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February Wrasslin' |OT| Did somebody not get what they wanted?

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Aiii

So not worth it
Meltzer is reporting there's a good chance Kenta might be used at the NXT tapings tomorrow night.
 

Toki767

Member
Ah, thanks. I see, so Xbox One is gonna be a generic shooter-console as well? I keep feeling better about my decision to not ever get one of those things.

It gets even better. Apparently it wasn't a controlled leak and now Microsoft are doing whatever they can to find out who the guy is since he pretty much spoiled their plans for the next 3 years. Lots of people aren't happy about.

Meltzer is reporting there's a good chance Kenta might be used at the NXT tapings tomorrow night.

They're doing NXT tapings tomorrow? Didn't they already tape until the live show on February 27th? Or is that not live?
 

Aiii

So not worth it
27th is live, they've taped up to the show of the 12th of February atm, so I suppose they'll record only two weeks since they're going to do title changes on the live show for sure.
 

Toki767

Member
I was kind of hoping they'd just bring Neville to the main roster instead of giving him an NXT title run. Him and Zayn have the best chance at making a great first impression on Raw.
 
27th is live, they've taped up to the show of the 12th of February atm, so I suppose they'll record only two weeks since they're going to do title changes on the live show for sure.
What are the title matches? I turned it off during both Bo Dallas segments....
 

Hasney

Member
What are the title matches? I turned it off during both Bo Dallas segments....

Bo V Neville ladder match. Not sure on the others.
I was kind of hoping they'd just bring Neville to the main roster instead of giving him an NXT title run. Him and Zayn have the best chance at making a great first impression on Raw.

I was hoping for Zayn and Neville to come up as a tag team and feud with the Real Americans. Now there's no hope of that at all for several reasons.
 

Marvel

could never
Too bad it's apparently not gonna be HHH/Punk anymore.

pTc8mGS.gif

That's Mr H's "I'm gonna have to let D Brine go over me aren't I?" face.
 

Jamie OD

Member
I wanna say it's because they yell and grunt all the time when doing any move, but i'm not actually sure. it was weird. maybe i missed something?

either way, i welcome the #YahMovement

The crowd also did "Shah!" chants for Michael McGillicutty in the early episodes of modern NXT because he made that noise whenever he threw punches. That crowd like to pick up on noises wrestlers make (Luke Harper's"Yeah yeah yeah" too).

NXT entrance music is generally amazing. Most of it seems to be bought from standard libraries too, so whoever picks the songs is really good at it. Colin Cassady has a perfect song.

They fought tooth and nail for Bray Wyatt to keep his when he was called up to Raw. Rob Naylor did an interview on F4W about his time in NXT and said their music library contains something like 3000 songs.

Speaking of wrestling theme songs, Steve Austin's latest podcast (the clean one, not the Unleashed series) has a good interview with Jim Johnston, the man behind many of the songs we know and love.
 

XShagrath

Member
Where the hell did these "yah" chants for the Ascension in NXT come from? Why are they suddenly mega over?

Edit: What the hell is going on???
I know this is a few pages back, but I was at this show. Basically, Konnor was grunting "yah" with a few moves in a row, so the crowd picked up on it for something to do during the match. It's the same thing they did with Curtis Axel and the "Shah!" chants. There was even a guy for a few tapings that would bring a sign that said "SHAAAH!"
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Is there even important gaming-side news for people to care about?
 

Hasney

Member
Is there even important gaming-side news for people to care about?

No, but there are articles inviting pissing competitions and a reveal for a new Vita that was so bad, it may as well have started with Wade Barrett coming out to tell anyone he has some bad news.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
No, but there are articles inviting pissing competitions and a reveal for a new Vita that was so bad, it may as well have started with Wade Barrett coming out to tell anyone he has some bad news.

A bad Vita reveal? I must not be digging hard enough. Worse than people thinking the Vita TV is a good idea and going to be seen outside of Japan?

EDIT: Holy shit @ $300ish, what are...I can't...what?
 

Recall

Member
Just listening to the Stone Cold podcast where he spoke to X-Pac and holy mother fuck are those stories just chilling. Drugs destroy so much.
 
I missed it. Where the heck is it? Must be fake if its noton the front page....

It got closed, so no replies/bumps.

It was a goddamn madhouse. Some junior named ntkrnl rolled in and allegedly just went HAM on everything Microsoft has planned up to 2016.

