The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[KK]

Continuity wise, The Miz shouldn't have even been in attendance last night. He was banned from The Staples Centre on the August 3rd, 2009 episode of Raw by Jeremy "Summer Fest" Piven.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/archive/08032009/

[Skippy]

Jeremy Piven!

[Mockmaster]

Amazing, we somehow made it all the way to the final through a series of no-shows, luck and freak results.

[sw26]

Hell yes.

[Chocolate Jim]

Amazing, we somehow made it all the way to the final through a series of no-shows, luck and freak results.

o/

[A J Styles]

Hell yes.

DDP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Kim Page>>>>>>>>>>Orton

[KK]

I think Orton has done a good job of putting his own spin on the Diamond Cutter. Page tended to hit it out of nowhere, whereas Orton now builds up to it more often than not.

Orton has also done the move in more spectacular ways (such as with Evan Bourne).


I know we don't do a lot of Ring of Honor in this thread, but I thought this may be of interest to some:

Adam Pearce issued the following statement regarding his departure from ROH.

Oil and water don't mix.

Cary Silkin gave me the chance to live a lifelong dream two years ago, and I will forever be grateful to him for having the faith in me to give me that opportunity. I've never had a better boss, probably never will, and I'm glad to be able to call him my friend. I've certainly never met a more generous person, and I wish him personally nothing but the prosperity that I believe he deserves.

Ring of Honor has always represented to me what the "future" of professional wrestling
could be, and it is my sincere hope that through the continued tremendous partnership with HDNet that that "future" may one day be realized.

I have never been more proud to be part of a locker room, and I want to publicly thank each and every member of the ROH roster, contracted and otherwise, for working so hard with me to make this year a huge creative success. You all allowed me to grow into a position that I was unqualified for, stayed with me every step of the way – low and high, and at the end of the day made the stories in my head come to life better than anyone else ever could have. You are the most creative and hardest working locker room in the industry, and you all deserve more than what is available to you now. I'm happy to have spoken to all of you in the last 24 hours or so, and I terribly wish that I was going to be with you all at TV this weekend.

I want to publicly acknowledge and applaud the efforts of David Lagana, who in my opinion deserves more credit and praise for his contributions to the company than he has ever received, and it is my hope that he continues to work with HDNet to produce the television product that he and I have worked so hard on since it began. I give thanks to Adam Swift and Andrew Simon at HDNet for their network support during my tenure, as well as to Scott Ferrier and Andy Edwards - the unknown magicians that make our TV world go ‘round. Thanks to all of our camera and lighting crews and everyone else that brought ROH to the television stage. I will always appreciate the hard work you've done and what you've all made possible for me.

So many people deserve thanks now that this chapter of my life has come to an end. Guys like Chris Maurer for all of his work on the creative end of things. His written word helped to bring my stories to life, and his hard work in so many of the ‘not-so-glamorous' areas of the company need to be acknowledged. Bobby Cruise is more important to the ROH production than anyone really knows and I thank him for being my ‘right hand man'. Wayne Fitzgerald and Mary Gage deserve credit for their stalwart efforts, making the music and lights do what we need. Thank you both.

I'd be remiss if I didn't publicly thank Jimmy Cornette for being the best mentor I could have ever asked for, and an even better friend. If any man could have upstaged me and went over my head to do things his way, it was him, but to his credit he NEVER once did. He stood by me and allowed me to be the boss, for better or worse, and I'll always remember that. I hope he can be the same for Delirious, who now finds himself in that very scary and exciting spot. I wish them both nothing but the best; I'm sure we'll cross paths again.

I've loved nearly every single second of my time with Ring of Honor, regardless of the capacity. Perhaps one day I'll be back again. But if not, I am humbled and appreciate all that my time in the company has taught and afforded me.

The wrestling in Ring of Honor always has been (and in my opinion, always will be) second to none, and if/when the end truly does come for the company, the wrestling won't be the reason why. The way I see it there are two sides to the Ring of Honor coin: The ‘creative/in-ring' side, and the ‘business' side.

The ‘water' and the ‘oil'.

No matter how long and no matter whom does the stirring, they don't ever seem to truly mix the right way.

[gaminglegend]

http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=55df1390-4069-4024-bc8a-d382208217a2

[Mockmaster]

Amazing, we somehow made it all the way to the final through a series of no-shows, luck and freak results.

o/

\o

[tomvek]

Very surprised at coming second in the Grapl That'll probably be the best I do for a while though I'm just really happy at boosting my points total.

[KK]

http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=55df1390-4069-4024-bc8a-d382208217a2

Bet that girl from Modern Family felt WONDERFUL there...


In case you haven't seen it yet...



On the upcoming Jericho DVD.

Jericho ripping Malenko a new one...





And I've found the promo I mentioned a couple of weeks ago:



This was such a hilarious feud.

[KK]

Some money figures for the WWE.

Sources: WWE/Wrestling Observer

For the second quarter of 2010, the company took in $106,842,000 & made $6,251,000 profit. Last year during the same period, the WWE did $138,794,000 and posted a profit of $19,874,000. However WrestleMania was in that period last year (it took place in April instead of March) - take that out & the WWE would have posted a profit of $10.2 million. For the first 6 months of 2010, the WWE have posted a profit of $15,358,000.

WWE Fatal Four Way did 82,000 buys domestically. The show cost $1,333,000 to produce, down from $2.5 to $2.7 million for PPV the year previous.

To break-even, WWE needs to do 73,000 buys, so the events are still very profitable.

Pay Per View numbers are at the lowest level of any period in company history since most North American homes had PPV capability. Fatal Four Way, Extreme Rules & Over the Limit were among the seven lowest purchased North American WWE PPVs post 1996.

The company currently spends approximately $692,000 per television taping.

WWE get $92,000 per week for Superstars on WGN America.

WWE Magazine made a loss of $100,000 during the quarter.

On the TNA front:

Spike has been heavily pushing TNA for more long-term planning, in particular they're upset that they don’t get a synopsis of the television show at times far enough in advance to send it to the people who do TV listings. However, TNA has presented Spike with a plan as far as the top angles through Bound for Glory in October.

[Balloon Sod]

I've watched that Summerslam main event again. I love it. The ending was iffy as hell, but that match was booked so damn well it's hard not to love it.

If you told me last year that Summerslam 2010's main event would have Bret Hart, Bryan Danielson and 5 others against 7 completely unknown guys, I'd think you were batshit. That's not even mentioning eternal jobber Kane as World Champion, and unknown pale bugger Sheamus as 2-time WWE champion. As Wade Keller put it, "I hate to be morbid, but I would have assumed there had been a plane crash."

Hats off to WWE for this Nexus angle. There's never been a youth movement like this in the WWE.

[Cosmo]

Some WCW on Vintage Collection tonight.

[KK]

I'm not believing this burial...

After that opening promo by Cena, they'd better have the most amazing booking strategy ever for the next hour 40 minutes.

[Balloon Sod]

I'm not believing this burial...

Horrible. So cheesy.

The 'alternative way of thinking' thing went over my head as well as Skip's, could anyone explain? Is it just that Gabriel is gay?

[KK]

Horrible. So cheesy.

The 'alternative way of thinking' thing went over my head as well as Skip's, could anyone explain? Is it just that Gabriel is gay?

Basically, yes.

[Balloon Sod]

Christ on a bike.

[KK]

This nonsense to re-establish Nexus wouldn't even have been necessary had they won last night. And what purpose did it achieve having Cena going out there at the beginning & not only emphasising the loss at SS, but making them look like tools to boot.

[KK]

Oh strawberry floating hell, the Guest Hosts are back.