WWE

WWE TV thread

Dave has made an interesting point about the current wrestling economy a few times lately that I think warrants more discussion. I'll quote a recent post of his at The Board: Seems like this is going to be more and more the case for the foreseeable future. Cord cutting hasn't gained a ton of momentum just yet, but that will probably have a big impact on wrestling as it gets more common too. So we are at an interesting point -- it's less about attracting more fans and more about getting more dollars out of the existing ones. I don't know if that's actually the stated goal of WWE at this point or not, but if so, it does change how we talk about this stuff, a…

One thing that's definitely getting NXT over as a show - and which helped a lot live - is that the entrance music isn't completely horrible and sounds like something that could have been recorded in this century. It helps establish the characters a lot with Banks and Bayley, but also Breeze and Balor. We forget that we've all seen hundreds upon hundreds of Randy Orton entrances.

Have fun.

NXT Takeover Brooklyn is tonight on the Network. Looks like it's only a 2-hour show. Thought this should have it's own thread. Anyway, the card: NXT Title: Finn Bàlor© Vs. Kevin Owens (Ladder Match) NXT Women's Title: Sasha Banks© Vs. Bayley Samoa Joe Vs. Baron Corbin NXT Tag Titles: Blake/Murphy (w/ Alexa Bliss)© Vs. Vaudevillains Jushin "Thunder" Liger Vs. Tyler Breeze Apollo Crews (Uhaa Nation) NXT in-ring debut Sold out Barclay's center ("more than 13,000 fans"), so crowd should be hot. Although I'm sure they don't have as many seats up for NXT as they do for Summerslam. Not sure how that all works.

Have at it.

So I was just having a conversation with my Dad who still occasionally turns on the random episode of Raw, despite growing up in the Bruno era and not really giving a shit since the Hulkamania era. (He pretty much thinks most of the modern product sucks, though he enjoys Cena, Cesaro, and Lillian Garcia!) Anyway, we got to discussing how Roman Reigns was supposed to be the next great babyface, but is now getting mixed reactions at best, and being boo'ed pretty heavily most of the time. He brought up Wyatt getting cheers and Reigns getting boo's as they exchanged punches on Monday night, and I was telling him how they pretty much started his doom at the Rumble by doing…

Listening to Dylan, Rob and Jeff on Shake Them Ropes talking about a back-up plan for Cena made me think about this. I touched on this in another thread but wanted to open this for discussion as it's own topic. We all know how heavily WWE relies on past stars and part timers. I do think that we're kind of drawing to a close on this era based on age/time factors. You can argue that they've missed out on creating a lot of stars over the past decade. When Steve Austin went down in 1999, they had enough stars to fill that spot. If Cena goes down tomorrow, they're in deep trouble. Looking at who they rely on now: Once a year for Taker is too much right now, let alone i…

OK, so WWE is declaring war on ROH. They supposedly won't hire thier talent. They are running shows counter to shows that ROH has had lined up for months (San Antonio for example). They killed off sales for the Field of Honor when they announced the Takeover show. Kris, Dylan and Musgrave tackled this topic on a podcast but I think this topic is bigger than just our podcast. http://placetobenation.com/good-will-wrestling-roh-vs-nxt/ Anyway, if ROH and NXT are coming to your town... which ticket are you buying? Which show would you rather see on Saturday... Takeover or Field of Honor? Who do you think has the better roster?

I don't want to in any way criticize WWE for doing this, because they are hardly unique in doing charity to improve their public image. And regardless of their motivations, there are people who benefit from what they do. But are most other big companies as obvious about their self-interested philanthropy? I just listened to Dave talk about how WWE promotes Cena's Make-a-Wish stuff and he made some great points. I think in their minds, those are the types of things that will make fans eventually start supporting Cena, but I actually think that's part of the reason people boo him. It makes me feel for Cena because he has never wanted his Make-a-Wish work spotlighted, bu…

Jon Stewart, Sting, Ric Flair, and Lesnar are all scheduled for Raw tonight. I'm actually kind of intrigued how they set up the mania match for Lesnar and Taker. This should be a hot show with all the press they've gotten since yesterday

All thoughts on this season's or past seasons go here. I'll start off by saying that nobody of the 13 they selected have any star potential. They're the antithesis of what WWE is looking for right now and the winner will get released in less than a year

Tag Team Championship: Prime Time Players (champs) vs. New Day vs. Matadores vs. Lucha Dragons Intercontinental Championship: Ryback (champ) vs. Miz vs. Big Show Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens King Barrett & Stardust vs. Neville & Green Arrow Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper vs. Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose Bellas/Fox vs. PCB vs. Team BAD Randy Orton vs. Sheamus US Title vs. WWE World Title - John Cena vs. Seth Rollins Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker

