WWE

[greenwichvilla]

This week, I have mostly been enjoying the Twitter accounts of popular WWE Superstars, especially the banter between Morrison, Jericho and The Miz. A good, genuine insight into life on the road.

Recommended if you're bored www.twitter.com/iamjericho or realmorrison mikethemiz matthardybrand jeffhardybrand realorton trueedge mickiejamesdiva

Good fun, or maybe I'm just sad.

[Guy M]

I agree with you, Guy. Just wish that had been made more clear.

On another issue, does anyone really want to see Bret vs Vince at Wrestlemania? I don't....

Just watching the start of the 3rd week now and if the show's anything like the first 2, I won't be fast-forwarding a minute of the wrestling or the interviews and I haven't done that with RAW or SmackDown since I got Sky+

I'm loving it because as familiar as I am with WWE and its wrestlers, I don't know a thing about these guys (other than Daniel Bryan) and so the matches and the moves are a genuine surprise to me.

Take Justin Gabriel. Couldn't see him as having any chance in the grand scheme of things. So I check out FCW website and his Wiki page, and turns out he's the current FCW Champion!

I suppose it's as close to the old weekly WWF Superstars programme where superstars would face jobbers as we're ever likely to return to. And I'm really enjoying it.

But in response to your other question, if Bret and Vince's physical altercations so far are anything to go by, their match at WM will be a horrific blunderfest. So, no, I'm not looking forward to it either.

[Guy M]

Just finished. Think they're pushing Daniel Bryan a bit too fast too soon. People will like him because they dislike Miz but they're going for overkill. No surprise there really, but ought to be more of a slow burner. Sometimes even the WWE audience will do the opposite to what they're told (turning on Rocky Maivia so early on) and there's a danger of them doing this to Bryan and I don't think he's got what Dwayne did to ever overcome that with them.

No Skip Sheffield this week which is a shame (although he was on RAW) as I think he has great comedy value and worked brilliantly on camera with Regal.

I'm convinced Darren Young is Cena with a stupid fake tan. He has to be a shoe-in for Guido Of The Week at some point tho.

[Rancid custard]

watched some tna last night, damn, come on Ric and Hulk just give it up. Much as I respect you both for carrying and building your respective empires it's painful to watch now, bow with grace and don't destroy your legacy.

[TheTimVilla]

Guy - Vince McMahon should remain firmly behind the scenes. There are so many wrestlers not getting a lookin (eg Shelton Benjamin and the recently released guys such as Burchill, Helms, etc) and VKM is using up valuable airtime. Ok, he's the Chairman, we get it. But in front of the screen, he's just another character. He's just too stale.

Which leads me nicely on to Rc's point. Flair & Hogan need the money as they both have expensive divorces (in the case of Flair, multiple!) to contend with. I watched some of TNA yesterday but gave up after the Sting heel turn.

Still haven't seen NXT but Guy's glowing recommendations mean I might give it a go.

[Guy M]

I read the review of IMPACT online earlier in the week and thought it looked like a good show. Then I watched it and it was pretty much as Tim described the January 4th episode: "clusterfuck".

Tim: I get what you're saying, but the reality is Vince on-screen and in the ring gets a reaction from the public, Shelton and so many others do not. Bizarrely as good as Shelton is, the biggest response he's ever got from the crowd was when "his" Big Momma was aligned with him.

I really wish they'd slow down on TNA, build some of the storylines a bit slower because I'm loving seeing brand new wrestlers and brand new matches and will watch for that alone. I don't need Daniel Bryan to be pushed so hard as a fan favourite when he'll get himself over given the chance to showcase his talents. I fear that I'm not the sort of fan they're trying to please or attract tho, hence the "jeopardy" element discussed a few posts already rearing its very ugly head.

[greenwichvilla]

This week's Raw was great, really enjoyed it.

Was brilliant to see Stone Cold back on Raw, was a little dissapointed not to see him Stun Vince, but hey, you can't have it all.

I thought they made a really good job at promoting Wrestlemania, and all the matches were of a good, strong quality. The idea of Wrestlemania Rewind was great too.

And it was great at the end when Bret took his cast, wonderful stuff.

The guest host thing has been really hit and miss I feel. It seems to work better when it's a former wrestler doing it. It's going through tot he Summer now, and I can't see why, it's largely pointless.

Anyone heard anything on Jeff Hardy? He was in court yesterday.

[Guy M]

Ah man, why didn't I stop reading as soon as I saw you said "this week's RAW"? Stupid, stupid Guy.

My bro texted me the other day to say that WWE has banned chair-shots to the head. I think this and the guest host are just two of the WWE's steps to try to appeal to a younger and more general audience.

