CM Punk; WWE Has Me Hooked Again (2012 Official Pro Wrestling Thread)

[brettac1]

Sounds like Vince Russo is done with TNA and Dave Lagana is taking over creative. Awesome. #iwantwrestling

[radman12484]

Sounds like Vince Russo is done with TNA and Dave Lagana is taking over creative. Awesome. #iwantwrestling

 

Big things are about to happen in TNA after this.

[brettac1]

I thought Impact this week was better than Raw, even with Sting tapping out the world champ for some reason.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Dumping Russo is a plus for anyone. It's not confirmed that Lagana is taking over creative, although it's speculated. The real problem in TNA is that they have a long chain of people to go through when it comes to making decisions. That was a main reason why WCW failed. Lots of people believe that WWE is and was more successful because it's always been Vince, and only Vince, who has the final say on things. Some people may not like it, but it's probably a better system than what WCW did and TNA does now.

[PrinceEatMeat]

http://www.wrestling-edge.com/tna-news-rumors/major-shakeup-tna-creative-team.html

 

This confirms Lagana was hired by TNA, but not to run Impact. So basically the only real change is that Russo is gone.

[brettac1]

He was actually hired there during the summer to do the Ring-Ka-King show. I think the details are all still sort of murky.

[brettac1]

If Ziggler jobs to Truth tonight, I am going to break some stuff.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Punk, Jericho, and Ziggler better all win. Would make no sense for any of them not to.

[brettac1]

Yeah, those should be the three main threats to win on Sunday. Ziggler is getting hosed lately, though.

[MillerParkSouth]

Ziggler CLEAN job to Truth, unbelievable. I don't know why I'm surprised that they're burying him before the PPV, but I'm really surprised that they're burying him before the PPV.

[MillerParkSouth]

Sad Zack Ryder in the wheelchair with the flowers after Cena kissed Eve was hilarious, but man this was a terrible Raw, especially for being the last one before Elimination Chamber.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Ziggler jobbing clean really, really sucks. He was one of the only legit threats in that match, and now he's not. Everyone knows Kingston, Truth, and Miz have no shot either. So basically for the audience it's a given that either Punk or Jericho will win. Not that we didn't expect that, but it would've been nice to at least make it seem like someone else had a shot to win that match. The Smackdown one is having more of that feel. Seems like really anyone besides Khali could win that. Although, I see Bryan and Orton as the only options to win that. It would be cool if Rhodes or Barrett won though to shock people.

 

Other than that I gotta say I'm liking how they are building the Taker/HHH match, even though I'd rather see a different opponent. Showing him cutting his hair made no sense at all, other than to cover up for the fact that he has short hair. Didn't make much sense to me, but oh well. I enjoyed the HHH/HBK segment.

 

The Cena/Kane/Ryder/Eve stuff is really getting old. Especially the crap with Eve kissing Cena in front of Ryder. No one cares about that part of the storyline. They should've just left it as Cena/Kane and that's it. It would've be a lot better to watch then.

[jerichoholicninja]

The Cena/Kane/Ryder/Eve stuff is really getting old. Especially the crap with Eve kissing Cena in front of Ryder. No one cares about that part of the storyline. They should've just left it as Cena/Kane and that's it. It would've be a lot better to watch then.

 

I agree it's getting old but if I was in charge the result would at least be interesting. As I see it the whole "embrace the hate" thing is not to get Kane over or even to give Cena something to do until Wrestlemania. It's setting the stage for a jumping off point when Cena loses to Rock. After Rock pins John and he sees the huge ovation Rocky gets for the win he becomes a more aggressive John Cena. Not full on heel-turn but something like Randy Orton psycho. Ryder comes back around the same time and begins a feud with John pushing him to upper card status.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yeah, I could see that happening. It would be an interesting way to go about things for sure. Not sure where they'll go with Ryder though. Will he wrestle Kane at WrestleMania? Or be involved somehow? No idea what they'll do. Time will tell I guess. Really they are just pushing this story hard to keep Cena in the spotlight going into his match with The Rock.

[brettac1]

I really hate what they are doing to Ziggler. It seems like he got hot at the wrong time and they didn't want to change the Mania plans to account for that, so they are burying him. So backwards. He was getting over organically and picking up steam consistently, without being shoved down peoples' throats. Then last night, he gets the total jobber treatment of being "currently in the ring" guy coming back from commercial. He got next to no offense in, aside from the sit-up spot, and then jobs clean. Ludicrous.

 

I liked some aspects of the HHH/Michaels segment, but I hated that it was 20 minutes long when they could have told that story in 10 (or less), and allowed for some time to have some wrestling on the show. The reason new guys don't get over is that they aren't allowed to display their talents on TV like they should be.

