Current WWE

[Strummer]

great heel promo by Dave

[Dylan Waco]

Went to a WWE show tonight. Sent in a note to Meltzer on it and tweeted throughout, but here is a rundown with some thoughts.

 

First of all it occurred to me that there may have been five WWE events going on tonight. The Network is streaming content live at all times, Smackdown was on, there was an NXT taping with some of the main roster guys and gals (New Age Outlaws and Emma I know for sure), the show I was at, and I assume another split crew show based on how "thin" this card was. When you think about that it is insane that there are people who seriously talk about how the WWE is "in trouble" because business isn't at or near Attitude Era levels.

 

Secondly I got a text from a friend who works in the building during the show. He said it was the best attendance at that building for a non-televised WWE show in years. I would guess that is right as there looked to be about 7 or 8 thousand in the building to me, maybe more. Every "sold" section of the building was at least three quarters full with the vast majority being ninety percent full or more. Cena merch was everywhere and before the show someone told me that the ticket sales took off when they announced Cena v. Orton Cage Match main event.

 

Big E v. Ryback v. Fandango

 

Ryback got a huge face pop on the way out which was amusing. Big E. was incredibly over. Fandago was awful in this match, but Ryback and Big E. both worked really hard and the crowd was into their exchanges. The psychology here was good an it ended up being a pretty decent match though Big E's finish looks even worse live than it does on t.v.

 

Tyson Kidd v. Curtis Axel

 

Someone in the crowd had a Tyson Kidd sign which was hilarious to me. The crowd actually stayed pretty hot for this which was surprising. This was not terribly smooth, but Axel impressed me by leaning in to all of Kidd's offense. Every time Kidd teased a Sharpshooter it got a big pop, but he never did lock in. He won clean with his blockbuster finish in a decent enough match.

 

Sin Cara v. Alberto Del Rio

 

Del Rio was actually really good at working the crowd with standard heel schtick in this, but when he originally came out the reaction was sad. Amazing to me that this was a guy who looked like a potentially huge star in the making just a few years ago. I like Hunico but he was sloppy here at times. Crowd popped huge for a Cara tope and this got better as it went along. Del Rio lost clean on a reversal out of an armbar attempt which tells you exactly how much value they see in Del Rio.

 

Real Americans v. The Rhodes Brothers

 

Pre-match promo from Zeb was awesome stuff with him doing all your staple cheap heat stuff (getting the name of the state wrong, bitching about booing, et) but mixing it up in an interesting way. Crowd was molten for him here, though they all chanted along with the "We The People" bit as well. This was a legitimately great match. I was there with an old friend and his son an it was fun to watch them gradually get hotter and hotter for this as the heat section built. This had a double FIP, with Cody going first and Goldy second. Lots of teased dissension on the Real Americans side throughout so you can see the break up coming all the way at this point (as if it was in doubt). Cesaro looked like he might have been holding back at first, but ended up putting in a great performance in the second half of the match. There were some awesome spots on the build to the hot tag, including a great one where Cody got knocked off the apron, Goldust finally made it to the corner and then ate a vicious running uppercut to the back from Cesaro. Earlier he had tried to leap over Cesaro to get the tag and ate an equally nasty uppercut to the head instead. Cody's hot tag was really good and the finish was pretty great. Swagger countered a disaster kick into an ankle lock and Cody was reaching for the ropes but Cesaro was on the floor pulling the rope out of reach. Goldy came running over and decked Cesaro out of the way, Swagger went to reach at him, Dustin hit him with the big fist an Cody hit the Cross Rhodes for the finish. Really awesome stuff.

 

At intermission they were plugging the hell out of The Network but Justin Roberts is not a good pitch guy at all. There was no chatter in my section about The Network all night outside of me and my friend which surprised me.

 

Wade Barrett v. The Miz

 

Barrett cut a good pre-match promo, but got decked in the face by Miz who then cut a Zeb Colter level promo effectively telling Barrett that people like him needed to be rounded up and deported. Of course this got a massive pop. This was actually a good match, much better than I would have guessed. Nothing outstanding, or gripping, but Barrett worked stiff, they worked some good momentum changes an the finish with Miz diving off the top into a Barrett forearm looked good.

