The WWE Thread

[jordidebaas]

Yeah, but Bryan vs. Ziggler or Ambrose or Rollins would at least still be a great match

[trufreedom]

If there were message boards in 1987, I imagine this is a lot like the discussions would have looked like about Savage and/or Steamboat being in the main event would have looked like.

But we got a Savage vs. Steamboat match, and it was given more time than the two cartoon characters at the end of the show. And it's regarded as quite possibly the greatest match ever wrestled on a canvas. Definitely in the conversation.

So Lesnar and Reigns will go on last, in a clash of characters DC comics could write about. And Ziggler and Bryan will steal the show, in the classic catch-as-catch-can sense of wrestling, and wrestling fans will have their cake and eat it too. WWE doesn't get nearly enough credit for this kind of booking. Why does it matter when Daniel Bryan wrestles? If his match will likely steal the show and could probably be given similar time to the main event? Shit, if nothing else, it gets you to bed earlier on the 29th.

[supersonic]

I also like having one of the upper midcard matches open the show as long as they get time. Good pacing for the show.

[FairPlay]

I honestly rather see Bray Wyatt vs Bryan at Mania. I know Ziggler and Bryan could tear the house down, but storyline wise I don't see it. Bryan has never beat Bray, Wyatt just eliminated Bryan from the Rumble. Booking wise Wyatt vs Bryan makes the most sense (clear good guy and bad guy). Majority of the time Good Guy vs Good guy (Ziggler Bryan) the WWE crowd gets confused who to cheer and it results in not that much cheering in a match.

My thoughts exactly. I think seeing as Wyatt threw Bryan out at the Rumble, that it would be a perfect launching point for their feud once again.

But this is the WWE we're talking about. They do what they want without the thought of logic.

[lariat_tubman]

Anyone have any idea what they could do with Ambrose?

[supersonic]

- win the battle royale
- win over heel-turned Sheamus in 8 to 9 minute ***1/2 match
- win over Big Show in 8 to 9 minute hardcore match to give him monster-slaying credibility

[jjankows]

I know WWE likes to take advantage of whats going on else where in the world. I think they have to capitalize on the worst call in Sports History, with Pete Carrol deciding to throw it on 2nd 1 with 20 seconds to go in the Superbowl. They should have Wade Barrett or someone else defend their title tonight (obviously not Brock) and have their challenger have the match basically won, but they go for an extra move and the champion gets the roll up for the win. The announcers can hype it as it rivals Pete's play calling with the Challenger going for the extra move.

[jordidebaas]

Or they could try to rebuild their midcard titles, and have their champions be dominant, and score wins that make them look like they're not some random jobber

[boourns]

I know WWE likes to take advantage of whats going on else where in the world. I think they have to capitalize on the worst call in Sports History, with Pete Carrol deciding to throw it on 2nd 1 with 20 seconds to go in the Superbowl. They should have Wade Barrett or someone else defend their title tonight (obviously not Brock) and have their challenger have the match basically won, but they go for an extra move and the champion gets the roll up for the win. The announcers can hype it as it rivals Pete's play calling with the Challenger going for the extra move.

They would likely do that if it was in Seattle.

The announcers will probably just mention it in a snarky manner.

[supersonic]

The Authority can rub it into Broncos' fans faces tonight that Brady is unquestionably the GOAT, a truly clutch leader, etc etc.

We also need them interacting with D-Bry:

"Just like your Seahawks, you're just not gonna be the last one standing at the biggest stage of them all. Just like them, your peak last year was just a fluke and not to be compared to the longevity of guys like me, of teams like the Patriots, Bryan."

[boourns]

The Authority can rub it into Broncos' fans faces tonight that Brady is unquestionably the GOAT, a truly clutch leader, etc etc.

We also need them interacting with D-Bry:

"Just like your Seahawks, you're just not gonna be the last one standing at the biggest stage of them all. Just like them, your peak last year was just a fluke and not to be compared to the longevity of guys like me, of teams like the Patriots, Bryan."

That could work. Especially because Stephanie is a hugh Pats fan.

