General Wrestling Thread

[quiet_riot]

Any torrents for just the rumble match?

 

[BimboBob]

The main title match was a nailed on classic, great from all 3 competitors, Cena in his best ever match and Rollins looking every inch a star.

What happened after was a disgrace. Bubba Dudley coming in at number 3 was a brilliant move from WWE but probably won't lead to team 3D getting back together unfortunately, and then...they dump on Daniel which led to what looked like loads of grown men lying on the floor with an occasional chokeslam followed by Reigns winning. The crowd got it right. It needed booing. Forcing a one trick pony down the throats of fans who have had this with Cena for years is a front to fans everywhere.

 

[Damocles]

this is booked so badly, so predictable, Vince doesn't live on Earth, nutjob not listening to the fans.

Terrible, terrible rumble.

Not enough quality "surprise" entrants. The fucking Boogyman?

Bryan getting eliminated early? Always gonna kill the crowd, especially a Philly crowd.

Roman Reigns has become the new Cena. A great heel character turned soft, being forced down everyone's throat before he's ready.

Someone asked why Bryan's so popular, it's because the fans made him popular, instead of being told "You will cheer this next star". Also the fact he can actually wrestle helps.

And it's a shame, because for once they got the title match bang on the money.

Bryan is popular because the WWE marketed him and booked him to appeal to the the smark crowd unlike Cena.

I mean, having Miz as his NXT pro? Losing every match early on and having Cole absolutely bury him? His entire Rumble booking in 2014?

It seems to be working aswell. Every wrestling forum in the world is now full of marks who cannot see purposeful booking in front of them

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

this is booked so badly, so predictable, Vince doesn't live on Earth, nutjob not listening to the fans.

Terrible, terrible rumble.

Not enough quality "surprise" entrants. The fucking Boogyman?

Bryan getting eliminated early? Always gonna kill the crowd, especially a Philly crowd.

Roman Reigns has become the new Cena. A great heel character turned soft, being forced down everyone's throat before he's ready.

Someone asked why Bryan's so popular, it's because the fans made him popular, instead of being told "You will cheer this next star". Also the fact he can actually wrestle helps.

And it's a shame, because for once they got the title match bang on the money.

Bryan is popular because the WWE marketed him and booked him to appeal to the the smark crowd unlike Cena.

I mean, having Miz as his NXT pro? Losing every match early on and having Cole absolutely bury him? His entire Rumble booking in 2014?

It seems to be working aswell. Every wrestling forum in the world is now full of marks who cannot see purposeful booking in front of them

The problem is he's now a top star in the eyes of the vast majority who turn up to the live events, therefore when you try to wind up the smarks by booking him "poorly" they're going to backlash and shit all over the rest of the match, which is cutting your nose off to spite your face. Last night was just poor booking. They should have let him get to the end and have a major feud lined up for him for Mania, and got his Mania opponent to screw him out of winning, thus meaning the heat was drawn to somebody else. You also, oddly, needed Reigns to knock someone like Cena out last so that the heat was drawn to somebody else in the final showdown.

Last year at the Rumble Reigns was cheered despite the monster booking in the match because he was part of something different in The Shield and had some decent booking going for him. This year he was much less of a monster in the match, he's not had a coherent promo in 2 months and his feud with Big Show has been utterly non-consequential. WWE's booking has been, for the most part, rubbish since Summerslam and although we've had glimpses of great stuff i.e. Rollins, the rest of it has just shown how far out of touch Vince is, he's not even following the basics anymore.

 

[Gareth Barry Manilow]

this is booked so badly, so predictable, Vince doesn't live on Earth, nutjob not listening to the fans.

Terrible, terrible rumble.

Not enough quality "surprise" entrants. The fucking Boogyman?

Bryan getting eliminated early? Always gonna kill the crowd, especially a Philly crowd.

Roman Reigns has become the new Cena. A great heel character turned soft, being forced down everyone's throat before he's ready.

Someone asked why Bryan's so popular, it's because the fans made him popular, instead of being told "You will cheer this next star". Also the fact he can actually wrestle helps.

And it's a shame, because for once they got the title match bang on the money.

Bryan is popular because the WWE marketed him and booked him to appeal to the the smark crowd unlike Cena.

I mean, having Miz as his NXT pro? Losing every match early on and having Cole absolutely bury him? His entire Rumble booking in 2014?

