They think Roman Reigns is that guy but I want to see how they portray him as a singles wrestler on his own

And then Sami Zayn will be called up and get more over than Roman Reigns and we'll go through this all over again.

My problem is they haven't really tried finding that person. They kinda/sorta tried with Punk but quickly cut him off with all the Triple H nonsense and Cena was front and center for most of Punk's run anyway.

I also think Roman Reigns' hair makes him look very 1990s. Men with long hair hasn't really been a thing in a long time but as usual, wrestling is behind the curve.

The WWE expects Cena to get boos at this point. In fact Cena actively caters to it. It's part of his brand and part of what draws people to arenas.

 

Fans shitting on the established main eventers in favor of Bryan is quickly entering that territory as well, but that is a whole different beast

Dylan is right....fans watch the TV and when they see a trend start they get behind it.

 

Orton & Sheamus both got shat on the night after Mania last year and both haven't been the same since.

 

The Randy Savage chants started that night and have been chanted numerous times since during Orton matches and then the chants for JBL & Lawler.

The WWE expects Cena to get boos at this point. In fact Cena actively caters to it. It's part of his brand and part of what draws people to arenas.

I understand all those things. It's just hard for me to fathom that they think they can't do any better.

They likely can't do any better long term for a variety of reasons, several of which are beyond the scope of this thread

I think part of it is that different demos watch WWE for entirely different reasons, and sometimes their interests compete with each other. Dave has talked a few times about the challenges of promoting wrestling in this era because the fan base has never sent so many mixed messages. I think that would be a good topic for a separate thread if someone wants to start it.

In this era of diverse revenue streams, I don't really know that there's anything fans can do to make WWE change course once they're dead-set on a certain direction. They'll push who they want and work their way backwards to come up with justifications.

Regarding ad-libbing in reaction to the crowd, I agree that there's not much that can be done if the crowd actively refuses to buy what you're selling. But Sheamus should've realized that they were going to shit all over the Wrestlemania sign point and axed it.

This is exactly the type of thing I was talking about earlier in the thread in terms of these WWE robots having no clue how to improvise to adverse situations.

 

This company is full of people who are completely lost & without a clue when things go off the rails.

I think part of it is that different demos watch WWE for entirely different reasons, and sometimes their interests compete with each other. Dave has talked a few times about the challenges of promoting wrestling in this era because the fan base has never sent so many mixed messages. I think that would be a good topic for a separate thread if someone wants to start it.

All I'm saying is you can't be surprised when they stay the course in the face of unexpected crowd reactions. We can argue those crowd reactions are qualitatively different (for Cena v. Batista, for example), but there's more than a small precedent that has been set.

They think Roman Reigns is that guy but I want to see how they portray him as a singles wrestler on his own

The thing about Reigns, is they won't search for reasons to derail that train. His live reactions can't touch Bryan, and like Bryan there is no evidence The Shield or Reigns specifically is anything more than a decent TV & PPV draw at best, but don't think for one second that push is going anywhere but all the way. He'll be the new Orton. Evidence be damned, this guy is a STAR.

Until people stop paying for this stuff and stop talking about it and stop caring, does anyone really think Vince is going to give a shit?

Only the 1st of those options Jerry. Though imagine the visual if Batista-Orton went on last and 60,000 people stood up and walked out. THAT would change things in a heartbeat.

There is no way in hell Batista/Orton goes on last I think.

 

I think Taker/Lesnar gets the pimp spot this year

My money is on Cena-Wyatt. Cena wins, Bryan comes out and leads off a YES chant for John Cena and that's what Vince was talking about for his WM moment. And that ends Bryan with the fans right then and there.

Well that was quite the opening segment of RAW

Well that was quite the opening segment of RAW

I guess HHH/Steph were supposed to be there to goad the crowd into making a similar reaction to last night but then for them to begin ragging on them not all chanting the same thing seemed really passive-aggressive and unhelpful. Nobody being able to gain any vocal victory over that pair in any exchange is beginning to get ridiculous now.

All of this was almost worth it for HHH taunting the crowd there. Almost. He clearly had a lot of fun with it and it was great comedy.

it's fairly obvious that Sheamus somehow costs his team the match (intentionally or not), and gets a EC spot as a reward.. isn't it? Orton v. Ambrose v. Rollins v. Reigns v. Sheamus v. Bryan (somehow)

 

it opens up a few WM matches as a result as well

 

Just can't imagine that we get Cena and Orton in the same ring 3 PPVs in a row

The winning team gets in the EC so that makes the result obvious plus the Shield costs each other the match

First Batista - the intended "big surprise" of the Rumble - was revealed early. I think this is being undersold significantly. By no means am I saying that the crowd would have responded precisely as the WWE wanted them to if Batista had been a surprise entrant/winner, but there is no way in hell the response would have been nearly as bad as it was.

I agree that if it was a surprise the finish would have gotten over better, but without Batista they had only one major star announced for the match (CM Punk), which goes back to the dearth of new singles headliners they've made in recent years. Also, that's booking for the pop rather than drawing money. I think the bigger mistake was having Batista's first appearance back be on Raw last week than in the Rumble itself, as once people had seen him the curiosity factor was gone.

The winning team gets in the EC so that makes the result obvious plus the Shield costs each other the match

Sure, a GoodguySuperFriends win probably means the EC is Orton v. Cena v. Sheamus v. Bryan v. Lesnar v. Bray Wyatt?

 

so I guess they could set up their WM stuff through that match too. But this eternal Shield tension could be extended either way. Plus they're due another week or two of blatantly fucking over Bryan before he goes to the match. But I can see how booking him v. 4 heels and Sheamus might be a bit excessive.

 

Also, nice that the Network will feature new content, like clips from Rise and Fall of WCW and OutOfCharacter Undertaker

Don't know if this was posted:

 

http://deadspin.com/dude-is-so-pissed-bati...mble-1510306413