Jan 23, 2017

Who's tuned in tonight boys

 

Jan 23, 2017

Man. Reigns had a few good matches with AJ and i haven't really been following him much, just assumed ehh, he isn't that bad anymore.

I said this last week--this guy still absolutely sucks a--- at promos. Like. a---.

 

Jan 23, 2017

https://forum.sectioneighty.com/off...d-last-raw-before-royal-rumble.t60719/page-26 Join the Raw thread, brethren!

 

Jan 23, 2017

Like probably the worst of any serious main eventer of all time

 

Jan 23, 2017

Thanks dog

 

Jan 24, 2017

Everyone go watch The Young Bucks and Adam Cole vs Ricochet, Will Ospreay, and Matt Sydal from PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 2. Holy s---

 

Jan 26, 2017

According to Meltzer, this is what's currently planned for WrestleMania, though plans always change

Spoiler

The Mania lineup at this point is looking like Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns, HHH vs. Seth Rollins, Jericho vs. Owens, Wyatt vs. Orton, Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal and Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax as the Raw women’s title match. The key is the Rumble winner is likely, although they could swerve, to be the person who will challenge for either the Universal title or WWE title.

 

Jan 26, 2017

@Devil White a bit you may like

Spoiler

Orton vs Wyatt may be for the WWE Championship

 

Jan 26, 2017

 

Jan 26, 2017

Gonna copy everything Meltzer said about RR/WrestleMania instead of that tidbit I posted earlier, if anyone is interested

Spoiler

"The WWE has what may be its most intriguing Royal Rumble in years coming up on 1/29 in San Antonio at the Alamodome.

Usually, the winner of the Rumble is either fairly well known, or common sense breaks it down into only a few possibilities. And in some years, because of depth, the match feels like a lot of guys biding their time and fans waiting for the few key guys and pick up when they arrive, whether it’s the annual super athletic spot (Kofi Kingston has been doing it of late, previously the role was for John Morrison), and the big guy who throws everyone out (the spot that made the career of Kevin Nash as Diesel, and Kane is also well known for that role, which could be reprised by one or more this year, including Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and even possibly Big Cass). There are the surprises from the past, which are kept under wraps (often even from the guys, who often are only told a few days ahead of time so it doesn’t get out).

There could be returns from injuries (if Finn Balor is cleared), debuts from NXT (Samoa Joe is a possibility; and both Shinsuke Nakamura and Tye Dillinger if he enters at No. 10 are easy monster pops). And given the status of Dillinger, there are some who think of Dillinger isn’t in at No. 10, there will be a big negative reaction. That’s hard to say because there are expected to be around 40,000 people at the Alamodome, and while some will revolt if No. 10 isn’t who they want it to be, it’s not a lock the big crowd will. Still, to be on the safe side, you’d want to put a smarmy heel like Miz to take advantage if there is going to be that reaction as opposed to putting a pushed face in jeopardy of getting the blowback.

At press time there are 22 of the 30 names announced, led by the big three of Goldberg, Lesnar and Undertaker. The others are Strowman, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Rusev, Corbin, The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus (Cesaro & Sheamus are the only ones listed for both a Rumble match and an undercard match), Cass, Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn and Mojo Rawley. That’s more open spots than usual for surprises.

The key in charting the winner is to look at WrestleMania. Traditionally, the Rumble winner will be in the title match at Mania. With two brands, that’s two titles. Also, with two PPVs, the Smackdown-branded Elimination Chamber and the Raw-branded Fast Lane, there will be title matches involving both brands’ champions taking place before Mania.

The plans at this point are that neither Kevin Owens nor A.J. Styles will be champions going into WrestleMania. Smackdown has an Elimination Chamber match, meaning six guys will be in, so if John Cena wins the title at the Rumble, and that’s being teased (although they did downplay the tying of the Ric Flair record this past week), that doesn’t mean he’ll retain it in the Chamber match.

The Mania lineup at this point is looking like Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns, HHH vs. Seth Rollins, Jericho vs. Owens, Wyatt vs. Orton, Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal and Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax as the Raw women’s title match. The key is the Rumble winner is likely, although they could swerve, to be the person who will challenge for either the Universal title or WWE title.

