The WWE Thread

[famicommander]

Wait, people think Bayley is good?

I haven't seen her have a good match since she left NXT.

[supersonic]

Wait, people think Bayley is good?

I haven't seen her have a good match since she left NXT.

vs. Charlotte vs. Banks - Night of Champions 2016
vs. Charlotte - Royal Rumble 2017
vs. Charlotte - Raw 2/13/2017
vs. Bliss vs. Emma vs. Jax vs. Banks - No Mercy 2017

That's all just off of the Meltzer list.

It'll be nice when you the day comes that you post something that indicates having a finger on the pulse.

[famicommander]

I don't care about "the pulse" and I care far, far less than that about what Dave Meltzer thinks. It'll be nice when you can have an opinion without referring to someone else's.

[supersonic]

I do have an opinion, such as the stickied thread on this forum. Reading that would be your friend instead of having the mentality of a stereotypical teenage fan.

[famicommander]

You're the one getting defensive. All I did was express surprise that others see a talent in a different light than I do.

[Montana]

I'm not super trilled with the WM card, but seems OK. I just hope the Uso's make the main show, but they could be on their way out so who knows.

Here's my WM card prediction.

* Confirmed *
Brock vs. Seth Rollins
Rondy Rousey vs. Becky vs. Charlotte

* Predictions*
Daniel Bryan vs. Koffi Kingston ?!? (or maybe 3/4 way with styles/Orton)
AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton
Miz vs. SHane Mcmahon
Asuka vs. Mandy Rose
USA championship ladder match- Rusev/Hardy/Nakamura/New Day/ RIcochet/almas/mysterio,etc

John Cena vs. Elias (Match/segment... Rock could get inserted)
Batista vs. HHH (unlikely)
Lashley, Drew, Baron vs. Braun, Finn and Dean
Boss Hug connection vs. Nia Jax/ Tamina
Revival vs. Sami/KO vs. DIY vs. The Bar

Pre Show
Buddy Murphy vs. Ali??

[Montana]

The other thing that's been on my mind with WWE... with all these guys requesting their release. If I'm WWE and guys like Mike Bennett/ Tye Dillinger / Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder/ Revival all want their release... I say trim the fat and let them go. Obliviously these guys are B level talent, and maybe they can do something in AEW or another company, but focus on keeping your main level talent happy.

Even if they go to AEW, eventually they will be shuffled to the bottom of the card there too. I think Ryder/Revival could still have some value, but it's not like these guys are the next big thing. Have AEW pay all this money for a bunch of scrubs, and bloat their roster, before more appealing talent becomes available. Eventually i think the WWE is going to have to cut some folks because there just isn't enough time for all these guys. Like Eric Young... not saying he doesn't deserve a shot with the company, but if you don't have room for him and Sanity, with no storylines/push/background... your wasting the talent for if/when you do actually want to use them.

I imagine some will disagree... but i also don't like the idea of trying to please talent that wants to leave. Revival won the tag belts, Ryder/Hawkins actually on raw now, Bennett on 205, Sasha wins the tag titles.... Eventually everyone will complain, and they'll want a mini-push.

[Montana]

So... WM35 ... here's my quick thoughts on the weekend:

- As expected, Kofi and Daniel Bryan was match of the night, awesome WM moment, and probably should have closed the show.

- Odd pacing on the show... they nicely front loaded a majority of the better matches, thus the back half i was falling asleep after the WWE and Universal title matches. Seems like Angle's and Batista's matches should have went on earlier.

- Decent show overall... some good feel good moments. i'd give it around 6.5-7.0 / 10. The matches were OK, but was still pretty entertaining, just longggg.

- Seth Rollins win didn't feel quite right for me. I think it's just the lackluster build to the match without Brock showing up much, and the piss poor booking, but even the match wasn't much. Brock vs. Finn and Bryan were both much better matches. Seth was certainly capable of having a much better match here.

- Glad to see the SD tag titles on the show, with the Usos... and they had a really good match. Orton/Styles was really good for what it was too.

