Official WWE/TNA Wrestling Thread

Reigns' character isnt made for fan favorites. Not sure why they dont make changes to it. I feel a lot of wwe wrestlers could use a character makeover.

Its been done before... Didnt Triple H used to come out to the ring as Terror Rising or some ****? Then i think in WWE he started out as some sort of William Regal personality with the british background music and all.

That wasnt going to last... And so they made him The Game.

Undertaker has gone with two personalities and both have worked great.

Reigns, ive seen him using the microphone, he sounds allergic to it. It is cringing hearing him speak. Uninspiring to say the least. He needs a lot of work before you can make him the face of the WWE.

 

Yeah the problem is that the WWE isn't using Reigns to the best of his abilities. He was over with the crowd as the silent butt kicker/muscle of a super group that did a great job hiding his weaknesses (which were his actual moveset, to actually wrestle longer matches by himself and cut promos). If the WWE simply turned Reigns into someone similar like Goldberg he would have been fine. Instead they just put him out to die in terribly written promos and in matches where he's exposed. Plus it doesn't help that whenever he does interviews he comes off as an arrogant entitled jerk who feels like he should be handed everything instead of earning it. Reigns comes off as fake and everyone knows he's the WWE's next chosen one, which makes him a freaking perfect heel characters because the fans would buy it.

 

I thought it was interesting that the custom plate for Sheamus is the WWE logo. Wonder if he's getting his own custom clips


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Explains the side plates. Honestly I wonder how they are going to sell Sheamus/Reigns. Two people I can care less about. Right now nothing in WWE really interest me, which is a problem because Wrestle Mania is not that far away


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

New RAW ratings low, it's almost like WWE Champion is/was a bad idea.

 

You're not the only one who cares less about Sheamus/Reigns but it just means the WWE will push those two harder because they're the only company in the world that likes to spite it's paying customers.

 

So WWE released Brad Maddox because he called the Indianapolis crowd "pricks"... boy are we in the PG era or what lol Pretty sure Vince McMahon has told the crowd many things, far worse than the word prick. How many times has he told the crowd they can go straight to hell lol. I don't know Maddox much, but knowing he was the turkey on the tonight show for the Undertaker, he seems like he will do just about anything to promote the product. WWE could have simply just issued an apology and suspended him, instead they fire him. Sheesh, way too harsh.

 

Things are a lot different now than it was in th Attitude Era, you can't really compare the two, especially with the WWE so corporate and geared towards kids. Truth be told Maddux was probably going to get released sooner or later anyway (I'm actually surprised he lasted as long as he did) and it was the WWE sending a message to the other wrestlers that that type of language isn't allowed.

 

Not sure why they're sticking Del Rio in the "League of Nations", you'd think he'd be above playing 2nd fiddle to Sheamus' job squad but it's not like Del Rio has set the world on fire since his return either. Good news is it's getting closer to our savior John Cena coming back and making everything all right and I'm kind of not being sarcastic about that.

 

Would cena return before royal rumble... My guess is he will be the surprise contestant.. Not muchc of a surprise everyone would be expecting him at RR.. But i think its time to put the strap back to him at wrestlemania until they can figure out what to do with the heavyweght roster... Lack of talent everywhere..

 

At some point next year i expect neville to be the champion..

 

Honestly they should give the belt to someone for the New Day. Those guys are fantastic and appeared on what, 4 of the promos this past raw? Big E would seem the logical choice for this - I could get behind that for sure. I still miss The Architect Seth Rollins however...

 

I think Cena is due back shortly after Christmas. His first live show is at MSG I believe on the 26th or 27th of December.

 

The best idea would have been to keep the belt on Reigns and turn him heel and play up how he's always been groomed as the "chosen one" while also playing up Dean Ambrose as the misfit babyface who had to fight for everything he's every gotten. But Vince is still stuck in the 1980s and is completely out of touch with today's product.

 

For those of you who are completely bored or disinterested in the current product (as I am), and have the Network, you may be excited to learn that WWE has been doing a "content dump" this week.

What content you ask? Well, it's a lot. There is the old NWA World Championship episodes (basically pre-WCW), more WCCW, AWA, Mid-South, Smokey Mountain, GWF (basically post-WCCW/USWA Texas), and Stampede (!!) are all being uploaded onto the network. If you're a fan of old-school stuff at all this stuff is a veritable treasure trove of vintage material. Right now a lot of the stuff is super limited, but at least they're making an effort to put stuff up, and the stuff they have put up so far is all fantastic. It seems like they are focusing on specific timeframes or former wrestlers with a lot of this stuff (NWA - Flair/Four Horsemen, WCCW - Von Erichs/Warrior, Mid-South - Duggan/JYD, Smokey Mountain - Jericho, GWF - Austin, Stampede - Bret Hart/JYD) Lotta fun stuff out there now.

Add in the original content of shows like Table for Three and Breaking Ground, and I feel like the Network is really hitting it out of the park right now. Too bad the current product is in such shambles.

