The Era of Punk Wrestling Thread

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http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe...h_ROH_Update_on_CM_Punk_s_Storyline_More.html

- There are people in WWE who don't know this for sure but strongly suspect there is some kind of working agreement between Ring of Honor and WWE. There are also people in ROH who think the same thing. At the same time, people on both sides insist there is nothing going on between the two companies.

Sources insist that some of the things CM Punk spoke about in his infamous RAW promo a few weeks back will start finding their way onto WWE TV soon. For example, Punk talked about Triple H taking over and he began that storyline on this week's RAW. Punk also mentioned John Laurinaitis and Colt Cabana, both who appeared on WWE TV in the past week. While Cabana wasn't named by the announcers, he was shown at ringside on Money in the Bank and was photographed with Punk and the WWE Title in Chicago after the pay-per-view. Punk also mentioned Ring of Honor, which adds to the speculation that WWE may be working with them.

For what its worth, Cabana has told at least one indy promotion that he's worked regularly with that he's not taking any more bookings with them after next month.
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Interesting, sounds like some major speculation but if it proves to be true, excellent!
 
If this pans out, someone at WWE has finally realized that working with the most interesting promotion in the US is the best way to freshen up their stale product. This won't be due to some great creative renaissance in WWE, it will be due to the forward-thinking people of Ring of Honor chipping away at the paleolithic mindset that's caused much of the business to stagnate for years now.
 
[quote name='Scorch']The WCW Nitro DVD is up on Netflix Instant Streaming. Anyone want to party watch tonight?[/QUOTE]

I would, but, I can't. Could do tomorrow night though. Oh, by the way, good thing I didn't buy it from you, huh? :lol:
 
Cabana sitting ringside with Ace Steel and Punk's mom (?) and being referred to as a "fan" by Michael Cole as evidence of a WWE/ROH working relationship? That's grasping at straws of the highest order.

I do think it's plausible, don't get me wrong. But the signs that people are pointing to are tenuous at best.

Let's kick back and see how this plays out. I didn't get to watch Raw, but I'm interested to see how the whole thing plays out. WWE knows better than to leave this as a "well, we'll just crown a new champ" result.

So WWE might be signing Kings of Wrestling. Big whoop; they're perfectly capable singles wrestlers and the WWE tag scene hasn't mattered an iota since both Benoit and Guerrero were alive. Find me someone who bought a ticket to see the tag champs, and I'll show you a Sarah Palin voter. It's not evidence of anything.

Speaking of ROH talent, Seth Rollins has been in developmental for 17 years now. "Tyler Black" was last seen during the Bush administration. I think. Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but if he was to be a part of any "ROH Invasion," the time to pull the trigger was long ago.

Last but not least, I'm only speaking for myself here, and not any of you - but I remember how WWE handles "invasion" angles. I'm not looking forward to that happening at all.

I'm still a potential viewer for sure, but WWE has a lot to prove to me before I'll really watch deeply and care deeply again as a fan.

Also, just so I'm not a total bitch for this post - having watched the Punk/Cena match again, I'll say this: Michael Cole, barring a few moments of using his signature lines, did a *fantastic* announcing job for the main event. No joke. He sold the living fuck out of the meaning of the WWE Title, discussing its history, legacy, etc. He also no sold Booker T's blithering idiocy regarding Cena turning the Chicago crowd in his favor (using a Rocky IV analogy). I love Booker, but that shit was so fed to him, since the crowd couldn't have treated Cena any worse if he got on the mic and said New York style pizza was the best. Cole was cognizant enough to disregard it. Kudos to him for that.
 
Supposedly Jimmy Jacobs got a tryout with the WWE recently - he was backstage at the PPV along with several miscellaneous indie guys.

I don't know how well a ROH invasion would go over. WCW/ECW "worked" because they were household names; ROH is a niche promotion that has a syndicated televison deal to about 14 homes. I love the company, but they're light years behind the WWE in terms of legitimacy. I don't see how WWE benefits equally by featuring ROH in any way; it only helps ROH as the casual fan isn't going to give a shit if Grizzly Redwood takes an RKO or something.
 