 

The Bellas "beat" Aksana and Alicia Fox in a dance off next. This whole thing was really bizarre as they had a fan vote to see what sort of match it would be via twitter. The live crowd clearly wanted a match when asked, but the twitter choice was a dance off which lasted less than three minutes and was even less entertaining than it sounds.

 

Randy Orton v. John Cena - Cage Match

 

Cena got an unbelievable pop here. I have been going to wrestling shows for 27 or 28 years. I've been to WCW shows, ECW shows, ROH shows, NWA shows, WWE shows, random indies shows, et. Literally hundreds of shows I've seen live. And this was probably one of the ten loudest pops I've ever been a part of live. Cena ended up getting ambushed at the bell. He had his leg taped up and that played in some when he was trying to climb the cage in the match as Orton would throw these desperation punches and headbutts at it. I expected this to be a decent little 7-12 minute match, instead this went about 15-18 minutes, and they ended up delivering a tremendous match. They kept teasing big spots off the stage, which they never really delivered, but I actually loved that as all of the simple bumps into the cage were made to be all the more important as a result. They teased escape the cage finishes and finishes off of big moves. The two best teased were Orton crawling almost completely down the steps and out to the floor while locked in the STF, only for Cena to drag him back into the ring, and a great near fall on an RKO that the entire crowd fell for. Orton also kicked out of the AA. Finish was Orton throwing Charles Robinson into Cena and hitting him with a ball shot before crawling out of the cage. The heat for the match was completely off the charts and kids were literally crying all around me when Cena lost. Cena was so insanely over it had the feel of watching prime Bruno in MSG.

 

Post-match Orton tried to attack Cena with a chair and Cena beat back his attack. He ended up cutting a promo in the ring saying he had been diagnosed with a groin injury from Monday's attack and was told to take the weekend off but said "hell no." The crowd ate all of this up, and the show ended with massive "Cena" chants.

 

Overall the show was very good with two great matches and no real stinkers unless you count the dance off. It's really amazing to go to a show like this as you see first hand why it would be completely insane to turn Cena heel without having an obvious heir apparent in place.

[spudz25]

Went to a WWE show tonight. Sent in a note to Meltzer on it and tweeted throughout, but here is a rundown with some thoughts.

 

First of all it occurred to me that there may have been five WWE events going on tonight. The Network is streaming content live at all times, Smackdown was on, there was an NXT taping with some of the main roster guys and gals (New Age Outlaws and Emma I know for sure), the show I was at, and I assume another split crew show based on how "thin" this card was. When you think about that it is insane that there are people who seriously talk about how the WWE is "in trouble" because business isn't at or near Attitude Era levels.

 

Secondly I got a text from a friend who works in the building during the show. He said it was the best attendance at that building for a non-televised WWE show in years. I would guess that is right as there looked to be about 7 or 8 thousand in the building to me, maybe more. Every "sold" section of the building was at least three quarters full with the vast majority being ninety percent full or more. Cena merch was everywhere and before the show someone told me that the ticket sales took off when they announced Cena v. Orton Cage Match main event.

 

Big E v. Ryback v. Fandango

 

Ryback got a huge face pop on the way out which was amusing. Big E. was incredibly over. Fandago was awful in this match, but Ryback and Big E. both worked really hard and the crowd was into their exchanges. The psychology here was good an it ended up being a pretty decent match though Big E's finish looks even worse live than it does on t.v.

 

Tyson Kidd v. Curtis Axel

 

Someone in the crowd had a Tyson Kidd sign which was hilarious to me. The crowd actually stayed pretty hot for this which was surprising. This was not terribly smooth, but Axel impressed me by leaning in to all of Kidd's offense. Every time Kidd teased a Sharpshooter it got a big pop, but he never did lock in. He won clean with his blockbuster finish in a decent enough match.

 

Sin Cara v. Alberto Del Rio

 

Del Rio was actually really good at working the crowd with standard heel schtick in this, but when he originally came out the reaction was sad. Amazing to me that this was a guy who looked like a potentially huge star in the making just a few years ago. I like Hunico but he was sloppy here at times. Crowd popped huge for a Cara tope and this got better as it went along. Del Rio lost clean on a reversal out of an armbar attempt which tells you exactly how much value they see in Del Rio.

