Last thread has well over 10,000 replies. Its body is breaking down like The Undertaker's. Seeing as we might have crossed the threshold into a new era in the business, here's a fresh new thread.
But, yeah, the Rumble match itself was as bad as you've been hearing. Philly rightfully shat all over it. Like, it was the least entertaining Rumble match that I can remember...and I'm not taking into account the finish when I say that. It was dull & note for note expected nearly the whole way through. [Reply]
They were outright expecting it to happen, and yet they STILL went through with it. It's not even a matter of being unaware anymore, they're fully aware and just don't give a shit. Fucking stupid of them to pull that in Philadelphia, of all places. Reigns winning didn't even piss me off, but Show and Kane eliminating Ambrose, Wyatt, and Ziggler like they were jobbers may be one of the worst booking decisions I have ever seen in my life. Not to mention the Bryan debacle. They seriously should have just played his injury up to keep him out until Fast Lane if they weren't having him win. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
I'm guessing they dropped a significant amount of jack to have The Rock show up so that the crowd wouldn't completely shit all over Reigns?
Seems like a hollow strategy they'll see right through.
It didn't work at all either...the crowd popped for The Rock briefly and then went back to completely shitting all over it.
Completely pathetic that they tried to use Rock to stem the venom they knew Reigns would get....and it still didn't work. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
They were outright expecting it to happen, and yet they STILL went through with it. It's not even a matter of being unaware anymore, they're fully aware and just don't give a shit.
But they do give a shit, just not what the fans want. They keep trying to trick the fans or pull different stunts hoping that they'll come around. Thing is, this isn't the 1980's or even the 90's anymore, the fans are a lot smarter nowadays and know what they want.
Last year they knew fans would be disappointed with Bryan not being in the Rumble, so they put Mysterio in at 30 and thought "There's no way they'll boo Mysterio. He's never been booed." Well, they were completely caught off guard when they booed the fuck out of him and shit all over the whole match. It eventually took them putting Bryan in at the main event of Wrestlemania to salvage it.
This year, no matter what they were having Reigns go over in Philly. I think they thought that if they eliminated Bryan early, fans would forget about it considering guys like Ambrose, Ziggler, Cesaro, Mizdow, and others would still come out and placate the crowd. Well, it kind of worked(briefly, the match was still a deadzone after Bryan got eliminated) until they were eliminated and then they were left with 2 guys who are pushing 50 and are stale and Roman who has no chemistry in the ring, no talent, like 4 moves and zero charisma on the mic. The fans know he's being shoved down their throats and they resent it.
Even the Rock couldn't save it by coming out and beating up on Kane and Big Show. Sure, they popped for the Rock Bottom and People's Elbow but went right back to booing the fuck out of Reigns right after. If they did the shit they're doing to Bryan and others right now to Stone Cold and The Rock back in 97-98, the WWE might not even be around today.
They've been handed the storyline and the main event of Wrestlemania for 2 years now and they've royally fucked it up both times. It takes commitment to be this incompetent.
HHH runs NXT which is an awesome product right now...Vince and Kevin Dunn still oversee the main product and you can absolutely see it with the stupid ass backwards booking decisions they make. [Reply]
The tone of the crowd completely changed when Bryan was eliminated. If Bryan would have been one of the last 3 that would have worked immensely. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
The tone of the crowd completely changed when Bryan was eliminated. If Bryan would have been one of the last 3 that would have worked immensely.
That would have made it 10x worse with booing. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jerm:
If Bryan wasn't going to win, he shouldn't have even been in the Rumble.
I mean, what the hell was the point?
Bryan wasn't in the Rumble last year and the crowd went apeshit on the event, it wasn't as bad as last night but it was enough for them to change their WM plans. Maybe they thought having him just be there would be enough. I dunno, they're dumb.
In other news, according to Meltzer(wrestling historian with a few contacts within WWE) on his audio show, Vince doesn't want to do a three-way at Mania because he feels like it'd be a repeat of last year. They expected the backlash but not to this degree. And Rock is NOT HAPPY.
Apparently they are also trying to paint this as a Philadelphia issue. Blaming the city and the crowd and such. Basically they think it wouldn't have been this bad if they were somewhere else. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chromatic:
Bryan wasn't in the Rumble last year and the crowd went apeshit on the event, it wasn't as bad as last night but it was enough for them to change their WM plans. Maybe they thought having him just be there would be enough. I dunno, they're dumb.
In other news, according to Meltzer(wrestling historian with a few contacts within WWE) on his audio show, Vince doesn't want to do a three-way at Mania because he feels like it'd be a repeat of last year. They expected the backlash but not to this degree. And Rock is NOT HAPPY.
Apparently they are also trying to paint this as a Philadelphia issue. Blaming the city and the crowd and such. Basically they think it wouldn't have been this bad if they were somewhere else.
It is somewhat of a Philly issue, but not entirely. There would have been nearly as much booing in NYC/NJ, LA, Chicago, etc. The big tentpole WWE cities aren't a bunch of typical WWE Universe sheep. A big test to this theory will be how Boston reacts during RAW tonight (that is if the show can even get there through the weather). [Reply]