Remember when The Rock said he'd be coming back in that youtube video a couple of weeks ago? Now its confirmed that hes coming back at Survivor Series.

http://www.wrestlingnewssource.com/feed_news-20272-The_Rock_Confirmed_to_be_at_Survivor_Series.php

WrestleZone has reported the following:

"WWE is planning a huge media campaign to support The Rock’s appearance at Survivor Series 2011, which will take place at Madison Square Garden. “With SummerSlam taking place in Los Angeles, WWE is going to go all out to promote Rock at MSG,” a key WWE insider told us this evening.
“(WWE Chairman) Vince (McMahon) really wants to exploit The Rock’s mainstream credibility to the max with this major pay-per-view appearance, which will officially kick off the direct push into Rock vs Cena at WrestleMania 28.”
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[quote name='JJSP']Supposedly Jimmy Jacobs got a tryout with the WWE recently - he was backstage at the PPV along with several miscellaneous indie guys.

I don't know how well a ROH invasion would go over. WCW/ECW "worked" because they were household names; ROH is a niche promotion that has a syndicated televison deal to about 14 homes. I love the company, but they're light years behind the WWE in terms of legitimacy. I don't see how WWE benefits equally by featuring ROH in any way; it only helps ROH as the casual fan isn't going to give a shit if Grizzly Redwood takes an RKO or something.[/QUOTE]

Do you remember the first ECW invasion in 97 on RAW? Same thing.
 
From Lords of Pain:

- As noted before, some of the CM Punk and WWE storyline is expected to play out in other outlets beside WWE TV. Word is that the idea for now is to try a unique balancing act with Punk to be kept in the news with the WWE Title while WWE acts like he doesn't exist. WWE has been calling in favors to try and get Punk booked on things like late night talk shows where they can continue the storyline.

WWE talents have been told not to mention Punk's name in interviews for now, as well as on Twitter and Facebook. On Monday's RAW, John Cena was scripted to slip-up and mention Punk's name. Also before RAW hit the air, Justin Roberts announced that WWE management has banned the fans from chanting Punk's name - which just led to them chanting it, as seen on TV.
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I like the idea of continuing the story line outside of WWE television. This could court even more mainstream media and casual wrestling fans who are aware of the Punk storyline. CM Punk will be on the Bill Simmons "BS Report" podcast this week which had over 25 million downloads in 2010 . If done right, this could make Punk a megastar.
 
Bill Simmons is an excellent columnist on ESPN. He's one of the few people who cover sports and openly admit to enjoying pro wrestling, treating it with respect. Reminds me of Frank DeFord a bit (though DeFord is among the gods in terms of sportswriting - Simmons at least has a shot of getting to that level in his life, unlike damn near anyone else I've read.)

I love the idea of making Punk a pariah in the WWE Universe™, yet keeping him relevant in the press. WWE has finally come to terms with the fact that someone doesn't need WWE air time to be pushed or get over. It's more than Zack Ryder, it's Matt Hardy from a few years ago...fuck, it's Taz's WWF debut in MSG.

Deliberately keeping this angle off of television blurs the lines between the pro wrestling "sportz entertainment" world and the real world - the world we find fascinating. Well, let's be fair, that line has been blurred for decades. Dirt sheets will report anything that is salacious, even if it is a half truth. They'll write the half of the story readers want to hear, and that means painting McMahon and the corporation as villains, Hogan/Bischoff/Russo as check-cashing buffoons without respect to what they rape and pillage in the process. They print what fits the narrative.

If WWE does this right...holy fuck, to think Punk was white hot on Sunday night at 10:50PM! He'll be the harbinger of a new era of popularity for pro wrestling on the whole.

I've been saying that wrestling needs to transcend traditional marketing/programming boundaries for years. Have feuds on twitter; stage shit (i.e., worked moments) outside of arenas long before the program is on the air for fans to report on to dirt sheets. Confound pro wrestling and reality to the viewer. Get TMZ to cover your angles like CM Punk leaving is on the same level as the octomom. John Cena is a phony, like Rock says. WWE was phony; their programming was paint-by-numbers generic. Still is, in a way. But progress is slow, and it's moving in the right direction.

They're finally getting it, in short. About time they discovered this themselves.

And you know what the best part about this is? It seems like, on air, they're already backpedaling on "firing" John Cena. The fact that they didn't follow through with an on-air firing adds an incredible layer of believability to the whole Punk angle. Nobody believed they'd follow through on getting rid of the goose who lays the golden eggs for them. Of course not! So, by backpedaling and keeping him on air, it says "we're desperate, we need big names and big faces to stay on the air." It shows a company that is in panic mode, rewriting angles to accommodate unexpected plans.

But those unexpected plans are the cornerstone of the angle!

