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[Kyoufu]

The Wrestlemania match had an audible called and was cut down from what its original length was.

Miz and Cena were basically calling the match on the fly.

Bryan Alvarez was disappointed in Cena, a 10-year veteran, not being able to save that train wreck from occurring. He says in 10 years, Cena has showed no signs of improvement in in-ring ability. He says he has watched him from day one. Cena is a terrible worker, and the title match at Mania was horrible.

He also chastises the Miz for not tucking his head when he took that clothesline or whatever that caused him to bump his head on the ground.

Then Alvarez got even more upset because the next night Cena was doing his "I'm not taking this serious" schtick and said he didn't care and doesn't want to face the Miz again, even though the Miz is the champion.

Well yeah I agree that match was god awful. Cena was overselling like he had stomach cramps the whole time. Not really his fault. That match was destined to suck with The Rock's inevitable interference.

 

[DKehoe]

Just picturing these guys not being able to sleep, with the covers over their heads, night vision camera and them gritting their teeth. Some real Balir Witch level shit. Crying everytime they hear the wood creek. Not being able to take a shit in safety. Good luck.

This makes me want it even more.
EDIT: As they are cowering in fear, something starts to play

 

[Professor Beef]

Just picturing these guys not being able to sleep, with the covers over their heads, night vision camera and them gritting their teeth. Some real Balir Witch level shit. Crying everytime they hear the wood creek. Not being able to take a shit in safety. Good luck.

I'm dying here! :lol

omg, I just lost my shit at that theme song.

 

[Kyoufu]

This makes me want it even more.
EDIT: As they are cowering in fear, something starts to play

Why doesn't WWE use that?

 

[DKehoe]

Why doesn't WWE use that?

I would guess they don't want to pay lisence fees for it.

 

[Striker]

Well yeah I agree that match was god awful. Cena was overselling like he had stomach cramps the whole time. Not really his fault. That match was destined to suck with The Rock's inevitable interference.

Without The Rock's involvement, nobody cares about the Miz/Cena match. And it would've been the weakest singles match on the card, easily.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Why doesn't WWE use that?

Vince probably is pissed he has to pay for using Nas, DMX, Cash and Metallica at Mania

 

[Spiderjericho]

Well yeah I agree that match was god awful. Cena was overselling like he had stomach cramps the whole time. Not really his fault. That match was destined to suck with The Rock's inevitable interference.

Alvarez commented that Cena gave a poo poo performance on the technical main event/title match of the show.

JR, who is Awesome but is reviled by Vince McMahon for some strange reason, maybe because he harkens back to the days of Wrestling, tried to sell for Cena by saying his equilibrium was off during the match.

Let's be honest, Cena/Miz gave one of the poorest world title matches in recent memory (Kane notwithstanding).

But it wasn't all of their fault, it was the WWE in expecting two mediocre workers to be able to put on a good match given the circumstances.

It's not like they're:

HHH
HBK
Booker T
Hart
Flair
Benoit


They're more like:

Botchtista
Boreton
Goldberg

From listening to the LAW, this show and watching Mania myself, take out HHH/Taker, the Miz video and the Wrestlemania atmosphere/pageantry and you're left with a poor wrestling show.

Plus they cut Sheamus/Daniel and we got talk show Rock, a way too long King/Cole match and ridiculous skits.

Speaking of Cole/King, please kill the feud. The build up was great, but the payoff was meh. And Mania should've been it for their feud. Also, kill Cole's no selling the talent.

JR does a much better job of this. Cole over talking and burying your "entertainers", Booker saying Dawg and Mathews just sort of the creamy middle of an idiot sandwich is the worst WWE commentary has been. I've watched since WWF Superstars and Challenge in the 80s with Gorilla/Heenan and Vince/Jesse and Gordon Solei to Schiavone/JR, Vince/King, JR/King, Schiavone/Heenan/Tenay and these three idiots have no business calling a match.

 

[Kyoufu]

Yeah I agree. Definitely.

Not sure why Cena just wasn't performing though. Like I said earlier in the thread, he didn't look so good even before the event. Did you see his entrance? He half-assed it like no other.

Actually, his RAW entrance had more energy than the 'Mania one.

 

[jmdajr]

Yeah I agree. Definitely.

Not sure why Cena just wasn't performing though. Like I said earlier in the thread, he didn't look so good even before the event. Did you see his entrance? He half-assed it like no other.

Actually, his RAW entrance had more energy than the 'Mania one.

Yeah who knows. Wrestlemania 23 and 25 were both pretty damn awesome entrances in my opinion.

 

[DKehoe]

His entrance at this years wrestlemania came across as him being really self righteous. You have a gospel choir singing about how great you are?

 

[Kyoufu]

His entrance at this years wrestlemania came across as him being really self righteous. You have a gospel choir singing about how great you are?

The choir shit was lame, but what was even lamer was him walking out, doing a half assed salute then running in.

I don't think he was too happy about something.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

One of my favorite matches wasn't on any PPV - it was Dean Malenko vs Curt Hennig in a cage match on Nitro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-EqFBoVoQ&feature=channel_video_title

Fantastic wrestling.

 

[Spiderjericho]

One of my favorite matches wasn't on any PPV - it was Dean Malenko vs Curt Hennig in a cage match on Nitro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-EqFBoVoQ&feature=channel_video_title

Fantastic wrestling.

RIP Rick Rude, another great one. I didn't like him in WWE (in Mania IV and V time frame), but I really grew to like him in WCW as the world champion.

And you bring up another point with that match. There are so many great matches out there. If Stone Cold asked me the question, I wouldn't know what to answer him. The phrase I've forgotten more than you'll ever learn is apt in that situation. I've watches more than a 1,000 it's hard to remember most, unless you rewatch them or remember crazy spots like Foley in HITC 2.

 

[DKehoe]

With all this talk of all time favourite matches I was thinking we should have a tournament to decide to wrasslin' gaf all time favourite match. People can suggest matches for the brackets and we watch both matches which are paired off with each other and vote on our favourite of the two.
Could be a fun way to get to see some great matches we may have never seen before.
Anyone interested?

 

[Deleted member 47027]

RIP Rick Rude, another great one. I didn't like him in WWE (in Mania IV and V time frame), but I really grew to like him in WCW as the world champion.

And you bring up another point with that match. There are so many great matches out there. If Stone Cold asked me the question, I wouldn't know what to answer him. The phrase I've forgotten more than you'll ever learn is apt in that situation. I've watches more than a 1,000 it's hard to remember most, unless you rewatch them or remember crazy spots like Foley in HITC 2.

Yeah. I've seen a pretty big amount of wrestling and it is RARE that one of my favorite matches would be on a PPV match.

concerning the voting mentioned above me here, perhaps ppv-only matches would be the best way to go? Lots to choose from...maybe a top 10, each # weighted differently?

 

[dream]

Oh god, this Observer is huge.

