WWE General Discussion II

[improper]

I'd probably want them to cut all my favorite wrestlers and most of the foreign wrestlers because the WWE misuses a lot of them. Obviously I want them to get paid well, so I'd wish for my faves to get signed by AEW or, if they are younger, build their personal brand on Impact (which, for at least the women's division at least, is actually well booked lately)

I was operating under the assumption that I would be taking over booking, and so my list reflects who I would cut.

[LLJ]

I'd probably want them to cut all my favorite wrestlers and most of the foreign wrestlers because the WWE misuses a lot of them. Obviously I want them to get paid well, so I'd wish for my faves to get signed by AEW or, if they are younger, build their personal brand on Impact (which, for at least the women's division at least, is actually well booked lately)

I was operating under the assumption that I would be taking over booking, and so my list reflects who I would cut.

Part of me kinda wants the WWE to lose its stature in the wrestling world as the biggest "and best". WCW almost did it, but Bischoff sucks lol.

[bestnamezRtaken]

Won't ever happen, lol.

[LLJ]

Not in our lifetime. But the WWE may never reach the heights they did in the late 90s-early 00s and mid 80s again. Vince is too out of touch now and I don't think Steph/Triple H have Vince's business acumen during his prime years as a businessman.

Make no mistake, we're witnessing a big downswing right now and it has nothing to do with their talent. I think audiences have moved on from pro wrestling (UFC is now the preferred young man's viewing hobby) and more and more it's a shrinking base for the really hardcore.

[improper]

I think it largely depends on what kind of TV deal AEW gets. If they're on TNT or another decent cable channel, they have a real shot at stealing some of WWE's audience. I basically don't watch Raw and Smackdown any more as it is (tuned in to Smackdown this week...won't be making that mistake again), so my attention is up for grabs, and I know I'm not alone. If AEW is good, I'll watch it, and I imagine a lot of others who are burnt out on WWE will as well.

[spykelee]

Wwe really suffers from that PG rating... Vince and his cartoonish style booking don't do it any favors either.

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[improper]

I don't even think PG is the problem. NXT is PG too and it's great. Yes, PG does limit what can be done creatively, and I do think some feuds really suffer from the ban on blading, as blood can really add to the intensity of a match when not overdone. But in the end, WWE's problem is not that it's PG. It's that the guy running the company sucks.

[pduh01]

Hey everyone most of you may not know that I have my own podcast call Let’s Talk Podcast which I discuss/debate any topics. Today special edition when your friendly neighborhood Stanford was my guest which we give our takes regarding NXT Takeover New York and Wrestlemania.

Here is the link to listen https://anchor.fm/phillip93/episodes/Coady-join-to-discuss-Wrestlemania-weekend-e3p35d/a-adbcqf

Now let me explained the beginning of the show we have some technical difficulties which we have to retake a few times but this time we got it through! I didn’t edit because I dunno how and plus it was acting weird again so I better I upload it before it to late

[LLJ]

I don't even think PG is the problem. NXT is PG too and it's great. Yes, PG does limit what can be done creatively, and I do think some feuds really suffer from the ban on blading, as blood can really add to the intensity of a match when not overdone. But in the end, WWE's problem is not that it's PG. It's that the guy running the company sucks.

It's the nonsensical booking, the utter lack of regard for long term concerns, the puzzling way they bury people for no good reason and therefore waste valuable assets. And that has nothing to do with the PG rating. Why did Samoa Joe lose basically every feud he was in for his first 2 years? Why did they turn Nakamura heel and then do nothing with him? Why did they make everyone look like a geek to a part time champion like Brock for over 2 years? Why did they bury every woman on the main roster solely to prop up 3 women, with complete lack of regard for future consequences?

[Spens1]

Thing is, I can't imagine AEW has the capital to stockpile wrestlers like WWE is doing. They'll probably have to be more strategic with who they spend their cash. The current WWE talents aren't likely to leave for less money.

