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

[PrinceEatMeat]

I just read that Barrett had his surgery, and it was found that his injury was worse than originally thought, so he's out 3-4 months. Apparently, he was scheduled to win the MITB match, so they decided to just scrap it when they found out he'd miss Mania. That really sucks, because it would've been a great match, and if he was scheduled to win I'd be all for it.

[brettac1]

That's a convenient excuse for them to use, I guess. Barrett had been doing a good job prior to the battle royal from hell, though.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I don't really buy the fact that the match was scrapped just because Barrett was scheduled to win. There's gotta be someone else they plan to push that they could've had win it. It was more likely because of the JL/Long match that it was scrapped. Interesting that Barrett was supposed to win though at least.

[brettac1]

Is anyone buying the Ring Of Honor iPPV tonight?

[brettac1]

After watching Smackdown, I think it might make sense to just flip Bryan and Ziggler at the draft once Bryan loses the belt at Mania and put him on Raw and have Ziggler feud with Sheamus on Smackdown. They seem to work pretty well together, and with Cena coming back to the title picture on Raw once the Rock stuff is over, I want Ziggler to get away from it since he has no chance of getting anywhere any time soon on Raw.

[jerichoholicninja]

As much as Rock/Cena lost me a week ago it brought me back last night. It was classic Rock through the show with his vignettes and when he finally confronted Cena he was The Rock, not Dwayne Johnson.

 

I was really surprised how early the show ended. The Rock/Cena segments have been getting a 10-15 minute overrun and last night they ended at 10:02 and we got 3 minutes of Cena walking around the ring.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yeah, I liked last night's segment way better than last week's. I liked it from both Rock and Cena. The Rock concert, Cena rap next week should be good stuff too. Those Rock concerts back in '03 were good stuff. I was surprised how early it ended too. What probably happened is they just overestimated how much time to leave for it. I heard they cut Khali/Otunga, which Long announced last week would happen. That would've at least added another 5-10 minutes to the show. I don't think the ending segment needed to be longer though.

[brettac1]

I didn't care for the History Lessons, but when Rock did the serious promo, I enjoyed it.

 

Rest of the show was mostly pretty weak, and I don't really like the idea of Michaels as special ref. I also was hoping to not see any Ryder until after Mania.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I just read that there are serious talks of having the MITB match be featured at SummerSlam every year now as a way to boost the event. The MITB PPV would then be gone. I personally like the idea. WrestleMania doesn't necessarily need the match, and SS could certainly use the boost from it each year. I'd rather have the match featured at a PPV than have a separate PPV for it, with 2 different winners. Means more when there is one winner who can cash on either champion.

[brettac1]

By the looks of it now, the MITB PPV is happening this year.

 

Also, the "waste of talent" match for Mania has been confirmed - 12-Man tag to decide control of Raw and Smackdown.

[radman12484]

By the looks of it now, the MITB PPV is happening this year.

 

Also, the "waste of talent" match for Mania has been confirmed - 12-Man tag to decide control of Raw and Smackdown.

 

I couldn't agree more. The stars that kept the shows good and going during the summer and the fall are just gonna get tossed in this match. I read that Christian, Mark Henry, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga, Jack Swagger are gonna be part of Team Laurinatis. 3 of those guys held the brands titles for a bit during the summer and fall. Ziggler is the best heel in the WWE right now. This is gonna be a joke.

[brettac1]

If HHH had any sense for the business (aside from positioning himself to look good) he would be in a match with a guy like Ziggler and would put him over strong and make him. Instead, Mania will do a strong buyrate (which it would if it was main evented by you and I headlining it in a cage match because of the strength of the brand) and HHH will take some credit for it, even though he'll have zero impact on the number. It's similar to when he weaseled his way into the Punk angle last summer because he saw it was hot and figured he'd steal some heat. Basic Kliq/HHH/Nash business. Of course, as per usual when Paul gets involved, it immediately started to suck.

 

This Mania is being sold on the name, The Rock/Cena, and Taker's streak (which has barely been mentioned in this build so far, oddly). I will never understand why they wouldn't surround those matches with star-making booking for the young guys that are going to be counted on to sell tickets and PPV's and draw ratings for the rest of the year. Some of it would fall flat, because some guys won't be able to cross that threshold and become a star, but that's natural. Instead, no one becomes a star. I was feeling like Sheamus was on the verge for a while after the Rumble, but he has really tailed off due to them doing nothing with him since.

 

Someone needs to have the proverbial rocket strapped to their back and be pushed to the top. That someone is clearly Dolph Ziggler. His 30 seconds in the 12 man match is going to be great...

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yeah, that 12-man match will suck. Tons of wasted talent in that match. Especially since it likely won't be an elimination match. I would've at least liked to see some of these guys in MITB or separate matches. Oh well I guess. We all knew this would happen. In other news, the MITB PPV is now in June, and No Way Out is coming back in July. TLC will still be in December.

[JimH5]

Rock Cena. . .blah blah blah. . .

Undertaker Triple H HBK. . .slow talking. . .words about fighting. . .yawn. . .

 

Man I can't wait until these two matches are over. I can't handle three more weeks of "build up".

