Latest PPV and weekly show discussion thread

@gunslingerpanda: It worked well when we did WarLoC, but I haven't been there since.

I guess we could always try it again.

The Haas thing got weirder:

Former WWE, and current ROH, star Charlie Haas announced his retirement from wrestling on Saturday before a match with Jeff Louis Neal at the ROH show in Asheville, NC. Haas came to the ring to start the second half of the show, and cut a long, and sometimes rambling, promo about his history in wrestling and having done enough. He wrestled the match, and then stayed in the ring after the match and drew cheers from the crowd. Someone on the ROH staff waved him to come to the back twice, and Haas flipped him off both times. He asked for a mic but was not given one after the match, so he cut a similar promo by just yelling it into the crowd.

During both promos, he called out ROH booker Delirious (a/k/a Hunter Johnston) and ROH commentator Kevin Kelly, specifically referring to Kelly as a "fat piece of shit," for "all the things they say" about him. Haas was visibly shaken and cried during the entire match and later in the locker room. He changed and packed quickly, leaving the building in an agitated state.

Haas later went on to tweet: "Officially retired. No match against [Shelton Benjamin] next week NYC. Time to be a full time dad and husband. I've turned my spandex in for scrubs. Thanks to all the fans throughout the years. I love you all. Stay safe and God bless. WGTT will always be a top Tag Team, forever."

Shore's Slant:

Haas appeared to be intoxicated and was heard having words with several people backstage during the final match before intermission, including Delirious and Kelly, which may explain why he took shots at them specifically. The situation was addressed in a post-show meeting with the locker room, and all signs point to this being Haas's unexpected last night.

Gonna watch Wrestlemania The First at http://oahp3chh3a6s.watch2gether.com/

I imagine it will be terrible so if enough people join and agree on a different Mania I'll just change it. EasterMania!

@drx25: Haas was a complete waste of space on the ROH roster anyway. For him to shit on the only company that would book his old ass is pretty hilarious. He's right though, Kevin Kelly does suck. If only he had taken Kelly with him.

I just realized that WM is next week; I'm not sure I could be any less excited for it at all.

WWE posted an article proving the existence of the South American tournament Pat Patterson won to create the Intercontinental Championship:

http://www.wwe.com/classics/intercontinental-title-tournament-finally-uncovered-26102625

In not April Fools related nonsense, WWE put out a Rock iOS game:

@drx25: Excuse me while I grind some XP to level up my Tight Shirt.

I'll be accepting challenges to Rockpocalypse money matches at Evo this year.

Thoughts?

@doesitoffendyou_yeah: That is so fucking stupid. Now give me twenty of them.

@drx25: It sounds like they actually got Rock in a soundbooth to record those lines... boy that game looks awful.

@doesitoffendyou_yeah: That's such a dumb logo. I love it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

April Fool's day is more fun when you read something that you think is a joke but is actually true.

https://twitter.com/neiltyson/statuses/318786037910482944

@demoskinos said:

@turboman said:

Can't help but think it's missing a pancake underneath the comb. It could double up as a fork.

Anybody willing to make a chat? I'm not familiar with what you guys use otherwise i'd create it.

MONDAY NIGHT CHAT

TONIGHT...it's the final show before WrestleMania and the WWE has a ton of exciting stuff on tap for tonight...APRIL FOOLS, they have literally nothing planned.

Superstars Spoilers:

Saturday Morning Slam Cliffsnotes:

Main Event Cliffsnotes:

Smackdown Cliffsnotes:

Man all I can say is poor fucking 3MB. At least they weren't punching bags for Ryback this week but still. I wonder if they will ever be a successful thing? Also fuck Raw these last few months god damn.

Many of you have probably already aware of this, and I linked to this in the chat, but it is too cool not to direct people to. This was Jim Johnston's first attempt at what would eventually become The Undertaker's theme.

I couldn't see it clearly, but people are saying that Sammy Sane was one of the druids at the end.

So, the official Reverse Momentum Theory predictions are:

Miz vs. Hollywood Wai Barrah

Momentum: Even. Nobody has momentum from Raw or Smackdown this week. Miz beat Wade last week.

Verdict: Can't predict a winner

The Shield vs. Show/Sheamus/Orton

Momentum: Once again, we had a standoff on Raw going into Mania. Show/Orton/Sheamus had the upper hand last week.

Verdict: Can't predict a winner

Zig E vs. Team Hell No

Momentum: Ziggler and Big E have the clear momentum going into Wrestlemania.