There was a meeting this past week at Titan Towers where the decision was finalized by Vince McMahon, although it had been pretty much expected for some time, that World Wrestling Entertainment is no more.
The company formerly known as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., is now WWE Inc. and the initials no longer stand for anything. It’s basically a continuation of trying to eliminate the words “wrestling” and “wrestler” from the vocabulary thinking it is holding the company back.
The company sent out its annual report this week listing its name as “The New WWE,” and on the front page it says, “The launch of a WWE Network is an example of one transformative change in our sights. Further exemplifying this paradigm shift, we are changing our branding from World Wrestling Entertainment to WWE and moving beyond our wrestling heritage. We believe The New WWE will ultimately generate meaningful earnings growth and support greater returns to you, our shareholders.”
This is similar to what happened in 1991 with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken is now used again but the company dropped Kentucky Fried Chicken as its name in 1991 and didn’t go back to it again until 2006.
This process began more than a month ago and P.R. people have told reporters over the past two weeks to write WWE in their stories as opposed to World Wrestling Entertainment.
The word “wrestling” and “wrestler” had been banned from television for some time and the company has been pushed even longer that the term “wrestlers” not be used, in favor of superstars, divas and sports entertainers.
The irony that it comes this week, when the biggest money maker the company has is WrestleMania and it would be absolutely foolish to ever change that name. The one thing about Vince is all of these weird deals usually have a shelf life, and he often changes his mind back. When HHH is in charge, it’ll be different as far as so many weird phobias like the words you can’t say and terms you can’t use most likely. I’m not saying better or worse because I’ve got no clue, but the obsessive controlling stuff I just see as not continuing.
By the way, just like the switch from WWWF to WWF to WWE, this has zero effect on business either way. With KFC, it changed its name over largely a royalties issue with the state of Kentucky which was later settled.
The idea is that the word “wrestling” has a negative connotation, which is true in Hollywood and the business world. But the reason it has a negative connotation is because of the history of this company, which to Hollywood and the general public, has been what pro wrestling is since 1984, and in the key New York market, what wrestling has been since a generation before that. Wrestling did have a negative connotation in many places prior to that time, just as there were many places that wasn’t the case and some places where it had levels of popularity and public interest that the modern brand can’t even touch. And whatever connotation “WWE” will have will be the exact same as “pro wrestling” has to the public currently, and for a long time into the future.
To this day, in the real world, after more than a decade of trying to get it changed, when WWE comes to town and it gets covered, how often has anyone except people in WWE referred to it as a sports entertainment event coming as opposed to a wrestling or pro wrestling event? And when, for example, Chris Jericho does real world media from “Dancing with the Stars” on radio, do radio and TV hosts call him a “sports entertainer” or a “wrestler?” It’s been years and I think one of the reasons when they use the term “sports entertainer” on television that it feels so wrong is that it is a phrase in real life, that nobody ever says, so it feels it’s forced and fake. And isn’t that the image they are trying to change?

The crowd announced at the show of 71,617, claimed both at the show and in later press releases as the all-time “entertainment” record at the Georgia Dome. Plenty of media misinterpreted, didn’t realize the “entertainment” qualifier, and has since been reported in countless places as the all-time building record.
The listed all-time record for the building is 75,892 for the 2008 SEC championship football game between Florida and Alabama. The claim was that they beat the “entertainment” record set by a Backstreet Boys concert on February 19, 2000, of 65,658. However, reports both at the time of that show and in trade periodicals for years and to this day (since that concert is still listed as top ten of all-time in attendance for concerts headlined by a single act in U.S. history, it has been recorded for the past decade in article after article) have that concert as drawing 73,337 paying $2,787,098. Is it possible that number is worked? Sure. Reports from people who attended both events said that the WWE stage was more elaborate, and even though both events were legitimate sellouts, that the concert “clearly” had more people in the building than WrestleMania.
They could also be doing sleight of hand in the sense comparing their total attendance vs. the concert’s paid, or perhaps that 73,337 was a worked figure as it’s not like wrestling has the copyright on working attendance figures. WWE later, after many media reports came out that they were inaccurate about the record, insisted that the 65,658 figure for the concert was legit claiming the other number was for a two-day concert and not a single event concert (not true) and claiming their friends at the Georgia Dome confirmed it. However, an article in 2000 about the biggest events of the year after the concert in Amusement Business in which the arenas were the source listed 73,337 and “almost $2.8 million” for that concert, and newspaper articles before the concert noted before the show that 72,000 tickets had been sold. That’s not to say the 65,658 figure WWE claimed is wrong, as WWE exaggerated are quoted for years and decades, over and over, as well.
WWE has exaggerated its attendance at three of the previous four WrestleManias (the number in the building in Orlando was legitimate, but that was also a very heavily papered show) based on later reports that came out from the arenas. The 72,744 in Houston in 2009 later came out to be 61,611. The 72,219 listed last year in Phoenix later came out to be 61,093. Usually the real number comes out in a few months, but given the controversy regarding this number, if WWE’s figure isn’t the accurate number, my guess is this year’s real figure will be closely guarded and not come out.
This year’s number could be legitimate, and is if nothing else, was close to legitimate. WWE had 64,000 tickets available for this year, and all were sold or given away (and the number given away was small) well before production moved in. They released some tickets late, as is usually the case. Usually that figure is a nominal amount, maybe a few hundred or so. The ticket figure would not include luxury box attendance which in a stadium of that size, which could be as many as 3,000. We were told by someone with access to real figures that the show when sold out would likely draw a number “closer to 70,000 than 65,000.”
For the first time since 2007 in Detroit, WrestleMania was a legitimate sellout. Based on how tickets were moving, it may have done so even without The Rock, as sales moved as a better pace than the past three years. But his announcement did pick things up, and you could call it a sellout three weeks in advance as all tickets from normal outlets were gone on 3/11. There were scattered released seats after that date.
The all-time pro wrestling attendance record in the Georgia Dome had been 41,412 set on July 6, 1998, for a Nitro event which was headlined by Bill Goldberg’s WCW title win over Hulk Hogan, which was a hotter match as far as the crowd went than anything at Mania. It should be noted that almost all of those tickets were sold before the match was ever announced, and it was really cleverness on Hogan’s part to, after hearing from promoter Zane Bresloff that the show was going to do between 35,000 and 40,000 and that all the higher-ups at Turner were attending, he asked to wrestle Goldberg in the main event in a non-title dark match. Then, even more clever, a few days before the match they announced it would be on television and for the title, so it made for one of the more memorable matches in U.S. wrestling history and everyone associated that crowd with Hogan and Goldberg.
If we go with 68,000 as a real number, this is where it would stand with WWE all-time records (totals in building, not actual paid totals). But there were no indications of any papering past the few thousand you’d give to sponsors and VIP’s for any kind of a big event, and even employees were not able to get tickets for their friends in the last week.

The announced figure was $6.6 million. The company again claimed an “entertainment” record for the building, breaking the mark of $5.7 million for an October 6, 2009 U2 concert.
If this number holds up, it would be the second largest gate in WWE history and third largest gate in pro wrestling history. The record was $7,211,673 set at the Houston WrestleMania. The No. 2 mark of all-time was $7 million set on April 4, 1998, for a New Japan show at the Tokyo Dome headlined by Antonio Inoki vs. Don Frye. There were a couple of Pride and K-1 gates at the Tokyo Dome that were in that $7 million vicinity as well as the Pride/K-1 joint show on August 28, 2002 at Tokyo National Stadium that did $7.5 million, with Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Mirko Cro Cop as the main event.
Keep in mind that the Houston number two years ago was first announced at $6.9 million. So the actual total was well above the announced total. However, last year in Phoenix, they announced $5.8 million at first, then announced $6.7 million in their corporate report, but finally the real figure was released at $5,529,172. The corporate report figure may have, without saying so, included the Fan Axxess and Hall of Fame, or perhaps was a combination of the gate and merchandise sales (which $1.2 million for a show of that level sounds legit).