We're talking crazy shit like Titanfall console, all the game announcements, Platinum game exclusive for One, Crackdown 3, etc

It's ridiculous. Lot of theories flying around, and apparently there's a huge Microsoft witch-hunt for CBOAT
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
How the fuck did you both miss the massive leakbomb of doom

I dunno, I guess I just don't care about it. I'm not trying to sound all high and mighty but not keeping up with Gaming-side has been really nice. It has its moments, but right now, it's out of my life (not like it used to be) and I'm a much happier dude instead of reading uneducated business Nintendo threads or resolution pissing.

I did beat Ryse and that was a really really fun game, and I didn't expect it to be any good.
 
No no, fuck that nonsense you're referring to, that stuff is boring.

This is the good stuff. Either someone wanting to commit career suicide or a Bish-verified Super Troll
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
No no, fuck that nonsense you're referring to, that stuff is boring.

This is the good stuff. Either someone wanting to commit career suicide or a Bish-verified Super Troll

Does Bish-verified even MEAN anything anymore? Ridiculous. Especially after Evilore burned his ass in public.

Video games are a lot of fun to play. It's great!
 
Does Bish-verified even MEAN anything anymore? Ridiculous. Especially after Evilore burned his ass in public.

Video games are a lot of fun to play. It's great!

In terms of legitimacy of insiders? Sure. Evilore toasting him over the Titanfall stuff is just reversing bans, tbh. Nothing nutty.

And I dunno about you but I'm pretty keen on knowing Microsoft's potential plans for 2 years
 

strobogo

Banned
But were there any leaks about WWE 2K15/2K16?



I just read through some of that and I have no idea what any of it means. I don't give a shit about any of it at all and I don't even understand why any of that is a big deal.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
In terms of legitimacy of insiders? Sure.

Yeah sure pal!

tumblr_n075ztdClT1rqu47to1_500.jpg


Once he started jumping at shadows I kinda tuned that foolish shit out. When's your trip anyhow? You should get banned like I did before the trip so you can enjoy it more.
 
But were there any leaks about WWE 2K15/2K16?



I just read through some of that and I have no idea what any of it means. I don't give a shit about any of it at all and I don't even understand why any of that is a big deal.

The WWE games will continue their long running streak of suck

It's a big deal because if it checks out, that's basically every announcement Microsoft has, first party wise. It's basically their 2014 and 2015 E3 conferences.

LOL SUNNY what the hell is that picture?! Nooooo

My trip is April 27 to May 7th, if I include the four travel days.

And I doubt I'll be on GAF much. I may want to blog about the trip though. Prepare for food photos!
 

Hasney

Member
But were there any leaks about WWE 2K15/2K16?



I just read through some of that and I have no idea what any of it means. I don't give a shit about any of it at all and I don't even understand why any of that is a big deal.

I think it's just a big deal because they're leaks. I guess it would be us going batshit insane everytime the dirtsheets update though.

Only interesting thing I got from it was something about a Platinum game, but that's a way off and had no details, so *shrug*.

Also, LOL at some guy "fearing for GAFs credibility" after "all this".
 

strobogo

Banned
The WWE games will continue their long running streak of suck

It's a big deal because if it checks out, that's basically every announcement Microsoft has, first party wise. It's basically their 2014 and 2015 E3 conferences.

LOL SUNNY what the hell is that picture?! Nooooo

My trip is April 27 to May 7th, if I include the four travel days.

And I doubt I'll be on GAF much. I may want to blog about the trip though. Prepare for food photos!

I think it's just a big deal because they're leaks. I guess it would be us going batshit insane everytime the dirtsheets update though.

Only interesting thing I got from it was something about a Platinum game, but that's a way off and had no details, so *shrug*.

Also, LOL at some guy "fearing for GAFs credibility" after "all this".


I still don't see the big deal. Announcements that were to be made got made earlier than expected doesn't seem like a super huge problem to me. Big franchises will get new games on new system doesn't seem like that big of a leak.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
I still don't see the big deal. Announcements that were to be made got made earlier than expected doesn't seem like a super huge problem to me. Big franchises will get new games on new system doesn't seem like that big of a leak.

It's not a big deal. We haven't even played the games yet to figure out if they'll suck!
 
I was kind of hoping they'd just bring Neville to the main roster instead of giving him an NXT title run. Him and Zayn have the best chance at making a great first impression on Raw.

I think Big Cass with Enzo as a valet has a much better chance of getting over than Nevil. They're both gold on the mic and over the last few weeks Cass has showcased some great charisma in the ring.
 

Ithil

Member
I was kind of hoping they'd just bring Neville to the main roster instead of giving him an NXT title run. Him and Zayn have the best chance at making a great first impression on Raw.

