Random Wrasslin' thoughts.....

leggo

The thing is, and this is an adjustment I'm struggling to make when writing about WWE, we have to modernise our thoughts on what a 'draw' is these days now that the WWE Network is here. Theoretically now WWE can get away with risky champions because they're selling the product as a full product rather than a character-driven TV show. I remember JBL telling a story about Eddie Guerrero worrying about drawing money and he explained this, and that was in 2004, so ten years later it's even more true.

Think about it this way: you don't just get Netflix because it's got House of Cards, you get it because it has House of Cards, Breaking Bad, Orange Is The New Black and a ****-ton of movies and documentaries. The selling point is the vastness of content rather than the individual quality of one component.

It's even the same with TV: these days angles and happenings involving guys are much more key than the guy at the helm. That's the viral nature of a fast-moving pop culture society, you see someone say on Twitter, "woah, what's going on on Raw?" and immediately need to see what's going on.

So could WWE draw with Cesaro, Reigns or Bray as champion? Sure, because they won't leave the entire show hedged on those guys' shoulders anymore. Do they have the star quality to have long, successful reigns at the top? That's a different question but now WWE can at least afford to take that risk.

CSF

I'd be of the opinion that we are at the start of something big with Reigns. Like possibly Stone Cold/Rock big.

Lord TSC

CSF wrote: »

I'd be of the opinion that we are at the start of something big with Reigns. Like possibly Stone Cold/Rock big.

Not if they keep up the nonsensical poisoning, puking thing...

beakerjoe

Lord TSC wrote: »

Not if they keep up the nonsensical poisoning, puking thing...

Ah it was one episode, hopefully that will be the end of it.

Id rather they kept Brad Maddox and had Reigns bully him into getting a battle royal spot

jaykhunter

For what it's worth I think most first-time champions are not credible champions and not much of a draw (Sheamus, Ziggler, Del Rio, Miz, Swagger etc). It's entirely possible I'm (we're) holding the main championship in too high a regard. Most wrestlers only have more credibility on a second (or third) run.

With the Shield, they're all just starting to build themselves as singles stars so they need that focus for a good while to be seen as worthy of the main title. Bray's only had one big feud (with Cena) in which 2 of his matches were decisive losses and 2/3 were disappointing matches. The level I see them at to Cena is a huge gulf. WWE are doing a great job in general building them, best not rush it.

beakerjoe wrote: »

Ah it was one episode, hopefully that will be the end of it.

Hearing WWE fired their head writer and Vince took over (leading to spiking someone's coffee, bathroom skit/projectile vomiting multiple times) has me worried.

On the topic of turning on Bryan - it's because of a run of bad luck (dad dying, concussion, neck surgery) and being "Warrior'd" with the title, career-killer Kane is absolutely the wrong guy to start your world title run with. They need to showcase him in the best possible light right out of the blocks (i.e either feud with Cena or Brock right away). They held off his big win/run since SummerSlam and as soon as he won it, their intention is to hold off until (at least) SummerSlam again. So God damn, WWE are constantly stalling with Bryan, course people will get snippy and blame Bryan.

Eire-Dearg

beakerjoe wrote: »

Ah it was one episode, hopefully that will be the end of it.

Id rather they kept Brad Maddox and had Reigns bully him into getting a battle royal spot

One episode which was led by Vince after they fired the head writer.

I'm actually surprised HHH went along with it.

Riddle101

Yeah that was ridiculous with the puking thing tbh. They waste enough air time on The Authority as it is, but putting them in a comedy segment like that is just overkill.

Personally I think both WWE and TNA need to reduce the air times for their authority figures. They don't need to be on screen at every wrestling show, or hog up the spotlight. Surely they could take a break once in a while. With all the air time that was taken up by the authority on the last Raw, you could have had a few of the mid-carders cut promos and try to build their characters up.

jaykhunter

That makes far too much sense. You'rrrrrrre fired!

Blue_Dabadee

Safe to say WWE have giving up on Adam Rose character. I did like the character on NXT but i knew it was going to fail on main roster.

Machismo Fan

Riddle101 wrote: »

Personally I think both WWE and TNA need to reduce the air times for their authority figures.

I'd like to see the authority figure role permanently relegated to match maker. No feuding with anybody. No long promos. When matches need to be made they appear and aside from that they aren't seen. It is easily the most tired trope in wrestling.

CSF

They're trying too hard to recreate the Stone Cold/Vince thing and it's just never going to happen.