Not Extreme Rules, which takes place on 5/1 and was never promoted on the show (aside from a graphic that didn’t list the date of the show) , but next year’s WrestleMania, which will be billed as “The People’s WrestleMania,” takes place on April 1, 2012, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, headlined by The Rock, in his first match in what would be eight years–dating back to his 2004 farewell match at WrestleMania XX in Madison Square Garden, facing John Cena. The Rock went on Jay Leno the next night, largely to promote his new movie “Fast Five,” that comes out at the end of the month, but first plugged he had announced the night before that he was wrestling Cena at next year’s Mania. He’s doing a number of major media shows this week as well where he’s expected to promote both projects.
There was a lot of backstage maneuvering and second guessing in creative even before Raw went on the air, over the direction of the angle. But there was a unique dynamic in the crowd and the Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock moment and crowd reaction they were hoping to get didn’t come close to happening.
The segment began with Cena out doing an interview and calling out Rock. They teased squaring off, but then Cena asked for a match. Rock did a promo saying how the two of them were very different, but then started praising Cena, saying the two were also the same in many ways, talking about how Cena had worked hard for the fans and made sacrifices to help carry the company. The crowd did not want this. The situation is, the return of The Rock, which led to the seventh straight Raw sellout at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, is the expansion of the adult young male audience. They watch on television in big numbers, but wrestling isn’t cool and those people want to go places with friends. Well, at least right now, wrestling is cool, but mostly due to the nostalgia of the boom period with Rock, Steve Austin and others back associated with the product. Those people hate Cena. So Cena is getting booed more than just about anyone in the promotion, except gimmick characters like Michael Cole and Vickie Guerrero.
When Rock, who the people were with anyway, started singing Cena’s praises, this was not what they wanted to hear. This is an audience that in its mind doesn’t want to be told who to like, so they reject Cena as the kids champion who represents the bad days of wrestling. The night before at WrestleMania, they had a gospel singing choir in the South do his entrance music to get him cheered, and almost nobody cheered him. So Rock praising him ended up with Rock booed.
When they talked about doing a match, people were into it, although when Rock suggested it be at WrestleMania next year, well, it was not the reaction one not nearly what one would have thought. That’s not really a point that in the big picture matters. That match will draw based on the hype next spring, and not anything based on how hot it is or isn’t today. The two shook hands, and then The Corre surrounded them. They together cleaned house on the group, doing all of their signature spots, with the idea they were trying to “one-up” the other.
It was interesting to make that commitment so far in advance in a business with a high injury rate, almost like tempting fate. One would think Cena would be like Undertaker, in the sense that whether he was hurt or not, he’d get in the ring and do the match on that day. But there’s an issue with peaking an angle early, and Rock praising Cena and shaking his hand on television diffused heat. Can they get it back with good creative? Probably. But then it becomes the second go-around, although the match itself would be a first-time. Marquee-wise, it is a bigger match than has headlined most Manias. They were already pushing it like seeing Jordan in his prime against LeBron or Ali in his prime against Tyson, the battle of generations, similar to the Hogan vs. Rock match in 2002. One would expect now that it’s on the table, it’ll remain talked about, but in a secondary way until being heated up again after Royal Rumble. Pushed constantly for a year could hurt the already diminishing PPV business for the rest of the shows. But it is a better idea to do this match at WrestleMania where it’s value can be maximized as opposed to even SummerSlam, and it would be a waste of a one-time match to even consider it at one of the other shows. Dwayne Johnson has lived in Miami for years and went to college there so it’s the right setting for such a match, not that anywhere would be a wrong setting.
It was a new concept. The WWE has never announced a Mania main event or even really strongly teased it until Survivor Series usually at the earliest, and then it’s only a tease. Usually it’s not made until January. This year, the big money angles weren’t official until starting in mid-February. Rarely have they even had the main event idea finalized until the latter part of the year, and sometimes not until later than that. Mick Foley, who was part of a four-way headlining the 2000 WrestleMania, actually did a retirement match in February where he expected not to wrestle for a year or more, and then a few weeks later, when they decided on the match, was called to come back six weeks later. He at first wanted to turn it down.
Besides Cena vs. Rock, a HHH promo that started the show started a tease for a rematch between HHH and Undertaker for next year’s show. Undertaker was taken out on a stretcher. HHH said how people believe Undertaker is done, but he doesn’t believe it, and if he’s not done, he wants another shot. There was even a tease of Steve Austin vs. The Miz, although Austin had been pretty adamant over the years about not wrestling again, although always uses the “never say never” line. But he’d be 47 by the time of the show, but if “Tough Enough” is a success, there would be more interest in seeing him wrestle again with a modern audience.
Backstage at Raw before the show was said to be more disorganized than ever. The production meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. was delayed. Those scheduled for the meeting, which is the higher-ups and the producers (agents) where they go over the script, had to wait until 3:30 p.m. Then the meeting was to start, and then it ended minutes later when everyone was told Raw was being rewritten again.
Jim Ross, who was brought back to announce for about 25 minutes or so, wasn’t called until 6 p.m. that day. Ross was used to get more heat on Michael Cole, as he came out and squirted barbecue sauce all over Ross’ clothes. Ross chased him to the back, but somehow this wound up with Ross leaving and not coming back, and Cole announcing the rest of the show with Booker T and Josh Matthews since Jerry Lawler was taken out by Jack Swagger’s ankle lock.

A classic match with Undertaker vs. HHH saved what otherwise would have been a lackluster WrestleMania 27, held on 4/3 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The two, put on sixth in an eight match broadcast that went nearly four hours, stole the show with a dramatic match based on kicking out of one finisher after another until HHH tapped out to the longest gogoplata in the history of the world at 29:22. The match told a story of Undertaker taking unheard of punishment, including kicking out of three pedigrees and a tombstone piledriver, as well as a spot where HHH delivered ten chair shots to the back and one hard chair shot to the head. Undertaker did get his hands up at the last second to partially deflect the shot, but it was an all out brutal home run swing. Two days later, after many questions had been asked, given that it was clearly in violation of written company policy against folding metal chairs to the head, both wrestlers were announced by the company as being fined an undisclosed amount for the policy violation. Of course, given that the number is undisclosed and who the two guys were that were fined, that doesn’t answer the question whether the fine was significant or not. But even if it wasn’t a significant fine, you can argue this will likely be a deterrent to others who are not at the same level on the food chain, but those guys hadn’t done at least that kind of a chair shot to the head since the policy was put into writing. The finish played on the Shawn Michaels match, when Michaels at the end refused to quit and Undertaker implored him, for his own good, to stay down. This time it was HHH telling Undertaker to stay down, but like Michaels, he wouldn’t. But unlike Michaels, even beaten down and “closer” to losing the streak than ever, he pulled out the late submission.
The match was dramatic as hell and one of the best matches in WrestleMania history. Both came out of the match hurting. Undertaker was hurting badly after the match, although his doing the stretcher job at the end was all selling. HHH was described as looking like a guy getting out of a car wreck when he got backstage, where all the wrestlers were standing watching the match intently. Although when he came out on television the next day, aside from a small band-aid covering a small cut or two on the bridge of his nose, he walked fine, talked like it was a war, but he did not do the physical walking gingerly selling of a brutal match that others have done next day.
Ironically, the most serious injury of the show, a concussion, was suffered by Miz, who will likely be out of action for a couple of weeks.
Undertaker, in his first match since surgery to repair a shoulder that was described as destroyed maybe past the point of no return, did a running dive over the top and went to the right of HHH instead of on him, and while HHH was able to move a bit, Undertaker appeared to land nearly on his head (and no, HHH did not get the heat Jimmy Snuka Jr. got when Undertaker landed on his head doing the exact same dive and Snuka Jr., posing as a camera man, didn’t catch him). Out of respect for Undertaker, HHH did a different and safer version in theory of the pedigree (a different safer release on top guys), but the second of three pedigrees looked like he also took a bad landing, more on the side of his head instead of face first.

