Official WWE/ECW/WCW/TNA talk, or whatever v2

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah, I rolled my eyes at the obviousness of that. They can't have Reign's opponent getting cheered so they make him the heel.


Though to me, what Strowman did tonight was about justice against a hypocritical "I'm a fighting champion" Reigns.


You can tell that the fans would even take Duke the Dumpster Droese over Vince's boy as a Champion.

[Ozy_Flame]

Fun random fact: Meiko Satomura, who is competing in the upcoming Mae Young Classic, wrestled in WCW multiple times in the mid-90's in tournaments for the Women's championship. She's almost 40. Pete Dunne has also endorsed here as his pick for the winner (that being said he's crazy if he doesn't think it's Io Shirai or Toni Storm).

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah I think you're right with the final two being the top picks. I kind of wonder what kind of push Celeste formerly Kaitlyn will get in this thing, I doubt she has much interest in being a full time wrestler though.

[dammage79]

Didn't like stromans new group is Mcintyre and Ziggler. But I did love the whole Eff you Reigns thing. Also they're humanizing the title contenders again which is a good start. They really need to get away from Super reigns and Super Lesnar. So Im all for some factioning at the top. Obviously still rooting for Stroman to break the cycle of Reigns and Lesnar owning the title.

I know everyone gets old but Trish Stratus has Grandma stuff going on now. How can they make her wrestle again?

[Muta]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I know everyone gets old but Trish Stratus has Grandma stuff going on now. How can they make her wrestle again?

I laughed hard at Elias' comeback. He burned her like a goddamn champ.

[Ozy_Flame]

I didn't want Strowman to join forces with McIntyre and Ziggler. In fact I was hoping there would be an in-match staredown between Strowman and MyIntyre that teased a monster feud between the two (and with Reigns in the mix).

McIntyre has a legit championship look and the intimidating presence to put him in the main event.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I didn't want Strowman to join forces with McIntyre and Ziggler. In fact I was hoping there would be an in-match staredown between Strowman and MyIntyre that teased a monster feud between the two (and with Reigns in the mix).

McIntyre has a legit championship look and the intimidating presence to put him in the main event.

Theres always the turn on Stroman after the Feud with the Shield is complete.

[rubecube]

The Strowman thing is clearly an example of WWE not planning long-term and subsequently booking themselves into a corner. They clearly want to give Reigns a long run with the belt but they screwed themselves by having Strowman win MitB, so now they've booked him to be a total idiot.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by rubecube

The Strowman thing is clearly an example of WWE not planning long-term and subsequently booking themselves into a corner. They clearly want to give Reigns a long run with the belt but they screwed themselves by having Strowman win MitB, so now they've booked him to be a total idiot.

I suspect they don't plan on Reigns having a long run tbh.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

I suspect they don't plan on Reigns having a long run tbh.

I believe Reigns is still the lead for merchandise sales, so I would say otherwise. There's a good chance he holds on to it for a while.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I believe Reigns is still the lead for merchandise sales, so I would say otherwise. There's a good chance he holds on to it for a while.

He's tied for second with Styles the number 1 guy is Cena and its not close.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

He's tied for second with Styles the number 1 guy is Cena and its not close.

https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestl...erslam-and-nxt

With Cena having been gone for so long, Reigns has overtaken him for the No. 1 spot in merchandise sales. It’s weird how news like this will make people so upset and then go into denial. There’s a reason they’re still strong on him as the company’s centerpiece despite crowd reactions. Really, there was a time when Cena was getting booed out of every television taping and his merch sales were through the roof, and he was outdrawing everyone on house shows by a substantial margin, and that point was probably when Vince McMahon stopped paying attention to top faces getting booed. Cena missed his first SummerSlam this weekend as he’s in China doing a movie with Jackie Chan.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I believe Reigns is still the lead for merchandise sales, so I would say otherwise. There's a good chance he holds on to it for a while.

I disagree. I suspect he loses it almost immediately here to begin a program with him and the shield chasing before ultimately one of the Shield turns on him culminating in a three way at Wrestlemania for the title which was the plan prior to the string of injuries and illnesses that each of them had over the past two years (Which Reigns will, ofcourse, win). Then he will have his long reign.

[CaptainCrunch]

Fair enough on the merchandising, I was using info from earlier this year.


just looking at the Raw numbers. The Raw after Reign's title win garnered slightly over 3 million viewers. For the Main Event with Balor, dropped below 3 million viewers, so fans turned off the music for the last hour of Raw which included Reigns in his first title defense.


Raws viewership overall has really been plummeting since about April this year from about 3.2 million down to about 2.8ish. The night after Summer Slam, which featured a major title change from a champion that's hated and they started out strong, but lost their viewership as they went to the main event match.



While this is an indictment overall of the WWE product, Reigns didn't provide an excitment bump from winning the title, what it comes across as is that the fans tuned in, heard about the main event, watched the stuff and when they came to the main matchups switched to reruns of the Golden Girls.

[CaptainCrunch]

last nights numbers are the same


8 pm hour – 3.076 million
9 pm hour – 2.927 million
10 pm hour + overrun – 2.630 million

Read more at http://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone...xMux1qp6DJV.99


So even with a main event of Dolph and McIntyre vs Strowman and Reigns, people tuned out,



So that's two weeks in a row when Roman's theme music hits people tune out.


I think it will be interesting to see what the buy rate is for Hell in a Cell and the Raw afterwards.


But Reigns won't last long as a Champ if he isn't drawing money and viewers

[Blaster86]

He does draw money though. TV ratings aren't what the WWE make decisions on anymore.

[KelVarnsen]

My TV was on mute. What was the crowd reaction to Becky’s attack?

[Ozy_Flame]

Michael Blais is jobbing to Hideo Itami on 205 Live tonight! He's a star in PWA here in Alberta!

[Freeway]

ALL IN
Saturday, September 1 on PPV/Honor Club/FiteTV



NWA World Title: Nick Aldis (c) vs. Cody
Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr.
The Golden Elite (Kota Ibushi & the Young Bucks) vs. Rey Mysterio, Fenix & Bandido
Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll
ROH World Title: Jay Lethal (c) vs. Over Budget Battle Royal Winner
Christopher Daniels vs. Stephen Amell
Joey Janela vs. Hangman Page
Madison Rayne vs. Britt Baker vs. Chelsea Green vs. Tessa Blanchard


At least three of these matches should be outstanding.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

My TV was on mute. What was the crowd reaction to Becky’s attack?

Very Pro-Becky.