Wrestling Discussion Thread (WWE, TNA, ECW, WCW, etc.) - Page 215

I was not aware of that channel, it's an excellent find and you are generous for sharing it, and you are handsome or beautiful or both of those things.

"Hey, it's Duke Nukem."

 

"No, no that's...that's Sting."

 

Gotta love this series and thanks for calling it out for those who haven't yet seen it. I love when a company who produces stupid shit, takes a step back and says, "Hey, we know we do stupid shit, but here is the stupidest of the stupidedist shit."

In less than a minute, CM Punk has guaranteed the end of his title reign.  AJ WILL NOT BE IGNORED!

Watched it and pretty impressed. If that's the quality of work they'd put in the network I'd consider buying it, chances are slim though.

AJ IS SO GODDAMN EPIC I HAVE TO USE ALL CAPS.  WHAT A KILLER ENDING.

As for getting where. I think this whole Bruce Prichard/Eric Bischoff/Dave Lagana creative team is coming together. Whether it will last is yet to be seen. But I really think besides the whole AJ Styles storyline (which seems like a leftover Vince Russo storyline) they've been pretty good. They do have a lot of work to do. But they're starting to come together nicely. 

 

I don't know what they're doing with Van Dam, Kennedy and Hardy. It seems like the only reason they're even on TV is to get ratings. That's another thing they're doing that I don't like. But I do like how they're handling Bobby Roode. IMO, he's been the best heel world champion since Triple H in the early 2000's. They booked Samoa Joe really well as half of the tag champs with Magnus but yeah they're kind of lost right now. I'm hoping that with Daniels & Kaz winning the tag titles they'll put Joe & Magnus back together again and have them win the tag titles. 

 

I do like how they've handled James Storm. I did mark out big time when he was the one to end Crimson's undefeated streak. I think they're pushing him just fine right now until he gets to Bound For Glory. 

 

As for Aries. I absolutely love him right now. Even more than CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. I think they need to have someone from the X-Division interfere in his world title match at Destination-X and start a big feud. He's not ready to win the world title yet. I think James Storm needs to be the one to finally beat Roode and then Aries needs to win it. 

A friend of mine called me to talk about how the ending of RAW made him incredibly uncomfortable.  AJ nearly flinging herself through the table was a pretty dark ending for a usually goofy TV-PG show.  It also hit pretty close to home considering that he once dated a girl who would self-harm and talk about suicide in an attempt to hold him and her loved ones captive from an emotional standpoint.  I can see 100% how that would make some people feel uneasy, and while I thought that the ending was fucking spectacular, I do hope that WWE won't goof that moment off as "haha, she's cuckoo!".

 

I just can't get behind it fully. There are a few strong ideas but TNA has always had some of that. They need a consistent rhythm to their programs. If their only reason for putting RVD, Hardy, and Anderson out there is ratings then they are dropping the ball big time. These guys WERE major players but the routine is stale. The single act of chasing a belt does not constitute a strong push and isn't going to suddenly make people captivated enough to watch the show. The Aries deal works because he is giving up his X-Division belt in hopes of earning an ever bigger prize. I, truthfully, hope he doesn't end up back in the X-Division scene immediately after because that is just another example of a problem I have with the booking. Every spot on the show is interchangable. Aries should spend about eight months to a year chasing the world title and having the best matches on the card.

 

Let's create compelling TV. None of this stale-ass six wrestlers in a room (male or female) arguing over who gets next shot and then based on whatever series of matches, having the next guy/gal suddenly become the number one contendor within two weeks of the upcoming PPV. Then when they don't win the belt having the man in charge get the brilliant idea to pair him up with whoever else isn't immediately in the world title picture to become a tag team. The company should have slowed the Jeff Hardy train down when he came back. Built it all around him and his addiction and the "final chance". Make that his story. Make watching him special. Instead of having him work one comeback program and then dangling the title carrot in front of his face. Van Dam? It feels like I've seen him booked this way a few times before. Incomplete title reign plagued by his brief depature from the company. Return to unsuccesful and underwhelming title chase then the company he's with becomes clueless on how to book him. You're honestly better off keeping these guys off TV until you have something intruiging to do with them than just doing the same boring song and dance.

 

Roode is a solid heel but he's still missing the ultimate babyface to complete the deal. The company is banking on James Storm but I just don't see him being the long-term answer and they've esentially undervalued every other potential star but Austin Aries anyway.

remember listening to an interview with Road Dogg a few years ago, where he said he was going to kick the shit out of HHH if he ever saw him again.  So, surprised to see him in with the company now. 

the last good DX was the one with him, Gunn, HHH, Chyna and X-Pac.... anything after that has been pretty bad. 

"Shouldn't Robocop be running if Sting is really in danger?"
"Maybe he's turtling?"