[lariat_tubman]

HHH's '#cancelnflnetwork' joke getting zero reaction is already my favorite thing from this week's show

[jjankows]

Tyler Black vs Bryan Danielson in the main event of raw tonight! Winner faces Roman for his Wrestlemania contract vs Brock!

[jjankows]

-The beginning promo was interesting, Rollins got the biggest pop out of the three.
- It lets the Authority be evil because they tricked Roman
- Did not like Big Show pinning Roman, They need to build Roman up for Lesnar.
- I liked Axel pissed off he was not in the Rumble, they actually follwed up with the moment from the Rumble
- I have no interest in the Acension
- Ryback Luke Harper, I think Ryback has nothing, but the crowd loves the feed me more chant
- Cesaro's uppercut on Uso was awesome!
- Mizdow and Miz feud starting to happen slowly
- Wyatt Ziggler nice back and forth match. 3 star rating, loved the ending of Wyatt hitting Sister Abigail (a little fighting spirit)
- Nikki's boobs looked huge in her shirt (all i got from divas segment)
- Miz vs Sin Cara did it's part to continue Miz Mizdow feud
-Rusev has been awesome lately, the dude improves every week and the crowd hates him. I am looking forward to his match with Cena.
- Rollins Bryan was great for a tv main event. I loved Bryan working the arm early and applying the arm breaker, rollins good use of jj security early, the rollins counter from the top rope hurricana was fantastic. Bryan hitting his Back drop superplex (his Ring of Honor signature) and selling his neck injury, awesome story telling!! Rollins catching Bryan's Running Knee into a Buckle Bomb/Super Kick (great near fall). Roman Reigns interfering took away from the match, but still a four star match none the less.
- I loved the amount of wrestling on this show
- Roman vs Bryan, Cena Rusev, Sting HHH staredown, Fast Lane is looking good.
- The crowd was dead the whole night, I wish they were a little louder

[supersonic]

Most interesting notes in the Observer this week:

Regarding all the criticism of the Rumble match, Jamie Noble was the producer of the match with Joey Mercury as the assistant. Also involved in putting the match together were Michael Hayes, Pat Patterson and Brian James. That’s probably why James wasn’t happy when he went on Twitter and people were calling it the worst Rumble ever. I’ll bet Lucha Underground did their own version with fewer than five agents and spending a whole lot less time on it and came out with a three times as good match even while having less name talent at their disposal.

Spoiler: show

One week after WWE had confirmed and gone full steam ahead with Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns as the WrestleMania main event, things may have changed.

On the 2/2 Raw show from Denver, a promised major announcement was that Daniel Bryan would face Seth Rollins on the show, in a match Bryan won. The winner would then face Reigns on the 2/22 Fast Lane PPV in Memphis to determine who faces Lesnar at WrestleMania.

The show saw Reigns positioned heelish in a late show confrontation with Bryan, and again in a face-to-face on Smackdown. Reigns also inexplicably lost to Big Show in what is believed to have been his first singles loss on the main roster after more than two years, or at least on a major show, which was thrown away in a meaningless situation that was never even brought up.

If the idea is to go with Reigns as the hot babyface, the guy he should be kept away from is Bryan, who is considerably more popular. With Bryan having already gotten screwed in the eyes of the fans at Royal Rumble, having him lose to Reigns will only infuriate the fans more. If the belief is that making the fans madder will heat up business, the post-Rumble boost of WWE Network numbers could be taken as evidence of that, well, then they can go put Reigns in a situation where in the end it’s going to hurt him getting over. And there is also a situation where you push too hard in always beating the most popular face and it starts to wear our and backfires.

If the idea is to go with Reigns as a heel champion, then beating Bryan would make sense, but he would need someone to talk for him in that situation. It does make sense since he’d have far more viable opponents as a heel champion, since as a face champion you’re pretty well limited to Rusev and Rollins.

Still, introducing him as part of the Samoan family, and having The Authority screw with him seems to contradict that direction.

What has been announced thus far for Fast Lane is Cena vs. Rusev, Bryan vs. Reigns for the title shot, Nikki Bella vs. Paige for the Divas title, and a face-to-face confrontation with Sting and HHH.

