2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

Observer from March 28:

- Mania coverage will start on the Network at 5 p.m. EST, with an hour-long pregame show. The Andre Battle Royal and some dark matches will run from 6 to 7, simulcast on USA, followed by the actual show from 8 to 11. Cable providers have been told the show will end between 11:05 and 11:20.

- No word on why Daniel Bryan cancelled his appearances.

- Pretty much everything in Dallas for Mania weekend, whether it’s ROH or Jim Ross talks or NXT, has sold out.

- Wyatt was out for 10 days with his back injury, but he’s working again.

- Cena is due back in July, as of now.

- Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows are scheduled to begin in April. Unknown if it’ll be on the main roster or NXT.

- Cesaro has been advertised as the replacement for Neville on the European tour and will be returning soon.

- There will be a 30 for 30 on Flair, and for part of it, he shows on camera how he bladed himself in the past.

- Eric Young and Bobby Roode are both done with TNA for now. Roode’s contract expired on March 8. They had the option to renew him at a higher rate for a year, but told him they couldn’t. There are conflicting reports about whether WWE is interested in either.

TNA is still looking for outside investments to help stay afloat. If they go down, then it’ll flood the market with 20+ established guys, and only New Japan and WWE are offering somewhat similar cash.

WWE has switched NXT from a pure development brand to a mix of development and hardcore, so guys like Roode would fit there. The response TNA guys have gotten from fans has surprised WWE management, who always thought it was much more minor league.

- Impact on March 22 had 331,000 viewers, its second-best number. On March 15, they did 307,000 viewers, but peaked at 400,000 in the third hour when Drew McIntyre won the belt.

- New Japan is preparing an IPO.

- Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) and Nick Gwiazdowski (N.C. State) have both been heavily scouted by WWE, UFC and other organizations, but it’s believed they both want to pursue the Olympics first.

- MMA was legalized in New York, pending a signature from the governor, which is expected to happen. UFC promised the legislators four shows a year for three years.

- “Speedball” Mike Bailey attempted to bypass some visa requirements to make some Evolve shows for this weekend and Mania weekend, and instead, he got a five-year ban from coming to the U.S.

- UR Fight’s show on March 20 was a disaster financial. Guys like Jim Ross, Dan Severn, Mysterio, Angle and Roy Jones Jr. all cost big money, but they only sold 280 tickets, and the show gained more infamy than anything else because of Jones’ knockout of a random MMA fighter.

- Blue Pants was used by TNA for tapings on March 17. She hasn’t been used by WWE in months. Shelly Martinez, Veda Scott and Deonna Purrazzo were used at the same tapings. Velvet Sky got pinned early in the show, and she’s been buried since saying that she wanted Russo back and tried to get a WWE deal.

 

If it is depression, I'd imagine he's going through what any athlete goes through when they retire. What do you do when the cheering stops? For some guys, like Jericho, they have varied interests. But for someone like Bryan, wrestling was basically his life.

Not to mention, he's dealing with health problems as well. It's enough to make anyone feel depressed.

 

The E is surprised by the fans' response to the TNA guys? Talk about not keeping up with your industry. No wonder they're having so many problems.

 

A 30 for 30 on Flair? Holy shit I am so hoping that it turns out as great as I want it to be.

 

Yeah. Between his in-ring career, his partying, his womanizing, his alleged sexual harassment stuff, his bad business deals, and his self-esteem issues, there should be enough for a 60 for 60.

 

In fairness to WWE I don't think it's reasonable to assume all tna guys would get the response Styles is getting. I think he's the exception not the rule and there's at least 10 under used guys currently signed I'd rather watch than Rood or Eric Young

 

What I'm expecting with Roode and Young is they'll probably working the indies, mostly Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling. But if I'm Triple H, I'm jumping on my phone to secure them to contracts. At least, verbal deals to appear on NXT, a bit like Samoa Joe first had.

 

Slick Ric might get a two-volume 30 for 30 like The U did.

 

My favorite non-English-speaker-posting-to-WWE-Facebook post this week talks about how unstoppable "Bork Laser" is. "Dan Anbaros" has his work cut out for him, Maggle!

 

So here's what we're gonna do, bro. After WrestleMania, we're gonna give Brock some time off, but I got an idea of how to write him off TV and get him back on.

So he's gonna lose the match to Dean after Paul turns on him, bro. But forget about Paul, because we're gonna drop that story and put Paul together with the Social Outcasts. I'm tellinyabro, it's gonna be hot.

Anyway, so the next night on Raw, Brock is gonna go crazy that Paul turned on him and that Dean beat him, so he's going to immediately demand a US title match. So, Calisto will have dropped the strap the night before, bro, to Ryback after Sin Cara turned on him and hit him with a pinata.

So Shane comes out, because Shane won the night before by locking the Undertaker out of the Hell in a Cell, making it impossible for Taker to answer the 10-count, bro. I know there's not been a 1o-count in the Cell before, but we gotta put Shane over in a way that doesn't damage Undertaker, bro.

So Shane tells Brock he hasn't earned a shot at the US title because he lost his WrestleMania match. Brock goes livid. He trashes the place and he F-5s MICHAEL COLE, BRO!

Forget that he did is last year. These gahddamn marks won't remember.

So Shane BANS BROCK LESNAR FOR LIFE, BRO!

Cut to July. We're gonna do Money in the Bank, bro. But instead of a ladder, we're going to put it in a water tank filled with eels, bro. Anyway, making a run-in during the Charlotte-Sasha Divas title match is a masked man we've never seen before.

He halts the match, tells those bitches to get out his ring, because THE NEXT HOT THING IS HERE.

So, that's the first clue to the fuckin' smarks who think they know everything. We lettem think that it's Brock come back. Cus he was the Next Big Thing back in tha day, get it, bro?

We also call him BORK LASER. It's like that great angle you guys did a while back when that piece of shit Hulk Hogan came back as Mr. America. Nobody saw that swerve, bro.

So Bork demands a Divas title match at SummerSlam, bro. And we bring back INTERGENDER MATCHES, BRO!

Fast-forward to SummerSlam, and we pull the biggest swerve in history, sweah to gahd or I'll go in the gahddamn grave, by revealing that Bork Laser isn't Brock Lesnar ...
... IT'S MARIA KANELLIS.

THIS WILL BE THE BIGGEST SWERVE OF ALL TIME, BRO!

 

Outing: Bradley is Vince Russo.

 

Guess what? Another one bites the dust.

The Miz allegedly got injured during last nights live event in Richmond. Some are speculating that he might have broken a bone but nothing has surfaced yet on the matter.

I don't know if this is karma's way of telling Vince it's time for him to change some things in various aspects of his business but this injury bug has reached a whole new level of ridiculous. Thank God Randy Orton and Cesaro are coming back in the next 2 months.