The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[captain red dog]

I wonder, just wonder, if they might actually try and go for Sammartino's record. Ironically, as daft as it sounds they actually have enough titles out there to make it possible. But then I'd like to see the WWE title only defended at the big four PPVs anyway. If they are serious about getting the titles over again then they shouldn't be afraid to have the WHC and IC belts headline the B shows.

It would also solve the problem of Sammartino not wanting anything to do with the Hall of Fame, once his record has gone he doesn't really matter.

I know it will never happen in a million years but at least if they tried it then it would shake up the format somewhat.

[Drumstick]

At least KK wasn't on his own this week.

[Mockmaster]

Review-a-Raw 20th November



http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/34789.mp3

Featuring:

**John Pollock and Wai Ting review Raw from Monday night in Dayton, Ohio

**Your feedback from all over the world including Calgary, Long Island and CHINA!

You can always judge how good RAW is by the length of the description in the Review-a-Wai spiel.

[KK]

Highlights of a very lacklustre, mainly dull show were John Cena being put through a toilet cubicle that didn't contain any toilets, and the commentary during the Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan/Kane match, which by the end had Lawler & Cole barely able to contain their laughter.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Highlights of a very lacklustre, mainly dull show were John Cena being put through a toilet cubicle that didn't contain any toilets, and the commentary during the Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan/Kane match, which by the end had Lawler & Cole barely able to contain their laughter.

I actually really enjoyed the commentary in that match. They ended up having really good banter, originally it sounded like lawler and cole were just going to bury them.

Yeah I noticed the toilet thing too

Also what do u think the deal is with the cena knee thing? I wonder if they faked him landing badly on his knee as part of a storyline. Maybe so that he fights Ziggler at the next ppv with a bad knee as a way of allowing Ziggles to win because cena wasn't 100%

[Pell]

Excuse me for jumping in with something totally different, but I figured I'd flag this up for a few people because I'm sure you'll be interested. Doing my monthly Indie Games pages in the mag and stumbled on this:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pro ... estling-ga

Break out the Lance Storm love!

[Mafro]

Free Wrestling Observer Radio today http://www.f4wonline.com/component/cont ... -tons-more

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns tonight to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on Raw from Monday night, all the matches and angles, how it plays into TLC, THE GREAT TITUS O'NEIL, and more. Plus, Matt Hardy update, your questions and tons more. Best of all it's FREE, so please post the link or file elsewhere and help spread the word about wrestlingobserver.com! And if you like what you hear, consider signing up for a subscription as Dave and I do 3-4 shows per week in addition to the other 15-20 brand new shows, plus members have full access to our thousands of hours of audio and hundreds of new and archived Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Newsletters. It's a steal, so sign up and join the fun! Only at wrestlingobserver.com.

[Codename 47]

Highlights of a very lacklustre, mainly dull show were John Cena being put through a toilet cubicle that didn't contain any toilets, and the commentary during the Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan/Kane match, which by the end had Lawler & Cole barely able to contain their laughter.

I actually really enjoyed the commentary in that match. They ended up having really good banter, originally it sounded like lawler and cole were just going to bury them.

Yeah I noticed the toilet thing too

Also what do u think the deal is with the cena knee thing? I wonder if they faked him landing badly on his knee as part of a storyline. Maybe so that he fights Ziggler at the next ppv with a bad knee as a way of allowing Ziggles to win because cena wasn't 100%

First time i saw it i thought he'd just twisted his ankle more than anything. Vintage Cena though - loses title match but doesn't seem to give a gooseberry fool. Even without adverts this Raw seemed to drag on quite a bit - not too much of note happened. I was looking forward to the 'celebration' thing but even that ended up being a tad disappointing. strawberry float me though, Punk would have to hold the title until 2018 to break the all time record I suppose you never know with Heyman but i wonder if he was given permission to say that Bruno Sammartino should be in the Hall of Fame given how public he's been in his refusal to accept an invitation in there.

I have to say though, the commentary during the Hell No/Cara Rey tag match was actually quite hilarious Just some of the stuff O'neil/Cole and King were coming out with during the match

[captain red dog]

It would take some seriously creative ideas to get Punk to 2018. Rock is definitely taking the title at the Rumble!

I wonder if Rock will defend at Elimination Chamber or whether he will just go straight to Mania.

[Cosmo]

The thought of Rock holding that spinner belt makes me feel queasy.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

It would take some seriously creative ideas to get Punk to 2018. Rock is definitely taking the title at the Rumble!

I wonder if Rock will defend at Elimination Chamber or whether he will just go straight to Mania.

Yeah I wonder how much he will be around after the rumble. We saw last year that he was about throughout most of march and and a bit of Feb. I think he did 5 out of 6 Raws running up to mania. If he doesn't defend at elimination chamber then they will probably just have a no.1 contender match assuming the rumble winner isn't facing rock at mania.