As there is also a thread for Wrestlemania XXXII predictions why not a HoF prediction thread? "Main Event" I could see them introducing the nWo (just Hogan, Nash and Hall) now that all three guys are in individually as well. Undertaker is of course always an option if he decides to retire. "Celebrity Wing" The only two guys I could come up with are Mayweather and LT. Of course they might bring in someone who was a guest once at a Wrestlemania (like Pam) or guest GM. Other If they introduce another Japanese guy I would bet on Tenryu (have Terry Funk introduce him, as Tenryu trained in Amarillo), Masa Saito or maybe Tiger Mask. In the last three years they …

I said it. True?

So on March 2014 he suffered a concussion that some claimed was a "career ender". Then late that year he and Edge hosted RAW and both Lawler and Heyman claimed he was retired/had concussion issues. He then denied the rumors of his retirement but we haven't seen him since. I was looking for some news on him and PWInsider reported on December 2014 he had about a year left in his contract. Has there been any news on him since January? Has he claimed he wants or even can wrestle again? His situation is pretty much the same as Daniel Bryan but there hasn't been any coverage on it.

Four hours, ten matches. Since the card seems set, have at it: 1. Tag Team Championship: Prime Time Players (champs) vs. New Day vs. Matadores vs. Lucha Dragons - I think they heat up New Day with a cheap win and have the other teams chase through the fall 2. Intercontinental Championship: Ryback (champ) vs. Miz vs. Big Show - Ryback just came back, I say give him a strong win 3. Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev - Dolph is coming back and Rusev has been dropping some matches lately 4. Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens - Owens is swinging back down and Cesaro is on his way up. I have a feeling this could be for the NXT title. 5. King Barrett & Stardust vs. Neville & Green Arro…

NXT discussion in some of the other threads has got me thinking...they have kind of a dilemma right now whether they know it or not. Eventually they are going to run out of indy darlings in the NXT pipeline and as much as HHH wants NXT to be a sustainable touring brand I just don't think it's feasible when all the best talent will leave NXT within a year. I just don't see how they can have their cake and eat it too w/r/t NXT. If it's meant to be developmental then they should really keep the focus on that. With that said, I do see value in HHH's vision of a separate touring brand feels distinct from the main product as we know it today. They are at a point where t…

This has come up recently on Twitter and in private conversations I've had with several people, but I think it's time to ask what exactly the future of NXT is. This weekend they ran two very successful house shows under the NXT heading in Ohio, filled almost exclusively with NXT talent. The shows sold out quickly and were critically acclaimed, as has been the NXT TV show, and of course the NXT Network specials. We also know that WWE has been: Bringing in veterans to NXT to add a bit of depth and different dynamic to the roster. Aggressively pursuing new talent from the indies (Uhaa Nation, Samoa Joe, possibly Biff Busick, ROH talent according to Dave, whic…

Watching Raw and seeing the IC Title match between Miz-Big Show-Ryback and then seeing Seth Rollins doing the main event angle promo really got me thinking. I think the absolute biggest problem the WWE has is upward progression. The WWE method seems to be putting a new guy into a top program and then dropping them down the card where they never recover. The IC Title division seems to be built around failed main eventers. Shouldn't people get a run with the IC Title and then move up to the main event? I think there is very little issue with somebody being on the undercard and then moving up, while there is a huge problem with getting a main event run and then movin…

Final week of hype for SummerSlam. Let's have at it.

Bryan will be Miz Tv tonight. So that's the angle. I guess they could go several directions

So I'll admit I'm not someone that's been super-passionate about the #givedivasachance deal. I haven't gotten too wrapped up in whether Paige and Brie Bella get 3 minutes or 8 minutes on RAW. There are plenty of solid talents who get short-changed on time in WWE. But I absolutely do believe that Sasha Banks is one of the best all-around young performers in wrestling. She's in the same category for me as wrestlers like Owens, Ambrose, Rollins, Zayn, etc. The Takeover match with Becky Lynch was not only great, but the intensity with which she worked Becky's arm throughout the match was like something I would have loved from an 80's match. She exudes a star presence just wa…

I'm here to actually say good things! - Miz has really become awesome in his role, even if he remains damaged goods - I'll be damned if Cesaro getting in an impromptu fight while wearing street clothes doesn't make him come across as a superstar

So I'm here at Raw and I needed a place to say...that... Cena gets a crazy superstar pop live. I haven't seen WWE live in 9 years. The Stone Cold Podcast returns live! With special guest PAIGE!!!? Discuss.