Really, though, no company should be stockpiling wrestlers. It's a stupid business practice, as it's a massive waste of money. Meanwhile, things that actually improve the show like pyro (makes certain wrestlers feel more important) and custom sets for PPVs (makes them feel special and not like a slightly less sh*tty version of Raw) are too expensive, likely because they've got millions of dollars in contracts for wrestlers who don't even get on TV.

If I took over WWE tomorrow, my first act would likely be to release about half the damn roster because it's so bloated with guys who are either bad (like Corbin) or who have been ruined by years of WWE booking (which is sadly a good chunk of the roster).

100% agree, if it took control tomorrow (other than giving Heyman the head booking position alongside maybe Ryan Ward) i'd get rid of large swaths of the roster that is basically extra. Other then that, i'd make the midcard great again (the IC title and U.S title would become proper #2 titles that really are important and are springboards to the world title). Oh yeah, the red belt goes into the bin live on TV and replaced with the Big Gold (cause the Red Belt is probably the worst world title belt that WWE has ever had) and i'd bring back either the Winged Eagle for the WWE title or the design after that (before the spinner).

I'd then provide some actual structure to the roster (main eventers, upper mid carders who provide filler feuds for the world title and compete mainly for the IC or US championships and lower mid card wrestlers who are filler feuds for the mid card belts and mostly lose to main eventers and mid carders whilst beating local jobbers).

Releases:
Baron Corbin (i don't see what the company sees in him, no charisma, mediocre in ring talent)
The Revival (its too far gone sadly, rather cut our losses there and let them go)
Sasha Banks (ditto for her, i can't forsee her being a main eventer or getting major significant time in a singles feud)
Good Brothers (I'd let them go as well for their own good to be honest, they've been sabotaged by Vince)
Luke Harper (grant him his wish and release him)
Eric Rowan (honestly, he really just isn't good at all and without Harper, i can't justify him as a singles wrestler)
Bray Wyatt (this one hurts but he needs to rebuild himself away from the WWE)
Dolph Ziggler (I can't justify him on that big a salary and to be not even featured)
Shinsuke Nakamura (this is a botch job by all involved, they butchered his booking and now he's in cruisemode, which shouldn't happen for a guy on 7 figures)
Shelton Benjamin (I swear they brought him back only because he was in New Japan pretty much because he's done nothing)
Jinder Mahal (downright terrible in the ring and mediocre on the mic)
Nia Jax (a hazard to everyone she faces)
Tamina (charisma vacuum and not that good in the ring)
Mickie James (she's good but have to clear up space for other wrestlers to come in)
Carmella (Average wrestler without a high upside unfortunately)
The Ascension (forgot they where on the roster)
The Colons (same as the Ascension)
Mojo Rawley (he's not bad, but for the life of me i have no idea how you would get him out of the hole he's in)
Titus O'Neill (as a wrestler, i'd transition him into an ambassadorial role)
R-Truth (same as Titus)
Alicia Fox (not going to get used really speaking)
Dana Brooke (i appreciate her effort but its clearly not happening, if she's willing to take a valet role i'd let her stay however, but her WWE in ring career would be over)
Apollo Crews (needs a rebuild outside the WWE, i'd recommend New Japan tbh, he'd do damn well there)
Mike Kanellis & Maria (what a bad idea this ended up being, the fact that he's in 205 Live goes to show you how wrong its gone)
Tino Sabbotelli (he's 35, still deep in developmental and has already injured some key stars, cut your losses)
Shane Thorne (without his partner, him as a singles talent doesn't make any sense, let him go and let him reform TMDK)
Wesley Blake, Steve Cuttler (not really going anywhere fast)


Changes Booking wise:

