Wrestling Thread Mar 16-22 | 3/20 Smackdown - 500TH SHOW - HBK vs Kane, Undertaker vs JBL

[4wrestling]

First, rest in peace to another wrestler who we lost far too young, Andrew "Test" Martin. It happens so often, but it never takes the shock away ofanother professional wrestler passing well before his time. I am completely against the government trying to police baseball, but at some point, they need toseriously get involved in pro wrestling.

Last week's Raw was a good show until the last 15 minutes. It then went to complete crap, and honestly, it is the only thing I really remember about Raw. It's been talked about enough, but the HHH/Orton home invasion segment was one of the worst pieces of WWE television in years. There is only one questionthat needs to be asked about this segment. Did it make anyone more inclined to buy WrestleMania? I would say it would be a resounding NO. There were so manythings wrong with the angle. After a great segment between Orton and HHH the week before that actually got me interested in the match, they turned it into acampy, cheesey match that I once again have little interest in. It's things like this that make me embarrassed to be a professional wrestling fan.

Oh yeah, what happened to the stipulation that HHH and Orton couldn't touch each other before WrestleMania? I guess that's all out the window. Maybethey'll have Orton and HHH face each other tonight in a non-title match. That would really make me want to pay to see them at WrestleMania.


Kofi Kingston qualified for the MITB match last week by stealing a win from Chris Jericho after Y2J was distracted by Ric Flair. Jericho then challenged Flairto a match tonight. I know Flair won't wrestle, but I really don't even want to see him in the ring. Any type of physicality would take away from hisretirement last year. We're only three weeks away from WrestleMania, so it's time to announce Jericho's opponent (they probably should have doneit last week already). There are two real options. There have been a lot of rumors about Jerry Lawler. At this point, I'd say he's the front runner,and jeeze, what a letdown that would be. After all of the greats that Jericho has put down over the past month, it would be the great Jerry Lawler to be theone to stick up for them? Ugh. The other option is Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hey, just check the date.....


JBL won the Intercontinental Championship last week by defeating CM Punk. JBL has promised to do something historic at WrestleMania. Many are guessing hewill retire as champion. Of course, he needs a match first. The thought is JBL will have dissention with Kozlov tonight, leading to a match between the two. The other part of this is that JBL will retire as a face since WrestleMania is in Texas. You'll notice JBL looks suprisingly friendly in the pictureabove. Anyway, to turn one of your top heels to a face in just three weeks once again shows how piss poor the WWE's long term planning is. As for HBK andThe Undertaker, we'll see how they get along tonight. As I've said, I'm looking forward to this match more than any other on the card. The twohad a great opening segment last week.


Things really need to kick into gear for WrestleMania because time is running out, and I honestly have to say I don't feel a lot of juice right now. Andwith the down economy, this could be a very low buyrate as compared to last year's show.

 

[areyouin729]

I have a big feeling Stone Cold is going to wrestle against Y2J

 

[the minister]

hopefully this week will be good. maybe a stone cold sighting?

edit- lmao at the jbl picture. last time he was a face was when he was in APA i believe.

 

[D Fly]

For some reason I'm thinking a big swerve will happen with the Y2J storyline..just a hunch.

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

I hope Austin shows up

3:16

 

[dmxfury]

Man, 4 I am impressed you still stick with the wrestling, I just can't get behind the product anymore. I do still pop in my old Raws & Nitros, watch myHart or Flair DVDs, but tough to watch it today in my opinion. Question, does Flair still wrestle occasionally? I'm surprised if he does

 

[masterhammy23]

Originally Posted by The Minister

hopefully this week will be good. maybe a stone cold sighting?

edit- lmao at the jbl picture. last time he was a face was when he was in APA i believe.

Last time I remember was little occasions. He was Santa a few years ago for the tribute to the troops and someone was dissing the troops so he got involved andthen there was when he got paid to protect Hornswoggle when he was supposed to be McMahon's son.

And 4w, the stipulation went out the window because Orton attacked HHH the week before with Legacy. I think it was mentioned when they were talking to Ortonbefore HHH attacked or at some point. I didn't really get that either because it seemed like a one-sided stipulation for HHH not to lay hands on RKO, but Iguess not.

I actually thought it was a great idea for them to take the IC title off of CM Punk and give it to JBL. He could retire as champ, which is good because he isnot in good enough shape to still be wrestling and it opens up Punk for main eventing. Also, I could see some type of Battle Royal or something for the ICtitle on Raw the day after WM and I wouldn't mind seeing DiBiase take the title and have their stable holding 2 titles, if Orton goes over at WM

. To keep the stable strong you have to give them some belts, Orton should beChamp and either Rhodes or DiBiase should hold the IC or have them as tag champs, but with the unification of the tag titles I don't see it being that easyto give them the titles when they should be on Miz and Morrison.

