General Pro Wrestling News and Discussion Thread Part Deux!

I wouldn't call it easy, at least not always. They've burned us many times with stunts that looked like they could be real, and with them hyping the heck out of the social media aspect of the show these days, it's hard not to question it. This would be just the sort of attention-getting story (tasteless or not) that would get their Twitter feed blazing.

That having been said, I hadn't seen the part of the show when Lawler fell ill and had to be taken to the hospital. Had I seen it beforehand, I would have recognized immediately that it was a real-life happening. I have since seen the video of the Kane & Daniel Bryan vs. the Prime Time Players match. The way they consciously did NOT film that section of the arena throughout the entire thing proved that it was real. That, plus Cole's demeanor throughout the rest of the show (he's not THAT good of an actor) and the terminology he used to assure the viewers at home that what they were watching wasn't a stunt.

 

^ The lines do get blurred sometimes and fans do get fooled, but if something is storyline, they'll usually show it happening on camera, which is a good indicator of whether or not what we're seeing is kayfabe or not.

 

Now that's it been confirmed that Jerry Lawler did indeed have a heart attack, I sincerely hope that he never steps back into the ring again. And I really hope that he abstains from wrestling by choice and not because this incident kills him.

It's still early days and there has been talk of the possibility of brain damage because of the time it took to resuscitate Lawler. The reality of the situation is, that had this heart attack occurred when Lawler wasn't at Raw, (where EMT's and doctors are present) they may not have been able to resuscitate him.

Ric Flair isn't exactly being very fucking helpful. Yes, Lawler believed he was apparently in good health, but Ric Flair shouldn't be advocating that 60+ years old men should still be wrestling. The adage that "Age is just a number" cannot possibly apply to something as physically strenuous as professional wrestling.

 

I've always loved Cole. It's silly seeing people suddenly deciding they like him after this, as if they believed it's all been real. Marks eh.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...y-kane-and-bryan-must-defeat-kofi-and-r-truth

My latest, this time about the tag team championship match on Sunday.

 

Jerry Lawler appears to be out of the woods. Great stuff, in fact he's tweeted a pic from hospital in which he is looking really good.

 

That is great news about Lawler.

Jim Ross talks about WWE'13.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/quicknews/article_65159.shtml

 

Night of Champions predictions

- Zack Ryder will win the pre-show Battle Royale (He's the crowd favourite choice and the most progressive one, considering that another match with Santino will do nothing for Cesaro.)

- Antonio Cesaro will defeat Zack Ryder to retain the United States Championship (I want Cesaro to ditch the US title and bring back the European title, since it's more in keeping with his gimmick. Also, the US title shouldn't exist in WWE. The Intercontinental title accounts for the entire Americas, being a fusion of two titles - the WWF North American and WWF South American. Therefore, the Intercontinental covers the US as well as Canada and South America.)

- The Miz will defeat Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes to retain the Intercontinental Championship (This has potential to be one of the matches of the night. Miz is back on a hot streak following one of the biggest demotions in WWE history. Mysterio and Sin Cara are also hot, following long periods of inactivity due to injury. Rhodes is bouncing between lukewarm and hot, but he's still doing enough to be perceived as a serious upper mid card/main event talent)

- Randy Orton will defeat Dolph Ziggler (Orton is one of few, if not the only wellness policy violator to retain their top card position following return from suspension, despite the fact that Ziggler going over clean, in the occasions prior to this match, would have served to elevate Ziggler and take nothing away from Orton)

- Sheamus will defeat Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (Del Rio is in serious need of a series of big time victories, otherwise he faces the grave potential of being stuck in WWE upper mid carder territory)

- Dolph Ziggler will defeat Sheamus to win the World Heavyweight Championship (Sheamus hasn't really gone anywhere as WHC. Don't get me wrong, it's not strictly down to the way his character is booked, it's also due to the WHC being redundant)

- Layla will defeat Kaitlyn to retain the Divas Championship

- Kane and Daniel Bryan will defeat R Truth and Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Tag Team Championship (so begins Kane's 1000th reign as a tag champion)

- CM Punk will defeat John Cena to retain the WWE Championship (Cena will still get booed, regardless of whether he's in his hometown or not)

 

^Almost a flawless prediction there, AdmiralM!