Hashtag_HEEL

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I'd like to see the authority figure role permanently relegated to match maker. No feuding with anybody. No long promos. When matches need to be made they appear and aside from that they aren't seen. It is easily the most tired trope in wrestling.

President Jack Tunney would like your vote!

gnfnrhead

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I'd like to see the authority figure role permanently relegated to match maker. No feuding with anybody. No long promos. When matches need to be made they appear and aside from that they aren't seen. It is easily the most tired trope in wrestling.

So pretty much what ROH do?

Ideally, you'd hear them but not see them.

robvondoom

JBL's role in NXT is a step in the right direction.

leggo

Fans kinda have a big role in making authority figures relevant, though: how much time do people spend complaining about Triple H holding people down? Or Dixie ruining TNA? And then how often do people eat up storylines with a smidge of reality? So they're really feeding fans what they're asking for with these angles.

mrkiscool2

leggo wrote: »

Fans kinda have a big role in making authority figures relevant, though: how much time do people spend complaining about Triple H holding people down? Or Dixie ruining TNA? And then how often do people eat up storylines with a smidge of reality? So they're really feeding fans what they're asking for with these angles.

Yup, my thoughts exactly. Also, Stephanie is very good at the minute. She probably attracts the most heat out of anyone in the WWE at the moment (apart from Rollins, but that's more so because The Shield break-up is still quite raw for most). I would not like to see her (or Triple H) removed from giving promos and generally being bast*rds.

Reganio 2

http://youtu.be/SO5Y1OuQIxo

Great song... Anyone get the reference :P

Angron

Josey Scott, former lead singer of Saliva who've done loads of songs for WWE (Survivor Series 2002, Unforgiven 2004, Wrestlemania 23, a Jericho entrance theme I only heard once, a Dudley's theme, and Batista's theme are the ones I remember off the top of my head) left the band to do a solo Christian career. Seems funny to me, probably just cause I remember one song going about riding a little red love machine.

Tangentially related to wrestling, just something I stumbled across.

beakerjoe

Angron wrote: »

Josey Scott, former lead singer of Saliva who've done loads of songs for WWE (Survivor Series 2002, Unforgiven 2004, Wrestlemania 23, a Jericho entrance theme I only heard once, a Dudley's theme, and Batista's theme are the ones I remember off the top of my head) left the band to do a solo Christian career. Seems funny to me, probably just cause I remember one song going about riding a little red love machine.

Tangentially related to wrestling, just something I stumbled across.

I find it strange that this is the first image of him on google images




Christian aye?

beakerjoe

Angron wrote: »

Josey Scott, former lead singer of Saliva who've done loads of songs for WWE left the band to do a solo Christian career.

Tag with Edge and be the under rated gem of the WWE midcard?

#onemorematch

Insect Overlord

Did he sing "Hero" with Chad Kroeger for the first Spiderman? I think that was the one with Randy Savage in it too.

Angron

An File wrote: »

Did he sing "Hero" with Chad Kroeger for the first Spiderman? I think that was the one with Randy Savage in it too.

Yup, that was him all right.

Hashtag_HEEL

BONE SAAAWWW IS READYY

Blue_Dabadee

Sami Zayn's theme song is very catchy, it sounds a bit like The Office theme song.

CastorTroy

Oddly Ambrose's theme reminds me of Puff Daddy's Come With Me

rovert

John Cena is the greatest Wrestler of All Time. From the Cagematch.de site:



1450 wins/348 loses/56 draws out of 1854 matches, a 78% chance to win any given match. For comparison, Hulk Hogan is at 1283 wins/293 losses/101 draws out of 1677 matches, a 76% chance to win.

SureYWouldntYa

I thought 2012 was the worst year of his life ? Yet he only loses 7.6% matches

Mega pushes seen as in 2005 and 2013's winning percentage

Eire-Dearg

Rhyno is 38

John Cena is 37

Thought that was mad. Thought Rhyno was well into his 40s.

rovert

Eire-Dearg wrote: »

Rhyno is 38

John Cena is 37

Thought that was mad. Thought Rhyno was well into his 40s.

He was the Rookie Monster in 1999 ECW.

Jay Lethal being 26 is something that surprised me last week in a similar vein.

leggo

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

I thought 2012 was the worst year of his life ? Yet he only loses 7.6% matches

That's booking 101, to be fair. If you want the narrative to be, "John Cena is losing a lot," then he should win the meaningless matches but lose the big ones, so the losing stands out. Ultimately fans forget the meaningless wins because they're standard, yet in the short-term he'll still seem strong for the big losses.