The Wrestling Thread

[hellpop]

Booker and Bryan were in the ring. Booker did a Spinnerooni, then Bryan tried one (not very good). Then Booker had Cena get in the ring (even worse). He then called out Johnny L, who got a nice reaction and flopped around. Next, Titus O'Neal, who did a pretty good one, and then Stephanie, who also did okay (particularly as she was in heels).

Finally, Booker called out Punk. He comes out in a hoodie and no pants. And when I say no pants, I mean NO PANTS, just his underwear. Funny how we've seen this guy mostly nude for years, but here he somehow seemed more nude. Punk takes off the hoodie and does a Spineroonie in his underwear. He then goes over and gives Steph a big hug... remember, in his underwear. If Punk is buried from here on out, this is why.

[karamazov80]

LOL I bet HHH wasn't pleased.

[hellpop]

So here's an interesting thing... I was listening to the Wrestling Observer podcast on this show, and Bryan Alvarez was talking about all the Shawn Michaels/ Daniel Bryan interaction, and how it seemed like it might be leading to a WM match, although he didn't know anything, and Dave Meltzer was stone silent for 15-30 seconds, to the point that Bryan had to see if he was still there. Hmmm....

[hellpop]

So, that's that. I only watched the main event, which did have a clean winner. I'll post that under a spoiler tag, but before I do, I just have to say: THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME YOU UNIFIED THE TITLES! Y2J! Y2J! Y2F'INGJ!!!!!!!

Ahem.

Orton won. Match was okay, though I can't say I was paying super-close attention. They went back and forth, until Orton pulled out handcuffs and chained Cena to the bottom rope. He then SLOWLY went and got a big ladder and SLOWLY climbed it, and Cena unscrewed the bottom turnbuckle. Unlike CM Punk, who did the same thing two years ago, Cena was still somehow handcuffed to the rope, he was just now carrying the bottom rope and turnbuckle with him. He climbed up the ladder and knocked Orton off. I really thought that was going to be it, with Orton looking like the dumbass of all dumbasses, but Cena couldn't get the belts off. Apparently, you had to unhook the holder thing, not just unstrap the belts, and Cena somehow couldn't do that with one hand. He did not do a very good job making that clear, I thought. Orton recovered, pushed Cena off, and Cena hit the corner of a table and was knocked out. Orton then took FOREVER to take the damn belts off. And that was it.

I really hope, tomorrow, that Raw ends with Chris Jericho coming out and kicking Orton and Hunter's asses.

Edited December 16, 2013 by hellpop

[MiniFiend UK]

I only saw the starting match as it was 1am here an was dozing off. The wrestling news sites predicted the finish to that exactly as it went down. I will watch the PPV on catch up sometime during the week an see how the rest of the card panned out.

[karamazov80]

I completely forgot that was last night. I'm not too surprised by the finish. Try to build a little teeny bit of drama for Cena to chase Orton, even though there really isn't much drama because barring any major injuries, Cena will have the belt in a month or two. They actually mentioned something about the Jericho unification during this buildup, and tried to make the argument that it was different somehow, as Jericho was only unifying some minor, insignificant titles, while this was the unification of the classic WWF/WWE and NWA/WCW belts.

[hellpop]

Which is, of course, exactly the opposite, as the WHC is the belt that Eric Bischoff handed Triple H one night on Raw.

My hope is that at least Punk will point out how dumb the whole thing is, and drop the name Chris Jericho.

[karamazov80]

Yeah, it's just stupid all the way around. I think I posted earlier about how they were using some instances of former WWF champs to refer to the Raw belt, and others to refer to the Smackdown belt, seemingly at random.

On a related note, when Cena first won the Smackdown title, I remember him coming out and saying, "you'll be seeing me a hell of a lot more on Friday Night Smackdown!" I thought to myself--yeah, right--and sure enough, he hardly ever showed up after that As if Cena was going to allow himself to be portrayed as second banana to anybody. I'm still shocked he ever won the thing to begin with.

