Wrestling Thread Nov 22-28 | 11/26 Smackdown - King of the Ring Qualifying Continues

[Bend_The_Knee]

my reach of the month

recently 3 UFC fighters have said they wanna join the WWE (Shonie Carter, Roy Nelson and Rampage) and theres 1 unnamed fighter that we would last think about doing wrestling (club29 thought it could be Koshchek (sp?))

not to mention, wwe wants Lesnar a WM 27, even this might not happen, there are still months in time to negotiate

Vince said he wants to do something big at WM, which i posted a few pages back

i see a UFC vs WWE elimination tag match at WM 27

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

my reach of the month

recently 3 UFC fighters have said they wanna join the WWE (Shonie Carter, Roy Nelson and Rampage) and theres 1 unnamed fighter that we would last think about doing wrestling (club29 thought it could be Koshchek (sp?))

not to mention, wwe wants Lesnar a WM 27, even this might not happen, there are still months in time to negotiate

Vince said he wants to do something big at WM, which i posted a few pages back

i see a UFC vs WWE elimination tag match at WM 27

 

[chino905]

^^ I dont think Dana White will allow them to do that.

 

[chino905]

^^ I dont think Dana White will allow them to do that.

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

^u might be right, but dana and vince are friends and then theres always money which does all the talking

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

^u might be right, but dana and vince are friends and then theres always money which does all the talking

 

[biff lawson]

Originally Posted by spartankid03

Originally Posted by GotHolesInMySocks

- It is said that Alex Riley’s on-air association with The Miz saved him from being let go following his arrest for driving under the influence last Wednesday in Tampa, Florida. He was said to be pretty nervous for several days, however. WWE did not officially announce any punishment and he worked the Survivor Series pay-per-view and Monday’s RAW.

Did anyone else hear Riley drop an f-bomb at the very end of RAW, or am I just crazy?

I heard it too

 

[biff lawson]

Originally Posted by spartankid03

Originally Posted by GotHolesInMySocks

- It is said that Alex Riley’s on-air association with The Miz saved him from being let go following his arrest for driving under the influence last Wednesday in Tampa, Florida. He was said to be pretty nervous for several days, however. WWE did not officially announce any punishment and he worked the Survivor Series pay-per-view and Monday’s RAW.

Did anyone else hear Riley drop an f-bomb at the very end of RAW, or am I just crazy?

I heard it too

 

[4wrestling]

Lots of news from the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter

WWE Trying Its Hardest To Get a Major Star for WrestleMania

While it’s probably not going to happen given Brock Lesnar’s UFC contract specifically bans him from working for any fighting or pro wrestling groups and Dana White has been pretty adamant about not agreeing to it, plus Undertaker’s surgery at this point makes it impossible to make major plans for the show based around him, the Lesnar thing from the WWE side was a lot more than just a fantasy idea. Vince was heavily invested in the idea by mid-October. Lesnar and Undertaker were not shooting their own angle and trying to have it sold to Vince, obviously, because Undertaker wouldn’t work that way to begin with. Vince was completely aware of everything although the number of people internally who were was very small. As noted, nobody on creative knew anything about it until after UFC 121, and within a few days, except for maybe the referee gig, it was thought to be a dead idea once White publicly said he wasn’t going to allow it to happen. Vince has recognized that it’s going to be difficult to have a big Mania number this year just relying on the roster as it is and there now have been at least three different major out-of-the-box ideas he’s pursued (probably others but we’ve heard three but can’t give names unless they come out elsewhere and all to me right now are so unlikely I’d almost say all are dead). One would have led to gigantic mainstream for the show, but that idea has already fallen through. It would have helped business, but it’s not an idea that hasn’t been done before. While it had done big numbers by the standards of the time, I don’t think this coming year it would crack 650,000 domestic buys, although after being below 500,000 last year, a 650,000 show would be considered a fairly solid success. Another wouldn’t have gotten as much mainstream, but the dynamic could have been brilliant, almost surely would have been better than the Trump angle in execution, and done some really big business. I don’t think Trump level business because you had two famous people put their hair at stake, but still if the person was willing and able, it would have done real well. But that one also looks very negative right now. There are probably others I’m not aware of also being discussed, but the point is they are actively and heavily looking at people who are not in the wrestling industry and doing an outsider angle to headline the show.


Awful Ticket Sales for WWE Shows in Florida

All the Florida crowds this past week were disappointments. Survivor Series on 11/21 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami drew 8,000 total in the building, and well under that figure paid. It was one of the few times in history where at ringside in front of the hard camera, you saw empty seats all night. Some in the company attributed the disappointing crowd that night to a NASCAR race in the market, but others laughed at the suggestion. The crowd was also on the dead side, with most of the matches not getting much heat.
Raw the next night in Orlando drew 6,000, barely half full, but even though disappointing in numbers, the ones who were there were rabid and the crowd reactions were excellent and added to the show. Smackdown in Jacksonville only drew 3,000, which may have been the smallest number for a television taping this year. But the bad crowds at TV kind of hurt those espousing the NASCAR excuse the first night.


