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

[BradWI]

It just shows how brazen Vince is when it comes to robbing the marks blind. The product is cold, the buyrates are dropping, etc. - you would think they would change the business model and drop the price. Instead, it's like "we have 150 K marks that will buy any garbage we throw out there, so screw it". This show is not worth that money.

 

Personally, I hope this show bombs and they actually feel scared enough to make some changes to the product.

 

The business has been about carnies and rubes since the beginning. Yes, it's crazy to charge $65 for a PPV but it's just as crazy to charge $30 for a $4 t-shirt. Enough people take the bait. They could cut PPV prices in half but they wouldn't get 2x the buyrate, so why bother?

 

In the end, nothing will change. They'll give the top match for next WM to some part time special attraction again tomorrow, and continue demoralizing the active roster who they expect us to invest in when they're always going to be booked and positioned as being not as good as the old guys.

[brettac1]

So begins the slide of Daniel Bryan back down the card.

[thablingster]

The pre-show tag match was better than that, and it wasn't even close. Sad, because that match was one of the few that could have actually stolen the show.

[brettac1]

Kane? WHAT?

[thablingster]

This show is weird so far.

 

Beth has to kind of feel like she's getting jobbed. She's the women's champion and they come out to Eve's music? Really?

[brettac1]

Yeah, I pretty much hate this at this point.

[brettac1]

The entrances and stuff have been great for the Taker match.

[thablingster]

Daniel Bryan had an 18 second match so Undertaker could take three minutes and 50 seconds to get to the ring. Awesome.

[brettac1]

Well, it's not like Vince cares about wrestling or anything crazy like that.

[brettac1]

Way too much Michaels in this match for my tastes.

[thablingster]

Pending the finish, this match has been better than last years. A lot more energy.

[brettac1]

It seemed about the same to me, I guess. I didn't love it. Some cool parts and some slow parts, as expected.

[thablingster]

If I'm Daniel Bryan or Sheamus I'm legit mad that my match got squashed so Brodius Clay could cut a promo.

[brettac1]

I was surprised by the finish, but I don't know if I understand the point. If they are doing a series and were going to give Rock a win, it would have made more sense to do it at a show with fewer eyeballs on it, IMO. Now you have a guy who wrestles once a year win over your top star at the biggest show of the year instead.

[brwrsfan]

To have the Rock win cleanly here makes very little sense to me. What exactly is Cena supposed to do the rest of the year now after saying about just how he absolutely had to win this match. Their biggest star now just lost to a guy that never wrestles. I don't get it.

[PrinceEatMeat]

If Cena is ever gonna turn heel the perfect time is now. He went to mock Rock with the People's Elbow, and it backfired and he lost. I know it won't happen, but it gave me a glimpse of what could be, and I like it. I hope they at least give his character some more edge going forward because of this. That's what I thought would happen all along if Rock won.

[PrinceEatMeat]

As for the rest of the show, all I can say is it was mostly confusing. Bryan gets squashed, Show wins, Kane wins, Miz actually gets the pinfall after being buried. The HHH/Taker match did the job. It was good and told a story. It really was the end of an era, and I enjoyed it. Also enjoyed the Punk/Y2J match, and I think we'll see a few more good ones from them coming up here. The Divas match sucked, and Brodus Clay coming out was pointless. I'm curious to see what happens after this now with most of those outcomes. Cody probably got the belt taken off him so he could be elevated, but why did Kane win? And are they actually going to push Miz again? We all know Johnny will reward him with a title match or something. The thing I'm most intrigued by is where they will go with Cena. Also, I have no idea what they'll do with Bryan.

[radman12484]

Wrestlemania gets a 2.5 out of a 5. Very disappointing.

 

Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus....What? 18 seconds. You give probably one of the top 3 best workers in the WWE only 18 seconds at Wrestlemania? For the World Title? In the words of Zack Ryder "Are you serious bro?" Unless you are planning on moving Daniel Bryan over to RAW to feud with CM Punk. I will never understand this.

 

Kane vs. Randy Orton...I'll be honest, I didn't care for this match to begin with and missed the finish. I had no interest in this feud or match. I know Kane won but hopefully it leads to a Orton heel turn. He's long over due for one.

 

Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes....My favorite part of this match is when it was over. Didn't like the victor, just don't like watching Big Show wrestle. Hopefully this leads to something for Cody Rhodes now, since he's been a very good heel on Smackdown.

 

Divas Match...Someone explain to me why this got more time then Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan. It was a Diva's match, no need to comment on this.

 

HHH vs. Undertaker. Kind of shocked it was so early in the show. I am glad it was. It was the one of only 2 matches I was happy with. Chair shots were great. Emotion was there with HBK as the ref. Just overall a great match. Great ending.

 

Team Laurinitas vs. Team Long...Team Laurinatis was stacked to begin with. Team Long didn't stand a chance. Just a huge waste of time other then Eve/Ryder feud finally getting started and hopefully ending quick.

 

CM Punk vs. Jericho....Just an awesome match. Great from beginning to end. Couldn't of asked for anything more.

 

Cena vs. Rock....I hate the fact that a full time worker who is on RAW everyweek had to job to a guy who hasn't wrestled at Wrestlemania in 8 years. Vince had a lot more to gain with Cena winning then Rock winning. Rock won cuz it was in Miami.

[ELCABALLO45]

Here are my thoughts. And its 2:45 in the morning and I am watching the playoff series against Arizona so I am bored so..

