Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[koberulz]

So we were pretty sure Orton was going to leave with his hand raised, and they still managed to make me feel like I wasted my money?

Yeah, fuck you, McMahon.

[JaoSming]

What made you feel like you wasted money? Two great great great matches with Cena/Bryan and Brock/Punk, Ziggs doing his thing, a piss break, fuckin' fire, and a stiff WHC match to boot.

Now, a HHH heel turnand taking the belt away from Bryan like that, nicely done, but fuck, fans are allowed to get exactly what they want every once in awhile....

[Lean]

I was right. Sounds like a good show. But I hope Bryan would hold that title for a legit reign and Dolph takes back the WHC.

EDIT: If Batista is in good terms with WWE this is the right time to return.

[koberulz]

What made you feel like you wasted money?

Triple H (w/Randy Orton) def Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship, McMahons to spend four hours on my TV every week until WrestleMania

Other thoughts that don't relate to the above:
Cena/Bryan was very let down by blatantly audible spot-calling. And it wasn't even a word here or there, the mics picked up a lengthy conversation at one point (can't recall where; both guys were down at the time) and part of what appeared to be another lengthy conversation prior to the turnbuckle suplex out of the guillotine. The finish felt very flat, too. When my first reaction to the finish is "wait, what, that's it?", you've fucked up.

Other than that it was good, Punk/Brock was good apart from Punk's back injury randomly disappearing (and really could've done without him lifting Brock for the GTS, whether he connected or not, at any point), even Christian/Del Rio was good. For two hours and 45 minutes it was a hell of a PPV. Could've done with the 'we've never seen anything like this' commentary during the Ring of Fire match. And the 'star-studded' panel featuring Josh Mathews and Vickie Guerrero.


EDIT:

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

I haven't seen the show itself yet, just read the results, but hopefully they'll make the heel turn for HHH and Orton work and Bryan will get a proper reign in the near future. I'm willing to see where it goes, though the McMahon family dominating the storylines is certainly a concern moving forward with the angle.

[koberulz]

And by the way: indy darling and former ROH world champion becomes the hottest thing in WWE, gets the title, gets cashed in on at SummerSlam minutes after being crowned, gets buried by Triple H, and is never again as hot as he was when he first won the title.

Say what you will about WWE, they stick to their guns regardless of how fucking stupid it is to do so.

[Andrew]

Definitely a possibility and the worst case scenario.

[koberulz]

You obviously don't remember Christian's run with the world title that got him stuck right back in the midcard. Or Ryder's run with the US title that...well, yeah.

But WWE will continue to throw belts on people then take them away under the delusional notion that will make them more popular, and job out MITB holders under the delusional notion that once they get the belt they'll be popular, which half the time leads to them trying to make them even more popular again by taking the belt right back off them...

[[Q]]

Cena/Bryan was very let down by blatantly audible spot-calling. And it wasn't even a word here or there, the mics picked up a lengthy conversation at one point (can't recall where; both guys were down at the time) and part of what appeared to be another lengthy conversation prior to the turnbuckle suplex out of the guillotine.

i find this to be very irritating. even when a match is great, this kills it for me. i mean, if they're "professionals" or if they are supposed to be the best in the company at what they do, this should not be an issue. i think they should find other ways to do this

[Lean]

I think the recent RVD vs Y2J didn't have this.

[Andrew]

You obviously don't remember Christian's run with the world title that got him stuck right back in the midcard. Or Ryder's run with the US title that...well, yeah.

But WWE will continue to throw belts on people then take them away under the delusional notion that will make them more popular, and job out MITB holders under the delusional notion that once they get the belt they'll be popular, which half the time leads to them trying to make them even more popular again by taking the belt right back off them...

I do remember that, though in Ryder's case, I think his character hit its ceiling. Nevertheless, I'll wait and see how this turns out. History invites scepticism, but from all accounts they are very high up on Bryan right now.

[buzzy]

And by the way: indy darling and former ROH world champion becomes the hottest thing in WWE, gets the title, gets cashed in on at SummerSlam minutes after being crowned, gets buried by Triple H, and is never again as hot as he was when he first won the title.

Say what you will about WWE, they stick to their guns regardless of how fucking stupid it is to do so.

I don't see how this is a stupid thing to do. Welcome to pro wrestling. You're happy with the winner? Well, we're gonna give you a reason to actually tune in again on Monday.

It remains to be seen if you're right with Bryan, but right now there's nothing that suggests that he's going right back into the midcard again. He just beat Cena clean, for christ's sake.

The finish felt very flat, too. When my first reaction to the finish is "wait, what, that's it?", you've fucked up.

DB doesn't really have an impact finisher. You know sure as shit Cena's not gonna tap.

Brock/Punk was pretty much the match of the year btw.

[koberulz]

I do remember that, though in Ryder's case, I think his character hit its ceiling.

Character ceilings aren't made of rubber; you can't get pushed towards them so hard you bounce off and hit the floor. Given how over he was, he would've gone far further had they not killed his push. He was never world championship material, at least not without some character development, but he could've stuck around the mid/upper midcard, maybe challenged for the world title a couple of times, and, y'know, been on TV.

Nevertheless, I'll wait and see how this turns out. History invites scepticism, but from all accounts they are very high up on Bryan right now.

They've done this three or four times now, either out of malice or stupidity. And if it's stupidity, it doesn't matter how high they are on anyone.

I don't see how this is a stupid thing to do. Welcome to pro wrestling.

As above: Punk, Ryder, Christian. Killing someone's momentum is stupid.

