Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[Lean]

Go ahead Christian. (and for who else likes to use the avatar/sig combo), I really posted it there if you'd like to use it.

Wasn't it Chris Jericho the best in the world?

Well I guess Y2J is the "best in the world in what he does" and "what he's doing isn't pleasant to gellatinous tapeworms and parasites."

a lot of RAW guys on Smackdown this week

Seen the spoilers Zack Ryder screen time! R-Truth and JoMo on Smackdown!

[Andrew]

Has anyone listened to CM Punk on Bill Simmons' podcast yet?

[JaoSming]

i read that it was good, but I havent listened yet.

[Lean]

Just listened to it, I was shocked though to hear that he's really about to leave just before MiTB. And I salute him for mentioning Rey as the guy he looks up to.

[Christian.]

Watching Smackdown right now. So Nexus is still around. From a promising stable to a pair of jobbers.

[Andrew]

I've yet to listen to it myself but I'll hopefully get around to it today. A link, for anyone who needs it:
http://www.grantland.com/podcasts

[koberulz]

So I've watched the first 49 minutes of Michael Cole. I think something else might have happened, but all I remember is Michael Cole. There was the match between those two guys where Michael Cole talked about how good a wrestler he was the entire time, then that bit where that guy who won MitB somehow (because as we all know he sucks) came out so Michael Cole could mock him with funny voices and talk over the top of him. Then there was the bit where Michael Cole wondered why anyone would ever watch NXT.

Also, Michael Cole.

[Andrew]

Yeah, that's been the biggest problem with his heel run. It's the announcer's job to put over the people in the ring, help sell their characters and angles. This stuff with Cole, the only one who's being put over is him and it doesn't help the product at all, WWE programming should not be The Michael Cole Show. Perhaps it's telling that the ratings for the second hour of RAW, with JR on the desk, were significantly higher than the first hour. It'll be interesting to see if the ratings do go up a bit with JR back on commentary; obviously the quality of the Punk angle will play a big role but Cole's commentary is a big reason why I've been sticking to the recaps more than watching the shows themselves.

[koberulz]

Would JR's return have that much of an effect? You'd have to be watching the show to know it happened.

Posted that too early, though. I went back to watching SmackDown and Cole spent the entire Divas match doing someone's taxes and yapping about his golf team, and I missed the opportunity to rant about that in my earlier post.

Even if we allow it to happen at all, which we really shouldn't, it should have ended four months ago.

[Andrew]

Would JR's return have that much of an effect? You'd have to be watching the show to know it happened.

Or following along with the live coverage online that a lot of sites provide. It could well be a coincidence of course, but it'll be interesting to see if ratings do go up a bit without Cole on the broadcast.

Yeah, I caught some of Smackdown and Cole's ranting. At least that'll only be one show he ruins, assuming they don't do an angle where he tries to get back on RAW or have a three man booth. They really need to give him a rest so they can properly end the heel run. Like you said, it should've been over for months now. It should've been over with King getting the win (and not having it be reversed) at Wrestlemania.

On the plus side, the Mystery GM angle might be dead without further mention. We can only hope.

[koberulz]

The way I interpreted HHH's promo Monday, they're doing a three man booth for both shows.

[Andrew]

So it'll be JR doing play-by-play, King providing the colour commentary and Cole being a dick. Cause yeah, that worked out so well with The Coach circa 2005.

[JaoSming]

In an interesting footnote, TNA made a play for Punk to return during the time period he was being pursued to sign his WWE deal. Punk's demand at the time was that TNA give him an hour on PPV against Samoa Joe (the two had a pair of phenomenal one hour draws in Ring of Honor), which TNA balked at the idea of doing.

Oh TNA...

[buzzy]

Why didn't they do it?


I am somewhat insulted by the fact that Cody Rhodes is still wearing his mask. A nose doesn't take 5 months to heal. Doesn't he want his 'dashing' looks back?

[JaoSming]

eh, the gimmick is working, especially with the paper bag thing. If it weren't for that mask he'd still be a lame mid-carder who's skinny and doesn't wear knee pads.

[Andrew]

In an interesting footnote, TNA made a play for Punk to return during the time period he was being pursued to sign his WWE deal. Punk's demand at the time was that TNA give him an hour on PPV against Samoa Joe (the two had a pair of phenomenal one hour draws in Ring of Honor), which TNA balked at the idea of doing.

Oh TNA...

I don't know if I believe that, even his comments that he made up his mind the night of MITB to return are possibly a work according to WNW. Even if it's true, he was probably working TNA with that request so he didn't have to admit he was still under WWE contract and risk them trying to spoil the angle in a very Bischoff-like way of trying to be edgy. Then again we'll probably never know the truth, they've done an awesome job of keeping details under wraps from the dirtsheets.

I am somewhat insulted by the fact that Cody Rhodes is still wearing his mask. A nose doesn't take 5 months to heal. Doesn't he want his 'dashing' looks back?

I agree with Jon, I think the gimmick works. It's kind of like D-Lo Brown wearing the protective chest plate months after his worked injury should've healed. Heels lie, deceive and take whatever underhanded advantage they can get, that's basically the point of him still wearing the mask.

[deihatein]

And TNA is showing all of CM Punk matches when he was still with the company.

[koberulz]

TNA needs to fuck off and do their own thing for once. "MitB was on! Let's have a ladder match!" "WWE dropped the word 'wrestling'! Let's rebrand ourselves with the word 'wrestling' everywhere whilst still having less wrestling than any of WWE's shows!" "WWE has made CM Punk really popular! Let's show CM Punk matches!" "nWo was awesome! Let's do that again!" "Heath Ledger's Joker character is really popular! Let's have Sting imitate him!"

Though to be fair, Joker!Sting is awesome. Still plenty of room to go downhill, but as long as it ends with Sting putting up a facade in order to intimidate Immortal and get control of the company back, rather than legitimately going insane or something like that, it gets a big tick from me.

[Christian.]

I am somewhat insulted by the fact that Cody Rhodes is still wearing his mask. A nose doesn't take 5 months to heal. Doesn't he want his 'dashing' looks back?

He's still dashing even with a mask.

[Lean]

And TNA is showing all of CM Punk matches when he was still with the company.

I don't know if that's TNA's way of mocking or they're just under the impression that Punk's really leaving to join another promotion.

[koberulz]

Apparently they were in talks with Punk about coming over to TNA, he wanted an hour on PPV with Samoa Joe, and they balked.

Rumour also has it that Punk was intentionally making demands he knew they wouldn't meet, in order to prevent TNA working out that he wasn't a free agent, but even so, if it happened, TNA is stupid.

[Andrew]

Pretty much just a way to try and cash in on Punk being a hot commodity right now, but basically just free advertising for WWE and a minor league move.

[deihatein]

Zack Ryder new internet championship belt.

[[Q]]

TNA needs to fuck off and do their own thing for once. "MitB was on! Let's have a ladder match!" "WWE dropped the word 'wrestling'! Let's rebrand ourselves with the word 'wrestling' everywhere whilst still having less wrestling than any of WWE's shows!" "WWE has made CM Punk really popular! Let's show CM Punk matches!" "nWo was awesome! Let's do that again!" "Heath Ledger's Joker character is really popular! Let's have Sting imitate him!"

dont forget they put a mask on amazing red when wwe signed sin cara

[koberulz]

Did they? I don't remember that. TNA lost their TV deal here a while back, and it took them months to get a new one, so I may have just missed it.