Slasher

Oh don't get me wrong, I have every expectation that they will fail in this, like they fail in just about everything. I've been called out on this board for being a negative nelly here so I'm attempting to approach things differently. But yes, they will fail, no doubt.

I think that Sid's pure magnetism is unparalleled. He couldn't sustain it, though MAYBE he could have with a long-term face push, but whenever Sid has debuted, people just always turn their heads. I understand the general point but I think Sid had more going for himself than just charisma. He had size that ensured he'd be taken seriously and he had presence, although that might be tied to his charisma. But yeah Sid was the living embodiment of the best that the pro wrestler stereotype offered. Dumb as rocks but looked like million bucks.

But see, this is something they are going to have to be truly committed to do. A vanity vehicle for Andrade doesn't work if he comes on Raw being booked like Kalisto after that tournament. They have to book him like they did Rey when he came in, but probably even stronger than so. He needs quality wins and even probably needs to beat someone with name value outright in a feud. Otherwise it all will not matter.

Yeah, there's a good chance most of these guys won't be in it as HHH has expressed he's looking to get some guys from around the world and indies to participate in this. This isn't an NXT thing either, so they may keep Andrade off TV until this thing rolls around so they can push him in it. Conversely, having him win it then debut in NXT as the guy who won the tournament wouldn't be the worst way to start him off. On the other hand, it could be a bad thing to do. Obviously there is a built in expectation with the fans that cruiserweights have to be superheroes flying around. Establishing the guy in that light then pitting him against bigger or less athletic guys in NXT who has the office's support (like say...Baron Corbin) and he could come across as somewhat disappointing.

Now is this rumor about someone who isn't on the main roster (but actually appearing on NXT right now) or is it someone actually not under the WWE umbrella in any way? I cannot think of someone that the WWE would be comfortable putting in a pretty high profile match with Taker after debuting a mere month before the event who isn't already under contract. The most far out possibility is Finn Balor with his Club as his support and I would imagine Balor needs extra time to get the Club over as a real threat to the WWE roster which obviously you can't establish within omly one month. I agree that Taker shouldn't be losing to Goldberg, which is why I said "not necessarily Goldberg", my point was really more a general point that Taker losing at Mania is already out there on the table, and so the fans already has that shock of the Lesnar match out of their system so the WWE should rethink what Taker's role should be going forward, and it can't be as the spectre of doom and destroyer of wrestlers' will anymore. That's done with now.

Why would it matter now if Taker wins or loses in his Mania match? The streak is over. There's no need to protect Taker anymore. If it was ever at all possible to do Taker/Goldberg or any other "dream" pairings for Taker, I think it is okay to have Taker lose sometimes and hell, that's really what he should be doing at this point. Not necessarily against Goldberg but it's time to have him phased out a bit and put over quality workers that the WWE might want as a future cornerstone of Triple H/Stephanie era WWE.

Come to think of it, has there ever been a cage that has no door? I dont mean a situation where the door is locked, im talking no door at all, and the only way to escape is to climb out (of course, this limits the type of wrestlers who could compete, no "Giant" wrestlers for example). I dunno. If they did a good job building the match up where the giant wrestler just crushes his opponent, you can buy a longer than normal wait for the giant to make it over the top. Especially if the door wasn't a viable way to win, otherwise you risk the idea that the giant labors through his way only to see the smaller opponent dart out the door.

I think they have bigger plans for Balor and Zayn than this. The fact people are speculating this project is a vehicle to push La Sombra cements this belief. As talented as he might be, if it was a choice between Balor or Zayn vs La Sombra, I don't see any way how the WWE picks La Sombra over those two.

Or they could introduce a rule that you can't make an attempt to escape until a certain amount of time has passed during the match so that it guarantees the guys would be worn down and selling the slow escape attempts.

I don't mind the escape rule if it was only achieved by scaling the cage and going over the top. Allowing people to walk out the door is a tougher sell. Even battered, logically it shouldn't take more than 15 seconds to make your way out the door if your opponent is down on the canvas incapitated.

My mood for wrestling changes all the time but for the moment my 3: 1. Triple H vs Daniel Bryan, Wrestlemania 30. This is the rightful blowoff to the long storyline of Bryan vs Authority and it's one of the very few Triple H matches that I actually enjoy, because it's not a typical Triple H match. 2. AJ Styles vs Chriztopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe, Unbreakable. One of the two best triple threat matches I've ever seen (the other being Ttiple H vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit, but for obvious reasons I can't take that match) and probably my favorite TNA match ever. 3. Bret Hart vs Steve Austin, Wrestlemania 13. I don't need to explain this one.