It seems to be working aswell. Every wrestling forum in the world is now full of marks who cannot see purposeful booking in front of them

I agree with most of that, but there's no way his Rumble 2014 booking was meant to lead to a title shot. I'm pretty sure he's stated in interviews that he was scheduled to face Sheamus at WMXXX, and that Triple H was booked to go against CM Punk, but Punk quitting and the abysmal reaction to the 2014 Rumble made them change their plans.

Also, I understand that they are desperate for Network/PPV buys, but why didn't they keep Bryan off TV until at least tonight's RAW? Surely that would've made things a lot easier?

 

[Damocles]

Terrible, terrible rumble.

Not enough quality "surprise" entrants. The fucking Boogyman?

Bryan getting eliminated early? Always gonna kill the crowd, especially a Philly crowd.

Roman Reigns has become the new Cena. A great heel character turned soft, being forced down everyone's throat before he's ready.

Someone asked why Bryan's so popular, it's because the fans made him popular, instead of being told "You will cheer this next star". Also the fact he can actually wrestle helps.

And it's a shame, because for once they got the title match bang on the money.

Bryan is popular because the WWE marketed him and booked him to appeal to the the smark crowd unlike Cena.

I mean, having Miz as his NXT pro? Losing every match early on and having Cole absolutely bury him? His entire Rumble booking in 2014?

It seems to be working aswell. Every wrestling forum in the world is now full of marks who cannot see purposeful booking in front of them

I agree with most of that, but there's no way his Rumble 2014 booking was meant to lead to a title shot. I'm pretty sure he's stated in interviews that he was scheduled to face Sheamus at WMXXX, and that Triple H was booked to go against CM Punk, but Punk quitting and the abysmal reaction to the 2014 Rumble made them change their plans.

Also, I understand that they are desperate for Network/PPV buys, but why didn't they keep Bryan off TV until at least tonight's RAW? Surely that would've made things a lot easier?

You see this is exactly what I mean.

That's wrong. It's a rewrite of history. Punk threw his toys out of the pram in the December because the booking was changed from him/Authority to Bryan/Authority because of the reactions Bryan was getting. His last WWE match was the actual Rumble itself where he did a planned spot on the table to knock him out. They said it themselves in a CNN interview Bryan/Sheamus was supposed to be the booking until the crowd turned it. At no point did they say this was after the Rumble, people have made that bit up.

TLC happened in the December and changed everything. Punk got a demotion then lost his smile. Bryan was going to be the winner.

Bryan's heat is based on him not getting the recognition he deserves in the eyes of his fans. The absolute best booking in the world for him was not to be in the Rumble.

Again, marks. Cannot see when they're getting obviously worked because the heel is the company itself. I had a £100 bet last year the day after the Rumble that Bryan would main event Wrestlemania with a mate. I'm giving the same odds this time around.

I even said it in this thread:

Nailed it there. I'm so excited about Raw tonight just to see how they deal with this fall out. This is much better than a few years back when Cena-Orton would have been a huge match that the crowd was into.

After reading some of the posts from Foley/Bryan and other internet darlings on Twitter, I'm certain that this is a work and WWE has found a way to use social media to reinvent kayfabe.

There's a few wrestling fans on here so I try to make a thread every PPV when I remember.

I have noticed an increase in marks in the last 10 years. Everybody thinks that because they know that it is fixed and know a bit of kayfabe then they're Eddie Gilbert.

Most don't realise that the Bryan stuff is absolutely classic wrestling storytelling and they are being worked.

 

[Tony - MCFC]

haven't watched wwe (or wwf back then) since mid-90's, but keep seeing stuff about fans being upset because the script didn't go the exact way they wanted it too, and apparently happens more and more with wwe. Don't really understand why fans would want it to go the way they want, whats the point of even watching if you're going to get upset and boo something because it doesn't end up the way you want, especially something that is scripted anyway.

End of day its the same routine anyway, big bad guy comes in batters everyone, main good guy may lose first time to the new big bad guy, but in the end the good guy wins. Everytime. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

haven't watched wwe (or wwf back then) since mid-90's, but keep seeing stuff about fans being upset because the script didn't go the exact way they wanted it too, and apparently happens more and more with wwe. Don't really understand why fans would want it to go the way they want, whats the point of even watching if you're going to get upset and boo something because it doesn't end up the way you want, especially something that is scripted anyway.

End of day its the same routine anyway, big bad guy comes in batters everyone, main good guy may lose first time to the new big bad guy, but in the end the good guy wins. Everytime. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

It used to be great when the good guy lost. The new set of spoilt fans seem like they want to control the storylines, which is boring. They need to scrap the pg era and bring back some of the attitude era. I get into it if I watch it for a few weeks but then it gets to predictable.

