FEBRUARY WRESTLING DISCUSSION

[_MJ_]

I saw Spring Breakers super baked with my brother at midnight with 8 other people in the theater and a lady (I use that term loosely) in the row behind us starting blowing her date with like 30 minutes left in the movie and two people sitting In the same row as this couple stormed out of the theater.

 

The midnight theater crew didn't come in and breakup the finish? 

[Tromatagon]

They don't get paid enough for that shit

[Peck]

I remember when TNA House Shows used to get rave reviews on here for being basically the complete opposite of what was on TV.

[Newb82]

My closest theatre doesn't get much traffic because it only has 3 screens, no stadium-style seating and still has a bad rep from the horrific lack of upkeep it used to suffer from over a decade ago (I remember going to see SCREAM 3 there and my shoes almost sticking to the floor), so I go there specifically because I'm usually one of very few people there. I honestly have no idea how they stay in business, but I'm glad they have, since they're the difference between a 15 minute drive and a 45 minute drive.

[Cobra Commander]

Yes, the Grizzlies did another wrestling bit as part of their halftime entertainment.. when the music started, I half expected the Sandman to come out and singapore cane the Wizards fan.. but they decided to powerbomb him through a table instead.

If Jerry Lawler were in better health, I'd be all for him piledriving planted heel fans on the floor at Memphis Grizzlies games

[Sky Blue Sam]

I remember when TNA House Shows used to get rave reviews on here for being basically the complete opposite of what was on TV.

I've been to three TNA house shows and each one has been great, because, as stated, you don't get any of the bad angles you get on TV, just a bunch of decent matches given decent time. The show in Nottingham 2 years ago was headlined by Roode, Bully and Angle vs Hogan, Sting and Storm. Hogan wasn't advertised to be wrestling, so I couldn't believe what I was seeing. That, plus a great 3-way with Aries, Alex Shelley and Mark Haskins made it the best wrestling show I'd been to at that time.

[Skelemania]

So, does anyone know what WWE is doing right now? I feel like there's not been any news for at least a week. RAW, last week, sort of built up some stuff for the Elimination Chamber (especially Wyatts/Shield) but they feel like they're in a holding pattern right now. This is not exactly the time of the year where I expected this from them, you know? The WWE Network is getting ready to launch. Wrestlemania XXX is right around the corner...and as a fan, I have no idea what is going on or what the direction is supposed to be. So just wait until after Elimination Chamber, I guess? So does RAW tomorrow not matter at all? It's just going to be a 3-hour commercial for the Network with some Chamber promos thrown in, right?

 

We get the winner of the Royal Rumble & then still have no idea what the Wrestlemania card is going to look like, not even the main event of the show. And they want people to buy the network on the faith that Wrestlemania won't disappoint? So I guess they're just banking on the name "WRESTLEMANIA" to sell the Network?

 

Then the week after, in Chicago, they're just hoping the fans don't dump on the show all night long because they're going to bring back old faces? Is that the plan?

 

I just feel like things should be more concrete right now, considering we're half-way through February & already have a Royal Rumble winner. Instead, all we can do is speculate & guess what the Wrestlemania matches are going to be.

[muhammedboehm]

This is in my view the flaw in the WWE having a PPV between The Rumble and Mania. They won't focus on Mania until after Chamber but it also makes Chamber less interesting cause everything feels like it's in a holding pattern.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I kind of disagree with that point. There's been a PPV sandwiched between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania for some time and some years it's a strong build to WM ( a few times beginning with Survivor Series if you can believe it)  and other years its lacking.

 

This year is just weird. You have the network which Meltzer says is "more important than WM" and in a way, I can see that..  But you also have the Bryan thing which may have changed plans and the Punk thing which certainly appears to have changed plans..   Batista isn't as over as a face right now as they probably thought he'd be.

 

On top of that, there's been a ton of rumors surrounding guys like Hogan, Goldberg, Sting, etc..  dating back to last Summer and who knows how many different times they've had an idea for a returning star only to change that.

 

It is crazy to me how we still don't know what John fucking Cena is doing at the biggest show of the year. The Wyatts attacking him at the Rumble went nowhere which is fine with me because Shield/Wyatts is awesome but has anyone even brought that up on here of late? It's a complete afterthought..  I completely forgot that even happened until I started thinking about what Cena would be doing. I guess maybe they still run Cena/Wyatt but man..  no follow-up since the Rumble at all. Not good.

[ChesterCopperpot]

 

 

 

The long awaited new Ryback Internet Legend singlet. When I make towns in this custom Big Guy attire fans bow down and chant Ryyyyyyback

 

[Skelemania]

It is crazy to me how we still don't know what John fucking Cena is doing at the biggest show of the year. The Wyatts attacking him at the Rumble went nowhere which is fine with me because Shield/Wyatts is awesome but has anyone even brought that up on here of late? It's a complete afterthought..  I completely forgot that even happened until I started thinking about what Cena would be doing. I guess maybe they still run Cena/Wyatt but man..  no follow-up since the Rumble at all. Not good.

