The Era of Punk Wrestling Thread

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Yeah, coming to the ring to a third-rate Enigma would really get guys over with the WWE Universe.

Why not give 'em Pet Shop Boys while you're at it?

Let's talk about Raw tonight: Punk sighting or new champion?

Reasons for the former:
- WWE has no patience in letting stories simmer
- WWE has zero track record in letting "firing" stories linger too long
- Last week's rating wasn't good enough to continue the facade of an angle

Reasons for the latter:
- WWE is willing to take chances
- They think the WWE Universe wants a champion and will cheer no matter who it is

Ideally, I would LOVE to see Triple H become the new "Mr McMahon" character and have John Cena become his "corporate champion" somehow tonight. If the crowd is still heavily into Punk, then whoever touches the first championship is cursed and it won't resonate with the fans. "You're not the real champ" and all that. So if you fold that into the context of the crowd booing the shit out of the person who wins, and have Triple H "screw" Rey and Miz out of the title, putting it on John Cena, you have potential for long term money there.

I think that would work quite well, despite my distaste for "evil company owner" angles in wrestling. I may hate them, but they're not going away anytime soon, are they?
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Ideally, I would LOVE to see Triple H become the new "Mr McMahon" character and have John Cena become his "corporate champion" somehow tonight. If the crowd is still heavily into Punk, then whoever touches the first championship is cursed and it won't resonate with the fans. "You're not the real champ" and all that. So if you fold that into the context of the crowd booing the shit out of the person who wins, and have Triple H "screw" Rey and Miz out of the title, putting it on John Cena, you have potential for long term money there.[/QUOTE]

Stating the obvious here, but that could also quickly lead to the LONG over due John Cena heel turn. Though, having him shit all over everyone kind of kills the Respect part of his mantra, but then again, he could cut a heel promo and state that the respect was for himself.

Not that they'll have the balls to actually turn Cena heel, but Cena as a super babyface already draws heat from people who are sick of him, and I think with a few easy moves he'd generate monster heat.
 
If anyone signed for up that Gohastings 30% deal, pretty good deals on wrestling blurays right now. Just picked up the latest Wrestlemania used for around $8 before shipping.
 
I think if they were going to do that it would have happened at Money in the Bank. Alberto cashing in seems more likely. Del Rio holds the belt until TLC in December where they redo Razor/HBK with Del Rio and Punk.

Then you have a nice long time to build up Cena/Punk 2 for the Royal Rumble.
 
With guessing about things moving forward, the first key information of when Punk is coming back is missing. Honestly, without that it's really tough to speculate. Let's say they actually put the belt on someone tonight... does that guy hold it for 6 months? Does he hold it until SummerSlam? Does it change hands between the guy who wins it and the guy who ultimately faces the returning Punk?

Without any solid of idea when Punk comes back, I'm actually going to step back from guessing and just enjoy watching it play out. This shit is too much of a blank canvas without a solid return date.

To hit upon the actual important part of all this, though... what about THE BELT? Punk has the old one, so what happens if they actually go forward with crowning a champion tonight? They can't possibly be stupid enough to give the winner a spinner replica, right? Right? Oh, dear god, RIGHT?

My actual dream for the 'Helmsley Era' is that it actually leads to a complete overhaul of everything... belt, logo, sets, music, the works. Tell me you wouldn't shit if, by SummerSlam, we had a new WWE title belt, got rid of the shitty Nickelback song, and FINALLY fuckING RETIRED THE GODDAMN SCRATCH LOGO. As ridiculous as it sounds, that would help convince me they're serious about a new direction more than 'corporate champ' John Cena would. There's too much baggage with the current 'look' of the shows for me, which needs to be dumped ASAP.

Pipe dream, yeah, but still.
 
Aesthetics or not, they need to drastically revamp the flow of the show. Starting off with 15 minute talkie-talk segments kills me. Some things I get (the bathroom break segment before the main event, like a Divas match or Chris Masters or something) - but others I do not.

In-ring tete-a-tete promos are done, man. Punk's finest hour on teevee recently involved him sitting down at the top of the ramp and cutting a promo better than anything this year by a country mile. Seeing two guys who should be pummeling the shit out of each other strut out to their entrance music so slowly, then stand and pace and talk into microphones when they're 15 feet away from each other is fucking ridiculous.

I want to see more pretapes used during matches. It's not like the announcers ever talk about the match or discuss moves or holds - so let's not pretend like the in-ring action is too sacred to WWE to use that format again. Randy Orton uses headlocks so much in his matches it's like he's a one-man campaign to bring back those kinds of pretapes.