 

Bryan vs. Sheamus - What in the world? I can't stand how the WWE devalues the World Heavyweight Title before this happened. And so what do they do? They give it away in 18 seconds, from a guy who is a good pure wrestler. Nice work WWE. Ric Flair held that title 16 times. Makes me sick.

 

Match Ratings = 0/5

 

 

Kane vs. Orton - I am not going to lie, I had almost zero interest in this match. And as the post above me mentions that hopefully we get a heel Randy Orton. I really do like Orton, but as a babyface I really don't like him honestly. He is such a perfect heel. But the match itself was, ok I guess. Big spot at the end with the Kane choke slam off the top rope. Overall wasn't the worst thing I have seen.

 

Match Rating = 2/5

 

Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes - Again, this wasn't a "good" match by any means. But I thought Rhodes did a great job of selling for the Big Show, and I liked Big Show's emotion after winning the IC Title. Hopefully this means Rhodes goes onto bigger and better things as I think he is the best heel in the company right now.

 

Match Rating = 2.5/5

 

Divas Match - I have no idea why this got as much time as it did. After they gave Eve the stink face in the corner some of Eve's make up ended up smearing on Maria Menounos' pants and it looked like something really awkward looking. Anyways, Kelly Kelly had a decent spot with the "molly go round" off the top ropes. Not to sound conceded or anything but Diva matches don't do anything for me. It's usually the run to bathroom match. Get Kharma back and that could change however..

 

Match Rating = 1/5

 

Triple H vs. Undertaker - Wow. Just Wow. Coming into the match I was one of those few who didn't want to see this happen again, and I was proven wrong. The story telling in this match was some of the best work WWE has ever done during a match. The emotion was awesome. The crowd was into it. So many times I legit thought the match was over despite knowing that Taker was going to win. Was both the Taker and Triple H out of shape? Of course they were. Was this a pure wrestling match? Of course not. But it told a great story, had a couple huge spots and it ended with a great ending. Couldn't ask for much more.

 

Match Rating = 4.5/5

 

Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy - Really had no interest in this match either. I thought Ziggler sold some moves well however. Good to see Miz get the win.

 

Match Rating = 1.5/5

 

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho - I came into this match excited thinking it was going to steal the show with two of the best going at it. I ended up disappointed. Not that it was a bad match by any means but I don't think it was great. Decent spots, but besides that nothing blew me away. Jericho really wasn't as good as I thought he was going to be. Now he will leave after he got his WrestleMania pay day.

 

Match Rating = 3.5/5

 

John Cena vs. The Rock - No idea what the WWE is thinking here. How do you let the face of your company, who has been the face for over 5 years and have him lose to a celebrity.. I mean a part timer.. I mean The Rock. Is the Rock's ego that big that he said he wasn't going to lose to Cena? Is this part of a bigger plan? Seems strange that you would build up an event for a year just to have your top guy buried by someone is there twice a year. Vince has kissed Rock's butt enough in the past year that I am actually kind of sick of the Rock. Anyways, the match was decent. Rock was clearly out of ring shape, and Cena is Cena so he was terrible at selling anything. For hyping a match for over a year, I don't think it lived up expectations. Was it bad? Nope. Was it great? Nope. I was actually waiting for a Brock sighting the whole time and was surprised he didn't show up.

 

Match Rating = 3/5

 

 

OVERALL - Maybe I was expecting too much but I came away slightly disappointed. Was it a good show overall? I think so. 3 of the 4 Main Events were above average IMO. There were a ton of "clean" win's tonight which was good to see as well. Taker-HHH was awesome, but was it the greatest 'Mania ever like they were billing it to be? Not even close. Oh well. If you have read all of this besides the fact that you have figured out ELCABALLO45 doesn't have a life, I say thanks!

 

OVERALL RATING - 3.5

[jerichoholicninja]

I hate the Cena character. Count me in as glad he lost.

 

It doesn't make Cena look any worse or any better that he lost. Rock is a multi-time World Champion, Hall of Famer. He's not a "celebrity".

[LouisEly]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1128072-wrestlemania-28-results-how-kanes-latest-run-has-fallen-short-of-expectations#/articles/1128719-wwe-touts-wrestlemania-28s-success

 

"Grossing $8.9 million, it was also the highest grossing live event in WWE history. The event was broadcast around the world on pay-per-view in more than 105 countries and 20 languages."

 

Don't think that gives any reason to change a thing. One thing many people miss is the second sentence; it is a global economy now, and if sales in the U.S. are down it doesn't matter if sales to 5 billion other people are up.

[brettac1]

I would wait to see what the buyrate is. It doesn't matter how many countries they broadcast to. They release an international buyrate - and those have sucked, too. They lost millions of dollars in Q4 of 2011 - and those were legit numbers. Buyrates are down roughly 10% for every show - and those include international buys. Apparently people in other countries realize that they suck, too.

 

Also, they cook the numbers when they release attendance figures, etc. Look no further than the 93,000 number for Mania III, which is like 15 K+ high. They always claim to have the attendance record of every building they play. Plus, what was the average ticket price for Mania? I'd assume very high, and that they set the live gate record every Wrestlemania lately, aside from when they play the Garden.

[brettac1]

I should also add that I wouldn't be surprised at all if they did a million plus buys for Mania, but there are still 11 other months in the year that they run a PPV in and those are where they are in trouble.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yep, they really need to work on improving their other PPVs. The buy-rates have been abysmal on most of the PPVs they put out there. Not sure we'll see any improvement though.

[jerichoholicninja]

I loved that the crowd chanted Daniel Bryan during the Shamus/Del Rio segment tonight. The fans understand what crap that match was.