 

Real Americans v. The Rhodes Brothers

 

Pre-match promo from Zeb was awesome stuff with him doing all your staple cheap heat stuff (getting the name of the state wrong, bitching about booing, et) but mixing it up in an interesting way. Crowd was molten for him here, though they all chanted along with the "We The People" bit as well. This was a legitimately great match. I was there with an old friend and his son an it was fun to watch them gradually get hotter and hotter for this as the heat section built. This had a double FIP, with Cody going first and Goldy second. Lots of teased dissension on the Real Americans side throughout so you can see the break up coming all the way at this point (as if it was in doubt). Cesaro looked like he might have been holding back at first, but ended up putting in a great performance in the second half of the match. There were some awesome spots on the build to the hot tag, including a great one where Cody got knocked off the apron, Goldust finally made it to the corner and then ate a vicious running uppercut to the back from Cesaro. Earlier he had tried to leap over Cesaro to get the tag and ate an equally nasty uppercut to the head instead. Cody's hot tag was really good and the finish was pretty great. Swagger countered a disaster kick into an ankle lock and Cody was reaching for the ropes but Cesaro was on the floor pulling the rope out of reach. Goldy came running over and decked Cesaro out of the way, Swagger went to reach at him, Dustin hit him with the big fist an Cody hit the Cross Rhodes for the finish. Really awesome stuff.

 

At intermission they were plugging the hell out of The Network but Justin Roberts is not a good pitch guy at all. There was no chatter in my section about The Network all night outside of me and my friend which surprised me.

 

Wade Barrett v. The Miz

 

Barrett cut a good pre-match promo, but got decked in the face by Miz who then cut a Zeb Colter level promo effectively telling Barrett that people like him needed to be rounded up and deported. Of course this got a massive pop. This was actually a good match, much better than I would have guessed. Nothing outstanding, or gripping, but Barrett worked stiff, they worked some good momentum changes an the finish with Miz diving off the top into a Barrett forearm looked good.

 

The Bellas "beat" Aksana and Alicia Fox in a dance off next. This whole thing was really bizarre as they had a fan vote to see what sort of match it would be via twitter. The live crowd clearly wanted a match when asked, but the twitter choice was a dance off which lasted less than three minutes and was even less entertaining than it sounds.

 

Randy Orton v. John Cena - Cage Match

 

Cena got an unbelievable pop here. I have been going to wrestling shows for 27 or 28 years. I've been to WCW shows, ECW shows, ROH shows, NWA shows, WWE shows, random indies shows, et. Literally hundreds of shows I've seen live. And this was probably one of the ten loudest pops I've ever been a part of live. Cena ended up getting ambushed at the bell. He had his leg taped up and that played in some when he was trying to climb the cage in the match as Orton would throw these desperation punches and headbutts at it. I expected this to be a decent little 7-12 minute match, instead this went about 15-18 minutes, and they ended up delivering a tremendous match. They kept teasing big spots off the stage, which they never really delivered, but I actually loved that as all of the simple bumps into the cage were made to be all the more important as a result. They teased escape the cage finishes and finishes off of big moves. The two best teased were Orton crawling almost completely down the steps and out to the floor while locked in the STF, only for Cena to drag him back into the ring, and a great near fall on an RKO that the entire crowd fell for. Orton also kicked out of the AA. Finish was Orton throwing Charles Robinson into Cena and hitting him with a ball shot before crawling out of the cage. The heat for the match was completely off the charts and kids were literally crying all around me when Cena lost. Cena was so insanely over it had the feel of watching prime Bruno in MSG.

 

Post-match Orton tried to attack Cena with a chair and Cena beat back his attack. He ended up cutting a promo in the ring saying he had been diagnosed with a groin injury from Monday's attack and was told to take the weekend off but said "hell no." The crowd ate all of this up, and the show ended with massive "Cena" chants.

 

Overall the show was very good with two great matches and no real stinkers unless you count the dance off. It's really amazing to go to a show like this as you see first hand why it would be completely insane to turn Cena heel without having an obvious heir apparent in place.

Great Review. Actually makes me want to buy a ticket for the first time in 10 years.

