The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[HailToTheKingBaby!]

It won't happen but I'd like to see the following at 'Mania in place of the more obvious choices we'll likely get..

1. Rock vs 'Taker : Title vs streak - assumedly if they're going to ever end the streak and have taker retire, now's the time to do it so he can go out with 20 wins.. then again, Rock will likely need to lose the title at 'Mania so he can go back to making movies.. but 'Taker doesn't wrestle much barring 'Mania itself so a title win is unlikely - these factors would all make for a nice unpredictable match.. they could also have 'Taker win then the money in the bank come down and take the title from him meaning he techinically won his wrestlemania match to keep the streak alive but then loses the title straight away (or have Rock win then lose to MiTB) thus ending the streak but allowing Rock to still leave.. lots of options and should make for an excellent match.

They'd obviously need to write cena out of the title match somehow.. or make it a triple threat I guess could be another option and lead to some more unpredictability. Suppose Cena could go for the World Heavyweight Championship instead of the WWE title as an easy way round it but with Del Rio a face (assuming he's still champion) then one of them would need a heel turn I guess.

2. Lesnar vs Punk - Lesnar returns and takes out Heyman for focussing his attention on Punk and not him, he then feuds as a face with Punk leading to a 'Mania match.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

WWE and Brock Lesnar have come to terms for a new two year deal.

Lesnar will now be with the company through WrestleMania 31.

Easiest money he's ever made.

He could spend the next 24 months to jobbing to Triple H and I doubt he'd give a toss.

Good. At least we'll get Taker/Lesnar at some point. Taker/Cena should be at WM30 though

Hopefully sooner rather than later though. With Taker's battered body and Lesnar's stiff style of 'wrestling' these days

I'm glad he's sticking around though..so to speak. Even though most of my love for Lesnar comes from his first run some 10 years ago (though i did like his Extreme Rules match with Cena), I still think he's got enough about him to put on some decent feuds/matches. I wouldn't mind seeing him up against someone like Sheamus or even against Daniel Bryan. I just hope they manage to get more dates out of him.

Yeah it makes me wonder what they've agreed to. The rumour last time was £5m for hardly any dates, can't remember what, 16 or 20 or something. If he's not going to be on almost every week this time then it will be annoying. But based on his last contract that would be around £10m a yr and I'm sure vince would never do that. Of course there's also the chance that the dirt sheets were just very wide of the mark with the £5m figure.

[Jam-Master Jay]

I was told Punk had won, now I find out that the match was restarted.

strawberry floating Rock.

[Dark Ritual]

Take with tub of salt, but we may have a new belt..

[HailToTheKingBaby!]

Take with tub of salt, but we may have a new belt..

I'd like that belt so long as its a temporary short term one and when the title changes hands next it goes back to one of the older style designs (not the current spinner one hopefully) or at least a new less cheesy looking one more like the older designs at least. I always think the World Heavyweight Title is the one to have as it looks like a proper title unlike the WWE spinner belt which well... looks shite...

[Skippy]

Take with tub of salt, but we may have a new belt..

I'd like that belt so long as its a temporary short term one and when the title changes hands next it goes back to one of the older style designs (not the current spinner one hopefully) or at least a new less cheesy looking one more like the older designs at least. I always think the World Heavyweight Title is the one to have as it looks like a proper title unlike the WWE spinner belt which well... looks shite...

If they were going to the change the title, this is how it makes most business sense. That Rock belt would sell by the metric fuck-ton

[Codename 47]

Take with tub of salt, but we may have a new belt..

I'd like that belt so long as its a temporary short term one and when the title changes hands next it goes back to one of the older style designs (not the current spinner one hopefully) or at least a new less cheesy looking one more like the older designs at least. I always think the World Heavyweight Title is the one to have as it looks like a proper title unlike the WWE spinner belt which well... looks shite...

Yeah completely agree with you there dude. The WHT just looks so much better - like you say like a proper championship belt. This one is a mild improvement if it does turn out to be real. And it's something good to give him for the next 2 months or so and then inevitably when he finally loses the gold, have whoever beats him debut the 'real' new WWE Championship design. Looking at what they did to the tag belts, i'm not sure how much faith i have in them coming up with a good belt design. The best looking belt at the moment is probably the IC title.

[Skippy]

Main event idea (I love how quickly I fall back into the habit of fantasy booking )....

Vince gives Heyman his job evaluation tonight and Punk comes out. Vince says Punk loses his rematch clause and won't be able to compete for the title until after Mania.

Later in the night Lesnar attacks Cena, wanting him to put his No1 contender position on the line in a match at EC. They then do an Orton/Rey thing where Lesnar cheats and its overruled making the triple threat. Lesnar isn't interested in the title though, it's revealed later on that he's being paid off by Punk and Heyman to win the title for them. A title-chasing mercenary heel looking to gooseberry fool all over what the title stands for in the face of the two self-righteous supermen Rock and Cena? MANY BUYS.

Punk goes after Taker in the meantime, with help from Lesnar, tangling the builds of those matches up. You could involve The Shield, Ryback, HHH and Vince as well. A whole bunch of them getting involved in each other's business, makes things less predictable than each match having their own totally separate builds.

