2016 Pro Wrestling Thread

That's kind of stunning to me. I figured Chyna was right behind Benoit on their "They who shall not be named list."

 

RIP. Sadly, you could see this coming a mile away. Fuck addiction hard.

I would've bet the house she'd outlive Sunny, though.

 

They tried to make inroads with her last year, with Triple H saying that she belonged in the Hall of Fame... only for her to then go on Opie and Anthony, or some other show, and claim that he abused her. She also apparently taped some segments for a reality show at Stamford, without getting WWE's permission, when she was invited backstage for something, IIRC. Now that she's passed on, it wouldn't surprise me if they gave her a title card or small highlights package on Monday, followed by Hall of Fame within the next five years.

 

I can see a small mention, or perhaps some highlights, but I don't see a major production out of it, like a 10-bell salute. At least on TV.

As I said on the other thread, RIP. She had a difficult life before and after wrestling, and it's quite sad.

Sunny, though, had a pretty normal childhood. She just got caught up in drugs once she got into wrestling.

 

They'll probably do an In Memory Of card at the start of Smackdown, with a video either on Smackdown or Raw (they may wait to make sure the circumstances surrounding her death weren't anything that could cause blowback first)

As for HOF, she'll eventually get in, though again, it depends on the context of her death. If she died because she took a few too many sleeping pills, that's probably manageable and she goes in next year or the year after. If she had a hard drive full of CP, obviously not. WWE will move with all due caution regardless.

 

Observer for April 25:

- TNA has been getting outside funding from Aroluxe, a Tennessee advertising and production company, with the belief that the funding could lead to a minority or majority purchase. Panda Energy, the parent company of TNA owned by Dixie’s dad, has been reducing its funding in TNA for a while now, believing that the company needs to generate its own revenue.

Dixie Carter currently owns 100 percent of TNA, getting it from her parents. However, that in turn severed the money she was getting from Panda Energy. It also makes a sale tough – she wants to maintain at least 51 percent, but a major investor probably is going to want some control for all the money they’re pouring in.

The TV deal with POP is based on TNA getting a percentage of the ad sales, but the spots have been tough to sell and the rates have been lower than expected because the ratings have been lower than expected. POP doesn’t pay directly for the show to run, but some of the international stations airing TNA do. Carter initially tried to sell 10 percent of the company to the international partners, but they were uninterested.

Aroluxe’s revenue in 2015 was reported as $2M, which hardly seems enough to purchase or run TNA. Two of their employees are Ron and Don Harris, former wrestlers, and two past clients are Segway and Fisker Automotive. It’s believed that if they come up with an investor, Aroluxe will want 55 percent of the company, at least, which has Carter looking at other options.

TV tapings are scheduled for April 21 and April 24, with talent meetings at the same time. Also, TNA programs lately haven’t had graphics, because TNA couldn’t afford to pay the company that used to do them. Show agents (Al Snow, Shane Helms) are now being used as active talent because the roster is so thin.

- Adam Rose and Konnor, both 36, tested positive for wellness violations. It was the second for both, hence the 60-day suspensions. It’s believed the first was when they were in development / NXT, so they weren’t publicly announced. The last announced violation was Hornswaggle in September, and Ricardo Rodriguez in 2013.

- The Undertaker was pulled from shows in England the week of April 15. He has bad back problems, so a long flight isn’t good for him, but it’s unknown if that was the reason or if he just didn’t want to do it.

- Wyatt pulled a muscle in his calf on April 14 in Milan. At first, it was feared to be a tear. He’s likely out four to six weeks.

- Contrary to what he’s said, Cena hasn’t been fully cleared for in-ring action. If he had, they would have used him on the European tour to replace Taker or Bryan, or he would have been on TV after Mania. Internally, his return date has waffled between May and July.

- Titus O’Neil’s suspension is up, but he wasn’t sent out on the Euro tour. He’s expected to be back on TV when they return stateside.

- Jack Swagger’s contract expires soon, so he’s been losing more than he normally does, even on house shows.

- The New Day sold the most merchandise over Mania weekend, meaning they’re likely to stay prominent on the show for a while.

- Triple H has been at Raw the past couple weeks, but he and Stephanie are being kept off TV for a feud with Shane in May.

- WWE has sold out a scheduled July 1 show in Sumo Hall in Toyko for the first time in years because of Nakamura.

- Lesnar, Nakamura and Asuka have been added to a June 29 WWE show in Honolulu, so it’s likely it’ll be another Network special.

- Renee Young didn’t make it to the UK because of a visa issue, so Ranallo was used as a backstage announcer.

- “Total Bellas” will be both a new show on E! and a branding thing for their merchandise. Total Divas was picked up for another year as well, despite the declining ratings. With one episode to go, it’s down 27 percent year to year, from 1M per episode to 738K. The new season will feature the Bellas, Eva Marie, Naomi, Natalya, Paige, Lana, Maryse and Renee Young.

- ROH was picked up by The Fight Network for broadcasts in Canada. It’ll debut on April 26 at 11 p.m., with TNA as a lead-in at 9 p.m. A new English-language version of AAA will broadcast at midnight.

- It’s unknown if Conor McGregor is retiring for real. Dana White keeps insisting the relationship between the company and him is “great,” but if he does indeed get pulled from the card, it would probably cost UFC $40M. McGregor would also be missing out on the biggest payday of his career. Speculation is that McGregor wants a higher cut of UFC revenue, similar to what a boxing headliner would get. (Manny got $20M for a fight that only did 500k buys.)

McGregor has been following more WWE talent on Twitter, and he’s known to be a pro wrestling fan. However, his UFC contract specifically says he needs company approval for WWE appearances, so it’s unlikely that he could appear on WWE TV.

- Will Ospreay has been offered deals from WWE and New Japan. The latter would be more money and he’d be allowed to keep living in the UK, but the WWE deal would give him potential at a bigger payday down the road.

- Christy Hemme, 35, was cut by TNA as part of their cost-cutting. She hadn’t been used lately and was on a per-appearance contract.

 

I knew Rose was getting up there in age, but didn't know Konnor was.

 

With the passing of Prince reminded me of this questionable booking decision:



The Artist formerly known as Prince Iaukea...wow. Just wow.

 

Spoiler

Check out @wwe's Tweet:

Holy shit

 

I can't see the tweet. What does it say?

 

Is that really that shocking, considering what's going on with the main roster right now? All that means is he's getting the full time call up and they need to tie up loose ends.

 

On a non televised armory show in front of like 2500 people on a random Thursday? Yes it's pretty shocking?