[fakeplastictrees]

Going to wrestling shows are always fun. Watching what's in the ring is awesome, but watching and listening to what's happening outside the ring is even better. It helps put things in perspective and reminds me that before the 23 page DVDVR threads about Harley Race's armwork and flame wars starting over disagreement over Tito Santan's actual drawing power with the Hispanic popular during rhe 80's, we were all hardcore marks just absorbed completely and unbashfully in the product.

 

If there's anyone who hasn't been to a show recently, do yourself a favor and go.

[sek69]

great heel promo by Dave

 

 

This times a million. Heel Dave is so much better in every possible way. Plus that makes his match with Orton heel vs heel so they pretty much have to add a babyface now.

[Sidebottom]

Agreed. There was no way they could have run Orton vs Batista with the crowd shitting on the match, which was inevitable.

 

I picture HHH vs Bryan at Mania, with Bryan winning to get a spot in the main event. Could even be the opening match, like how we saw Bret Hart twice at WM10. Seriously, the only logical thing to do at this point is Bryan overcoming all the odds at the big show.

[Loss]

It was so easy to make Batista useful again. I'm happy. I really liked that promo, and he gave another good one (a very short one) on the post-game Smackdown.

 

I also like the rumored new plans for The Shield at Wrestlemania much better than what we suspected was going to happen: Reigns/Rollins vs Harper/Rowan at Wrestlemania. I still wish they weren't breaking up at all yet. I think they could get another year out of them as a unit, and it's not like they need Reigns to become a major player immediately because no one else is ready to take the plunge.

[Strummer]

yeah I so hope they don't break up the Shield yet but from SD it looks inevitable with Ambrose and Reigns bickering. I don't think Reigns is ready yet to get the rocket ship either. I didn't see the original report so I'm guessing Dave was hypothesizing about the undercard stuff?

 

as for the main event the worst thing they could do is try to turn Orton face. If they try to this company has no brain power what so ever. It should be Bryan but in the back of my head I'm thinking they are trying to lure back Punk with that spot

[Loss]

Bryan reported it as a match people in WWE have told him they are considering, but aren't final on yet. Ambrose would face Big E to unify the secondary titles if they go in that direction.

 

I still think WWE is going to hold off either on that or the Real Americans break-up, since they are awfully similar to run at the same time.

[Loss]

I just have to say now that I'm watching regularly, I absolutely love WWE right now. It's not perfect, but you could point to flaws in any peak period for any company. New people are getting over, the whole presentation feels fresh and the match quality is pretty staggering.

[Strummer]

I just have to say now that I'm watching regularly, I absolutely love WWE right now. It's not perfect, but you could point to flaws in any peak period for any company. New people are getting over, the whole presentation feels fresh and the match quality is pretty staggering.

 

 

can you imagine if they didn't screw up the Bryan push? It's made people overlook some great stuff because it was so depressing

[goodhelmet]

Watching the Batista interview, my first instinct is that they insert DB into the main event. Booking since Summerslam says even if that happens, he loses to Batista at Mania to transfer even more heat on Batista and DB continues to play faithful, no complaints loyal employee who is there to put other guys over.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

Was going to grab a last minute ticket for Monday's Raw as I typically do when I don't have someone to go with. There's always been stray single seats in the past. Not this time - its a pure sellout.

 

I was going to do the same for Elimination Chamber and couldn't believe that the only seats I could find were nosebleeds. Face value for the tix was also high. I usually have no problem getting tix from a connection on the secondary market, but not this time. Re-sale prices were sky high.

 

It'll be interesting to see if this surge (can we call it a surge?) continues if we get more HHH, Orton and Batista shoved down our throats at Wrestlemania.

[Ricky Jackson]

Just watched Shield vs Wyatts and Zayn vs Cesaro last night and both were fantastic. Shield vs Wyatts in particular is bordering on all-time great IMO. And what a hot crowd for that one! Just a freakin awesome match.

 

Things are very interesting right now. Fresh talent, tons of good and great matches, the whole crowd rebellion and Bryan thing going on, etc. I thought the last Raw was dull, but overall the positives far outweigh the negatives right now. And they haven't "screwed up" Bryan's push. Bryan is as over as anyone in the last decade. It really doesn't matter if he has the title. In fact, I think the best thing for him is the role of guy who keeps getting screwed over, because each injustice makes him more popular. He's actually better off without the title.

