FEBRUARY WRESTLING DISCUSSION

[tlk23]

The top four matches are pretty much set. Taker/Lesnar, Batista/Orton, Cena/Wyatt and HHH/Bryan. Seems pretty clear cut. A lot of the matches in recent years haven't even started to be built until after the Feb. PPV. All of these have been built in some way for over a month except for Lesnar/Taker.

[caley]

There's a rumor floating around the NEWZ sites that tomorrow's Raw will see a title change to kick up interest in the Network debuting later that night, another rumor saying that Brock Lesnar will not be at EC tonight but will be at Raw tomorrow.  

 

I think it'd be great to see Orton survive by the skin of his teeth tonight, limp into Raw tomorrow only to have Brock Lesnar goad him into a title match and take the title on Raw setting up Lesnar-Batista at WM.

[Greggulator]

I'll be sad that we may no longer have The Shield as we know it in our lives after tonight.

But the whole part of alliances and stables is for them to eventually break up. The Shield's arc has been terrific. They came in kayfabe as three rookies no one knew who were world beaters because they sacrificed for each other, had great teamwork and came in knowing a lot of heel trickery. It took a while for anyone to crack their code. The first one who did was Daniel Bryan, and that launched him to where he is now. Then came The Rhodes Boys in two of the best matches of the decade. But that's it. And now Roman's dominance has caused the already unstable Dean to become really jealous, with Rollins caught in the middle. It's so great.

One of the biggest missed opportunities in wrestling history was how the Four Horsemen ended. They always had some great stuff when members left. Ole leaving with Lex as the new protege was great stuff. Barry's heel turn to join at the expense of Lex was even better. But the business as it was, we never got to see Tully try and lead a coup on Flair or something along those lines. That would have been the ultimate way to end everything. Instead, it sort of just died out once Tully/Arn left and JJ was written out for Hiro Matsuda. It morphed into Flair/Steamboat which obviously was great but Arn and JJ trying to play peacemaker between Tully trying to get what was rightfully with Tony Schiavonne in the middle would have been the best.

[Fallacy!]

re: Shield breakup.

 

The interesting thing about they've written it is that Ambrose is really the only one who seems to be causing any sort of problem. Rollins and Reigns were tag team champs and still seem to be totally cool with each other. Look how jacked Rollins was when Reigns beat Mark Henry. The idea of Rollins turning on him seems kind of far-fetched right now, but I guess if they want to keep the group together, they can always have Rollins just say he "finally realized" Reigns was to blame for the dissension in the group.

[cool arrow]

There's a rumor floating around the NEWZ sites that tomorrow's Raw will see a title change to kick up interest in the Network debuting later that night, another rumor saying that Brock Lesnar will not be at EC tonight but will be at Raw tomorrow.  

 

I think it'd be great to see Orton survive by the skin of his teeth tonight, limp into Raw tomorrow only to have Brock Lesnar goad him into a title match and take the title on Raw setting up Lesnar-Batista at WM.

 

It'd be even better if Lesnar just totally squashed Batista, like the Big Show match, only with a stretcher job at the end.

 

And Orton gets demoted to the pre-show against Zack Ryder.

[mattdangerously]

Are rumors more or less trust-worthy than rumblings?

And I guess it's good for Orton and Batista that PPV buyrates aren't going to be very important after tonight.

[nate]

I just realized how much I would enjoy a Taker vs. Shield handicap match at Mania.

[ultimoDANK]

I just realized how much I would enjoy a Taker vs. Shield handicap match at Mania.

What a terrible idea.

[Brian Fowler]

I could see them still deciding they want Bryan in the title match and going with yet another fucking bullshit finish tonight, with an Orton/Bryan double pin of something to set up a triple threat.

 

Especially if the rumored rumblings I heard earlier today that people close to Punk expect that Vince will talk him into returning for the Chicago RAW, putting Punk/HHH back on the table.

[Josh Mann]

TMZ is reporting Jake Roberts has cancer. That sucks.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/455101-jake-roberts-has-cancer

For everything Jake has done to himself, small tumor in his knee joint would't have been my first or 10th guess.

[piranesi]

Are rumors more or less trust-worthy than rumblings?

 

 

 

Is this the same rumor source that was so totally certain Jimmy Yun was going to win the Rumble?

[Cobra Commander]

There's a rumor floating around the NEWZ sites that tomorrow's Raw will see a title change to kick up interest in the Network debuting later that night, another rumor saying that Brock Lesnar will not be at EC tonight but will be at Raw tomorrow.  

 

I think it'd be great to see Orton survive by the skin of his teeth tonight, limp into Raw tomorrow only to have Brock Lesnar goad him into a title match and take the title on Raw setting up Lesnar-Batista at WM.

so Bryan wins the belt tonight, then drops it to Lesnar tomorrow night?

[piranesi]

Cool.  Batista/HHH, then.  HAHAHHHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

 

No, seriously, that means HHH will beat Lesnar for the belt at Mania, avenging his wife and best friend and reminding us all what A++++ looks like.

[The Z]

I could see them still deciding they want Bryan in the title match and going with yet another fucking bullshit finish tonight, with an Orton/Bryan double pin of something to set up a triple threat.

 

Especially if the rumored rumblings I heard earlier today that people close to Punk expect that Vince will talk him into returning for the Chicago RAW, putting Punk/HHH back on the table.

 

If that really happens and they really go back to Punk/HHH for Wrestlemania, that will be a really interesting match to see after everything that went down.

I doubt Triple H would want to lose against the guy who walked out on the WWE and called him an unworthy opponent and I doubt CM Punk would want to come back under the condition he loses against Triple H, either.

