2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

As lame as having two world champions was/is, I'm 100% in support of anything that involves that Big Gold Belt on my TV screen.

UPDATE: Unless they give it to Roman.

 

In fairness, they don't refer to any of their top titles (WWE, Women's, Tag Team) as world titles. So yes, it could be that they're splitting the title again. Or they may just be phasing out the idea of a "world" champion because after all, nothing's bigger than the WWE Universe.

 

Plus, an awful lot of World Heavyweight Champions weren't heavyweights at all. Taking that out of there was overdue.

 

Wasn't it the WWE World Heavyweight Championship when the belts were last merged? Or am I remembering something incorrectly?

 

Yeah, last brand split the big gold was the "world heavyweight championship" and the spinner was the "WWE championship." When they merged and really with Lesnar they started saying "WWE World Heavyweight championship."

Dropping the World Heavyweight on the eve of another brand split could definitely be a coincidence or troll job.....but.....then again maybe not

 

Technically, those belts were only merged when Orton beat Cena to unify them at the end of 2013. Jericho unified the WWE and WCW titles in 2001, and they replaced the two belts with a WWE title belt in 2002. It was called the Undisputed WWF (and later WWE) Championship.

When then-WWE champion Brock Lesnar became exclusive to Smackdown later that year, Triple H was awarded the belt that became the World title.

Curiously enough, it was called the WWF World Heavyweight title from 1983 to 1998, when the WWF dropped "world" from the name. Not sure why they made the change.

 

With the CWC, could the Cruiserweight title return?

I'd like to see a better version, design and heritage. It was retired with Hornswoggle as champ.

Discuss.

 

Seeing that they had basically blown off the title before, maybe it might be better if they just have a tournament each year that lasts a few weeks. Make it like Japan's Super J Cup, where they just bring in guys from all over the world, with some of their guys, and have the tournament.

For credibility, this would also, on occasion, require Vince to put aside his ego and let one of the non WWE guys win.

 

This article is a couple of years old, but still pretty good.
Tales of Meng/Haku/Tonga.

Meng: Stories of the Scariest Man in the History of Wrestling

 

Still trippy to hear Tony Schiavone call a real sport. I was half expecting him to yell "WE'RE OUTTA TIME!!!" after the batter connected for the pop fly.

 

Observer from July 4:

- Ricochet (Trevor Mann), 27, is believed to have signed a WWE deal. He did a “loser must retire” match with Lucha Underground, which is weird, because 1) they had him win his title match and 2) had him drop the belt to (essentially) a MitB winner except 3) that winner had been their most over face after Ricochet. So, they essentially lost their top two faces.

Mann’s girlfriend is Tessa Blanchard, who WWE has used in prelims for NXT, but she isn’t under contract. Mann lives in Orlando. It’s unknown when he can start with WWE – according to his contract language, it should be the end of 2017, but it’s believed that’s unenforceable, especially given how hot WWE was to get him.

- Talk of Angle going back to the WWE is somewhat overblown; they’re squeamish about controversy right now. He could be in play for 2017, but unlikely for the draft and 2016 unless there is a major swerve.

- Orton still hasn’t begun training for a return. His shoulder still isn’t 100 percent, although it’s improving. He’s about a month away from training, and then, it would be a few weeks before he came back.

- Balor, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are all somewhat clear, storyline-wise, to come up from NXT. Bayley will likely stay down and build toward an Asuka match. Nakamura and Austin Aries were on a main roster house show on June 26.

- Moose’s WWE deal is on hold, because they found out he had a domestic assault arrest in 2009. He could be brought in anyway, but WWE is doing some more diligence on their deal. Regardless, he’s not expected back in ROH – TNA has offered him a bunch of money, even more than the WWE deal.

- Lucha Underground will probably get a fourth season, but costs are mounting for the promotion. TV and merchandising deals for bigger markets haven’t materialized.

- The opening round of the Cruiserweight Classic did not sell out at Full Sail, as the usual NXT crowd didn’t buy tickets. They sold roughly 250 tickets. Gargano, Ciampa, Ibushi, TJ Perkins, Sabre Jr, Swann and Jack Gallagher were said to have good to great matches. The next round is July 14, followed by another round on Aug. 26 and the live finals on Sept. 14.

- Jimmy Snuka has been booked for the WrestleCon convention, which is an indy thing that overlaps with Mania in Orlando. Since his attorney has claimed he’s incompetent for his murder trial, the prosecutors in Lehigh are looking into it.

- TNA talent is upset because the next tapings were scheduled from Aug. 11 to Aug. 14, which conflicts with some British bookings some of them had that paid more than the TNA work.

 

That might be the biggest no-hitter in the history of minor league baseball.