goc Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Wrestling companies used to answer to their customers and now they answer to TV execs and stockholders. They don't really seem to have much of a choice in doing what USA wants. Doesn't seem like there was really any interest from another network to take them so they pretty much need to make the USA partnership work. Three hours is possible, the issue is that they fill the time up with the same 10 guys every week. They have a pretty big roster, why not use some of those 3 hours on Raw to build an actual midcard? There should be at least one title match on Raw every week between the IC, US and Tag titles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 I have to assume they will do the Andre battle royal again this year so that they can get all of the directionless guys on the Wrestlemania card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 At least putting Reigns with Cena means he probably doesn't get booed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 I have to assume they will do the Andre battle royal again this year so that they can get all of the directionless guys on the Wrestlemania card. So the winner won't get a direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 As somebody asked on Wrestling Classics...what exactly is Bonnie Hammer going to do if the WWE decides to junk her "notes"? Cancel them? So she can turn around and explain to USA's Board of Directors why she cancelled a show they just shelled out a ton of money for for rights fees? I don't think she can just move the timeslot, either. Why *doesn't* WWE have a choice in the matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I wonder what Bunim-Murray thinks of Brie Bella's heel turn? And other than Rollins v half the roster the most pushed angle in the company right now is Miz/Naomi/Uso. Multiple segments on two different shows tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I'd assume there's probably something in the contract stipulating RAW is three hours, but I can't imagine there isn't any way Vince can't go to them and say this is killing our business. Of course as I type that i realize that would hinge on Vince admitting it, which kind of goes against 30+ years of documented Vince-sanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 So Rollins isn't a Heyman guy. He just doing business with him to torture Cena into bringing Hunter and Stephanie back I agree with Jason Powell they really have to stop it with the Authority stuff. It's clear the crowd was/is sick of that stuff and if they bring them back this quickly it's going to be negative heat. I expect them back around Rumble time or February into the build to mania Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerpride Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 If WWE doesn't want to go three hours wouldn't USA just offer them less money ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 The key is a lot of fans think they have bad creative. The key is does Vince know the creative is lacking? If he doesn't the 3 hrs won't bother him, and he wants the extra cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Well Raw just hit a record low rating this week, so I don't know how much more of a hint he needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Liska Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 They're going to get over $200 million in TV money in 2017. They could shut down every part of the business except for producing TV shows and everyone could still make a really nice living. Really tough to turn down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Not saying they're going to end up the same way, but going to three hours of bad creative every week (plus a largely useless 2 hour B show) was what started souring people on WCW. When they are getting lapped by their own developmental group, someone has to find a way to pierce the bubble Vince is in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 On Alvarez's show he claimed WWE put a stop on Brock's merchandise, and to produce Shemus ones in its place. People think Brock's going to Bellator for a bit and eventually back to the WWE. This could change a lot of what they're going to do going into Mania. Funny since he had a new shirt last night John Morrison got a new shirt right before he left. Remember this eyesore? Anyway, I hope you guys really like the name The Vigilante Sting. Because you're going to be hearing it a lot in the coming months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 It's doubly hilarious that RAW pulls this terrible rating during "WWE week." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 The New Day vs. Cesaro/Tyson Kidd tag on Main Event was pretty damn good. Cesaro/Tyson Kidd vs The Usos is what I want to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposer Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Yeah, I liked the Cesaro/KIdd tag too. It had some strong double team work and the crowd eventually got into the match. The finish is sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Still 5-6 weeks or so until the Rumble, but after last night I think its possible Cena wins at the Rumble. I think this would make for a much better Mania at this point, which certainly isn't something I imagined saying a while back. Still too late to heat Reigns up to that level, but him vs. Cena I think makes for a more interesting card, and lets you do do Lesnar/Taker again (just don't see him being paired with Bryan, who we don't yet know if he'll be back at all, unless Taker is truly out) along with HHH/Sting. If somehow Bryan is healthy and and the Bray/Taker rumors are legit, that would open up that match up as well. Just a lot more options with no Lesnar/Reigns on the books. I agree. I just don't see the point of doing Cena-Lesnar again unless Cena is winning. And they've basically wasted Brock by only having him wrestle 4 guys his entire run. (Cena 4 times, HHH 3, Punk once and Taker once). I guess 5 if you want to count that "match" with Big Show at the Rumble which was just Brock destroying him before the bell even rang. They could have put Orton against him at Survivor Series or Rumble which is a match I wanted to see, they could have built Sheamus up strong and heated him up for a match with Lesnar (yeah, I know, they're not competent enough to do that) where Sheamus gets over more in a loss, or even Ziggler who even though it's such a mismatch he bumps all over and shows fighting spirit and the fans respect the effort. They really wasted their opportunities with Brock. Now, everyone knows he's done at WM and is going back to MMA, so he's in that lameduck role again. And the WM crowds being the smartest and most hardcore....with there already being some backlash against Reigns having the rocket strapped to him.....might be a recipe for disaster that could hurt Roman. At