It's like a MST3K centred around wrestling. I approve.

AJ is my hero.  Punk looked so bummed when she was kissing Bryan, and then BAM!  I'm gonna replay this shit all week.   

 

AJ is my spirit animal!

stop giving me bad thoughts Harley.  You and AJ.... oh, never mind (assuming you look like Trish)

Creepy!
 

So where do you guys see (or what to see) the AJ angle ending up? As Punk's slightly wierd valet, or a heel with Bryan?

A stable of Punk, AJ and Brian.
 

(I can dream right?)

Dean Ambrose comes in as her new psycho boyfriend and starts a three-way feud for the title.

"It was the first time I felt it, how pitying someone and wanting to fuck them can get all tangled up in your head... overwhelming sadness while having a rodney. Is that sick? Hm yeah, I think that's sick..."

 

-Harry Lockhart  

-CM Punk

 

Well it's about time the WWE pushed a newcomer* and gave him a good story from the get go.

 

 

*or more to the point, don't give up on him after 2 weeks ala Lord Tansei.

Not sure the Austin injury angle was great booking per se, but yeah light years ahead of today's output.

Back then they had a guy who was really meticulous about storylines, planning them months in advance.  He storyboarded everything and took continuity seriously. The fact that he was mocked for it shows how stupid the mindset has been in that company.

 

I think he was an unsung hero of the 2000-2001 period of WWF, my favourite period in its history. There was a bit too much McMahon vanity stuff (i.e. every wrestler in the Wrestlemania 2000 four way main event having a different McMahon in their corner, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H controlling the company in storylines, etc.). 

 

Nonetheless, the roster was amazing at that time, and I found the storylines in general quite enjoyable. Yeah, there was the McMahon bullshit, but this writer can't be blamed for that, given Vince's ego. As far as I'm concerned, Kreski he was one of the best things to happen to the WWF.

 

 

That shit was outstanding.  My little sister and I were like Sherlock and Holmes on that shit.  Once they announced the culprit was blond, we made a list of every single blond on the roster and did process of elimination.  Funnily enough, I remember Rikishi being the very first name we crossed off the list.

 

This a million times! As much as I want to see her realign with Bryan, I think it'd be the most effective way to insert someone into the WWE, especially considering all three guys can work their asses off.

 

IMHO them advertising Austin in the main event and doing the whole injury angle on the PPV was carny shit of the highest order, and thus takes it down a notch.

or not

 

I don't know if bringing in a new face and immediately inserting them into the title picture will do Dean any favors.  If anything, it'l turn the crowd against him in an "X-Pac heat" sort of way.  Who the fuck are you and why are you suddenly in the title picture?  Why are you being thrust upon us like you're God' gift when we haven't seen you do shit?  The audience does not like being told that someone is deserving.  The guy's gotta earn his stripes before he steps into the main event scene, or we'll have another Drew McIntyre on our hands.

This video package that aired on Smackdown is one of the best one's WWE's done in a while.  This is the one that aired live Tuesday.  For some idiotic reason, they changed the music for it on Friday's replay.  Idiots. 

 

Don't laugh guys, but I was watching Ugly Betty the other day, and the episode featured a character doing an article called "From Fling to Ring in 60 days".  She outlined the steps as follows:

 

1) Pique his interest 

2) Stay in close proximity 

3) Give him a taste 

4) Make yourself unavailable 

5) Create a ticking clock 

 

If AJ moves to step 4 on RAW with Punk and Bryan, I will howl laughing.  She's really not cray-cray.  This is by-the-numbers seduction!

He doesn't get enough credit. They were amazing in 2000/2001. 

It's just so weird how nowadays that could be considered "dark". I know it was since like you pointed out it's now a PG show. But compare it to this... 

 

 A lot of shit during that time would be extreme compared to today's show, so I don't think that's a fair comparison.  Apples and oranges.  Also, there's a difference between someone being harmed by others and someone who is in such a terrible place that they would even consider harming themselves in order to get attention.  Suicide/self-harm allegories are very mature subjects for a show that is only watched by nine-year-olds, if you go by Cena's estimate from RAW a little while ago.  I did appreciate that Punk didn't laugh it off, and treated that moment seriously.

Caught up on some back episodes of Impact! and TNA Gut Check reminds me of one of those contests where everybody gets a ribbon. Why not try to make it seem like impressing these experts enough to get in is tough? It's this continued thing with TNA where they want everything to work to the point where it isn't compelling. The Impact! Zone is like the reverse ECW Arena where the crowd will cheer every damn wrestler that the company wants them to. The only guy who didn't make Gut Check has gotten more TV time than the two that did and the girl they brought out has no mic presence at all. It  might be more interesting if there were two people competing for one contract or they mixed up a little bit. The concept itself has the potential for great TV but they need to rework it a little bit,

WWE signs Pac from Dragons Gate

 

Could be the new Jeff Hardy if pushed correctly*

 

 

 

*(after his mandatory stay in FCW of course)

 

Kurt is going to be in a wheel chair sucking his meals through a straw in about 3 years.  He needs to give it up NOW.  He's a tough SOB that has overcome and muscled through stuff that 99% of the population couldn't, but still, there is a breaking point and I wonder if he has passed it. 