I also want to see the backstage announcers show more personality. Josh Matthews has been with the company so long that he's from the first season of WWF Tough Enough. That's a decade ago at this point. But he's a boring-ass backstage announcer. Don't get me wrong, I don't want a Todd Pettingill - but someone like Mean Gene, whose facial reactions sold matches, whose questions conveyed the incredulity of a heel's actions when he would interview them, and who could wrap up a segment summarizing a character so perfectly in fewer than 7 words. Speaking of pipe dreams, I would like a backstage announcer that isn't a cardboard cutout in terms of personality and product.

Also, get Booker T off the announce table. Man, I love the guy in the ring and think he's a hell of a talent - but he's the drizzling shits as an announcer.
 
Lords Of Pain is reporting Hero & Castagnoli will be skipping developmental and will be headed straight to the main roster.
 
I wanna see WWE borrow ROH's idea from awhile back: after a match, the winner walks up the ramp, the camera zooms in, and they cut a few seconds-long promo. Short and sweet, and I could see it working especially well for mid-carders to give them the chance to talk without wasting a lot of airtime.

Also, let's bring some goddamn prestige back for the IC and tag belts. No more champs jobbing in non-title matches, no more-throwaway title matches in the curtain jerker match on RAW, and let's get some honest-to-goodness tag teams again. The only actual tag team left in WWE is the Usos, and the reigning champs are The Time of Moment of the the Era of the McGillucutty and Jennier Hudson's husband. That's a damn shame.
 
^ Speaking of prestige and mid-card belts, did you notice that the Summerslam moment of the week on raw last Monday was the *incredible* Bulldog/Bret match from Wembley stadium? A high profile, well booked and well executed friendly competitive feud over the belt. Also, think of Bret vs Roddy Piper from Wrestlemania. The IC belt used to be so incredibly meaningful as a springboard to the main event. Now it (and the tag belts) are "last one to say 'not it' has to carry these through TSA checkpoints for the next month, I mean be tag champs!"

[quote name='JJSP']Lords Of Pain is reporting Hero & Castagnoli will be skipping developmental and will be headed straight to the main roster.[/QUOTE]

I'll believe it when I see it. Nobody skips developmental.
 
[quote name='JJSP']Lords Of Pain is reporting Hero & Castagnoli will be skipping developmental whitewash reprogramming and will be headed straight to the main roster.[/QUOTE]

Adjusted.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']^ Speaking of prestige and mid-card belts, did you notice that the Summerslam moment of the week on raw last Monday was the *incredible* Bulldog/Bret match from Wembley stadium? A high profile, well booked and well executed friendly competitive feud over the belt. Also, think of Bret vs Roddy Piper from Wrestlemania. The IC belt used to be so incredibly meaningful as a springboard to the main event. Now it (and the tag belts) are "last one to say 'not it' has to carry these through TSA checkpoints for the next month, I mean be tag champs!"
[/QUOTE]

Funny how I was thinking all those things as they showed clips from that match. I just kinda let out a sigh while watching. It genuinely depresses me
to see how far that belt has fallen.
 
I don't normally read house show recaps, but evidently Ezekiel Jackson had some trouble getting into the Worcester County Civic Center last night for a house show in White Plains, NY - he wasn't recognized by venue security.

YOUR INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION.
 
In an update on John Cena and Alberto Del Rio from this weekend's live events WWE did an angle where Del Rio put his Money in the Bank briefcase on the line while Cena would have to go to SmackDown if he lost. Last night's show in Maryland saw the match end in a DQ after The Miz and other RAW heels attacked Cena. This brought out the babyface RAW stars to make the save for Cena.

Regarding the show in Upper Marlboro last night, Cena wrote the following odd tweet:

"CeNation. I was just told by "them" not to tweet about the upper marlboro event tonight, don't know why, ultimately I thought it was great!"
Click to expand...

Hmm..
 
Oh, god. That just makes me angry because of the lack of logic. So, yeah, the guy who has yet to have a title shot since moving to Raw is going to potentially give up his guaranteed sneak-attack title shot in a match with a guy who basically never loses?

To further that, why in the fuck would John Cena want a briefcase to get a title shot? Couldn't he just, you know, wait a few days like normal?

Sorry, it's the same thing that annoyed me about the John Morrison/R-Truth angle a few months ago. The idea that a guy who has never held a title would put his guaranteed title shot on the line FOR ANY REASON is just beyond fucking stupid.

I hope to christ that doesn't materialize into a televised angle.
 
