Does Anyone Watch Wrestling? (WWE, AEW, TNA, NWA, etc)

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Sanji Himura
Betting Odds as of this moment:
Source: Sky Bet
Note: This is listed in no particular order and this is by all means not an indication as to who will appear in the Royal Rumble.

Roman Reigns - 1/1
Dean Ambrose - 4/1
Triple H - 5/1
Brock Lesnar - 6/4
John Cena - 4/1
Kevin Owens - 6/1
Daniel Bryan - 10/1
Ryback - 12/1
Bray Wyatt - 14/1
Rusev - 14/1
Braun Stowman - 16/1
Dolph Ziggler - 16/1
Neville - 20/1
Randy Orton - 20/1
Finn Balor - 22/1
Sheamus - 25/1
Stone Cold Steve Austin - 25/1*
The Miz - 25/1
Cesaro - 28/1
The Big Show - 28/1
Kane - 33/1
King Barrett - 33/1
Kurt Angle - 33/1
Seth Rollins - 33/1
The Rock - 33/1
The Undertaker - 33/1
Titus O'Neil - 33/1
Chris Jericho - 40/1
Curtis Axel - 40/1
Damien Sandow - 40/1
Heath Slater - 40/1
Kofi Kingston - 40/1
R-Truth - 40/1
Zack Ryder - 40/1
Big E - 50/1
Goldust - 50/1
Luke Harper - 50/1
Mark Henry - 50/1
Stardust - 50/1
Darren Young - 66/1
Fandango - 66/1
Tyson Kidd - 66/1
Alex Riley - 80/1
Erick Rowan - 80/1
Fernando - 100/1
Jeff Hardy - 100/1
Mr. McMahon - 100/1
Rob Van Dam - 100/1
Shane McMahon - 100/1
Shawn Michaels - 100/1
El Torito - 200/1

*Stone Cold Steve Austin has indicated that he would not wrestle another match. His inclusion on this list must have some Wrestlemania influence.



Historically speaking, there is a position that is primed to win the Rumble, Number 27. Whoever enters at number 27 has the best odds at winning the Royal Rumble and go on to Wrestlemania. Back in the Attitude Era, they used to openly announce which of the participating wrestlers got what position on camera. Then the internet came along and spoiled the surprise. However, that isn't to say that the other spots aren't bad. To date, only four of the countless starting men in the Rumble have gone on and won the match, Shawn Michaels, Mr. McMahon, Chris Benoit, and the recently departed Rey Misterio, and only one man won from number 30, The Undertaker.

EDIT: Yesterday marks 17 years since Hulk Hogan won the WCW Championship from Kevin Nash using nothing but a finger poke to the chest.
Click to expand...
Two men have won from 30. Undertaker and Cena.
 
This did surprise me I have to admit, when Vince announced it I was like 'wait, what?!', I really don't know what to make of it right now, this is only the second ever time the Rumble match has been for the WWE title after the 1992 Rumble match for the then vacant title.
 
Out of everyone on that list, 12 wrestlers won the Rumble. I hope there will be no dumping of faces by the Big Show because he and Kane really made heat during the last year's Rumble.
 
Breaking News: AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura have formally left New Japan, and WWE's Finn Balor issues statement on their signing.

Spoilers for the next episode of New Japan Pro Wrestling, seen on AXSTV on Fridays, is entirely possible, hence the spoiler tags.

Unless you are living under a rock in the world of pro wrestling, you probably heard about the huge news that dropped regarding NJPW and WWE. It was rumored for some time that WWE was targeting a lot of major names around the world, including those out of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. WWE was having to wait until contracts expired to grab several of these people, but now that they have expired, we are hearing a lot of updates on people coming in.

News broke out of the Wrestling Observer Monday night that AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows would all be headed to WWE. On top of that, NJPW favorite Shinsuke Nakamura was also set for the jump as well. We heard rumors for months that WWE was interested in Styles and Nakamura, but most fans thought that WWE may never get them. Nakamura was doubtful due to his age, whereas AJ was doubtful for the same reason as well as the fact that he was dealing with some injuries and needed a lighter schedule.

