2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

Here's where the "no blood" rule could add to a match, inspired by watching the Joe/Balor match:

This could only work maybe once every 2 years or so, but have a second or third match in a feud happen at a PPV where they can do some blood. The heel, knowing matches are stopped for blood, intentionally busts open the babyface. One, the match stops and the heel can recover. Two, the babyface is loing blood, has blood in his eyes, generally at a disadvantage. Three, the heel can work to re-open the cut, trying to get a full stop to the match. If it's a title match, the heel protects his title.

It's as close as we'd get to a First Blood match.

Can we do this at least once, WWE creative?

 

When I first watched WWF, whenever he put his claw finishing hold on, they would put a big red X over the screen, presumably so you wouldn't see any blood. It wasn't clear whether there was actually blood every time, but we always were dying to see what was behind the X, so it added to his mystique as a bad ass.

 

Bradley, I'll be headed to Orlando. Got a question for you.
How was Axxess? I've been to two Manias. At WM22, the concept was just starting so it was a bit weird and not at all applicable to what goes on today. At WM29, they tried something new and brought the event to an arena setting. It was an absolute disaster in that they had superstar signings spread apart, wouldn't tell you who was where and you could only get to one (maybe two if you stuck to total jobbers.)
From the posts I've seen this weekend of friends of mine who all went, it seems like they're back to the set-up where all the wrestlers are at one area and you go line to line.
Can you let me know?
My wife and I will be going to Orlando but I doubt very much we'll be going to Axxess unless I hear it's improved since WM29. It was, by far, the worst part of our trip last time. (Though I did get to meet Sasha Banks back before she got big so it wasn't a total loss.)

 

ECW and ROH were operating at a fraction of the budget of WWE though, and also, they were going up against WWE.

 

Observer from April 11:

- Mania took over Dallas in an unprecedented way, with locals noting that there was more promotion and support for the event than the Super Bowl in 2011. Every wrestling-related event in the area sold out as a result. There were huge mark-ups for everything except the HoF ceremony.

The actual paid attendance was 93,730 people, with the number swelling to 97,769 if you include everyone in the building (talent, production, workers, security, etc.). They announced it as 101,763. It was a legit sellout, as the only tickets available two weeks out were SRO. It’s likely the biggest sold ticket wrestling show of all-time, as the North Korean shows in 1995 that had 150,000 and 165,000 were heavily papered with freebies.

The gate for the show was a little bit more than $17M, setting another record. In 2011, the gate was only $6.2M, which suggests that their prices were way too low for several years.

- Mania got 27.7 percent thumbs up (121), 30.9 percent thumbs middle (135) and 41.4 percent thumbs down (181). Best match was women’s title (248), followed by IC title ladder match (128) and Jericho vs. Styles (20). Worst was Battle Royal (108), HIAC (92) and Reigns vs. HHH (87).

- NXT Takeover got 99.6 percent thumbs up (444) and 0.4 percent thumbs middle (2), zero thumbs down. Best match was Nakamura vs. Zayn (403), worst match was Aries vs. Corbin (314).

- Lesnar losing to Reigns at some point is in the cards. Lesnar hasn’t lost in a singles match since the SummerSlam 2015 schmoz to Taker (where the ref didn’t see Taker tap), and he was last pinned by Triple H in a no-holds barred match at Mania 29 (April 2013). He hasn’t been beaten by pin in a straight singles match since Mania 20, his go-away match with Goldberg.

To a lesser extent, Sasha Banks probably isn’t losing (or at least, getting pinned or submitted herself) until a later PPV, when they’ll do a title switch. Natalya and AJ Styles are temporary opponents.

- Big Show vs. Shaq is a possibility for Mania in Orlando.

- Brie Bella’s retirement wasn’t announced on Mania or Raw because they’re going to use it for Total Divas.

- The current plan is to keep Triple H and Stephanie off TV for a while. Triple H was kept off NXT to prevent him from getting babyface reactions before Mania, although ultimately, it didn’t help prevent the crowd from shitting on Reigns.

- The NXT promotions are confusing, since Corbin is one of the younger guys who needs more seasoning and regular wrestling, which is harder to get on the main roster. Apollo Crews can work really well, but isn’t getting over well in NXT. Meanwhile, Samoa Joe is 37, and Finn Balor is a well-traveled flier and 34. Nakamura also clearly needs no seasoning; Meltzer compared it to sending Curry to the D-League out of the NBA draft, just because.

- Deals are believed to be in place for Bobby Roode and Kota Ibushi. The latter’s English is a work in progress, and he’s got a lot of miles on him already.