Verdict: Team Hell No wins

Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

Momentum: Fandango has the clear momentum.

Verdict: Chris Jericho wins

Brock Lesnar vs. HHH

Momentum: Standoff

Verdict: Can't predict a winner.

Mark Henry vs. Ryback

Momentum: Ryback threw Santino on Henry

Verdict: Mark Henry

ADR vs. Jack Swagger

Momentum: ADR was beaten with crutches

Verdict: ADR wins.

Cena vs. Rock

Momentum: Stand-off

Verdict: Can't predict a winner.

@doesitoffendyou_yeah said:

Thoughts?

The perspective on that whistle/pick is terrible.

@turboman: To finish that list:

Tons of Funk & Funkadactyls vs Team Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins:

Momentum: The Bellas beat The Funkadactyls.

Verdict: If Smackdown is canonical: The Heels win; if SD isn't canonical: The Faces win.

Undertaker vs CM Punk

Momentum: CM Punk beats up Undertaker.

Verdict: Undertaker wins.

Also, let's see if the WWE Universe can predict the outcomes to the Mania matches:

Rock vs Cena: 70% on Cena, 30% on Rock

Undertaker vs CM Punk: 83% on Taker, 17% on Punk

Triple H vs Brock Lesnar: 84% on Hunter, 16% on Brock

Del Rio vs Swagger: 81% on Del Rio, 19% on Swagger

Show/Sheamus/Orton vs The Shield: 81% on Show/Sheamus/Orton, 19% on Shield

Barrett vs Miz: 25% on Barrett, 75% on Miz

Ryback vs Henry: 86% on Ryback, 14% on Henry

Team Hell No vs Ziggler/Big E: 81% on Hell No, 19% on Ziggler/Big E

Jericho vs Fandango: 87% on Jericho, 13% on Fandango

Tons of Funk & Funkadactyls vs Team Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins: 78% on the faces, 22% on the heels.

@drx25: whoops, I'm an idiot for leaving off the most and least important matches.

It seems Del Rio has his own markout man:

I know this will never probably happen since WWE is too lame nowadays but I would love to see John Cena turn heel at Wrestlemania. I think he could play a fantastic heel and would really freshen up RAW and probably increase TV ratings temporary. Not to mention it would probably make a really predictable on paper Wrestlemania very memorable. This whole half/half reaction he is getting (most of the time it seems to be more anti cena than pro cena) is really getting weak and tiresome. I feel terrible when anyone other than the Rock faces Cena since the whole match turns to pro vs anti cena chants and completely undermines whoever is working with cena in a heel role. Merch sales will take a hit, but I think Cena needs to be heel for a bit just so he can turn face and not have half the audience hate him all the time. The main problem I see for Cena turning heel is that they have no top faces to replace him. They could make punk turn babyface after he comes back from his time off, but I doubt any of what I said will even remotely matter as WWE is too goofed.

Also after what happened with punk/taker, punk's chances of winning went from 1% to 0%. Although I do like him winning via DQ'd and getting epic heat from it, I think punk is too over at this point (even though he is fantastic at being a heel) and would be better utilized as a babyface in the current roster.

He won't win, but Punk looks strong. It's a nice change of pace from the last four years of the same Taker/Mania build.

Mick Foley has been bumped from the TV airing of the HOF in favor of Trish Stratus and Donald Trump.

That's fucking stupid.

---

Mick Foley being bumped is fucking stupid. Dude needs his recognition too other then being bumped by Donald Trump of all people.

Days away from Wrestlemania guys! Though I will admit this year doesn't have the excitement build up like last years. I'm most excited to see Punk wrestle Undertaker since I'm really hoping this will be a memorable match and better then the rest of the card.

Also anyone kinda surprised by the diva's tag match last night? It was surprisingly decent.

Punk tossing the ashes in Taker's face will be that one shocking moment that I'll fondly remember. Damn does he play the heel card well.

Yes. I just finished watching Raw and was thinking the same thing during that match. Nothing over the top special, but, was a genuinely all right showing.

If you don't have enough of five hours of WrestleMania, then the official WrestleMania 29 Post-Show is sure to do the trick:

Immediately after WrestleMania 29, hit WWE’s online channels to experience the fallout from The Show of Shows with exclusive interviews, celebrations and more in a live Post-Show, brought to you from inside MetLife Stadium. Tune in to see your WrestleMania reactions from Twitter and Tout broadcast live.

