Wrestling

[Atomic]

Really interesting stuff with the potential roster split.  I love the idea of going live with Smackdown too.  I'm not very motivated to watch it tonight because I already read about what happened live last night.

I believe they do have a big enough roster to do this.  Think about the guys coming back from injury and who we didn't see on RAW on Monday.  Cena, Orton, Wyatt (and family), Del Rio, Zack Ryder, Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Goldust, R-Truth, Kane, Big Show.  And this also gives them a chance to showcase more women's matches.  They usually only do one or two segments per night but the women's roster is expanding now... you don't want the fans to forget about Becky Lynch or Sasha Banks but they seem to be pushed to the side as Charlotte, Natalya and Dana Brooke are in the spotlight.

[The Unknown Poster]

Sasha has been deliberately pushed down to save her program with Charlotte for later.  But I wonder if they'd create a Smackdown Women's Champion?  Rumor has it the World Champion (Roman) will appear on both programs so no split championship.  Not sure how well that would work.

[Atomic]

56 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Sasha has been deliberately pushed down to save her program with Charlotte for later.  But I wonder if they'd create a Smackdown Women's Champion?  Rumor has it the World Champion (Roman) will appear on both programs so no split championship.  Not sure how well that would work.

I don't mind that idea.  I never liked having two championships.  What happened with the other titles last time?  IC title, tag team titles, etc.  Do they get stuck on one show and only get transferred at PPVs?

[FrostyWinnipeg]

Judge denies Gawker motion for new trial in Hulk Hogan case; will not reduce damages.

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, Atomic said:

I don't mind that idea.  I never liked having two championships.  What happened with the other titles last time?  IC title, tag team titles, etc.  Do they get stuck on one show and only get transferred at PPVs?

If I recall, they actually eliminated the IC and US titles for awhile before bringing them back so each "brand" had their own secondary title.  And its remained that way ever since.  This makes more sense with having two secondary titles actually. 

I'd suspect they'd try to keep the brands separate as much as possible, at least at first.  What killed it last time was they kept mixing guys due to wanting to shore up one brand or the other so it lost its effectiveness.  I'd guess one of the US or IC champions ends up moving to SD and the other on RAW with no cross-over (until Wrestlemania maybe) and try to make it more important over-all.

The World Champion appearing on both shows ends up being a problem because it's hard to have the same guy involved in two completely different angles on each TV.  But if the US title and IC title are elevated to be the de facto "top" title on each brand and the World Champion is the global top guy that moves between, perhaps they would just have him work one angle at a time, alternating between the shows.  I dont know...  They might just give up on that and create a second World Champion but I doubt it.

[The Unknown Poster]

59 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Judge denies Gawker motion for new trial in Hulk Hogan case; will not reduce damages.

Good!

[The Unknown Poster]

Now he can invest in TNA!

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Sounds like its going to be two world champions, one for each brand.  Look for AJ Styles to be the other world champion.

[iso_55]

They just got rid of the WWE Championship Belt & now they're bringing it back? Or under a different name? LOL!

[The Unknown Poster]

14 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

They just got rid of the WWE Championship Belt & now they're bringing it back? Or under a different name? LOL!

There are conflicting rumors of one champion working both brands versus two champions.  A source I trust said today its two world champions.  There was a pic floating around a few weeks ago of a template being made for a "Winged Eagle" belt with the new WWE logo (Winged Eagle is the classic WWE belt that Hogan, Savage, Warrior held and is widely considered the best looking belt ever).  But others say it was a fake.  So who knows.  They could as well use the same belt with a blue swish instead of red for Smackdown.

Sounds like WWE wants to bring in more talent and will be making offers to everyone of talent.  I'll assume Smackdown becomes the Triple H (or Stephanie) show with Ryan Ward as booker and a more NXT feel.  Look for guys to get called up there like Balor & Nak.  Maybe Joe.  Maybe Bobby Roode.  American Alpha etc.  And NXT to be re-stocked with "indy" guys and ROH/TNA level talent.  Word is ROH has a slew of contracts expiring in June.

TNA has been trying to lock up all their talent under more secure deals.  But I could see Drew Galloway being targeted.  Maybe ECIII as well.  Lashley might be a bit long in the tooth for them.  I always assumed they'd do a Hardy's retirement tour so thats possible to fill out the brands.

One thing is sure, its very interesting and Im looking forward to it.  Especially if the idea is to make Smackdown the Hunter vision (you can see it already with Mauro announcing, Ward as booker).

Not great news for TNA which runs Tuesdays right now. 

[iso_55]

9 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

There are conflicting rumors of one champion working both brands versus two champions.  A source I trust said today its two world champions.  There was a pic floating around a few weeks ago of a template being made for a "Winged Eagle" belt with the new WWE logo (Winged Eagle is the classic WWE belt that Hogan, Savage, Warrior held and is widely considered the best looking belt ever).  But others say it was a fake.  So who knows.  They could as well use the same belt with a blue swish instead of red for Smackdown.

Sounds like WWE wants to bring in more talent and will be making offers to everyone of talent.  I'll assume Smackdown becomes the Triple H (or Stephanie) show with Ryan Ward as booker and a more NXT feel.  Look for guys to get called up there like Balor & Nak.  Maybe Joe.  Maybe Bobby Roode.  American Alpha etc.  And NXT to be re-stocked with "indy" guys and ROH/TNA level talent.  Word is ROH has a slew of contracts expiring in June.

TNA has been trying to lock up all their talent under more secure deals.  But I could see Drew Galloway being targeted.  Maybe ECIII as well.  Lashley might be a bit long in the tooth for them.  I always assumed they'd do a Hardy's retirement tour so thats possible to fill out the brands.

