WWF/WWE/ECW/WCW

...And after the opening depicting Bryan's tweet, now they're pimping the hell out of it.

I could be wrong but I call "work" on this one.

And now Kevin Owens loses to stale Ziggler for the second week in a row on Raw. 

I hope to hell they have a long-term plan for Owens (doubtful) because otherwise they're totally wasting his character by doing this.

We're now 2 hours into Raw and they're still pimping the Bryan retirement.  This looks more and more like a work to me.

tohostudios wrote:

We're now 2 hours into Raw and they're still pimping the Bryan retirement.  This looks more and more like a work to me.

I turned it off after the Owens/Ziggler match... Will FF thru the rest on DVR tonight. I got bored and decided to watch Longmire on Netflix instead.

Titus O'Neil was reportedly sent home from last night's WWE SmackDown tapings shortly after he arrived as he's been suspended for unprofessional conduct, according to PWInsider.

Word is that Titus was suspended because he grabbed Vince McMahon in what was described as a "playful, physical way" at the end of Monday's RAW when Daniel Bryan walked up to the stage where Vince and the WWE roster was, right after his retirement speech.

Titus arrived to SmackDown and was informed he was being sent home. His suspension could be for up to 90 days, that hasn't been confirmed. We'll keep you updated.
This is a little extreme I think. As everyone is saying, if you fail a drug test for the WWE you only get 30 days!

Leatherface wrote:

Titus O'Neil was reportedly sent home from last night's WWE SmackDown tapings shortly after he arrived as he's been suspended for unprofessional conduct, according to PWInsider.

Word is that Titus was suspended because he grabbed Vince McMahon in what was described as a "playful, physical way" at the end of Monday's RAW when Daniel Bryan walked up to the stage where Vince and the WWE roster was, right after his retirement speech.

Titus arrived to SmackDown and was informed he was being sent home. His suspension could be for up to 90 days, that hasn't been confirmed. We'll keep you updated.
This is a little extreme I think.  As everyone is saying, if you fail a drug test for the WWE you only get 30 days!

It's ok, they reduced it to 60 days

Unless one of the theories being bandied about is true. It says that he tested positive on a drug test and because of all the charity work and PR he's done they can't let it be known and came up with this trumped up charge. I highly doubt it, but if it were true, it's just the kind of thing WWE would do to cover it up.

DallasBlack wrote:

It's ok, they reduced it to 60 days

It's more like "Your status decides it", it it's a main eventer nothing happens to you, if you're in a big story, you might get written out for a week, if you're a midcarder you might get suspended for a month"
WWE's drug policy is a funny joke, remember when Scott Steiner was called for a drug test and he said he would take it if HHH was tested next to him? They never asked him again about tests. HHH at the time came back from a long time injury looking 3 times the size before.
The drug policy in the WWF/E has always been a joke (i can recommend the book Titan Sinking about 1995, a good read about things that are still going on, Vince never changed)

As for Danielson: He got cleared by various doctors, it was just WWE that held him back, him saying "goodbye" means that he's hopefully free of the WWE shackles and will return to ROH. Hopefully.

No, apparently he is still locked in a contract. From 411mania:

Before he decided to retire following the medical update he got last week, Daniel Bryan was considering working with ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The WON reports that Bryan was considering working with one of the two promotions if he wasn’t cleared for a WWE return. As previously noted, Bryan had reportedly asked for his release and was denied.

Bryan was said to be not concerned about the differences in his WWE contract and what he would make from bookings, and felt he could help pro wrestling as a whole by using his star power to help promote the smaller companies. There were also reports of Bryan studying CMLL pretty heavily to the point that he was growing his hair for a potential “hair versus mask” match at an anniversary show. Bryan had suggested the possibility of an indie run in interviews last year if he couldn’t get cleared by WWE.

Oh, it appears Titus had to pay a fine on top of his suspension.

Utter BS. Of course same could be said as the talk of it being because he's black.

Damn!

Charlotte is SOOOO much better as a heel. I actually wanted to punch her in the face after that exchange with Brie Bella.

Man, Paul Heyman is soooooo great on the mic. He set that whole matchup with Lesnar,Reigns and Ambrose perfectly. That whole segment was great.

Then the newly-heeled Dudleys had to run down and mess up the whole ambiance. WWE creative is so clueless. That heel intervention would have been fine later in the show but coming immediately after the intense 15 minute exchange between Heyman and Reigns just totally blew up the chemistry IMO.

- The Baltimore Sun reports that ECW Original Axl Rotten, 44, died of an accidental overdose, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore.

A police report said Rotten was found unconscious and not breathing on the bathroom floor of a McDonald's restaurant in the Linthicum neighborhood. Rotten was found on the floor of a stall, and he had pulled down the infant changing table and placed drug paraphernalia on it. A broken burnt tablespoon with "crystalline residue" was found. They also found an unlabeled pill bottle with capsules of a "brownish substance," believed to be heroin, on top of a paper towel dispenser.

Rotten was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:09pm that day, Thursday, February 4th. They do not know how long he was in the bathroom before he was found.

Sadly that's not at all surprising.

