FMKK

I heard that Rey was charging something like $20,000 a match when he first started taking bookings. If that sets a precedent, Punk could do a $100k year doing a five match series with the Bullet Club guys without ever having to travel further than Chicago to New York. Limit the matches to keep it special, do a few online promos to hype it up and then about 90 minutes in-ring all year. That must be super tempting.

I really like this thinking. Roman is the fighting champion, Brock is the spoiled and overpaid champion who can't be bothered to show up. If anything is going to work, that stands a really good chance. Maybe they try to get Roman in the ring at some point with pretty much everyone on Raw between now and Wrestlemania. I would like lots of the more unheralded guys to get a showcase TV match with Roman in the coming weeks. The only issue is that Raw's midcard really is quite shallow when you look at the names there. Unless Matt Hardy and his own Shield partners get a shot against him there aren't many guys to go through in comparison to when Cena was doing the US challenge gimmick. All those guys like Ryback, Cody, Swagger and Barrett leaving in and around the time of the brand split has left a bit of a gap.

I think they should jest keep them loosely affiliated where they have six mans in Raw now and again and the occasional group feud but let them get on with their own singles stuff too

This is the worst post ever

And even then I think it would have to be a major market, which increases the cost of venue hire. Tbh, Cody better start hoping that Steve Austin somehow owed his dad an unfulfilled favour or some shit.

Meta booking reaching its apex

Btw, there's a UK indy that seems reliant almost entirely on ex-WWE and TNA imports that is running an 8,000 seat area near me with prices that are in the same range as the WWE house show coming two months later. It's nice to see the ambition but it's seems like a bit of a stretch.

It'll be more than that. They'll quickly turn it into 'let's show Vince he's not the only one who can draw 10,000' and try to get smarks in with the anti-WWE gimmick.

I actually think they might build to title vs title at Mania instead and put a Smackdown guy over at the Rumble. The way they've been hyping the prestige of the IC title and pimping Roman as a grand slam winner, fighting champion etc. makes me feel like they're laying the groundwork for him calling out Brock for not defending his title and saying he's the true top champion and so on.

There were also "we want Roman" chants during the Elias promo and "Roman" chants when he was fighting out of the chinlock.

Roman has been treated predominantly as a babyface by crowds the last two weeks, especially in the Miz match.

I'd love to see that discussion expanded in a thread some time. Although Taker was always heavily pushed and protected, I'm not sure that he was ever pushed above his overness in the way that HHH and HBK arguably were quite a bit. Crowds were always into him I thought.

ELIAS

Apparently Roman Reigns will be doing an open challenge type gimmick with the Intercontinental Title, which should be awesome. Hope it gives guys like Elias a chance to shine.

Especially considering the nature of McGregor's business, whether that be boxing or MMA. There are infrequent fights that are hyped up with media activity crescendoing as the date reaches. So obviously he's going to have more 'buzz' in those peak moments than a celebrity who is consistently going about their business, be that Cena or anyone else.

I think it does mean that Cena's potential future earnings are higher, whether that be from a continuing movie career or even getting a better quality of commercial/endorsement work

I'd like to see this theory fleshed out. Big Bang to me used to be a hot show but now it's pretty unfashionable. Is it still that popular in the US? It hit its series low in April... ...of 12.1 million viewers: http://variety.com/2017/tv/ratings/big-bang-theory-ratings-series-low-key-demo-1202402682/ Jesus. I didn't realise it was still that big. It's mainly on a secondary channel in the UK

I'd like to see this theory fleshed out. Big Bang to me used to be a hot show but now it's pretty unfashionable. Is it still that popular in the US?

Cena to me is a more known figure exactly as Loss said, because of the movie and TV stuff. McGregor is a bigger star to his particular audience but how much does a 45 year old mum in Idaho know about him compared to Cena who she's seen on awards shows, interviewed about proposing to his girlfriend on morning shows, staring in mainstream comedies etc.? Dave also seemed sceptical that Big Daddy was a bigger star than McGregor, but in terms of the UK he 100% was.

At least Cena would be smart/capable enough of carrying him to about as good as he can be But it probably means we would get HHH vs Shane or some bullshit as well

His wrestling opinions do tend to be out of touch and terrible but that's not unique!

Yeah, he'll never get the same love as Shawn for a bunch of reasons but I'd not heard them use that line before, that's interesting. I'm always intrigued by how much the positioning of a wrestler by their company etc. impacts later perceptions of them. I feel like I need to write a long essay on the development of wrestling historiography. EDIT: And I would be interested to see what this debate/poll/comparison would produce in a different venue considering PWO's well noted Michaels scepticism

I know that WWE push Shawn as THE in-ring performer in company history and elevate his significance in their mythos to far beyond what it was in reality but, considering how well AJ has done in less than 2 years, I wonder how WWE will present him in terms of his place as a historical figure. Someone mentioned on a podcast recently (can't remember who or where, sorry) that he almost seems like a legend in WWE already.

When this was Brock's first singles match to go over 15 minutes in like two years AND he looks gassed all the time, I think it's perfectly valid to speculate that AJ may have had to carry things at least to some degree.

Just keep him off the show instead of devaluing him then, even if Smackdown looked far inferior without him on the team