Now, the wait begins until McMahon decides Smackdown needs its own 2nd tier championship, that will be created and undue all the unification foolishness that just happened. . .once again. "There is nothing new under the sun" applies better to WWE than almost any other example I can think of.

Edited December 16, 2013 by karamazov80

[hellpop]

Holy hell, that was a great main event! Bryan and Orton finally delivered the match that we've been waiting for. Much better then any of the title matches we were expected to pay for. But that finish...

[MiniFiend UK]

Watched a few more matches from the PPV and I actually sat through the DIVA match which for me is a rare thing. Standouts are the Elimination Tag Match and Bray Wyatt in the Handicap Match.

His wrestling needs to come on a bit but I like him, I've said before he has a Jake Roberts or Raven side to his character that clicks for me and I think that Spider walk thing he did may just be what pushes him up. Creepy an Impressive for a guy his shape and build.

Edited December 17, 2013 by MiniFiend UK

[karamazov80]

Damn, that is freaky. And I totally agree about the main event. Apart from the lame ending, Great with a capital "G." A small part of me actually wanted to see Orton win clean, just so I could have some faith that WWE was building him up the way he should be but. . .on the bright side, they seem to be setting up Cena/Orton/Bryan, which I'm good with.

On another note, in case anyone missed it, I got an amazing wrestling-related Secret Santa gift from Blacksun:

http://www.minimatemultiverse.com/index.php?showtopic=12552&p=293535

[hellpop]

That Macho Man custom is great. Lucky you!

I kept expecting each time Bryan went off the top that we'd see the old "top rope dive into an RKO" spot. The fact that Orton had to cheat to win actually benefits Bryan, and probably means we'll see a three way at the Rumble. Of course, having both Cena and Orton challenging for the title weakens the Rumble itself, so who knows.

So, as far as I can remember, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton have had five singles matches in main event spots this year, two on free tv, and three on PPV. And the ones on Raw, given away for free, were both much better then the $55 ones. The moral: don't buy PPVs.

[MiniFiend UK]

I find it amusing about TNA (Which I admit I haven't watched in a good while) are heavy into promoting they have a British wrestling champion which they say is the first. Not to pick hairs but RoH had Nigel Mcguiness as champ for ages and he competed worldwide with it. I know RoH ain't on everyones TV but they do get quite good coverage in wrestling circles and especially around the time Nigel was champ.

Its all being done because I think in the UK TNA gets higher TV ratings then WWE and thats only really because TNA is on a free to view public channel in the UK where as if you want to watch WWE you have to buy a TV package with it on. Also I think TNA has a UK tour coming up so its to promote that. Kinda like WWE making Great Khali champ when touring India.

[hellpop]

Davy Boy Smith was also the WCW champ at one point, wasn't he?

But I have heard that the UK is a place they do really well, so that's probably true. The tour probably has a lot to do with it. Of course, AJ's still the champ technically, even though he already lost a match that has yet to air and could sign with WWE and appear on Raw tonight. They should sign him and have him loose to Zack Rider or something.

[karamazov80]

I don't think Davey Boy ever had the WCW world championship. He held several mid-card titles in the WWF though, when they meant something.

Just saw Batista is returning. . .great. . .

[hellpop]

In fairness to Batista, the work he was doing right before he left was great, certainly the best of his career. I was legitimately sad he was leaving, which I wouldn't have thought possible before he turned heel. I hope he comes back as that character, mixed with a bit of the Rock's Hollywood heel character. But he'll probably just be a boring face again.

[karamazov80]

So, Bryan is a member of the Wyatt family now. . .*sigh* I foolishly hoped after a couple weeks ago that we might see a 3-way Cena/Orton/Bryan match, but that just proves how much of a fool I am. Lesnar/Batista at Wrestlemania?

[fatcow]

Well given the facial expressions from Bryan towards the end of the show, it seems as though he doesn't want to be part of the family and that shortly he will turn face and destroy them from within their ranks. Unless they go all out heel.

