Official WWE/TNA Wrestling Thread

The Undertaker was in Nashville last night, tonight RAW is in Nashville. Not sure if that means if he'll be on RAW tonight or not. Personally unless it's to set up a Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar WM match it wouldn't make too much sense for him to appear, especially with Punk in a feud with The Rock still.

 

Not surprised/upset that Taker did not come out today. It made no sense for him to, when the ppv is sunday. If he was in town he could have been catching up with old friends

 

Man I love Mark Henry and man was I so wrong about him a few years ago when I said he was basically a waste of a roster spot. They need to give the guy the WHC title now and just let him beat the crap out of guys then feed him to Ryback.

I know I won't be wrong about this one but no matter what Jack Swagger does or who he's with I'll never be interested in him. But please WWE let Swagger in the EC match instead of Dolph Ziggler, it makes PERFECT sense.

 

That Jericho-Bryan match was borderline great. The crowd was hot for it too. Bryan's psychology in the match was top notch, with every close pin fall, he grew a little more irritated, and the crowd chanting "Yes," u til he finally snapped into a no fit, which ultimately cot him the match due to a lack of concentration. If only the announcers would have pointed it out. On well. Very good televised match.

It's time for The Shield to wrestle, so I am happy that they are on the PPV. I really hope they don't wrestle in the black fatigues though, not sure why that bugs me, but it does. I also think they need to debut a new member in order to get passed those guys at the PPV. Brock is the logical choice, but his whole character is built on being a lone monster. If you bring him in, you pretty much neuter the rest of the group, especially Roman Reigns.

But I do think a bigger name has to be added. Flair would be a great add as a name manager, although Heyman makes more sense. I guess if they had Heyman actually quit as Punk's manager only to have him officially guide The Shield, that could have worked. Anyway it shakes out, they are losing on Snday without some sort of chicanery.

Henry did a complete 180, Ray. I had pretty much written him off as well, but he turned it around a few years back and hasn't looked back since. A Ryback vs. Silverback match could actually be a decent upper card match for a non-major PPV. I am enjoying his resurgence and I think he has turned himself into a hall of Famer to honest. Longevity, multiple title reigns, world champion. Quietly, he has had a remarkable career.

I disagree about Swagger, I think he has all the talent in the world, and with the right mouthpiece, can do outstanding. Having said that, Zeb Colter isn't the right mouthpiece (clearly a nod to his old Uncle Zeb character and Ann Coultier, political pundit) and turning him into a racist nationalist isn't right either.

I wish Heenan was healthy enough for a small run. Having him show up, slap Swagger in the face and right the ship, would be fantastic. Alas, no can do. But Swagger can go in the ring, and I like the cocky, smiling all-American American deal. Just think he needs something else to put him back over the top.

 

You know a lot of people say CM Punk was wrestler of the year in 2012 and rightfully so but Daniel Bryan was a close 2nd. The guy since winning the WHC has been on fire and you'd think losing in what 8 seconds at WM would hurt him but due to his talents the fans just love the guy, and I don't blame him. Two weeks in a row where Jericho has been in the match of the night, it's too bad Jericho is leaving again after WM because I'd love nothing more than to see him wrestle Bryan or Punk each night. With that being said I think the Bryan/Kane tag team has run it's course and they should drop the tag titles to Shield at WM, then have a 1 or 2 PPV feud between Bryan and Kane and then move Bryan back to more interesting angles/feuds.

I actually agree with you with The Shield's wrestling attire, it bugs me too kind of. Don't get me wrong, its fine if they wear it when they're just beating down people but to wrestle in it it just looks odd and brings me back to the Big Boss Man/Bull Buchanan team in 2000. With that being say I think they should win at EC on Sunday, I know it's not going to happen and it's going to end with Cena hitting the A.A. on all 3 guys at once and pinning them all at the same time but Shield needs the win more than the super team of Cena/Ryback/Sheamus. Even if it's them cheating to win with help of Heyman (who I agree should be their manager and I think could still continue to be the manager of Punk and Brock seperately too as a nod back to the 80s/90s when you had guys like Heenan, Jimmy Hart or Fuji manage multiple guys but not in a 4 Horseman type stable) but a win would do more them them.