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My entrance theme:

The intro from Slipknot's first major release. That whole "The whole thing I think is sick" bit and then the first chunk of the song following pretty much up to where the lyrics kick in.
If that doesn't make you want to get up and just start beating the shit out of the nearest person then something may be wrong with you.

If my gimmick was spooky, probably one of the black metal keyboard solos would suffice.
 
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Del Rio will get screwed out of the briefcase somehow. He won the Rumble and got squashed at WM, he won the #1 contender match for a shot at Cena at MitB then Vince reinstated Punk, now he has the MitB briefcase and had a faux cash-in at the PPV.. he will not get a chance to cash it in. I don't know if this is him paying his dues or what, but he just can't win.
 
because he's boring and his character is so predictable that I find myself changing the channel when he's on (or fast forwarding the DVR). Or at least I did when I still had TV.
 
I was watching PWO last night and watched Shiima Xion make a blind tag on his partner Michael Facade, then watched Michael Facade immediately go for a pin while the referee had to tell him he wasn't the legal man, because Michael Facade is too fucking stupid to realize he just got tagged. I'm sill pretty pissed off about it.

[quote name='nasum']My entrance theme:

The intro from Slipknot's first major release. That whole "The whole thing I think is sick" bit and then the first chunk of the song following pretty much up to where the lyrics kick in.
If that doesn't make you want to get up and just start beating the shit out of the nearest person then something may be wrong with you.[/QUOTE]

If I had to sit through a 37 second intro, the only person I'd want to fight is the person taking so goddamn long to enter.
 
I would think more 10-15 seconds of that and then come out when track 2 starts. Video would be ASCII characters playing the opening scene of Deepthroat, just the car driving bit to keep it PG of course...
 
[quote name='mykevermin']I don't normally read house show recaps, but evidently Ezekiel Jackson had some trouble getting into the Worcester County Civic Center last night for a house show in White Plains, NY - he wasn't recognized by venue security.

YOUR INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION.[/QUOTE]

LMAO! He reminds me of Ahmed Johnson but with less red-tights-constantly-crawling-up-his-ass issues.

Just have the guy reform the Nation.
 
[quote name='Dr. Venkman']LMAO! He reminds me of Ahmed Johnson but with less red-tights-constantly-crawling-up-his-ass issues.

Just have the guy reform the Nation.[/QUOTE]

I don't need a Nation reformation but I've thought the same thing about Ezekial Jackson before.

I don't have an issue with most people's entrance themes. It's professional wrestling, we're not trying to appeal to people who turn their noses up at music that more than 50 people have heard before. Even ECW, as one of the most esoteric organizations on television in the late 90s used more or less mainstream music, usually to great effect. New Jack couldn't wrestle for shit but goddamn did that arena ever explode when Natural Born Killers started playing.
 
I wonder if they're testing the waters with new angles and gimmicks at house shows.. there was another report that came out today that said that Zack Ryder was dressed as the Ultimate Warrior, complete with tassles and all, and did the splash to Dolph Ziggler.

If they repackage Ryder as the Ultimate Warrior.. I don't know how I'll feel.
 
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I think Jackson has a much bigger upside than Johnson. For starters, Jackson can talk. I don't know if he can cut promos, but he can speak the English language, which is a good deal better than Johnson. Also, Johnson was an awful wrestler. Jackson isn't bad, but he's just bland.

WWE thought they could "push" him by putting him over a stable (Corre) nobody gave a flying fuck about. So he's in a spot he's not ready for, largely due to WWE's poor assessment of how over their talent is.

I like Jackson, I want to see him succeed (and have said many many times his legal name is far more badass than his WWE copywritten name). Maybe this goes back to our discussion about WWE using "gimmicks." What is Jackson's? He's a guy who wrestles. Might as well be Gunner Scott.

Jackson has held a number of prominent titles in his WWE time, but he's totally, totally, totally forgettable. And I put some responsibility on WWE for that.

...and much on him for that. He's done nothing to connect with the crowd. He's like "hey, everyone, I'm huge and bald and black. that's enough, right?" His theme music is WWE CAW default theme #6. Might as well be Hardcore Holly's song with something about domination in place of "HOW DA YAH LIKE ME NOW?" His personality is nonexistent and I'm not impressed enough in his wrestling to buy a ticket to see him.