Overall:
- Fandango-Tyler Breeze and Zach Ryder and Curt Hawkins along with Rhyno and Heath Slater and Sunil & Samir Singh become lower end tag teams.
- Natalya more or less is transitioned into training women or being low on the card and helping other women get over
- Bring back properly named PPV's, not the bland names currently going on (i'd use WCW names also, Starrcade, Great American Bash, War Games etc).
- King of the Ring replaces MITB (which goes back to being a Wrestlemania match), 32 man tornuament, winner faces the world champ of their choice at Summerslam
- Older, long term WWE wrestlers (such as Cena, Orton, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy) pushed down the card into the mid card to bolster that division and give it some name recognition whilst allowing new stars to be pushed up
- Fall Brawl (with the War Games Match) is held before Survivor Series (two months of proper tag team wrestling emphasised at a time that's usually dead anyway)
- Speaking of which, introduce actual factions to the fold (sign Truth Martini, call up Stokley Hathaway and have Drake Maverick, all 3 become spokespeople for different factions).
- Ricochet becomes the face of 205 Live, with Kushida his deputy so to speak (only after an NXT title run though) the separation of the CW division and the main roster is ended, 205 Live still exists however. 205 live main eventer is booked equally to a WWE mid carder. Ricochet to Raw, Kushida to Smackdown sometime next year
- The Bar split, start of a late career Cesaro push (long overdue)
- Bring back authentic jobbers as well to differentiate the lower mid card to actual local talent
- NXT UK folds (i'm sorry, its rubbish mostly) and is merged into NXT proper (meaning whoever doesn't have much chance of main roster NXT is let go back into the existing independent scene i.e. Progress), remove all restrictions on talent appearing elsewhere (such as RevPro, OTT etc)

Raw:
- The 'Sports Entertainment' brand (McIntyre, Lesnar, Seth, AJ all prominant wrestlers)
- Drew McIntyre would get pushed into the main event ASAP (i'd have him beat Rollins for the title), feuds with Seth and AJ Styles.
- AJ gets into feud with Brock Lesnar (Lesnar beats him), Lesnar faces Riddle at Wrestlemania next year and loses.
- Roman Reigns depushed into upper mid card, turn him heel, give him the U.S title (assuming that stays on smackdown) and give him a lengthy reign with that and let him feel his way out in that role and if he starts getting consistent face reactions after a year a year and a half, turn him back.
- Reunite Heavy Machinery and immediately stop whatever Otis is.
- Tommaso Ciampa called up to main roster on Raw (if he recovers), pushed to main event immediately as a heel, wins title on first night from mega babyface AJ styles
- Matt Riddle called up to main roster on Raw, pushed to main event as a face

Smackdown:
- The 'Professional Wrestling' Brand (Gargano, Bryan, Zayn, Owens etc) for the most part (there is Braun for that little bit of sports entertainment)
- Aiden English brought back to be Rusev's valet alongside Lana (who is done in ring)
- Start the singles push of Chad Gable over the next two years (not as a FOTC guy, but a guy who can get into the main event)
- Braun gets the world heavyweight championship at some point this year (probably from Kevin Owens) loses it via cash in to Sami Zayn
- Andrade Wins the IC title off of Finn Balor
- Undisputed Era called up to main roster, Adam Cole gets a rocket, pushed immediately as a main event heel on smackdown.
- Johnny Gargano called up to main roster on smackdown, pushed immediately as a main event face (rivalry with Daniel Bryan, eventually beats Sami Zayn in main event of Wrestlemania)

NXT:
- Marcel Barthell renamed Axel Dieter Jr, gets a push as an upper mid carder to main eventer (replacing Ciampa as the main heel)
- Brennan Williams finally brought to
- Shane Strickland gets a North American title run very early on

Main eventers:
Smackdown: Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Braun Strowman, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Daniel Bryan, Adam Cole
Raw: Drew McIntyre, Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Tommaso Ciampa, Bobby Lashley, Matt Riddle
NXT: Velveteen Dream, Alex Dieter Jr, Keith Lee, Roderick Strong, Shane Strickland, Kushida, Pete Dunne

Upper Mid Carders:
Smackdown: Rusev, Andrade Cien Almas (he gets his name back), Chad Gable, Samoa Joe, Cesaro, Kofi Kingston, Kyle O'Reilly
Raw: Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, Bobby Roode, John Cena, Randy Orton, Lars Sullivan, Sheamus, Alestair Black
NXT: Garza Jr, ACH, Damien Priest (actually a solid repackaging), Donovan Dijakovic, Trent Seven, Zach Gibson, Jordan Devlin

