Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[Andrew]

...could work, but to say the angle isn't everything it could've been is a huge understatement.

[PepsiWithCoke]

I still don't get why Cena gets an instant title shot. I get it that he's the WWE's main guy, but no lead-up to the match upon his return aside from Vickie announcing it, not even cut a promo, and not even win a so-called #1 Contender's battle royale to make things a bit more 'formal'.

[JaoSming]

especially since that Dolphin guy leaked out that Sandow was going to cash in....and never did

[JaoSming]

Yep, done. They just hot shotted the whole Sandow cash-in to boost Cena further.


Just, done.

[PepsiWithCoke]

And in non SuperCena news,

Dave Meltzer is reporting that the Carter family wants to throw the towel in on TNA and sell the company to the highest bidder. Interested/Rumoured parties range from Eric Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett, Viacom and even the WWE.

Dave Meltzer revealed the news on his radio show today that they've been wanting to get out of the wrestling business for several months now, after they've thrown everything at the company without any results.

[Andrew]

Yeah, that was a waste.

[koberulz]

If you haven't got a copy of The Last of McGuinness, you should get one.

[Andrew]

The work of Goldust and Cody Rhodes has been great in pretty much every match they've been involved in during their current angle. I'm not sure their entrance themes work together quite as well though. To me, it sounds a bit awkward in parts.

phpBB [video]

[PepsiWithCoke]

Looks like the buyer interested in TNA is not WWE, So that means it's either Viacom (Spike TV) or Eric Bischoff himself.

[JaoSming]

or Jarrett?

[Lean]

...or Shane O'Mac!

[shadowgrin]

For Halloween.

[Andrew]

The Devil made him do it.

[PepsiWithCoke]

Corporate Kane.....

[Andrew]

Yeah, that's just weird.

Goldust and Cody continue to have some great matches though.

[JaoSming]

after much pain and time spent searching, I found the guy who called it last week - http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/428039- ... 1101017288

[shadowgrin]

Kane likes your detective work.

[koberulz]

How can people still pretend this angle isn't terrible?

[Andrew]

It's disappointing to see them take every wrong turn and make every bad decision possible, as it had potential early on; even with a shaky start. Occasionally, there'd be a moment or a week here and there where they seemed to be doing something right, but it's been bungled.

[koberulz]

It's par for the course for WWE, and I figured it was coming back when Triple H pedigreed Danielson at SummerSlam. It's the "you smarks keep demanding long-running angles and now you're getting one, so stop whining! Can't you see how over Bryan's going to be at the end of this angle?" attitude I don't understand. Dragon's been well and truly buried at this point. Ziggler (remember him?) wishes he was only as buried as Bryan is (remember that week after he won the title where he was ridiculously over?). The Shield have gone through yet another gimmick change and lost all their heat. The Wyatt Family seems to be getting dragged into the Authority angle for no reason. There is no ending to this angle that can justify what is essentially Triple H burying everyone to get himself over (like we haven't seen that before).

Meanwhile, the same creative team is booking the Rhodes family angle, which is really good and producing some apparently excellent matches (I stopped watching ages ago, so I haven't seen them). Go figure.

[formx]

Corporate Kane is just weird.....

[Andrew]

On the bright side, Bryan still gets a great crowd reaction. If HHH's intention is for him to be completely buried, I don't think that's gone to plan. The thing is, I don't think that is actually his intention; I think he's trying to recreate Austin/McMahon and establish Bryan as one of the top guys in the company, but going about it all wrong because he's not willing to ever look weak or vulnerable himself. I guess it comes down to the same thing, his vision and his ego, but I don't think the actual intent is to bury Bryan and make him go away. It's just that HHH doesn't seem to understand what Vince ultimately does: people will tune in (and also pay) to see the bad guy humiliated and get his comeuppance.

That's something I found funny about his promo a few weeks back about how if Jericho and RVD were the face of the company, everyone would be working for Turner now. One of the reasons WCW faltered in the Monday Night Wars is that they overdid the nWo angle and had the guys who were technically the heels in the whole program won too much while the faces were made to look weak and inconsequential, while a member of The Kliq ran roughshod over the booking. In other words, running things the way HHH/the WWE are at the moment is what's likely to put a company under, rather than relying on workhorses like the ones HHH took potshots at in that promo.