 

[dream]

Nobody could follow them. The one thing kind of ironic to me about this match, is that if two guys on a Ring of Honor show did the exact same match, sold the same way, all the same moves and got the crowd going in the same way, and HHH (and I don’t mean to single him out, because many veterans would say the same thing) was watching it, most likely he’d say they don’t know how to work and prostituting your finish over-and-over for a pop doesn’t constitute a good match, no matter how much spot junkie fans react. Well, probably not in those words, but I’ve seen veterans dismiss similar matches that the crowd went crazy for based on that mentality. And don’t think there weren’t several people on that level who made those remarks, after hearing big stars criticize their matches on the indie scene that got over huge, with the smirking, “They don’t know how to work” reaction who were saying this when it was over. But it is WrestleMania, and the rules for a WrestleMania main event differ. At the end of the day, they tore the house down. And without them doing so, this would have been a thumbs down show.
The show was a spectacle, coming off as a huge event live and most of the reaction from those attending was that it was a good show. From a production standpoint, apparently they cut way back on costs of production. If I hadn’t heard it, I think I’d have still noticed, but it made no difference. The feel of watching a show with that many people adds to the excitement. There is a give and take, as John Cena on the WrestleMania DVD noted that he thinks WrestleMania should move back to arenas even though there is more money that can be made at stadiums, and the stadium setting makes the event special, because it hurts the matches because of the sound. The thing is, if there was no noise throughout the show, you can say poorly mic’d or sound didn’t travel well, but the reality was, between Rock’s promo, the Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio match and the climax of HHH vs. Undertaker, the crowd reactions were tremendous on television. The crowd not being hot for much of the other stuff isn’t miking, and to a degree it may be sound carrying, but much of the crowd had to have been dead for a lot of the matches.
On television, the reaction was more mixed, leaning toward the negative. To me, any show with that Undertaker vs. HHH match couldn’t be a thumbs down show, even a WrestleMania where you are told so often that it is going to be the biggest show of the year that average isn’t considered good enough. Still, there was more bad than good and the ending was roundly criticized. And when Rock opened the show saying this would be the most memorable WrestleMania of all-time, a show with one great match and bad creative doesn’t quite live up to it.
Decisions on match order were constantly changing, but the final decision was made to go with The Miz vs. John Cena last, largely because the biggest draw on the show was The Rock, and the real main event was him having it out with Cena. Partially because everyone was waiting to see Rock, partially because following Undertaker vs. HHH was difficult, partially because to the live crowd it was a heel vs. heel match, the Cena vs. Miz match was flat. And even if you took all of that out, the two were off and had a bad match, although with Cena in a different setting a bad match would have gotten enough reaction to feel like a good match.
Then they did a double count out finish. Out of nowhere. The original camera shot missed the set up to the move, a running Cena clothesline over the barricade on Miz where both crashed on the floor. Miz in taking the bump, cracked his head on the floor and suffered a legitimate concussion, which is why creative was changed on Raw and nothing happened physically with him in the Steve Austin segment and also why he didn’t wrestle on the show. Then Rock came out, but the General Manager dinged. Rock read the message, and when the line said, “I think,” he came back with, “It doesn’t matter what you think,” and threw the computer on the ground. I was hoping to hear the computer selling like it had taken a bump like in that Edge angle, but no such luck. He ordered the match to restart, with no disqualifications, no count outs and no time limit. Don’t all modern matches in WWE have no time limit to begin with? They got in the ring, and Cena went for the Attitude Adjustment, with Rock standing right behind him. Miz got out and Rock gave Cena a rock bottom and Miz covered him for the pin. The restart went :35. The crowd, completely pro-Rock, took it for the most part as a conflicted babyface reaction, in the sense they didn’t like Cena, did like Rock, but weren’t happy with the creative.
In hindsight, had Rock not had his in-ring stuff with Miz and Alex Riley in Chicago on Raw, this would have been sufficient as an angle to get them where they wanted to go. But he did everything on television he did here, except the rock bottom, and he did it with Cena. But when it’s the big thing on the show, and you’re spending $54.95 to $64.95, you expect more than you got on television the week before and the day after.
There were plenty of other issues with the show. Never have championships meant less in the history of Mania. Only two of the company’s six titles were on the show, and one, the world title, was in the opening match spot. The scheduled Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan U.S, title match was first changed to a lumberjack match that would turn into a Battle Royal with everyone on the roster not scheduled. It was also moved to a dark match before the PPV started. Then both it and the Battle Royal at one point were moved to the live show. Then they were moved back off. During the show, they didn’t even bother to acknowledge the match had happened and wasn’t happening, even though it was prominently pushed during the pre-game show. It wasn’t until Raw the next night, when they did the match again, limited to under 4:00, that it was publicly mentioned they were even on the pre-show match.
It was bad because a match that had been built up for weeks on television, shot with a title change and some angles, was pulled to get in unadvertised comedy segments and very well done video packages that should have been used on television before the show, not taking the place of wrestling on a show where so many were getting a short shrift of time to perform in what is supposed to be their biggest match of the year.
Creative was constantly changing all week. One thing about this year’s show is that most of the winners appeared obvious, which led me to believe that at the end, they would change some finishes just for the sake of doing them. Not sure if that’s the reason for Edge winning, because that really didn’t make much sense, but the other surprises, the win by Miz was clearly done because it was the creative direction McMahon at the end believed was best going forward to build Cena vs. Rock; and the Lawler vs. Cole reversal was a way to keep heat on Cole by calling himself Mr. WrestleMania and talking about challenging Undertaker for his streak.
Another interesting situation regarded gambling odds being taken on matches, both in England and on offshore sites, most notably the high-profile Bodog site. Edge, Michael Cole and Miz were all heavy underdogs and won, which created a situation where people who know the outcomes can make some money with insider knowledge, although not a killing because of the low limits. Even the writers, who know all the finishes, can be wrong because of how they change finishes on whims even as late as the day of the show.
Based on the fact reality TV shows like “Dancing with the Stars” now pull big money on offshore betting, they tried WrestleMania, but the dynamics are completely different in the sense the finishes are all predetermined. The Nevada Gaming Control Board has made it illegal to take bets on pro wrestling or anything that is predetermined, but offshore betting sites don’t have any kind of regulations.
Of the big three matches, Undertaker vs. HHH was the only one that delivered. Lawler vs. Cole seemed like an easy match to book, your classic babyface vs. manager match that goes short and since it’s the biggest show of the year, you get the payoff. Instead, this, while much better psychologically, wound up similar to last year’s Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart match in that they went too long, and pretty much killed the match with the lengthy period of Lawler selling for Cole after Jack Swagger had interfered. That’s the kind of match you don’t want going more than 6:00.
The celebrity appearance of Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi of “Jersey Shore,” which got more gossip site press than Rock, meant little to the live audience as she was booed coming out. She did two spots, stemming from her days as a high school gymnast and cheerleader, a double round-off into the corner on Michelle McCool (who alertly moved up a step to save the spot as she was landing short) and a back flip into a splash for the pin. She’s right now not scheduled to do anything with them further. As celebrities put in a ring goes, she was protected from having to do anything but her spots and as far as her spots, they were exactly what you’d want, good quick TV highlight material.
As far as PPV business, it been known that Vince McMahon set a goal after last year’s show did disappointing numbers that he wanted 1 million buys worldwide. So that’s the barometer. If the show did well, the company will likely send out a release in a few weeks. If the show doesn’t reach that goal, it could be until the end of May or early June before the number is released. Right now we don’t have anything other than some early trending signs which look extremely good and a first day cable estimate of 630,000 (which would be a North American number, and would indicate a world wide number that would beat 1 million). That would compare to 497,000 last year; 582,000 in 2009, 697,000 in 2008 and 825,000 in 2007. Our feedback is up 22% from last year, and this’s with a web site problem on 4/5 that led to numbers not being as big as they would have been. But that is consistent with what the first day cable estimate indicates. Our web site feedback is usually a good predictor, but far from foolproof. If you go with the idea that minus Rock, this show does the same as last year (worse lineup and a year later as negatives; not following UFC as a positive), these numbers would indicate the Rock difference just on this show was worth about $4 million in increased PPV revenue alone for this show not counting any merchandise increase (going with the idea the show was selling out with or without him and he had no bearing on the live gate). That’s not including whatever value he was in the increase in other areas of company business. But like with UFC, any numbers this early can be way off. Our Royal Rumble feedback was up far more than that from the 2010 show and the Rumble turned out to be down worldwide and only up a little domestic from the year before. But at least the signs are good.
The company went with the marketing idea that Johnson would bring older fans back, and just based on feedback, that seems to have worked not just with older fans, but younger fans as well. Steve Austin being on the show was also part of that strategy, but I really don’t think he, as a referee, was going to mean that much, since he’s refereed at Manias in the past and on other shows that his appearance didn’t make a difference on. The idea is Snooki would reach an audience that normally wouldn’t buy the show. She exposed the idea of the show in places that wouldn’t have covered it otherwise, but I’m skeptical she made any significant difference on PPV.