It's so fucking postmodern it hurts.
 
I really like that ESPN lets grantland cover wrestling. Going to have to download the BS report because it should be good. Simmons used to love him some wrestling and I bet the interview will be really good. Smart of Punk to choose a wrestling fan to do work with instead of Jim Rome. The clones would probably shit all over it since they hate everything.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']I really like that ESPN lets grantland cover wrestling. Going to have to download the BS report because it should be good. Simmons used to love him some wrestling and I bet the interview will be really good. Smart of Punk to choose a wrestling fan to do work with instead of Jim Rome. The clones would probably shit all over it since they hate everything.[/QUOTE]

I think Punk can handle the clones. Plus it would give Rome an excuse to constantly berate them/play the "brother" soundclip.

I'll have to check out this Bill Simmons guy. Any little thing (especially if it's free) that I can do to indicate to the WWE that I like this angle I'm down for.

Just wish I could buy that Punk shirt for less than $400 :(
 
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100330

One of my favorite columns of Simmons. In particular, he was the first (to my knowledge) to utter a joke we've all told now:

The lyrics go like this: "Shshshn cnbcnsbdb fhdehsh fhdhs dhdhan dbdjdndjd dbdbdbdbdb shshsnhs ffrhdhhjs xbcxbbffgfhhj WHAT'S UP? WHAT'S UP? WHAT'S UP? WHAT'S UP?"
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Watching Punk/Cena again. The crowd is clearly a "smart" crowd, since they popped for a Pepsi Plunge setup on the turnbuckle - but Punk did a hurricanrana instead. Huh.
 
[quote name='Scorch']The WCW Nitro DVD is up on Netflix Instant Streaming. Anyone want to party watch tonight?[/QUOTE]

I checked out the first hour. It's more of a best of "The Best of WCW Nitro" DVD as it's only 2 hours long, shows the first main event from the first Nitro, jumps to the first nWo on Nitro interview, shows Page diamond cutting Hall when they teased Page joining in January 1997, then jumps to the Goldberg-Hogan match in 1998. I quit playing it at that point.
 
1:04: The staggering first-year success of Sheamus reminds me that we desperately need a WWE wrestler named "Masshole." Just a beefy troublemaker from Boston with a kicking accent who comes out to Aerosmith music while spitting Skoal juice into a red cup, takes everything personally, wears Boston jerseys, feuds with anyone from New York and has a finishing move called "The Sucker Punch." This wouldn't be a huge hit?
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:rofl::rofl::rofl:

If Cena did this, I would lose my mind.
 
The Viper (Orton) cleans house, pulls off five quality moves (including a double DDT), milks his gimmick a little (as the talented lunatic who makes weird faces, rolls his eyeballs, goes too slow and always seems like he's one meltdown away from murdering everyone in the stadium)
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According to Colt Cabana's Podcast, Zack Ryder hinted that we should be expecting something big from him pretty soon.

If it is a push from the WWE, it is well deserved. Man is golden.

Check it out. EP 52 The Art of Wrestling w/ Zack Ryder.
http://www.welovecolt.com/
 
It's probably this.

Ebsmd.jpg
 
Some items that I don't think were posted (I actually checked for once!)

- WWE officials have recently been discussing bringing back some credible veterans to help build some of the newer Superstars. However, one source doesn’t expect this to happen on a large scale after the returns of Trevor Murdoch and Snitsky were recently denied.
- Vince McMahon was reportedly disappointed with the outcome of Tough Enough and how the show failed, in his eyes, to produce new marketable talent with potential to be a top star.
It’s also said that Vince has shown frustration as of late with the WWE youth movement but Triple H and others are keeping him optimistic.

- While WWE officials have been high on Alex Riley as of late, there was a lot of second-guessing him after his WWE Title tournament match with The Miz on this past Monday’s RAW from Green Bay. There is talk of slowing Riley’s push down big time unless he improves in the ring. There was concern backstage on Monday that Riley would injure The Miz because of how sloppy he was being.
- The hot storyline with CM Punk, Vince McMahon, John Cena and now Triple H on RAW has been booked for the most part by Vince, Punk and Triple H with input from Cena and others on WWE creative. As always, Vince has the final say in whatever happens.
WWE creative sources report that some of the writers had no idea what was going to happen before Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view. This caused frustration among those writers because they couldn’t write most of Monday’s RAW until after Sunday’s pay-per-view ended.
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[quote name='JJSP']Is that a QR tag to link to his YouTube page? That's fucking fantastic.[/QUOTE]
[quote name='Genocidal']That's what that is? I'm a bit ashamed to admit I tried to scan it but my phone couldn't get a lock.[/QUOTE]


My phone locked on and its a QR link to his Facebook Page
 
I'm really not sure why they put the spoiler on the cover, but whatever. Maybe it'll sell a few extra copies or something.

