*WWE and pro wrestling discussion topic*

[Rob1981]

In March, the complete Royal Rumble anthology is coming out. It's all 20 Royal Rumbles. I will be picking it up, especially considering that many of the early Royal Rumbles (I believe 97 and down) aren't on DVD (and tracking down videos isn't something I want to do). Plus the original one in 1988 was never on video I don't think. I'm a big fan of the event, so it's about time they release something like that. I would assume the price would be at least $150 or so. Blurred WWF logos will be in pre-WWE Royal Rumbles obviously.
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[Rob1981]

In DVD news: a Mr. Perfect DVD is in the works. It needs to be at least 3 discs to be good in my opinion. Pre-WWF matches (AWA, etc), WWF, WCW, and some post WCW if possible (obviously not TNA, but I would think they could use a XWF match if any of the ones taped were decent enough).

TNA Against All Odds is later today, it looks good with a few bad parts.


The bad: Christy Hemme vs ?. I'm betting it's So Cal Val or some jobber, I doubt it will be Lita or anyone like that debuting. Even though.... it's been rumored Lita could join TNA.

The other bad match: Dale Torborg vs Lance Hoyt in the newest "BaseBrawl" match. I guess some publicity on ESPN is better than none.

The rest of the card looks decent-

AJ Styles vs Rhino: Chain match (Hopefully the end of the feud)

LAX vs Team 3-D (Street fight)- I hope LAX retains. Team 3-D don't need the titles.

Chris Sabin vs Jerry Lynn: Could very well be match of the night.

James Storm+Ms. Tennessee vs Petey Williams+Gail Kim: eh... an ok match.

Sting vs Abyss (Prison Yard match) - Average, nothing more or less.

Christian Cage vs Kurt Angle- Cage retains, with help from his consultant Scott Steiner.


The February TNA PPV looks a little better than WWE's Feb. PPV: No Way Out (which seems to be finalized as well, a week away):

Undertaker+Batista vs John Cena+Shawn Michaels: I really think the Smackdown guys should win this one. Undertaker pinning Shawn, after Cena hits him or "accidently" hits him.

Kane vs King Booker - An alright match, I can somehow bet this feud could continue into WrestleMania.. considering there isn't anything in the works for either one at WM.

Finlay vs Boogey Man - Blah. I don't like much wrestlers much. Both are stale and stupid gimmicks. Boogey Man will probably win.

4-way tag title ladder match- Hardys or MNM will win in my opinion.

Diva Talent Invitational- Dumb filler match. I kind of like Jillian's bad singing gimmick though.


That's 4 matches, plus the diva filler match (which should be short... hopefully).

I'm assuming they could add at least a few more matches: Benoit vs Ken Kennedy. The only big name people left not on the PPV. Well.. Chavo too, but he seems to be inactive right now. Plus possibly a cruiserweight match.
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[Rob1981]

The Impact special is tonight. I would imagine it should do good ratings: no Raw, and I don't think there is anything extra special on other channels tonight. The new concept match will be announced during the special. As long as it's not a cage match of some sort and it doesn't have complicated rules, it should be decent.

The regular Impact this Thursday should be a good one: Gauntlet for the Gold, the winner faces Christian at Destination X.


As for Against All Odds: it was good (from what I read), but the crap with Christy Hemme and the fat guy didn't need to happen. Same goes for the whole Austin Starr/Bob Backlund interactions. Plus all the footage of Traci/Eric Young was a waste. I think if they took all that out, and added another match (or time to the other matches) the PPV would've been much better.
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[Obecorp]

It should be interesting to see how Impact did against the last hour of Raw this week. From what I've seen, they've both had pretty solid main events. Personally, I watched the TNA main event.

AAO was pretty good. It had a couple of good matches. Angle/Christian was good, although the finish wasn't really clean. Sting/Abyss was pretty good too. But, the Fat Oily Guy/Christy Hemme shouldn't have taken place, and almost ruined the whole PPV. They shouldn't put anything like that in a PPV.

As far as No Way Out goes, 4 matches and the Diva Talent invitational are official. I didn't read the spoiler so I don't know if there are more matches that have been added already, but they changed the 4-way ladder match to a regular tag-team match. That's gonna take a lot of wind out of the proverbial sail of the PPV. The main event should be okay, but the other two matches seem to be just filler. It's nice to see Boogeyman finally lose. Let's just hope it keeps happening so the gimmick can eventually get killed.