Thus, this match could set a new record for kicking out of and trading finishing moves.

[piranesi]

 

I could see them still deciding they want Bryan in the title match and going with yet another fucking bullshit finish tonight, with an Orton/Bryan double pin of something to set up a triple threat.

 

Especially if the rumored rumblings I heard earlier today that people close to Punk expect that Vince will talk him into returning for the Chicago RAW, putting Punk/HHH back on the table.

 

If that really happens and they really go back to Punk/HHH for Wrestlemania, that will be a really interesting match to see after everything that went down.

I doubt Triple H would want to lose against the guy who walked out the WWE and called him an unworthy opponent and I doubt CM Punk would want to come back under the condition he loses against Triple H, either.

Thus, this match could set a new record for kicking out of and trading finishing moves.

 

 

The real contract would have to contain clauses with phrases like "No Fewer than but no more then 6 so-called "Go To Sleeps""

 

and

 

"After achieving his "staged victory" Mr. Brooks will be rendered to a pretend unconscious state by a series of Mr. Levesque's so called "finishing moves."  This will take place after Mr. Levesque pretends to pretend to hug Mr. Brooks, thereby clearly re-establishing his stature as the so-called "Cerebral Assassin".  The final music to be played will be Mr. Levesque's theme."

 

"Mr. Levesque will not "show ass" (as defined in note 137 or paragraph 14.r.)"

[Niners Fan in CT]

I had just assumed Bryan having this shoulder injury is a way to make him look good in defeat. I think he loses clean.

[piranesi]

If he almost beats Lesnar while injured and then is out, that would be pretty sweet.  If they let Lesnar or Heyman show some fear about him getting back to build up to him winning.

 

Dammit, guys, now you've got me all excited about another scenario that has Bryan doing something they are never going to let him do.

 

God, you are the worst expectation pimps around here.  Whatever happens tonight and over the next month is going to suck compared to that.

[Cobra Commander]

although you do know that a worked shoulder injury means that if Bryan faces Lesnar, the bell rings as soon as the Kimura is applied. Then Daniel Bryan can get time off to plan his wedding

[piranesi]

Right, the comeback would be in three weeks...and there should be lots of training montages between now and then.  And Lesnar at first making fun of him, but then getting all tense and uptight and smashing things.

 

And then DANIEL BRYAN WINS THE TITLE BACK AT WRESTLEMANIA BY CLEAN PIN OVER BROCK FUCKING LESNAR!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

...and then Hogan wins the title from Bryan with a single kick to the knee because it's Bryan

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see how I've now been fantasy booked by you A-holes into a hopeless froth and cannot be satisfied by anything other than exactly this hapeening, or else I start breaking DVD's in my one tiny bedroom where I keep all my toys while my girlfriend films m........you know what, just forget that last part.  I've D0xed myself.

[Skelemania]

I see zero problems with Brock Lesnar being the champion, honestly. He's the most legit guy they have. It would make a lot of sense. Dude is a monster. Certainly a better option than Batista or Orton, even if he's on a part-time schedule. The champion doesn't need to be on every damn show anyway. Especially now with the Network.

[Cobra Commander]

no, Kane would announce that he's wrestling Daniel Bryan and then the night ends with Kane being the champion

[Skelemania]

 

...and then Hogan wins the title from Bryan with a single kick to the knee because it's Bryan

Hulk Hogan can't get his leg as high as he used to, man. He can't do a Big Boot like the glory days anymore. So he can only get a couple feet off the ground. So Bryan is safe...since the boot will go over his head.

[goc]

 

So, how fucking amazing was Nick Bockwinkel?

 

I went on a bit of a Bockwinkel binge last night and watched him vs. Lawler in Memphis and the hour broadway with Hennig at the Showboat. Jesus, the guy was amazing on the mic, bumped like a champ, had a great mat game, killer conditioning, AND was amazing into his early 50's. He really was like Ric Flair before Ric Flair was Ric Flair. I'd also say that, at the top of his last big run, he was a better Ric Flair than Ric Flair.

 

 

Two facts about Nick Bockwinkel:

 

1) He was never not awesome.

2) He was 49 years old when he came out of the womb.

 

 

Jerry Jarrett said in his shoot interview that one of his biggest mistakes in wrestling was booking Nick Bockwinkel vs. Jimmy Valiant in Memphis. He said it was the worst 20 minutes he'd ever spent in wrestling trying to watch Jimmy Valiant wrestle.

 

[caley]

What's fun about wrestling vs other sports is there is no real relationship with the media (They're even mad at TMZ now because they spoiled Hogan's return).  There's no WWE Insiders whom the WWE works with, there's Meltzer but they've had an often adversarial relationship with him, often changing plans just to show that he doesn't know what he's talking about.  

 

So, basically any dude can start up a website and claim to have sources, then go back and forth reporting one thing than the opposite so one is true.  And because of WWE's tendency to change things to undermine "insiders", you can also say "Well, that's what was supposed to happen, but WWE changed the ending because they wanted to swerve you!" 

 

For instance, like I posted before, the rumor is that Lesnar is not in attendance tonight, that same site then said Christian is going to be pulled from the EC but Lesnar is not the replacement, and the same site THEN said that the rumor is that Lesnar IS in attendance.  So any which way it goes, they're right.  If Lesnar doesn't show up, well that's what they said.  If Lesnar does show up, well that's what they said.  It's totally fascinating.  

 

I kinda want to start my own site, use Ben's Bunkhouse Buck fantasy booking ideas as "scoops" an insider told me, then saying that Vince was irate that I found out his secret booking ideas and changed it at the last minute to try to discredit me.  How many Twitter followers do you think I could get?

[Brian Fowler]

2. Maybe 3.