Bring back hardcore matches.

 

[Tony - MCFC]

haven't watched wwe (or wwf back then) since mid-90's, but keep seeing stuff about fans being upset because the script didn't go the exact way they wanted it too, and apparently happens more and more with wwe. Don't really understand why fans would want it to go the way they want, whats the point of even watching if you're going to get upset and boo something because it doesn't end up the way you want, especially something that is scripted anyway.

End of day its the same routine anyway, big bad guy comes in batters everyone, main good guy may lose first time to the new big bad guy, but in the end the good guy wins. Everytime. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

It used to be great when the good guy lost. The new set of spoilt fans seem like they want to control the storylines, which is boring. They need to scrap the pg era and bring back some of the attitude era. I get into it if I watch it for a few weeks but then it gets to predictable.

Bring back hardcore matches.

Used to love it in late 80's/early 90's, proper cheesy wrestling and storylines, remember Undertaker first starting up and rinsing everyone, if memory serves me right he beat Hogan at Survivor Series, but of course Hogan won it back a day or two after. Bad guys never ultimately win in wrestling, good guy in the end always comes good which is why its so predictable and zzz.

agree with what you are saying, does sound like spoilt fans wanting to control stories. plain weird. if you don't like whats going on, don't watch, its in the hands of people who are paid to write the stories, end of. Fair play to McMahon (he still owns it right?!) for sticking to guns and doing it his way.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Bryan is popular because the WWE marketed him and booked him to appeal to the the smark crowd unlike Cena.

I mean, having Miz as his NXT pro? Losing every match early on and having Cole absolutely bury him? His entire Rumble booking in 2014?

It seems to be working aswell. Every wrestling forum in the world is now full of marks who cannot see purposeful booking in front of them

I agree with most of that, but there's no way his Rumble 2014 booking was meant to lead to a title shot. I'm pretty sure he's stated in interviews that he was scheduled to face Sheamus at WMXXX, and that Triple H was booked to go against CM Punk, but Punk quitting and the abysmal reaction to the 2014 Rumble made them change their plans.

Also, I understand that they are desperate for Network/PPV buys, but why didn't they keep Bryan off TV until at least tonight's RAW? Surely that would've made things a lot easier?

You see this is exactly what I mean.

That's wrong. It's a rewrite of history. Punk threw his toys out of the pram in the December because the booking was changed from him/Authority to Bryan/Authority because of the reactions Bryan was getting. His last WWE match was the actual Rumble itself where he did a planned spot on the table to knock him out. They said it themselves in a CNN interview Bryan/Sheamus was supposed to be the booking until the crowd turned it. At no point did they say this was after the Rumble, people have made that bit up.

TLC happened in the December and changed everything. Punk got a demotion then lost his smile. Bryan was going to be the winner.

Bryan's heat is based on him not getting the recognition he deserves in the eyes of his fans. The absolute best booking in the world for him was not to be in the Rumble.

Again, marks. Cannot see when they're getting obviously worked because the heel is the company itself. I had a £100 bet last year the day after the Rumble that Bryan would main event Wrestlemania with a mate. I'm giving the same odds this time around.

I even said it in this thread:

Nailed it there. I'm so excited about Raw tonight just to see how they deal with this fall out. This is much better than a few years back when Cena-Orton would have been a huge match that the crowd was into.

After reading some of the posts from Foley/Bryan and other internet darlings on Twitter, I'm certain that this is a work and WWE has found a way to use social media to reinvent kayfabe.

There's a few wrestling fans on here so I try to make a thread every PPV when I remember.

I have noticed an increase in marks in the last 10 years. Everybody thinks that because they know that it is fixed and know a bit of kayfabe then they're Eddie Gilbert.

Most don't realise that the Bryan stuff is absolutely classic wrestling storytelling and they are being worked.

Ok, if we take last year's Rumble as a given (I'm not sure on your account of Punk as his podcast with Colt gave a different impression to me) but just a few questions to you on this year's?

1) Do you think they intended to use Bryan in that way so that they would get that reaction?
2) Do you think they wanted Reigns to win, to get the reaction that he did, knowing they were in Philly and knowing what would likely happen?
3) Do you think the Rumble match itself was booked well and especially the ending?
4) Do you think they, as they are doing, are happy to damage Reigns to work the smarks like they did all last year, just to do the same as last year and put Bryan in the main event to win again, or do you think they just messed with Bryan last night to just stick two fingers up to the Smarks?
5) Do you think the WWE are happy for their 2nd biggest PPV to go off the air to serious boos two years running?