Official Pro-Wrestling Thread (WWE, TNA, ROH etc.)

[Barney Rubble]

TNA even though it is growing still has a significantly lighter schedule than WWE. Christian did the same thing and he needed to recharge his batteries as well. He’s been welcomed back into the WWE with open arms too.

Plus from what I’ve heard it was more the fact that like Mick Foley, Taz got sick and tired of being yelled at in his ear by Vince McMahon. Taz was with WWE for almost 10 years and commentated for about 8 of those. I don’t blame him if he wants to look for a change. I can’t imagine working for a company for 10 years myself! When there’s an alternative option, why not!

That being said, I definitely think its Taz and I think that either he will be part of a three man commentary team with Mike Tenay and Don West or that he will be Samoa Joe’s manager. At TNA Lockdown, I think they showed Samoa Joe backstage talking to someone who was offering him instructions before his match. During his match he then proceeded to do plenty of the suplexes that are of course Taz’s speciality.

As for your other options, you can count Goldberg out as he’s officially done with wrestling. Plus Goldberg’s a smart man, and having just signed Bobby Lashley signing Goldberg would be counter productive. Ron Simmons is not a draw at all especially in today’s day and age, plus isn’t he like an ambassador for WWE even though he’s officially not on their payroll?

RVD has said that if he ever returns it’ll be for WWE since they are the big leagues and the best. Plus I don’t think RVD left on bad terms so I don’t think it’s him. I don’t think it’s Sid either as he really wouldn’t have much impact in TNA at all. He was a big name like 15 years ago and the new wrestling fan does not know who he is. He’s still a better chance than RVD and Goldberg though.

From all accounts it is definitely Taz and it’ll be interesting to see what role he has with TNA.

Well, you make a convincing argument. My laptop cut out just after they showed Joe talking to someone, I didn't see him go out and do all sorts of suplexes. That definitely fits the Taz theory. I do kind of hope it is Taz, it'll be good to see him stay on TV now that he's left WWE. We shall see over the coming weeks.

 

[masterblaster]

Just checked out the results of Raw and it seems to be a pretty crappy show which made last weeks draft look a bit pointless. The only shining light coming out of this show was a match between Chris Jericho and Ricky Steamboat.

I’m so sick of the Triple H vs Randy Orton feud and I just wish they could drop it and move on. It’s lost so much momentum thanks to Triple H’s relentless stranglehold on the WWE Championship.

If this doesn’t prove that Triple H’s politics really hurt the WWE and other talented stars then I don’t know what will. Plus he’s a stale performer who is a shell of his former self.

It’s the same with John Cena. Cena having the title is nothing that we haven’t seen before. Get them both out of the WWE Championship picture now and bring in some fresh faces for your main event talent.

 

[GIMH]

Just checked out the results of Raw and it seems to be a pretty crappy show which made last weeks draft look a bit pointless. The only shining light coming out of this show was a match between Chris Jericho and Ricky Steamboat.

I’m so sick of the Triple H vs Randy Orton feud and I just wish they could drop it and move on. It’s lost so much momentum thanks to Triple H’s relentless stranglehold on the WWE Championship.

If this doesn’t prove that Triple H’s politics really hurt the WWE and other talented stars then I don’t know what will. Plus he’s a stale performer who is a shell of his former self.

It’s the same with John Cena. Cena having the title is nothing that we haven’t seen before. Get them both out of the WWE Championship picture now and bring in some fresh faces for your main event talent.

I watched it earlier and thought it was a good show you know. They were pretty clear on the fact that the Smackdown wrestlerrs were on Raw for the final time - I can only assume they did it because they'd promoted the Raw/Smackdown UK tours with specific names for quite some time now and didn't want to go back on that. I would expect that next week they will stick to the draft.

Jericho and Cena's match was really, really good, and I enjoyed the Triple H Orton match as well - I'll agree though that we could do with a bit of freshening up of the world title scene - but Edge and Orton are hardly new faces to the belt either, I dunno what's going to happen.