The 2011 Hall of Fame ceremony, largely the Shawn Michaels show, held at a sold out Phillips Arena on 4/2, was two different shows.
The television version was heavily edited. The Michaels segment, edited down to about four minutes, had its touching moments in the sense there was an audience of thousands and he was more eyeing and playing toward his wife and two young children in the front row. It was described as a marked improvement over the past two years, where a time clock and rushing people through left people with a cold feeling.
This had its manipulative moments. Some of the early speakers used the term wrestling, and Jim Duggan a few times called the company World Wrestling Federation. A stern warning was given to the remaining people not to use the term, so you had Road Warrior Animal reading this scripted speech talking about being an entertainer that came across completely different from any discussion that you’ve ever heard from him. The company also wasn’t happy about all the booing of Drew Carey, and actually kicked a fan out for booing him to apparently try and quell things. Bryan Alvarez was near where it happened and noted how the fan was incredulous, going, “I’m being kicked out of a wrestling event for booing?” Eventually he plead his case and was let back in, on the guise that he wouldn’t boo the rest of the time. But there were signs telling people not to boo. And while there wasn’t a clock, there were less obvious signals and people were told, with the exception of Michaels, to keep things about five minutes.
When all the wrestlers came out before the show started, Ric Flair got the biggest cheers of anyone, and John Cena was booed more than anyone. The crowd also booed heavily any references to Snooki and Carey.
Ted DiBiase was up first to induct Jim Duggan. DiBiase, likely Duggan’s career best opponent, talked about Duggan’s athletic career before wrestling, talked about his famous tuxedo match with Duggan in Houston (probably the best match of Duggan’s career), and talked about how Duggan beat cancer.
Duggan, 57, came out leading chants of “USA,” with a 2x4, and noted getting his start in wrestling based on a chance meeting with Fritz Von Erich. Duggan was a starter on the Southern Methodist University football team, the same team Jack Adkisson played for a generation earlier. Duggan talked about his early career, including his first meeting with DiBiase in Georgia Championship Wrestling, and also meeting Terry Gordy of The Freebirds. He talked about wrestling as Big Jim Duggan, The Convict under a mask, Wildman Duggan before Joe Blanchard gave him the name Hacksaw Jim Duggan (after Hacksaw Reynolds, and NFL star of the time). He said the 2x4 came from Bruiser Brody, who he emulated greatly in the way he grew his hair long, had his big beard, did the big stomp in the ring. He noted that he got his gimmick of being a patriot while working for Bill Watts, and feuding with DiBiase when DiBiase hooked up with Skandor Akbar. He pointed out his daughters in the crowd and his wife. Both DiBiase and Duggan spoke well.
Next was Robert “Bob Armstrong” James, 71, which saw Brian (Road Dogg), Scott (current WWE ref) and Brad come out. Steve Armstrong was not there. They came out to the old Road Dogg music and he started doing his old Road Dogg stuff and said he was going out of character now. Brian talked about his father and mother getting engaged 50 years ago. While giving the speech, he lost his place at one point and got flustered, but he showed a lot of charisma on the mic. Bob, who was always a great babyface promo, thanked his wife, and told a story about seeing Gorgeous George wrestle in Marietta, GA when he was six years old, noting George came into town, went to a women’s beauty parlor, and people talking about that led him to sell out the arena. He said he was both a fire fighter and a wrestler and at one point had to make a choice, and said he knew tonight he had made the right choice.
Next was all the divas inducting Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, 38, who noted being the youngest person ever inducted into the Hall of Fame. The original plan was for Sunny, the Road Warriors and Michaels to be the three “main eventers” for television, but apparently the agreement for Carey coming included his being able to promote his new television show, so Sunny got bumped off. Lay Cool did all the talking and they did their gimmick, which annoyed the fans and stunk the place out. But they said it wasn’t about them, but the person who opened the door to letting them be them.
Sytch, whose gimmick in WWE history will be as “The first diva,” as I guess Elizabeth’s drug related death and Sytch living allowed her to get the honor. Sytch said that her life had been a roller coaster, talking about being a big fan growing up. She said getting in wrestling was never her goal, and noted she was just the girlfriend of Chris Candido. The crowd reacted when she mentioned Candido, although the reaction was that she didn’t say as much about him as people wanted in the crowd. She talked about Jim Cornette starting her up in Smoky Mountain Wrestling when she wanted to go to medical school, and then WWF offered her a tryout to be an announcer. She said she did poorly in her audition and figured it wasn’t going to happen, and a few weeks later they started her anyway. She praised Terry Funk, and ended trying to pitch for a spot saying she’s hoping to get one more run.
Funk was out next to induct Larry “Abdullah the Butcher” Shreeve, one of the most unique characters in wrestling history. The Butcher, who grew up in Windsor, ONT, idolized The Sheik. Few remember, but early in The Sheik’s career, he had a wrestling name and was also known as The Sheik. I forgot the name, but the first name was Abdullah. Years later, when Ernie Roth (who later became The Grand Wizard in WWWF) managed him in his heyday, Roth at the time used the name Abdullah Farouk. Butcher, who is either 70 or 74, depending upon what birthday you believe, is one of the few men in history to have wrestled in seven different decades. He also never wrestled once in his career for the company, or its predecessor that Vince McMahon’s father owend.
Funk, who was given more time to induct Abdullah than he was allowed when he went in, talked about how Abdullah was one of the toughest guys around, and how he and his brother had a love/hate relationship with him. He said they hated to wrestle him, but loved the money they made wrestling him. Funk said he’d marry him if he could because he helped make him so much money.
Abdullah came out, holding his fork, and said how he got a 3 a.m. phone call from Johnny Ace telling him they were going to induct him into the Hall of Fame. He talked about his parents having passed away and got the crowd to chant his name and thanked everyone.
Dusty Rhodes came out to talk about the Road Warriors, inducted with Paul Ellering. A lot of this referenced Hawk and his death, and said they could feel Hawk’s presence. Rhodes talked about the Midnight Express vs. Road Warriors match and how Jim Cornette blew out his knees falling from the scaffold when Ray Traylor (then known as Big Bubba Rogers, later Big Bossman) didn’t catch him. He also brought up James Laurinaitis, who was there, and called the Road Warriors the greatest tag team of all-time. On a worldwide basis, they were probably the greatest drawing tag team there was.
Ellering, 57, and Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis, 51, were inducted with Hawk. They got a big reaction. Ellering, a champion powerlifter who turned wrestler but is far more remembered in his managerial role, walked out with his rolled up newspaper gimmick, as he was supposed to be a financial mastermind reading the Wall Street Journal as his gimmick. Laurinaitis talked about starting in Georgia and all the great times he had in the sports entertainment business. Ellering put a Hawk action figure on the podium Laurinaitis spoke. Laurinaitis talked about breaking in with Barry Darsow, Rick Rood and Nikita Koloff. He showed wife Julie. Ellering talked more about Hawk and introduced his wife Dale. Ellering said he’s not an angel, but he knows an Angel, and the Angel says, and Laurinaitis closed saying, “Oh, what a rush.” They actually talked for 30 minutes which was heavily edited on television to the point it didn’t flow. At one point, Rhodes started a story, and then they jumped a few minutes so you never heard the story that, in fact, he did finish.
Next was Drew Carey, and people booed him like crazy. Kane did the promo for him, since Carey’s one spot in wrestling was at a Royal Rumble where he did a comedy spot and finally climbed over the top rope to eliminate himself rather than face Kane. Kane’s speech said how in that Royal Rumble he eliminated 11 guys, but he got no credit and the next day, all anyone talked about was Drew Carey. Of course, it was nothing like that at all.
Carey was booed out of the place. He made it worse saying he didn’t care if the people booed him because he was rich, but then started putting over wrestlers and wrestling to try and get the crowd to stop. He told jokes that the crowd didn’t want to hear and booed. At the end he got some cheers by saying how much he admired the wrestlers and how hard they worked.
HHH was next to induct Michaels, 45. HHH did comedy that was well received. He noted the place being sold out, so now Shawn can brag about selling out the Hall of Fame for the rest of his life. He joked about Michaels really being 5-10 and 185 pounds, losing his hair, bad taste in clothes and said Michaels was the best guy he was ever in the ring with. HHH put Michaels over as the greatest ever, just three years after saying the same thing at the same ceremony for Flair. He called him his best friend and talked about his family.
Michaels hugged HHH and got a long standing ovation as the star of the show. He joked about a roast breaking out for him and how he knew HHH wouldn’t say anything nice about him. He made a remark about how things are today, and how there are things you aren’t allowed to say and other things that you have to say. He talked about thanking a guy whose name he’s not allowed to say (he meant Vince McMahon, although many thought he meant Flair). He talked about starting out at 19 and said he can’t understand why he was constantly searching for validation from people that he didn’t even know. He said when he started, he only thought about getting to wrestle before 25 people at the Junction in San Antonio (where Southwest Championship Wrestling taped TV). He said if his career had ended in 1998, he would have ended his career with a lot of regrets. He said he only came back in 2002 to do one last match, and he lasted nine years. (Actually eight). He said that now he is retired and he can say he has no regrets, and started talking to his kids thanking them for letting Daddy play pro wrestler and letting Daddy finish what he started. Michaels thanked the other wrestlers for putting up with him, thanked the fans even when they bother him at 5 a.m. at the airport. They played DX music and Kevin Nash (still with dark hair) and Sean Waltman came out for a group hug. His speech got over tremendously.

