The Pro Wrestling Thread

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

SID
@SychoVicious
Fans outside blocking talent's cars. They're legit pissed. #RoyalRumble
11:05pm - 25 Jan 15

[FreeCandy44]

Philly doesnt mess around.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

#CancelWWENetwork is trending hard right now

[Spangler]

I read on readdit that the WWE Network cancel page has crashed. LOL

Btw, thanks to everyone for the commentary. I got a good grasp of what the event was like.

[JS©]

Fantasy booking... Heyman comes out on RAW and sells Lesnar's injuries. Bryan comes out and points out that he was stripped of his title because of injuries, and having an absentee champ is bad enough, but one injured is a step too far. The authority comes out and basically tells him "too bad". This causes the locker room to empty out, threatening to leave if he's allowed to remain champ. This makes sense, as the faces believe in fair play, and the heels are all scared spitless of Lesnar. The authority agrees reluctantly to strip Lesnar of the belt, and announce a tournament on who will face Reigns at WM in the main event. It's of course rigged for Rollins to win the spot, and he beats Bryan in a semi final, while Ambrose beats Kane or something. In the final, Lesnar comes back and demolishes both Rollins and Ambrose, making the match a no contest. The main event of Mania is a triple threat between the former Shield. Not sure what to do with Brock after that, but I think that at least makes a more interesting main event.

Isn't Brock supposed to be heading back to UFC after Mania?

[Jim]

Bryan looked horrible on Monday so I am not surprised tat he got bumped.

[nocera]

So the rumored reason behind Bryan not winning, and WWE not planning on adding Bryan to Mania in a triple threat main event, is because Vince believes it'd be going to the well one too many times.

This coming from the guy who created Hulk Hogan and had him in the first 9 Mania main events. The guy who had Austin win the Rumble 3 times in 5 years. And, of course, the guy who had Cena fight for the title at Manias 21 - 29. *edit* I almost forgot about Rock/Cena once twice in a lifetime. But yeah, Bryan main eventing a singles title match with Lesnar would be going to the well too many times.

The story of Bryan's return, his fight to get back into the title scene, and his ultimate redemption writes itself. They could have sent Bryan and Lesnar/Heyman and let them sell it. Creative could've been on cruise control until April. Now, they have to scramble and somehow try to get the crowd back on Roman's side. Good luck. Suffering succotash.

[Kovy27]

They really need to push these new guys. I personally would have loved if the Wyatt family would have come together and Bray would have won. I loved the beginning where he was singing while waiting for people to come down. However, they ruined it with Big Slow and Boring Kane throwing people out of the ring.

[Pavel Bure]

They really need to push these new guys. I personally would have loved if the Wyatt family would have come together and Bray would have won. I loved the beginning where he was singing while waiting for people to come down. However, they ruined it with Big Slow and Boring Kane throwing people out of the ring.

Yeah Wyatt reunion would have solidified his character again. He's been wholly uninterestingg since they split.

[JS©]

They really need to push these new guys. I personally would have loved if the Wyatt family would have come together and Bray would have won. I loved the beginning where he was singing while waiting for people to come down. However, they ruined it with Big Slow and Boring Kane throwing people out of the ring.

After Mizdow and Ambrose's elimination, I was actually hoping for a Kane/Big Slow showdown. I mean if it's gonna be bad, why no go big with it (no pun intended)?

Is tonight's RAW also in Philly?

[shafnutz05]

They really need to push these new guys. I personally would have loved if the Wyatt family would have come together and Bray would have won. I loved the beginning where he was singing while waiting for people to come down. However, they ruined it with Big Slow and Boring Kane throwing people out of the ring.

After Mizdow and Ambrose's elimination, I was actually hoping for a Kane/Big Slow showdown. I mean if it's gonna be bad, why no go big with it (no pun intended)?

Is tonight's RAW also in Philly?

Hartford. Blizzard warning, forecast 20-30 inches of snow beginning late this afternoon/early evening.