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[quote name='ShinSolidus']I would, but, I can't. Could do tomorrow night though. Oh, by the way, good thing I didn't buy it from you, huh? [/quote]

No, because it appears to be a "best of" two hour compilation instead of the 8 or 9 hour version on the disc. Still down for watching tonight? Anyone else want in?


Also, just completed my Wrestlemania Blu-Ray collection earlier this week :).. now I need to work on completing my entire WWE Blu-Ray collection.
 
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if it's streaming now, do they have the DVD for mail?

I might be able to watch for a bit tonight, I have rather unstable plans at the moment that I'm anticipating falling through.
 
[quote name='Scorch']I'm really not sure why they put the spoiler on the cover, but whatever. Maybe it'll sell a few extra copies or something.

2ufru43.jpg



No, because it appears to be a "best of" two hour compilation instead of the 8 or 9 hour version on the disc. Still down for watching tonight? Anyone else want in?


Also, just completed my Wrestlemania Blu-Ray collection earlier this week :).. now I need to work on completing my entire WWE Blu-Ray collection.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm in. Moving back to a more stable internet in another hour or so, so I'm in for it.

and it's a best of a best of? eh, whatever. Either way, neither version has LWO stuff.
 
ICP and Norman Smiley?

Sorry, I'll crawl away in shame now.

Also, Breakout Ultimate Chick Fighting or something like that is one of the suggestions for when you had the streaming WCW Nitro thing. The girl that gets her arm ripped out of the socket was a casual aquaintance of mine (ex-gf's neighbor). I nearly threw up when I saw that.
 
[quote name='nasum']ICP and Norman Smiley?

Sorry, I'll crawl away in shame now.[/QUOTE]

Normal Smiley overrides ICP shittiness, so you're good, my friend.
 
If there was any chance of him coming back, it's gone now.

The Record in Mexico has pulled their interview with Sin Cara from yesterday where he talked about his WWE Wellness Policy suspension. Word is that WWE was very upset about Cara discussing the issue publicly, specifically his claim that it was all just a misunderstanding and he didn't know why he was being suspended.
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Yeah, that whole Sin Cara thing is gonna make alot of people here happy. not me though. Boo hoooo...
 
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Interestingly enough WWE stock is up $0.60 so far this week after taking a nose dive when the dividend dropped. I think Punk is making Vince more than $1m and in areas other than ice cream bars.
 
No problems, man. Hell, I was hoping for a better quality version.

I love this because it's exactly the sort of thing myke mentioned a few pages back: worked moments at public venues and viral marketing. I'm glad to see WWE finally decideed to join the 21st century with their storytelling.
 
Not that I know of, I was just going to watch a few minutes during dinner. Works on the phone though. Check your 360 in case it's more than just me.
 
I've got the same WCW problem on my 360. Just a green bar. Sound works, though.

It works on the phone and the PS3, so I'm guessing this is a 360-centric issue.
 
[quote name='007']I've got the same WCW problem on my 360. Just a green bar. Sound works, though.

It works on the phone and the PS3, so I'm guessing this is a 360-centric issue.[/QUOTE]

Netflix on 360 has really been fucking up lately. Tried to watch Stealing Harvard (shut up. I like Jason Lee) last week, and the video gets stuck on the production company's logo, but the audio keeps going. Try to skip past it, and it treats it as if you've skipped backwards. There's a couple other videos that had similar video issues like that. Pain in the ass...
 
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[quote name='007']I've got the same WCW problem on my 360. Just a green bar. Sound works, though.

It works on the phone and the PS3, so I'm guessing this is a 360-centric issue.[/QUOTE]

I got the green bar whenever I tried to watch it on my TV that has a Netflix app on it and also on my 360.
 
Netflix shit the bed for me on 360 about a week ago but turning everything off (I think I included the router/modem) fixed it.

I can't wait for the blu-ray release of MiTB. I wonder if they're going to include stuff like the Comic Con footage or if Punk will still be in limbo and they won't want to promote him. Either way could work.
 
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