.

 

[DKehoe]

concerning the voting mentioned above me here, perhaps ppv-only matches would be the best way to go? Lots to choose from...maybe a top 10, each # weighted differently?

Main criteria should be that it's easily accessible to everyone (e.g on youtube in decent quality), perfectly open to any rules people want to suggest.
Would also like to be able to have a variety of different styles and eras on there. Also maybe limit it to only one entry per match up (so we dont end up with say, tons of HBK vs Bret matches). Just throwing ideas out for now, anyone is more than welcome to contribute.

 

[Spiderjericho]

Could be a fun way to get to see some great matches we may have never seen before.
Anyone interested?

I'm down. Is this going to be like near-term future? Will it be a separate thread?

 

[dream]

A Canadian documentary, “Don’t Bleed on Me,” looks to be the impetus of potential legal action regarding Devon Nicholson, a Canadian wrestler who worked there and in Puerto Rico as Hannibal, and Abdullah the Butcher. Nicholson claimed that he was offered a WWE developmental contract in 2009, but it was rescinded when in the company’s medical exam, he tested positive for Hepatitis C. He said that in 2005, he had been tested clean, and claimed it was his bloodbaths with Abdullah during the period in between that was the issue, saying Butcher would blade himself, and then blade Nicholson with the same blade, thus the blood would co-mingle. Nicholson claimed his lawyer had contacted Abdullah, who first agreed to send a blood sample. But he has not done so and has stopped responding to any inquiries since that time. Nicholson tried to garner the publicity of Abdullah going into the WWE Hall of Fame with release of his story, asking why the current PG WWE would induct Abdullah into their Hall of Fame. Nicholson is the wrestler who last year shot on Tommy Dreamer on an independent show, in the middle of a worked match, put a legitimate choke on Dreamer and forced Dreamer to tap in a very weird situation. Interestingly, Dreamer is one of the wrestlers who appear in this video noting he was the one who suggested WWE sign him. The signing came before the incident last year. Nicholson said he’s gone through horrible treatment for Hepatitis C, but thus far it has not been successful and may be stuck with the disease. He noted that with the disease, he also can’t get licensed to fight MMA (he has done a few fights thus far). The issue is Nicholson was involved in more than a few bloodbaths as a headliner in Puerto Rico, as well as in Canada, so it’s hard to narrow down contracting of the disease to one wrestler, let alone even necessarily wrestling. There are wrestlers who have suffered from Hepatitis over the years, like Billy Graham (whose past when it comes to injectables is well known), Jimmy Valiant, Bob Orton Jr. and Sean Waltman. But for all the injectable drug usage and double juice matches that wrestling had until it went out of vogue a few years ago (and still exists in some promotions today, just not WWE), reported cases are rare. Because Nicholson was from a well off family, he’d fly name wrestlers, like Abdullah, in, and pay them very well to work with him on top on indie shows. He worked multiple times with Abdullah. Now, if Abdullah has Hepatitis C, that would really be scary. At this point, he really does need to prove he doesn’t, or if he does, allow everyone that he’s worked with over the years that knowledge for their own health and well being.

Larry Zbyszko, 59, has cut a couple of youtube videos very upset over Chris Jericho saying Zbyszko was a bad announcer in the Nitro days. Jericho’s main criticism was that when Zbyszko announced he would get himself over and instead of putting over the younger wrestlers doing high flying moves would knock the moves, which is what he was famous for in that era. Zbyszko did two taped promos, the second with Scott Hall. Hall said that when Jericho knocked him in his first book it upset him, but he didn’t take it as personal as Zbyszko. Zbyszko called Jericho every pussy and fairy name in the book, claimed he (Zbyszko) was six feet tall and Jericho was only 5-6 or 5-7 (obviously he’s a lot taller than that), etc. Then he told fans they should boycott WrestleMania (because Snooki was wrestling and you have to put your foot down). Hall, who seemed entertained by Zbyszko cutting the usual passionate Zbyszko promo (Zbyszko has always been one of the better promo guys around), cutting a grandstand wrestling promo, joked that Zbyszko should go to Los Angeles and kick his ass on “Dancing with the Stars.” All I know is everything Jericho said about Zbyszko’s Nitro announcing was the same stuff I used to think when watching him announce, and it was kind the stuff everyone was saying at the time. The heat between the two may have started when Zbyszko was putting Jericho under on commentary in the WCW days, but escalated when Jericho was calling himself “The Living Legend” as a heel in WWF, and Zbyszko filed suit claiming he was stealing the name. It was hilarious because this led to lawyers trying to find old tapes of wrestlers being referred to as “The Living Legend,” which was most famously associated with Bruno Sammartino, but there were no doubt dozens of others including Ray Stevens, Fred Blassie and Gene LeBell who were given that nickname. Zbyszko would use it as a heel to get heat because of his feud with Sammartino, and then kept using it for the rest of his career both as a wrestler and an announcer. Zbyszko was out of the mainstream, although still working indies, when Jericho came up with the name, which he used for a while and then dropped shortly after the suit was filed.

Regarding Ric Flair and WrestleMania, he has been saying since January at least that he was going. I know that the company was at least at first not happy about it and it was an issue at one point, but as far as if it is now, we haven’t heard anything about it. Tommy Dreamer was there as well but he was low key and didn’t have photos taken for the web site or sit in the crowd at the Hall of Fame, so there is a big difference. WWE made sure not to show him and his name was never mentioned. Michaels never acknowledged him in his speech, but he really didn’t acknowledge anyone (he sort of acknowledged Vince McMahon but only in saying there’s a guy whose name I can’t say). . .A lawsuit with Highspots.com suing Flair is scheduled for a 4/18 trial date. A story in pwinsider.com noted that the suit is going forward even though the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement. In fact, Highspots.com released a statement many weeks back wishing Flair well and saying all issues have been taken care of. Apparently Highspots contends Flair didn’t adhere to the stipulations in the settlement (maybe he was practicing for a WWE booking position). The suit regards money Highspots claimed they both advanced paid Flair and loaned Flair that was never paid back. Highspots claimed they lent Flair $31,000 and $35,000 on two occasions and Flair would work off the loaned money by doing live appearances. Flair did two autograph signings as well as did a joint shoot DVD with Roddy Piper. They claim that the money for those three appearances plus one more, that Flair didn’t do, would have worked off the $31,000, but that even if he does another appearance for them, he would still owe them $35,000. Flair’s legal reaction was it was Highspots that canceled the last appearance and all further appearances, making it impossible to fulfill the deal. There was also the claim that at last year’s NWA Fan Fest in Charlotte (the Greg Price convention) that Flair agreed to work seven hours for $7,500. Flair and Price had a falling out as Flair demanded more money to keep signing when the seven hours were up. Flair’s papers said he was paid $19,000 for 13 hours and felt that if he had been paid fairly for the 13 hours he would have paid back the loan. . . There is also controversy regarding one of Flair’s heavyweight title belts. Highspots has or had possession of his world title belt, and when the business relationship between the sides fell apart, they were going to sell the belt, but then Flair produced proof that he had put the belt (and tons of his memorabilia) up to Combraco, Inc., as loan collateral first. Combraco Inc. are actually wealthy friends of Flair who he put all kinds of his wrestling memorabilia to them as collateral for loans as protection for him during the period he was going through a divorce from his third wife, Tiffany Vandenmark.

