*Official* Pro-Wrestling Thread II

[honestbharani]

Meh... they just want to do something that not many fans have called, I guess. They still dont really wanna script anything based on what the fans want though, so its all just a cold turkey way to get to where they want without letting the rumble become predictable. Anyone wanna bet that Orton WON'T be maineventing Wrestlemania?

 

[Athlai]

"Co mainevent" incoming

 

[Athlai]

So matches tonight, Charlotte vs Bayley was a solid 3 star match, fine, nothing remarkable, they've both had better but neither disgraced themselves.
Roman vs Owens was genuinely fun but relayed very heavily on the No DQ. Probably went better than I thought it would.
Neville vs. Swann, match of the night IMO.
Cena vs. AJ probably their second best match, very good but wanted more.

The Rumbke itself was pretty cool how at times it had like ten or so guys you could see winning it in the ring. I think a downside was they rarely hot the chance to do anything particularly cool. A solid Rumble but maybe a little worse than last years. Reigns at 30 felt a little draining which will 100% be good booking if you make his feud with the Undertaker be a vehicle to turn him heel.

Genuinely could see any of about the last 8 guys in the ring winning it, which deserves credit.

 

[Mike5181]

Wrestle Kingdom ruined this for me, I think.

Styles vs. Cena was the only thing that approached that calibre of entertainment and even that left me slightly disappointed. It was a great match, but I think I reached the point where I was like, yeah okay, I've seen this too many times now. I needed more than just a change of result and a few new moves.

 

[sledger]

A somewhat disappointing event on the whole. Charlotte and Bayley was fine, about what I expected. Really ended up enjoying the Owens and Reigns match. Cruiserweight match was fine, obviously the best use of Neville in his entire time on the main roster. AJ vs Cena was good, but not in the same bracket as some of their previous encounters, and I've reached the stage where I am fed up with Big Match John just coming in and winning championships out of the blue. Rumble itself was pretty underwhelming. No surprise entrants + a winner that nobody really had any interest in seeing hurt it a lot. Worryingly it seems to set up Orton vs Cena for WM, but surely they won't go with that again, so seems possible Cena may be dropping the the belt back at EC in two weeks.

Pretty made up that it looks like KO will be going into WM the Universal Champ though. WAG.

 

[Mike5181]

I mostly skipped through the actual Rumble match. There was a real absence of any interesting names from what I can tell. No Balor, no Joe. I'm also guessing that because Lesnar, Goldberg, and Taker were focal points they felt like they had to shy away from using any other older names. Still, it made a number of the entrants a bit of a let-down.

Elsworth jumped the shark along time ago. WWE really know how to take something mildly successful and run it into the ground.

Taker looks like an old man and moves like one. I doubt anyone could drag a good match out of him in that state.

Sick of Lesnar and his suplexes. He hasn't been interesting in ages. In this they had everyone else just dead on the mat with Lesnar on his feet for what seemed like ages just to accommodate their ****** feud. Goldberg was a good nostalgia pop for a while, but again, I don't actually want to see him in a match.

Ambrose got thrown out like a nobody. Payback for his comments about Lesnar after Wrestlemania?

Orton winning, honestly, I would have preferred Reigns. He's produced some pretty great matches on big events in recent times. Orton kind of had a mildly interesting thing going with the Wyatt's but meh, been there, done that.

 

[Athlai]

Na Ambrose getting tossed out then was a good call IMO. Crowd would have turned to get behind him if he was in five minutes longer. Particularly since he's likely to be looking at just an IC ladder match at mania.

 

[sledger]

I mostly skipped through the actual Rumble match. There was a real absence of any interesting names from what I can tell. No Balor, no Joe. I'm also guessing that because Lesnar, Goldberg, and Taker were focal points they felt like they had to shy away using any other older names. Still, it made a number of the entrants a bit of a let-down.

Elsworth jumped the shark along time ago. WWE really know how to take something mildly successful and run it into the ground.

Taker looks like an old man and moves like one. I doubt anyone could drag a good match out of him in that state.