- While WWE said this would be a “new” thing to have a women’s title, well, that’s how they referred to it from 1984 to 2010, when it was merged with the Smackdown Divas’ title.

- A class action lawsuit against WWE over stock price manipulation, re: TV and network numbers, was thrown out on March 31. The judge ruled the plaintiffs didn’t have proof that WWE had intentionally misled investors.

- WWE is eying Lucha Underground talent. Melissa Santos, an announcer, was backstage at Mania. They signed La Sombra last year, and they’d probably only add one or two. Nicole Savoy of Shimmer is also on their radar, and Evolve’s Will Osreay and Sabre.

- Richochet (Trevor Mann, 27) isn’t taking any indy dates past June, which suggests to most that he’s signing with WWE. He finishes with Lucha Underground in mid-May. They technically have a six-month non-compete built into their contracts, but it’s believed to be unenforceable because they won’t pay talent to not work for six months.

- Johnny Gargano, 28, and Tommaso Ciampa (Tommaso Whitney), 30, have signed NXT deals. They’re similar in structure to the ones Samoa Joe and Rhyno have signed, where they just wrestle at occasional TV tapings and bigger shows.

- Forbes had a list of WWE salaries, which Meltzer said are mostly correct for 2015. The rough list: Cena $9.5M, Lesnar $6M, Triple H $2.8M (includes executive pay mixed with performer contract), Orton $2.7M, Rollins $2.4M, Reigns $2.1M, Taker $2M, Big Show $1.5M, Kane $1.3M, Ambrose $1.1M.

Overall talent payroll is $50M, which is 7.6 percent of overall revenue. In most sports leagues, it’s closer to 50 percent, but the WWE has unique expenses (more than pro leagues), plus no union for wrestlers.

- Total Divas is making big changes because of bad ratings. Gone are Mandy Rose, Mendes and Fox. Added are Maryse, Lana (wedding episode with Rusev), Trinity (Naomi) and Renee Young, which will mean Dean Ambrose as well.

- One of the original plans for Mania was an Ambrose vs. Jericho feud, which was teased way back when Jericho teamed up with Reigns and Ambrose. However, things changed once Styles was signed and they needed an opponent for Lesnar.

- Orton is still three months away from returning, per his estimates.

- Rollins was still noticeably limping backstage at Mania, so he’s probably not returning right away. He’s also going to be filming a WWE movie, Temple, with Wesley Snipes(!) and Anne Heche. Rollins plays one soldier in a covert ops team that gets trapped in a military compound when its AI goes haywire.

- Titus O’Neil’s suspension ends Sunday, so he’d be eligible to return on the April 11 Raw.

- WWE Battleground will be July 24 at the Verizon Center in D.C.

- Off-camera, Reigns is apparently telling the crowd, “I run this bitch” and “This is my motherfucking house, bitches.” It’s unknown if that’s just him frustrated or him going heel. Jericho was also pissed at the crowd response on Monday.

 

Of note, that Super Bowl was on lock down for most of the week due to the ice/snowstorms that crippled travel in the area. So locals may not have noticed the promotion since they were shut in for the most part.

 

Since it's right down the road from me, looks like I'll be going if everything aligns.

 

I'll write up my thoughts soon. I'm enjoying standing in this grocery store line too much.

But if I can swing the money, I'll try to get to Orlando. Gotta survive possible furloughs this year.

 

Axxess uses Xs instead of Cs because the C stands for clusterfuck and craps shoot. If you do the package like I did, I got an email months ago telling me to pick two sessions to attend. No idea who would be signing when and who is VIP or not (VIPs cost extra, but it's a guarentee to meet, technically. For example, Bryan pulled out but they subbed HBK so as to not issue refunds. Card subject to change.).

There were 8 autograph stations for the non-VIPs. Each session was 4 hours, but talent only signed for 2 hours at a time. There were thousands of people there. There is no going line to line and getting a bunch of autographs. You'll be lucky to get a couple unless you pay for a VIP.

Here's how the scheduling seemed to break down for autographs if you decide to do a travel package, which comes with tickets for 2 sessions. You can always buy more when they go on sale individually, buy on a resale site or get on Reddit and see if anyone wants to sell or trade. And keep your ears open for non-advertised VIP tickets. Becky had a VIP line, but it wasn't promoted like Ambrose or Flair or Undertaker. Had I known, I would have shelled out the money and saved nearly 2 hours of standing in line. Plus, I would gotten a hug.