The final Lockdown lineup, all cage matches, is Sting vs. Mr. Anderson vs. RVD for the title, Lethal Lockdown with Kazarian & Beer Money & Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Hardy & Bully Ray & Abyss & Ric Flair, Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle, Madison Rayne defends the Knockouts title against Mickie James’ hair, Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan, Pope vs. Samoa Joe, Ink Inc. vs. Scott Steiner & Crimson vs. Magnus & Douglas Williams vs. Orlando Jordan & Eric Young, and an X Division Cage escape match (Alex Shelley if ready, plus Amazing Red, Brian Kendrick, Chris Sabin, Max Buck, Jeremy Buck, Jay Lethal and Robbie E and at this point one more guy as it’s supposed to be nine men right now). They will also be doing a 30 minute live free pre-show on the PPV channel with Devon vs. Anarquia.

Suicide is still being played by Daniels, even though he’s also wrestling as Daniels. That’s why some matches at the last taping was done out of order of how they will air, because they wanted to give Daniels time to rest between his two matches.

In the not exactly worded how she wanted it to come out department. Dixie Carter’s facebook page had this entry over the weekend: “TNA is canceled in Australia on Fox8. I’m deeply sorry that every other country still has it on TV.” I’m guessing that was later deleted.

Besides Ric Flair, among the former wrestlers at the Hall of Fame included Lex Luger (walking without a cane but moving slowly), Diamond Dallas Page, Nikita Koloff (there because he and Road Warrior Animal have been close friends dating back to being college football teammates before pro wrestling; Koloff & Animal were actually closer friends that Hawk & Animal were), Paul Bearer, Jimmy Hart (hired back to do Mania promotions), Roddy Piper, JBL, Harley Race, Bob Orton Jr., Larry Hennig, Mae Young, Joyce Grable (who was used to be by Young’s side and make sure she was okay), Wendi Richter (an interesting note is Richter and Young signed autographs together and were saying it was the first time they had ever met), Dos Caras Sr. (who likely went unnoticed since he’s never been photographed anywhere without his mask), Ron Simmons and Lita. Billy Gunn was also there, probably because he and Brian James (Road Dogg) are close. But he wasn’t invited to do the DX curtain call.

.

 

[antonz]

The choir shit was lame, but what was even lamer was him walking out, doing a half assed salute then running in.

I don't think he was too happy about something.

Probably not happy that the Rock cost him the title in reality. Plan was for the Miz to drop the title. Rock comes along gets alot of shit rolling and Cena gets neutered so the rock can cut promos.

 

[dream]

There was no major news coming out of the WrestleMania party. Nobody did anything stupid to get themselves in trouble. The only things we were told was that it was the first time none of the celebrities on the show came to the party, including Snooki and Dwayne Johnson. None of the McMahon family members came either. Kevin Nash (who is actually with the company) was there with Sean Waltman (who isn’t). Lita was at the party, as was Awesome Kong. However, Matt Hardy and Reba Sky were turned away according to one person at the party. They didn’t acknowledge it although Sky mentioned that over the weekend in Georgia that she and Hardy had trouble with police and hotel security and couldn’t wait to get back to North Carolina.

In an ESPN interview, this was Steve Austin’s latest response when asked about returning, when asked if he ever thinks about having one more match: “I’ll tell you what, sometimes you do, but it’s just like an itch that you scratch and it goes away. We had that ring at Tough Enough and it’s the same WWE ring they use every week, and I got the chance to bounce around and take some bumps from one of the kids (Luke Robinson) in the contest, and gave him a few bumps. Could I still do it? Damn right I could. It may not be quite as good as I used to be, but I got it out of my system. I hope people enjoy Tough Enough because I had so much fun doing it, but that’s about as close as I want to be to a business that I love.”

Snooki was telling people when doing press that if WWE offered her a full-time job, she’d take it. Guaranteed she wouldn’t take what a beginning WWE performer gets right now, given how much she’s going to pull down for Jersey Shore next season and her $30,000 per public appearance right now (well, she has taken some for as little as $15,000, but she just gave a speech at Rutgers for $32,000). With making those figures, it wouldn’t take many appearances to put her in the same earnings class as most of the WWE Divas these days. Within WWE, they were impressed with her at Mania and they know she’s not going to do anything as long as she’s got her TV show (and there is talk of a spinoff for her when “Jersey Shore” ends), but if she was to be serious about wanting to do wrestling like she claimed, the talk was they would give her the opportunity. It won’t happen any time soon. She had one of those pathetic TMZ airport ambush deals where she said she wasn’t going to be doing anything now because she’s doing the TV show, turned into this headline like she’s never doing wrestling again.

Edge did a pre-Mania interview on national TV in Canada and the UFC subject came up. He said that people don’t want to publicly say it, but that it’s obvious that WWE can’t compete and get the college age kids to think wrestling is cool with UFC around, and that’s why he supports the idea of aiming stronger at kids. Personally, I think it changes the game, but there is no reason if wrestling is presenting a good product and the stars connect, they won’t connect big with every age group. I know the same people who didn’t care at all about pro wrestling last year and were really into UFC, are into pro wrestling this year. Also, and I don’t even think the WWE wrestlers know this, but the number of kids that watch Raw today is less than half the number of kids who watched it during the Attitude era. The idea of a tame “family-friendly” product does help them with getting sponsors. The idea it actually gets more kids watching is as big a work to the public as their claims that more women watch the current product (the percentage of men/women has been consistent 65-70% for the past 30 years; right now it’s on the high end because the last six weeks with the Rock return has ballooned the Males 12-49 while not doing the same with women, thus changing the percentage overall).

Rima Fakih is now dating Ricky Romero. No, not the guy who taught Terry Funk how to wrestle in the 60s, but the pitcher with the Toronto Blue Jays. I was told the first few episodes of the show are built around her but as the season goes on, I’m told it becomes clear who the stars are and they are not her.

The reason they keep using bad actresses for the role of Orton’s wife is because he wants to keep his family out of the public eye. He said that if they want to have a wife for him on TV, they’ll have to get someone to play the role because his wife isn’t doing it. It’s interesting they portray Orton as married because the old wrestling tradition is the good looking babyfaces are supposed to be single, with the idea it attracts more women customers that way. What’s even funnier is just a couple of weeks after that angle, on the Hall of Fame show, Orton was there with his wife shown in shot after shot. Cena, on the other hand, is never portrayed as married. In the 80s, one of Vince’s deals was that all babyfaces were supposed to be single. That led to a really uncomfortable interview I remember when Ricky Steamboat, who was married to Bonnie at the time, this would probably be in 1986 or so, was asked if he was married. At that moment I felt so sorry for that poor guy, knowing he’s fucked no matter what. Nervously, he said, “I’m single.”

That's it.

Sorry for flooding this thread. And fuck Daniel Bryan.

 

[Rafa=FedKilla]

Meltzer just writes a bunch of junking in hoping that one of his sentences says anything of value.

 

[DKehoe]

I'm down. Is this going to be like near-term future? Will it be a separate thread?

Was figuring it would remain part of the normal thread. Would be put together fairly soon I would guess. Just need to decide how many entrants there will be and how long people can have to vote on each match up before we move onto the next.

 

[Azuran]

Probably not happy that the Rock cost him the title in reality. Plan was for the Miz to drop the title. Rock comes along gets alot of shit rolling and Cena gets neutered so the rock can cut promos.

