2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

Reports are he may also be out for Wrestlemania.

No Rollins, no Orton, probably no Bryan and No Cena.

Well, then. Ladies and gentlemen, your new WWE champion ... Hornswoggle.

 

Wonder if they'll go ahead and pull the trigger on Balor?

 

Alright. Well. Fuck.
That kind of throws things for a loop then, no?
I mean, yes, you still have solid potential at the top of the card with Reigns but, man, the rest of that card is looking pretyyyy thin.
So it looks like we're going into reshuffle mode. Given the current roster, I'm not too optimistic they'll be able to put together four true "main event" type matches like they've done in past years. But, if I had to give it a go, I'd go this route. (Assuming everyone I list is available)

Main Event: Lesnar (c) vs. Reigns, Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Title
HHH vs. The Rock. (Assuming Dwayne is able to wrestle this time. He is slated to appear and fighting HHH would be a safe bout to ensure he doesn't get hurt.)
The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt (Wyatt wins this time and the feud actually has Undertaker on to promote it/means something)
Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens
IC Title: Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Diva's Title: Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks
Tag Team Titles: The Usos (C) vs. The New Day vs. The Lucha Dragons in a TLC Bout
US Title: Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Neville
Andre The Giant Battle Royal: Won by Mark Henry because, you know, Texas.
NXT Title Match (Preshow): Finn Balor (c) vs. Sami Zayn

Thoughts?

 

Also, the big caveat with my card above is the NXT slot. I'm hoping they start giving the brand a match at Mania but, let's be honest, there's a good chance they won't especially with a Takeover show two days earlier. I'd bill Takeover as the big special it always is but make the main event bout between Zayn and Baron Corbin. Winner gets the spot in the NXT Title Match at Mania.
To me, that's the best way to organically build the brand and expose a Mania audience (Which will likely be watching on the Network and likely watch the preshow anyway) to the NXT product if they haven't sampled it yet. Bonus, if you're bringing Zayn or Balor up, they can lose on that stage with no ramifications and come right the main roster after a solid preshow match with a ton of hype. Bonus 2, the winner of that bout stays in NXT and feuds with Corbin for the belt in a natural face vs. heel feud before coming up later in the year.

 

My WM travel package stipulates that if the value of the tickets decrease, I'm eligible for a refund of the difference. Does the loss of Cena, who has not missed a WM in a decade, warrant that? FINGERS CROSSED.

But, beats me. I know I've been to SmackDown house shows in which the crowd was reminded that Cena was on the Raw brand and a refund would be issued early in the night.

 

Our friend jpetrie has seen this but I thought I would share with the class my WWE 2K16 creation. On second thought, and had the option existed in the title creator, this should be a Smoky Mountain Wrestling title.

This is the WCW United States Deep South Classic Heavyweight Pro-Wrestling Championship. These colors don't run! They rassle!

 

Now that news of Cena's surgery has hit, rumors abound that WWE will finally clear Daniel Bryan to get back in action. If that happens, people are speculating he'll take Cena's spot and face Taker.

 

Highly doubtful. If you booked your tickets through the WWE, they came at a discount (Compared to what you'd pay on the secondary market.) Plus, the package comes with tickets to NXT and Raw right? Those tickets might increase because of this. (At least because of the Indy signings, depending on how they play it.)

 

Plus, Wrestlemania seems like the Super Bowl. You don't get a discount just because the Texans and Redskins somehow made it.

 

I have heard of house shows where refunds are offered if the main event talent doesn't appear as advertised, although there's always the notation "card subject to change." But I would think, for WM, this far out, they will just say that you're coming to see everyone, not the main event talent.

 

Anyone been scanning the AP wire lately? There have been two wrestling-related stories -- one on TNA's move to Pop, the other on Smackdown going to USA -- that I assume were on the entertainment wire. Always interesting to see wrestling get mainstream coverage like that.
The TNA one, especially, had some good insights about the promotion's missteps and its potential, and a great quote from Kurt Angle:

 

I mean, imagine the roasting WWE would have gotten if it put Jeff Hardy on a PPV in this condition. And that wasn't like decades ago - it's from 2011.