The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[KK]

UK Ratings for the week ending 31st July 2011

IMPACT WRESTLING garnered 353,000 viewers over two airings; WWE RAW Live pulled in 156,000; 198,000 watched WWE SmackDown over 3 airings; and 53,000 watched WWE Bottom Live midday Saturday.

[Chocolate Jim]

Just seen the sting stuff with the bird cage .... words fail me

[Mafro]

Just seen the sting stuff with the bird cage .... words fail me

[Mockmaster]

Every time.

[Balloon Sod]

Just seen the sting stuff with the bird cage .... words fail me

I'm going to have that in my head every time StayDead successfully trolls

[Mafro]

Just seen the sting stuff with the bird cage .... words fail me

I'm going to have that in my head every time StayDead successfully trolls

Oh my God

Genuine lol.

[Dante]

If you don't love Kevin Steen, you don't love wrestling



one of my fav Steen promos



Steen vs PAC (English wrestler)



In case you haven't worked it out, I've spent a day watching Steen matches (especially the Steenerico feud, which was awesome)

[Poncho]

Tuned into TNA on +1 and what have they done to Miss Tessmacher's entrance?

Literally no reason to watch that show anymore.

[Zellery]

Tuned into TNA on +1 and what have they done to Miss Tessmacher's entrance?

Literally no reason to watch that show anymore.

It was still exactly the same on Impact only yesterday.

Perhaps it's just a PPV thing.

[Codename 47]

I don't watch TNA often but could someone explain to me what's going on with Sting's current gimmick? I remember seeing a Gif that Mafro posted in here involving Eric Bischoff and Sting in a office....and a random Crow flying out of a bird cage towards Eric Bischoff

[Zellery]

He basically snapped after losing the TNA World Heavyweight Title to Ken Anderson and turned into The Joker of DC Comics fame.

[Balloon Sod]

I don't watch TNA often but could someone explain to me what's going on with Sting's current gimmick?

He's unhinged. He misses the old Hulk Hogan so much that he broke his ribs and forced pills down his throat.

[Mockmaster]

Has anyone got the video of that gif Mafro posted? Checked on youtube but it seems to be the only Joker backstage vignette I can't find.

[Zellery]

He's also hell bent on returning Dixie Carter back to power, who in his eyes is the true owner/boss of TNA. And for him to do that he must have the TNA World Title.

Why? Who knows.

[Dark Ritual]

Been spending sometime on Youtube listening to old Bryan and Vinny shows. The Victory Road 2009 review is just amazing. (For those of you who watch Botchamania, this is the show with the famous MINUS FIVE STARS! soundbyte.)

[Foxhound]

I don't watch TNA often but could someone explain to me what's going on with Sting's current gimmick? I remember seeing a Gif that Mafro posted in here involving Eric Bischoff and Sting in a office....and a random Crow flying out of a bird cage towards Eric Bischoff

He just saw this new movie called The Dark Night and decided to dress up like a character from it. It's actually a really good idea. I might dress up like him for Halloween this year. I certainly wouldn't look like a prat.

[Dante]

Been spending sometime on Youtube listening to old Bryan and Vinny shows. The Victory Road 2009 review is just amazing. (For those of you who watch Botchamania, this is the show with the famous MINUS FIVE STARS! soundbyte.)

Brilliant show that one

Tempted to listen to it again

[Dark Ritual]

Been spending sometime on Youtube listening to old Bryan and Vinny shows. The Victory Road 2009 review is just amazing. (For those of you who watch Botchamania, this is the show with the famous MINUS FIVE STARS! soundbyte.)

Brilliant show that one

Tempted to listen to it again

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/user/WrestlingShark#p/u/41/Kmex6H9UVvc[/YouTube]

There you go, if you want to. And for anyone who's not heard it.

[Dark Ritual]

GIANT DUMP OF NEWS

Regarding the WWE releases from last week, all those cut will be paid by WWE up until early November and until then, will be under a non-compete clause. They will be allowed to make certain appearances but can't work with TNA at least until then.

- Provided his movie commitments don't get in the way, WWE is going with the idea that The Rock will make an appearance at next year's big three shows - the Royal Rumble and SummerSlam pay-per-views, and of course WrestleMania 28 to wrestle John Cena. Rock is also scheduled for a Survivor Series appearance this year and officials are hoping they can squeeze more appearances out of him.

- Word is that the CM Punk vs. John Cena match at Sunday's SummerSlam will be given a lot of time, more than usual. Within WWE, it's known that this pay-per-view has turned out to be basically a one match show.