Neville is perfect in the ring, but I think he could do with an NXT title run with a lot of promos. He's greatly improved, but he's no natural on the mic like Sami Zayn, so more experience before coming to the main roster is a good idea.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
I didn't realize AAA games were being made with Kickstarter funding. I mean, you wouldn't actually be enjoying some indie trash, would you?

I backed it long ago! I wouldn't play indie garbage anymore. My tastes are expensive.
 

mouserat

Neo Member
soz if repost
Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/28.

The status of C.M. Punk has become a major talking point in WWE, as he told Vince McMahon about 30 minutes before the start of Raw on 1/27 in Cleveland that he was flying home, and did.

He wasn’t on the show and didn’t appear at the Smackdown tapings the next night. WWE has since pulled him off all shows, although at press time he was still being advertised for Elimination Chamber on 2/23 in Minneapolis. We’re told that he will eventually be pulled off that show as well.

It’s sketchy what happened. Over the last week, ever since Punk’s interview with Ariel Helwani before the Chicago UFC show where he openly brought up that his contract was up in July and didn’t want to say what he was going to do next, several people who know him had noted not to be surprised if he leaves. Two different people said that he was “as good as gone” in July, and one said that they didn’t expect him to even last until July.

There were frustrations with creative and with money, even though he has made great money the last several years. This was not a spur of the moment thing as much as something that had been building. The way we were told was that he couldn’t take it any longer and told McMahon that he was going home. McMahon had been tied up all day since they were rewriting the show, based on what happened the prior night at the Royal Rumble to figure out a way to keep the show under control and not have the audience hijack it again. Punk had been scheduled for an interview on the show to presumably build up a match with Kane on the PPV, which would lead to his planned WrestleMania match with HHH.

Because McMahon was so busy, Punk didn’t see him until 7:30 p.m., when he told him he was leaving. The reason the Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio match on Raw went so long is because it came during the period laid out for Punk’s interview and had to go a second segment to cover the time, so the key “money” segments would be in their correct time slots.

The working assumption internally has been for several weeks that Punk was leaving in July and not going to sign a new deal. The belief was that he is not a spender, has saved his money and doesn’t have to work. It was a weird dynamic because he’s one of the few guys on the roster that the company and Vince McMahon knew believed he didn’t need them, and financially, really doesn’t. So they can’t deal with him from the same level as all the other guys who are scared to lose their jobs and spots.

Within the company, the reason was that he came to the realization that he would never be positioned higher than he was. His goal was to main event WrestleMania, as in be in the real main event. He felt that because he didn’t fit the mold of what they think the top star in the company should look like, he would never be the guy and the centerpiece.

It’s not known at press time what caused the situation to get to where it did and what was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Another person close to the situation who was aware it was coming, just didn’t know when, said it was a classic case of being burned out, and noted the dichotomy that he’s never had a job where he’s made anywhere close to the same amount of money, nor ever been as famous, and gotten more out of wrestling than this one. But, he has been miserable at the job for some time, and he was a guy who loved working in pro wrestling when he made nothing or very little. It was noted that he never had the personal connection with Vince McMahon that most of the big stars had, and always knew he was not their kind of guy, didn’t have the look they thought a star should have, and felt he got over in spite of how he was used and not because of how he was used. The feeling was that there was a communication issue and lingering unresolved issues that dated back some time, probably most of the last year, combined with frustration regarding creative going forward and of late.

Sheamus will be replacing Punk at all the Smackdown tapings where he was largely advertised as the main star. It is a brave new world and you can never rule out the possibility it’s a work, and you won’t know for sure unless Mania comes and goes without a return. Daniel Bryan will be advertised as the main star on Smackdown going forward since John Cena is not booked often on the Tuesday tapings.

Punk was at the Wizard World Comic Con in Portland, OR, on 1/25, as he flew form Chicago to Portland, then back to Chicago for UFC that night, and then to Pittsburgh for Rumble before leaving from Cleveland. During the Q&A, he seemed very lackluster about WWE. He basically said that he used to argue the creative but now he just shows up and does what he’s told. He pushed the idea that he felt this was Daniel Bryan’s year and knocked the short-term booking and planning several times. In many ways, this was similar to when Steve Austin left in 2002, when he publicly started complaining about creative, and a week later he was gone (of course that was precipitated by them wanting him to job to Lesnar clean with no build-up on Raw as opposed to Lesnar going through everyone to set up their first match on a major PPV).

Punk did a long interview with MMAFighting.com reporter Ariel Helwani from his home, since UFC was in Chicago. He said at the time that his contract was up in July and said there’s no point in saying anything about it. He said if he doesn’t sign, he wouldn’t say so now, and if he says he is looking at not signing, and then he does, people will think he was working an angle. Plus, he said in 2011, when he started that angle where he was leaving, he was in his mind, 100%, out the door at that time.