 

[Majin]

There can't be many. Can't think of any myself.

I've just read confirmation that Stevie Richards was not the second World Champ, so that makes things a little better. I'd be surprised if the other one was Taz, though, given that his reason for leaving WWE was "to recharge his batteries", and I doubt Vince would have let him leave if he thought he was just going to jump ship. He'd be burning all his bridges if he lied about his reasons for leaving, and what can TNA offer him that WWE can't?

I think it's got to be someone else. Sid Vicious has been rumoured to be looking to get back into the business full-time; Ron Simmons (former WCW Champion) is a free agent; Goldberg is always looking for a quick buck; RVD is technically available, although unlikely to commit to a long-term contract.

Having thought about it, none of these actually seem likely, and Taz would fit the role of Samoa Joe's manager really well - but I still don't think he'd be likely to leave WWE right before WrestleMania if he wasn't legitimately taking a break from the business.

Actually Taz posted a message explaining the situation on his website, apparently his contract had run out and he never had the clause in his contract stating he couldn't work for anyone. His contract had run out before Wrestlemania, though he offered to work it for free (heard this from various other places as well). So yeah he doesn't have any reason not to go straight to TNA if they offer it to him. Also I think (though not sure) that TNA still don't do a whole lot of travelling so he probably would be working a way less severe schedule than he was for WWE, although like I said not sure about that so could be wrong.

But yeah from what he said there's absolutely no bad blood between him and the mcmahons and it's cool for him to work wherever he wants so all good for Taz in TNA hopefully.

edit: Now being reported that Taz does in fact have a no-compete clause, but is definitely headed to TNA once it's over. So I don't know where to go to find out the exact story, but the one common theme appears to be Taz is going to TNA, so it looks like it'll go ahead for now.

 

[masterblaster]

Great promo between Jack Swagger and Christian today on ECW. Swagger has huge star potential and he's going be to be big player for WWE in the future and Christian is one of the best performers in WWE so I'm definitely looking forward to this match at Backlash.

 

[masterblaster]

Since hardly anybody here seems to be interested for Backlash this Sunday, I thought I'd get the ball rolling and offer some of my predictions for the show.

CM Punk vs Kane

A really random match here with two MITB participants. Could be a good opening match up, but I don't see anything of note coming out of this match. I don't see what purpose this match has on the card when you could've had CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship. My prediction is for CM Punk to win and continue his good momentum

Chris Jericho vs Ricky Steamboat

This should be the end of the Jericho vs The Legends feud. I'm expecting these guys to have a pretty good match. I'd say that Chris Jericho comes out on top here but that Ricky Steamboat puts on a hell of a performance and wins Jericho's respect. I'd love to see a finish similar to Wrestlemania 19 where Jericho and Shawn Michaels shook hands and gave each other respect after a classic encounter only for Jericho to turn on Michaels. I can see the finish being the same thing here.

Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy

I've had enough of their feud and with Matt Hardy beating Jeff in almost every match, logic dictates that Jeff Hardy is going over here. However with the rumours of Jeff Hardy leaving WWE going around I can see Matt Hardy winning here. But I'm going to go with conventional booking logic and think that Jeff Hardy will end up the winner.

Shane McMahon, Batista and Triple H vs Legacy

Hunter wins, Orton continues to lose momentum and Legacy continues to look like a joke.

ECW Championship Match: Jack Swagger vs Christian

This is my match of the night. After a terrific match earlier on ECW, Swagger and Christian are perfect opponents and both seem to bring the best out of each other. With Swagger getting the upper hand on ECW and having beaten Christian for the title before, I think it's the right time for Christian to complete his return and win the ECW Championship. Expect these two guys to have a great match and it'll be great to have a new ECW Champion. Christian would also go a long way in giving the ECW Championship some more importance in the WWE.