VERY Early Survivor Series Buy Rate Estimates

The only thing we heard regarding PPV is the early estimates were it coming in about one-fourth of what UFC 123 did the night before, which would mean between 100,000 and 150,000. Last year’s show, considered a huge disappointment, did 136,000 buys in North America (U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico). The key to whether this did anything above the usual levels was how seriously people bought the Cena question.

News on WWE Cuts and Writing Team

WWE held a round of cuts on 11/19, releasing several wrestlers that they hadn’t been using of late, and a few members of the writing team, the best known being Christopher DeJoseph, who had spent many years with the company and of late had been Michael Hayes’ chief assistant on the Smackdown writing team.
DeJoseph, who had at times over the past four plus years portrayed the recurring character Big **** Johnson, a short, fat guy who would dance around in a thong, was the biggest surprise. The story was that Vince and Stephanie McMahon had decided to get rid of him, but Hayes went to bat to keep him. DeJoseph was doing a lot of the grunt work for Hayes in the sense Hayes would envision the segments on the show, but it was DeJoseph who would turn Hayes’ ideas into scripts. It was a crazy job because it wasn’t unusual on show days that Vince would want to change the entire show and then DeJoseph would then have to write a new script on the fly. Unlike the others, he knew it was coming as he told friends and some business contacts that he was done a week before he was let go, so he must have been aware of whatever it had been that caused him to fall out of favor. The decision to overhaul the writing staff was probably made about a month ago, as the company was searching for Hollywood writers and held an interviewing process in October in Los Angeles.

People who have come from that background and then worked in WWE have noted that a big issue is WWE television is completely different than anything else in Hollywood, and not just the understanding of business in the sense the television has to lead to creating rivalries that play out on PPV. The big difference is the number of last minute changes, and more so, the way complete changes are done every week in direction without any kind of an explanation as to why. It leads to frustration and burnout. One writer, a newcomer whose name wasn’t recognizable even to those internally, quit the promotion three weeks ago. Others were let go with DeJoseph, but as one source noted, “No one mentioned anyone outside of Chris last week, including him. So that leads me to believe they’re all young guys that had been around just a few weeks with little attachment to the team.

 

[4wrestling]

Lots of news from the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter

WWE Trying Its Hardest To Get a Major Star for WrestleMania

While it’s probably not going to happen given Brock Lesnar’s UFC contract specifically bans him from working for any fighting or pro wrestling groups and Dana White has been pretty adamant about not agreeing to it, plus Undertaker’s surgery at this point makes it impossible to make major plans for the show based around him, the Lesnar thing from the WWE side was a lot more than just a fantasy idea. Vince was heavily invested in the idea by mid-October. Lesnar and Undertaker were not shooting their own angle and trying to have it sold to Vince, obviously, because Undertaker wouldn’t work that way to begin with. Vince was completely aware of everything although the number of people internally who were was very small. As noted, nobody on creative knew anything about it until after UFC 121, and within a few days, except for maybe the referee gig, it was thought to be a dead idea once White publicly said he wasn’t going to allow it to happen. Vince has recognized that it’s going to be difficult to have a big Mania number this year just relying on the roster as it is and there now have been at least three different major out-of-the-box ideas he’s pursued (probably others but we’ve heard three but can’t give names unless they come out elsewhere and all to me right now are so unlikely I’d almost say all are dead). One would have led to gigantic mainstream for the show, but that idea has already fallen through. It would have helped business, but it’s not an idea that hasn’t been done before. While it had done big numbers by the standards of the time, I don’t think this coming year it would crack 650,000 domestic buys, although after being below 500,000 last year, a 650,000 show would be considered a fairly solid success. Another wouldn’t have gotten as much mainstream, but the dynamic could have been brilliant, almost surely would have been better than the Trump angle in execution, and done some really big business. I don’t think Trump level business because you had two famous people put their hair at stake, but still if the person was willing and able, it would have done real well. But that one also looks very negative right now. There are probably others I’m not aware of also being discussed, but the point is they are actively and heavily looking at people who are not in the wrestling industry and doing an outsider angle to headline the show.