Mid Card:
Smackdown: Big E, Xavier Woods, Killain Dane (Just call him Big Damo), Buddy Murphy, Mustafa Ali, Elias, Bobby Fish, Kassius Ohno (he gets called up, teams with Cesaro sporadicly)
Raw: Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry, Cedric Alexander, Eric Young, EC3 (w/Drake Maverick), The Miz
NXT: Cezar Bononi, Raul Mendoza, Tyler Bate, Noam Darr, Trevor Lee, Dave Mastiff, Wolfgang, Travis Banks, TK Cooper

Lower mid card:
Raw: No Way Jose, Curt Hawkins & Zach Ryder, Sunil & Samir Singh
Smackdown: Fandango & Tyler Breeze, Rhyno and Heath Slater
NXT: Mansoor, Brennan Williams, Samuel Shaw, Jaxson Ryker (can't fool me, that's still TNA Gunner), Flash Morgan, Joseph Connors, El Ligero

Women:

Main Event:
Raw: Charlotte, Ronda Rousey, Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Shayna Baszler (eventually)
Smackdown: Becky Lynch, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Ember Moon, Io Shirai (eventually)

Upper Mid Card:
Raw: Lacey Evans, Naomi,
Smackdown: Sarah Logan, Ruby Riott, Sonya Deville, Candace LaRae

Mid Card:
Raw: Mandy Rose, Billy Kay, Peyton Royce
Smackdown:Liv Morgan

NXT Main: Dakota Kai, Mia Yim, Jinny, Toni Storm, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Bellair
NXT Mid: Killer Kelly, Kacy Catanzaro, Taynara Conti, Deonna Purrazo, Jessamyn Duke
NXT Low: Vanessa Borne, Aliyah, Xia Li, Isla Dawn, Xia Brookside,

[Spens1]

I'd probably want them to cut all my favorite wrestlers and most of the foreign wrestlers because the WWE misuses a lot of them. Obviously I want them to get paid well, so I'd wish for my faves to get signed by AEW or, if they are younger, build their personal brand on Impact (which, for at least the women's division at least, is actually well booked lately)

I was operating under the assumption that I would be taking over booking, and so my list reflects who I would cut.

Part of me kinda wants the WWE to lose its stature in the wrestling world as the biggest "and best". WCW almost did it, but Bischoff sucks lol.

Bischoff can be brilliant, problem is, he was so damn driven by trying to be one of the boys and that got in the way of logic.

Also i don't think anyone is under the illusion that WWE is 'the best' anymore, i think only ROH and AAA are worse today out of the promotions with any real following.

[WRau1]

So, Punk wrestled at an indie event in Milwaukee last night...

[Stanford]

So, Punk wrestled at an indie event in Milwaukee last night...

Eh, not really though. Didn't look like him to me

Edit: I guess its been confirmed now. Wtf. Why was he moving like a chimp? Even the GTS looked weird.

Lots of why to go around

[jakecronus8]

Punk said in an interview a few years ago that if he ever returned to wrestling it would probably be a one off type deal as a favor to a friend wearing a mask and wouldn't tell anyone about it. An off the cuff theoretical turned 100% true.

[WRau1]

What pisses me off is that this was literally BLOCKS away from my house...

[LLJ]

So, Punk wrestled at an indie event in Milwaukee last night...

Eh, not really though. Didn't look like him to me

Edit: I guess its been confirmed now. Wtf. Why was he moving like a chimp? Even the GTS looked weird.

Lots of why to go around

He hasn't wrestled in almost 5 years, I'd not expect him to look good. Plus he's getting pretty old now

[bestnamezRtaken]

He didn't wrestle, just came out, masked, hit the GTS on someone and ran out, never taking the mask off.

[Stanford]

He ran to and from the ring like a cartoon burglar.

[bestnamezRtaken]

Probably to try not to make it seem like it was him, lol. But yeah it was very cartoonish.

[WRau1]

Lol, the WWE has already moved Andrade and Vega back to Smackdown reportedly because they were so impressed with his match vs Balor. Aleister Black is also headed to Smackdown.