Regardless, it appears as if all four men reportedly handed in their resignation to NJPW on Monday and were prepared to see NJPW write them out of television or do some sort of angle that would make sense. NJPW did just that but made some interesting decisions in doing so.

According to Puroresuspirit.net, a noted Japanese wrestling news source, NJPW decided to have The Bullet Club attack AJ Styles and have the turn as a way of writing him out. NJPW had Kenny Omega beat Nakamura, the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion, as a way for him to get a title shot soon so Nakamura could drop the title. On the show, Styles celebrated the win and was in the corner when Omega dropped him. Part of the Bullet Club in the Young Bucks attacked Styles while Anderson and Gallows tried to help AJ. Eventually, all of them turned on Styles.

Omega then appeared to become the new leader of the Bullet Club, which still had members Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson as part of the group. Both were part of the report of stars leaving NJPW for WWE, but it seems they might be staying. Omega declared he was done being a Junior Heavyweight and was coming for Nakamura’s title. On top of this, AJ was fired from The Bullet Club.

Omega clearly will beat Nakamura soon for his championship, which would allow Nakamura to finish up right with NJPW before leaving.

Meanwhile, AJ Styles could very well be done with the promotion altogether. Styles had been working without a contract for a little while now, and he was pretty much ready to go after Wrestle Kingdom 10. NJPW still needs to keep the very over Bullet Club going, so they had to pick a new leader. Omega is the obvious choice for this. However, NJPW could be pulling a swerve with Gallows and Anderson so that they can potentially finish up with their respective deal. However, NJPW may have been able to get them to re-sign as well, but there have been no reports of this.

AJ Styles is still set to finish out his Ring of Honor dates, which are also set to include The Bullet Club. A lot of people still wonder about Anderson and Gallows leaving, especially after their tease on Twitter regarding WWE NXT and NXT Champion Finn Balor, where they tweeted the following.

“They rumors may be or may not be true. I guess you’ll have to wait and find out..‪#‎WhatsNXTForUs‬

“Keep a couple of them#BalorClub shirts handy we might be needing them.@wwebalor“

While clearly they might just be teasing this as a fun little dig to the reports going out about them, they really did not
have to do so. What should be noted is that NJPW owns The Bullet Club name. Therefore, anything associated with them is an NJPW product. This very well could just be NJPW teasing fans and not the actual talent tweeting about their future WWE careers.

On top of this, the tweets were sent out a little before the show last night.

What can be known at this point is simple. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are leaving NJPW, and the writing with NJPW confirmed this. Meanwhile, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows are not yet done with NJPW but could still leave. We will have to wait on two of the reported four, but if WWE can manage to get all four men into WWE by WrestleMania time, it would be a huge deal for them.
 
Breaking news: John Cena excepted to be out 6-9 months with shoulder surgery for a rumoured torn rotator cuff.
 
One thing that could benefit WWE from this Injury Crisis is completely getting rid of Main Event and Superstars.

With NXT and Smackdown, there is no need for these 2 shows to exist, especially since nothing happens on those shows anymore anyway and it is just wasting talents time and health for no reason, especially since hardly anyone watches these 2 programs anyways so even if a big win is done on Main Event or Superstars, no ones is their to care.

I still don't get why they kept Superstars when the brand extension ended (it at least had some charm since it was the only multi-branded weekly show back then), and I don't get why they made Main Event in the first place.
 
The Main Event name does carry some appeal in WWE history. Before the advent of cable and PPV, big matches in the 70's and early 80's were carried out on Saturday Night's Main Event as a stand in for today's RAW and Smackdown. That is why WWE did, and still does, multiple house shows a week. When RAW was first created, it pretty much killed wrestling on normal TV (over the air). Hence why there is no more Saturday Night's Main Event.
 
Whoa heard about Cena being injured on Twitter but didn't know it was that bad! He has only just come back as well, the injury problems are getting worse

All the Champions that took part in last years Wrestlemania are now injured...