My friend John & I were talking about this exact thing last night. He brought up Cena Vs. Wyatt for 'Mania because of that attack. Then I said, OK, so why is Wyatt fighting The Shield at Chamber? And he said Maybe Wyatt will cost Cena the Chamber match to build their match at Mania. So I was like, OK, then why did he attack him in the first fucking place if they were just going to stall a couple weeks then do it again?

 

That's kind of my issue. No one knows what's going on & all we can do is guess. Including with the Ace of the company in John Cena, like you mentioned. If WWE is launching the network & selling Wrestlemania, shouldn't people know what they're paying for? Right now it feels more like "hey, you like wrestling? Ok, well trust us." But all the've done lately is seemingly ignore the fans, like with the Daniel Bryan stuff up to this point, so why would anyone trust them when they feel like their voices aren't heard, ya know?

 

I don't know if I'm even making any sense. It just feels odd this year.

[Web Conn]

I saw Spring Breakers super baked with my brother at midnight with 8 other people in the theater and a lady (I use that term loosely) in the row behind us starting blowing her date with like 30 minutes left in the movie and two people sitting In the same row as this couple stormed out of the theater.

The midnight theater crew didn't come in and breakup the finish?

I saw the people storm out saying something like "this is bullshit" and I thought it can't be the movie because I think Spring Breakers is a very good film so I turned around and I saw this gals head go up and down in this dudes lap. Me and my bro stayed I actually didn't tell my bro about it until we left. It was pretty surreal, but I will say that couple never got loud or obnoxious about it. If you've seen Spring Breakers it kinda fits. I know it's not a wrestling story but it's still a funny story.

[Cobra Commander]

I did go to a TNA Houseshow in 2010. I didn't watch any of their TV in the leadup, The show was essentially lots of matches, with a southern tag (Beer Money-Jarrett/Abyss) semi-main event and Angle/Kennedy as the main event.

[Buy Me a Burrito]

This time of year is typically my favorite time of the year in the WWE because everything feels like it means something; the Rumble winner actually having the advantage over the champ because the Champ has to defend the title in the Chamber (which we've been told is a career-threatening match), and then if he survives that he has to go to Mania to face someone that has had (in theory) two months to think about the match.

 

But for the last three years or so Mania season hasn't had that sense of urgency for me. Either the matches were set in stone or predictable.

 

If the WWE wants to be "the leader in live episodic television" or whatever their spiel is, then these PPVs need to feel like something that gets to audience towards Mania. Mania should be constantly mentioned throughout the year. Mania shouldn't have a month of rematches at Backlash. The build to King of the Ring or whatever should start there. Build that into Summerslam. Then build that into Survivor Series. I've always thought that they should do some sort of "Sole Survivor" deal where that person gets to be #30 in the Rumble.

 

But then again I'm fantasy booking right now, which means that I hate me. Also, the build to the monthly PPV model of storytelling is dying as of next Sunday. I firmly believe in 5 years that wrestling will be completely different than how it has been for the last 30 years or so. 

[Greggulator]

Okay, here are some points to follow up on:

1) The Wyatts attacked Cena for unclear reasons at The Rumble. But do The Wyatts have clear reasons besides Bray wanting to shatter the illusion of heroism? He's a mysterious preacher with monsters who do his bidding. Them showing up to destroy Cena minutes after he defeated Bryan makes perfect sense to me.

2) The Wyatts attacked Cena again in the EC Qualification match, playing off what they did the week earlier. They cost The Shield the match. Now The Shield wants them. Easy enough to see why those two factions would want at each others throats, especially considering they almost went at it a few months earlier before settling into an uneasy truce when they tagged for a few times.

 

3) Cena not getting involved with that stuff is perfectly logical. Why would he right now? He's in the EC match and has a shot to win the title and main event at WM, which has been his end goal each year for the past decade. He also has to go through Randy Orton to do so, the man who has been his biggest rival from their generation. And he's also anointed himself as the gatekeeper from the next generation of talent looking to take his place as the promotion's biggest star.

 

4) I saw The Iron Giant in a movie theater one afternoon with only one other person in the theater. I was going to the movies a lot during the time period (I worked nights and most of my friends were still in school) so it was a lot of daytime movie outings. I had no idea about that movie at all. I didn't know it was a cartoon, even. I sat in the theater for a few minutes afterwards in tears because that movie was absolutely fantastic and beautiful and sad and wonderful. I went to the bathroom eventually and the other guy who was in the theater was there, wiping his face clean. We both acknowledged each other and went on our separate ways.