[karamazov80]

Would seem weird for me to see them do an about-face so quickly with Bryan. Logical thing to my mind would be to have him run with it for awhile, and try to make the Wyatts a legit and threatening stable somehow. They're obviously dissolving the SHIELD, so I'm thinking they'll want another threatening group sticking around to replace them. And to be honest, I only think the Wyatts could go so far without someone there that would make them a legitimate threat in the ring. But I can't figure out the writers at WWE right now, so who knows?

[karamazov80]

I read some speculation that the Bryan turn was made to keep fans from chanting for him during Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. I'm cynical enough to believe it, but also have enough faith in the "smart marks" to think that this won't be able to squash it.

[hellpop]

I still haven't watched Raw from this week (I was at Cinematic Titanic, a live show featuring several Mystery Science Theater 3000 alums) so I haven't seen the Bryan turn yet. There's a rumor going around that the WWE is going to do Bray Wyatt vs John Cena at WrestleMania this year, so I wonder if the Bryan heel turn is building up to that, with Cena trying to save him since they are kinda-brothers-in-law. Whatever, I do suspect that they are trying to neutralize Bryan's huge crowd reactions.

Was just thinking earlier today about my ideal WrestleMania card for this year:

-Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar (obviously)

-CM Punk vs Randy Orton for the title

-Daniel Bryan vs Shawn Michaels

-The Shield vs the Wyatts, loser has to break up

-John Cena (with Hulk Hogan) vs Antonio Cesaro, with Cesaro turning face after the match

-Cody and Dustin vs the American Wolves (they did turn up in developmental recently)

-Big E Langston vs Sami Zayn for the IC title

-a returning Chris Jericho vs HHH (with Hunter tapping to the Walls, because nothing would be more ideal then that)

-AJ Lee vs Eva Ma... no, I can't even type that. How about a dream match (as close as a dream match could get in the Divas division) vs Lita?

[karamazov80]

Some of those would be great to see, but hard to imagine. Seems like WWE was throwing both Bryan and Punk under the bus for causing low PPV sales, so I don't see either in the title picture just yet. UT vs. Lesnar does make sense. Maybe Bautista will win the Royal Rumble and challenge Cena for the title at Wrestlemania. . .a match I wouldn't even bother watching.

Edited January 3, 2014 by karamazov80

[Freaqualizer]

I recently read something that said the American Wolves will not be signed to a deal as there are "already enough smaller guys that can work well." Or something to that effect.

Does the success of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk mean so little to the powers that be? How many Nathan Jones' do they need to fail before they realize? Ryback vs. Mason Ryan? No thank you.

I hate to think Sami Zayn will be brought up to the main roster only to wallow in obscurity.

Sorry. I've been feelin some kinda way about the WWE ever since they shafted D-Bry.

[karamazov80]

Does the success of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk mean so little to the powers that be?

Maybe they're just worrying that another one of those guys will catch fire, against their wishes, and "ruin" another PPV for reasons that, of course, have nothing to do with the writing, build, or the rest of the card. From that POV, it's rational. They want to keep these guys on to have decent filler matches that keep the audiences excited. But it seems like all they want out of the main event is something that is a shadow of the Hulk Hogan, rasslin as entertainment glory days. Unfortunately, a lot of fans have become spoiled to wanting more than Cena Cena and more Cena.

Does anyone remember another example of a company de-pushing or turning a guy because he was getting too popular? It sounds so bizarre on its surface. I could see some of the douches in WCW in the '90s like Nash doing it for their own benefit, but in a situation where the bookers don't have a vested personal interest in doing so?

Edited January 5, 2014 by karamazov80

[hellpop]

Well, they did turn the Rock the first time he won the WWE title, but I don't think that's really what you mean. Yeah, it's really frustrating. Punk is rumored to be thinking of leaving when his contract is up this summer, and frankly I think I'll be leaving as well if he does. I'm just tired of seeing the guys I like wasted, and seeing the guys the PTB want to succeed constantly put over. The way Bryan was pushed aside left a bad taste in my mouth too.

You know what always gets under my skin? When you watch those WWE documentaries, and Vince or Hunter or somebody says something like "ultimately, the fans decide." Such bullshit.