You're happy with the winner? Well, we're gonna give you a reason to actually tune in again on Monday.

How many viewers tuned in the night after WM 21? The Friday after Armageddon 2008? The Friday after WM 22? How many of the million extra viewers the night after NYR were actually upset about Edge being champ? And that's just off the top of my head. The default position for most wrestling events is for the babyface to be standing tall at the end. This sort of thing happens so incredibly rarely that claiming it typical makes no sense whatsoever.

It remains to be seen if you're right with Bryan, but right now there's nothing that suggests that he's going right back into the midcard again. He just beat Cena clean, for christ's sake.

I doubt he will. But he won't be nearly as hot as he was twelve hours ago.

DB doesn't really have an impact finisher. You know sure as shit Cena's not gonna tap.

Elbows, ref stoppage, super-protected instead of semi-protected Cena. Or, really, anything that was actually built to. It felt like a lull before the build to another nearfall or the finish, not the culmination of the build to anything. The moves themselves weren't the only reason it felt like it came out of nowhere. And if you need a guy to go over by pinfall, and you know this in the leadup, give him an impact finisher or some other way that'll make sense for him to do so.

This is relevant. Here's part two.

Also, in order to make sure the right guy went over at the end of the show, guess which rule was quietly abolished tonight (answer in the spoiler tags, no cheating)? In order for a match to start, even a MITB cash-in, both competitors must be on their feet and confirm to the referee that they are ready to start the match.

[Andrew]

Well, here's hoping history doesn't repeat itself with Bryan.

[buzzy]

Also, in order to make sure the right guy went over at the end of the show, guess which rule was quietly abolished tonight (answer in the spoiler tags, no cheating)? In order for a match to start, even a MITB cash-in, both competitors must be on their feet and confirm to the referee that they are ready to start the match.

I noticed that too, but I wasn't that upset with it, If anyone should have the power to overturn that rule it's the COO, or whatever Hunter is right now.

The thing that got more under my skin is the end of the ADR/Christian match. ADR's shoulders were down for good 6, 7 seconds while Christian was trying to get out of the armbar. They're usually pretty consistent in calling those pins, but the ref totally kayfabe-fucked Christian there.

[koberulz]

I noticed that too, but I wasn't that upset with it, If anyone should have the power to overturn that rule it's the COO, or whatever Hunter is right now.

But it was only done that way in aid of Hunter burying Bryan. There's no other conclusion that comes from him eating a pedigree and being pinned somewhere around a full minute later. If he'd kicked out only to eat an RKO, or got up from the pedigree and fought for a few minutes before eating an RKO, I'd be much happier with things.

The thing that got more under my skin is the end of the ADR/Christian match. ADR's shoulders were down for good 6, 7 seconds while Christian was trying to get out of the armbar. They're usually pretty consistent in calling those pins, but the ref totally kayfabe-fucked Christian there.

Yeah, the same happened in another match, too. Probably while Danielson was applying the surfboard, but don't quote me on that.

In both cases, the shoulders were unlikely to have both been down the entire three seconds, but the ref should at least have been checking.

[buzzy]

No, check the finish of the WHC match again. They were down. Really down.

[Lean]

The thing that got more under my skin is the end of the ADR/Christian match. ADR's shoulders were down for good 6, 7 seconds while Christian was trying to get out of the armbar. They're usually pretty consistent in calling those pins, but the ref totally kayfabe-fucked Christian there.

If Chioda was the ref he'll kayfabe-check the shoulders and kayfabe-count to maintain the "sports" side of things.

[JaoSming]

from PWinsider

Mike Epsenhart noted that after WWE had Randy Orton take the WWE Title from Daniel Bryan, the crowd was totally deflated. A minute earlier, there was a huge buzz in the building. Mike said that there was no buzz or chatter among people when they left the building. They were just kind of like WTF just happened.

The feeling backstage was mixed on the end of the show. While everyone agreed that the work was fantastic, some took the "now we can tell a great story and when Bryan gets his revenge it will get him over even more" stance. Others took the "They should have let Bryan have his moment and it would have made him right there and he wouldn't have had to be made after a chase" position. I side with the latter.

A number of people in the company also commented on the fact that it made no sense for Bryan to take one Pedigree, have all the time pass between then, Randy Orton getting to the ring, ringing the bell and then making the cover, yet Bryan couldn't kick out. A few people in the company made a point of saying that it's ridiculous that a move from a largely retired wrestler is so supposedly devastating that it outdid anything that John Cena did in the match. When you think about it, they are right. Triple H shouldn't be stronger than any of the top guys. Period.

[buzzy]

I'd agree with the pedigree stuff. I was fully expecting Bryan to kick out and get RKO'd.

They sold the end of the match well with all that time passing until something happened, so they might just wanted to end it quick.

But yeah, that looked a little weak.

[JaoSming]

So, anyone jumping ship to TNA where past champs are at least held in high regard?


whoosh

anyway, nice callback from Cena and Bryan to this last night during their match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6hM_-9R ... be&t=1m59s

[formx]

So, anyone jumping ship to TNA where past champs are at least held in high regard?

[JaoSming]

Godh dammit Brock
https://vine.co/v/hOg6FHjr0U2

[koberulz]

anyway, nice callback from Cena and Bryan to this last night during their match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6hM_-9R ... be&t=1m59s

That's a Danielson staple; doubt it was an intentional reference.

No, check the finish of the WHC match again. They were down. Really down.

The right shoulder was up the entire time.

Not that it matters, the ref should've been checking anyway.

[Andrew]

Godh dammit Brock
https://vine.co/v/hOg6FHjr0U2