Compared to last week's bleedfest on Impact, I don't see anything wrong with that at all.

[greenwichvilla]

Ah man, why didn't I stop reading as soon as I saw you said "this week's RAW"? Stupid, stupid Guy.

My bro texted me the other day to say that WWE has banned chair-shots to the head. I think this and the guest host are just two of the WWE's steps to try to appeal to a younger and more general audience.

Compared to last week's bleedfest on Impact, I don't see anything wrong with that at all.

Isn't that to do with the wellness policy? Because getting hit on the head with a chair isn't a natural impact for the head?

Sorry, Guy. I know it's not the first time this has happened. Hope I didn't spoil it too much...

[Guy M]

My bro texted me the other day to say that WWE has banned chair-shots to the head. I think this and the guest host are just two of the WWE's steps to try to appeal to a younger and more general audience.

Isn't that to do with the wellness policy? Because getting hit on the head with a chair isn't a natural impact for the head?

I'd say it's all part of the same thing, the wellness policy and the broadening of its appeal.

For some years, the only time wrestling has registered in the mainstream media has been for bad news and generally tragic reasons as so many of the wrestlers even I grew up watching have sadly passed away. And I'm fed up of that being the case. I've actually lost track of who has and hasn't passed away and it all became so horifically "normal" and unsurprising.

I'm sure it's no coincidence this change is occurring now as Linda Mac makes a more serious move into politics. But I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I think the WWE crowd got increasingly desensitized to some of the "brutality" on display. NXT feels like somewhat of a nod to the pre-attitude era with the emphasis on wrestling and character-driven storylines. Hence why it seems so fresh at the moment and certainly so enjoyable to me.

I've not been keen on chair shots to the head tho since The Rock handcuffed Mankind and proceeded to swing his way into double fingers. That's just dangerous and wrong.

[TheTimVilla]

I always thought a headshot was 'near' the head, ie hit the ground really hard to make the noise but head untouched. Shows what I know!

Guy, I never read a WWE thread until I think I've caught up with everything first. Oh and I see what you're saying wrt VKM. But it doesn't say much for WWE that they're still relying on a gimmick from 15 years ago. Hell, I'd rather see Vickie Guerrerro more often!

WRESTLEMANIA PREDICTIONS:

WWE Title Match
John Cena vs. Batista  --- who cares? Feck it, I'll say Batista.

World Heavyweight Title Match
Edge vs. Chris Jericho   ---- Edge, last match of the night. Everybody goes home happy.

Career vs. Streak Match
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker  ---- Undertaker. HBK retires. For a bit.

No Holds Barred Match
Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon  ----- Bret! Loads of run ins for this one.

WWE Unified Tag Team Title Match
John Morrison & R-Truth vs. The Miz & Big Show ----- Showmiz

Triple Threat Match
Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase  --- Randy, after Cody swerve.

Street Fight
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio ---- yawn

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane vs. Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. MVP vs. Jack Swagger vs. Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne vs. Drew McIntyre   ---- it should be Shelton, maybe Kane.

Triple H vs. Sheamus  ----- Sheamus. HHH doesn't have a great WM record, whereas Sheamus needs putting over.

Token divas match ----- the fit blonde one.

[VillaZogmariner]

The Million Dollar Man is back in it? Does he still have Virgil as a bodyguard?

[TheTimVilla]

No, it's his son Ted Jnr. However, Ted Snr was back as a guest host recently. Both Teds were on SSN to promote WM a few weeks ago.

[Guy M]

Is it wrong that my 3.5 year old niece and nephew think that "Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase likes prunes" due to the fact I found a squeezy plastic / rubber face of his in my room a while back?!

I'm not one to make too many WM predictions. My brother and I used to make our predictions for eagh match at a PPV as they started, but fell out of this habit.

I'm really looking forward to this WM (not as much as the one I attened in Orlando 2 years ago and got my Villa / St George's Flag in the openeing sequence for obviously) tho and am quite happy to avoid fan sites and remain as impartial as possible. It really shows how much PPVs benefit with that extra little time to prepare and develop the storylines tho, I think, when you take CM Punk and Mysterio as examples.

This Wm is shaping up to be fantastic. HHH and Orton both WELL out of the main event picture just means those matches instantly get elevated to WAY more important status with the fans. The inevitable Divas match will struggle and will be interested to see what happens with the crowd during Hart vs McMahon, but on the whole, it's looking pretty impressive.

[Deano's Mullet]

The Million Dollar Man is back in it? Does he still have Virgil as a bodyguard?

He was the best.