As for Henry, the writers finally got a character right with him. A guy of his size shouldn't be a comedy figure, he should be an *** kicker. And it's hard to believe that Mark Henry has been on the current WWE active roster longer than anyone other than The Undertaker and Kane. Add to the fact that he's been a real solider, never got into trouble and is well liked he's definitely going to be a HOFer one day. I'm sure if anyone even suggested that back in even 2000 we would get laughed off the internet. Good thing Vince is stubborn and refused to fire him due to the huge contract he got in 1995.

See I think the thing with Swagger is the WWE really wants him to be their Kurt Angle and that's just too big of a task for him and the fans aren't buying it. Plus the WWE right now is just so stacked with mid-card talent that Swagger just gets lost in the mix. He may have talent but his matches are just boring, he's just kind of vanilla and doesn't say or do anything that sets him apart from the rest of the roster. Adding a manager would help (although he had Vickie for what seemed like years did nothing for him) since he's not great on the mike but yeah Dutch Martel isn't the answer. When he was injuried it was the perfect time to bring him back with a different look/gimmick but it's just the same with him.

 

A little confused Swagger won the EC, but I guess the WWE's thinking is no one is buying the show for the WHC match anyway so why not try something unexpected. Although I wouldn't be shocked if he lost his shot to someone before WM too.

Other than that the rest of EC was typical although VERY happy The Shield won. It was absolutely the right decision to have them go over.

Tonight should be interesting. I'm definitely expecting Punk to come out and say he wants Undertaker at WM.

 

Actually knew ahead of time that Swagger was winning once Del Rio came out as champ. Just made too much sense. The renewed push for him out of no where, the newest character trait he has where he hates "foreigners" coming in to his country and the fact that Del Rio is Mexican and champion pretty much made it a foregone conclusion for me to expet him to win. Awful.y forced as they should have probably let his character find himself again before putting him that high up, but let's be honest, the WHC is a glorified IC title at this point, and I have no problem with a Swagger as an upper midcarder.

The Shield wo pn and in surprisingly clean fashion, all things considered. Kudos to WWE. I didn't see that coming. I would be great if this led to Sheamus and Ryback growing annoyed with each other. I'd much rather see that matchup at WM than so e of the other combos being thrown around. Plus, you give The Shield some juice for turning allies against each other for promo work, etc.

Interested to see where they go with Punk. The obvious choice is Undertaker, but his obsession with the WWE title makes it hard for me to fathom how he flips eye sited to a new feud one day later, so I will be looking for that. Also, where Bryan and Kane go needs to happen soon too. I would even be okay with them dropping the titles to the dancing fat monsters of mediocrity (Tensai and Clay) tonight and make the break up official for a short run to WM. not my favorite match for Bryan at WM, but one that has to happen after the long pairing.

And of course, Rock-Cena two is now official so I assume promo work and possibly a physical altercation is on the books for the main event tonight.

 

One of my favorite pastimes is to try to guess the WM card months out.

I completely missed Swagger in ''I'm a racist and hate mexicans" match, but I absolutely nailed Rock v. Cena II

CM Punk vs. Undertaker I also had...

I have The Shield going for tag belts (they can be a three man, pick two at the bell team similar to the final run of the road warriors) vs. Hell No.

But I am confused on what is going to happen with Lesnar. Mark Henry? Ryback?

 

Lesnar is penciled in to face Triple H again.

 

Punk can simply go back to what Foley said to him in November, that he needs to do something "memorable". He can say many people main evented at WM and many won titles etc. But the one thing no one has ever done is beat The Undertaker and if he could do that he'd be even more "legendary". He can call The Undertaker out tonight with The Undertaker no showing and then next week Punk can be in the ring running down Taker when the lights go out and go on with Taker in the ring, chokeslam Punk and there's the match.

But I think the simply and obvious angle Punk can use is no one has ever done it, he can always go and won back the WWE title.

