Wrestling Discussion Thread

I'm sticking to no cash in until well after mania, I expect a surprise victory from swagger too why else wouldn't they punish him for the DUI?

Here's a booking for you - Swagger wins at Mania, feuds with Del Rio till the next PPV, Del Rio wins the title back in a gruelling match with Swagger and he's exhausted, then suddenly... I'M HERE TO SHOW THE WORLD, cash-in, Ziggler is champ.

Sure that's possible but I really want them to find a new way to do it, things like cash in before a WHC match begins thus making it a triple threat or have him cash it in on another MiTB winner.

That last one is my favourite due to how chaotic it could be.

Legendary manager Paul Bearer passed away today. Sad news indeed, the man was pivotal for setting up Taker and Kane's gimmicks.

Aye sad news indeed, I've fond memories of imitating his "OH YES my undertaker" routine when I was younger as I'm sure everyone did.

It makes me sad when WWE do stuff like what just happened at the start of RAW. What was a heartfelt moment and something that truly could have been a real watershed moment in RAW's 20-year history was sullied with an attempt at cheap heel heat for CM Punk. Tactless.

I'm not going to say I wasn't shocked by it as I was, I thought the opening to raw was going to be just all tribute until Punk arrived.......but wrestlers tend to allow anything personal to be used (see king when his mother passed away & his heart attack) adding that real life element into it generally produces the best moments.

I couldn't personally do it but I wouldn't say I'm overly offended by it either as at the end of it all its still an entertainment show.

I agree with Phillips on this. Don't know why they couldn't have let us all have that moment, and then move on.

I didn't like the overall tone of Raw if I'm honest. I understand in the wrestling industry it's considered okay to use personal tragedy in storylines and angles, and I heard William Moody's sons gave the WWE the green light to do it on Raw, and Moody himself won't have minded given his love for the business, but I didn't like the way it was done. It was like WWE used his death as a way of boosting their social media reach ("Tout us your memories" etc). It also seemed they considered the death of the Paul Bearer character to be more important than that of William Moody, what with the tributes from his 'son' and long time companion, The Undertaker. Going from storylines that last involved Bearer, Kane and Taker, they should all hate each other. Last time we saw Bearer on TV, he was shoved in a freezer by his 'son', "killing him off" never to be seen again - so why was Kane so devastated that Paul Bearer is now definitely dead? Because the man who portrayed him died is the answer. This is where storyline and real life collide, and they don't sit well together, things get messy. That's why I'd have preferred for them to acknowledge Bill Moody's death and move on. Sadly, it's now a storyline. Granted, it's a story which will boost the interest of the CM Punk VS Undertaker match, but I for one will feel slightly uneasy with how this plays out on TV. Just hope WWE don't have Punk cross the line too much while he's in possession of the urn, but I think he will.

I think it was far worse when they used Eddie Guerrero's death as a storyline point. Paul Bearer's death being used to garner heat for Punk didn't sit right with me, but it definitely made me feel more invested in the Punk/Taker match than before, so I guess in that regard WWE got what they wanted from it all out of me. I think airing that Halle Berry/Kane segment right before the main event was a dumb move as well.

Still, I did enjoy the Kane/Taker tributes to William Moody when Punk wasn't involved.

Yep 100% agree about the kane & halle segment/advert, I actually got goosebumps when Taker & Kane were in the kneeled pose though.

I love it when wrestling produces symbollic imagery like that.

Yeah, I got goosebumps too. Monster Kane is best Kane too, so it was good to see that side of him rather than comedy Kane for a change.

What's the Wrestlemania card shaping up like then? We've got Rock/Cena, Punk/Taker, HHH/Brock and Del Rio/Swagger for certain. Henry/Ryback seems all but assured, as well as Shield vs Big Show/Orton/Sheamus. I'm guessing we'll see a Team Hell No vs. tag team of the month match, as well as a pre-show midcard belt title match. Any predictions?

We've got all of the above plus possibly Chris Jericho VS Dolph Ziggler - which has been rumoured since Jericho came back, but has shown no signs of happening so far, so who knows. Hell No will either face each other, or defend the belts against Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston, seeing as how that seems to be a feud now (unless it's just a TV feud). Possibly be a divas and/or celebrity match, and maybe some kind of awful dance-off involving Fandango, Brodus Clay, Tensai and 3MB. Still a lot of people not doing much though - Antonio Cesaro, Wade Barrett, Damian Sandow, Cody Rhodes, amongst others.

