Go2Sleep
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Posts posted by Go2Sleep
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Last year, there was a similar slate of unappealing rumored matches for Mania, then they changed it to the Daniel Bryan show about a month out, and he was positioned to be the top guy until he got hurt. And they even dragged their feet writing him off. No way he's coming back to be a midcarder, especially now that the crowds know they have a chance to force a change if they shit on the product hard enough. The Cena scenario is viable, although it'd be a letdown to not see someone else get the rub from Lesnar.
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But you are all fooling yourselves. It's Lesnar-Reigns at Wrestlemania. Orton is costing Rollins the triple threat/cash in, for a match at Wrestlemania. Sting-HHH. There is your card, take it or leave it.
That would've made sense before Bryan announced he was coming back. Absolutley zero chance Bryan isn't in the top match if he's healthy.
Bryan will win the Rumble, but hopefully there will be an inspired tease like Batista at 30, or Reigns as the second to last guy again.
The triple threat is very intriguing. I won't mind the standard "2 heels 1 face" triple threat formula since it will make complete sense with everyone's established characters. And Lesnar finally snapping on Rollins after he tries to steal one too many pins will be glorious. The MITB element is interesting, almost too obvious a situation for a cash-in. Seems like everyone's acting as if this Lesnar's last match, but is that confirmed? Bryan/Lesnar seems the obvious choice for Mania if both guys are there. Failing that, Bryan/Rollins would be a decent consolation prize.
Do we get any out of left field surprises (of former ECW guys, for instance, I could see Bubba Ray but not too many others)?
I would love to see Bubba tell Big E to "get the tables."
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I've been watching some 2000 WWF stuff to see what holds up from that time frame. Recently I watched Fully Loaded 2000, which was a fairly hyped show from that year, in its entirety.
The opener was a 6-person intergender match with T&A/Trish vs. The Hardys and Lita. Crowd was ridiculously hot (like no one outside of Bryan or Cena would sniff this kind of heat today) but the match was sloppy as fuck. I forgot how bad Matt Hardy was before like 2003. I think the faces won when Lita pinned Trish, but all three got beat down afterwards.
Tazz vs. Al Snow was next. The crowd wasn't nearly as hot for this one. Had a surprisingly fast pace with a lot of Al Snow offense for some reason, even though Tazz was the one getting pushed. Tazz did end up dropping Snow on his head and locking in the tazzmission for the win.
Guerrero vs. Saturn was just kind of there. Pretty comparable to their match from Halloween Havoc 99, these two just didn't quite click together. Saturn won after Terri interfered.
Edge and Christian tried to fake food poisoning to get out of their match with the APA. Not their best work, but you could tell they were having a lot of fun. The JFK pre-match promo was pretty ridiculous, kinda surprised that got green lighted. One big thing I've picked up from watching attitude era shows is that Bradshaw was always really good, not just as JBL as is the common IWC narrative. He was really inspired with his promo and brawling. E/C were decent as the cowardly heels, although the intentional DQ finish is always lame.
I found the much talked about Val/Rikishi cage match to be really overrated. Serious Val Venis was super boring, and his music was god-awful. The match was pretty aimless until the end. Rikishi was decent here, and his splash off the cage was definitely an all-time holy shit spot. The fact that it didn't end the match was atrocious. Possibly the biggest waste of an amazing spot ever. Tazz interfered to help Val win.
Angle/Taker was ok, but not anywhere near what these two would do in the coming years. Angle had the charisma, but was still finding his way in the ring. Along with Bradshaw, Bikertaker is one of my biggest turnaround guys as far as how felt about them at the time vs. now.
The LMS with Jericho and HHH also got a lot of hype, and it was solid. I wasn't really digging the submission work for the first 2/3 or so, but it got really good after Jericho's comeback. The chair shots to the head still get me every time now. HHH blades huge of course, and between that and Jericho's pre-existing rib injury there was finally a sense of urgency for both guys. The finishing spot was really smart, even though it went completely against the traditional kayfabe idea that tables = death. HHH delivered a suplex to Jericho where Jericho landed on the concrete, but HHH went through the table and was thus able to beat the 10 count when Jericho couldn't.
