Re: The Official WWE Thread - Part 12

[Onyx]

The Boston Herald has a great interview with WWE Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart, who discussed his WrestleMania memories, this year's event and more. Here are a few highlights:
His first WWE title reign being cut short:

"I was really looking forward to working with Yoko at WrestleMania IX. When I won the belt in October of '92, it wasn't like I had the stack of guys that Hogan had to work with when the talent roster was so deep.

When I was champion, the roster had thinned out because of drug testing and a lot of the big names were gone. Jake Roberts was gone, and that was somebody I was supposed to wrestle but never happened. I was supposed to wrestle the (Ultimate) Warrior at The Royal Rumble, and that never happened either.

"Then [Hulk] Hogan came back, I was told by Vince that Hogan had nothing to do with what I was doing. You can imagine how shocked I was when Hogan ended up with the belt at WrestleMania IX.

I had every intention of going over in that match with Yoko, so I had no idea that my title reign was going to be so abruptly ended. I was caught off-guard by that, to be honest. I was told when I won the belt that I was going to be champion for a long time, but at the same time, Vince is always very clear when you win the belt and tells you, 'Anything can happen.' I felt I didn't have my chance to prove I was good as I thought I was."

How this year's WrestleMania should end:

"I hope they give Daniel Bryan his chance to win the belt at WrestleMania. He earned it a long time ago, but it wouldn't surprise me — like Charlie Brown with the football — if they pull it away from him one last time. I really hope they give him his proper run, as he hasn't had the opportunity yet to be the champion he deserves to be. Hopefully this year at WrestleMania, it will be a crowning achievement for Daniel Bryan."

CM Punk leaving WWE:

"When you look at it closely, Punk's burned out. He's always given 100 percent in all his matches, and delivered some of the best pay-per-view matches in the past 10 years. And it's not easy when there are legends who only work part-time, and guys like Punk and Bryan do all the work, and watch someone like Brock Lesnar check out Wrestling i n c.walk in and take those big matches and big paydays without having to be on the road all the time. I think that had a lot to do with his decision, and rightfully so.

"One of Vince McMahon's favorite sayings is, 'Life's not fair.' I don't see Punk being a factor at WrestleMania, but he still has a lot of greatness left in him. As a fan, I hope he comes back, and as a wrestler, I have a lot of respect for him, too."

[RealGunner]

I hope Punk comes back and retires properly. Or leaves properly after giving fans an answer.

Punk was never the same since coming back. His last few promos were all pretty bad and he just didn't feel like doing this anymore. Specially not having any motivation.

[Onyx]

Nikki mentions that Bray Wyatt apologized backstage before he went out and called her plastic on last week's RAW in his promo at John Cena. Nikki added that everyone popped big for the comment backstage. She also noted she spent $6,500 for her implants.

[RealGunner]

That wasn't part of the script?

[Onyx]

Bray does his own promos apparently, so probably not.

[silver]

Yeah they can feud against The Authority. Kane can bring in The Ascension to fight The Shield. I heard that The Ascension are basically the new Brood so they can fit in perfectly with Kane and be The Authority's new hired guns to take out the old ones.

And of course there is The Wyatt Family. They can still go a long way with their war, imagine a No DQ or TLC 6 man tag team match.

If they are serious about pushing The Shield they can book them to feud with Triple H. Imagine in Summerslam, Triple reforms Evolution with Batista and Orton and fights The Shield in a 6 man tag.

Exactly! Everyone loves the Shield but they need to feud with another faction. It was awkward when they attacked Kane on Raw because it was still 3 on 1 and still got booed.

I would have booked it similar to how Christian got kicked out of the Ministry of Darkness and the Brood sided with Christian instead of Taker. I would have had the Authority (HHH, Steph, Kane, Orton, NAO, the Wyatts) and the Shield in the ring. HHH rip into Rollins for not helping Kane win his match and orders Reigns and Ambrose to attack Rollins. They hesitate, HHH gets in the face of Reigns, Reigns decks HHH and there's a massive brawl.

Shield feud with a 3 man combination of Kane/NAO/Wyatts/Ascensions.

[M99]

I hope Punk comes back and retires properly. Or leaves properly after giving fans an answer.

Punk was never the same since coming back. His last few promos were all pretty bad and he just didn't feel like doing this anymore. Specially not having any motivation.

