The Wrestling Thread

[retrosportsgamer]

^ A great example of Cena's stupidity is his logic around giving the match to Ryback. Weeks of promos about why Punk should challenge him are out the window because he wasn't cleared until this week? What does that have to do with Sunday? He's the guy in the feud who couldn't beat the champ and he's defering to another guy and then cheerleading for him? Utter stupidity.

[Luke]

Right now, the guy who is getting biggest push in the WWE is a cave man who is unable to say anything other than, "feed me more!"

Don't forget that guy who shouts either "YES!" or "NO!".

That's some stellar writing there. I have zero clue who writes this stuff, but Punk's speech/sitdowm/meltdown brought me back into wrestling. I was taken aback and had a "This is new" moment. Why fall back on old gimmicks?

The shenanigans and stories have overtaken what I want to see, actual wrestling. Set-up is fine, story is fine, but other than the miz getting kicked in the face last week there hasn't been a great match that looked like violent contact was being made.

No issues with the chant "FEED ME MORE!", actually love it. Go out to eat with someone who is easily embarrassed and scream that at the top of your lungs. Wait. Don't do that.

[retrosportsgamer]

From a writing standpoint, Gerwitz was fired a couple weeks ago, which is certainly a shift. Unfortunately, the reaction to bad ratings is usually more VINCE on tv - with bad stories in tow.

Ryback was pretty over at the house show I went to. He got to stand tall at the end also (lumberjack match with Punk which ended in a DQ).

My prediction for Sunday - a Lesnar run-in, F5s Ryback, Punk retains. Tag match at Survivor Series, Punk/Lesnar vs. Cena/Ryback.

[Gamerforlife]

From a writing standpoint, Gerwitz was fired a couple weeks ago, which is certainly a shift. Unfortunately, the reaction to bad ratings is usually more VINCE on tv - with bad stories in tow.

Ryback was pretty over at the house show I went to. He got to stand tall at the end also (lumberjack match with Punk which ended in a DQ).

My prediction for Sunday - a Lesnar run-in, F5s Ryback, Punk retains. Tag match at Survivor Series, Punk/Lesnar vs. Cena/Ryback.

I've actually been thinking about that a lot, Lesnar coming in to have Punk's back. That's intriguing. It's puts so much power in Heyman's court to have both guys working together, and a Lesnar/Ryback showdown would generate a lot of hype (since apparently Ryback is indeed over now whether I like him or not)

I've also considered another interesting use for Lesnar, but it would be far ahead in the future and likely won't ever happen. Batista is in MMA fighting now. If he could actually manage to be a big success, and then return to the WWE, a match between him and Lesnar would be Wrestlemania card material. That would be HUGE. I certainly would be hyped up for it.

[retrosportsgamer]

Punk even dropped something along the lines of "Oh so you're the next big thing?" to Ryback a couple weeks back also. The whole "I'm a Paul Heyman guy" kind of plays in here.

I'm hoping they go this route because it will be very boring from Sunday through the Royal Rumble if it is more of just Punk/Cena. Cena's "chase" to get the title back (which is horrid and no one cares - he's a terrible when cast a a sympathetic babyface) will probably be paid off at Wrestlemania.

[Gamerforlife]

Punk even dropped something along the lines of "Oh so you're the next big thing?" to Ryback a couple weeks back also. The whole "I'm a Paul Heyman guy" kind of plays in here.

I'm hoping they go this route because it will be very boring from Sunday through the Royal Rumble if it is more of just Punk/Cena. Cena's "chase" to get the title back (which is horrid and no one cares - he's a terrible when cast a a sympathetic babyface) will probably be paid off at Wrestlemania.

I want to say that Lesner should be the guy to break Ryback's win streak, but not in their first encounter. It would be fun to see their first match be one where neither really dominates the other and it ends in some kind of no contest (they're beating the crap out of eachother at the top of the ramp and both get counted out). You build both guys up real strong. Have Ryback keep squashing people in matches every week, while Lesnar does some crazy shit like breaking Cena's arm again and maybe assault Vince again (since they keep putting his ass on TV)

I would love to see the Ryback/Punk feud morph into a Ryback/Lesner feud, getting Ryback away from Punk so he can continue his awesome championship reign.

[Gamerforlife]

Taken from a wrestling news site:

MONDAY’S RAW DRAWS WORST RATING IN 15 YEARS

"Monday's Raw broadcast drew a 2.48 cable rating, the program's worst rating for a non-holiday episode since October 27, 1997 (which drew a 2.3). This is below the rating for the Oct. 1, 2012 show, which garnered a 2.54 in comparison.

The three-hour program averaged 3.55 million viewers, beating a year-low of 3.50 million viewers on Oct. 1. Raw drew 3.58 million viewers in the first hour, 3.65 million in the second hour, and 3.43 million in third and final hour.

Viewership for the third hour was a year-low, below 3.47 million viewers on Oct. 1. It was the tenth consecutive week where third hour viewership was below viewership in the second hour."

[Razzmatazz]

That's interesting with regards to the ratings going down. Does it factor in people that record and watch the next day?

On a different note, you may be interested in knowing that Silvervision, the distributors for WWE DVD/Blu-rays here in Europe (as well as Africa and the Middle East) haven't had their deal renewed by WWE, and so the WWE will either be looking at distributing the DVDs themselves or finding someone else. This is pretty bad news for us Brits, as Silvervision have been brilliant, and have supplied WWE videos and DVDs since 1990.

Is there any good news for WWE fans??

[BurningDoom]

Taken from a wrestling news site:

MONDAY’S RAW DRAWS WORST RATING IN 15 YEARS

"Monday's Raw broadcast drew a 2.48 cable rating, the program's worst rating for a non-holiday episode since October 27, 1997 (which drew a 2.3). This is below the rating for the Oct. 1, 2012 show, which garnered a 2.54 in comparison.

The three-hour program averaged 3.55 million viewers, beating a year-low of 3.50 million viewers on Oct. 1. Raw drew 3.58 million viewers in the first hour, 3.65 million in the second hour, and 3.43 million in third and final hour.

Viewership for the third hour was a year-low, below 3.47 million viewers on Oct. 1. It was the tenth consecutive week where third hour viewership was below viewership in the second hour."

They're not alone. I haven't followed WWE other than hearing updates online in a month or two. And it's not a big surprise why. The storylines are repetitive, predictable, and boring. They also have a very kiddish feel to them. The Superstars come off as a bunch of whiney babies in the WWE, as well. There's like no bad-asses anymore except maybe Orton who has become a charicature of himself.

I think it's at the point where not only are the Attitude Era fans and the IWC turning away from WWE, but the kiddies that were part of Cenation, Hornswoggle fans, and Santino fans are getting older and as a result are also starting to get turned off by it. It's time for WWE to either make new stars for the kiddies to latch onto, or have their product "grow-up" a little as it did in the Attitude Era to succeed.

[alexis524]

From a writing standpoint, Gerwitz was fired a couple weeks ago, which is certainly a shift. Unfortunately, the reaction to bad ratings is usually more VINCE on tv - with bad stories in tow.

Ryback was pretty over at the house show I went to. He got to stand tall at the end also (lumberjack match with Punk which ended in a DQ).

My prediction for Sunday - a Lesnar run-in, F5s Ryback, Punk retains. Tag match at Survivor Series, Punk/Lesnar vs. Cena/Ryback.

very interesting. i didn't even make the connection to Lesnar also being managed by Heyman.

Anyone have a guess as to what may happen with the Sheamus VS. Big Show match? Sheamus has alot on his hands with that match, but hope he wins.