 

I think that would have been fine as well. Reigns as a face is just so boring to me. He's gotten a lot better on the mic for sure but still have some work to do.

 

Yeah I'm really happy with the past few weeks content dump. I wish they would give us more old WCW Nitros and Saturday Night and WWF stuff but really there's more content on the Network now then I could ever watch. It's about time.

I'm most excited about GWF stuff, even though it's more USWA right now. I loved coming home from school in the early 90s to watch it on ESPN.

 

There are so many boring characters like Reigns, Sheamus, Kane, Rusev to name a few. The current product is just so boring and stale right now. They really need new blood like Finn Balor and the continued pushing of Owens to spark my interest.

 

Its sad when Kane is labled as boring lol that guy was a beast in the late 90s.. He was ripped, huge.. Looked like a defensive end/jared allen/julius peppers body type.. Now hes just fat, bald, and he speaks perfect english.. Didnt he used to use a metal device gimmick on his throat to speak lol

And now when he goes back to that mode its now called demon kane... Which sounds like a street fighter ripoff.. Like Akuma and Demon akuma. Plus how lame is it that we are saying he can transform instantly after blowing smoke.. This isnt Dragon ball z..

 

Maybe it's just me but I never found Kane to be an interesting character outside of his first 6 months with the company until he lost to The Undertaker at WM14. And again to me, he stopped being useful around 2000ish, although the first month after he lost his mask and tag team stuff with Daniel Bryan was pretty good too until the character got stale again.

I respect the hell out of him for finding a character that lasted 18 years and being a good company guy but if I never have to see him wrestle again I'll be fine with it, especially in meaningful matches.

 

I liked Paul Bearer more than I liked Kane.. So that may have added to why i didnt mind kane.

 

Went to a house show in Charlotte last night. Great time. Miz is spectacular on the mic, he was the highlight of the event for me.

Seeing the Dudleyz and New Day was a treat, such great chemistry, and the Dudleyz performed at the last live event I went to (Armageddon in Ft Lauderdale in 2002ish)....Big Show beat the Acension in a fun match.

Charlotte and Paige had a great match. Stardust, Bo Dallas, a Jack Swagger sighting, Mark Henry.....and of course Reigns Vs Sheamus.

Man, maybe it's the vest, but my wife agreed Reigns looked super "thick" live in person, as opposed to a very shredded and lean Sheamus. They put on a great match, and of course Reigns won via disqualification (for the title).....they put Reigns over with him leaving last, slapping hands, etc.....but I have to admit, even for a house show type crowd, Reigns was HELLA over. Crowd went absolutely ape **** for him. TONS of kids in Reigns vest/shirt/glove.

No Ambrose or Owens which was of course disappointing.....oh and shout out to the "cool smark" 2 rows behind me trying desperately to start a CM Punk chant all....****ing.....night....and it never catching on. Dude was a joke.


Side note: Meltzer said Raw will be "Very interesting" tonight, supposedly some changes were made. So we'll see what that means..

 

So if there were some changes made to RAW last night, I wonder just how terrible and boring the original plans were.

I truly wonder what the heck has to happen for Vince and Company to finally make some changes to the product. I'm sure at Titan Towers they have a calendar count down to when Cena returns but man they're going to need more than just him.

 

I just dont understand why kids would like Reigns but oh well, if thats true then i guess Vince knows best..

 

That end segment is being rightfully torn to shreds. Reigns will never be a star due to his horrendous mic skills. He's just "cringey"....seems very uncomfortable every time it talks, its so damn noticeable. Hell, Sheamus is pretty solid on the mic.....however Reigns makes him look like a Rock Redux in comparison.

It's just awful.

 

That's because Reigns is not good with a script. He actually held his own with Randy Orton during a promo one time.

 

Reigns was just put into the spotlight way too soon when he wasn't ready and with the booking of him since The Shield split really killed his heat. I'm not sure he'll ever be the next big thing like the WWE wants.

 

New Day is killing it. Getting better every week. The unicorn dance with team bad was awesome.

 

So I don't get it, is Roman Reigns a heel now? If not why should we be cheering him when he randomly attacked Triple H? And why didn't Ambrose or the Usos come out to help Reigns when the League of Nations came out in the main event? And where was Barrett? And if the decision is to turn Reigns heel why the hell didn't they just do it last month where it made sense? Does any of this make sense?

Also I think Reigns is officially this generations version of Lex Luger. I simply don't get why the WWE consistently books him in title matches only to have him lose and expect the fans to buy into him.

 

Was Austin a heel? Why should we cheer for the guy attacking the head of the "Authority", after the "Authority" has been screwing him over for months? It seems obvious to me.

They just saved Romans character IMO. Best PPV, hell, best WWE moment of the year for me was that last spear, and it's not close.