Cesaro+Kidd, Tag Team Champions-Both out long term with injuries
Nikki Bella, Divas Champion-Out with Shoulder injury but expected back soon
Daniel Bryan, Intercontinental Champion-Plagued with head and neck issues in the last 18 months
John Cena, United States Champion-Out long term with Shoulder injury
Seth Rollins, WWE WH Champion-Out for around six months following knee surgery
 
I kinda get the argument of overworking the wrestlers, but Cena had only wrestled three times since he returned. So whatever happened to Cena likely happened through a botched move.
 
I know this topic considered taboo, but maybe there needs to be some type of "off-season" in the WWE Calender, because this is looking too much for the Wrestlers.

but that leads to other issues like missing out certain programming a year, not to mention this would give "rival companies a chance to strike back that aren't doing off-seasons".

There was this video, that expressed an idea on how an off-season should run, I do think it is flawed but it leads to something:


This is how I would probably book some kind of off-season based of various ideas the video already used:
  • Separate the Wrestlers into 4 groups. Group A, Group B, Group C and a special Group D. Part-timers can't be in any group and Groups A-C need to be even out with Star Power, Jobbers, Tag Teams and Women.
  • After Wrestlemania starts the Off-Season periods. Group As off-season is 60 days after Wrestlemania. Group B is 60 days after Extreme Rules and Group C is 60 days after Payback. So they all come back to get ready for Summerslam.
  • Money in the Bank is moved to September so nobody misses out on the match, and Night of Champions is completely removed (with only 5 titles, the PPV is pointless nowadays) or at the very least replaces Fastlane. Elimination Chamber becomes Junes primarily PPV.
  • Group D is a special group as only the Champions go into this group or people who don't want an off-season, in order to keep the Champion throughout the programming, they aren't given an off-season unless they drop the title before the Off-season periods where they'll go back to their normal groups.
  • During the periods, NXT guys get elevated to the main roster to fill in for the missing superstars and give the NXT guys some spotlight.

Of course this has a lot of flaws, it isn't perfect. Especially during the period of Extreme Rules - Elimination Chamber where 2/3 of the Main Roster will be missing.
 
I don't know if he still does it anymore, but he used to commentate for New Japan when it airs in the US. If not, he is a dang good sounding analog.

RESHIRAM5
I know this topic considered taboo, but maybe there needs to be some type of "off-season" in the WWE Calender, because this is looking too much for the Wrestlers.

but that leads to other issues like missing out certain programming a year, not to mention this would give "rival companies a chance to strike back that aren't doing off-seasons".

There was this video, that expressed an idea on how an off-season should run, I do think it is flawed but it leads to something:

[Youtube video]

This is how I would probably book some kind of off-season based of various ideas the video already used:
  • Separate the Wrestlers into 4 groups. Group A, Group B, Group C and a special Group D. Part-timers can't be in any group and Groups A-C need to be even out with Star Power, Jobbers, Tag Teams and Women.
  • After Wrestlemania starts the Off-Season periods. Group As off-season is 60 days after Wrestlemania. Group B is 60 days after Extreme Rules and Group C is 60 days after Payback. So they all come back to get ready for Summerslam.
  • Money in the Bank is moved to September so nobody misses out on the match, and Night of Champions is completely removed (with only 5 titles, the PPV is pointless nowadays) or at the very least replaces Fastlane. Elimination Chamber becomes Junes primarily PPV.
  • Group D is a special group as only the Champions go into this group or people who don't want an off-season, in order to keep the Champion throughout the programming, they aren't given an off-season unless they drop the title before the Off-season periods where they'll go back to their normal groups.
  • During the periods, NXT guys get elevated to the main roster to fill in for the missing superstars and give the NXT guys some spotlight.

Of course this has a lot of flaws, it isn't perfect. Especially during the period of Extreme Rules - Elimination Chamber where 2/3 of the Main Roster will be missing.
Click to expand...

Did you by chance read the description of the video as of today? He does address the ideas of wrestlers who are on "hot streaks" and those who happen to be Champions. Here it is:

Wrestling With Wregret
NOTE REGARDING CHAMPIONS: In response to what would happen with champions, here is my take on how it would work under Option B:
The champion(s) would either work through the length of their reign, including past their scheduled time off, and be able to choose when their break begins after losing the belt ... OR, title reign lengths would be influenced by when wrestlers are scheduled to take time off the road.