 

Where they'll water down half his moveset and give him a crappy name. Oh and maybe his own lighting and trampoline entrance! 

 

PAC rules but he'll be just underused and undervalued in the WWE.

Wasn't Evan Bourne supposed to be the next Jeff Hardy?

Bourne bypassed the stage where you put butts in seats and sell merchandise, and headed straight for the part where you piss your career away with drugs. So he beat around the bush less than Hardy, if nothing else. That's screwing up smarter, not harder.

RAW Episode #999 is live from Denver!

A.J. has the microphone as we open. For one bright and shining second, I thought she was going to just babble into the microphone in esperanto or some language that twins teach other.

9:15 PM: How goddamn good is the booking in this angle? A.J. asks Punk to marry her, knowing damn well that the crowd is going to chant "YES! YES! YES!"

9:20 PM: After a counterproposal by Daniel Bryan, A.J. declares that one way or the other, she's leaving with a fiance tonight. Which Superstar is getting tasered/chloroformed/hit in the head with an anvil suspended from overhead? Which one of these bastards is going to be on a milk carton by this time tomorrow? RAW is back after the break!
Edited by Reasor - 7/9/12 at 6:22pm

I was wondering when they'd screw it up and it took the WWE longer than usual but in the end.....there it is. Consistency is a lovely thing.
 

 

Hogan's stuff might have some humor to it if this wasn't the guy that is supposed to be making some moves in TNA. He seems to believe that the only way to "push" new talent is to stand them next to him and the crowd will just eat it up. I've always felt instead of working one last match with Sting, he should have given that rub to a younger guy. Have them come out and be the voice of all things "anti Hulk Hogan" and just run him down. Make it someone who genuinely portrays that distrust of Hogan and build on that. Hogan plays the angle as the guy out to prove that his career was more than just shady politics and he's fighting to show he still has something left. A program like that would give Hogan one last great angle to send him off with and work as a launching pad for creating a credible new star.

God, this show sucked saved for my QUEEN AJ.  I was dying during that opening segment.

 

RAW is going live next week from LAS VEGAS.  If Punk gets drugged and taken to a drive-thru like Stephanie, I will legit die of laughter.  I do think that she's testing them both to see who has her best interests at heart, and Punk is damn sure winning.  But something tells me that they both get laid out and someone cashes in MITB with AJ counting the 1-2-3. 

 

Hornswoggle being the GM was a slap in the fucking face to every single person who was invested in that storyline at any point.  As soon as they put Santino on the hunt, I knew it would be a shitty resolution.  I just didn't think that they would make it THAT shitty.  

By golly, two weeks of Punk closing out RAW, someone's finally thinking. This is totally the main event at Money in the Bank and rightfully so. I was a little unsure on the marriage thing but these three still sell the shit out of everything they do. AJ is certainly showing the company how much of an assest the divas can be if you allow them too.

 

Also, WWE offered a contract to Sara Del Rey. With Kharma, Beth, Natayla, and Rey possibly, Triple H is looking to boost both the Tag Team roster and divas it seems.

Well, I haven't watched Raw in three weeks, and now I am reminded why.  That was terrible. 

I hated the neverending Cole/Lawler/Anonymous GM feud so very much. I hated it more than I hate mosquitoes. I hated it more than I hate hangovers. I hated it more than I hate unfairness. I hated it more than I hate real bullies. I hated that angle, and it pleases me to see the damned thing die an ignominious, Hornswoggly death.

I hated that shit.

That Eve/Punk bit backstage intrigues me.  If you've got a heel Diva telling off the champ and making 100% sense the entire time, we've got a bit of a problem.  Eve just spoke for the IWC.  Punk has been overshadowed, big time.  It took a 90-pound girl to get him to even close some fucking shows.  Combine this with that Punk/Cena backstage bit last week when Punk tried to assert himself as the leader of the team while Cena barely held back his laughter, and I think we may have some seeds being planted here for something.  A heel turn?  A pipebomb where he goes off on not getting the respect a champion deserves?   

 

Or it could be nothing, and I could be getting worked up for something that isn't even there.  Either way, I liked Eve taking a page from Punk's playbook and telling him to get his balls out of his purse.

I totally see where you're going Harley, and I thought the same thing too while watching. While I don't want Punk going heel just yet again, I would love the idea of him going on another major pipebomb. It's time he spice things up, and he can do it while remaining a face.