World Heavyweight Championship Match: John Cena vs Edge

We've seen these two feud many times before, but every time they have a match it's always fantastic. Probably the best feud in recent times, there could be another surprise. Either way I'm expecting the World Heavyweight Championship to go back to Smackdown. Either Edge will win or CM Punk cashes in his MITB on either John Cena or Edge.

Those are my predictions. I won't be able to watch the show live, but I'll try and catch it afterwards.

 

[GIMH]

I actually think it will be a good PPV. Looking forwards to watching it after work tomorrow

My tips.

CM Punk V Kane - seems like one of those matches they thought of without too much forethought. It would make sense for CM Punk to be facing and defeating Kane as part of his push, except for the fact that Kane has done **** all in a while now and that he already scored the victory over him on Raw. If they wanted to get CM over hugely and get it right this time, Big Show would have made sense given his huge knockout punch that they are going on about of late. I would like to see CM Punk turn heel sometime soon actually as my mate who's an avid watcher of ROH reliably informs me that he was an awesome heel there. Anyway, I digress - it would make no sense for CM Punk to lose this, expect a good victory.

Chris Jericho V Ricky Steamboat - This should be a cracker. The 4 or 5 minutes we got of it at WM was really good, given that there are only 6 matches on the card hopefully they can have about 15 minutes. Can't look past a Jericho win though, any other result would be a bit silly. Wanna see Jericho return to the title picture after this.

Jeff V Matt - I think I said the same thing I'm about to say now before their WM match - this could be really good, if done properly. And I enjoyed their WM effort. So hopefully it's done properly and well. With them on separate brands now it will the end of the feud, I am not sure what their plans are for Matt. If they want to push him up into the main event picture then a win here could get him well and truly over as a heel, whereas you feel Jeff is over enough, having been champion not that long ago. Tough one to call, logic dictates that Jeff will take it, given that he's lost everything so far, but I'm gonna stick my neck out and tip a Matt win. Would like to see him enter a programme with a dethroned Cena next, if they are serious about him. As for Jeff - not really sure where he goes next, though as a big fan I don't want to see him leave, as hinted at by masterblaster.

Christian v Swagger - I am expecting a very good match and a Christian win. Not much else to say, though I'd like to see them feud for a bit longer after this match.

Triple H/Shane0Mac/Batista V The Legacy - I want to see Orton walk out of Backlash with the title - sort of. I hated the way The Rock pinned Vince to win the belt in 2000 and I'd hate to see a similar thing to happen here, even worse to see a DQ or count out cost Triple H the title. I want Orton to pin Triple H, but I'll bet that won't happen. My tip is that one way or the other Shane deliberately costs Triple H the title and joins Legacy - should have happened last month tbh

Edge V Cena - Before the draft I was saying to my brother that i expected Cena to win this, but it makes no sense to have two belts on Raw and that's my logic for tipping Edge tonight. This should be a great match though, I am a fan of both wrestlers and feel that they have never really let us down when facing off.

masterblaster talked of the possibility of CM Punk cashing in his MITB tonight for the title, which is obviously another way of getting the strap back on Smackdown. It would make a lot of sense in a way, but I want to see him get built up more first and get his title run done properly this time. I think he is going to be a star, but give him a couple of months of defeating monster heels etc.

That being said, I did say I'd like to see him turn heel - wouldn't mind so much if that somehow resulted in him facing off with Cena. You have to look at it logically, a LMS match is pretty much billed as the most brutal match in wrestling and as such that would be the place to cash in. There is space on the card as well.

We'll see. I have a lot of hope for tonight as there is nothing in the way of filler on the card really - CM Punk-Kane is a bit pointless but you have to give CM a match and I am not counting the awful Santino/Santina/Khali segment that we are promised - and I always find Backlash fixes the things they got wrong at Mania. It should be good. One thing's for sure, I shall be avoiding this thread tomorrow daytime

 

[Barney Rubble]

Would like to see him enter a programme with a dethroned Cena next, if they are serious about him.