Sick of Lesnar and his suplexes. He hasn't been interesting in ages. In this they had everyone else just dead on the mat with Lesnar on his feet for what seemed like ages just to accommodate their ****** feud. Goldberg was a good nostalgia pop for a while, but again, I don't actually want to see him in a match.

Ambrose got thrown out like a nobody. Payback for his comments about Lesnar after Wrestlemania?

Orton winning, honestly, I would have preferred Reigns. He's produced some pretty great matches on big events in recent times. Orton kind of had a mildly interesting thing going with the Wyatt's but meh, been there, done that.

I actually still find Ellsworth pretty funny tbf. I mean, I know he is **** and everything, but I kind of find him funny because he's just so unfunny these days. Besides, him being on TV means we get to see Carmella more, and I am all for that.

Agree about Taker though, sadly it's becoming increasingly evident that his best days are gone. Goldberg didn't look at all mobile either, which may explain why they have kept his involvement with Lesnar to an absolute minimum. He hasn't taken a single real bump since his return either iirc, which is perhaps revealing as to his general condition. Like you, I don't really want to see either of Goldberg or Taker in actual matches these days, not ones that are intended to headline major events anyway.

And having thought about it I think I would have preferred Reigns as well. Orton's year has been pretty lukewarm and he's essentially won here out of nowhere - very little momentum going in, and apart from the inevitable turn on the Wyatt family (if you can call it that anymore) there are no long term stories he's been involved in, so his victory doesn't make a lot of obvious sense. After a point I thought they were going to have Jericho win and use that to build a programme with KO. Reigns undoubtedly gets a bum deal though. He's actually performed really well over the last two years or so I think, and his singles matches have come on loads. But the crowd reactions are hardly surprising given the "you will like him damn you" attitude of the E to his push.

 

[Athlai]

I see it as a slight push to make Orton relevant at the top of the card again. Reckon he is still carrying the stigma of that Lesnar loss though.

 

[sledger]

Na Ambrose getting tossed out then was a good call IMO. Crowd would have turned to get behind him if he was in five minutes longer. Particularly since he's likely to be looking at just an IC ladder match at mania.

Maybe, but Ambrose, Rusev, Zayn, Miz and Corbin (and a few others), all guys the E have basically build their shows around for the last year at least, were all dumped out quietly by guys who are basically on TV 3-4 times a year. Not great.

 

[sledger]

I see it as a slight push to make Orton relevant at the top of the card again. Reckon he is still carrying the stigma of that Lesnar loss though.

Probably. The problem is I don't think anyone really wants to see that. Like Cena, Orton is a guy who's been in the World Championship picture for literally more than a decade. There's just no appeal there anymore.

But yeah, agree RE: the Lesnar loss. It's the only match he's had that's really been worth a damn for more than a year and he got totally pwnt in it.

 

[Athlai]

Maybe, but Ambrose, Rusev, Zayn, Miz and Corbin (and a few others), all guys the E have basically build their shows around for the last year at least, were all dumped out quietly by guys who are basically on TV 3-4 times a year. Not great.

Yeah the part timer thing was ******. I'd have preferred Lesnar Goldberg happened early and it probably would've if they didn't want the Taker Goldberg showdown tease.

Not worth.

 

[sledger]

Yeah the part timer thing was ******. I'd have preferred Lesnar Goldberg happened early and it probably would've if they didn't want the Taker Goldberg showdown tease.

Not worth.

Yeah, I guess the problem was kind of what Mike alluded to in his post. The clear selling point of this Rumble was the Goldberg/Lesnar/Taker involvement. Without any other big names or surprise entrants to carry the can they couldn't very well front load the match otherwise the climax would have been really weak. The trouble, I guess, is that the ending turned out pretty weak anyway. Everyone watching knew that the real **** wasn't going to go down until those three made their appearances. But once they finally did appear all three were eliminated fairly quickly and we were left with a bunch of guys who nobody especially cared about.

