Wrestling - Road to Wrestlemania 29

[Jaffa]

After watching his promo on Raw, I actually feel vaguely positive about the chances of a change for John Cena at Wrestlemania 29. 

[KevShmev]

Nah, he always gets booed a ton in certain cities, so I doubt they will turn him.  But they should cause his act is as stale as 3-week old bread.

It will be funny though when the NY/NJ crowd boos the hell out of him after he beats The Rock for the title on Sunday.

[Jaffa]

Nah, he always gets booed a ton in certain cities, so I doubt they will turn him. 

Oh, I know some crowds are very anti-Cena.  I just felt like he actually resented the heat a bit last night.  Maybe that's just me being optimistic, but, I dunno.  I thought I might have seen some signs of Cena turning on the crowd. 

[toro]

They always tease a Cena turn when he is being booed out of the building. And I believe this Cena "heelish" promos are nothing but an attempt to get more buys for this shittly build WM. I seriously believe this is the worst build to a WM I have ever seen.

[Zook]

If Cena does turn heel, do you think he'll do the Thuganomics gimmick or something new?

[Dimitrius]

What a horrible "go home" show! Except for the last bit, of course.

[Zook]

What's a go home show?

[KevShmev]

  I seriously believe this is the worst build to a WM I have ever seen.

I barely watched any wrestling from the late 90s-early 2009, but it has been pretty bad.  WM is supposed to be where long time feuds are settled, but aside from Lesnar/HHH, none of them have that feel.  Neither Cena nor Rock seem that into their match; Punk is fighting Undertaker cause he won a fatal four-way; Swagger is fighting Del Rio cause he won the EC.  The Shield has been nice and left Cena and Ryback alone since they now have other WM opponents.   Ho-hum.

[Dimitrius]

What's a go home show?

The last show before a PPV.

[Zook]

I wonder if Paul Bearer ever said " When I die, you can use my death as a storyline in the most tasteless way possible".

[KevShmev]

Vince McMahon once made fun of Jim Ross' bell's palsy; I doubt he gives a crap.

[Zook]

I thought that happened on a different promotion.

[KevShmev]

Nope. Vince did it live on RAW, last year, I think.

[Zook]

Last year? I'm thinking of something from the Attitude Era or TNA or something. Someone was dressed up as JR. I've only seen a few second clip.

[Phoenix87x]

Last year? I'm thinking of something from the Attitude Era or TNA or something. Someone was dressed up as JR. I've only seen a few second clip.

This may not be what you were are talking about, but Ed Ferrara used to dress up as "Oklahoma" and make fun of JR's bell's palsy. He even brought out BBQ sauce and everything. One of WCW's really low points.

[Jaffa]

I wonder if Paul Bearer ever said " When I die, you can use my death as a storyline in the most tasteless way possible".

I don't know, but from what I read, his family signed off on this storyline. 

[Zook]

Last year? I'm thinking of something from the Attitude Era or TNA or something. Someone was dressed up as JR. I've only seen a few second clip.

This may not be what you were are talking about, but Ed Ferrara used to dress up as "Oklahoma" and make fun of JR's bell's palsy. He even brought out BBQ sauce and everything. One of WCW's really low points.

Yeah, that looks like him. According to Wikipedia, that happened during Vince Russo's reign, which I remember quite vividly, but I must have blocked this out, or just didn't get the reference at the time and forgot about it before I started watching WWF after WCW ended.

[Dimitrius]

Yeah, but Vince himself has made fun of JR's condition on the air. I remember something from the late 90s early 2000s where he did it.

Also, Paul Bearer's son posted he knew what was happening last night, they've been told beforehand (and OK'd it) but that it still shook him to see it happened.

[toro]

Yeah, but Vince himself has made fun of JR's condition on the air. I remember something from the late 90s early 2000s where he did it.

Also, Paul Bearer's son posted he knew what was happening last night, they've been told beforehand (and OK'd it) but that it still shook him to see it happened.

Do you... Browse /wooo/?

[Dimitrius]

Nope.

[Zook]

I know you said you’re not playing a character earlier, and how you’re playing yourself, but a lot of fans continue to clamor for a John Cena heel turn. I know in the past you’ve said you’re against it, but what if it was the best written script possible, something that would completely change the landscape of WWE? Would you go full-out heel and make the kids cry for maybe a year, or is that just not in the plans?