Me and a mate were discussing this the other night. I think this would be fantastic. Hardy vs Cena would be seven shades of awesome, particularly because most of us thought the only time we'd get one of the Hardys feuding with Cena would be in a lame face-vs-face feud.

 

[masterblaster]

Backlash seems like a pretty great show. I’m yet to watch it but going by the results it seemed to contain some solid matches and the best thing is that all three titles changed hands on the show!

Christian won the ECW Championship! The peeps are rejoicing at this! Granted it’s not a World Championship but it is a significant step in Christian’s WWE career.
This somewhat justifies his decision to move on from TNA and I think all those rumours about Vince McMahon not liking Christian can be dismissed. I hope he has a great title defence and moves on to bigger and better things,

While following it online, I read that the WWE finally decided to give us an Edge and Christian promo. How awesome is that! Will be definitely interested in seeing how that played out.

Chris Jericho vs Ricky Steamboat by all accounts was good and I loved reading about the emotional end to Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy.

But the best thing about the show, Hunter not being WWE Champion and John Cena not being World Heavyweight Champion. These two stale, overexposed and overrated wrestlers deserve to lose their championships to better and more deserving wrestlers. This should’ve happened at Wrestlemania.

Edge and Christian both champions of their respective brand = This Reeks of Awesomeness!

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Haha wow the Cena hate is ridiculous. He's the hardest working guy in the business, one of the best workers in the company and he's overrated? Faaaar out.

 

[masterblaster]

Haha wow the Cena hate is ridiculous. He's the hardest working guy in the business, one of the best workers in the company and he's overrated? Faaaar out.

I think you'll find that the Cena hate is more due to the fact that he's overexposed like hell and every match of his is a foregone conclusion (i.e. he gets beaten for 80% of the match, overcomes the odds and wins).

It's old, it's stale and it's tiresome. His character is old, stale and tiresome. He's a very hardworking guy no doubt and he deserves his success, but this is also entertainment. You need to be continually re inventing yourself and Cena hasn't done that in years. It also doesn't help that he is in every main event.

He's over with the fans already and after almost three continuous years as WWE Champion he doesn't need the belt anymore to get himself over much like Triple H.

 

[Barney Rubble]

I think you'll find that the Cena hate is more due to the fact that he's overexposed like hell and every match of his is a foregone conclusion (i.e. he gets beaten for 80% of the match, overcomes the odds and wins).

It's old, it's stale and it's tiresome. His character is old, stale and tiresome. He's a very hardworking guy no doubt and he deserves his success, but this is also entertainment. You need to be continually re inventing yourself and Cena hasn't done that in years. It also doesn't help that he is in every main event.

He's over with the fans already and after almost three continuous years as WWE Champion he doesn't need the belt anymore to get himself over much like Triple H.

I agree with some parts of what you say and disagree with others, but I think I should point out that Cena didn't hold any belt at all between his injury just before No Mercy 2007, and his return from a second injury at Survivor Series 2008. Heck, he lost to JBL on PPV at one point.

Almost stayed up and watched Backlash myself, but I didn't have the energy in the end. Which is a shame, because it seems like an awesome PPV. Am looking forward to watching it when I get the chance.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Yeah, since WrestleMania XXIV Cena's PPV record has been 6-6.

His wins were:
JBL (JD)
JBL (ONS)
Jericho (SurSer)
Jericho (Armaggeddon)
JBL (RR)
Cena & Show (WMXXV)

His losses have been:
Orton (WMXXIV, with HHH)
HHH (Backlash, with Orton & JBL)
HHH (NOC)
JBL (GAB)
Batista (SummerSlam)
Elimination Chamber (NWO)

Jeez, for the biggest name in wrestling today to lose at three PPVs in a row is pretty big IMO. Three wins against JBL is hardly anything to write home about, either.

