The General Wrestling Thread

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

If Summerslam ends any other way than Punk going over, this is the biggest waste of time known to man, and that includes seeing a 5-star match in the process. Star-making match without a star-making result in the program.

[dave]

If Summerslam ends any other way than Punk going over, this is the biggest waste of time known to man, and that includes seeing a 5-star match in the process. Star-making match without a star-making result in the program.

He's going over, no doubt. I wonder if Colt Cabana finally gets involved?

[EmpireWF]

Of course Punk is losing.

You don't see this coming a mile away? HHH costs Punk the match and they feud.

I'll be surprised as fuck if Punk beats Cena.

[dave]

Not buying the PPV regardless. They blew this one.

[EmpireWF]

I seriously don't know one match besides Punk/Cena and Beth/Kelly.

Talk about a shit job promoting the undercard.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Mark Henry vs Someone. I think Sheamus?

Christian vs Blandy Boreton for like the millionth time

thats all I got.

I think they are dragging out the Christian/Orton feud because they know nobody is paying attention right now.

[dave]

Mark Henry vs. Sheamus may not be bad. Give Henry credit, he's doing a good job lately ... and the Sheamus face turn seems to work.

[EmpireWF]

Sheamus will be on Conan O'Brien Thursday night, Conan's always hilarious with wrestlers on (Big Show's two appearances years ago were tremendous).

Being that they're both pale ginger Irishmen, should make for some extra comedy.

[Xixak]

I would love the WWE so much if they totally flipped the script and made HHH screw CENA out of the title. CM Punk becomes a pseudo-company face and Cena goes heel after being betrayed by the company that he's worked so hard for. Plus Cena as a heel would bring even more heat to the Wrestlemania match with The Rock.

Most likely though, CM Punk will lose this match via some intervention by Triple H and the WWE will move onto an HHH-Punk feud so Cena can focus on Del Rio/The Rock.

[EmpireWF]

I would love the WWE so much if they totally flipped the script and made HHH screw CENA out of the title. CM Punk becomes a pseudo-company face and Cena goes heel after being betrayed by the company that he's worked so hard for. Plus Cena as a heel would bring even more heat to the Wrestlemania match with The Rock.

Cena's not going heel. They're too scared to do it. As Claudio would put it, he's their most money making man.

Most likely though, CM Punk will lose this match via some intervention by Triple H and the WWE will move onto an HHH-Punk feud so Cena can focus on Del Rio/The Rock.

[Xixak]

Ugh WWE needs to realize that making Cena heel and moving away from the PG era will bring back enough hardcore fans to compensate for the Cena T-Shirt-wearing kids and moms that would stop watching.

[s@ppisgod]

Ugh WWE needs to realize that making Cena heel and moving away from the PG era will bring back enough hardcore fans to compensate for the Cena T-Shirt-wearing kids and moms that would stop watching.

Their product is garbage, but their business plan is great. Selling to kids makes them more money than selling to adults. Kids buy merch like crazy. Most adults don't. A grown man wearing a wrestling shirt or hat isn't too socially acceptable. And most of you assholes stream PPVs. Kids want to buy Cena shirts. Kids want to watch the PPV. There's more money to be made out of one kid and their parents than there is to make out of five adults, guaranteed. Then you sell the business as "family friendly", and the sponsors are all over it. So who really cares if anyone over the age of 16 with half a brain thinks this is a shitty product? At this point, it's like pointing out plot holes in Spongebob episodes. Who really cares if the end result is making money hand over fist? Cena is champ again, will never turn heel, and should have been done TWICE in the last year. But his 6 year old fanbase doesn't notice, so they're all great ideas. Kids love repetition....
SAMSUNG-SGH-A887/A887UCIJ1 SHP/VPP/R5 NetFront/3.5 SMM-MMS/1.2.0 profile/MIDP-2.1 configuration/CLDC-1.1

[Bigpapa42]

Its not even just about merchandise, though. Being family-friendly gets them the kind of sponsors that they couldn't hope to land with a PG13 product, let alone something closer to the Attitude era. Look at who they can get at this point - 7-Eleven, Pepsi, Gillette... Those kind of sponsors mean a lot more money than Slim Jim and the latest video game release.

With some of the problems that the WWE is facing - overall PPV buyrates going down, TV ratings aren't that strong, live attendances aren't that strong, DVD sales are weak, secondary programming seems to be in the dumps - they are not going to mess with those key revenue streams. Sponsors and key merchandise movers are more important to the WWE than ever before. You have to remember that McMahon can't simply do whatever he feels at this point, because he is beholden to those investors. If he decides to do something that is going to cut into those revenue streams that remains strong, he better have a good reason and alternative streams to replace them.

WWE stock is floating around the $9 mark. It was double that a year ago. It tanked partly because they decided to stop paying a dividend, but they aren't doing great business overall. Looking at the most recent investor meeting notes, its not like they have a lot on the horizon that is going to turn things around. They are going to pop a huge buy rate for WM 28 and then what? They are going to continue to lose old stars over the next couple of years, which is what McMahon partly blames for the issues over the past two years.

I hope the WWE makes a change to the product. I am damn near done with it, so its pretty much the only way I'm going to keep bothering with it. I just can't see it.

[EmpireWF]

The big partner they have is Mattel which they wouldn't have if this were the attitude era with curses and sex all raunched up.

The best we can hope for is little snippets of smart storylines like we get from Punk.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Let's just be honest with ourselves...the WWE is very comfortable with what they have going on, regardless of all the dips in whatever number you can come up with.

They have 99% of the market share, no competition at all and still make money hand over fist. Could they make more money? Maybe, but that would involve expanding the market, which, considering its current state, just isn't needed and it would go against some of their most important business partners core values to do.

The only thing you can hope for is glimmer's of smart programs like Punk is giving.

It is, what it is.