 

The three man tag champs was the Fabulous Freebirds schtick, not so much the Legion of Doom. Demolition did it for awhile too once a Crush was introduced to help Ax since Ax got old. But once the WWF got The Road Warriors, they dropped Demolition since they were admittedly, a ripoff of Hawk and Animal.

I wouldn't be surprised if they pull the plug on the Swagger match if it doesn't resonate with the crowd quickly. They always have the ace up the sleeve of Dolph using the briefcase and running the rematch at WM with Del Rio. Or crowbar ring Orton in as a newly minted heel.

If I had to guess, I would put my money on Ziggler and Jericho having a match which should give us the annual work rate match for WM. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Ziggler FINALLY cash in after the WHC match, which sort of tells me that Del Rio will win over Swagger since Ziggler cashing in on Swagger would be an impromptu face turn.

Brock probably gives HHH his rematch which is fine. Personally I would prefer Brock vs. Rock and Cena vs. someone else, but whatever.

If HHH doesn't come back, Brock vs. Taker would be a nice consolation prize if they decide to do something different with Punk. First time in awhile that the card is pretty wide open below the top match, to be honest.

But for the sake of conversation, I will go with the following:

Rock vs. Cena
Del Rio vs. Swagger
CM Punk vs. Undertaker
HHH vs. Brock Lesnar
Ziggler vs. Jericho
Show vs. Ryback (Show is a notorious WM loser and having Ryback give him the Shellshock is a nice WM moment).
Orton vs. Sheamus
Kane/Bryan vs. Dancing Monsters (probably prolong the breakup until WM, but I hope not)
Barrett vs. Bo Rotunda
Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz-stipulation match
Divas match
HOF intro and recap


That's 11 matches for a four hour show and that doesn't account for the promo packages, production pieces and other fluff they stick in. In other ways, no way do they have 11 matches. This also leaves off guys like Rhodes Scholars, Mark Henry, and The Shield. Obviously they will be on the card so basically, my predicted WM is way off. Lol.

I will probably wait until after tonight since so much depends on Punk's plans before coming up with an actual educated guess at a card.

 

Yesterday would have been perfect for Taker to comeback. No one would have expected it.. Oh the lights are out, here we go again...I think with punk getting "screwed" twice last night, hell find his way in the main event, and it will be a triple threat match

 

What would be Undertaker's reasoning to come back?

It's possible Punk could be included in a 3 way. If Taker can't wrestle I bet that will happen. But I'm all for giving us something different than Rock/Cena 2.

 

anyone got clips of the monsters of dance or whatevers comedy bits? I looked couldn't find any...........

 

Official TNA/WWE Wrestling Thread

It was a blackout/superdome joke.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

WMXXX is officially in New Orleans.

And Finkle, the logic for Punk to go after Undertaker is sound, other than the fact that he just spent the last two years explaining why being the champion is the greatest thing e er and the last month having near meltdowns about not being the champ any longer. Having him move on less than 24 hours after being bit would be a bit jarring.

It could work if Undertaker chases Punk. Basically, Punk vows to get the belt back, Taker comes out and tells him that to be a real legend, he should face Taker. Punk refuses, and says his focus is his quest for the title. Taker turns the lights out, freaking out Punk. Next week, Taker is in the ring and lights go out. They come back on and The Shield and Punk are in the ring, beating down taker.

I actually, would seriously consider having Punk beat Taker with the help of The Shield. Can you imagine how big that would be? It will never happen but wow.

 

Since when does wrestling and logic go hand in hand?

Punk can move on because he has to. The WWE title match is Cena/Rock. He can still say the title is important to him but now has a new goal in mind for the time being.

I actually don't like Undertaker chasing Punk, what's Undertaker's reasoning for it? What does he have to gain? Then again Taker didn't have a reason last year to challenge Triple H again.

 

It's just too sudden of a turn for Punk to just change course and focus on the Undertaker after stating how important the title is to him for the last two years. It would deflate what his whole character is about. You have Undertaker chase Punk because at this point, you need to have someone take Punk off of his course as opposed to him voluntarily derailing himself.