[PrinceEatMeat]

Wasn't a big fan of Raw tonight. The Sheamus/Ziggler match was actually pretty good though. It was kinda cool seeing Cena come out to Basic Thuganomics too. Those were the days when he was actually tolerable as a heel. Granted the gimmick got a little old, which is why they changed it, but I liked it for awhile. The Rock concert was alright, but it was kinda lame that he just kept doing a parody of one song over and over again. I enjoyed his '03 concerts a lot more. One thing I loved was the Jericho promo about Punk. Very good stuff. True heel promo. Great sell by Punk too. The rest was just pointless stuff pretty much. The Taker/HBK thing was ok I guess, just to make people thing he's colluding with HHH.

[TracyThom]

I recently went back and watched Punk's shoot promo (the one that sparked this thread) and then his follow-up appearance at Comic-con. What happened to that angle? It started off so hot. Then somehow HHH became interjected in the angle which led to Kevin Nash and mysterious texts. Yawn.

[brettac1]

I didn't like anything from this Raw aside from the Sheamus and Ziggler match.

[patrickgpe]

Vince seems so obsessed with keeping everyone healthy for Wrestlemania, and his TV shows have really suffered. I will agree wit Brett that the Sheamus and Ziggler match was good but that was about it. I didn't need to see Rock singing off a sheet of paper with the lyrics on it (coupled with last week reading notes off of his arm) or Cena bringing back a character he used 10 years ago. I understand that triple h and undertaker will not take a hit before Wrestlemania, but the promos have been rather lame and they really don't have much to say. The punk's dad was an alcoholic angle is lame. Also to have otunga and santino captaining the 12 man tag match leaves alot to be desired.

 

i know wrestlemania will be a great show, but it can't come soon enough...

[jerichoholicninja]

The Punk angle is probably based off of when he was in ROH.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Vince seems so obsessed with keeping everyone healthy for Wrestlemania, and his TV shows have really suffered. I will agree wit Brett that the Sheamus and Ziggler match was good but that was about it. I didn't need to see Rock singing off a sheet of paper with the lyrics on it (coupled with last week reading notes off of his arm) or Cena bringing back a character he used 10 years ago. I understand that triple h and undertaker will not take a hit before Wrestlemania, but the promos have been rather lame and they really don't have much to say. The punk's dad was an alcoholic angle is lame. Also to have otunga and santino captaining the 12 man tag match leaves alot to be desired.

 

i know wrestlemania will be a great show, but it can't come soon enough...

 

I totally agree with this. I'd rather have the old type of builds, that involved both guys having matches, and the other interfering. Or both are involved in tag matches against each other, kind of like Jericho and Punk were last week. I wouldn't mind seeing Rock in action before WrestleMania. HHH and Taker don't need to be, but it would be more interesting if Cena and Rock were.

[BrewCrewForever]

I recently went back and watched Punk's shoot promo (the one that sparked this thread) and then his follow-up appearance at Comic-con. What happened to that angle? It started off so hot. Then somehow HHH became interjected in the angle which led to Kevin Nash and mysterious texts. Yawn.

 

Yup. They had a hot angle that sparked a lot of interest and while Punk is still a great character and awesome wrestler that momentum they had started with him kind of died with all that HHH and Nash nonsense.

[radman12484]

WWE is dropping the ball with the Rock/Cena feud. The big problem I think is that neither is a heel. It's the same thing with HHH/Undertaker again. We have the top 2 build matches on the card and neither has a heel in the match. I know Cena is the face of the company right now, but why couldn't you have him turn for a month or so? They did it with Shawn Michaels for his feud with Hulk Hogan a few years back. It doesn't need to be a long term turn. You could of even had Hollywood Rock come back, not that it would of matter in Miami though. Considering Rock should have about 95% of the crowd behind him at Wrestlemania. I guess what I am getting at is, I miss the old days where there was a bad guy and a good guy in the main event matches.

[patrickgpe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcyEcKZ0Qcg&feature=player_embedded#!

[brettac1]

Honestly, I am happy to see the ratings are poor for Raw again this week. Maybe that will put some sense into them and force them to create some new stars. Hopefully people are getting sick of seeing the old guys again.

[jerichoholicninja]

WWE is dropping the ball with the Rock/Cena feud. The big problem I think is that neither is a heel. It's the same thing with HHH/Undertaker again. We have the top 2 build matches on the card and neither has a heel in the match. I know Cena is the face of the company right now, but why couldn't you have him turn for a month or so? They did it with Shawn Michaels for his feud with Hulk Hogan a few years back. It doesn't need to be a long term turn. You could of even had Hollywood Rock come back, not that it would of matter in Miami though. Considering Rock should have about 95% of the crowd behind him at Wrestlemania. I guess what I am getting at is, I miss the old days where there was a bad guy and a good guy in the main event matches.

 

Undertaker/HHH is not about a feud. It's about the streak. His last three Wrestlemania matches have been as a face against a face and done fine.

 

Cena/Rock is different as once against it's not really about a feud per say, but about the good (Attitude) era vs the bland (PG) era. I don't think neither of them being a true heel is a problem because both of them have been booed and cheered. The fans care about both of them and that's really all that matter.