One thing is sure, its very interesting and Im looking forward to it.  Especially if the idea is to make Smackdown the Hunter vision (you can see it already with Mauro announcing, Ward as booker).

Not great news for TNA which runs Tuesdays right now. 

It does??? LOL!

[The Unknown Poster]

A couple updates on the Brand Split

Vince is supposedly very excited and enthusiastic with lots of ideas. He will be more hands on with Smackdown 

The plan is to go with two world champions and they know how they will do it and who they will put in that match. 

[Goalie]

I have to admit that reading the dirt sheets if you will and all the possible rumors I've read... this brand split might be quite interestingto say the least.

Hearing Reigns on raw. Cena on Smackdown 

[iso_55]

Watched the Foley interview with Shane McMahon. At times I wondered if Mick was interviewing himself as he kept interrupting McMahon. A the end he asked Shane about the current roster then went off on a tangent & ran out of time. At times, you could see Shane was confused about the way a question was asked or his feelings about Stephanie & Triple H. Mick obviously was nervous.

[iso_55]

4 hours ago, Goalie said:

I have to admit that reading the dirt sheets if you will and all the possible rumors I've read... this brand split might be quite interestingto say the least.

Hearing Reigns on raw. Cena on Smackdown 

Great. I never watch Smackdown & have no plans.

[Goalie]

I don't either but Live on Tuesday, 2 hours. I may just start watching it. I have a feeling Smackdown will be the better brand. Especially if HHH and Ward are the guys in charge. I could see Smackdown becoming much easier to watch. It's pretty tough to sit through 3 hours of RAW. Smackdown? 2 hours, Live, probably have the better wrestling talent on that roster, yeah, i'd start to watch for sure. No plans to start watching? what if Smackdown turns out to be the better show? Still no plans? why not? 

 

I think it's very possible that Smackdown becomes the show that more people watch, 2 hours is so much easier to sit through than 3. 

[The Unknown Poster]

Just now, Goalie said:

I don't either but Live on Tuesday, 2 hours. I may just start watching it. I have a feeling Smackdown will be the better brand. Especially if HHH and Ward are the guys in charge. I could see Smackdown becoming much easier to watch. It's pretty tough to sit through 3 hours of RAW. Smackdown? 2 hours, Live, probably have the better wrestling talent on that roster, yeah, i'd start to watch for sure. No plans to start watching? what if Smackdown turns out to be the better show? Still no plans? why not? 

 

I think it's very possible that Smackdown becomes the show that more people watch, 2 hours is so much easier to sit through than 3. 

People forget that SD was the better and more watched show during the original brand split.  They had the better booker (Heyman) and the better talent (the Smackdown Six - Angle, Eddie, Benoit, Edge, Rey, Chavo) and drew higher ratings.  RAW will always be the "flagship" show and the one Vince focuses on the most. 

It will be really interesting.  If SD is Hunter's show and if my theory is correct that this is another step in his development (ie. Hunter will have more power to run SD the way he sees fit) then SD *should* be the better show.  It should have the better talent because Hunter is smart enough to power play for the best talent and has an ego that requires the smarks to blow smoke so he will want AJ and Owens and Seth and American Alpha and Balor etc.

They definitely have the better booker in Ward.  Although RAW is so much improved since WM that I am certain Ward has been involved there too, which is the way the writing team works right now - Koskie and Ward are the two head writers but the entire team works together.  After the split, Vince's plan is the writers will be split and insulated with internal pressure to compete against each other.  At least until Vince loses interest after a month or so...

[Jpan85]

On May 24, 2016 at 5:25 PM, iso_55 said:

Zayn is a great worker, you can see it every time he wrestles but there's no pop to the guy. I've seen a lot of wrestlers just like him. I like Cesaro a lot more than Zayn & he's buried as a mid carder... If they bury Cesaro then they'll eventually bury Zayn as well. He's getting a push right now but how long will it last?

Obviously have not seen this match. Zayne produces top matches. I have watched this match at least five times. Huge pop for the guy. (Nakamura is going to be a star eventually so much charisma) Zayne may end up have natch of the year two consecutive years.

[Goalie]

Anyone see these teasers on twitter they are running. #Extracting #hatch 

Pretty interesting. Latest one says 5/30/16. 

New character? Wyatts?  Interesting stuff 

[The Unknown Poster]

WWE put on sale a new Cena shirt that is modeled after the Pabst Blue Ribbon logo.  PBR didnt like it.

WWE claimed it was within Fair Use but pulled the shirt anyway.  lol

[Taynted_Fayth]

if they were smart,  king of the ring or night of champions would be a champ vs champ on opposing shows fighting for bragging rights

[The Unknown Poster]

28 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

if they were smart,  king of the ring or night of champions would be a champ vs champ on opposing shows fighting for bragging rights

In the previous split brand era they had a PPV called bragging rights. 

Plan seems to be to share PPV events, but no inter-brand matches. Each commentary team calling their own matches which means Mauro on PPV which is good. 

RAW after WM and SummerSlam would be inter-brand. 

[Goalie]

#WWEWinnipeg trending tonight.  Lower bowl completely sold out. We so deserve a PPV. 

[Jimmy Pop]

Sounds like Winnipeg's own Y2J had quite the fun night. Shout out to Mr.Irvine! He graduated from the same high school as me, albeit a few years earlier. His folks still live on the same street as far as I know.

 

[Goalie]

Hid dad does but I believe his mom passed away a few years ago 

http://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-102906/Loretta_Irvine

Yup. Unfortunately 

Edited May 29, 2016 by Goalie