The circumstances that ended up taking place led to him signing a three-year deal. He’s always said that he won’t be around as long as people think. Many in WWE have noted to us that Punk has not been happy with his creative.

At the same time, of the full-timers with the company, Punk, Batista, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton are the top tier. Batista is scheduled full-time but he is 45 and has had a lot of injuries in the past, although to his credit his body held up for an MMA camp, which is more intense than a wrestling schedule. The difference is the MMA camp is two months and a wrestling schedule never ends. While WWE doesn’t “need” anyone, even Cena, Punk does have significant value given the lack of depth on top and injury rate.

You can also see with Batista and others that if you do really leave for a while, your value can increase greatly by not being there if you want to rest for a few years and then come back. There’s the legends role of a few big shows a year, the Jericho role of half the year or so full-time (although as we’ve seen with Jericho and RVD, that role does limit greatly how much they’ll push you), or leave, rest up injuries and come back full-time, waiting long enough for a Batista level return.

The one thing with Punk is he is a big enough star that if he does leave for several years, his return would be a big deal. Still, very few walk away at 35. Batista and Jericho left, but they both did so for other entertainment ventures. Punk hasn’t seemed like he’s interested in that direction.

He said some days he’s hurting really bad and other days he’s not, noting he’s taken very little time off over the last ten years. He said when he took the two months off last year, that he probably should have taken more time. He wasn’t fully healed but came back because the Payback PPV was in Chicago and he worked with Chris Jericho, starting a babyface turn.

As noted many times, the reason he turned heel when he was a hot babyface, was recognizing that he could be the top heel in the company, but would always at best be the No. 2 babyface. But after the heel run, he was turned back. Still, he was always in top programs, was beating The Shield in 1 vs. 3 matches consistently and was being groomed for a match with HHH at WrestleMania, which while not the main event, was guaranteed to be pushed as one of the key things on the show.

Vince McMahon does like a challenge in the sense if a guy looks like he wants out, like Punk did the last time, he may be able to cut a better deal than the guy who the company knows isn’t going anywhere and is so glad to be there and afraid of losing their job that they’ll take anything.

It’s an interesting game because he is valuable, maybe second or third most valuable guy in the company, at a time when value of the individual means less than it ever has.

He was also asked about doing MMA. He talked about it like he’d like to do it, and noted that he knows people think he can’t do it and looks at that as a challenge. He noted that people thought he couldn’t do what he did in wrestling and he loves proving people wrong.

Bellator has already expressed at least preliminary interest in him. He would be free and clear of any WWE contractual obligations in July.

He thought some people who wanted him to fail would tune in to see him get beat up, but he gets punched in the face four times a week anyway.

I get the impression a part of him would like to do it the same way Batista did it as a bucket list thing. With Batista, it seemed on the surface to be a real bad risk, but in the end, he did it and wasn’t hurt at all. With Punk, on the surface, it would seem the same thing. A theoretical big risk.

There was a time when a giant name pro wrestler doing MMA would have been huge, as noted by Brock Lesnar’s UFC debut. But I don’t see UFC using an 0-0 guy for the same reason they never used Herschel Walker, and at least with Lesnar and Kurt Angle (who they made a strong pitch for), they had the high-level wrestling credentials to make them real. Bellator should take him, but that limits the upside and PPV money.

The key is he’s 35 and his body is beaten up from years of pro wrestling. While he does train in fighting disciplines, he doesn’t have the competition background at a high level in any fighting sport. That is very old to start out in unless you want to compete at the beginners level. It’s also hard to say if he goes against someone legit and loses, how it would affect him for a WWE return, either with the fans, or with management. And I’m not sure exactly what kind of challenge he’d be up for. Herschel Walker was up for the challenge, got a lot of publicity, but was put in with guys below his level that he was going to have no trouble beating. But he’s also one of the great athletes of modern times.

Alberto Del Rio’s previous MMA means nothing good or bad for him because most fans don’t know of it. But Punk is such a big star people would know. Batista did one fight and few saw it and it meant nothing one way or the other, but he also didn’t lose. Had he got knocked out, would it have made a difference? I’m leaning toward no from a fan standpoint because wrestling fans know the difference and if you are a star to wrestling fans, no matter your personal life shortcomings or screw-ups, in the end, you are still a star to them.

Punk also said he’s told Vince McMahon (via text) that he’d like to induct Ultimate Warrior into the Hall of Fame, although one would think his leaving may nix that, and there probably was never a chance of it to begin with.