Two other matches that have been teased are Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose for the IC title and the Usos vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro for the tag title. We were told that Reigns was originally set to beat a top heel and that Bryan was to be used to get Bray Wyatt over for Undertaker in the original plans.

While still not confirmed, everything on television with the major Wyatt protection plan in effect and his talking about the guy everyone feared would indicate at this point his facing Undertaker at Mania. Sting vs. HHH is also a go. Everything else seems to be a question mark.

The original idea when Bryan came back was for a match with Sheamus, but that changed to Dolph Ziggler at one point, apparently because Bryan requested it. They had started an angle between the two of them on Twitter where they talked about tearing down the house. It’s possible that still may happen. They’ve also once again started the tease of the Rhodes Brothers feud that they’ve done three times in recent years without pulling the trigger on it. But since WrestleMania in recent years has been nine matches, and if you figure the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and a Divas match, that’s eight right there, and that’s not including tag titles or IC title, so a Rhodes Brothers match would have a tough time making the cut.

For what it’s worth, people in the position when it comes to promoting WrestleMania were still at press time of the impression the main event was Lesnar vs. Reigns and in the promotion of the event, Reigns was to be the most heavily promoted wrestler, followed by Lesnar and Cena. However, the company also had not released anywhere any promotional material that included Sting or Undertaker, and Sting is all but confirmed and his debut match, and what may also be his last match, will be a major selling point of the show.

The only sign of an apparent confirmed change of direction involves Randy Orton, who was to face Rollins on the original Mania card. Orton was first scheduled to return before the Rumble, then moved to after the Rumble. He did a personal appearance on 1/29 and said he’d be back at TV for the Smackdown live the next day, and wasn’t there. He was advertised for the live Raw show on 2/2 in Denver and was also not there.

Orton is still being advertised locally in Orlando on 2/16 with it being billed on local radio as “The Return or Randy Orton,” but radio ads are done well ahead of time. At press time, he was pulled from being advertised for all future television shows, including those as far away as March. Generally, when someone is pulled from advertising it’s usually because there was a change in time frame from returning from an injury or a communications issue internally. Orton was also pulled from all TV advertising but remains advertised for a full house show schedule going forward.

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

I'm thinking they may try to put Reigns over Bryan clean, with the thought that that a hard fought win would give him credibility and take Bryan out of the title picture in a way that was still meaningful and doesn't make him look like a jobber.
Personally, I'm perfectly fine with that scenario. However, I think like last year a lot of fans have their mind set on being pissy, and unless Bryan's in the main event we're going to have to put up with crappy crowds ruining some good matches for the sake of "hijacking" Raw.

[jjankows]

Kind of cool seeing three ring of honor champions in one match tonight, and four ring of honor wrestlers in the main event of smackdown. (Rollins, Mercury, Noble vs Bryan)

[supersonic]

I love the energy of a hostile crowd. Great atmosphere and much better than fans sitting on their hands.

[TMCWDOProject]

I"m still in the belief that Triple H knows exactly what he's doing, and WON alluded to it this time last year:

(paraphrasing since I don't have the article handy) Triple H is positioning Daniel Bryan to be the Dusty Rhodes of the WWE. In the NWA, Flair and Dusty would go back and forth, but Flair always came out on top. Dusty would be screwed over by biased officiating, Horsemen run-in's, and "board of direction" overturns and reversals. This went on for years. The crowds ate it up. The crowds were waiting for Dusty to finally beat Flair for the NWA Title, and it..never happened. Dusty once said "that's the beauty of wrestling, you build and build and build, and then, you don't give the fans what they want, and they want it even more. The get hostile, they get angry, that build, that race, that brings them to the edge of their seats. Its great walking into an arena jammed packed with rabid fans who love you or hate your guts and want to riot."

I could see HHH doing this. And like it referenced, it's not a one year plan.

[lariat_tubman]

HHH isn't in charge of WWE storylines though, he most likely has input but I've never seen anything that confirmed he had anything to do with how Daniel Bryan was getting booked.