 

I actually forgot that there was a WWE PPV last night. John Cena injured his ankle last night in his match against CM Punk. From the sounds of it, doesn't sound serious.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/quicknews/article_65263.shtml

 

A pretty "meh" PPV last night with the exception of the last match. JBL started bad but picked up steam as he got back into the swing of things. The finish of the last match was just poor booking. Heyman at ring side gave the story nothing although his looks during the match were priceless.

 

Punk vs Cena went on far too long, Cena just hasn't got the conditioning to wrestle matches of that length, nor keep up with the superiorly conditioned CM Punk. I'm not saying the match was bad, it was enjoyable, but it didn't do much where John Cena was concerned. I actually cringed at the top-rope German suplex, the landing looked dangerous, although clearly, it was designed so that Cena would go into the bridge with both his shoulders on the mat.

The false finish was straight out of the book of WWF 2000, in which the WWE Championship "changed hands" on more than one occasion, only for the referee to reverse the decision or declare that both men's shoulders were on the mat, etc.

Not even a hometown crowd could save Cena (as I predicted). He received a mixed reaction (I'd say 45% cheers 55% boo's) from bell to bell. Not even CM Punk's masterful command of the heel archetype could sway the crowd to favour Cena. I think WWE should just accept defeat where promoting black and white characters is concerned. It all began with the nWo and Steve Austin, and it's not going to go away.

I'm surprised Eve walked out as Divas Champion, it would seem the office is still really high on her. If I were booking, I'd have Aksana (can she even wrestle?) take the Diva dukes, and reign supreme alongside Antonio Cesaro as a classic power couple. It would enhance both of them, in that McMahon/Helmsley style of 2000.

All in all, NOC was a decent effort from WWE.

Oh, by the way! When Kane decides to retire from in-ring competition, he should seriously consider sketch comedy. That guy is absolutely hilarious when he's allowed to be! Both Kane and Daniel Bryan are going to go to the moon if the performance quality remains at the same high level.

 

Your right Admira,l Kanes yelling out, I'm going to DisnyLand, was priceless and by far my favorite moment of the show.

 

Kane is often singled out by the boys as one of the smartest and funniest guys on the roster.

 

Kane's a real renaissance man in wrestling terms. A man who (dentist gimmick notwithstanding) was originally brought in to play a silent, masked monster has since been able to perfectly turn his hand to absolute psychopath immediately following his unmasking, a quite Shakespearian turn while World Heavyweight Champion and now doing the best comedy the company's put out in a very long time.

 

I AM the Tag Team CHAMPIONS!

 

^ That was pretty entertaining. Kane has always been good at doing comedy segments. Even without speaking, just reacting.

WWE.com has reported this morning that John Cena underwent elbow surgery to remove bone chips. He will be out four to six weeks.

 

I've just been reading that myself.

I have a feeling that Cena will still appear in a non-wrestling capacity, regardless of whether he's injured or not. Hell, Cena's rate of recovery is superhuman. His last "big" injury in 2008 - in where he suffered some kind of neck injury, only forced him out of action for 4 months.

Four to Six weeks? I'd say three, and he'll still make the Hell In A Cell main event.

 

Ideally, Creative should use this time to develop Punk's heel persona in a way that isn't intrinsically tied to "whatever John Cena is up to at the moment." They might not get too many more chances like this, between how rare Cena's injuries/hiatuses have been and how difficult a time they've had turning Punk completely.

...hey, it's a nice dream to have, right? Right up there with "AJ + AC/DC schoolboy costume + Gatorade."

 

AJ doesn't really do it for me, but it's good to dream!

 

Wasn't Cena reported injured last year? I seem to remember we had a big discussion in the original thread about WWE getting Cena time off and all agreeing (for once lol) that wouldn't happen. They just rely on him too much to take him off camera for too long.