Awful Ticket Sales for WWE Shows in Florida

All the Florida crowds this past week were disappointments. Survivor Series on 11/21 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami drew 8,000 total in the building, and well under that figure paid. It was one of the few times in history where at ringside in front of the hard camera, you saw empty seats all night. Some in the company attributed the disappointing crowd that night to a NASCAR race in the market, but others laughed at the suggestion. The crowd was also on the dead side, with most of the matches not getting much heat.
Raw the next night in Orlando drew 6,000, barely half full, but even though disappointing in numbers, the ones who were there were rabid and the crowd reactions were excellent and added to the show. Smackdown in Jacksonville only drew 3,000, which may have been the smallest number for a television taping this year. But the bad crowds at TV kind of hurt those espousing the NASCAR excuse the first night.


VERY Early Survivor Series Buy Rate Estimates

The only thing we heard regarding PPV is the early estimates were it coming in about one-fourth of what UFC 123 did the night before, which would mean between 100,000 and 150,000. Last year’s show, considered a huge disappointment, did 136,000 buys in North America (U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico). The key to whether this did anything above the usual levels was how seriously people bought the Cena question.

News on WWE Cuts and Writing Team

WWE held a round of cuts on 11/19, releasing several wrestlers that they hadn’t been using of late, and a few members of the writing team, the best known being Christopher DeJoseph, who had spent many years with the company and of late had been Michael Hayes’ chief assistant on the Smackdown writing team.
DeJoseph, who had at times over the past four plus years portrayed the recurring character Big **** Johnson, a short, fat guy who would dance around in a thong, was the biggest surprise. The story was that Vince and Stephanie McMahon had decided to get rid of him, but Hayes went to bat to keep him. DeJoseph was doing a lot of the grunt work for Hayes in the sense Hayes would envision the segments on the show, but it was DeJoseph who would turn Hayes’ ideas into scripts. It was a crazy job because it wasn’t unusual on show days that Vince would want to change the entire show and then DeJoseph would then have to write a new script on the fly. Unlike the others, he knew it was coming as he told friends and some business contacts that he was done a week before he was let go, so he must have been aware of whatever it had been that caused him to fall out of favor. The decision to overhaul the writing staff was probably made about a month ago, as the company was searching for Hollywood writers and held an interviewing process in October in Los Angeles.

People who have come from that background and then worked in WWE have noted that a big issue is WWE television is completely different than anything else in Hollywood, and not just the understanding of business in the sense the television has to lead to creating rivalries that play out on PPV. The big difference is the number of last minute changes, and more so, the way complete changes are done every week in direction without any kind of an explanation as to why. It leads to frustration and burnout. One writer, a newcomer whose name wasn’t recognizable even to those internally, quit the promotion three weeks ago. Others were let go with DeJoseph, but as one source noted, “No one mentioned anyone outside of Chris last week, including him. So that leads me to believe they’re all young guys that had been around just a few weeks with little attachment to the team.

 

[D Fly]

Anyone see this SvR 2011 hack?

 

[D Fly]

Anyone see this SvR 2011 hack?

 

[4wrestling]

Kofi Kingston Vs. Jack Swagger w/ Eagle, KotR Qualifying Match
Alberto Del Rio Vs. The Big Show, KotR Qualifying Match
MVP Vs. Drew McIntyre, KotR Qualifying Match
Michele McCool w/ Layla Vs Kelly Kelly
Rey Mysterio Vs. Cody Rhodes, KotR Qualifying Match w/ Alberto Del Rio on Commentary

 

[4wrestling]

Kofi Kingston Vs. Jack Swagger w/ Eagle, KotR Qualifying Match
Alberto Del Rio Vs. The Big Show, KotR Qualifying Match
MVP Vs. Drew McIntyre, KotR Qualifying Match
Michele McCool w/ Layla Vs Kelly Kelly
Rey Mysterio Vs. Cody Rhodes, KotR Qualifying Match w/ Alberto Del Rio on Commentary

 

[Nike Jordan]

 

[Nike Jordan]

 

[chino905]

Jeff Jarrett

. that dude will always suck in life.

 

[chino905]

Jeff Jarrett

. that dude will always suck in life.

 

[hombrelobo]

^That is actually pretty hilarious. JJ isn't so bad when he isn't taking himself so seriously.

Shamrock daps

 

[hombrelobo]

^That is actually pretty hilarious. JJ isn't so bad when he isn't taking himself so seriously.

Shamrock daps

 

[chino905]

i was talkin about Jeff Jarrett in general.

 

[chino905]

i was talkin about Jeff Jarrett in general.

 

[chino905]

Why does it seem like they put the same matches every week on Smackdown? the roster needs to be mixed up again.

 

[chino905]

Why does it seem like they put the same matches every week on Smackdown? the roster needs to be mixed up again.

 

[D Fly]

Doesn't even need to be mixed up..they just need more wrestlers on that brand.