He was on his full form on his feud with Lesnar. Delivered one of the best matches of his career and the best match of 2013 while his promos were classic Punk. Then he got into poverty feuds with Ryback, Axel, Kane, The Shield which were all just a massive waste. He looked really off. Why could they not give Punk vs Orton at Survivor Series instead of the fckin Big Show vs Orton? And I feel for Punk working full time all year and see a gassed out 45 year old win the Rumble in his first match back.

[Onyx]

You might see CM Punk pop up in the WWE Slam City cartoons that are coming out. That's because it was already put together before he left the company back in January.

The plan, apparently, is for WWE to release the cartoon featuring him but not necessarily promote it like the others featuring wrestlers who are still in good standing in Stamford. Nothing has changed as far as the relationship between the two sides. Punk has moved on from wrestling, for now at least, and WWE has moved on from him as well.

For those who care about such things, yes, all the shots you think you're hearing on Raw from Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are, in fact, shots at Punk. His leaving during arguably the most important stretch in WWE history has made him public enemy number one in some circles.

[Onyx]

There continues to be confusion regarding the pre-show match for WrestleMania 30 and whether or not the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal will occupy that slot. The idea seems to be that the first hour of the pre-show will push hard the match taking place on the second hour, which will be exclusive to the Network and won't air via traditional pay-per-view (PPV).

With all the emphasis on the Battle Royal, the way WWE is looking at it is that match will make it easier to sell the Network than any of the other lower level matches. Because it's not integral to the main PPV card, it's expendable. Plus, they can better control how to time it if it's on the pre-show.

Because the top four matches on the card have been pushed so heavily, timing becomes an issue. So don't be surprised if the Battle Royal ends up on the pre-show, but they could decide it's enough of a draw to put it on the PPV portion. We'll see.

[Onyx]

Although the rating for this past Thursday night's episode of Impact was greatly affected by the NCAA college basketball tournament, morale within the company continues to run low thanks to failing business.

The ratings haven't been going up, the roster continues to see turnover with more of the established names expected to be leaving (Christopher Daniels, Kazarian), and the threat of Viacom making a big play for WWE and pushing TNA out because of it. If that happens, TNA is almost certainly going under.

The worst part for the talent roster? Word is if TNA did go under WWE wouldn't have much interest, if any, in any of the performers. Realistically, it wouldn't make sense for any of them to go to WWE anyway.

[zizzle]

TNA has 3 or 4 guys that the WWE might find very useful. The only reason why they wouldnt sign such talent is because of egos, and it wouldnt be the first time egos stand in the way of good business.

[Onyx]

We noted before that there is still a plan in place for The Shield to split up. The plan is for Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose to play the heel tag team while Roman Reigns will be booked as a top singles babyface.

The apparent babyface turn by The Shield on RAW was done to accomplish two things - allow The New Age Outlaws to work a program with them, which they requested, and to better set up Reigns' big singles run.

The idea behind better setting up Reigns' singles run is that it's better for Ambrose and Rollins to turn on Reigns than it is for Reigns to turn on them.

[RealGunner]

Hope all the TNA guys find somewhere to do what they do even if not WWE.

[Onyx]

[Onyx]

Just over 2 weeks until WM.

[zizzle]

No Goldberg no Sting. Im not very excited for it

[Onyx]

Only few things I'm looking forward to are the 2 Bryan matches and Undertaker/Lesnar.

As I said before, the card could have been much better.

[Onyx]

There's a feeling within WWE that while Triple H probably won't admit it publicly, he's probably offended that CM Punk didn't want to work with him at WrestleMania XXX. WWE officials, including Triple H himself, see being able to work with him as a big deal.

On a related note, the attitude within WWE in regards to Punk has changed from "Vince is going to take care of this, everything will be fine" to a very negative response when asking around. The feeling now is that WWE made Punk a lot of money and then he left.

[RealGunner]

Expect moar digs

[zizzle]

"work" with Triple H, as in job to Triple H. Can't see why Punk is complaining...

[RealGunner]

Tom where art thou

[Onyx]

[silver]

Trish Stratus   

I swear there was a triple threat match between Angle, Jericho and some other guy...

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Angle, Jericho and Benoit

Wrestlemania 2000 was legit.

[zizzle]

LMAO if anybody will attempt to change history it is Vince

[zizzle]

who's watching tonight ?

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