Thursday night: great to see current main roster or NXT roster if you go thst early
Friday morning: decent selection of main roster.
Firday afternoon: Main NXT folks are getting ready for the night's show but you can see main roster folks
Friday night: don't bother cuz anyone worth a damn is watching NXT
Saturday morning/ afternoon: Lots of main roster folks. This is their "easy" day because it's HoF night. NXT folks will be out in full force, especially at the mini-NXT show. There's a small entrance ramp and ring, and I got to see Asuka, Joe, and Nakumara put on 10-minute squash matches.
Saturday night: Forget it, everyone is at the HOF
Sunday morning: good time for more NXT folks and legends. Everyone else is focused on WM later that day

Staff won't know who is at the Mountain Dew stage or who is at the Tap Out stage. Don't bother asking. At KBH, they were mostly volunteers. The WWE app added a WM subsection on Wednesday, and days/times/tables were posted for each station about 5 minutes before the next talent was set to arrive. Not ,any knew this, so I took advantage. To see Becky Lynch, I saw she would be at Table 3. So I went and lined up even though it was Ryback. Five minutes later, Ryback left, folks in line who didn't want to see Becky left, and lots of folks were scrambling to get in behind me because they had been wandering around without a clue.

But of 2 sessions, I got to do one autograph. It is hard as hell to get one for a main roster or main NXT roster talent, unless you want to meet potential stars who are NXT jabronis even the hardcore smarks don't care about. You never know.

I lucked out in picking Saturday afternoon to meet Becky, and I missed out on Edge Sunday morning. After two long days of runnung all over downtown Dallas, I slept in on Sunday and missed half the session. If you're in better physical shape than me, you can probably get there at the start and line up for someone.

Sunday morning is also extra busy because that't the time the folks who are only going to WM are shwoing up. It was more crowded that day.

The physical set up changes year to year based on space, I'm guessing. At the KBH center, Axxes and the superstore were next to each other in an exhibit hall, down another hall from the arena where the NXT show was held. The Dallas set up had you go through a long ass line, sorta like the line for Space Mountain (Wooooo!). Most people lined up at 5 a.m. for an 8 a.m. opening. The NXT ring was in one corner, while the memorabilia was in another.

There's actually not that much stuff to see, but what is there is maj. I'd say half of the memorabilia is dedicated to that year's HoF inductees. So I got to see a ton of Sting stuff, since he was the marquee. Depends on who you're a mark for. I damn near cried seeing Piper's gear, incredibly sad that he died last year before I could meet him. I was hoping WM would be that chance.

The autograph stations line the perimeter. Inside were food vendors, the ring with the foam pads for the kids, and sponsor displays with freebies (enough MD KickStart to make your heart explode). If you can be okay with just snapping pics of talent and not be standing with someone, security would let folks stand outside of the line and close to the table to take pictures. People who were cool about it, just trying to get a few quick shots, were left alone by security. I got pics of Styles, Jake, Kane, and Edge. The folks constantly yelling for attention and being jackasses were made to beat it.

And, if you're lucky, you'll see crazy ass Bob Backlund just wandering around, not part of the event. Just there.

If I did it again, package or not, I would focus my effort and time and money into a VIP of someone I really wanted to see instead of the headache of the Axxess GA.

Not sure if I exactly answered your question, but I hope this helped.

 

Ok, this is my last post on the trip, sweah ta gah, bro, or I'll go in the gahddamn grave:

The people, whether they were locals or just there for WM, were some of the nicest I have come across. You could strike up a conversation with anyone and have it be an enjoyable one. I met people from Australia, the UK, eastern Europe, South America, etc., standing in line and passing the time chatting. Everyone was great about letting people through for bathroom or food runs at events.

Every event staffer, even if they didn't have an answer for my question, was so courteous and they made sure there were no line jumpers or other tomfoolery at events. The hotel staff were awesome trying to check in thousands of people on the first day. People gave up their seats for me and helped me get around. One dude gave me his seat on the train as we were heading back to the hotel from Raw. Another guy offered his seat in the waiting area/lounge of the Hooters so I didn't stand for an hour. People held elevators and doors, especially the last day when I was carrying luggage.

Beyond me and my problems, I never saw an argument, never saw a fight, people jumping in line, people getting too drunk at shows. The craziest thing I saw was a group of religious zealots protesting outside of the convention center, telling us we were going to hell for enjoying wrestling. It was funny because people would cut promos tomshut them down, but it didn't turn violent.

It was a welcome change, as I've been to Disney World a few times and have seen it bring out the worst in people.

 

Well, that'll cut down on some of the expenses for someone you know. *winkwink*

 

You mean Test?