 

What Reigns did was completely out of character for him. At the Survivor Series all Triple H did was come down to the ring to shake Reigns' hand and Reigns speared him. Then last night Triple H came out to try and talk some sense into Reigns and Reigns flipped out and attacked him multiple times for no reason. He also attacked Triple H when he wasn't paying attention and the beat downs were excessive. Those are things heels do. Whether or not that's what the WWE wanted to do or not, again it could just be poor writing/execution too.

 

If you take those moments out of the context of the story being told. Romans interactions with HHH and the Authority have history.

 

Yes they do have history but since when does a baby face attack someone like that without being provoked? Plus like I said the attack was way over the top and he attacked him multiple times and even attacked him when Triple H was knocked out. What face does that?

Again probably has more to do with the execution of the angle than Reigns himself. I don't blame Reigns for any of this. I doubt he's the one making tater tot jokes.

 

I disagree that it was unprovoked, that is my point about the history of the story arc. Austin once attacked Vince in his hospital bed, shocking him with the defibrillators. I love that it was over the top. Roman really needed an edge.

 

It was absolutely unprovoked. Triple H came out to calm Reigns down and had his back turned to him when Reigns hit him with the Superman punch. Triple H never showed any actions that he was trying to pick a fight with Reigns. Reigns just snapped because he once again lost a title match. Reigns attacked him afterwards after he was already knocked out too. The whole angle was just off. I felt like it was a distraction to get people to forget that Reigns lost a title match again.

The stuff with Austin and McMahon was different because that fit Austin's character. Austin was basically a heel, doing heelish stuff but still getting cheered. He never changed his character during that run. Plus Vince was such a hated character they people wanted to see him get beat up by Austin.

I agree Reigns needed an edge, I just think the angle didn't come off well for him. It made him seem like a heel and put sympathy on Triple H. Triple H can come out tonight on RAW and cut a babyface promo and the fans would buy him as a face Authority figure now.

 

Austin used to do that all the time. So did Rock during his feud with HHH.

That Show was HOT. Every match save for the Ryback match was good. Charlotte-Paige was great. New Day was awesome..and the MEvent, was physical, had great bump spot, and Roman Reigns broke down when he realized..that nothing he can do can buy him a fair shake.....so he freaked out and tore the place down.

It made perfect sense to me. After a lack luster month and change..they redeemed themselves with this PPV.

 

Wut.

Teh crowd cheered wildly with blood lust and got even louder when Reigns went to deliver the spear. They loved that he beatdown HHH.

and they WANT EVERYBODY to remember he keeps losing...that is the story they are telling.

 

I think it's the wrong story to tell with Reigns. How in the world is it helping the "next Cena/big star" get over by continuing to put him in title matches and have him lose and then keep pointing it out? He's being looked at as a loser/choker ala Lex Luger. If the WWE wants Reigns to be "the guy" then just put the title on him and let him run through the roster like Cena did. How or why does that want to get people to pay to see Reigns win the title after multiple failed attempts?

And yes I think there are better ways to get Reigns over with the crowd then sucking punching Triple H and continuing to attack him after he knocks the guy out. Yes Reigns got a big reaction from the spear but there was absolutely mixed reactions during the angle, there are cheers and boos too. It's not like they turned him into Austin after WM13 last night. I thought the angle was poorly executed. If Reigns took out the League of Nations like he did with Triple H it would have been fine and he could have shown the same fire. I just don't see how this makes Reigns look like a face, to me it makes it look like a sore loser who once again lost the big match and flipped out.

Again it's just bad writing/story telling. They have 30 or so writers and this is the crap they come up with. That's why the product is so stale right now. There's no direction.

 

So I tuned into TLC last night, or at least I tried to. The Network finally started working for me just before the Sasha/Becky match on the preshow. I was excited, and I was hoping to get a nice, 10 to 15 minute match that can showcase what they can do in the ring. Instead they wrestled for what felt like only a couple of minutes before heading away to a commercial break that seemed never ending. We then came back from the break and essentially went straight to the finishing sequence. They then threw it to the preshow panel who started discussing Roman Reigns, including a replay of the Tator Tots promo, before I gave up and turned on Doctor Who.

The match I was looking forward to the most, Ambrose versus Owens, had a horrible build involving popcorn and soda. You have two of top three talkers currently in the company (I'd put Wyatt up there somewhere), and instead it's about wacky hijinks. I just don't get it. I considered turning the show back on - but ultimately decided it was too much effort. From the opinions I've seen online there are those who thought it was just boring, middle of the road, and others that really liked it.

Thank god we still have good stuff going in NXT and Lucha Underground is coming back.

 

Well at least for one night I guess I was proven wrong as Reigns was super over with the crowd (although I still didn't love the excessive beat down of Triple H last night). The WWE was smart opening the show up with Stephanie followed by bringing out the top dog Vince. I didn't like the nut shot though or even the slaps but baby steps I guess. It will be interesting to see where they go from there with Reigns and if he'll stay over now that he's the champion. I guess the winning formula was just beat up Triple H, then Vince, then win the WWE title.

Wonder what the ratings will be for last night and moving forward. I would have to think that it would move the needle a little bit.