- Despite previous reports, Mark Caranno has not been moved from WWE talent development to working directly under Triple H.

- The idea of Steve Austin having a role at WrestleMania 28 has been discussed a lot within WWE but those close to the situation say that the odds are against anything big happening, such as Austin wrestling a match

In an interview with TV Done Right, Edge noted that he will be making an appearance at WWE Summerslam on Sunday. He said:

“I have an appearance at Summerslam and after that it’s some serious outdoor time. Kayaking, mountain biking, stand up paddle boarding, dog hiking, and whatever else I can find before winter hits. By then maybe it will be time to look for another acting gig (laughs)

- The Baltimore Sun wrestling writer Kevin Eck has been hired by WWE for the creative team. Eck will be the person that works with Triple H on talent grooming that we have wrote about recently. Word is that Eck will start with WWE the day after Summerslam.

- Triple H is serious on introducing new talents through vignettes and promos. It’s also being said that Triple H is interested in reviving the WWE Tag Team division. Word is that they are really starting to recruit tag teams and see if some names are under contract to other promotions.

There has been talk internally about The Brisco Brothers but they are signed to Ring of Honor. There has also been a lot of talk about TNA’s Beer Money and bringing them in once they are able to get away from TNA.

Regarding the Kings of Wrestling – Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli coming, the talk is that they will indeed be brought in together as a tag team and not singles wrestlers.

Chris Masters Interview Highlights

On being surprised about his WWE release: "If somebody on the outside was watching me, they wouldn't be surprised because they hadn't used me in any real storylines or anything. They just had me dittering on Superstars. But the thing is, for the last year and a half on Superstars, it really gave me time to develop my craft and really put some time into matches and through that I just really started taking a passion in the art of professional wrestling and through time it started to really translate. I came along a lot."

On the rumors of Chris being in line to get a big push: "You know, the reports on the internet were actually a surprise to me because I hadn't really told anybody. I don't know if that came from one of the writers to the dirt sheets, but the extent of what I was told was..back around January of this year after Hunter [and Vince] had seen some of my matches, Hunter pulled me aside and was telling me, 'Hey, we've noticed you've gotten really good and we're just trying now to figure out exactly what to do with you. Maybe we need to take you off tv for a few months and give you a fresh coat of paint or a repackaging', so we kind of left it at that. He had definitely come up and given me props a couple of times.

You know, I was kind of under the impression that they were going to figure something out for me and I was also trying to think of some suggestions for myself and you know, that's probably why it was a surprise because of the fact I did feel like I had good things coming. I felt like this was going to be my year."

On his reaction to the news: "Yeah, I'm pissed. I'm not going to deny that at all. This is the thing...the first time I got released, I brought it upon myself, so I accepted it. There's a lot of things I didn't do right the first time. I was also motivated coming back to the company and for it to turn out this way is upsetting because it's not like I failed a drug test. I did things right and I was getting really good in the ring, so it is a lot more upsetting the second time around than it is the first time around."

On going to TNA: "Well, it's funny because I sat in my car about two weeks ago and really thinking to myself, 'they need babyfaces now and if they're not going to do something with me or invest in me right now, they're never gonna do it. So I was already thinking to myself, maybe I need to start reaching out and seeing what else is out there - let's just be frank. But I didn't do it. And it's funny because then you fast forward to weeks later and then this happened. Obviously, I'm taking bookings, but yeah, I've reached out to some people over at TNA and we'll just see what happens with that. There's of course the 90 day thing with WWE, but I'm not really going to rule out anything this time around".

Chris Masters also talked about the reported changes in WWE, his two strikes against him in terms of the Wellness Policy and whether he thinks that potentially hurt their plans for him, what he was doing the moment he got the dreaded phone call from Johnny Ace, the influx of talent coming into the WWE and whether that's a good or bad thing for the company, and Chris responds to his critics.

Masters also feels a number of wrestlers don't belong in WWE, and specifically names David Otunga. "You think David Otunga's ready for TV?" he asks the hosts. When asked why the Raw Superstar should have been fired before him, Masters replies, "Well, he's got two left feet. C'mon, just watch him walk around the ring for five minutes."

Masters, however, then says in defense of Otunga that the Tag Team Champion is a product of WWE's system—wrestlers being called up to television prematurely.

- There were a lot of people on the RAW brand sad to see Vladimir Kozlov released because he had a reputation for being the nicest guy

[Dante]