Wrestling - Road to Wrestlemania 29

[KevShmev]

Haha.  But honestly, if it weren't for DVR, I probably would never watch anymore, as I would never go out of my way to be home on Monday nights to watch them continuously screw things up.

[Cool Chris]

I normally think these retro/old school things are silly, but seeing Jake the Snake come out with Damian brought a smile to my face. And seeing him in that web interview afterward was great.

And it is never a bad time to see Ted DiBiase. Him kicking the basketball away from that kid is in my top 5 all-time great WWE moments.

I am genuinely curious what the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT will be tonight.

[Dimitrius]

I hope the announcement will not be the WWE Network launch, I seriously hope not!

Lesnar/Show is LOL.
Bryan's thing can be salvaged is Bray's "devil" turns out to be Undertaker or it's the Authority and it becomes a Wyatt family vs. Authority feud.
#BadNewsBarrett is pretty entertaining, too bad he's not doing anything in the ring.

Also, Ambrose marking out at Jake's snake being put on him was glorious!

[Zook]

The announcement being the WWE network launch kind of makes sense since it's supposed to change the WWE forever or whatever it said.

[KevShmev]

Even though I don't mark out like most fans do for old timers coming back, since it is usually just window-dressing for a cheap pop, that was pretty cool seeing Jake the Snake show up.  He was one of the best back in the day at promos and understanding ring psychology.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Retro shows are fun. One of my friends got a picture of Bob Backlund putting him in the crossface chicken wing. He marked the hell out.

I LOVE that Daniel Bryan is in the Wyatt Family. I do hope that the writers handle this properly and this isn't another mismanaged cop out "turn" like Punk's and Ryback's were.

[Syzzle]

Not sure why they're wasting Lesnar's time with the Big Show. They should just have him destroy everyone until the Undertaker is ready to come back to set up their WM match.

Edit: PWInsider reports that according to multiple people that they have spoke to, tomorrow's "Groundbreaking" announcement will be regarding the WWE Network.

[Jaffa]

Not sure why they're wasting Lesnar's time with the Big Show. They should just have him destroy everyone until the Undertaker is ready to come back to set up their WM match.

From what I've been reading, the Undertaker match isn't as set in stone as we once thought.  Apparently, for the last few years, Undertaker and his WrestleMania opponent have spent a lot of time going over the details of their match in advance.  Evidently, doing that prep work with the Undertaker would exceed Lesnar's contractual obligations, since his contract only calls for a limited amount of traveling with the company.

Or so I've been reading, anyway.  Could be bullshit.  We'll see what happens! 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

I think this should happen at Mania.

WWE World Title Match - Randy Orton (c) vs. CM Punk (RR Winner)
Daniel Bryan vs. Shawn Michaels (but I'd settle for Bryan vs. Wyatt at this point. Honestly I'd much RATHER see Bryan vs. Punk, but it is what it is)
The Undertaker vs. John Cena
Brock Lesnar vs. Batista (Not a match, I'd care to see, but I wouldn't want either of these two in the title match or the Taker match)
Cody vs. Golddust
The Wyatts vs. The Shield (with the Wyatts face and the Shield doing Trips' bidding)
etc.....

What I don't want to see is something where Trips/creative force-feeds us an Evolution storyline. Something like Batista challenging Orton for the belt with Trips in Orton's corner and Flair in Batista's.

It would be cool to see Kane help his old buddy Daniel Bryan at some point.

[Syzzle]

Matches that were rumored for WM30 are.

Batista vs. Orton for the title(Haven't seen this one before)
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker
CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan
John Cena vs. The Shield

Just rumors though even though Batista vs Orton seems pretty likely same with Brock and The Undertaker.

[Dimitrius]

I've heard a John Cena & Hogan vs. The Shield rumor. It would be a waste of use for the Shield.

And yes, the "world changing announcement" was indeed the WWE Network... or streaming service might be a better way to put it.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

The Network looks incredible. I will be getting it. Hopefully it goes off without a hitch, as WM will be the very first "PPV" or whatever you'd call them at that point.

[KevShmev]

Sounds pretty cool, even though I doubt I'll get it.  I suspect once this launches, their lawyers will be all over youtube to make sure the hundreds of old matches and events that are up there are taken down. 

[Jaffa]

I don't know that I'll actually get it myself, but yeah, the Network looks pretty incredible.  Every RAW, SmackDown, and PPV ever for $9.99 a month?  That's pretty impressive. 

[John94]

Jake The Snake was awesome! Moreso because I have been following his recovery with DDP via YouTube and Twitter etc. It was a great moment for him and bravo to all involved for keeping it quiet in the modern age.

PS - Subject changed, up to date!

[KevShmev]

After that ending to RAW, the WWE is nuts if he doesn't win the Rumble and headline Wrestlemania.  I haven't seen a guy this over with the crowd since Steve Austin.  It's ridiculous.

[Dimitrius]

I got goosebumps watching that!

EDIT: Btw, I didn't understand why the NAO are turning heel unless they're gonna become regulars for Wrestlemania season. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise.

[wkiml]

NAO  turning made sense, they are friends with HHH who runs the Authority and the Shield is the Authorities henchmen...so it just makes the stable bigger

[Dimitrius]

It makes sense if they're gonna appear more regularly now, yes.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Outlaws joining authority.... what is the world coming to?