Undertaker can justify chasing him because CM Punk keeps claiming to be the best in the world, Taker can simply walk out and ask Punk to prove it on the grandest stage available to him. Essentially, UT is looking for a fight and has targeted the loudmouth that is Punk. Punk can try to sidestep it, but ultimately, given a few weeks to think about it while avoiding direct attacks, he can justify it by what you said in a previous post.

And I think tonight's opening to RAW sort of backs up what I am talking about. It is too hard for Punk to simply walk away from the title picture. Having him face Cena next week is a great lead in and buys them a week to figure out how to introduce Punk to a new angle.

Also, I may have called it on the Sheamus-Ryback tension. If they do it right, they can keep both faces and have them face each other at Wrestlemania in a Finlay-Benoit style, hard hitting match.

 

Another thing is, Rock will miss the next two Raws... Having punk in the match can help build the match

 

I'm liking the montana freeman swagger lol

 

Good point about Rock. Probably the underlying reason they are having this match next week, to help draw folks in with Rock not being there.

I actually dislike the new Swagger reset. Thought it was too over the top and the same stupid gimmick that JBL ran with Misterio and similar to what Show was starting to do. Oh well, I'm a fan so I a happy for his success...I guess.

 

swaggers thing seems more extreme to me then past.

 

I think Sheamus vs. Ryback would be awesome.

What I would also like to see in the future is a Ryback versus Mark Henry feud. And.... and bear with me.... a Kofi Kingston/Henry feud (I can explain my reasoning for that, if you'd like).

 

I don't understand the reasoning behind Mark Henry running away from Khali a week after he beat the guy clean. I guess it makes about as much sense as Cena putting up a guaranteed WM WWE title shot against Punk for no reason (not that I'm complaining because those two have very good in ring chemstry together).

Also poor Daniel Bryan who has to be the one to try and make Swagger look good while jobbing.

I am looking forward to the 6 man match and expect The Shield to win again this time due to a Ryback/Sheamus mishap.

 

Thought Jericho was either doing a stretcher job or turning on his partners there. Just way too schmaltzy with the crowd and was actually distracting the ref on two occasions for the shield. Guess not, oh well.

Tonight really didn't advance anything for anyone. Rather disappointing in that regard. Would have been nice to see SOMETHING move forward. The in ring action was good though, so huzzah to the guys for bringing it a day after a PPV.

Edit: new title belt. FINALLY!

I like it a HELL of a lot more than the spinner belt. Still pretty ugly, but a vast improvement. If the side panels are custom for each performer instead of a nameplate, I can dig that.

 

well...um that new belt is, um... well... um... it sucks

 

actually its growing on me



I just dont like the bling

 

I like the belt.

If you guys follow the "Masked Man" on Twitter, he seems to think that Mark Henry is getting over so well in htis latest incarnation that he needs a WM opponent. This makes it a bit more confusing. We know for sure, that it won't be Taker (done it..and it sucked).

I still think that Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus is too perfect a match to ignore.

I am thinking this:

Curtain Jerk: Miz vs. Cesario for US title
Diva Chip...
Hell No vs. The Shield for Tag Belts
Ziggler vs. Jericho for the MITB case
Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus for IC belt
Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton
Big Show vs. Ryback
HHH vs. Lesnar
Swagger vs. Del Rio for WH Title - No Disq
Taker vs. CM Punk
Rock vs. Cena for WWE Title

That is a helluva show.

 

The problem with Ziggler/Y2J for MITB is 1, Y2J is going to take time off after WM i believe to start touring, so he wont win, and they already fought for the MITB case. Makes no sense for them to fight for it a 2nd time. Ziggler won that case and should not have to worry about losing the contract. It made sense when if Y2J loses he gets fired, but what would they do this time? Ziggler has nothing to win. What I think would be cool is Ziggler vs Y2J and have Ziggler cash in the MITB Stygian Del Rio/Swagger(in the first match of the PPV) and them have him face Y2J for the title, There would be 3 WHC matches at WM if they did that. I still think Punk is involved with Rock/Cena, but can see him getting screwed next week by the undertaker or something to create a match between them. Also I want to see Cody Rhodes vs Golddust

 

Not a bad card. Traditionally though, they tend to look at the card like four, one hour shows. Meaning they put one of the top matches to end each hour. Not that your card about was in any sort of order, but for example, it wouldn't surprise me if they put the divas match in between Taker/Punk and the Rock/Cena. The thought process being that it gives the audience a chance to recover from an emotional "epic" match, go take a bathroom break, get food, etc. before settling in again for the main event.