He said he’s never met Warrior, but Warrior texts him inspirational messages before PPVs and they have a connection. He noted that Hulk Hogan, who is rumored to be the one who inducted Warrior, hates Warrior.

He tried to downplay the Michelle Beadle/A.J. Lee thing. His description of what happened with he and Beadle was exactly what we heard, well with one added thing. She was with a few of her girlfriends and walked past him and said, “Hey, fuckface” and then high-fived them. I heard everything but the high-five to her friends, which I guess would explain why he wasn’t too happy about it. She had claimed it was a greeting of endearment (the two dated at one time briefly), and later went on Twitter and made a comment about girlfriends ruining guys’ friendships with girls. His description of what happened with A.J. Lee (whose name he never mentioned, only saying “my girlfriend”) was very different, trying to low-key it and play down that anything happened.

He said the connection with HHH and Rener Gracie is that HHH and Stephanie brought Rener and Eve Torres (the former WWE star who now is involved in teaching Jiu Jitsu to women) to teach their kids Jiu Jitsu and he put over how great both of them are at teaching kids.

When asked about the network, he said as a fan in 1997 he’d have loved if such a thing existed. As a wrestler, he doesn’t know, because nobody knows how it’ll affect PPV bonuses and none of the wrestles have been told much of anything. Across the board, among the wrestlers, there is a lot of curiosity regarding WrestleMania paychecks. The one thing is, with all the new money coming in, all the wrestlers should make far more because the revenue will be way higher presumably come October when the new TV deals are in place. However, wrestlers have never been paid a cut of the TV deals in the past, and the bulk of their income is either their downside guarantee if they are hurt or not used well, or a formula based on the house show revenue, the PPV revenue, how their merchandise does and a fee from the video game. The network won’t hurt house show revenue significantly or at all. It may hurt PPV revenue a lot, and may hurt revenue on DVDs somewhat.

So that’s a situation to look at. But if PPV and DVD business goes down with the network, but the company gets as much or more revenue based on network subscribers, what cut of the network will the wrestlers be getting is a real issue. In a sense, with more revenue coming in presumably, wrestlers should be paid better. Yet at the same time, with so much of that income more guaranteed rather than generated based on individuals, when it comes to the key guys and big moneymakers, how will their value be measured?

He said he has no problem with Batista coming back in a Mania main event spot, but he did have a problem with Dwayne Johnson because he doesn’t think you should be in the business part-time and take a WrestleMania spot from someone who deserves it, but since Batista is around the long haul he has no problem. I hope he doesn’t really mean that because it would tell me he doesn’t understand the concept of a drawing card, since the three Mania shows Johnson came back for were the three biggest grossing events of all-time because of that fact. I really don’t think Batista will make anywhere close to the same difference this year that Johnson made the last three years, not that he may not help.

The subject of Bryan came up and he said that Bryan gets the biggest crowd reactions at the shows, but he doesn’t know if it’s Bryan that is popular or the most popular wrestler, or that people just like screaming “Yes, Yes, Yes.”

An interesting note is a few days later at a Q&A at a comic con he did, he said he thought this was Bryan’s year and he’d like to see Bryan in the main event at Mania instead of Batista, said Batista was his friend, he’s glad he was back. He said he had no problem with Batista in the main event because he’s back full-time. He said his belief Bryan should be in the main event was meant as no slight toward Batista.

It’s a weird deal because things are self fulfilling in many ways. The Bryan & Punk shows haven’t done the kind of business the Cena & Orton shows do, and that would indicate the “Yes” chants aren’t selling tickets like Cena, but the biggest draw in most cases is going to be the guy pushed as the biggest star.

He said he was happy for Bryan because he knew where he came from. Helwani asked about Bryan stealing the chant from Diego Sanchez but never acknowledging it (Bryan has acknowledged it in a few interviews I’ve heard) and Punk said something about how today people know while in the past people didn’t know Superstar Billy Graham stole everything from Muhammad Ali and that Ali stole from Gorgeous George.

Graham did take a lot from Ali, but tailored it for his own thing and created a lot of new stuff. Dusty Rhodes took a ton from Graham, as he was in the AWA with Dick Murdoch when Graham was in his AWA heyday, and then used the same interviews when he went to Florida as a heel after the AWA, but also tailored it and created his own stuff.
 

Hasney

Member
I am never confident with streaming.

My speed is...

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...all over the place.

3270180522.png

Ooft. I kind of wish streaming services gave you options to download like Google Music does for cases like yours. They'll probably scream about people then being able to pirate, but everything will be pirated regardless. By not offering it, they're slowing the pirates down by about 5 minutes.
 
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