Not that I am disagreeing with you at all but I want to mention that even if Titus thought it was cool to mess around with Vince just because other guys do, well that is a pretty dumb thing to assume your relationship with the boss is anything like his relationship with main eventers or "faves" of his. No this is not "real world job" but certain standards still applies here. Behave like an employee would until you quite obviously have a stronger rapport with the boss that it's ok. In fact, rule of thumb-if Vince is pushing you in his pool, then you can goof around with him.

Or Dean Ambrose, just to throw the fans another bone before crushing their dreams of an Ambrose ascension to main event status.

Batista embodied what the fans think the company wants to push at the top. He absolutely would have worked if he started off his run with the "I am a real star" heel character he settled in after being forced to turn heel. Then "backlash" would just be functional heel heat instead. He was not so beloved that needed to get the "babyface pop" out of the way before turning. So there was no reason to re-debut him as a babyface and that's something even he himself has admitted. On a different note, Batista also absolutely hated that he was booked to be slapped around by Stephanie. You'd never see them try to do that to Brock or Rock. The whole Batista run was almost a passive aggressive message to him for leaving the first time rather than treating him like a superstar coming home.

Well if they had booked him as the heel coming in, there would be no damage to "salvage". The fans would have an easier time treating Batista like a star who would be welcomed back if he was the heel. Remember that promo he cut in February about the fans needing to support "real stars" instead of a midget like Daniel Bryan? That is exactly the first thing Batista should have been doing when he came back. Instead he was brought in wasting time with Del Rio before getting his Rumble victory rejected by the fans. Once the WWE admitted that Daniel Bryan deserved more, and Batista wasn't the guy the fans wanted, that pretty much killed his value. I know he would have had to cross paths with the top guys but they booked it so that he had ZERO meaningful victories after he won the Rumble. That is not protecting Batista. He was completely sacrificed for the others. Brock didn't even do that. Brock only faced the top guys and winning more often than not. Batista must have seen that and it was obvious that he wasn't thrilled by any of that.

Yeah I don't think Batista actually had a problem with Daniel Bryan (or even the fans really). He has gone on record saying he should have never come in as a babyface. He thinks the WWE failed to protect him by putting him in awful positions all that time. He went from being a guy who expected to have a main event run and ended up almost being the third guy in Evolution and putting over the Shield every month. So all that combined with broken promises and his not really needing wrestling anymore he just left. To be fair to him, he was one of the biggest stars in the mid 2000s and then he was treated worse than just about any returning stars that came in. Part of it is bad timing with the Bryan stuff happening but they definitely had room to book Batista better than they actually did, so his frustrations had real merit to it for sure.

Yeah he has beef. He thinks that the WWE didn't treat him right in his last run. Supposedly he was promised certain things that never materialized, he didn't like how he was booked to stand in the ring letting Stephanie slap his face and glasses, and he was quickly reduced to henchman by the end of it. If Batista was happy with them, he wouldn't have left again so quickly and he wouldn't have turned down an offer to do something at Mania this year.

That said, banning moves are not the answer. The only true solution is banning the sport, period, and that's not happening.

Other injuries are bad and could even be life altering but considering the brain is either the most important or the 2nd most important of vital organs depending on your perspective. Of course it is much worse an injury than say...a torn quad might be. That's a brain you rely on heavily for the rest of your life...it's not an organ you want malfunctioning.

Is it really? Sheik only had the belt like a month before Hogan took it off. It wasn't as seminal a moment as when Warrior squashed Honky Tonk Man for the IC title.

Why did Titus even need to teach Vince chivalry? If anything it could be interpreted as showing Vince up. It is akin to George Costanza telling a woman "bless you" when her date didn't. He got shown up and the girl broke up with him in favor of George.

WWE needs to protect their workers? How about telling Bryan not to do suicide dives every week like it was a low level move like a hiptoss. The fact is Daniel Bryan had one of the most physically taxing movesets out of everyone in the WWE. Like the old adage goes, "Work smart instead of work hard". Obviously other guys still get concussions but he was getting them way too often compared to the others.

But Vince did lay it out for Bret to make him want to leave. I doubt if Vince sincerely wanted Bret around that they would pay millions of dollars for a designated jobber. He might not have been the guy pushed the most but there is no reason not to expect them to treat Bret with more respect.

Redman makes a good point here. It could be perceived as Titus going into business for himself at the expense of the segment which was meant to honor Daniel Bryan. Like I said; there was no good reason to be grabbing the boss like that. I do agree that they extend special treatment to their stars but that is hardly exclusive to wrestling.

Do people here really not understand the difference between the wrestling on plane and Titus grabbing Vince in an unexpected manner? On the plane it was Vince who challenged Kurt and/or Brock so they have the obvious permission to rough it with Vince. From what I can see, Vince had no idea Titus would do what he did and frankly there was no reason for him to do that. Therefore he was suspended.