So Vince is on Twitter, he followed The Miz before HHH and isn't following Steph.... https://twitter.com/VinceMcMahon

Cm punk is

Also I love the fans in the shield promo. Instead of yelling swears into the mic they joined the promo.

I sure am glad they felt it necessary for Jericho to pin Caesaro cleanly before Fandango beat him up. One might argue that breaking up the pin would be more useful, but what do I know

I might make a long WM preview blog post to promote the upcoming chat.

@nomoremutants said:

He's also following Zach Ryder, which negates everything.

What the hell is WWE doing with Cesaro? This guy is a beast in the ring. His style and technique is one that makes many of his matches entertaining, even if they are just thrown together. He seemed like he was getting pushed, but maybe because the crowed wasn't giving him the reaction they thought he would, they abandoned him.

Also for this last Monday Night...Jericho was great again...Daniel Bryan was great. CM Punk continues to create the only storyline in Mania worth watching.

Every week leading up to Mania i thought things would get better and storylines would be fleshed out more, but what a joke. Most of Mania is thrown together and seriously get Cena off the mic.....give him a heel turn or something.

Is anyone else sick of the kiss a$$ing that cena and rock go through? example"We can't stand each other, but he is so good...blah blah....I am better...blah blah....but he is really goood....blah f*ing blah.

Come on WWE...can't you get your act together for the biggest event of the year?!

The cynical part of me thinks that Cesaro is getting dumped on because he put on a better show a strength several weeks in a row than what Ryback was doing. The last notable thing I remember from Cesaro was him lifting up huge guys, ending in him lifting up Khali. And then I think his burial began and he's been getting dumped on ever since. Probably not true, but, like I said, the cynical part of me thinks that's really weird timing.

As for the ass-kissing thing, honestly, I think the stuff from Cena is all to try and continue to sell the Rock and to try and reaffirm to the crowd that "No, look guys! The Rock is still totally good at wrestling! Despite him.. never doing it and.. putting on mostly half-assed matches at PPVs." That plus they want both guys to look like faces (which is I guess why the Rock says that Cena's good?)

@fateofnever: Yeah, face vs. face matches makes for a very un-entertaining build up....especially when it's supposed to headline an event in the stature of Wrestlemania.

Seems like WWE crossed a line with Paul Bearer's family with the Raw segment:

I have no problem with Cesaro being a glorified jobber since he is young and also so talented and unique that he be given a fair shot eventually, but I do wish they would take the US belt off of him while he is in that position.

@fateofnever: A big part of the problem is that there is no actual reason for Rock and Cena to dislike each other, or for the crowd to dislike either of them. It boils down to a match between two guys who say bad things about each other for some reason but don't actually hate each other since they talk about respecting one another. Ultimately, they are only having a match because of external circumstances (Cena winning the Rumble, Punk losing the belt to Rock).

There's no real emotional investment in the match between the competitors, so why should the crowd be invested at all?

I think the Cesaro ship will be righted once MAnia passes, I'd be shocked if he didn't at least get somepre-show love for Mania. They tend to get cold with some guys heading into Maniabefore heating up during the summer and going into the fall.

As for the Bearer stuff... I don't know where I sit on the fence. Don't know the details of what was explained which is pretty much the key point in this story and I doubt we will hear it, but yeah... this seems like the situationw here it would of been better for the kids to just walk away from the table and not even entertain the thought.

Here's where I sit on the Bearer fence: If it was fine with Taker, then it's fine with me. I doubt anyone knows PB better than Taker (outside of his wife maybe)

It sounds to me like they were explained what would happen, and just the actual visual of it seemed worse than what they imagined.

VGCW Season 3 finale is happening http://www.twitch.tv/bazza87

Vince is inducting Donald Trump into the Hall of Fame:

Vince McMahon ‏@VinceMcMahon5m

Battle of the Billionaires revisited? I’m honored to be inducting @RealDonaldTrump into the @WWE Hall of Fame this Saturday. #WWEHOF

In other Twitter news, Brock Lesnar is back tweeting @BrockLesnar His previous, UFC based one, has been suspended.

So, thinking about Mania, I think I'm coming around on it this year. Not to a "oh, it will be great" or anything, but, at least to a point of feeling better about it.

Trips and Brock - whatever. I still don't care about this in any way shape or form.

Cena vs Rock - I'm not interested in watching them wrestle. I am interested to see if during the match, or after it, they throw anything out there to make things more interesting. The answer is probably no, not even kind of, but if the possibility is there, it makes me at least slightly curious.

