The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[Irene Demova]

Some small news items...

Shawn Michaels isn't too enamoured with the CM Punk "personal savior" character.

Piss off Michaels, Punk's one of the few guys in WWE with a clear direction

[gaminglegend]

Rumble Thoughts...

Not many really, was a standard PPV, and the Rumble Match was the main highlight, but not my fav Rumble at all from the past few years, although CM Punk was strawberry floating booked awesome! Edge winning, although not too easy to guess, was not the huge suprise I expected, no suprise entrants either besides Beth Phoneix. The divas promo was great, and then they go and give us a 30 second match and then they all (the divas) act like happy families, which just ruined the 4 weeks they've spent making the diva divison have some realism and drama.

My fav matches of the night was Rey vs Taker, I really thought he was going to win so close - But Christian really, the past few months has proved time and time again he can get great matches out of anyone, and that he is one of the best and underlooked workers in the WWE. Give him a main show spot, now!

[gaminglegend]

Ahmed Johnson couldn't get the job done.

[Drumstick]

My sole complaint was that they seemed to rush through the rumble match way too quickly. I mean, were there ever more than about eight people in the ring at one time? Contestants were in and out like John Terry FFS.

[gaminglegend]

The post of Triple H winning the rumble, from KK, has not been picked up by wrestling news sites has it? I quickly viewed rajah who have no mention of it

[KK]

BBC Sport Wales with a feature on TNA:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 9_01_2010/

Starts around the 19:50 mark.

Perfect musical accompaniment...

[Skippy]

The post of Triple H winning the rumble, from KK, has not been picked up by wrestling news sites has it? I quickly viewed rajah who have no mention of it

Yeah, it's either fake or WWE planted it. At least that's what I think

[sw26]

The post of Triple H winning the rumble, from KK, has not been picked up by wrestling news sites has it? I quickly viewed rajah who have no mention of it

Yeah, it's either fake or WWE planted it. At least that's what I think

It's Joey Styles working the internet.

[Hank Scorpio]

Wait R-Truth eliminated Big Show & Kane ? But then was eliminated by Kofi strawberry floating Kingston

[KK]

The post of Triple H winning the rumble, from KK, has not been picked up by wrestling news sites has it? I quickly viewed rajah who have no mention of it

Yeah, it's either fake or WWE planted it. At least that's what I think

No, it's definitely real - I screen grabbed it myself. It's impossible to know how long it was up. According to the latest Figure 4, they're still saying Triple H was the original plan all last week, so coupled with WWE.com, on a guess the WWE probably changed it at some point on the Sunday.

In the past year alone, rewrites have been so late they've made it to air (take the Bragging Rights brand tag team match. That was supposedly set in stone & then out of nowhere the whole Smackdown team was given the boot with no Raw's left to promote it).

[Drumstick]

Wait R-Truth eliminated Big Show & Kane ? But then was eliminated by Kofi strawberry floating Kingston

He probably felt a bit rowdy and just decided to go for it.

[Skippy]

The post of Triple H winning the rumble, from KK, has not been picked up by wrestling news sites has it? I quickly viewed rajah who have no mention of it

Yeah, it's either fake or WWE planted it. At least that's what I think

No, it's definitely real - I screen grabbed it myself. It's impossible to know how long it was up. According to the latest Figure 4, they're still saying Triple H was the original plan all last week, so coupled with WWE.com, on a guess the WWE probably changed it at some point on the Sunday.

In the past year alone, rewrites have been so late they've made it to air (take the Bragging Rights brand tag team match. That was supposedly set in stone & then out of nowhere the whole Smackdown team was given the boot with no Raw's left to promote it).

You don't know any of these plans were actually set in stone though. There is no way you can know that no matter how many "reports" you read online.

[Irene Demova]

The post of Triple H winning the rumble, from KK, has not been picked up by wrestling news sites has it? I quickly viewed rajah who have no mention of it

Yeah, it's either fake or WWE planted it. At least that's what I think

No, it's definitely real - I screen grabbed it myself. It's impossible to know how long it was up. According to the latest Figure 4, they're still saying Triple H was the original plan all last week, so coupled with WWE.com, on a guess the WWE probably changed it at some point on the Sunday.

In the past year alone, rewrites have been so late they've made it to air (take the Bragging Rights brand tag team match. That was supposedly set in stone & then out of nowhere the whole Smackdown team was given the boot with no Raw's left to promote it).

You don't know any of these plans were actually set in stone though. There is no way you can know that no matter how many "reports" you read online.

[KK]

You don't know any of these plans were actually set in stone though. There is no way you can know that no matter how many "reports" you read online.

In regards to Bragging Rights, what company plans out a storyline where the participants of the match (which were the focus of the final Raw before the event) completely changes, seemingly for no apparent reason, the very next night on Smackdown leaving no Raw's left to promote the change & leaves weeks of storylines void?*

In regards to the winner of the Rumble match, it was being reported by PWinsider & the Wrestling Observer. They still seem to think Triple H & Sheamus in on the cards. Misinformation is certainly a possibility, but Dave Meltzer has built up a reputation of having pretty good sources. TNA going Live being another good example. Spike had it on their TV format & now it's been pulled, meanwhile Bischoff's going around denying it (who notoriously hates Meltzer) probably just so it doesn't look like the dirtsheets have got one over on them.

