2020 Pro Wrestling Thread

I enjoyed Austin’s interview with Kane. A lot of good stuff, plus one random funny moment where Austin finishes his beer, unceremoniously crumples it, tosses it behind him to floor, then reaches down and grabs another as Kane looks at him bemusedly.

 

OK, I know they're shilling Planters with this bit, but might be a tad insensitive after they've been doing tributes to Rocky Johnson all week long.

 

Funny you should mention supposed insensitivity toward Rocky Johnson's death, because if Superstar Billy Graham is to be believed (admittedly an iffy proposition), the Mr. Peanut thing is nothing compared to the behavior of a couple of prominent WWE figures at the Soul Man's funeral:

WWE Rumors: Vince McMahon And Pat Patterson Allegedly Insulted Rocky Johnson At His Funeral

However, it's been reported that the Johnson family wasn't really offended:

Rocky Johnson Family's Reaction To Vince McMahon & Pat Patterson's Behavior At Funeral

 

Sounds like Vince was trying to be funny and Pat just told some story that didn’t land with the angry old superstar

 

Anyone else think it was weird that the last segment on Raw right before the Rumble was the ridiculous Lashley-Rusev storyline? Seems like a weird place to end on heading into one of their biggest PPVs.

 

Kind of shows Smackdown really is the A show now.

Moreover there’s been less than 0 TV time spent building the women’s rumble. Whos the favorite? Whats the storyline?

 

Hell, they've only announced five women who are in it apparently. They've got 25 men announced but almost no women. That's insane.

I'm predicting Rousey returns and wins it.

 

Rousey/Lynch is their best mainstream Mania match.

From a storytelling point, if Ronda’s not coming back, have Becky beat Asuska (sucks for Asuska but oh well). Then Shayna wins the Rumble to continue Becky’s story of wanting to beat people who she hasn’t. Makes a good long term story with Shayna having won the main event at survivor series.

 

At least we didn't get Seth Rollins chucking Owens or Joe over the top rope and hearing the announcers scream 100 times, "If he does that on Sunday he'll main event Wrestlemania!"
Or a big schmozz battle royal at the end of Raw.
It seemed more like they were trying to wrap up some feuds (Mysterio-Andrade) or transition to others (Orton-Styles-MacIntyre) rather than hyping up the Rumble match.

 

Until I heard them talking about Rousey returning, I figured Baszler was a lock to win it. Would love to see them find a way to bring Rousey back for 'Mani and still give Baszler the Rumble win.

 

Yeah, it was something a little different this time.

Maybe they’re trying to soft-pedal the RR hype because they figure fans get burned out with a three-month WM season.

I just hope they end the show by 11 EST or so. Last year, I went to bed partway through the men’s match, and it took some effort just to stay up for the start of that.

 

I've noticed the PPV's are ending a lot earlier lately. The last few have been over by 10:30 EST, and one or two of them ended by 10:15. I'm not sure if they've been starting a little earlier, or they're cramming more into the pre-show, or just streamlining things a bit more (maybe one or two fewer matches on average), but it seems to be a criticism they've taken note of after the last couple of Wrestlemanias went deep into the night.