I really hope it's not Lawler or Flair, the only person that could make this good would be Stone Cold. Everyone else just seems too old to wrestle stillthat would be considered a legend.

 

[fundamental21ticket]

It funny how in the HHH and Orton segment that HHH entered the house by destroying the front door with a sledge hammer and the door was magically fixed when heand Orton are outside the lawn fighting.

 

[masterhammy23]

Originally Posted by dmxfury

Man, 4 I am impressed you still stick with the wrestling, I just can't get behind the product anymore. I do still pop in my old Raws & Nitros, watch my Hart or Flair DVDs, but tough to watch it today in my opinion. Question, does Flair still wrestle occasionally? I'm surprised if he does

Nope, he retired at Wrestlemania last year which was like 3-5 years overdue

 

[D Fly]

Possible spoiler for tonight:

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- As noted earlier, Steve Austin is expected to be at tonight's RAW in San Antonio, Texas. WWE's website has Austin featured as their Superstar of the Day for today, March 16th or 3/16.

- WWE Hall of Famers "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper have arrived in San Antonio, Texas, the site of tonight's RAW.

 

[22stylez]

stone cold is the ONLY person that'll save Wrestlemania if he wrestles jericho there that and the taker/hbk match cause everything else is pure doo doo

 

[414hammerboi]

Anybody else play the Legends of WrestleMania demo? Why they change the controls from the SvR series?

 

[22stylez]

isnt the gameplay different too?

 

[illoquent aka dsk]

News & Notes


Triple H vs. Randy Orton to be No DQ?

- There is talk of officially announcing Triple H vs. Randy Orton at WrestleMania 25 as a No DQ match. The announcement may come on tonight's RAW from San Antonio, Texas.


Vince McMahon looking to beef up RAW at Smackdown's expense.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- Vince McMahon recently said he wants Raw upgraded during the upcoming WWE Draft, which is scheduled to be held on April 13, 2009 in Atlanta. While not saying so, with depth the way it is, SmackDown's probably going to take a big hit.

As far as SmackDown is concerned, he wants to go back to focusing on the Hispanic audience it lost following the departure of Rey Mysterio from the brand as well as developing new stars.[/font]


Spoilers: Two Legends arrive backstage for RAW taping tonight.

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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]WWE Hall of Famers "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper have arrived in San Antonio, Texas, the site of tonight's RAW.

Snuka and Piper have been involved in the ongoing Chris Jericho vs. WWE Legends program that is expected to culminate at WrestleMania. With under 3 weeks to go until April 5th, WWE is expected to name Jericho's opponent(s) as soon as tonight.[/font]

Steve Austin will play role in film "The Expendables".

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]According to trade journal Variety, former WWE star and 2009 Hall of Fame inductee Steve Austin has signed on to play a role in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming movie "The Expendables."

The movie follows a team of mercenaries as they head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.

A star studded cast of tough guys are cast in the film including The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke, MMA star Randy Couture, former WWE star Aaron Aguilera, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kung Fu star Jet Li, the evil Russian from Rocky Dolph Lundgren, Forest Whitaker, Jason Statham and Stallone himself.

It is set for a 2010 release.[/font]

[color= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Damn...talk about a cast...[/color]

Rey Mysterio injury update.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- For those who have asked about reports of Rey Mysterio injured over the weekend, while he tweaked his knee in a failed 619 spot that saw him slip to the floor, he was fine today and will not be missing any ring time.[/font]


Details on Flair and WWE's agreement.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- Ric Flair was scheduled to work ten dates for WWE including several RAW tapings as well as some non-TV promotional dates, ending with an appearance at WrestleMania 25. Flair is going to be appearing at one day of the AXXESS event in Houston, the Hall of Fame with Ricky Steamboat and likely involved in some form with the Chris Jericho match at WrestleMania.[/font]


-D.H. Smith talks about wanting to join Legacy.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In an interview with the Between the Ropes radio show last night, WWE developmental wrestler DH Smith admitted he'd like to be part of Randy Orton's Legacy faction.

"There's a lot of talk about a lot of things," Smith said. "It's one of those things where you can't exactly believe everything you read on the internet... I think I'd be a perfect fit. I'm big, I'm strong, I've got the ability. I'm working at getting the personality. I've been getting a lot more confident and a lot more mean in the ring. Whether I'm with the Legacy or not, I can prove on any brand that I can carry my own legacy."

Smith also offered his comments on the New Hart Foundation not materializing in WWE.

"Nothing really happened," Smith said. "There was a slot for Tyson Kidd to go on ECW. He's a great wrestler. He's one of my great friends. He's gone up there. It wasn't one of those things that I decided... He's doing good. I hope he does really well with Natalya. Maybe I'll join him someday in ECW, who knows?"