*Apart from Vince Russo.

[gaminglegend]

You don't know any of these plans were actually set in stone though. There is no way you can know that no matter how many "reports" you read online.

In regards to Bragging Rights, what company plans out a storyline where the participants of the match (which were the focus of the final Raw before the event) completely changes, seemingly for no apparent reason, the very next night on Smackdown leaving no Raw's left to promote the change & leaves weeks of storylines void?*

In regards to the winner of the Rumble match, it was being reported by PWinsider & the Wrestling Observer. They still seem to think Triple H & Sheamus in on the cards. Misinformation is certainly a possibility, but Dave Meltzer has built up a reputation of having pretty good sources. TNA going Live being another good example. Spike had it on their TV format & now it's been pulled, meanwhile Bischoff's going around denying it (who notoriously hates Meltzer) probably just so it doesn't look like the dirtsheets have got one over on them.

*Apart from Vince Russo.

Apparently the Wrestlemania card is set, and the matches will work out eventually, HHH vs Sheamus..etc.. I reckon Edge will "cash in" or something before WM

[KK]

Talking of the WO, Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez were asked on their radio show today how long they expect the PG rating to last. What with all their current sponsor deals (especially the very important one with Mattel), it's unlikely to end any time soon. Depends how well TNA's mature direction works too. Can you see Vince McMahon allowing a rival promotion to out-WWF the WWE? As soon as the WWE start sexing things up, their child specific sponsors are going to be off. Currently it seems they'd rather take a rating & gate hit for massive sponsorship & merchandise sales.

TNA's audience is clearly rather different to the WWE's - just look at iMPACT! this week. There were women brazenly boozing it up in the crowd (in fact they were drinking the entire show) & the camera man basically had the camera up Madison Rayne's arse. TNA's producer did seem to be panicking on the Live iMPACT! though. Maybe TNA thought Spike executives were actually watching that show...

[gaminglegend]

Talking of the WO, Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez were asked on their radio show today how long they expect the PG rating to last. What with all their current sponsor deals (especially the very important one with Mattel), it's unlikely to end any time soon. Depends how well TNA's mature direction works too. Can you see Vince McMahon allowing a rival promotion to out-WWF the WWE? As soon as the WWE start sexing things up, their child specific sponsors are going to be off.

TNA's audience is clearly rather different to the WWE's - just look at iMPACT! this week. There were women brazenly boozing it up in the crowd (in fact they were drinking the entire show) & the camera man basically had the camera up Madison Rayne's arse. TNA's producer did seem to be panicking on the Live iMPACT! though. Maybe TNA thought Spike executives were actually watching that show...

But even Attitude Era WWE, still had Pepsi...etc.. as sponsors, Playstation..etc..

The only difference now is the Mattel deal, which no matter what will sell truckloads, and a few more kiddy endorsements, but remember this?

[gaminglegend]

Or this Elmo advert

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Talking of the WO, Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez were asked on their radio show today how long they expect the PG rating to last. What with all their current sponsor deals (especially the very important one with Mattel), it's unlikely to end any time soon. Depends how well TNA's mature direction works too. Can you see Vince McMahon allowing a rival promotion to out-WWF the WWE? As soon as the WWE start sexing things up, their child specific sponsors are going to be off.

TNA's audience is clearly rather different to the WWE's - just look at iMPACT! this week. There were women brazenly boozing it up in the crowd (in fact they were drinking the entire show) & the camera man basically had the camera up Madison Rayne's arse. TNA's producer did seem to be panicking on the Live iMPACT! though. Maybe TNA thought Spike executives were actually watching that show...

I thought the Mattel thing was just to do with the new wrestling figures. Do they also have a sponsorship deal. I've said all along that WWE should turn RAW back to a mature direction but keep SD and superstars as PG shows. That way they can have the best of both worlds. They can also be picky with PPV's tone some down but make it obvious with some that it will be more mature so there are no complaints.

Also on GRAPL. I'm 3 in a row baby, 3 in a row. I really didn't know how well i had done as i submitted my predictions straight away and when i was watching RR, i really couldn't remember half of what i had put down. Suck my balls Zellery, suck my balls.

N.B. erm reference the last please don't, my wife will kill me.

Also on RR. Did anyone else think Edge looked out of shape? i know he was never exactly Mr Muscle and he has just come back from injury, so i'm guessing he would have really struggled to do a lot of working out whilst off.

Plus, if the rumours are true that Cena & Batista will face off at RR, then why didn't they have them face off more in the match and eliminate each other. Then have Edge eliminate HBK to win, making HBK even more pissed off that he lost at the last moment. He then could have laid out ring officials outside the ring or something to vent his anger.

[Chocolate Jim]

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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PGMDGOSR
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LGUVWPNP

Royal Rumble 2010 for anyone who wants it.

Any chance someone could put part 2 on a different site for me It is telling me I need to wait 115 minutes to download it