Rock vs. Benoit was also a really good match. Seems to be the one people talk about the least, probably because of who's in it and the fact it didn't have any spots that would stand out 15 years later. It was sort of the opposite of the LMS where the first 2/3 was excellent, but the finishing stretch wasn't. It was a really inspired back-and-forth brawl from the get-go. Benoit was always really good at those, and don't let Rocky's 2013 run make you forget what a great athlete he was in 2000. Loved watching these two go toe to toe for 15 minutes or so. The finish with Shane intereference and a commisoner Foley restart definitely took the wind out of the sails at the end.
Overall, this show wasn't nearly as good as advertised. The last two matches were good despite some flaws. The rest of the card was pretty skippable outside of Rikishi's dive, which was essentially no-sold (since anything less than Val getting picked up with a spatula would be inadequate).
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He definitely has a "steady midcarder" vibe about him, but so did Bo Dallas. It's more of a problem with the writing than Breeze.
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Couldn't agree more that Itami should be using the G2S. He's tried a couple different finishers now, and the crowd doesn't react to any of them. His new spin kick thing has the added problem of taking forever to set up. Axel was as bad as expected, guy just has zero personality. Mark Henry was rolling over in his grave with that weak trash talk game.
Chad Gable looked good. Already showed more than similarly positioned guys like Dillinger, Jordan, and Dawkins. He needs to get his own gear instead of raiding Kurt Angle's TNA locker, though.
Tyler Breeze is in a bad spot right now. He's got some talent and a great character, but there's no justification for pushing him over Zayn, Neville, Owens, Balor, or Itami. His character has probably gone as far it can on this show, and it seems like his ceiling is now the upper midcard gatekeeper, where he doesn't even compare to Tyson Kidd that favorably to be honest. Tough to imagine he'd gain any traction on the main roster, though. A feud with Marcus Louis can't be good for anyone. I can totally see Breeze getting lost in the fold this year.
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So glad they're phasing Lawler out. Either he clearly doesn't care about being there anymore or he's gone completely senile. Totally agree with whoever said Booker is of the Dusty or Tazz mold of announcers who aren't technically good, but their legitimate enthusiasm and inane ramblings make them more enjoyable to listen to. During the ambulance match this week, Booker was in top form with "The worse off [Dean Ambrose] is, the better he is" and something about stand your ground laws that made even less sense than the other quote.
If they had the balls to crush JBL's male ego and replace him with Renee Young, the commentary might actually be not un-listen-to-able for the first time in years.
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I will say I'm really glad Rollins was added to the title match, which is what they should've been building towards since NOC anyway. Cena and Lesnar will never top their Extreme Rules match, and this is a good way to freshen it up. I can't wait to see Lesnar throw Rollins around.
The Ascension going heel with a literal "Road Warrior knockoff" gimmick is actually some inspired on-the-fly booking. They need to drag out old-ass Animal and beat him up. If they can't do that, they can rag on the APA and beat up JBL. They can beat down local jobbers for most of their matches, then cheat like crazy against main roster opponents. I'm sure they won't follow this angle through to its full potential, and since it's just the Ascension, I really won't care, but it does have some promise.
Aside from that, this show was bookended with essentially two 20-minute HHH promos, and screwing all of Cena's teammates then firing them at the end was a bit of overkill. Save us D-Bry.
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Ambrose finally gets a win over Seth Rollins, sort of.
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Not at all, but he's my least favorite guy on the roster by a lot if you couldn't tell. Since he hasn't been on tv lately, I forgot how much I hated him until he popped in on this weeks show.
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Has anyone ever gotten a good match out of Axel? I mean good, not "nothing technically wrong, but still insanely boring."
