Bix Posted March 12, 2014 Report Share Posted March 12, 2014 Don't know where all this "Batista has to be champion when the movie comes out" stuff is coming from. When have they done this before? I doubt people watching the movie are gonna give a fuck who the WWE Champion is. And let's just say somebody watching GOTG decides to tune into WWE programming because of Batista. Are they going to change their mind because he's not the champion? I think as long as Batista is in a featured role, that's all that matters. It isn't a case of what movie goers want. I think the WWE wants the belt on display when Batista does all that promotional work hyping the movie. And as we learned with Rock last year and Hogan in TNA, the third party that the appearance is being booked to promote makes them not promote wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Feuds and title reigns tend to have more shelf life and longevity now than they did in 1998-1999. Yeah the company does that...I was coming from the fan perspective. Perfect example is the Sheamus/Christian feud which I had 4 people at work on Tuesday whine about they are tired of seeing since they have wrestled so much on TV. WWE has a bad habit of running the same match every week sometimes twice a week instead of back in the old days when you would run the series of matches over a span of months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Ewiak Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 I've seen a few bits online saying Bryan has already jumped the shark. Damn he hasn't even got the proper push yet and turned into the typical WWE babyface. I thought it would be at least till summer before we started hearing this stuff. I feel like that is only going to increase if he wins the title at WrestleMania. I just don't think the character is going to work very well as the Champion. Great underdog to chase the title, but what do you do with him after he wins? They pretty much are going to have to screw him out of the title shortly after having him win it and have him chase Batista for a while. I think a possibly great thing to do is Bryan wins the title at WM. Then, the night after WM in front of the smarkiest audience in wrestling, Bryan is doing his celebration at the end of the show, when HHH comes out, gives Batista an immediate rematch, then wins in...sixteen seconds. It's either go over great or possibly actually cause a riot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Don't know where all this "Batista has to be champion when the movie comes out" stuff is coming from. When have they done this before? I doubt people watching the movie are gonna give a fuck who the WWE Champion is. And let's just say somebody watching GOTG decides to tune into WWE programming because of Batista. Are they going to change their mind because he's not the champion? I think as long as Batista is in a featured role, that's all that matters. It isn't a case of what movie goers want. I think the WWE wants the belt on display when Batista does all that promotional work hyping the movie. And as we learned with Rock last year and Hogan in TNA, the third party that the appearance is being booked to promote makes them not promote wrestling.Yup. In no way are Marvel Studios having a guy in a supporting role appear with his Rasslin belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 News from WON: here are the top 5 guys the company will be focusing on after Mania: 1. John Cena2. Daniel Bryan3. Randy Orton4. Sheamus5. Roman Reigns Cena is the number one merch seller live and online. Bryan is number 2 live and 3 online (behind Punk). So who knows if Meltz was fed the line about his merch not selling or his new stuff is moving fast. the company wants Austin to appear at WM because they are planning a Big 4 merchandising bonanza with Warrior, Taker, Austin and Hogan. they are negotiating with Spike TV about returning. Obviously this would be potentially death for TNA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kronos Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 they are negotiating with Spike TV about returning. Obviously this would be potentially death for TNA What would be on Spike? Smackdown back to Thursday nights? Or would Spike try to run both companies, somehow? They already have Bellator on Fridays -- I guess they could move that to Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Feuds and title reigns tend to have more shelf life and longevity now than they did in 1998-1999. Yeah the company does that...I was coming from the fan perspective. Perfect example is the Sheamus/Christian feud which I had 4 people at work on Tuesday whine about they are tired of seeing since they have wrestled so much on TV. WWE has a bad habit of running the same match every week sometimes twice a week instead of back in the old days when you would run the series of matches over a span of months. There are definitely ways to keep a feud going which don't involve two mid-card guys wrestling twice a week for three weeks. Some of this talk is almost moot since we don't know how the PPVs being on the network will change the tenor of weekly TV this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kronos Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 There are definitely ways to keep a feud going which don't involve two mid-card guys wrestling twice a week for three weeks. Some of this talk is almost moot since we don't know how the PPVs being on the network will change the tenor of weekly TV this year. Matt, do you anticipate the weekly TV to be more important now? With the PPVs on the network, it makes them more like an extension of weekly TV than ever before. RAW, SD, PPV (with a NXT, ME, and SS on the side) are kind of all the same thing now. There's not even a brand split, as I understand it, except WWE and NXT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 I think they have to be careful with making the PPVs seem less special, given that "bargain PPVs" was the chief hook for selling the network. They don't want people feeling cheated after the first six months or year, when renewals will be up for the first wave of customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 There are definitely ways to keep a feud going which don't involve two mid-card guys wrestling twice a week for three weeks. Some of this talk is almost moot since we don't know how the PPVs being on the network will change the tenor of weekly TV this year. Matt, do you anticipate the weekly TV to be more important now? With the PPVs on the network, it makes them more like an extension of weekly TV than ever before. RAW, SD, PPV (with a NXT, ME, and SS on the side) are kind of all the same thing now. There's not even a brand split, as I understand it, except WWE and NXT. It's tricky because once they get the new TV contracts, they're sort of bulletproof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kronos Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 That's Dutch Mantell managing Swagger? Can't quite tell if they're supposed to be heels or faces, based on my first seeing them on EC. But his old school promo style and manager work at the side of the ring is well good to see. Swagger may not have been the breakout star they wanted him to be -- probably because they failed to pair him with a terrific manager like this from day one. But you got to hand it to him -- he's still working regularly 6 years later. Unlike, say, Paul Burchill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Totally and completely off topic....but man I miss Burchill. I really think he could have made it with the right gimmick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Have Titus O'Neal or Darren Young even been on TV since Elimination Chamber? