The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[Mockmaster]

Nice. Cheers Skips.

[Skippy]

Yeah it sounds really good, and reinforces my excitement for when Trips eventually takes over from Vince. Even if that is years away

[Poncho]

Encouraged to hear his thoughts on RAW's three-hour length.

[Mafro]

NJPW World is free for February

twitter.com/newjapaneng/status/562353109780148226

[KK]

3 hours of RAW is only more difficult because of the limitations they (Vince) have imposed on themselves. Everything that works and doesn't work is staring them right in the face. It's not rocket science, just go watch Nitro. All the history lessons are right there. The brilliant, the good, the average, the bad, and the downright horrendous.

What they need is a more diverse roster so we can all see more interesting, varied, and longer match ups. Instead what RAW provided last night was less than 5 minutes of in-ring action in an hour and 20 minutes. By the point the first actual proper match took place almost 2 hours into the programme you've kinda had enough anyway.

Steve Austin said to Vince on the podcast 'it sometimes takes too long to set the hook'. So what do they do? Increase the opening promo to half an hour...a promo so long & meandering it needed a commercial break.

[Skippy]

It's baffling that their solution for padding out three hours is to increase the time giving to promos rather than matches.

[captain red dog]

Having said that, they must be going on something that shows that promos do better than matches? I bet a lot of casuals don't bother watching the matches very much.

It's a double edged sword though. I fast forward the matches as they are all line ups we see week on week. I maintain that NXT talent should be brought up quicker and given main show experience.

[KK]

That was (& is) always Russo's belief too, that people turn off when the bell rings...seemingly forgetting that Nitro became number 1 featuring at least 70% wrestling & rarely went "to the back!". People turn the channel when the wrestling starts now because it's treated as a joke, with the same old wrestlers having the same old matches. If nobody, and that includes the announcers, give two gooseberry fools about anything that is happening on the undercard then nobody in the crowd or at home is either. No matter how good the match is there's only so many variations you can see on Cesaro/Jack Swagger or The Miz/Usos etc.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Just doing a read up on the wwe share situation, did you know that shane McMahon currently owns more stock than Stephanie.

- Shane McMahon currently owns 1,541,224 shares of WWE stock, which is worth more than $35 million. After selling a lot in the past year, Stephanie McMahon currently owns 661,678 shares worth more than $14 million.

I remember shane selling a load of stock when he went to China but obviously Stephanie sold a lot more last year taking her well below shane.

Edit - confusing as I've just read this

However, those numbers aren't correct as Vince McMahon set up two trusts for Stephanie, one in 2004 and one in 2008. As of the weekend, Stephanie owned 2,511,071 shares of company stock, which is worth $34,050,122. As of the weekend, Shane owned 1,541,204 shares worth $20,898,726 and Vince owned 39,272,641 shares worth $532,537,010

[CuriousOyster]

I wasn't bothered about the long opening as it was an 'important' piece of the WM storyline, kinda bit longer than needed to be. Hopefully that's Reigns/Show over as well.

Really thought Orton was going to cost Rollins, wonder why hes still being kept off TV. Bizarre.

Glad Reigns has been more natural last two weeks, a lot better for it. Bryan/Reigns should be good but cant see Bryan winning. I like him but the Yes thing is so drawn out everytime hes out its getting kinda annoying.

[PES Fan]

I wasn't bothered about the long opening as it was an 'important' piece of the WM storyline, kinda bit longer than needed to be. Hopefully that's Reigns/Show over as well.

Really thought Orton was going to cost Rollins, wonder why hes still being kept off TV. Bizarre.

Glad Reigns has been more natural last two weeks, a lot better for it. Bryan/Reigns should be good but cant see Bryan winning. I like him but the Yes thing is so drawn out everytime hes out its getting kinda annoying.

I think Orton is being kept off because if he comes back now, what will they do with him at Fast Lane? The first thing he needs to do is fight Rollins, so they are better off holding that feud after Fast Lane.

[CuriousOyster]

True, good point. Always think WM matches should have at least 2 month build though but cant have Orton/Rollins end in no contest like Rusev/Cena will. Can see Rollins getting put in crap tag match at Fastlane.

Wyatts promos really sound like its building towards Taker, hope so. Was good hearing how enthusiastic Wyatt was few weeks back on Austin's podcast saying that Taker was his dream match. Well worth a listen, smart guy.

[shadow202]

I'm signed up to the WWE network through the US but I downloaded the WWE on my phone and it let me sign in, that's pretty cool for me

[KK]

twitter.com/TripleH/status/562483753121898496

There are apparently no Buddy Rogers matches on the WWE Network.

[Kanbei]

Really good Triple H interview, if you cut the 3 hour show down to 2 hours we would have a really good show most weeks. 2 excellent matches last night in Ziggler/Wyatt and Rollins/Bryan.

[KK]

WWE SmackDown Tapings

The Miz hosted MizTV with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan to kick off the show. Daniel Bryan was out first followed by Roman Reigns. Reigns laid out Miz with a Superman Punch and suggested that he and Bryan not wait until Fast Lane. Seth Rollins came out and announced a handicap match between himself, Joey Mercury, and Jamie Noble against Bryan.

Match 1: Dolph Ziggler and Ryback beat Goldust and Stardust. The match was fairly back and forth until Stardust walked out on Goldust. Apparently, Ryback and Ziggler are a team, as Ziggler had a “Lil Guy” weight belt.

Match 2: Dean Ambrose beat Curtis Axel. Axel came out and basically said the same thing he said on RAW, adding an Axel-Mania hashtag. Ambrose won with Dirty Deeds. BNB appeared on the Tron and said that Ambrose is “too crazy” to challenge him for the IC belt.

Match 3: Fandango beat Adam Rose. The Rosebuds dropped Adam, and he attacked them.

Match 4: Roman Reigns beat The Miz. Miz attacked Roman before the bell, and had the upper hand. Roman took control and won with the Spear.

Match 5: U.S. Champion Rusev beat Erick Rowan in a non-title match with the Accolade.

Match 6: Paige beat Alicia Fox via submission in a rematch from RAW. Paige won with the PTO.

Bray Wyatt delivered a promo.

Main Event: Daniel Bryan beat Seth Rollins, Joey Mercury, and Jamie Noble in a 3 on 1 handicap match via submission, but he was taken out by Kane as he was leaving. The feud continues!

Love this never ending feud between Kane and Daniel Bryan. LOVE IT.

[CuriousOyster]

Same here, hope they main event WM. Even though they ended their feud last week on SD....

Even DB sounded actual pissed off it has went on for so long on last weeks Raw.

Is Cena/Rusev a US Title match?The graphics they showed are confusing. Be cool if it was, give some sort of meaning.

[KK]

I was thinking they may as well do an Inferno match, but to make light of someone being set on fire would seem quite insensitive given the current circumstances elsewhere in the world.

Maybe a Buried Alive. ANYTHING to put an end to Kane vs. Daniel Bryan once & for all, & more specifically bury Concessions Kane.

[Skippy]

Bryan should challenge him to put his career on the line, then squash him.

Kane and Big Show desperately need to strawberry float off

[KK]

I was watching a RAW from 1995 on the Network & there he was as Jerry Lawler's evil dentist. 1995. Hard to believe 20 years later & he's still in the main event. It's even more remarkable when you consider that most of the stuff he's been involved with has been terrible. He's pretty much outlasted everyone as a constant presence in WWE.