NOTE REGARDING "HOT STREAKS": In response to the question of, "what happens if a wrestler gets really popular then has to go on break", said wrestler could remain available to make non-wrestling (or limited wrestling only) TV appearances in order to progress story lines, plus the occasional pre-taped segment or vignette in order to keep him or her fresh in the minds of fans.
Click to expand...

Here is how I would personally address anyone who just so happens to be in a faction:

Sanji Himura
Treat any wrestler in said faction, like for example, if WWE adopted model B and spread Degeneration-X (as a fivesome) over two or more groups, A and C in this case. Treat each wrestler that has time off scheduled to take place over three months like they are on a hot streak, but make them have limited TV appearances just to remind the fans that they are indeed a part of the faction. Now granted, this model would work best with any faction that has four or more superstars in it, and it isn't perfect either, but at least it is a start.
Click to expand...
 
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I don't think we particularly need an off season I think it's just too many house shows that are killing off the roster. You don't need 52 raws, 52 Smackdown, 20 PPV's/special events, then on top another 200 house shows. It devalues the actual TV shows. They'd get higher attendances at the televised shows if there wasn't another event in their town a month later, then 3 weeks after that, then a raw, then another 5 weeks, then they have a PPV. It's too expensive for people to go to
 
Interesting thing is that this will be the first Wrestlemania in 12 Years not to have John Cena.

I don't want to know what a Cena-less Wrestlemania is like.
 
RESHIRAM5
Interesting thing is that this will be the first Wrestlemania in 12 Years not to have John Cena.

I don't want to know what a Cena-less Wrestlemania is like.
Click to expand...
14 years ago was one of the best WM's, just saying.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him there regardless of injury.
 
Here is some good news. Late last year, Dave Meltzer reported that Randy Orton may need neck surgery. That report was confirmed by Ric Flair.

Now though, Randy Orton replied on instagram that he will NOT require the procedure, but needed a shoulder surgery instead, and is currently recovering nicely. There is still no official timetable on his return.
 
Lesnar confirmed for the Rumble match, Heyman spent most of Raw trying to persuade Vince and Steph that Lesnar should be at WM to face the winner of the Rumble (and New Champ) in the main event but the McMahon's had other ideas, anyway during the main event (some sort of 'One Versus All match which I couldn't quite understand, involved Reigns and several other guys) Then Lesnar came out and took out everyone and hit Reigns with an F5...

Most surprising news from last night is that we have as new US Champ, and its Kalisto!, Del Rio defended his title against him after Kalisto picked up a non-title win against ADR on last week Smackdown (Cena was involved), and Kaliso got a very surprising win again last night in a good match, probably wont last long as ADR has his rematch on Smackdown tonight, I like Kalisto....
 
Double post, but contributing to the thread.

Reports say Sasha Banks and Paige both out for at least the next month. Sasha with an MCL strain and Paige with a concussion.
 
Rusev picked up an injury at a live show at the weekend too, the injuries show no sign of letting up...
 
At least Sheamus worked through thr cut on his forehead. It was pretty nasty looking.
 
I think we can all agree that what happened last night on smackdown with kalisto and del rio was one of the DUMBEST desicions the wwe creative team has ever done. Hell, even the number of dislikes on the video of the match on youtube pretty much shows everyone's feelings towards it 👎
 
I stopped caring for the U.S Championship after Jack Swagger got buried AGAIN! Shame, John Cena put a lot of work into making the U.S Title seem important and Del Rio tried his best to continue Cena's work but now it has been reverted back to a toss away mid-card title.

As for the match result, I actually didn't mind it as much. Maybe if Del Rio was face I would be mad as it would be another Vince trying to push someone he thinks we should like moment, but Del Rio is a heel and having this win gives him a lot of heat (though at the cost of a completely wasted Title Reign and faith in WWE bookings)

The only thing right now that is interesting me is Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose, these 2 (and Dolph Ziggler) are my favourite Wrestlers in the WWE and I'm excited to see what these 2 will do in a Last Man Standing match at Royal Rumble.

Fun Fact: This is the first time in 3 Years that a title has changed hands on Smackdown. The last time was actually Del Rio winning a title (World Heavyweight Championship)
 

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