But on Raw tonight, a Battle of the Billionaires hair vs hair match has been made with Trump and Vince. Rumors are that this match will have Hogan and Khali representing the respective billionaires. If that's the case, this match is gonna be horrible. However, it will probably get a lot of press for both NBC and the WWE.
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[Rob1981]

[Rob1981]

In a correction from my previous post: Wrestling Society X isn't cancelled. Next week's episode just wont be in the regular timeslot. I still have my doubts, I think the plug will be pulled on this sooner than later.


In hall of fame news: new rumors going around are that Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are going to get inducted. Other possible choices for inductees include Afa and Sika (The Wild Samoans).

Future WWE DVD list-

March- Wrestlemania 3 Championship Edition, Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses Hardcore Edition, Royal Rumble Complete Anthlogy

April- 4 Horsemen

TNA DVD list-

March- Best of tag teams volume 1

April- Best of AJ Styles volume 2


So the next few months are full of good releases. I think there is a few more, the list I found didn't list PPV releases on DVD.
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[Rob1981]

No Way Out is tonight. The final card and my thoughts (winners in bold as always):


-Batista+Undertaker vs John Cena+Shawn Michaels: Should be decent, the Smackdown wrestlers should win this one... considering it's a Smackdown PPV. Hopefully on Raw tomorrow, Cena+Michaels lose the tag gold. Having the belts on them is pretty stupid. The whole "partners that hate each other, but are tag champs" storyline has been done to death.

-ECW champ Bobby Lashley vs Mr. Kennedy: Decent, but not the best. I would've preferred Kennedy/Benoit instead.

-Chris Benoit+Hardys vs MVP+MNM: A nice match but MVP/Benoit were just thrown in because they didn't have any matches yet. MVP+MNM win now, so Hardys can get the Wrestlemania win.

-Kane vs King Booker: Kane wins here, unless they plan to keep the feud until Wrestlemania... then it will be Booker winning now, Kane at WM.

-Boogey Man+Mini Boogey Man vs Finlay+Leprechaun (not his true name, but his true name is just wrong and stupid): Finlay's team should win this dull fest. This is one of the low points of the PPV.

-Tag champs Brian Kendrick+Paul London vs Deuce+Domino: Should be a good match, even though a ladder match would've been better.

-Cruiserweight open: Gregory Helms (champ) vs Chavo Guerrero, Shannon Moore, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Wang Yang, Scotty Too Hotty, Funaki and Daivari: I expect this to be the fast paced opening match on the PPV. Good, but I think this should waited until Wrestlemania. Who exactly is Helms going to face at WM (if they even give him a match).

I dont know how well Rey is, but he certainly shouldn't win cruiserweight gold at WM upon his return. I know he is appearing next week on Smackdown, I just dont know his current condition.

-Diva Talent invitational: the other low point of the PPV. The diva that shows the most skin will win I bet. Jillian's bad singing will probably be the only decent part of this.


Overall: 2 duds out of 8 total matches isn't bad. Buyrates should be high (but not as high, if there was the ladder match still). Maybe this is the start of decent brand exclusive PPVs. I doubt it though.
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[Rob1981]

No Way Out took place: I was 5 for 8 in predictions. While I didn't predict a winner for the Diva talent: I predicted correctly that the most skin would win. The ones I was wrong about: Benoit+Hardys won, Helms lost the title (not even in the final part of the Gauntlet match), Cena+Michaels won (after Batista turned on Undertaker).

But I can bet WWE logic: Batista is still face, and he just wanted Undertaker to be softened up for WM or some other nonsense.

I'm a bit ticked Chavo won. Now if Rey is well enough: he will win the title from him at WM and thats the finish of the feud. Hopefully Helms is getting a decent main event push, or the U.S title sometime.

A few times over the past months: WWE clearly shows Rey losing the "I quit" (loser leaves Smackdown) match, but never acknowledges it was a loser leaves the show match. So Rey is still on Smackdown, because of them ignoring a stipulation? Pretty dumb logic. They shouldn't have had it a loser leaves brand match, if they had no intention of moving Rey (or apparently no storyline where Rey gets re-hired for whatever reason).


These things and more are exactly why TNA needs to get better, and be competition. Otherwise WWE will continue to produce this garbage.

I'm a little concerned WM will be repetitive matches we've seen before:

Rey/Chavo, Finlay/Boogey Man (who else could either of these 2 face?), Hardys/MNM and so on.

The quality of matches is usually decent at WM, it still doesn't help when the match is on free TV and other PPVs many times before. A feud is one thing, a match taking place too much is another.