Punk vs Taker - really good build up. I'm not expecting anything wild from the match, but I do believe it should be solid and entertaining.

Del Rio vs Swagger - I think they can put on a solid match, and they've had a good old fashioned feud build up the way it should be done.

Hell No vs Zig E. - While this has almost no build up, I'm looking forward to seeing Big E. in action, Ziggler always brings it, and Bryan and Kane are solid. It has the potential to be a really good match.

Fandango vs Jericho - Jericho brings it (unlike The Rock) when he goes out there. Fandango (even though we've seen Curtis wrestle before) is a bit more of an unknown quantity and getting to see him in action as Fandango is a mystery that holds some appeal of "I wonder just how this will go." since it has potential to be pretty good, or just really bad.

Ryback vs Henry - Ok, my instincts say this will be trash (a la Goldberg vs Brock.) And if it ends up being a train wreck, hoo boy, that will be fun.

Team Super Friends Part 3 vs The Shield - It does say something that I forgot this was even a match. I feel so indifferent towards it because of Team Super Friends, but, I'm hoping The Shield pulls through and we get to see Ambrose do some more good work. Also hoping that some sort of unseen factor plays into it (someone turning heel or something, because it seems too plain otherwise, but I'm not actually expecting anything.)

Tons of Funk vs Rhodes Scholars - Ehhhh. My only hope here is getting to watch the Bellas and Rhodes Scholars whoop Tons of Funk and/or watching Kaitlyn show up to get involved in some Cody shenanigans (but I'm not hopeful, so I don't actually care about this.) this will probably be a filler match of some kind though, so, whatever, every PPV needs those, right? It will probably be too hectic though with 8 people.. but whatever.

So over all, I feel 'ok' about Mania. Not great, not pumped, not even especially excited, but, I think I've stopped hating it and have tried to find things to at least look forward to. Maybe that's just because I started looking back at some of the past Manias where we had things like The Corre... The Miz vs Cena.. Lawler vs Cole.. a mess of a celebrity match, and so forth, and by comparison, this Mania started to seem not quite so bad.

Raw got a lower rating than last week at 3.1... which is troubling.

Maybe booking the safest, most predictable Wrestlemania ever wasn't such a good idea.

@manlyscream: My main problem with the whole Cesaro thing is that he has gotten over. It's fair enough to be pushed to the side if someone is talented but has zero crowd reaction. My problem is that Cesaro IS pretty over as a a heel but he is being squandered by being pummeled every week. My hope is that post-Mania, he will bring the noise once again.

@turboman: Last year's "go home" Wrestlemania show scored like a 3.04 (or along those lines) and WM28 went on to earn the mega bucks. WWE has been on the up financially since then too, on top of that. Should be fine then, with any luck.

--

Personally I'm holding out on Hell No/ZigEBigE and Swagger/Del Rio to bring some energy to the mid-card. Del Rio and Swagger have built a strong feud in my mind between two performers who I am pretty indifferent towards. It could range anywhere from solid to good. Ditto for the tag match. You got three great workers (and a great, younger star) together in the ring. They should be able to pull off something decent. The real "make or brake" match in my mind is Taker/Punk. That match will be the real acid test for where WM29 lies in the history of Manias. Got to be optimistic; it's Wrestlemania season.

After seeing the last RAW (and the stellar performances of Daniel Bryan and Ziggler), I am also looking forward to seeing the tag match, with the debut of Tittie Langston. Del Rio vs. Swagger should also be very entertaining.....since Swagger's return his physical style has been great to watch and having an opponent that could handle that, with Del Rio, is a perfect match.

But just as turboman said, the show stealer should be Punk vs. Taker. It was just revealed that after Mania Punk will be taking some serious time off to heal from physical and mental fatigue, as well as some nagging injuries sustained during his great run as wwe champion. Because of Punks upcoming time off, and this being possibly Taker's last match, I believe this will be an epic match and honestly don't know the direction WWE is going to take with it. On one hand it seems that Punk has no chance, especially because of what he has done recently, but last RAW it seemed Taker was hinting at the fact that he might lose because he may go too far to win, getting him disqualified. Not only did he say that, but he seemed to accept it as long as that meant giving Punk the beating of his life......and I believe that is the only way Punk will win. McMahon has shown, with the screwjob, that he isn't afraid to go against the expectations of the fans in order to deliver headlines and word of mouth....either way can't wait for it.

Fandango kills it on Opie and Anthony.

No one tell Cesaro he is preparing for a match he doesn't have :(