[KK]

Also what do u think the deal is with the cena knee thing? I wonder if they faked him landing badly on his knee as part of a storyline. Maybe so that he fights Ziggler at the next ppv with a bad knee as a way of allowing Ziggles to win because cena wasn't 100%

Dunno. At first I thought it was legit, but then they brought it up after the break & kept on it. And then it started playing into the storyline a bit too seamlessly for them to be doing it on the fly.

On the flipside I don't see the benefit of intentionally making your top guy look mishap prone running up the ramp, and then looking like an idiot again later getting thrown into some imaginary toilets.

[captain red dog]

Really enjoyed Punk and Heyman, Zigglers promo on AJ and the boos for Vickie.

I wondered if the Cena injury was a work, but then also wondered if they improvised his beat down later in the night to explain a possible absence. I mean, if he was legit injured when he ran out of the ring it would look bloody daft!

[KK]

John Cena's injury last night on Raw was legitimate and he'll be getting an MRI today prior to the Smackdown taping in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cena twisted his leg chasing Dolph Ziggler from the ring.

The latter segments involving Cena went as planned but incorporated the possible injury.

John Cena wrote he was given "good news/bad news" after the MRI on his knee today in Michigan, but did not expound beyond that. WWE has not made any official announcement regarding his knee injury last night.

My feeling is that if he works the taping tonight as scheduled, there's no major injury and whatever happened will be weaved into the storyline feud against Dolph Ziggler.

[captain red dog]

Kind of hope it is serious if only to spice up the TV going forward. Sadly it is only through injuries that WWE seem to try anything remotely creative.

Edit: That sounds cruel, I like Cena but just think through an unfortunate injury WWE will try something different.

[Psychic]

And a really open interview with Jake.

[KK]

WWE RAW averaged 3,835,000 viewers.

Hour 1: 3,873,000
Hour 2: 3,923,000
Hour 3: 3,710,000

Show did a 2.7 rating.

12th November: 2.9
5th November: 2.8
29th October: 2.9
22nd October: 2.5
15th October: 2.8
8th October: 2.8
1st October: 2.5
24th September: 2.7
17th September: 2.9
10th September: 2.9
3rd September: 2.8

[KK]

Just listening to the free Wrestling Observer Radio, and Dave Meltzer is stating the opposite to PWinsider.com in that the whole John Cena thing was a work from the get-go, & that there's nothing wrong with Cena whatsoever.

[Dark Ritual]

They re-iterated that in the update too.

[KK]

WWE Main Event

Match 1: Tyson Kidd & Santino Marella went to a no-contest when Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns jumped in the ring and beat down both men. They exited through the crowd.

Match 2: Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz. Dolph won with a Zig-Zag after throwing Miz into an exposed turnbuckle.

Ziggler cut a promo on John Cena.

Match 3: Wade Barrett beat Justin Gabriel. Barrett won in about four minutes with the Bull Hammer elbow. Gabriel got a good amount of offense in.

WWE SmackDown Tapings

Miz TV opened the show with John Cena as the guest. Miz asked him about his knee and what's going on with AJ. AJ came out and then Dolph Ziggler interrupted. They played everything on the Titan Tron that happened on RAW. Vickie Guerrero came out to a ton of boos. Nothing really happened. They bickered back and forth before Cena got the last word.

Match 1: Ryback defeated Darren Young in 2:00. Ryback won with Shellshocked. Titus O'Neil was on commentary. O'Neil entered the ring afterward and was Shellshocked.

Match 2: R-Truth pinned Antonio Cesaro in a non-title match in 3:00. Truth won the match with his finisher.

Booker T announced Big Show vs. Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Chairs Match for the TLC pay-per-view.

Match 3: Alberto Del Rio beat Sin Cara in 8:00 using the Cross Arm Breaker.

Match 4: Big Show defeated Team Hell No in 13:00 in a handicap match. Bryan tagged himself in and Kane left him there to fight for himself. Show won when Show Chokeslammed Bryan. Kane came back in after the match and him and Bryan cleared Big Show from the ring. Sheamus and William Regal were watching the match from a press box.

Match 5: Kofi Kingston defeated Damien Sandow in 8:00 to retain the Intercontinental Title. Kingston got the pin after Trouble in Paradise. Solid match. Wade Barrett was on commentary. He on the mic afterward and said the Intercontinental Title will be his.

It was announced that Michael Cole will have an exclusive interview with Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns on RAW.

Main Event: Dolph Ziggler defeated Randy Orton in 11:00. Orton went for the RKO and Ziggler rolled him up for the three count. After the match, Ricardo and Del Rio ran in. Ricardo ate an RKO and Del Rio backed off. Ziggler went to the top of the ramp and Cena attacked him and put him in a STFU. Orton's music played as SmackDown concluded.

With the exception of Undertaker & Mike Tyson's entrance music, there is no editing on the new WWE Attitude Era DVD & Blu Ray.

Excellent.