2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

Seems like Raw's getting bad reviews. I didn't think it was terrible. Didn't think it was great either. Pretty typical.

New Day thing was pretty clever.

Trouble is there's just no juice to the Smackdown feud. There was a five second thing where Charlotte insulted Nikki Bella where it was like Hmm she's going there and then it just didn't take. The men are worse. Seth and KO have much more reason to hate each other than they do to hate AJ Styles or Ambrose. The fans are never going to get into this.

 

Is the Bragging Rights trophy coming back?

 

Don't give them any ideas ....

 

That about sums up the problems with the show. The Goldberg thing with Rusev was pretty good (watching Heyman's facial expressions in the background is always fun). Jericho was excellent, as usual. The Halloween thing with Enzo and Cass and The Club was harmless fun. But other than that, was there anything memorable? Nope.

 

It doesn't bode well for Survivor Series that Goldberg was completely gassed after an entrance, a 3-minute promo, a jackhammer and a spear.

 

He said after the show that it was the first time he had been in the ring like that in 12 years. That's why the spear and jackhammer looked off last night.

 

Given that, I was legitimately afraid he'd hurt Heyman. Looked like Heyman might not have been expecting the spear right that second, like it was a beat too early, and he took it awkwardly.

 

Another 20th anniversary in pro wrestling ...




Somehow, I can't imagine this happening in the WWE today.

 

Hell, that was way too over-the-top even back then.

 

Yeah, it was nutty. And yet, a lot of fans still remember it 20 years later.

 

Pillman wasn't crazy for pulling a gun, he was crazy for pulling it on Stone fuckin' Cold.

 

Back after a hiatus! Observer from Nov. 11:

- Billy Corgan is likely out at TNA, as his suit was thrown out on Oct. 31. He had a deal with Dixie Carter where he would get her voting shares if the company was insolvent, which he claimed it was before a last minute sale to Anthem Sports and Entertainment.

Anthem owns 85 percent, with Aroluxe owning 10 percent, and Dixie Carter has 5 percent. Anthem is backed by Leonard Asper, who has money besides this deal, but probably wouldn’t fund it eternally at a loss.

Corgan is expected to be bought out at his money plus 6 percent interest, but he’s fighting for 50 percent, per the original stakes of the deal he had with Dixie. He paid for three TV tapings at around $1.8M, so it’s the difference between $1.91M vs. $2.7M.

TNA’s UK TV contract will also not be renewed, which was for $1M to $1.5M a year, depending on ratings thresholds. Ratings have been falling, and the executive they originally signed with is no longer there. TNA gets 0 money from their US contract with Pop TV, so their main nut is $5M a year from their India TV deal, which can be cancelled at any time. Going forward though, TNA should technically be in a better position, because they have an owner with money behind them, whether its Anthem or Corgan (longshot).

Since Corgan is gone, the current head of talent relations John Gaburick and head writer David Lagana are probably gone. The belief is that Anthem will bring in their own people. Josh Matthews will also likely be gone, since the response to him announcing has been negative vs. Mike Tenay. Mike Bennett was the only wrestler to publicly support Corgan, so he might be a FA soon.

- For Hell in a Cell, Vince was talked out of Owens vs. Rollins as the final match, and it’s unknown what his reaction was to the muted response for the end of Charlotte vs. Sasha. The original plan was for Sasha to win to blowoff the feud for a bit, but they changed their minds because the heel opposition for her would either be Dana Brooke or Nix Jax. Instead, they’ll do Charlotte vs. Bayley.

Brooke has been quietly moved away from Charlotte, and lost to Alicia Fox on Superstars. The company has soured on her because of her lackluster ring work and audience response, and because she's gained weight.

- WWE is going to have a weekly cruiserweight show on Tuesdays at 10 p.m., after Smackdown. Talking Smack is moving to 11 p.m. They’re still going to be wrestling on Raw.

- Hogan settled his lawsuit with Gawker for about $31M, plus 46 percent of any future sale of the Gawker name. It’s believed he’ll net about $11M after payouts to lawyer and billionaire Peter Thiel, who bankrolled the suit. The settlement absolves Nick Denton and AJ Dauleiro of paying.

- US subs for the Network have gone up year-to-year from 990k to 1.07M. Slow, but steady. Overall, they’ve gone from 1.23M to 1.44M, with most of the jump coming from new markets (Japan, India, Germany). China is the only large market left for them to expand to. WWE probably isn’t in any danger unless the TV contract completely tanks in value when it’s renewed in 2019.

- Hell in a Cell got 100 thumbs up (39.4%), 81 thumbs down (31.9%) and 73 thumbs middle (28.7%). Owens vs. Rollins got best match, Bayley vs. Dana Brooke worst, both by 2-to-1 margins.

- WWE has signed Mascara Dorada from CMLL. He’s been told not to do any jobs on his way out of the company. Dragon Lee is also probably on their ‘want’ list. Kairi Hojo and Io Shirai are also coming to WWE, from Stardom. Akira Tozawa is coming from Dragon Gate.

- ROH has released ACH from his contract. He’s believed to be working mostly in Japan for 2017, since he’s gotten over there.

- Stephanie McMahon signed a new, 3-year talent contract. It’ll pay her $500k a year, in addition to her executive pay.

- Eva Marie will be back soon, because she’s done filming her parts in a movie, Inconceivable. It’s not a WWE Films production.

- The Spirit Squad is open to indy dates, so they aren’t under a WWE deal.