 

[masterblaster]

Just watching Backlash now. Tremendous show so far. Swagger vs Christian was an awesome opening match and Jericho vs Steamboat was fantastic. Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy was good too with a great finish and enough can't be said about Edge vs John Cena. These two always bring their best and their feud is probably the best modern rivalry in WWE.

 

[GIMH]

Just watched it tonight. Enjoyed it on the whole, there was a slight lack of x-factor at key moments IMO in that the only surprise of the night was Kane's win. But on the whole, great show, 8/10

First match, good opener, entertaining, felt that Christian really put Swagger over before an entertaining finish. Interesting that you say it's not a world title masterblaster. i pretty much agree with you but don't WWE technically class it as one?

anyway, the term 'marked out' gets bandied about a lot and it's one I'm not so fond out. But I guess that would be the best way to describe my reaction when you saw Christian say, "wait a minute..." to the ECW guys and you knew he was going over to Edge. I now expect a few small moments like that here and there, hopefully leading to a big PPV match down the line - could headline Summerslam, perhaps

Jericho-Steamboat was as I expected it, ie very good. Now let's push Jericho back into the main event...

Kane V CM Punk was actually a good watch, i was just dismayed by the result which I thought was unnecessary, unless they are going to continue feuding. CM Punk was put over well despite the loss, mind you, particularly by the commentary team

Jeff V Matt - great stuff. What I loved most about this match was the fact that they were both selling so much pain long before any weapons were brought out. It wasn't a barbaric "I Quit" match, it was a match where the majority of the pain came from wrestling holds, and I really enjoyed it. Satisfactory conclusion IMO, now let's see where they both go from here. Looks like Matt won't be feuding with Cena, the Big Slow gets that privelige, so who knows where from here.

The 6-man tag - yeah, decent watch, and bloody made up with the ending, the right result and done in the right way. Fair play to Triple H for doing the right thing this time as I 100% wasn't expecting him to get pinned. I want to see Orton have a decent reign now, a programme with Batista seems inevitable, presumably Triple H is taking some time off.

Mind you, what the hell was Orton's absence at the beginning all about?

And as for the LMS, well it was great, it see-sawed, it told a great story, and as masterblaster said, Edge-Cena do not disappoint. I was throughly bemused to see the ****ing Big Show get involved, though the slam was bloody impressive.

So yeah, not a bad match in sight (the Khali segment was a shocker but hey, it's to be expected), really enjoyable PPV. Unfortunately I can't see Judgment Day delivering in the same way, my early expectations for the matches there are Cena-Show (seems obvious), Orton-Batista and I dunno who Edge will face in all honesty.

 

[masterblaster]

Just watched it tonight. Enjoyed it on the whole, there was a slight lack of x-factor at key moments IMO in that the only surprise of the night was Kane's win. But on the whole, great show, 8/10

First match, good opener, entertaining, felt that Christian really put Swagger over before an entertaining finish. Interesting that you say it's not a world title masterblaster. i pretty much agree with you but don't WWE technically class it as one?

anyway, the term 'marked out' gets bandied about a lot and it's one I'm not so fond out. But I guess that would be the best way to describe my reaction when you saw Christian say, "wait a minute..." to the ECW guys and you knew he was going over to Edge. I now expect a few small moments like that here and there, hopefully leading to a big PPV match down the line - could headline Summerslam, perhaps

Jericho-Steamboat was as I expected it, ie very good. Now let's push Jericho back into the main event...

Kane V CM Punk was actually a good watch, i was just dismayed by the result which I thought was unnecessary, unless they are going to continue feuding. CM Punk was put over well despite the loss, mind you, particularly by the commentary team

Jeff V Matt - great stuff. What I loved most about this match was the fact that they were both selling so much pain long before any weapons were brought out. It wasn't a barbaric "I Quit" match, it was a match where the majority of the pain came from wrestling holds, and I really enjoyed it. Satisfactory conclusion IMO, now let's see where they both go from here. Looks like Matt won't be feuding with Cena, the Big Slow gets that privelige, so who knows where from here.