Maybe he's gonna be the future of the company. He's gonna be a big time player in this machine called NXT. He's the next big thing. He's the next generation. And starting this moment, from now... From this moment on... This'll be the moment, starting now, of the genisis of Curtis Axel.
But really, I'd expect him to be more Brodus Clay and less Tyson Kidd as far as NXT rehab projects go.
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September-December 2013 was a dire time for WWE shows, but I remember Night of Champions being way worse. At least Battleground had the Rhodes/Shield match everyone liked. NoC was nothing but heel wins, until Bryan got the obviously tainted fast-count win in the main.
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Of all the WWE rejects they could use as enhancement talent... I don't know what to say. Him? HIM? You are going to go to NXT and have a match with Hideo Itami? You have got to be kidding me. That's gonna suck, I'll tell you that much.
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When I saw Cesaro sitting in the corner like Raven, I got some serious Rob Conway vibes. In 06 or 07, he made a new year resolution that if he couldn't win his next match he'd quit, then lost to Jeff Hardy in about 30 seconds. So my supernatural wrestling senses are in good shape.
Backstage segment with Christian bringing up Edge beating up Cena's dad was funny.
I can't imagine after last year, they'd be stupid enough to tease Bryan in the Rumble and not deliver.
The main event promo was way too long, but I liked Rollins' heel work towards the climax. Plus the line "You know me better than that, I'm gonna kill him anyway" cracked me up. Perfect B-movie villain delivery there. The authority already coming back is stupid. If they really wanted to make this segment work, they needed Sting to show up and clean house before Cena could say anything. The thing about a HHH/Sting match is you don't actually need either guy on tv that much to build it, although I doubt HHH sees it that way.
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After watching Raw, there's no way they can do anything but Bryan/Lesnar. Who cares if it's two years in a row for Bryan? He's the most over guy in the company. They've done two WM ME wins in a row for Hogan, Austin, and Cena. I know he had bad luck with injuries last year, but Bryan's the only one who can carry that torch, so give it to him again. Besides, this year they can do it right from the beginning with a Rumble win, and the story writes itself. Guy with neck injury known for overcoming odds vs. guy known for hurting people and ending careers, plus the redemption angle. The match itself would be a blend of Lesnar/Eddie and Bryan/Morishima and even though the crowd will be smart to Lesnar leaving, they'll want Bryan to be the man, so the heat will still be like WM 30, not WM 20 (for Bryan and Brock respectively).
It's too god damn perfect to even consider anything else.
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2. Make it a four-way with Brock for the title in an elimination match. All three gang up on Brock for old time's sake and put him out first, then look at each other with big grins and start brawling.
I unironically love this idea. Even though it doesn't give any one guy the rub a one-on-one pin on Lesnar could give, a triple powerbomb is almost the perfect way to write him off. I can accept Reigns in the title match even though I don't think he's ready, just please, no Cena or non-Brock part-timers. The Shield name still has a lot of credibility, so I think the triple threat should be the goal here. It's the best combination of a good match, logical story, and showcasing the new generation guys assuming there's no miracle Daniel Bryan recovery for him to vanquish Lesnar.
A Shield triple threat is a terrible idea. It'll only lead to Reigns being put through a table or something so he can lay around and do nothing for 20 minutes and then come in and win at the end while the bulk of the match is filled with J&J Security bullshit.
If it happened on a throwaway ppv, I'd expect this. Last year, though, they really smartened up around Mania. Whatever cosmic force that inspired the writers to put Bryan over literally everyone associated with HHH 100% clean and strong could probably inspire an elimination formula where Reigns goes first, and it's mostly a Rollins/Ambrose one on one.
The other thing to remember is last year's Mania looked like it was gonna be total garbage until about 3 weeks before the show, then it was one of the best Manias ever. So I'm holding on to a little hope that they can do the right thing again.
