The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[tomvek]

Botchamania

New botchamania \o/

[KK]

Couldn't believe they zoomed in on the pipe on iMPACT! to reveal that, in actual fact, it's made of plastic. This is a taped show FFS.

[Jay Adama]

At 5:00 I'm sure one of the wrestlers is...

[Mafro]

Does anyone here know the full card for ER?

Miz v Cena v Morrison cage match for the WWE title

Del Rio v Christian ladder match for the heavyweight title

Orton beating Punk in a last man standing match

McCool v Layla in which the loser leaves Smackdown

Mysterio v Rhodes falls count anywhere

Lawler & JR v Cole & Swagger in a country whipping match (?)

Also looks like a Sheamus v Kofi match for the US title might be added (Kofi winning would move the US title back to Raw)

[Jam-Master Jay]

When did they decide to split LayCool up?

There are a couple of decent looking matches on that card. I'd also like to see Sheamus and Kofi given a chance to put on a good match.

[Cosmo]

For the first time in 8 weeks I dont have dance rehearsals. What am I going to do with myself now? Anythin goin on in Tampa this weekend...?

If he turns up at Extreme Rules or Raw the night after then I may very well crap myself.

[KK]

WWE RAW Ratings Breakdowns

18th April 2011 (London)

Quarter 2: Gained 203,000 viewers (Morrison beat down, R-Truth heel turn)
Q3: Gained 183,000 (Dolph Ziggler vs. Evan Bourne)
Q4: Lost 67,000 viewers (John Cena/Sin Cara vs Miz/Riley)
Q5: Gained 11,000 viewers (conclusion to the tag match, Divas match)
Q6: Lost 214,000 viewers (Cole Knighting, Jim Ross beat down)
Q7: Lost 381,000 viewers (Sheamus vs. Santino)
Q8 (including over-run): Gained 608,000 (C.M. Punk vs. Randy Orton) to end on a 3.3 rating.

25th April 2011

Quarter 2: Gained 158,000 viewers (R-Truth promo)
Q3: Gained 290,000 viewers (Eve Torres vs. Layla)
Q4: Lost 260,000 viewers (Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus)
Q5: Gained 366,000 viewers (Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole) to do the highest rated number on the show (3.8)
Q6: Lost 540,000 viewers (Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler)
Q7: Gained 16,000 viewers (Wade Barrett vs. Rey Mysterio)
Q8: Gained 321,000 viewers (Tag match)
Over-run: Show ended on a 3.6.

TNA has requested a trademark on the term “iMPACT! Wrestling,” which at this point will be the term pushed in the upcoming marketing campaign.

Dixie Carter made the call that Ric Flair can no longer be shown on TV shirtless.

Janice Carter (Dixie’s mother) is cutting back on company funding and has thus forced them into cutting back on spending. This included a couple of contracts that came due and people being offered lesser deals than they had, and also some cuts and very few new people being signed. Janice is the person in charge of the major financial decisions, and this has been the case for months. Dixie Carter is still calling most of the shots except when it comes to spending or anything affecting the bottom line.

Sean Waltman in an interview this past week said he thought there was a very good chance he could appear on WWE television at some point.

They are looking at dropping WWE Night of Champions. The show scheduled for September 18 in Buffalo currently has no name.

For what it's worth, it's listed as WWE Uprising on Wikipedia.

[Mafro]

When did they decide to split LayCool up?

They went to couples therapy on Smackdown a few weeks ago and Michelle attacked Layla. On the post recent one Layla kicked the gooseberry fool out of her then burst into tears

[Jam-Master Jay]

When did they decide to split LayCool up?

They went to couples therapy on Smackdown a few weeks ago and Michelle attacked Layla. On the post recent one Layla kicked the gooseberry fool out of her then burst into tears

That sounds so bad it's bound to be awesome.

Also, Layla.

*hunts for videos*

[A J Styles]

Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote:
Sean Waltman in an interview this past week said he thought there was a very good chance he could appear on WWE television at some poin

I hope

[Mockmaster]

Maybe they can bring back the greatest stable of all time:

[A J Styles]

What a song

[Mafro]

That X Factor song

When did they decide to split LayCool up?

They went to couples therapy on Smackdown a few weeks ago and Michelle attacked Layla. On the post recent one Layla kicked the gooseberry fool out of her then burst into tears

That sounds so bad it's bound to be awesome.

Also, Layla.

*hunts for videos*

I actually though the bit with Layla beating up Michelle was pretty well done, surprisingly.

[KK]

Christina Crawford on Tough Enough is the sister of Alicia Fox, but this is yet to be acknowledged on television.

Alberto Del Rio has been described as a master politician who has picked up how to navigate in the company quicker than almost anyone.

Currently the idea is for Jim Ross to remain on television for however long the Cole angle lasts. The fact he’s done real strong quarter hours may stretch the angle out longer. For now, there are no plans for Ross coming back to announce.

Vince McMahon's directive on JR seems to change every 5 minutes, so as always it's just a matter of crossing your fingers & hoping he stays on TV.

The WWE network is a big part of the rebranding of World Wrestling Entertainment to WWE. The idea is that they are going to do their own television network and don’t want it perceived as a pro wrestling channel. The problem is the term WWE will be perceived as pro wrestling. They want to air scripted programming as well as programming that can use the marketing concepts of WWE, which is a television show, market the characters with merchandise in stores and even tour with it. It was also noted that they are looking at using people like Drew Carey to come up with programming ideas. The TV channel would feature a lot of wrestling, particularly the old tapes. They are currently digitizing the library and trying to upgrade some of it to High Definition, but it's a very slow process. The network would also likely include the TV properties that they can’t get carriage deals for.

I wonder if Sky would be interesting in carrying it, or a variation of.

http://www.f4wonline.com

[Jam-Master Jay]

Awesome.

Also love how Layla's accent changes during the therapy sessions.

[captain red dog]

Are there any events not on Box Office anymore?

I'd love to know the buy rates, I can't see it being very high compared to the glory days when events used to be on standard Sky Sports.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Are there any events not on Box Office anymore?

I'd love to know the buy rates, I can't see it being very high compared to the glory days when events used to be on standard Sky Sports.

I think there are about 4 on sky sports but I have a feeling that the rumoured cancelled night of champions was one of them.

Also I always thought that this one was normally free but may be mistaken.

[Jam-Master Jay]

Are there any events not on Box Office anymore?

I'd love to know the buy rates, I can't see it being very high compared to the glory days when events used to be on standard Sky Sports.

No idea about the Sky Sports ones not having the channel and all. ROTS knows his stuff though.

As for the buy-rates, they're pretty much dropping quite rapidly year on year. There are simply too many PPV's and the main-event scene is very stale right now. The WWE also don't seem to be able to book a feud unless it's around 'Mania time and why shell out £15 or upwards of $60 in the US when you can illegally stream in decent quality or download a HD rip within an hour of the event finishing?

[Rog]

As for US buyrates, Extreme Rules was doomed from the start. They have never done well on a UFC weekend but this time they're up against a big card with a mega match main event. Probably why they haven't really bothered with it.

[Floex]

Dixie Carter made the call that Ric Flair can no longer be shown on TV shirtless.

Brilliant