Fantasy booking yeah

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Take with tub of salt, but we may have a new belt..

I'd like that belt so long as its a temporary short term one and when the title changes hands next it goes back to one of the older style designs (not the current spinner one hopefully) or at least a new less cheesy looking one more like the older designs at least. I always think the World Heavyweight Title is the one to have as it looks like a proper title unlike the WWE spinner belt which well... looks shite...

Yeah completely agree with you there dude. The WHT just looks so much better - like you say like a proper championship belt. This one is a mild improvement if it does turn out to be real. And it's something good to give him for the next 2 months or so and then inevitably when he finally loses the gold, have whoever beats him debut the 'real' new WWE Championship design. Looking at what they did to the tag belts, i'm not sure how much faith i have in them coming up with a good belt design. The best looking belt at the moment is probably the IC title.

Yeah i agree that as a temp measure a new rock belt would be good. It will lift merch sales until mania and then as said a new permanent replacement could be released. Something more similar to the 90s belts would be good. But those tag belts, god are they awful.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Main event idea (I love how quickly I fall back into the habit of fantasy booking )....

Vince gives Heyman his job evaluation tonight and Punk comes out. Vince says Punk loses his rematch clause and won't be able to compete for the title until after Mania.

Later in the night Lesnar attacks Cena, wanting him to put his No1 contender position on the line in a match at EC. They then do an Orton/Rey thing where Lesnar cheats and its overruled making the triple threat. Lesnar isn't interested in the title though, it's revealed later on that he's being paid off by Punk and Heyman to win the title for them. A title-chasing mercenary heel looking to gooseberry fool all over what the title stands for in the face of the two self-righteous supermen Rock and Cena? MANY BUYS.

Punk goes after Taker in the meantime, with help from Lesnar, tangling the builds of those matches up. You could involve The Shield, Ryback, HHH and Vince as well. A whole bunch of them getting involved in each other's business, makes things less predictable than each match having their own totally separate builds.

Fantasy booking yeah

I like it but two problems.

1) heyman works for punk and not the wwe

2) everything else sounds so cool that it is beyond wwe's capabilities to think of it and pull it off.

[Skippy]

Heyman can still work for Punk and pay off Lesnar to win the title for his and Punk's own gain

Edit: Unless you're referring to Vince giving Heyman a job evaluation, which is confirmed for tonight.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Heyman can still work for Punk and pay off Lesnar to win the title for his and Punk's own gain

Edit: Unless you're referring to Vince giving Heyman a job evaluation, which is confirmed for tonight.

I was how can vince evaluate heyman? He doesn't work for him he returned as lesnars legal advisor then he became punks advisor, drink fetcher and cheerleader.

[kommissarboris]

I got the Austin v McMahon DVD for £1.70 off amazon.

Going to watch it tonight and get all nolstagic about the attitude capers of old.

[Codename 47]

Heyman can still work for Punk and pay off Lesnar to win the title for his and Punk's own gain

Edit: Unless you're referring to Vince giving Heyman a job evaluation, which is confirmed for tonight.

I was how can vince evaluate heyman? He doesn't work for him he returned as lesnars legal advisor then he became punks advisor, drink fetcher and cheerleader.

Wait so the job evaluation is actually happening tonight? It would be hilarious if Heyman said "I don't actually work for you Vince so you can't evaluate me" and that was the end of it I forgot tonight is a Raw Roulette thing...actually tempted to stay up for it.

How do people think they're going to bring back Lesnar into things? They've been a lot of good chances - like at the Rumble, when Punk was facing Ryback in HiaC, etc and he never came back at any of those. Will HHH just randomly call him out, will Heyman turn to Brock for protection, etc.

[captain red dog]

Nearly 24 hours out I won't spoiler my thoughts so don't read on if you still haven't seen the Rumble.

I Thought the event was ok. The Rumble match was good aside from the predictable ending. Rock/Punk was good aside from the stupid rematch bit. It would have been cool to end it at the first cut off or have Rock make a miraculous comeback before the count of 3. The restarting of the match took the excitement away from the win.

I'm surprised they actually really did go with the most predictable results. I was hoping after the success of the Punk heel turn they would do something quite adventurous at Mania. Now it looks set to be Cena winning the title from Rock and Punk jobbing to Taker whilst Brock jobs to HHH.

[KK]

I could have sworn Paul Heyman wasn't technically a WWE employee in storyline either. But then I don't think the lawsuit he issued Triple H and WWE publicly went anywhere either. Which begs the question what the point was in the first place.

[Johnny Ryall]

Wrestling continuity.

[KK]

Before the show went on the air last night, Adam Jones of rock band Tool (no, me neither) proposed to his girlfriend Korin. Video on .com:

http://www.wwe.com/videos/tools-adam-jo ... 3-26087766

[captain red dog]

Just noticed my RR haul of GRAPL points! This is the start of the Red Dog Revolution.

[Johnny Ryall]

One thing I forgot to say, I want to see a Goldust/Cody feud. With Dusty as special ref. BOOK IT!