I think this may be the longest I've ever heard Brock Lesnar speak in an interview. Nice to hear him out of character. And one of the comments at the bottom of the link says he sounds something like Peyton Manning here. I agree.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/brock-lesnar-says-daniel-bryan-191523662.html

Well, a former WCW star and a former member of The Four Horsemen actually had a Wrestlemania moment despite never being sighed to WWE/F, Mongo McMichaels was one of the football players in the corner of Lawrence Taylor in his match against Bam Bam.

Well it is very apparent Lawler is back to doing heel commentary but I'm not sure if it's an improvement over the same Lawler that has bored people in recent years. I'm currently in the era of his early commentary and he's nowhere near as entertaining now.

Any other Network subscribers find the streaming of PPVs a pain in the ass? Everytime I watch anything on a stream with the network I find constant pauses, skips, and out of focus images. Anything pre-recorded works fine, I only have problems with streaming.

DallasBlack wrote:

Any other Network subscribers find the streaming of PPVs a pain in the ass? Everytime I watch anything on a stream  with the network I find constant pauses, skips, and out of focus images. Anything pre-recorded works fine, I only have problems with streaming.

It's the same for me. Any time I watch a PPV I get all sorts of issues. Any other time it works perfectly.

OK, this opening segment of RAW just screams "desperation".

For one thing, it ran for 30 minutes.  For another thing, the ultimate payoff is a "Heck" In The Cell Match between Shane McMahon and The Undertaker???  Seriously?  Shane hasn't been on TV in years.  And there hasn't been a real Hell In The Cell match in just about as long.  And since there's a "no blood" policy, what the hell are these guys going to do?  It's an ancient geezer of a wrestler who has more nagging lifetime injuries than you can shake a stick at vs another middle-aged guy who isn't even a wrestler.  So without weapons or blood just how will this sell any tickets?

As if I need another reason to dislike Roman Reigns, tonight he's sporting a "man bun".  Man I hate that trend.

Holy shit!  USA is bleeping "pissed off"?????

Even Fox News Channel uses that term and in the middle of the day no less.  This "PG' shit has got to stop; I think  that's the biggest thing hurting WWE today.  They could get away with all the lame storylines and characters if they'd throw a little blood or language in there but lacking both aspects is lethal IMO.

But even with all that...Heyman is still SOOOOOO great on the mic.

tohostudios wrote:

Holy shit!  USA is bleeping "pissed off"?????

Even Fox News Channel uses that term and in the middle of the day no less.  This "PG' shit has got to stop; I think  that's the biggest thing hurting WWE today.  They could get away with all the lame storylines and characters if they'd throw a little blood or language in there but lacking both aspects is lethal IMO.

But even with all that...Heyman is still SOOOOOO great on the mic.

Just last night I watched the pre-Attitude Era WWE shoot promo where Bret Hart said 'sh*t' 4 or 5 times on Raw and used pissed off too. That would never happen today.

Oh, speaking of Bret Hart, I'm watching his 1995 Summerslam match with Issac Yankem. If you guys remember, that was Kane's first gimmick as Jerry Lawler's dentist. He wears lifts in his boots as Kane so it's funny to see him only a handful of inches taller that Hart.

tohostudios wrote:

OK, this opening segment of RAW just screams "desperation".

For one thing, it ran for 30 minutes.  For another thing, the ultimate payoff is a "Heck" In The Cell Match between Shane McMahon and The Undertaker???  Seriously?  Shane hasn't been on TV in years.  And there hasn't been a real Hell In The Cell match in just about as long.  And since there's a "no blood" policy, what the hell are these guys going to do?  It's an ancient geezer of a wrestler who has more nagging lifetime injuries than you can shake a stick at vs another middle-aged guy who isn't even a wrestler.  So without weapons or blood just how will this sell any tickets?

I figured it out as soon as he walked out. "Oh, so Shane is back to face Taker at Mania". I am not too familiar with Shane as I took a break from wrestling for several years. Didn't have cable at the time so I stopped watching. When I started watching again was the WCW invasion angle. I was at the last Nitro here in Panama City when Shane walked out. I had no idea who he was. A short time later we got cable again and I watched some but I really have no idea who he is or what he does. Personally, I am not interested in a Shane/Taker match.

If it weren't for Brock I would take another 2 or 3 year break from it. Maybe I will after WrestleMania.

Something else that bothers me is the unprofessional cameras on Raw now. They "bobble" with the moves and it is very distracting and looks like something a middle school kid would film. Terrible camera shots in WWE now (don't watch Smackdown but I assume it is the same there as well).

DallasBlack wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Holy shit!  USA is bleeping "pissed off"?????

Even Fox News Channel uses that term and in the middle of the day no less.  This "PG' shit has got to stop; I think  that's the biggest thing hurting WWE today.  They could get away with all the lame storylines and characters if they'd throw a little blood or language in there but lacking both aspects is lethal IMO.

But even with all that...Heyman is still SOOOOOO great on the mic.

Just last night I watched the pre-Attitude Era WWE shoot promo where Bret Hart said 'sh*t' 4 or 5 times on Raw and used pissed off too. That would never happen today.

Oh, speaking of Bret Hart, I'm watching his 1995 Summerslam match with Issac Yankem. If you guys remember, that was Kane's first gimmick as Jerry Lawler's dentist. He wears lifts in his boots as Kane so it's funny to see him only a handful of inches taller that Hart.

I think it's funnier to see Kane with hair.