Smith also commented on growing up as the son of "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, being stretched by Stu Hart, his training, his weekly schedule in Florida Championship, and more. To listen to the full interview, visit www.BetweenTheRopes.com. TNA wrestler Robert Roode and former WWE Superstar Elijah Burke also appeared on the program.[/font]


Stephanie hunting for creative leak.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- As noted earlier, Vince McMahon recently issued a company-wide directive to prevent storyline plans from getting out on the Internet. They are going as far to plant fake storylines to discover the individuals within the company who are leaking confidential information to the people behind the wrestling news websites.

In an update on the situation, The UK Sun reports that Stephanie McMahon has been given the task of feeding false information to different members of the creative team who she suspects may be leaking stories.

Also, the writers are now using company laptops with special software that tracks their e-mails and which websites they view.[/font]


MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin for the U.S. Title on this week's Smackdown.

It was announced during A.M. Raw over the weekend (on the ticker along the bottom section of the screen) that Shelton Benjamin would be defending his United States Championship against MVP on this week's edition of Friday Night SmackDown.


Could Smackdown be moved to the Sci-Fi Channel?

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- It is believed that if MyNetworkTV shuts down, WWE Smackdown could end up on the new "SyFy" network, as they will be looking to expand their viewership. SyFy is the new name for the Sci-Fi channel. They changed names because they couldn't own the world "Sci-Fi" since it's a genre.[/font]


TNA offering controversial contracts.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]According to a report by PW, the long-term contracts that TNA is offering some talent contain the usual outs that give the company the freedom to get out of the deal early if they so choose to. TNA is currently in the process of trying to lock up several key stars for years to come.

While the contract stipulations do vary, the deals in place include outs that give the company the right to opt out at any time. These out clauses are not exclusive to TNA as WWE has similar out clauses in their contracts as well. The basis for these clauses is to lock talent in for a long period of time, but also protect themselves by giving them the option to release the talent at any time for any reason.

There is some controversy surrounding these contracts, as some within the industry feel they are one-sided in the company's favor. It seems like both TNA and WWE are willing to take that criticism however, as whatever rep they get for perceived unfair contracts is better than the alternative platform used by the former wrestling ratings champion of the 90's. WCW's old contracts for key stars were "guaranteed," meaning the talent had guaranteed money coming to them no matter what. While this was obviously great for the wrestlers, it was ultimately bad for the company and it's product as there was no incentive to perform well, or perform at all. Time Warner was still paying guys like Nash, Goldberg, Steiner and others millions of dollars to do nothing long after they sold WCW. Even before the company closed, for a long period of time Scott Hall was being paid at least a million dollars to stay at home, since it would cost more to fire him and break the deal. In Scott Steiner's contract--and perhaps others as well--it was actually written that he could not be fined/suspended for any reason, so they could do neither when his behavioral problems, such as threatening Ric Flair's life, would arise.[/font]


Y2J smashing Kelly Kelly?

-- Chris Jericho and Kelly Kelly were spotted getting very close to each other in a VIP section of a well known night club in New York City during last week's WWE Raw tour.

[color= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Kelly Kelly at it once again...

Jericho got a wife though.

[/color]


Christian and his wife are NOT splitting up.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- Christian recently updated his Myspace page to address recent stories that he and his wife were splitting up. He wrote, "I am getting upset about the rumors about me and my wife splitting up. We are NOT Splitting up. I don't know who started this rumor but me and my wife are fine."[/font]

 

[414hammerboi]

22stylez wrote:

---

isnt the gameplay different too?


Yup, big downgrade

 

[bcf06]

Are they going to do that bell thing when a wrestler dies to test.

 

[andoneflip]

i hope austin shows up.

 

[dunksnjordans1992]

hope raws good tonight

 

[blackmamba08]

Oh *%%!.... March 13th, i most def have to tune in tonight.

 

[jdcurt2]

I wanna hear the glass shatter tonight

 

[bkmac]

Originally Posted by jdcurt2

I wanna hear the glass shatter tonight

I may tune in just to see if Austin will be there tonight.

Although, it wouldn't be the same with Michael Cole commentating instead of J.R.

 

[rko2004]

-- Chris Jericho and Kelly Kelly were spotted getting very close to each other in a VIP section of a well known night club in New York City during last week's WWE Raw tour.

[color= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Kelly Kelly at it once again...

Jericho got a wife though.

[/color]

Jericho NO!

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Matt should move to Raw with Jeff and Triple H staying on Smackdown.

 

[mfr3shm]

Originally Posted by RKO2004

-- Chris Jericho and Kelly Kelly were spotted getting very close to each other in a VIP section of a well known night club in New York City during last week's WWE Raw tour.

Kelly Kelly at it once again...

Jericho got a wife though.

Jericho NO!

Kelly Kelly wearing the hat

Oh yeah Jericho is smashing.

 

[illoquent aka dsk]

Jericho definitely broke those walls down...