Fantastic

It seems like such a waste, I can't help feeling that Ziggler needs some kind of reinvention though, maybe that might change things for him? Hell, maybe a switch to tights from trunks and a new hairstyle (keeping the blonde though) with a bit more attitude, better entrance music, and dropping that awful finisher (the Zig Zag) might be the key? Ziggler's popular with the audience because he's an incredible athlete and has a natural charismatic aura about him, although it's potential simply isn't utilised by WWE to proper effect. In order to do so, it would require some significant investment by the creative team, which they aren't prepared to do with anybody outside of Reigns, Cena, and Rollins at the moment. That WHC run in 2013, in hindsight, merely seemed like a brief reward for his hard work over the previous year. A little pat on the back for busting his ass getting others over.

Does anybody think there's a very real possibility that Dolph Ziggler will never be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion?

Mets via Reddit: He basically explicitly confirmed what Dave was suggesting last week. It's not looking good, but I have a suspicion that this is all part of Brock trying to get leverage for a better WWE deal. I mean, what's Brock going to go back to UFC for? 1, maybe 2 big time matches? Sure, it's a ton of money, but he could very realistically epically fail in his return match. He's 38 and no Randy Couture, he'll never be Heavyweight champion again. Everything Brock has done in WWE in the past couple of years has significantly enhanced the product. They would be fools to lose him. Does anybody think that given the concessions Brock has received thus far, that should he really have the itch to fight, that WWE might actually allow him to compete in an MMA match whilst under contract, provided he re-signs?

Christian's 1st solo theme

- Taker's Wrestlemania 27 theme - Flair's theme for when they didn't want to pay for Also Sprach Zarathustra

Lots out there, especially on YouTube, some of my favorite rarities include: Taker's fall 98 theme Orton's Spring 2006 theme Hayabusa's FMW theme

By how WWE seems to operate, it seems likely that Rusev will need to lose the US title before any kind of WWE title program comes to fruition. That being said, he doesn't strictly have to lose to lose the title. He should lose it in a multi person match without taking a pinfall or submission. However, I fear that they'll end his undefeated streak at Wrestlemania with Cena capturing the US title. Or there's the other option, and the most beneficial in my mind. Rusev simply retires the US title (which is redundant, given that WWE seems incapable of managing two mid tier titles at once) stating that "nobody can defeat me, so I have no need to defend the title and I declare myself the eternal champion of the United States!" WWE could then quietly vacate and retire the title.

At this stage of the game, when his NJPW deal comes up, if I were WWE, I'd offer Shinsuke Nakamura a high six-figure contract to come over to America. Nakamura in my opinion, is without a doubt the best professional wrestler in the world at this time. He has not only mastered Strong Style, but it seems he "gets" the kind of entertainment and flourishy style of the American promotions and could very quickly adapt what he does best to the WWE mix. Asides from Inoki's handful of International exhibition matches, the most successful Japanese wrestler to crossover to the states has been Muta. I strongly suspect Nakamura could greatly surpass Muta's achievements and become the most successful Japanese wrestler in WWE history. What's more, the possibilities write themselves, there's an endless list of talent that Nakamura could work with and have drawing feuds and ****+ matches with.

I think Sting should at least face the champion in a match for the title (and lose obviously) at some point. That's bound to sell.

This man gets it. I was racking my brains earlier trying to think of any examples in Puro. Ebessan? Well done! Excellent example. Didn't he at one point get so over with the Osaka Pro crowd that people were mainly paying to come see him wrestle Kamen?

A possible cool idea for the network: So, the WWE is missing something gimmicky and silly, something like the Hardcore Championship, obviously that doesn't fit into a PG environment... "The WWE Network Championship" The Premise: Each week, the title is defended live on a Network exclusive broadcast. After a title defense, Within kayfabe, the champion selects three opponents of their choosing and then Network viewers vote on who they'd like to get the next shot at the title on the following defense.

Been thinking about how the Andre The Giant Memorial Cup means essentially fucking nothing. It's only been a year since it began, but it basically has no significance to it currently, the trophy was destroyed last year, and the winner (Cesaro) has done nothing of note, recieved no decent singles push and the achievement has rarely been mentioned since. So, why not make the stipulation that the winner faces whomever is WWE World Heavyweight Champion at Summerslam? Or is that too far ahead in booking mindset to work?

This man gets it. I was racking my brains earlier trying to think of any examples in Puro.

That's true (pun not intended), but you could argue that the Little Jimmy thing didn't start to get over until his team with Miz. But yeah, I screwed that one up!

The reason I didn't include the likes of JBL was because they were given a push from the onset. JBL basically entered into a WWE title program with Eddie Guerrero and became the top heel overnight. That was planned. No, really the idea here is random ass gimmicks they give to guys they have nothing for, not expecting them to get that over, only for them to have something of a breakout with the gimmick and force a push.