The card has to be spaced in a way that the crowd doesn't get worn out from too many big name matches in a row. Otherwise they run the risk of being burnt out and being dead for the finale.


As for Henry, he has been on a roll for a few years with some variation of this gimmick. He should absolutely be on the card. I could see him against Ryback as a fall back option. Still would be impressive to see Ryback lift him up and walk around the ring.

Misterio will also be on the card. Big name, huge crowd pops typically and is healthy-ish.

As for Sheamus-Barrett, I agree that they have hard hitting, fun matches ...but I would actually love to see them work together under the tutelage of Regal. Some sort of European pact where a friendly rivalry of beating other people up leads to them having a loose association with each other.

Oh, and about six to eight months ago I started telling everyone here that Dean Ambrose was coming. Well Bray Wyatt is coming next and his character is a winner. Much like Robert De Niro in Cape Fear. Bray Wyatt is also the former Husky Harris and brother of Bo Dallas, who has recently made his debut.

I honestly think having Bray come in and take over Kane to awaken the monster, would be a sweet way to debut him. Plus the dude can go in the ring.

 

One issue with a Henry - Ryback match...neither guy has any wind. The reason I dropped it from my card. That match has the potential to snoooooze.

Saw some Bray Wyatt promos. Yep.... guy is a winner.

 

You can always hide a bad match with match stipulations. The key is to choose the right stipulations. With those too, a cage match is bad, as is a No DQ. But a Tables, Ladders and chairs match? Winner. Two big strong guys being able to break and bend stuff is typically a perfect stipulation, but you are correct, not a lot of stamina on either guy. But a ten minute brawl with some lumber (weapons) thrown in with a Shellshock through a table? Count me in.

WWE has a TON of big guys right now. Probably more than I can ever remember, to be honest. Not saying it is good or bad, just making an observation. I am wondering if they could run some sort of battle royal with all the big guys or something. Maybe for a "cash prize." Seeing the ring sway with Henry, Clay, Tensai, Show, Kane, Khali, Ryback, Langston, Zeke, Mason Ryan all in the ring might be a fun thing to see in an off PPV.

Also, I am really surprised no one has tried to ripoff Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs with a group coming out in suits, speaking the way they do in his movies and basically thinking that they are better than everyone else.

 

The belt is ok. Nothing special but miles ahead of the spinner title. I kind of wish there wasn't so much black behind the WWE logo. The best looking belts have and always will be the 90s WWF World Title and the NWA/WCW/WHC belt.

 

I thought Mysterio vs Sin Cara was going to happen at WM.

There's really a ton of guys with nothing to do so perhaps we will get a battle royal match so they can fit everyone on the card. Seems like the most likely outcome.

 

title growing on me a lot now


It will never trump my favorite title


but its 100x better then the spinner crap. Like rock said, it looked like a toy, and it said Champ... stupid... glad its gone but Man that belt is huge, and will look big on Punk

 

My one gripe about it is that it doesn't have a nameplate

 

TBH, I loved the Undisputed Championship the most.

 

Undisputed title was by far my favorite of the moder belts, followed by the belt shown above. I also liked the streamlined IC title that came out a few years ago and am probably in the minority for liking the tag team belts, currently.

I agree with Finkle that the lack of a gold plating behind the logo is bothersome. Makes it look cheaper than it is. The leather strap shouldn't be that exposed, IMO. I am okay with the lack of nameplate, provided that the side logos can be personalized for each champion that holds it. If it goes to a generic wwe logo after the rock drops it, then I think it will need some sort of identifiable feature. Bit overall, still better than last one. And a deviation from the round main part is fairly bold for them.

 

The undisputed title wasn't bad either, it's a shame it didn't last that long. I'm a sucker for the 90s versions of the IC and Tag titles.