[Loss]

I have wondered where they go after he gets his happy ending. I still think they should give it to him, don't get me wrong, but I hope they can come up with something that has the same strong emotional hook that his chase has.

[goodhelmet]

Just watched Shield vs Wyatts and Zayn vs Cesaro last night and both were fantastic. Shield vs Wyatts in particular is bordering on all-time great IMO. And what a hot crowd for that one! Just a freakin awesome match.

 

Things are very interesting right now. Fresh talent, tons of good and great matches, the whole crowd rebellion and Bryan thing going on, etc. I thought the last Raw was dull, but overall the positives far outweigh the negatives right now. And they haven't "screwed up" Bryan's push. Bryan is as over as anyone in the last decade. It really doesn't matter if he has the title. In fact, I think the best thing for him is the role of guy who keeps getting screwed over, because each injustice makes him more popular. He's actually better off without the title.

 

The injustice only gets him over because people expect the happy ending. If he doesn't get the big Mania moment, keeps coming up short, keeps getting beat, keeps being held down, he becomes just another face on the roster.

 

 

I have wondered where they go after he gets his happy ending. I still think they should give it to him, don't get me wrong, but I hope they can come up with something that has the same strong emotional hook that his chase has.

 

 

If he gets the happy ending, you just feed insurmountable obstacles at him and have him overcome them. With Rey Mysterio, they threw obstacles his way and Rey couldn't overcome them. He was just another guy 3 months later.

[Ricky Jackson]

I really think Bryan is at a point where he can't become "just another face on the roster", unless they were to job him out to everybody, have him wrestle in the curtain jerker for every PPV and give him no angles month after month.

 

I agree him winning the title would be a great way to end Mania, but I don't think it would be the end of the world if he doesn't.

[dexstar]

So .... has everyone noticed the WrestleMania commercial type thing that runs on the Network ... and prominently features CM Punk talking about 'Mania?

[Dylan Waco]

This may be deserving of it's own thread, but does anyone else think The Shield may have had Los Misioneros de la Muerte like influence on the WWE? Obviously the difference in degree is massive, but I don't remember there ever being this many multi-man tag main events until The Shield popped up, got hot, and started having a great tio match every week.

[goodhelmet]

That can only be a good thing.

[Loss]

 

So an update on PPV buys from 2013 show that the summer run wasn't as bad as first reported.

 

via Dave Metzler in new WON (as stated from financials there was 82,000 unaccounted for the 3rd Quarter)

 

MITB 2013 - from 195,000 buys to 223,000 Buys(up from 2011 - 205,000 & 2012 - 206,000)

 

SummerSlam 2013 - from 296,000 Buys to 332,000 Buys (down from 392,000 in 2012 and up from 311,000 in 2011)

 

NOC 2013 - from 175,000 buys to 196,000 Buys (down from 207,000 in 2012)

 

 

 

It's a little sad that this came out in such a crowded news cycle, because it really is a major story. They have supposedly based (justified?) months of creative based on the Summerslam buyrate. And it didn't beat Brock/HHH from last year, but it did a good number after all.

[Sean Liska]

If they were really basing the booking off of the SummerSlam number, Bryan would be in the midcard and Vince wouldn't be upset about Punk leaving. It's a relief that they've stuck with Bryan so much and that they don't tend to overreact to individual PPV buys or TV ratings like the internet thinks they do.

[sek69]

They tend to ignore PPV buys/TV ratings when it shows someone they have a hard on over isn't working, but seem to be quick to use them as an excuse to torpedo a guy they didn't intend to get behind.

[Matt D]

This may be deserving of it's own thread, but does anyone else think The Shield may have had Los Misioneros de la Muerte like influence on the WWE? Obviously the difference in degree is massive, but I don't remember there ever being this many multi-man tag main events until The Shield popped up, got hot, and started having a great tio match every week.

 

I think that there are other factors here, including the shift to the 3-Hour Raws and that Trips wanted to do more tag matches, no

[Dylan Waco]

I'm not saying they are the only reason for it, but I think it is possible that their success in that model has contributed to the huge number of multi-man tags we get now