"I just don’t see me getting there in order to please a very small group of 30-year-olds. To be very honest with you, every single week I meet kids with life-threatening illnesses and they’ll tell me how much I mean to them, and their parents will tell me how inspirational I’ve been to their kids. We raised a million dollars last year for breast cancer. I’m helping spearhead the Hurricane Sandy relief fund at this year’s WrestleMania. I’ve been able to give back to the military in Tribute to the Troops. And I’m currently working on a program to help America shave 5 million pounds. All of this stuff I would have to stop if I was a “bad guy.” To be a bad guy, you actually have to be a bad guy. I just don’t have it in me, personally. So although you might get a great story out of it for nine months, doing it would just take away so much, and I don’t have that club in the bag."

You also can't have a bad guy as the mascot for Fruity Pebbles.

[KevShmev]

Considering almost every wrestler in history has at one point or another played a heel (except for rare exceptions like Ricky Steamboat), Cena is basically calling nearly wrestler ever a bad guy. 

That aside, I get his point about how all of that charity stuff would be hard to do if he were a heel, and that is admirable, so it is hard to hold that against him.  I just wish they would give him more of an edge as a face instead of the cheerleader "I will smile even when I am getting booed unmercilessly" act that has gotten so stale.  He could still be a face, but play a different role.

[Phoenix87x]

Considering almost every wrestler in history has at one point or another played a heel (except for rare exceptions like Ricky Steamboat), Cena is basically calling nearly wrestler ever a bad guy. 

That aside, I get his point about how all of that charity stuff would be hard to do if he were a heel, and that is admirable, so it is hard to hold that against him.  I just wish they would give him more of an edge as a face instead of the cheerleader "I will smile even when I am getting booed unmercilessly" act that has gotten so stale.  He could still be a face, but play a different role.

Agreed, I wish he would adopt at least a little bit of the anti-hero persona. And not necessarily Stone Cold middle fingers to everyone, but I can't respect a character that let's himself get pushed around and who smiles during the booing. The Rock in his early incarnation was very similar to how cena is now. Mr. nice guy and the fans booed the shit out of him and then he finally got some backbone and fought back and got over big.

There's something profoundly wrong with this:



But The Rock was able to turn it all around. The Cena character needs an overhaul.

[Dimitrius]

Flex Kavana > Rocky Maivia

[hefdaddy42]

Flex Kavana > Rocky Maivia

Just no.

[KevShmev]

CM Punk had two words for the "smart marks" whose delicate sensibilities have actually been disturbed by the Paul Bearer angle in the build towards his match with Undertaker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EqYTL1V9giE#t=595s

 

[Dimitrius]

That's awesome!

[Destiny Of Chaos]

My predictions

Pre-Show
Intercontinental Title Match
Wade Barrett

Wrestlemania 29
Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls

Fandango

Tag Team Title Match
Team Hell No

Ryback

Randy Orton, Shaemus & The Big Show

World Heavyweight Title Match
Alberto Del Rio (c)

BONUS - Does Dolph Ziggler cash in his Money in the Bank World Title Shot? No

No Holds Barred
Triple H

The Undertaker

WWE Championship Match
John Cena

[Dimitrius]

God I hope Dolph cashes in.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

God I hope Dolph cashes in.

I hope he does as well, but I have a feeling that they're going to have him in danger of losing his briefcase in July due to not having cashed it in yet.

[Phoenix87x]

Ok, so back at the zenith of the Monday night wars when Raw was pulling 7's in the ratings, I noticed that the wrestlemania attendance numbers were pretty low compared to today. For example:

WM 14: FleetCenter (TD Garden); Boston, MA - 19,028
WM 15: First Union Center (Wells Fargo Center); Philadelphia, PA - 19,514
WM 16: Arrowhead Pond (Honda Center); Anaheim, CA - 18,742

with today's product doing 2's and 3's at the most these days, how the hell are they doing attendance numbers of:

WM 26: University of Phoenix Stadium; Glendale, AZ - 72,219
WM 27: Georgia Dome; Atlanta, GA - 71,617
WM 28: Sun Life Stadium; Miami, FL - 78,363

https://prowrestling.about.com/od/wrestlemania/a/wmthevenues.htm

[Zook]

Lies?

[Dimitrius]

I think those figures from the 90s are sell outs as well, right?

I think the difference is that those 3 are basketball arenas compared to NFL stadiums. Even if you don't sell out those stadiums, they would've easily made over 20,000 anyway.

[Phoenix87x]

I think those figures from the 90s are sell outs as well, right?

I think the difference is that those 3 are basketball arenas compared to NFL stadiums. Even if you don't sell out those stadiums, they would've easily made over 20,000 anyway.

True, I just would have thought that Vince would have held such high drawing events at venues that could have satisfied demand. Picking a 20,000 capacity venue just seems like it was a waste of potential money.

I'm sure there's a logical reason for his choice though. 

[Syzzle]

It balances out because he jacks up ticket prices for the smaller venues.