5) I've performed stand-up in front of a crowd as small as two non-comics. Shows like that are actually some of my favorites to perform at. It's really no-lose at all and you can just do whatever the hell you want. Any risk on stage you've ever wanted to take you can. It's just a sense of complete and total freedom. Wrestling doesn't really work that way because why the hell would you take some crazy spot in front of three folks? But in terms of shtick, you can just really go for it.

[caley]

I just presume with the Wyatts-Cena-Shield stuff that WWE was going to put Punk in the EC (or had plans to do Punk-Shield continuing/ending that story), but had to scramble when he quit and throw Cena in there instead, so they put Shield-Wyatts together at EC.  Then, at EC, we get Wyatts over Shield after miscommunication, then they interfere in the EC and cost Cena the World Title and we go back into the original Cena-Wyatt build into WM.

[SlackerMillionaire]

Thought this might be a good time to share my empty theater experience story. I saw Where the Wild Things Are at a weekday 2pm showing and it was just me and a big intimidating biker. At the end of the film we both exited together and he looked over at me and said in his gruff voice "What did ya think?", I paused and said "I really loved it", he smiled and looked at me for a moment and said "Yeah me too kid", walked outside jumped on his Harley Davidson and rode off.

[FluffSnackwell]

I don't know; maybe it's just me but I think the Wyatts spacing out attacks on Cena is an ideal way to fuck with somebody. Also Cena has been on top for so long it just feels like there's nothing remotely fresh he can do at WrestleMania save for challenging "The Streak." Who knows how Vince's head works? Maybe they're actually holding off all the way until WM XXXIII where Undertaker can go for 25-0 against Cena. Fat chance the dead man's body holds up that long but I'm just throwing it out there.

[ingrsco]

The best thing about that match was the ridiculous belt they made for it.

Ahh yes the Western States Heritage World Heavyweight title

[Niners Fan in CT]

If the Chamber match were to come down to Cena and Orton with Orton retaining because of outside interference from the Wyatts it'd be about the least interesting outcome they could do.

 

1. Nobody wants to see Cena/Orton at the end.

2. Nobody wants a fuck finish.

3. Nobody wants Orton/Batista at WM.

 

If the Wyatts attacked Cena in the beginning of the match it might be more interesting. It makes the finish less obvious and might produce a real winner instead of Orton lucking his way into another victory.

[nate]

You can literally count the people now.

Couldn't you *always* literally count the people? Hee...

[SirSmUgly]

If the Chamber match were to come down to Cena and Orton with Orton retaining because of outside interference from the Wyatts it'd be about the least interesting outcome they could do.

 

1. Nobody wants to see Cena/Orton at the end.

2. Nobody wants a fuck finish.

3. Nobody wants Orton/Batista at WM.

 

If the Wyatts attacked Cena in the beginning of the match it might be more interesting. It makes the finish less obvious and might produce a real winner instead of Orton lucking his way into another victory.

 

I think it's going to be hard to produce a finish that the arena crowd wants to see, to be honest. Cesaro and Christian aren't winning. Would the crowd be fine with a Sheamus victory? I feel like the answer to that is "no." I like Cena a ton, but no one really wants to see him as champ, nor Orton. Now, if they did something nutty like had the Wyatts attack Cena and have Bray take his place, then win the thing, that would be so weird no one would crap on it...but I don't see how they would even go on from there unless they had a Corporate Ministry-redux with HHH and Stephanie teaming with cult leader Bray Wyatt.

 

Or they could just have Bryan win, but that is not going to happen either. 

 

At least the match itself is going to be really good. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

If I had to rank the guys from best to worst in terms of how the crowd would react to them winning I'd probably go..

 

1. Bryan

2. Cesaro

3. Bray Wyatt is placed in the match and wins

4. Brock Lesnar is placed in the match and wins

5. Christian

6. Cena/Sheamus

7. Anyone else on the roster or anyone returning from out of nowhere including Too Cool, Rikishi, etc.. anyone except Batista

8. Orton

9. Batista

 

I really think Batista/Orton are probably the two most "go away" people on the roster right now. Which is unfortunate.. because I like Orton and he's been very good the last couple weeks. Batista I'm finding difficult to root for.. or want to see at all..

 

"Hey man, like I said, I have no problem with you.."  

 

What? So what was that about on Twitter? What are you even talking about Drax?

 

Oh shit, what if Punk returns and wins?  THAT'D be something...  not because I love Punk but it'd be a hell of a work I suppose..  or they could make believe it was a work..

[Joe Fixit]

Batista winning in a cheap way and then Batista/Bryan at Mania might be the best outcome.

[SirSmUgly]

Yeah, if Punk showed up and somehow got into the Chamber, then won, that would definitely make up for it for the crowd and a number of the fans. That's about the only guy I can think of that isn't currently in the Chamber and is a plausible substitute that would work.