I'm thinking we may see a triple threat for the IC title between Jericho, Barrett & Miz as for Sandow/Rhodes & Cesaro I'm not sure what the they can do with them as midcard severely lacks any credible faces for them to (arf) face........maybe Rhodes scholars can fight new age outlaws?

Sadly I can see Cesaro relgated to a pre show mania match which is such a waste of his talent, an ideal opponent for him would be Chrisitan.........


....but where's is he?

That triple threat match is already happening on Raw, so it's probably out for Mania. Quite possible that Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes face each other, seems to be something building with Rhodes' interest in Kaitlyn, and Sandow interrupting constantly. I too fear Antonio Cesaro won't make the main card, which will be a shame. I heard his feud with The Miz was for TV only, so that won't make it on to the WM card, no idea who else he could face.

This is the latest on the rumoured card for WrestleMania

WWE Championship - The Rock (c) vs. John Cena

World Heavyweight Championship - Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

Undertaker vs. CM Punk

Intercontinental Championship - Wade Barrett (c) vs. The Miz

Tag Team Championship - Team Hell No (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston

Divas Championship - Kaitlyn (c) vs. Layla

Randy Orton, Sheamus and Big Show vs. The Shield

Ryback vs. Mark Henry

Brodus Clay, Tensai, Cameron and Naomi vs. Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, Nikki and Brie Bella

And, oddly enough - Chris Jericho vs. Fandango*


(*though personally I'd put Antonio Cesaro in there...)

That all seems fairly legit, although I'm skeptical at the Jericho/Fan...daaan...go-go-go-go match. It seems like a real step down for Jericho and a huge step up for a guy who hasn't even debuted yet. It'll also be a damn shame if Cesaro doesn't get a match on the card, the man puts in a lot of work for WWE and he deserves a Mania match.

Well, Henry vs Ryback is out as Orton/Sheamus chose him I over the big show (on smackdown) to face the shield at wrestlemania so I wouldn't put much faith in this rumoured card beyond the main (already announced) event matches.

I'm still fairly certain Henry/Ryback will happen. The match didn't get a clean finish, and there's no reason for Mark Henry to come back into the ring and maul Ryback if there wasn't going to be a proper match between them. However, I am glad they did it this way because there's no reason for Sheamus and Orton to trust Show after he laid out Orton a couple of weeks back.

What I reckon will happen is Ryback will tell Sheamus and Orton he's out because he's seeking revenge on Henry for what happened there, then we'll have another Shield attack on Orton and Sheamus, Big Show lumbers out and saves the day and becomes team member #3. There's nothing else for Show to do at Mania apart from this match and they have been building up to a Ryback/Henry match and for Show to have some involvement with the Shield for a while, so it'd be a shame to abandon the storyline now.

Who cares when Bully Ray IS TNA World Champ, and i would put money on Hulk (maybe sting) beating him for the belt at some point. TNA is WCW 1997ish at the moment

JayMoyles wrote:

I'm still fairly certain Henry/Ryback will happen. The match didn't get a clean finish, and there's no reason for Mark Henry to come back into the ring and maul Ryback if there wasn't going to be a proper match between them. However, I am glad they did it this way because there's no reason for Sheamus and Orton to trust Show after he laid out Orton a couple of weeks back.

What I reckon will happen is Ryback will tell Sheamus and Orton he's out because he's seeking revenge on Henry for what happened there, then we'll have another Shield attack on Orton and Sheamus, Big Show lumbers out and saves the day and becomes team member #3. There's nothing else for Show to do at Mania apart from this match and they have been building up to a Ryback/Henry match and for Show to have some involvement with the Shield for a while, so it'd be a shame to abandon the storyline now.

Good point, I can see ryback/henry being a complete borefest though.

Ye know what would be great for Cesaro at mania? a championship scramble match this would also get few other deserving folk on the card as well.

@masofdas TNAwful

I find it odd (though it may just be a time killing exercise) that Ryback has been announced to be in the six man tag match at WrestleMania, quite obvious that he'll be facing Mark Henry. I subscribe to Jay's theory, maybe The Shield are in ring giving a beat-down to Orton and Sheamus, Ryback's music hits, and somewhere along the way he gets attacked by Mark Henry, then Big Show out for the save on the Celtic Vipers.

WWE goofed - this image was leaked earlier on today on their website.

what was it? image isn't there anymore.

Ah, snap, should have figured WWE would pull it.

It was this.

I've got NXT on at the minute. Some of these guys look shite. I think I could batter Bo Dallas. Husky Harris looks like crap. This match is bollocks. WWE should spend their yearly developmental budget on a big, fat contract for Batista...

...nah, not really. But these guys look mince.