this point Cena just seems like the perfect opponent for him, and it's probably better to get the belt off Brock sooner than later. Makes his holding the belt this long and never being on TV kind of pointless, but again, this is their own fault. The other problem with Cena is, if he loses to Brock again, what do you do with him at WM? I know Rusev has been rumoured, but I think that's a really shitty idea and would end up killing Rusev who has been so well booked and protected, much like it killed Wyatt. I'd much rather they keep Rusev strong and feed him to fresh new champ Roman Reigns next summer. I also think Ambrose-Rollins has to happen at WM because that feud never really got it's proper blowoff, and that can transition into a 3-way feud of the ex-Shield members post-WM where Ambrose has finally beaten Rollins, who still has that pesky briefcase he can cash in at any time. It's easy to keep Ambrose an off-kilter face who butts heads with Reigns, and they both hate Seth. It writes itself As for what you do with Brock at WM then, who knows. I think ideally Bryan is ready to come back, and they're confident that he's good and ready to be a top guy for a couple more years, and he taps Brock and sends him packing. An Undertaker rematch seems pointless and counterproductive, and honestly I don't want to see Taker wrestle again. Other than Bryan or Taker......the only other possible matchup I can think of is Batista if he wants to come back again because it's kind of a 'dream match' that's never happened before, and I think the crowds would be much more supportive of Dave this time around based off of how awesome he was in Guardians of the Galaxy. Come to think of it, I guess Brock vs. Rock is a possibility too. I'd be fine with Bryan, Batista or Rock against Brock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Also, to be fair to Cesaro, despite what Vince stated, and despite this never hitting the dirt sheets as a possibility, I wonder if Brock's limited schedule fucked up the whole idea that Cesaro would be the pawn/gatekeeper in terms of someone a Cena/Reigns/whomever would have to go through to get to Brock, and then turn once realizing he was being used as a patsy. I know we are dealing with ADD booking, but I wonder if that ever was an actual plan, but got scrapped due to how little both Heyman and Brock would be factoring into the main event storylines after defeating Cena at SummerSlam? I actually thought the plan was going to be Brock beating Bryan for the belt at SummerSlam, and aligning Cesaro with Heyman was to make him the "gatekeeper" feud for Bryan after the Kane stuff until SummerSlam. It makes perfect sense. Bryan going out screwed up their longterm plans, and they waited as long as possible to take the belt off him. And when they did they went back to Orton/Cena again and put the belt on Cena because they had the Lesnar plan set in stone and Cena was the only other credible face for him to beat for the title. Which was all fine, I would have done the same thing in that situation Where they went off the rails was bringing Cena back immediately after Brock destroyed him, rematching it the next month, then rematching it again for the Rumble. Complete lack of creativity and they killed any chance of the rematch mattering or Brock as champ being special right out of the gate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 It's really baffling (well, not really) that Cena had the rematch at NOC. It got crushed at SummerSlam and they should had built to the Rumble rematch. Brock destroying anyone else in September would had been more interesting and less stale feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 They were desperate to get the renewals of the initial Network subscribers and felt that was the biggest match they could put on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 The follow up to the Summerslam match has made the Summerslam match COMPLETELY meaningless. I don't even know why they chose to work it like that now. John Cena's immediate booking the very next night he was on RAW made it so that the feud is now totally indistinguishable from how it would be if Summerslam were worked just like a regular match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 They were desperate to get the renewals of the initial Network subscribers and felt that was the biggest match they could put on. was a rematch from the previous month? Heck, run anyone vs Lesnar with Cena in their corner if that helps. Dolph w/ Cena vs Brock or Mark Henry w/ Cena vs Brock or Sheamus w/ Cena vs Brock all would had drew just as well and not ruined the SummerSlam story and made the Rumble match better. The Rumble match is now not a big deal, because of NOC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russellmania Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 they blew so many opportunities with Lesnar. The Summerslam booking was so brilliant and really set the table for them to capitalize by having new guys step up and challenge him after that. Guys like Wyatt, Ambrose, Ziggler, etc. could have gotten a huge rub by having a competitive loss against Brock in the wake of Cena being absolutely destroyed by him. You could have kept Brock undefeated all the way to Mania while still making several guys look strong just by being able to hang with him. Then it would have meant so much more when someone finally beats Brock and given them a much stronger booking platform following WM. Their willingness to take even the smallest of risks (like putting someone "unproven" in a match with Brock) is just totally killing them. I mean think about a guy like Wyatt. A match in which he takes everything Brock can dish out and keeps on coming because he's so nuts could have made him in the same way that the HBK/Mankind match made Mankind in many fans' eyes. Same could apply to Ambrose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 At this point, I'm speculating Seth cashing in at the Rumble, thereby inserting himself into the Cena/Lesnar match and pinning Cena to take the title. I'd like this to have happened at Mania - with Seth cashing in and defeating Roman, but I think that ship has sailed. If Cena defeats Lesnar for the title, then who faces Cena at Mania? Reigns, in a face vs. face match, where Cena doesn't go over? They need to get the title of Brock, but they don't want anybody going over him....Yet. So, therefore, either: - Have to do some kind of screwy angle where the title is vacated, Brock and Cena cover each other, both men shoulders down, etc. - Randomly insert somebody else into the match unannounced at the last minute making it a triple threat (a'la Edge @ Suvivor Series 2008). - Have Rollins cash in during the match (thereby making it triple threat rules), where he pins Cena to take the title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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