On the other hand, someone who has charisma and really impresses me in the ring is Heath Slater. He needs a haircut and he needs to return the tights he borrowed from Alex Shelley, but he's got that "it." I think he needs a mouthpiece, too. Someone like Jimmy Hart to talk about how Slater's narcissism, skill, speed, etc. I cringe when I hear his "one man rock band" schtick. That's fuckin' backyard wrestlin' right there. Cut his hair short and put him in a tag team with Tyson Kidd. Give them a manager and send them to the tag team titles.

Oh, and repackage Kidd, too. That Hart Foundation lineage shit ain't foolin' anybody. Guy's less over than whoever is shooting the t-shirt gun that night. But Kidd and Slater as two smarmy kids who think they're a million times better than they actually are? Awesome. Like The Rockers, but heel. Bring in Young Bucks to feud with them across the summer. Pay them in sandwiches, it's an upgrade over TNA.

New Nexus has no Punk and no tag titles? Break them up: have McGillicuty take on the name "Hennig" and promote himself as the second coming of Mr. Perfect (sorry, kiddo - trying to make your own mark on the industry just ain't cutting it). David Otunga can work as enhancement talent for a bit (he's already there), and...um, who are the other guys in the Nexus? Mason Ryan? fuck, he's tall and ripped, I have no worries about how WWE will treat his career trajectory.

Lastly...is that fat Rotundo kid still around? Have him talk to Amish Roadkill about his "Braddock" gimmick in OVW. Dude is a perfect fit for something similar.

Dear WWE: you're welcome. And I don't mean that in a Perry Saturn way.
 
[quote name='Halo05']I don't need a Nation reformation but I've thought the same thing about Ezekial Jackson before.

I don't have an issue with most people's entrance themes. It's professional wrestling, we're not trying to appeal to people who turn their noses up at music that more than 50 people have heard before. Even ECW, as one of the most esoteric organizations on television in the late 90s used more or less mainstream music, usually to great effect. New Jack couldn't wrestle for shit but goddamn did that arena ever explode when Natural Born Killers started playing.[/QUOTE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVvvd-mlRU
 
ECW always knew how to capture their guys image perfectly with their entrance music. Raven with Evenflow, The Gangstaz with Natural Born Killaz, Taz with War Machine, RVD with Walk, Dreamer with Man in the Box, Shane Douglas with Perfect Strangers... aww man, I miss ECW so much these days. Sabu fit right with Little Crazy, much more than his arabian nights sounding shit that he wound up with.
 
[quote name='xilly']ECW always knew how to capture their guys image perfectly with their entrance music. Raven with Evenflow, The Gangstaz with Natural Born Killaz, Taz with War Machine, RVD with Walk, Dreamer with Man in the Box, Shane Douglas with Perfect Strangers... aww man, I miss ECW so much these days. Sabu fit right with Little Crazy, much more than his arabian nights sounding shit that he wound up with.[/QUOTE]

ECW covered up their wrestlers with music. New Jack was *awful* in the ring, and Sandman even worse. The music and brawling covered that fact up.

That's also 15-20 years ago, where precedents for entrance themes hadn't really been set (how few of the songs in Simmon's article were from pre-1997? 2?). So I'm not sure I agree with you.
 
[quote name='JJSP']@Chase - The RockNES Monsters are on just about every PWG show lately, and are quite over with the local crowd. They wrestled Joey Ryan & Scorpio Sky in what was a pretty awesome new-SoCal vs old-SoCal match. Goodtime is Joey's roommate which I think has helped them get a lot of bookings in SoCal.[/QUOTE]


Ah, sweet! I definitely like that they're getting more exposure. I think they have potential. :)


CM Punk and Colt Cabana are class acts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUm-O7Z3S0M

How can anyone dislike Punk? (I'd include Cabana in that question, but I don't know anyone who actually dislikes Colt Cabana.)
 
[quote name='xilly']ECW always knew how to capture their guys image perfectly with their entrance music. Raven with Evenflow, The Gangstaz with Natural Born Killaz, Taz with War Machine, RVD with Walk, Dreamer with Man in the Box, Shane Douglas with Perfect Strangers... aww man, I miss ECW so much these days. Sabu fit right with Little Crazy, much more than his arabian nights sounding shit that he wound up with.[/QUOTE]

Raven was Come Out & Play
 
[quote name='Purple Flames']Another.fucking.spinner belt.[/QUOTE]

Boo-urns. Also, boo-urns at me for not having time to watch wrestling tonight.

I'll check out the recap here. I'm still excited for WWE stuff like I haven't been since the very end of the monday night wars but I got tests to pass.
 
how fucking dare they give that little fucker the belt


And also how the hell do you not use this oppurtunity to introduce a new belt or bring back a classic traditional title.


fuck
 
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