The 6-man tag - yeah, decent watch, and bloody made up with the ending, the right result and done in the right way. Fair play to Triple H for doing the right thing this time as I 100% wasn't expecting him to get pinned. I want to see Orton have a decent reign now, a programme with Batista seems inevitable, presumably Triple H is taking some time off.

Mind you, what the hell was Orton's absence at the beginning all about?

And as for the LMS, well it was great, it see-sawed, it told a great story, and as masterblaster said, Edge-Cena do not disappoint. I was throughly bemused to see the ****ing Big Show get involved, though the slam was bloody impressive.

So yeah, not a bad match in sight (the Khali segment was a shocker but hey, it's to be expected), really enjoyable PPV. Unfortunately I can't see Judgment Day delivering in the same way, my early expectations for the matches there are Cena-Show (seems obvious), Orton-Batista and I dunno who Edge will face in all honesty.

Great post mate and I mostly agree with everything here. It’s worth saying again, but the PPV was fantastic. This is what Wrestlemania should’ve been and if you haven’t yet seen this PPV, go and watch it because this is the WWE finally admitting to the booking mistakes they made at Wrestlemania 25 and correcting them all.

It’s fantastic to have Edge and Christian as the champions at the same time in the same company. I never really thought that would happen, but I’m so glad it has. It’s great to have Randy Orton as WWE Champion as well and I’m glad he went over Triple H cleanly. What amazes me though is that Triple H is yet to put over Randy Orton cleanly in a one on one match.

The times that Orton has faced Hunter one on one, Hunter has always won. But in triple threat matches, tag matches and whatever Randy has always gone over. It somewhat strikes me as interesting that Triple H is so reluctant to put over Randy Orton in a one on one setting.

Regardless, where do we go from here? Edge is the most interesting case. Apart from Undertaker, there aren’t many top level faces on the Smackdown side. Do you turn Edge face? He’s had a long stint as a heel and is clearly very popular now. Do you turn him face and have him feud with Chris Jericho?

Do you keep him heel and have him feud with CM Punk and Jeff Hardy? Do you put Christian on Smackdown or have an inter brand Edge vs Christian feud as teased at Backlash? There are certainly a lot of possibilities and I’m interested to see how it plays out.

Christian will likely face Swagger again in a rematch either on ECW or on the next PPV. Christian certainly has an abundance of potential challengers in Swagger, Finlay, Bourne, Hurricane Helms and Kozlov. It seems that WWE will be likely positioning a Christian vs Kozlov feud as they probably feel that Christian could carry Kozlov to a decent match.

As for Randy Orton, I really hope he gets a fresh challenger and steers clear of Triple H and Batista. Of course a Randy Orton vs Batista match will happen but I would love to see Randy Orton vs MVP for the WWE Championship as it would be a fresh match up that the fans can get behind.

 

[GIMH]

Great post, the interesting thing now is that WWE is in a position where the next few months could be great or awful, depending on the booking decisions made in the next few weeks. It is the position they should have been in after Mania (although I did enjoy Mania more than most).

One small thing, didn't Orton beat Triple H in a 1-on-1 at No mercy 07, Triple H's third match of the night? Can't remember the match and it probably wasn't clean but I'm sure Orton walked out champ....

Won't be checking the thread again until after watching raw tonight, I completely forgot it was Tuesday just then, fortunately nobody has talked about the results!

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

IIRC, Orton was awarded the title at the start of the night, but lost it immediately to HHH. HHH then beat Umaga to defend the title. Then they had a Last Man Standing match later that night, which Orton won.

 

[Barney Rubble]

FTR, Orton did win a No-DQ match against Triple H last week on Raw. There was some, but little, interference if I remember rightly.

 

[Athlai]

Orton > HHH

Called it in 07