Only good thing that came out out of this horrible feud. Hopefully he holds it all the way to Summerslam.

 

[Mr. Sam]

I sincerely doubt that Cena was pissed that he wasn't getting the strap. I'm also struggling to see what was so unusual about his entrance.

 

[DKehoe]

I sincerely doubt that Cena was pissed that he wasn't getting the strap. I'm also struggling to see what was so unusual about his entrance.

The problem was that the character John Cena didn't care he lost the main event at Wrestlemania and was screwed out of winning the title, not that John Cena the actual guy was pissed backstage about doing the job. It's why nothing gets over anymore, no one is really that bothered if they win or lose so why should the fans care?

 

[Mr. Sam]

The problem was that the character John Cena didn't care he lost the main event at Wrestlemania and was screwed out of winning the title, not that John Cena the actual guy was pissed backstage about doing the job. It's why nothing gets over anymore, no one is really that bothered if they win or lose so why should the fans care?

Oh, I see! Sorry, I got my wires crossed.

 

[jmdajr]

I knew some guy that would give me the actual dirt sheets and I would never read them.
Just takes the whole fun out of it.

 

[DKehoe]

I've been subscribing to the Observer site for a while now and only just started reading the actual newsletter after realising I can read it on my phone. The main reason I use the site is for the audio shows.

 

[tekumseh]

Finally got around to watching Tough Enough from the DVR.

I really enjoyed it. I think I liked it more than RAW.

If Stone Cold was in my face asking what match was my all time favorite I think I would freeze up. I've been watching wrestling for 30+ years and I've seen just about every great match of all time. I wouldn't even be able to give him an answer. It would be like trying to get me to tell him which one of my children I liked the best.

edit: After thinking about it, I'd have to say Brett vs. Shawn IronMan at WM 12. Randy Orton matches bore me within 5 minutes. That match kept me entertained for an hour and I wasn't even a big Shawn or Brett fan at the time. Or I might go with Clash of the Champions 1 - Ric Flair vs. Sting. This match made Sting a star and it was all because of Ric Flair's generosity in the performance.

Any list of the best matches of all time that doesn't include Steamboat/Savage from WMIII is getting marked down...a lot!

 

[Deleted member 47027]

I sincerely doubt that Cena was pissed that he wasn't getting the strap. I'm also struggling to see what was so unusual about his entrance.

He seemed lethargic and not his usual self. It really did appear to be half-assed.

 

[Linkified]

He has the intensity. Watch some of his Ring of Honor stuff and you'll see it.

As far as Raw goes, it's a lot easier to think it's a better show when you can skim it on a DVR or through YouTube. Having to actually sit through two hours of it, including commercials, is painful here lately.

I'm honestly going to say this and it may get me flack but I dislike ROH, Chikara, Dragon Gate, PWG, etc. Tried to just doesn't gravitate with me. :/

Yeah its very rare now that I get a Tuesday off so I can't afford staying up until 4.20am on a Tuesday to get like 2 hours sleep. lol

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Any list of the best matches of all time that doesn't include Steamboat/Savage from WMIII is getting marked down...a lot!

Sorry man, ain't my top ten. Diff'rent strokes though.

 

[Professor Beef]

Best match that involves duct tape: Brotista vs. John Cena (Extreme Rules 2010)

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

Think I'm gonna kill myself if I see another 619.

Mistico used it in Mexico. When Rey is gone I can see him using it in WWE.

 

[(._.)]

Kurt Angle is now claiming that his Twitter wasn't hacked, but instead he just found out a family member got on his computer after he had gone to sleep.

kurt doesn't know what the fuck is going on

 

[Mr. Enigma]

Actually, Meltzer is wrong. I met Jericho once at a Fozzy concert in December 2004 and got a picture with him. I'm 5'10'' and he was definitely a good two or three inches shorter than me. My whole group remarked about how short he was in person.

 

[Shin Dynamo X]

Both hip hop and wrestling peaked in the 90s. Both have died off and went soft as a result.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Kurt Angle is now claiming that his Twitter wasn't hacked, but instead he just found out a family member got on his computer after he had gone to sleep.

So random word capitalization, excessive hyphenation, and strange punctuation are genetic.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

There's a report coming out that Matt Hardy & Reby Sky got into a confrontation with the Tough Enough contestants at 3am in the Marriott Marquis hotel in Atlanta on Saturday night. The incident occurred in front of fans and everyone said it was initiated by Hardy. Hardy & Sky tried to get into the WrestleMania after-party, likely to start a scene with Amy Dumas who was there. Security did not allow either of them in.

I know probably shouldn't say this stuff publicly, but I can't help it. I was really hoping Hardy would be backstage in the dressing room at the Saturday Dragongate show just so I could experience what a hopeless douche he is in person. He wasn't there though. I heard he was at the Sunday show.

 

[jobber]

There's a report coming out that Matt Hardy & Reby Sky got into a confrontation with the Tough Enough contestants at 3am in the Marriott Marquis hotel in Atlanta on Saturday night. The incident occurred in front of fans and everyone said it was initiated by Hardy. Hardy & Sky tried to get into the WrestleMania after-party, likely to start a scene with Amy Dumas who was there. Security did not allow either of them in.

I know probably shouldn't say this stuff publicly, but I can't help it. I was really hoping Hardy would be backstage in the dressing room at the Saturday Dragongate show just so I could experience what a hopeless douche he is in person. He wasn't there though. I heard he was at the Sunday show.

Wrestlemania was taped?????? fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

 

[JdFoX187]

Wow Observer is huge. Got some reading material tomorrow.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

Reby Sky said today that her and Matt Hardy got banned for life from the Marriott Marquis hotel in Atlanta, GA. Someone in WWE said that if someone low on the totem pole in WWE acted how they did, they would have been immediately released.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

There is some nuclear heat backstage on John Morrison (and Melina by association) regarding Morrison's treatment of Trish Stratus both in the ring and backstage at WM27.

There are those who felt Morrison resented Stratus' placement in the tag team match at WM27, feeling it should have been Melina's spot. Reports are saying that Morrison repeatedly shot down every idea Stratus had for the match and was overall an extreme pain to work with.

Morrison continued this lack of cohesiveness in the ring during the actual match with his awkward body language toward Stratus. After the match Snooki hugged Morrison. Stratus went in to hug Morrison, but Morrison turned his back to her. He also used Snooki to keep himself away from direct contact with Stratus.

Stratus was said to be extremely put off by Morrison's attitude and told officials that his attitude towards her geniunely hurt her feelings. Stratus is extremely well-regarded by WWE officials and wrestlers that were there during Stratus' run, so needless to say, Morrison is not a locker room favorite at the moment. Many feel this incident is going to put Morrison in the doghouse, much like MVP's treatment when he irritated a drug testing agent a few years ago. There were also a few people who wouldn't be surprised if this was the final straw for Melina, since there are expected to be a few roster cuts coming up shortly.

Some theorized that in addition to Morrison feeling it should have been Melina's spot, Morrison may have felt pressured by Melina to snub Stratus, as to not upset Melina by making her think there was some kind of enjoyment involved.

This came up due to the public details of Morrison and Melina's relationship. Morrison is generally regarded as a nice guy backstage, but no one really has any respect for him due to constantly allowing Melina to engage in sexual relationships with other men while they still maintain a relationship. He particularly lost a lot of respect for never confronting Batista when he admitted in his 2007 book Batista Unleashed that the rumors of him having a sexual relationship with Melina were true.

He's a fuckface if this is true.

 

[DMczaf]

You fuck with Trish, you fuck with me.

 

[antonz]

I could see Melina getting cut. She was pissy on Twitter the other day over Tough Enough and how stone cold dissed the divas

 

[Nelo Ice]

He's a fuckface if this is true.

if true morrison truly is a complete idiot

 

[dream]

I think it's kind of funny how soft Morrison is in everything he does. Dude looks, talks, acts, and fights like a bitch.