expected to get a ton of interest from WWE, New Japan and TNA when his contract is up, but that doesn’t happen until April 2017. WWE could have signed him the same time they did Braun Stroman, but passed, because they thought Cole would do well on the indies and mature.

Moose is also highly coveted, but federations are unlikely to guarantee him heavy money. TNA would likely offer more money than WWE, but they’ve been late paying talent again.

- Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne) will be signing full-time with New Japan.

- Found in Prince’s vault after his death was a documentary on Kobo B. Ware narrated by Morris Day.

Observer from May 9:

- Shane is still only on TV, and doesn’t have a backstage role or position. However, it’s obviously been expanded from a short-term role that was supposed to end at Mania to past that.

- Enzo suffered a “severe concussion” in the Payback match. Apparently, he got knocked out from the knee in the corner, and not the throw into the ropes. He hit the ropes bad because he was already knocked out.

- Payback got 76.5 percent approval from readers (205), 14.6 percent thumbs middle (39), 9 percent down (24). Best match was Owens vs. Zayn (172), Reigns vs. Styles (71), Jericho vs. Ambrose (20). Worst was Charlotte vs. Nattie (91), Dolph vs. Corbin (74), Enzo and Cass vs. Vaudevillains (45).

- Ryback is on “hiatus” with the company, given his recent statements. His contract expires in the summer, and he was upset he wasn’t being positioned as a top guy. McMahon and Ryback were far apart on a contract extension, and WWE is reluctant to put guys on TV with expiring contracts. Ryback also applied for a trademark on “The Big Guy,” bypassing the WWE, which didn’t make them happy.

- WWE cut announcers Rich Brennan (Richard Brocchini), the former Smackdown lead, and Kyle Edwards (Arda Ocal). It was expected, since Cathy Kelly and Andrea D’Marco (Andrea Ocampo) had been hired.

- Mark Henry, 44, is still under contract, but there are no plans to use him before it expires later this summer.

- Orton is recovering slower than expected, and is due back in mid-June.

- Eric Young debuted at the April 28 NXT show, losing to Samoa Joe.

- In Ric Flair news, he wasn’t drunk at Logan Airport on April 27, he just fell and hit his head. They had to edit out a line on Smackdown, when he told Natalya to “kill herself” during a match. His podcast contract ended with CBS, and he’s looking for a new deal. And his second autobiography is due out this year.

- Darren Young might be pushed, because Bob Backlund, 66, is doing some promos for him as a life coach.

- If the NXT cruiserweight tournament goes well, then a global women’s tournament could follow.

- Nakamura’s t-shirt sold out immediately on May 2 in Japan, when it was released.

- Mania has been rumored for the New York market in 2018, but there is nothing definite yet. SummerSlam 2017 is in NY, so they might be reluctant to go back so soon for a major show.

- Although WWE said they would stop allowing one Network account to be used on multiple platforms at one time, they haven’t implemented it yet.

- On The Ross Report, ROH COO Joe Koff said they’d be open to a licensing deal with WWE for their back catalog, i.e. WWE paying them a yearly fee to offer old matches on the Network. No actual discussions have taken place though.

- TNA is currently trying to sign talent to exclusive contracts, with no indy available for the weekends. It would cost a lot more for them to do this, but it would up the asset value they have in any sale.

- Crazzy Steve signed a new contract with TNA.