Also, from a narrative perspective (yeah yeah, I know, WWE and narrative consistency), but how the hell did Reigns manage to get a spot in the match and Rollins didn't?! I get that Rollins lost his place as a result of that match on RAW...but... the WWE management kept a spot open for a guy who, by the time the Rumble happened, could have been champ anyway?! Wtf is that?

 

[Athlai]

I mean Kayfabe wise, Steph the megalomaniac kept a spot open for the loser of Owens/reigns at 30 to increase Raws odds?

A fairly easy story to tell.

...that they didn't tell.

 

[sledger]

I mean Kayfabe wise, Steph the megalomaniac kept a spot open for the loser of Owens/reigns at 30 to increase Raws odds?

A fairly easy story to tell.

...that they didn't tell.

Haha yeah but why couldn't Rollins, who wouldn't have just gone through a pretty brutal no DQ championship match, just have had that spot?

 

[Athlai]

Haha yeah but why couldn't Rollins, who wouldn't have just gone through a pretty brutal no DQ championship match, just have had that spot?

I did like the Takeover thing tbf.

 

[sledger]

I did like the Takeover thing tbf.

Yeah, I ended up quite liking it too tbf.

 

[Spikey]

A somewhat disappointing event on the whole. Charlotte and Bayley was fine, about what I expected. Really ended up enjoying the Owens and Reigns match. Cruiserweight match was fine, obviously the best use of Neville in his entire time on the main roster. AJ vs Cena was good, but not in the same bracket as some of their previous encounters, and I've reached the stage where I am fed up with Big Match John just coming in and winning championships out of the blue. Rumble itself was pretty underwhelming. No surprise entrants + a winner that nobody really had any interest in seeing hurt it a lot. Worryingly it seems to set up Orton vs Cena for WM, but surely they won't go with that again, so seems possible Cena may be dropping the the belt back at EC in two weeks.

Pretty made up that it looks like KO will be going into WM the Universal Champ though. WAG.[/B]

I share your concerns. Here's what I just made up to get around this:
- Samoa Joe announces his entry for the Chamber match on this week's smackdown, giving a muscle buster to Cena and making it clear he's coming for his title.
- multi tag match on the go home show before the PPV where he pins Cena (placeholder suggestions: Joe and AJ vs Cena and Dean. something like that. there's interaction between Joe and Cena but not too much, and then Joe gets the win)
- In the actual match, Joe comes out like last or second last, gets rid of Dolph (because of course), then Corbin or someone like that and then pins Cena.
- Loses the match to Bray Wyatt

So you have Cena vs Joe and Randy vs Bray. The main flaw here is Joe taking the pin, so maybe you have Harper get into the chamber somehow and take Joe out, meaning that this 'break up' has just been a work. (you could also have Randy vs Harper earlier on that show. I think that would be a fun match)

I also think that something like this would be a lot better than a Rumble debut would have been for Joe

 

[Spikey]

I really don't get why Taker is kinda involving himself in the Goldberg/Brock thing. And now Strowman takes out Roman, but Roman is off to face Taker at WM. So unless Roman/Strowman is a match at the next Raw PPV and Taker interferes... but unless it's for the number 1 contendership why interfere? And seems doubtful Strowman/Owens at WM would happen. I dunno man, i dunno.

Pretty made up that it looks like KO will be going into WM the Universal Champ though. WAG.

I dunno, I'm on the face regarding whether KO will lose to Goldberg in the next PPV or if Brock interferes.

Na Ambrose getting tossed out then was a good call IMO. Crowd would have turned to get behind him if he was in five minutes longer. Particularly since he's likely to be looking at just an IC ladder match at mania.

Ambrose really didn't need to be made to look like a geek by Brock again imo. Get rid of him before Brock comes out

I see it as a slight push to make Orton relevant at the top of the card again. Reckon he is still carrying the stigma of that Lesnar loss though.

hahahah I reckon it's a "thanks for doing the job. Here's a big match at WM" thing myself

 

[honestbharani]

Whatever it is, it is not as entertaining as it can be with this roster and that is something that has been consistent with the WWE in the last several years now.