The only Smackdown match on that list is Orton vs. Wyatt, and it’s not a secret that Wyatt was scheduled for a title run in 2017. That immediately puts both of them in contention, and if one wins, the other would be favored to win the Chamber match. There’s a story that just started going around about Orton winning the Rumble and Wyatt winning the Chamber match. If that doesn’t happen, it would be because plans changed. Even though historically the booking before Mania always gets out and it almost never changed (it changes for other reasons, such as injuries or guys quitting, but that’s usually known as well), with the increase in social media, my feeling is nothing is a lock until it happens. I doubt we’ll see major destination changes, in the sense the top of the card will probably be pretty close to as is slated now, but how to get there could change.

On the Raw side, Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Reigns or Jericho vs. Owens would likely be the title match. Goldberg’s storyline explicitly mentions coming after the title. Owens vs. Jericho would make more sense as the U.S. title match since Owens would figure to win if Jericho is still going to tour over the summer.

Coming off the Rumble, or at least when the Fast Lane main event is announced, that should make the Raw title direction obvious, unless it’s Reigns vs. Goldberg at Fast Lane and Owens isn’t figured in, at which point it won’t be as clear.

Among the key guys, the obvious guys not on the list of matches are Cena, Styles, Balor, Dean Ambrose and Strowman of guys that will likely be in key matches. Cena vs. Samoa Joe was definitely an idea that was pitched, and made sense based on a few things we’ve heard, but we’ve never heard a confirmation on that. There are rumors of Styles vs. Shane McMahon, and Styles did complain about the idea of the Elimination Chamber match to Shane and neither have anything going. As noted before, Goldberg agreeing to stay past one match may have saved Lesnar from this year’s Shane program and Shane pitched for that idea and they had started in that direction before it was dropped cold.

Strowman is harder to figure, as he’s clearly being pushed for something big. They’ve teased the idea of doing spots with him with Undertaker and Show at the Rumble. But all the guys you’d think they are building him up for, Goldberg, Lesnar, Undertaker, Reigns or Show, are all taken at this point. He could be put in there for the Andre Battle Royal, and perhaps take that one (at one point that was the idea last year but the feeling at the time is he wasn’t ready), and then work with one of the aforementioned names after Mania in a top program. One would think he’ll play monster in the Rumble, and there will be a story built from his elimination to take him to his next destiny.

I could see the Smackdown women’s title in a multiple person match, except you don’t want both women’s titles up in the same type of match. Nikki Bella and Becky Lynch are the most over of the women on the brand, but both are faces. Nikki has been kept away from the title ever since the brand split, and they’ve been feeding her heels to fill her time staying out of that picture, so her chasing would be new.

Undertaker vs. Reigns is notable because Vince McMahon made the call to go from the original Undertaker vs. Cena direction to this match. On paper, this would make it a lock that nobody is coming close to the boos Reigns will be getting on this show. Regardless of the outcome, this to me only makes sense if the plan is an all-out Reigns heel turn and use this as the springboard. Otherwise, the idea of Undertaker beating him and then endorsing him won’t work, because Daniel Bryan and Rock endorsed him and it didn’t work. Undertaker losing to him unless the match is dramatically perfect will only get him more heel heat.

With Balor returning, they do have someone who perhaps can be a top face, since Seth Rollins, even though he’s in a great position the next few months, seems to have been botched as far as being the top of the brand face. Then again, Smackdown had Ambrose in that spot when Cena was gone and everything was fine."

 

Jan 27, 2017

PWG >>>

 

Jan 27, 2017

I don't think they'll do a Reigns heel turn anytime soon, if ever. It's a lot like the Cena situation, he sells merch to the women and kids so they want to keep his character close to the same even if he's getting booed in every arena.

Taker/Reigns would be a disaster at this point, both on the mic and the match itself. Taker's too old and yeah Reigns has been in good matches but he can't carry old a--- Taker to a classic Mania match.

 

Jan 27, 2017

As long as they don't try to close the show with Reigns vs Taker I'm okay with it, I'd prefer it to not be for the Universal Championship but I'm sure it will be. I want WWE to take a page out of Wrestle Kingdom's playbook and just have an epic f---ing match as the main event

 

Jan 27, 2017

I keep having this problem where I'll order WWE 2k17 and then be like "nah I'll get bored with it very quick" and then cancel it before it can ship

 

Jan 27, 2017

Emma's a waste of time at this point.