[SolidSnake]

You know Curtis Axel was never officially eliminated

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

#Axelgate

[nocera]

They really need to push these new guys. I personally would have loved if the Wyatt family would have come together and Bray would have won. I loved the beginning where he was singing while waiting for people to come down. However, they ruined it with Big Slow and Boring Kane throwing people out of the ring.

After Mizdow and Ambrose's elimination, I was actually hoping for a Kane/Big Slow showdown. I mean if it's gonna be bad, why no go big with it (no pun intended)?

Is tonight's RAW also in Philly?

Hartford. Blizzard warning, forecast 20-30 inches of snow beginning late this afternoon/early evening.

Every match will be an empty arena match.

[shafnutz05]

According to Meltzer, Vince and others are trying to paint this as a Philadelphia issue, not a WWE issue. Right. Also, as you can imagine, Rock is legitimately pissed about how everything went down last night. The reaction in GIF form:

[nocera]

It's a Philadelphia issue, yet twitter reactions such as #cancelwwenetwork were trending worldwide. Makes sense.

I'm sure the negative reaction for Reigns at Mania will be a "Bay area" issue.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

is Vince senile?

[nocera]

I feel bad for Reigns here. His brief smile fades to a dumbfounded stare. He looks like a kid trying not to cry in front of his friends. If WWE would've just waited and kept Reigns at the pace he was going, this moment would've eventually been huge. Roman was over until the machine got behind him and pushed him too hard too fast.

[Crankshaft]

They should have pulled the trigger on Reigns last year. I don't see that much of a difference between him last year and this year.

[Kovy27]

They should have pulled the trigger on Reigns last year. I don't see that much of a difference between him last year and this year.

This.

When everyone knows exactly what is going to happen, it sucks.

Instead of Batista, it should have been Reigns. This year, if it was Bray Wyatt, it would have been fine. However, Vince is going insane and doing what he wants. #ItsAllPhillysFault

[skullman80]

I feel bad for Reigns too. This isn't his fault. He just happens to be the guy that Vince wants to push. The fans don't want it now. They accentuate all his weaknesses. He doesn't need to cut 20 minute funny promos, he just needs to show up, work 10 minute matches, and leave. That's who he is, why they are trying to make him something different is beyond me. Hence all the backlash.

[SolidSnake]

The only option for Reigns is a heel turn

[Crankshaft]

They need to do a double switch and make Reigns a heel and make Rollins a face. As good as Rollins has been as a heel, the dude is a natural baby face.

[nocera]

I feel bad for Reigns too. This isn't his fault. He just happens to be the guy that Vince wants to push. The fans don't want it now. They accentuate all his weaknesses. He doesn't need to cut 20 minute funny promos, he just needs to show up, work 10 minute matches, and leave. That's who he is, why they are trying to make him something different is beyond me. Hence all the backlash.

Yup. Spot on. All Reigns needs to do is show up, kick ass, and leave. That's what he did in the Shield. He wasn't the talker. He wasn't the worker. He was the ass kicker. Why change what got him over in the first place? They're trying to make him Cena 2.0 which is exactly what everybody does not want. There's a reason Cena has been getting booed for the past 5+ years. The crowd is sick of him.

The "next Cena" needs to be the antithesis of Cena the same way Austin was the antithesis of Bret.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

it's weird that between the Shield members Reigns is getting the first massive push. Keep in mind I really only started getting back into it in August or so and knew nothing about the Shield guys before then but it really seemed like Ambrose had the biggest potential then. I still think he has massive potential but Rollins has really excelled recently while Reigns has just been...ugh...with Ambrose they've just been stuffing him away in pointless feuds with Wyatt and whatnot and didn't give him anything in the RR even though he got a huge pop.

Hell, it seemed like everyone the crowd cheered for went out anticlimactically in the RR (Bryan, Ambrose, Mizdow, Ryback, Ziggler, BNB, etc.)

Even Austin admitted that while he likes Reigns he doesn't think that Reigns is any good at leading the action of a match.

speaking of Austin, I'm really interested in seeing what he says in his podcasts this week because there's no way he can be content with it. The HHH interview should be huge.