 

The Kane/Cena stuff was awful as usual, but it did have the laugh out loud moment of Ryder being pushed off the stage. As far as Cena/Rock, I don't see Rock winning that match, and I don't think he should. I think Ryder goes back to Superstars mode shortly, that's a dead-end character that doesn't work as an upper-card guy, and he's been booked as a dolt. Primarily they seemed to be using him to try to boost Cena prior to last night. I think a Ryder heel turn makes the most sense, because he has zero edge at all at this point and the gimmick is pretty lame.

 

The heel turn that I want to see soon is Randy Orton, with him winning the Chamber match by using heelish tactics. I think it's time to try to make Sheamus the top babyface on Smackdown, and with him winning the Rumble, this is the best chance they are going to have. Doing heel Orton vs babyface Sheamus at Mania is something that can really help elevate him. Not that I am a big time fan of Sheamus, but I want to see them actually PUSH someone and he's the logical choice. As far as Orton, everything about him is best suited as a heel. His offense, his selling, everything. And he didn't bring in 20% of WWE's money last year like Cena did, so he should be able to be turned. The Viper gimmick sucks and he should just be a badass heel.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I completely agree with your last point there. Orton is 100% better as a heel. And there probably isn't anyone better than him to help elevate Sheamus. So that's the route I'd go to. I have a weird feeling that it'll be a triple threat with him, Bryan, and Sheamus though. With Orton winning the Chamber, Sheamus challenging, and Bryan using his remtach at Mania. Orton was so much better as a heel though. I absolutely loved his character then. Sheamus seems well suited to be a top face in the company too. I'd like to see him get a full push, and a chance at it. I hope they put the title on him at Mania.

[brettac1]

I think they can elevate Sheamus even without putting the title on him if they book it even steven and then have Orton have to cheat to win at the end in order to set up a longer feud between the two of them. If they do put the belt on him, I won't complain, because I think Orton is over enough that it wouldn't hurt him, and I think it helps Sheamus far more to beat a guy that is actually over than it would if he were to beat Bryan. I think Bryan has been practically booked to not get over, and in general I think putting a world title on someone to try to get them over is backwards booking, as opposed to having the guy get over and then giving him the belt to cement his status as a star. I think Sheamus is on the cusp.

[radman12484]

WWE is starting to lose me as a viewer. I found myself flipping the channels last night which is something I don't usually do unless theres a good Monday Night Game on. Please, you put the US title on Jack Swagger, now use him on RAW. I'm not real big on Swagger, but he's a champion and should be used. Let him squash Santino and all the other "jobbers" you use on Smackdown. Build up Primo and Hunico with the Tag Titles. I know theres not much of a Tag Team divison right now, but you can't get someone over by not using them.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Not sure why they put the title on Swagger to begin with if they didn't plan to use him. Makes little sense to me. Kofi or Truth should have that title. As far as the tag titles go, they have no legit competition, so not much they can do there. Until some actual tag teams are brought in or formed the tag division will be useless.

[brettac1]

TNA deserves some credit for what they did with the Samoa Joe/Magnus tag team. They have been my favorite part of Impact every week, aside from Austin Aries. It was very random at first, but their chemistry has been excellent, and whomever is running creative made the right call to put the belts on them on Sunday night. They even do actual tag team moves, which pretty much don't happen anymore. Not to mention that eventually they can split them and hopefully have a really solid feud between the two with Joe helping to get some solid matches out of Magnus.

 

There's no reason WWE can't throw some random teams of under-utilized guys together and see what sticks. It was working well with the Air Boom thing.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I think if they team Santino with the right person, they would be a pretty popular tag team. People love Santino. Brodus Clay and Santino would be some ridiculous comedy. For some reason I still think Santino may end up teaming up with Drew McIntyre on Smackdown. Not sure why they don't just have Hunico and Camacho feud with Primo and Epico. That could be pretty good. In other news, I was just looking at the roster. How does JTG still have a job?

[brettac1]

JTG is a definite future endeavored guy after Mania.

[MillerParkSouth]

I definitely think they need to have more wrestling on the programs like someone said earlier since the best way to get people over is to put them in the ring and let them wrestle! Plus, we don't need 20 minute long HHH speeches every week. Cut it half and put a US/IC title match on every week and try to make those belts meaningful again. I really kind of want HHH to go away permanently.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I have a feeling that this WrestleMania will be it for Taker, and probably HHH for a long time too. He'll probably wrestle again sometime down the road, but I don't he'll be in the ring much again after the match at Mania.

[PrinceEatMeat]

http://www.pwmania.com/artman/possible-big-changes-for-elimination-chamber-due-to-injury

 

According to this Orton got hurt in his match with Show and might be replaced by an also injured Henry in the Chamber due to lack of better options. Lame. This would sucks badly. Especially if they booked it with Henry coming out and attacking Orton, Edge style, and just taking his spot in the Chamber match.