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kronos Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Totally and completely off topic....but man I miss Burchill. I really think he could have made it with the right gimmick. I enjoyed him and Katie Lea as the creepy siblings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Have Titus O'Neal or Darren Young even been on TV since Elimination Chamber? Does Superstars count because that is the only time I have seen both of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kil Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 How come every time the Usos do the "running ass to the face of the guy slumped in the corner" spot, the announcers act like they're paying homage to their father? Rikishi didn't do that move. He ran into the guy standing up in the corner, who'd then fall down and he'd give him the stinkface. Umaga was the Samoan who did the spot the Usos use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Because they want to mention their father and not the guy who died in his 30s, and they're hoping nobody notices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minds_Eys Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Surprised to see Mason Ryan on NXT. Glad to see he grew his hair long. Gives him a better look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 not the guy who died in his 30s, and they're hoping nobody notices. Or, the more plausible and less conspiracy theory-ish reason of "It's ass based offense by Samoans". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 The in-ring work in WWE right now might be the best that I've ever seen. That's pretty crazy when I think about it as I'm usually so negative about WWE in general on a week-to-week basis but it's kind of hard to not notice. I mean, I remember growing up watching WWF when they had a roster full of great talent like Rick Rude, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Ted DiBiase, Randy Savage, etc. But they always put them in the ring with someone like Ultimate Warrior or had jobber squashed. The Attitude Era, despite there being a lot of great talent, was a lot of crash TV & short matches with fuck finishes. Guys like Austin were kind of broken down. HBK even though he was great was kinda always fucked up on something. Flash Forward to today & a guy like Rey Mysterio, Jr. isn't even top 10 on the current roster. It's insane. Goldust is back & doing crazy work. The Shield are incredible. Daniel Bryan is doing crazy things. Cesaro is doing crazy things. NXT is a ton of fun. I dig the Uso brothers & The Wyatt Family. Even Christian Vs. Sheamus on Monday, a feud I couldn't have cared less about, impressed the fuck out of me on Monday with the Street Fight. That was so hard-hitting & brutal. The finish was also sick. Luke Harper might be my favorite guy in all of wrestling right now. Even above anyone in New Japan. Cesaro is up there too. As a fan of quality wrestling from a work perspective, it's a good time to be a WWE fan. I don't think there's a ton of great promos, too many great characters or a lot of good stories but the work is amazing. The Shield Vs. Wyatt Family from Elimination Chamber is the best, most fun match I've seen in a long time. It's going to be exceptionally hard to top that for Match of the Year. At least to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 to show how much Stephanie has improved on the mic here are some promos where she was playing a derivative or prototype of her current character. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14scfc_stephanie-mcmahon-slaps-steve-austin_sport Austin clearly adlibs and she has no idea where to go. Again you can see the similarities to the current character but it's far away from what she's doing now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q_CHPgd6I4 from her brief run as RAW GM. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdBOP9rrrkI http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x112d0k_cm-punk-and-stephanie-mcmahon-backstage-8-15-2011_creation I had forgotten she was even involved in Summer of Punk. Again nothing special although you are seeing signs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badlittlekitten Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 How come every time the Usos do the "running ass to the face of the guy slumped in the corner" spot, the announcers act like they're paying homage to their father? Rikishi didn't do that move. He ran into the guy standing up in the corner, who'd then fall down and he'd give him the stinkface. Umaga was the Samoan who did the spot the Usos use. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate that spot? It's the new 619 but worse in that the opponent will be hurt selling in the middle of the ring and purposefully move into the corner and slouch in the turnbuckle to set up the move. I know they like to catch the Uso on camera calling an "U-SO!" chant before he does it but still where's the imagination? Not to focus on the negative - I agree with Coffey - WWE has been great so far this year and is back on the form it had been on before summerslam. The main story's no longer dragging the show down and new stars are on the horizon. The amount of good matches coming out of the last few of years is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kil Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Does Alex Riley still wrestle at all, or is trying for some Josh Matthews-esque job security as an announcer? Man, Josh Matthews was a runner-up on Tough Enough 13 damn years ago, and is still regularly appearing on WWE TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Alex Riley and Zach Ryder would be a great little underdog face tag team. They could at least play the 2 Cool role as over guys with cool offence that are over with the fans and aren't really hurt by losses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kil Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 That exact same thought has occurred to me. A-Ry and Long Island Iced Z: Team A-to-Z. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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