You know, things that actually got fairly over, and even necessitated an actual push, despite been given (mostly) to guys creative had nothing for with no intention of them going anywhere? I've included a poll of stuff from the top of my head, feel free to list and discuss others.

To be fair, Matt Bloom had a hell of a run in NJPW. But yeah, how can people complain about Bray Wyatt? He's a really good wrestler with great character potential that has only suffered due to shitty stop/start booking. All that asides, I can't help feeling that the Taker/Wyatt match is going to be a casket affair given Bray's segment from Fast Lane.

Fuck Sheamus.

Sting vs. Triple H in regards to how the card currently looks, is pretty much the only match that's going to have universal fan interest in the "right" guy. I don't think the result is in doubt (Sting is winning), even Triple H's ego isn't that big. It would be a huge booking fuck up to have Sting lose his first WWE match. It would significantly diminish what they could do with him going forward.

Which is stupid, because everything gets out these days in some form or another anyway. I'm hoping Triple H will act as a voice of reason if this indeed happens to be the case. Hunter and Stephanie have repeatedly acknowledged the current generation and the fact that "kayfabe is dead". I do reckon they'll manage to keep it secret, or at least uncertain. They managed to do so with Punk, it was obvious he had re-signed because he wouldn't have been given that title shot at MITB otherwise, but there was no formal public announcement or leak of it of any kind.

So where do we go from here? WWE needs some damage control measures, because it's highly unlikely Reigns going over at Wrestlemania is going to (a) sit well with the majority of the audience and (b)Take him to the next level. Simply put, Brock has had over a year of one of the biggest and strongest builds WWE have ever designed. He has gone over virtually every upper echelon star (Cena, Triple H) multiple times, ended the longest running streak in professional wrestling history and has significantly enhanced the value of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. By defeating Lesnar to win the title, that individual will be the recipient of perhaps the biggest concievable rub in modern WWE history. Think about it, they are going over the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion, a man of legitimacy who has succeeded in almost everything he's ever sought out to achieve. He holds the distinction of being the only person who has been the focal point of both the number one professional wrestling and MMA companies in the world. They are also receiving the distinction of ending a two year undefeated run, and the person that Vince McMahon decided would end the streak (think of EVERYBODY passed over in this distinction - both those considered to face Taker at Mania, and those who actually did - who were credible enough and could have greatly benefited from defeating Taker: Orton, Hart, Angle, Michaels, Punk, Austin, Foley, Triple H, etc). To summarise, the person who does defeat Lesnar for the title, has got to be the future of the company, there simply cannot be any doubt. And that doubt is a very real concern with Reigns. If Reigns bombs, everything they've done will be for nothing. It's very unlikely they will be able to replicate a similar build they've made with Lesnar to give somebody else a rub like this. So with that in mind, I honestly don't see how Reigns is going over at Wrestlemania.

That would be pathetic, yet hilarious. Imagine Cole and JBL trying to sell that shit on commentary, complete with Heyman throwing ceremonial salt meant for Bryan in Brock's eyes?!

Remember the crowd reaction? Also, remember the fact that WWE loves to try and duplicate stuff with the intention of exceeding the original success. Cena's pretty much guaranteed to equal Flair's 16 world title reigns at some point in the not-to-distant future, Reigns broke Kane's Rumble elimination record, etc. My question is, is there anything WWE could possibly do, be it at a Wrestlemania or any even that could possibly come close (or even exceed?) to shocking the audience that Taker going down for the 1-2-3 at XXX did?

Definitely not. In fact, Joe would probably have to lose at least 30lbs before they'd probably even consider offering him an NXT deal. It kind of parallels Takeshi Morishima's WWE tryouts back in 2008 (I think) where he really impressed everybody, but they hated the fact he was so overweight and either they refused to sign him based on that, or he wasn't willing to lose weight and it fell through. These days in WWE, it seems to only be acceptable to be overweight if you're like a Big Show or Mark Henry type. That's not really a bad thing, since WWE had a number of performers over the years who were dangerously overweight and encouraged to remain like that as it was part of their image, eg, Dusty, Yokozuna, Mabel, etc. I'm glad they've turned around their stance on it, although it sometimes goes too far, especially in regards to the Divas, who are often asked to lose weight even if they are a healthy size (Mickie James comes to mind) to fit some kind of idealised skinny female mold.

WWE has never adhered to any formula like that. The undercard titles should suggest competition solely from guys rising up the ladder, yet we've had times where people who haven't needed the undercard titles were in possession of them. Triple H was Intercontinental Champion, Jericho's had multiple reigns with it too despite being near the top of the card, Michaels held the Euro title at one point, Angle and Taker were Hardcore champs (although that particularly title's status within card positioning is meaningless), etc.