Talented people such as Helms, Benoit and so on... really aren't in big feuds now, so they will get slopped together with someone. Benoit/MVP at WM could be alright I suppose. What about Kennedy and Lashley? I doubt he is going to ECW full time to feud with Lashley, so that feud seems to be out (hopefully...since the No Way Out match didn't seem good).

I will probably write a full on WrestleMania rant on my site, if anyone cares to read it. It will be up on Monday or Tuesday probably.

One other No Way Out note: Michael Cole deserves credit. He had voice problems, and worked almost the whole show. JBL had to call alot of the main event on his own, but that was about it.
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[Rob1981]

On Raw tonight: Umaga won the I.C title, Melina won the Women's title. Also: Umaga was announced as Vince's representative. Plus, Edge won the Money in the Bank qualifier.


The rumored Wrestlemania match of Umaga/Foley match is what's going to happen I believe. I doubt the I.C title will be on the line though. What's the point of giving Foley the title, when he probably wont be full time. A brief I.C title reign for him isn't needed at this point.

In other WWE news: Mr. Perfect was announced as the 2nd 2007 hall of fame inductee.


Former wrestler Mike Awesome passed away on Saturday. It's believed it was due to suicide.


My WrestleMania 23 rant is up on my site now, if anyone wants to read it. I might expand it every so often.
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[Obecorp]

Although it hasn't officially been announced by the WWE, Trump's representative for Wrestlemania has already been announced by other media outlets (such as E!). I don't want to give any spoilers, but there are already some photos that have been taken floating around Internet regarding ALL the participants in the match. They've also added another twist to this match, with a former major superstar having a role.

It's nice to see CM Punk qualify for the MIB Ladder match. Honestly, I hope that he would be the one who wins it. So far, it's only him and Edge, but others who I believe should (and probably would) participate are Carlito, Gregory Helms, Mr. Kennedy, and Randy Orton. Shelton Benjamin should be in the match but I don't think he would get the nod though, for they have been overlooking him the past few months. I'm just really hoping they will not put Great Khali in this match, for it will severely taint that match.

As far as other speculated Wrestlemania matches, I'm thinking they're gonna have an ECW 8-man tag, The Originals (Dreamer, Sandman, Sabu, & RVD) vs The New Breed (Thorn, Cor Von, Striker, and Burke). And whoever will have the Raw tag belts will defend against the top teams in Raw (participants WGTT, Cade & Murdoch, Cryme Tyme, and the Highlanders). I'm still hoping a London vs Kendrick match will happen, but that likely wouldn't happen anymore. Instead, they may go with a Melina vs Ashley match for the Women's title (although they are both in different brands). Hopefully, London and Kendrick should still be involved in the PPV though. MNM vs Hardyz might also happen, even though I don't think it should happen since I've said plenty times that Matt, Jeff, and Nitro should be pushed in singles. Not to mention, they've done this match plenty of times already during the past couple of months. Unless they add something new to this rivalry, it may not be as interesting.

I'm also guessing they may build up an MVP vs Chris Benoit rivalry so MVP can challenge Benoit for the US belt. Rey vs Chavo may probably happen also since there's already a rivalry there. If this is the case, I'm a little surprised though that Rey would be healed up already.

I'm sure there may also be a few more matches, since it's a 4 hour card. Regardless, when they make the matches, they should all have some buildup already. If they throw matches together less than a week before the PPV, it would be upsetting. They have plenty of time to build a card, and they better use that time wisely.
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[Rob1981]

I've read who will be in the Trump/McMahon match. While I don't always trust E! for news, I think this is accurate at least. I imagine on Raw, it will be officially announced.


Bad news for WWE: the planned Saturday Night's Main Event has been cancelled by NBC. So much for that being able to help WrestleMania.

In TNA news: Elix Skipper and David Young are fired now. Their manager (when they were Diamonds in the Rough): Simon Diamond, is still with TNA as a road agent. Also, it appears A1 and Jackie Gayda are gone as well.

Also it appears Slammiversary in June will be outside of Orlando, according to recent reports. Nashville (where TNA originally had weekly PPVs) is a likely choice for it.

In a followup to what I posted before: the special edition of the Mick Foley DVD only has a few new matches on a 3rd disc. The special edition for Wrestlemania 3: seems to just has a fact thing that can be turned on or off while watching the PPV.

I probably wont get Wrestlemania 3, but I'm going to get Mick Foley: that's one of the few DVDs I want that I havent gotten yet.
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[Rob1981]