The WWE Thread

[SwedishHeat]

I marked out pretty hard when Trips tossed Kevin in the ring as I could tell the swerve was coming.

What would be fun is if they really went for the worked shoot with Trips saying Seth is bad for business because he keeps injuring people and they can't have him continue to risk him injuring other performers, perhaps they could even "fire" Seth, and Smackdown could pick him up, or just have Smackdown not want him either, though I have no idea where the go from there. . . send him back down to NXT??? haha

Though it's more likely they just go with fact that HHH brought KO into NXT and he's the new golden boy.

Loved Jericho's tweet "We are going to be a great champion" Everything Jericho's done in the last 6 months has been gold.

 

[epitaph04]

I am lovin it.

 

[dw316]

Drink it in, man.....

 

[karamazov80]

Owens can definitely make the belt important and not mid-carder status.

The thing is, it takes more than a very talented guy. He has to be booked right, and treated the right way by the higher ups. Think back to when Danielson won the Smackdown championship. As exciting as it was on one level, and as great as he was at pretty much everything (he is a better heel than face IMO), he was never pushed as if it meant anything. And so, the title didn't mean anything. I know WWE has been talking about trying to place Smackdown on equal footing on Raw, but they say a lot of things. The proof is in the pudding, and even if they feel this way now, the writers, Vince, Hunter, etc. could easily lose interest or change their minds a couple weeks or months down the road. Lord knows we've seen that time and again. I wish I could be more optimistic. Surely, the WWE has, and appears to be pushing on some level, more talent than they've really dealt with in ages, given all the influx of former indie/NXT guys and gals. But again, they had a very solid cruiserweight division in the early-mid 2000s, and it was all just used as filler. Ultimo Dragon was criminally underused, being one of the greatest wrestlers of a generation that included most of the great icons of the Jr. heavyweight scene like Mysterio, Liger, Guerrero, etc.

On one level, I think Zayn would be dis-served if they put made him champion any time soon. His character and personality scream for a slow burn crawl to the top, overcoming a series of adversities. Unfortunately, on the other hand, WWE doesn't do that kind of thing very well, and if they started that route, the end result would probably be him looking like Dolph Ziggler, or worse, Zack Ryder. But who knows? WWE does surprise from time to time. Seth Rollins getting the chance he's had is a great example of that.

 

[fistfulmetal]

The thing is, it takes more than a very talented guy. He has to be booked right, and treated the right way by the higher ups. Think back to when Danielson won the Smackdown championship. As exciting as it was on one level, and as great as he was at pretty much everything (he is a better heel than face IMO), he was never pushed as if it meant anything. And so, the title didn't mean anything. I know WWE has been talking about trying to place Smackdown on equal footing on Raw, but they say a lot of things. The proof is in the pudding, and even if they feel this way now, the writers, Vince, Hunter, etc. could easily lose interest or change their minds a couple weeks or months down the road. Lord knows we've seen that time and again. I wish I could be more optimistic. Surely, the WWE has, and appears to be pushing on some level, more talent than they've really dealt with in ages, given all the influx of former indie/NXT guys and gals. But again, they had a very solid cruiserweight division in the early-mid 2000s, and it was all just used as filler. Ultimo Dragon was criminally underused, being one of the greatest wrestlers of a generation that included most of the great icons of the Jr. heavyweight scene like Mysterio, Liger, Guerrero, etc.

On one level, I think Zayn would be dis-served if they put made him champion any time soon. His character and personality scream for a slow burn crawl to the top, overcoming a series of adversities. Unfortunately, on the other hand, WWE doesn't do that kind of thing very well, and if they started that route, the end result would probably be him looking like Dolph Ziggler, or worse, Zack Ryder. But who knows? WWE does surprise from time to time. Seth Rollins getting the chance he's had is a great example of that.

Yes it takes more than just a talented guy but it also starts with someoe who can make the belt mean something. Wrestling may never reach the highs of the mid 90's but versus 6 or 8 years ago it's looking pretty good for now.

 

[Grenouille]

Pro wrestling is a funny business. If you had told me in 2012 that Kevin Steen, Jon Moxley and Shinsuke Nakamura would the top 3 champions in 2016, I would have wondered what substances were being used to create such a hallucination. Strange, but I'm liking where things are going. Hopefully Seth Rollins is heading face as I think he works much better that way.

 

[epitaph04]

Who keeps saying the Universal title is a mid card belt? Although it's obviously new and has no real legacy, I'm pretty sure it's meant to be the number one belt in the WWE.

Universal
World
Intercontinental
United States

Right?!?

 

[karamazov80]

If they are placing it higher than the World championship, then that would be something. But if it's just the main Smackdown title, then I would assume it to actually be a mid-card title. Because the way they treated the Smackdown championship in the past is essentially as a mid-card belt. The Raw champion would headline main events, while the Smackdown champ got a pat on the head as a kind of runner up. Remember the match where Bryan lost his belt to Shamus? That's it in a nut shell.

For a brief moment in time, I think they made Lesnar the Smackdown champ and it was actually legit. But for most of the time, it was what an IC title really should have been (IC title and US title have both been almost totally meaningless in the last 10+ years). WCW actually succeeded somewhat at having two primary titles that were on roughly equal footing with the NWA championship and WCW championship, but even that didn't last. WWE's never been able to make two legit, primary titles work. They go through this song and dance every few years where they try to develop and prop one up, then realize it isn't working, and so they unify the titles, then forget what happened and give it another shot a few years later.

 

[SwedishHeat]

They go through this song and dance every few years where they try to develop and prop one up, then realize it isn't working, and so they unify the titles, then forget what happened and give it another shot a few years later.

Same thing that DC and Marvel have been doing for decades. It's just a reboot. If it didn't work, they wouldn't keep doing it.

 

[imthebestatwhatido]

Alberto del Rio was released. Pity he was under utilized. I feel that he is a very skilled in ring performer.

 

[epitaph04]

Solid performer yeah, but I guess his gimmick, whatever it was, never stuck, and rumor has it that HHH didn't like him all that much.

 

[karamazov80]

He never wowed me that much to be honest. He was OK in the ring, had an OK look and personality/charisma. But he had a perennial midcarder feel to him. A modern day Rick Martel, kinda (though I was a massive Rick Martel fan ). His biggest advantage was that he could play to the large Latino audience.

 

[imthebestatwhatido]

I felt he was always well used as a heel. this latest wwe run was poorly booked and he is coming off a mediocre smackedown roster as it is. Would like to see cesaro moved over to Tuesday nights

 

[Bardoon]

Alberto del Rio was released. Pity he was under utilized. I feel that he is a very skilled in ring performer.

Best move for both WWE and Del Rio. Del Rio came back in the best shape of his life (though maybe some "supplements" helped with that given his suspension) and was completely wasted in forgettable storylines. His character hadn't been the same since his first push.

He was also part of the whole "Let's screw CM Punk" debacle a few years back orchestrated by WWE Creative. In which WWE, despite Punk's overwhelming popularity, wanted to push Del Rio instead of CM Punk.

 

[epitaph04]

Well speaking of CM punk..

 

[imthebestatwhatido]

Knock da **** OUT!!!! Lolololol

 

[Jameson Rook]

We waited two years for this??

 

[imthebestatwhatido]

Did you really see it going down any other way?

 

[Jameson Rook]

Did you really see it going down any other way?

Well.. yeah! I mean, he didn't even landed a hit.

 

[wanderlai]

Punk got mauled and beat up by a wrestler....a real wrestler.