Like I said, every wrong turn and mistake imaginable. There was potential, a good story to tell if executed properly, but they messed it up and it's a shame.

[koberulz]

I don't think that is actually his intention; I think he's trying to recreate Austin/McMahon and establish Bryan as one of the top guys in the company, but going about it all wrong because he's not willing to ever look weak or vulnerable himself.

Definitely agree with the first part, although I'm not sure about the reasoning. It's not as though Trips actually has to look vulnerable all that much; Orton is the one who should be looking vulnerable, at least at this stage of the angle. For some reason, though, they've decided that now is the time to re-establish Orton as a vicious unstoppable badass.

[Andrew]

Orton needs to look strong in his own right, as his character is meant to be vicious and sadistic - the apex predator and all that - but at the same time, it does need to look like he can be defeated. It's a difficult balance but plenty of heels have pulled it off over the years. I feel the same goes for HHH to a certain extent though, since he's pulling the strings and screwing people over. He needs to "lose" here and there; since he's not in the ring full-time, that means having his plans fail, suffering some measure of humiliation, that kind of thing.

It's intertwined because HHH is calling the shots and Orton is his chosen champion. If HHH always gets his way in the story, then that means that Orton appears to be safe as the champion as well, on top of booking him to look strong in his matches. In Austin/McMahon, you'd have Vince doing something dastardly but also taking his fair share of abuse. There was back and forth and there was the cathartic factor for the audience as the villain suffered for his misdeeds. With The Authority, the abuse is pretty much one way, with the occasional measure of victory for the faces that's usually quickly followed by a beatdown.

Even if Bryan ultimately wins the war, say by winning the title at Wrestlemania XXX, the feud will have been far too one-sided. My guess is that they feel that approach keeps him sympathetic and the crowd on his side. They're not completely wrong in that thinking, but the interest in the storyline has waned because it doesn't look like he's got a chance. You noted this very early on and you were right. I had hoped that they'd avoid that trend but unfortunately, that's the road they went down. I see what they're going for and where they're coming from, but it's all too one-sided. I just can't shake the feeling it's partly because HHH has a hard time losing or looking vulnerable.

[koberulz]

Orton needs to look strong in his own right, as his character is meant to be vicious and sadistic - the apex predator and all that

He's been the Apex Predator in name only for a significant length of time now. Thus the speech from Trips about having to be that guy again and destroying Miz in Cleveland.

And really, the corporate champion needs to be a chickenshit. It makes no sense any other way. If he's dominant on his own, what does he need the corporate backing for? Rock was always a chickenshit as a heel, Austin was a chickenshit for his brief heel run in 2001, Edge was always a chickenshit...the whole 'corporate champion' angle relies on the fact that the challenger will win any one-on-one contest between the two, but he can't get one due to the constant interference.

The Authority

And by the way, this is the worst stable name since The Corre. We never did find out Nexus' super-secret plan that started with them interfering in that Undertaker (IIRC) match, either.

Even if Bryan ultimately wins the war, say by winning the title at Wrestlemania XXX, the feud will have been far too one-sided.

And where does Big Show fit into this? You're achieving fuck all by putting the belt on him, beating him clean would be worse, and screwing him over leaves him and Bryan with the same feud-ender. And that's completely ignoring the "I'm too tall to get a real job" thing. They couldn't think of anything better than that? Really?

Speaking of which, what about Miz and Dolph? They were front-and-center with Show and Dragon when this thing started, now they're...where, exactly? They've completely buried Ziggler, and I've no idea what Miz is doing these days. Not watching the show probably doesn't help, but I'm sure if he was anywhere near the main event I'd remember.


On an entirely different subject (or at least an entirely different terrible booking decision), how long until Sandow gets fired? They buried him horrendously once he got the briefcase, under the theory that once he won the belt he'd be over, (because that worked oh-so-well with everyone else) and then they not only didn't give him the belt, they made him the first guy to cash in properly and lose. Where exactly does he go from here? And does anybody give a shit about the world title even now that Cena's holding it? And if they can see why giving Cena the belt might elevate it, why can't they see that giving it to a glorified jobber does nothing for either of them in a MITB situation?