Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

I'm thinking that this may end up HBK screwing Triple H in the end.

i think so. it's a way like last year to preserve the win streak but still put HHH over. It seems like HHH doesnt want to job for taker given his in ring career will probably last longer than Taker's

Absolutely but if this is indeed going to be Taker's last match (not confirmed, but certainly possible), he deserves a clean win if he's going over. Also, it kind of sets something up between HBK and HHH, which can't really have any payoff unless HBK is going to be back fulltime in a non-wrestling role opposing HHH or work a few more matches. That's not impossible of course, it just strikes me as unlikely.

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Yeah, neither of them were particularly PG in those promos. I say so much the better.

Now that's John Cena.

I don't know what was worse. The crowd taking a full 20 minutes to catch onto Rock's 'but we're dancing 'cause Cleveland rocks' line, or the fact that The Rock is completely incapable of cutting a decent promo.

I don't know what was worse. The crowd taking a full 20 minutes to catch onto Rock's 'but we're dancing 'cause Cleveland rocks' line, or the fact that The Rock is completely incapable of cutting a decent promo.

And the fact that The Rock had to look at the screen to sing his song at the end....

To be fair, he wouldn't have had all that much time to learn it, it's pretty quick, and he did do some of it looking away (and if he doesn't look at the screen, people may have not noticed the lyrics up there...which they seemed not to anyway).

Also, can Rock cut a promo just once without the whole 'people with vaginas are inferior' thing? It's not clever, it's not funny. It's sexist. Cissexist, even.

The Rock's recent promos certainly haven't been his best. On the plus side, it's making Cena's character look better and fresher than it has in ages. Supposedly WWE wants to split the crowd at Wrestlemania, so maybe it's intentional? I did like his "serious moment" last week though, the comment about stripping away the catchphrases etc and ripping Cena's throat out, being a little different from his usual promos.

Nothing the Rock is doing is making Cena's character look fresh. Cena going out there and actually being serious and not treating everything like a joke is what's making his character look fresh. Because it is fresh (2004 flashback aside, of course). Rock, on the other hand, is doing exactly what Cena's been criticised for, with added sexism and transphobia. And that's what's bothering me the most. A fair percentage of the roster are shitty promos, and that'll happen and I don't really care, but WWE's endorsement of the notion that women/transpeople are inferior to cismen is disgusting. And it is an endorsement, because either they're writing his promos, or they're not telling him to cut it out. And he's doing it in the pre-taped bits, too, which they'd have complete control over.

all along with their anti-bullying campaign... what kind of message does that send?

Well, it's bad enough on its own, but yeah. That too.

Why does the 'Taker-HHH-HBK skit involve life-threatening remarks?

Is it me, or did Taker look legit sad at the end?

So here is the WM lineup...

• Dwayne Johnson vs. John Cena.
• WWE champion CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho.
• The Undertaker vs. HHH in Hell in A Cell with Shawn Michaels as special referee.
• World champion Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus.
• WWE Intercontinental champion Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show.
• Randy Orton vs. Kane.
• David Otunga & Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger & Mark Henry & Christian & Alberto Del Rio vs. Santino Marella & Great Khali & Zack Ryder & Kofi Kingston & R Truth & TBA.
• WWE Divas champ Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres vs. Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos.

Only one gimmick match....do you guys think that four normal 1v1 matches can be interesting enough for WM? Screw the tag and divas, but IMO there needs to be a no DQ or something. Only Rock/Cena and Bryan/Sheamus will be entertaining in a normal match IMO.

well at this point in their careers, i think the Cena/Rock match will be boring. they're going to stare each other down and try to stretch out the match, but i think it will be them doing their 5 moves of doom to each other.
Punk's pretty much turned into that too, but i think his match with Jericho will be the best match.

lol @ the tag match trying to include all the midcarders.... it's going to be worse than the divas match. they should've done a battle royal just to get all of them in a match

.....why did I think Punk/Jericho would be a bad match.....the hell was I on

ok, well Rhodes and Show need to do something interesting then.

I'm only looking forward for the WWE Title Match, the WHC match, the way Cena would be boo'ed, and HBK, HHH and 'Taker's entrances. Not more. I was hoping for a decent Divas match between Beth and Natalya (or Kharma). I was hoping too for zero involvement of any celebrity.

I don't think you need to load up on too many gimmicks, given you've got some titles and stipulations in play already. I think you could make Kane/Orton some sort of No-DQ match though, it doesn't have quite enough of an angle behind it compared to other matches on the card so it could stand to be spiced up with a gimmick.

If you guys missed it, here's another awesome promo for the 'Taker-HHH II HIAC match.

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Hat's off to the guys at production.

damn, you weren't kidding

I can only imagine how these guys work quickly and efficiently with this video package shown the day after Raw. Excellent job.

They may err at times when it comes to booking and writing certain characters to fit the current PG guidelines, but WWE always puts together some great video packages.

Just saw the past week of Raw and Smackdown. I am hating how cheesy the babyfaces are (which are given with Santino on board), the Zack Ryder woo-woo-woo segment backstage with Long's team is annoyingly corny. Also, bringing in Khali to the card is just sad. This would have been the time that Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Rey Mysterio or even Sin Cara would fit the team.

I am guessing that with Miz will be on Teddy Long's side and Del Rio on Laurinaitis' team, if Mysterio isn't the last guy to come up for Teddy Long.

The cards for WrestleMania are pretty much complete and I must say that it's promising albeit predictable all the same.

One of the main titles must be retained and I don't see Daniel Bryan retaining. While he's not the typical main event heel, he definitely got his shots at Sheamus without the latter being able to retaliate. Punk needs a singles match victory at WrestleMania so I see him winning and I already expect these two title matches to be the show stealers of the event (when they could have been the headline matches).

I am also disappointed that the Divas title won't be defended and we get another predictable tag match that involves a celebrity. Shame that Natalya was pulled out of the Beth Phoenix angle, I mean without Kharma, she should've been the top contender for the title at WrestleMania.

No Tag Title match too, like it matters.