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Which is odd, because Charlotte/Sasha was the movesiest divas epic ever (which is a good thing, btw). It felt like a legit WWE main event match, whereas Charlotte/Nattie and Paige/Emma were more along the lines of a midcard mini-epic kind of like one of the better Sheamus/Barrett matches on the men's side. The latter two divas matches had some big moves, but felt more restrained overall. Charlotte and Sasha went full throttle from the opening bell, and the big spots were even bigger by the end.
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Is there any reason the network wouldn't be working on firefox for me? I have the latest flash and it plays just fine on safari from the same computer.
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Last add of the year (most likely): Cesaro/Kidd/Ziggler (SD 11/14)
Only match I hadn't seen on WWE's list, plus a friend recommended it out of the blue a few days ago, so I went to check it out on the network and I'm glad I did. Really strong 3-way match that was fast paced and mostly stayed away from the old "2 in 1 out" formula. Each guy had a simple, distinct character (Ziggler the survivor, Kidd the egotist, Cesaro the wrecking ball) that they stuck to throughout which kept a coherent story underneath a mostly moves-y match. The timing and execution was great from all three guys, and the pace was perfect. Even after it got down to the one on one stage, Kidd and Ziggler kept it moving with high-impact spots and good counters. For what could've been a pretty routine match, everybody stepped it up and made the absolute most of it.
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What is that 10 losses in a row for Rollins? He'll be lucky to get a mid card match at Mania at this rate. I think every face in the company has a win over Rollins except the guy who feuded with him for 6 months. Ambrose/Rusev sounds like it's worth checking out.
He was very well protected up to Survivor Series, but it's a time-honored tradition for the MITB winner to job to everyone. It probably means his cash-in moment is officially planned.
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All of the McMahons sans Linda have had their share of fun matches. The Mania 17 family feud match was a really well-done attitude-style clusterfuck. The Vince/Austin cage match (St. Valentine's Day Massacre), Shane/Blackman (Summer Slam 2000), and Steph/Trish (No Way Out 2001) are my favorites of theirs respectively.
Nick Patrick vs. Chris Jericho with one arm tied behind his back (WW3 96) was a lot better than it sounds on paper.
Kevin Greene always seemed like he could've been really good if he wrestled full time. He had a ton of charisma and held his own in tag matches and had a decent quick singles match with The Giant too. Speaking of The Giant, he has to be the king of the non-wrestler match. The Greene match was solid, but not anywhere near his later work with Shane (Judgment Day 2000) and Mayweather (Mania 24).
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Has anyone ever had a long undefeated streak and survived a major loss and kept his aura?
Goldberg, Lesnar, The Shield
The trick is the undeafeted guy has to go over established main eventers as part of the streak. If they only go over midcarders and lose the first time they step up in competition, that's when it's bad news (Ryback, Bray Wyatt, Joe in TNA)
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Isn't Enzo's whole gimmick that he's a below-average wrestler who talks a lot of shit and relies on Cass to bail him out?
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It's so well-booked right now, I'd hate to see them fall into the rematch clause trap. Zayn should be right behind Neville in the call-up department, and since his story arc was all about winning the big one, he doesn't need a long run especially coming off back-to-back 10-month champs. He should lose the belt to Owens at the next live special, and they can build Finn Balor to dethrone Owens in late summer or fall. A rematch with Neville doesn't really fit in, except maybe as a triple threat.
Edit: Also, unrelated, but was there any mention of Neville surpassing Bo Dallas as longest reigning NXT champ? It certainly wasn't a big part of the last show, but I don't even remember any announcer tidbits about it.
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Turning the Ascension into faux-Road Warriors is probably the right idea. Unfortunately, between the fact that they aren't very good and the general worthlessness of the tag team division, they're pretty much locked into failure. They're one giant sunk cost fallacy at this point.
JANUARY 2015 WRESTLING DISCUSSION
in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Posted
Can't mention worst Mania moments without Miz winning a main event.
Bossman hanging from the cell is definitely a wrestlecrap-y moment that should be on there, although the Corporation/Ministry saga is a guilty pleasure of mine.
Swagger taking forever to unlatch the MITB case would be a good #29-30 candidate.