That ending was garbage. What incredibly lazy writing.

[jjrock88]

The crowd reaction to Daniel Bryan is off the charts.  If he won the title at WM, that would be a sight to see.

[Jaffa]

That ending was garbage. What incredibly lazy writing.

My thoughts exactly.  His rebellion had absolutely no impact on me whatsoever; I just kind of shrugged.  "Oh, so that's over already, then?  Alright."  Danial Bryan joined the Wyatts two weeks ago.  Two weeks.  And now I'm supposed to react as if he's having a proper face turn after being a villain for months or something?  Sorry, but no.  I'll admit that it was cool to see Bryan playing to the crowd and getting such a huge response, but I'd rather see WWE actually commit to their storylines. 

I'm honestly kind of hoping that it's a swerve, and that assaulting Wyatt and baiting the audience was part of Bryan's initiation or something. 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

That ending was garbage. What incredibly lazy writing.

My thoughts exactly.  His rebellion had absolutely no impact on me whatsoever; I just kind of shrugged.  "Oh, so that's over already, then?  Alright."  Danial Bryan joined the Wyatts two weeks ago.  Two weeks.  And now I'm supposed to react as if he's having a proper face turn after being a villain for months or something?  Sorry, but no.  I'll admit that it was cool to see Bryan playing to the crowd and getting such a huge response, but I'd rather see WWE actually commit to their storylines. 

I'm honestly kind of hoping that it's a swerve, and that assaulting Wyatt and baiting the audience was part of Bryan's initiation or something.

I honestly believe that they balked at letting the storyline play out because of all of the DB "face" fans.

I think that either of these two tweaks to last night would have salvaged it.

1. Daniel Bryan attacks Wyatt unprovoked, instead of having to be attacked by Wyatt. So instead of Bryan "choosing the fans" over Wyatt, he was essentially defending himself.

2. Kane and Bryan setting up the cage match to isolate Bray, who did after all attacked Kane and took him out at Summerslam. But they might be doing a bit of that later down the road, with Kane volenteering to help Authority to help his old tag team partner DB when the time was right.

As long as Punk or Bryan wins the Rumble, I'm good. If Batista wins....

[KevShmev]

The bottom line is, any extended Bryan heel run, even a false one with the Wyatts, would have been stupid.  When someone is as hot and over with crowds as he is right now, you ride it.  It would make the most sense to have him win the Rumble, Cena win the title, and then have Cena/Bryan at Wrestlemania in the rematch that has already been teased several times.

The NAO turning on Punk last night probably sets up the inevitable Punk/HHH WM match. 

Go with this at WM:

Cena/Bryan
Punk/HHH
Undertaker/Lesnar
Batista/Del Rio (since they are basically teasing this feud already anyway, and Batista doesn't deserve to waltz back in and grab a top match, so putting him against the useless Del Rio seems about right)

Of course, then, what do they do with Orton at Wrestlemania if he is out of the title picture?  And if he hangs on to the title, who does he defend it against at WM?  Having another Orton/Bryan match wouldn't seem that special considering how many PPV matches they had in '13.

It's still stupid that neither Bryan nor Big Show got to exact any revenge on HHH for the way he and his wife embarrassed them for months on a weekly basis on RAW, but that is par for the course for HHH.

[Phoenix87x]

Warrior's going into the Hall of fame. Didn't see that coming.

[Jaq]

Warrior's going into the Hall of fame. Didn't see that coming.

Giving the Warrior a microphone at the induction should result in some great fun.

[Syzzle]

Can't be any worse than when they gave Bob Backlund a mic

[Destiny Of Chaos]

I got to see Iron Shiek's induction in person... that was hilarious.

 

[Jaffa]

Mae Young died.   

[John94]

Sad news, she was on my first ever WWF PPV, Royal Rumble 2000. Shudders.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Batista winning the Rumble tonight would pretty much be a breaking point for me. It would mark the third year in a row that an outsider was brought in to Main Event Wrestlemania..... despite having a plethora of guys on the roster that are more than capable of doing business if given the opportunity. WWE is trying to do the safest things possible for Wrestlemania. They don't seem to realize (or care) that WM will net them a boatload of money REGARDLESS of who closes the show. If Batista's on the Card, people who choose to order the show JUST because he's on (if anyone like that really exists) will order it whether he's in the main event or not.

WWE has a lot of things going for it right now. If they sabotage those things in the name of playing it safe for Mania, I don't know if I can go along for the ride this time. No loss to WWE as millions will still watch it regardless....

[Zook]

This sums up Batista for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhX3bEDRebw

[Destiny Of Chaos]

This sums up Batista for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhX3bEDRebw

 

I did like the promo he cut on the wheelchair as he was quitting. Finally showed some character.

[Jaffa]

Out of curiosity, who do you think should win the Rumble?  I'm guessing Daniel Bryan is everybody's first choice, but I'm curious to see if anybody has any other thoughts. 

[KevShmev]

Batista is boring.  His matches are usually boring, and his promos are almost always boring.  It will be fitting if his first major feud after coming back is with Del Rio, who is even more boring.

Daniel Bryan has been the biggest and most over wrestler of the past year, and should be a natural for the main event of Wrestlemania, so I am sure he won't get it.