- Was rooting for Drew to beat Roman... but yeah, that didn't pan out. Good for Roman to get a nice win, but felt like a good time to really put Drew over.

[Indynut]

I am glad I did not go. I understand many fans got home late due to show length and train delays.

[supersonic]

https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-ww ... story.html

The football stadium under construction in Inglewood, which will open in 2020 as the home of the Rams and Chargers, is the front-runner to host WrestleMania 37, according to multiple sources. City and stadium officials would like to use hosting it as a test run for Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

Brad Shepard (who broke the XFL scoop in December '17 and was the first to very strongly hint that Tampa got WM36) told me this:

"That LA report has zero basis... That is not even a serious conversation yet"

[roacheyyy]

They're taking the piss with The Viking Experience

[SweetDaddy]

The new Ascension.

[Montana]

I gotta think wwe has misread Becky's popularity. Don't get me wrong, she deserves a good title run and to be towards the top of the womens division, but don't think she should be the face of the product. She's not the next Austin, and not quite sure why they are booking her like it. I get they feel like no one has that "star" quality, but i'd focus the product more on guys who can actually cut promos, and are moderately entertaining. I'd probably push a heel Elias and a heel miz as champs, and see what faces can step up their promo game. Then guys like Braun/Owens would be other good pieces to build around.

Thank god WWE did a quick turn with the Viking experience to Viking Raiders. I think they'll be alright, and probably the face of the division soon. If nothing else some really good matches with the Usos. I think Heavy Machinery is the next Ascension. Otis could be a good singles guy though. Or maybe throw him a Gable in a tag team.

Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan make pretty awesome heels.

[supersonic]

Per Brad Shepard on the “Oh You Didn’t Know” podcast, Brock Lesnar wants to retire at WrestleMania 36.

[supersonic]

Observer:

WWE: Regarding the 2021 WrestleMania, this is the update. Los Angeles is the likely destination. The city has put in a bid for it for the new Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park. The stadium will be the new home for the Rams and the Chargers, and will have a capacity of 80,240, but will be expanded to 100,000 for the 2022 Super Bowl, World Cup games, Olympic events and other major events. WWE wanted to go in 2022, after the Super Bowl, with the idea they would announce a number bigger than whatever the Super Bowl does and probably also announce a new attendance record for the company. But the city put in a bid for 2021, wanting to use WrestleMania, with so many out-of-town tourists, to kind of test everything out and remove the kinks before the Super Bowl comes the next February.

[roacheyyy]

Revival/Usos, Black/Cesaro and Styles/Ricochet could all be great if given enough time on Monday

[famicommander]

With NXT going to 2 hours, WWE has

3 hours of Raw
2 hours of Smackdown
2 hours of NXT
1 hour of NXT UK
1 hour of Main Event
1 hour of 205 Live

Every week. That's 10 hours of wrestling shows per week, not counting PPVs, Network specials, or any of their non-wrestling shows like Total Divas.

In the same amount of time every week you could watch:
2 hours of AEW
2 hours of Impact
1 hour of ROH Wrestling
1 hour of MLW Fusion
1 hour of NJPW on AXS
1 hour of Women of Wrestling on AXS

And still have 2 hours to spare.

I have a genuinely hard time imagining watching all that WWE. Even if you skip Main Event, 205 Live, and NXT UK... that's still an assload of mostly bland garbage every week.

And I can't imagine the 2 hour transition will be good for the quality of NXT, which is probably the best WWE show.

[Thelone]

They're all fighting for a slice of the same shrinking pie. Having two more TV shows doesn't expand anything, it divides the audience even more.

[Lynx]

Yeah, WWE's goal is clearly to provide so much content that anyone who watches WWE regularly wouldn't have any time left for other promotions.

[famicommander]

Smackdown on Fox premiered to big numbers. We'll see how it looks in a couple months.

The Cruiserweight championship is now NXT exclusive, and the NXT creative team is now running 205 Live.

You have to think 205 Live itself is not long for this world. Now it's a show without a championship, while NXT has 5.

WWE overall has 18 freaking championships. 23 individuals can be recognized as a champion at any given time, not even counting any freebird rule shenanigans.