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Tournament to crown new champ

I've got miz face turn,del Rio cash in

Sounds good to me.

I hope this means Vince will regroup and try and take his company back by force.

Electric Demon wrote:Sounds good to me.

I hope this means Vince will regroup and try and take his company back by force.

I'm sure that is what will happen...but Sean Waltman stated on Twitter that this was all 'real' and Vince really was stepping down -- I strongly doubt it, but I wonder why he is involved in selling it all.

Seems to me WWE have been playing up Vince's vulnerability in the last few weeks, and trying to get us feeling sorry for him. I kind of do, and I hope this morphs him back to an evil Mr McMahon hell bent on getting his fathers company back.

I loved it when he said "I apologise YOU SON OF A BITCH!" to Punk. Classic McMahon.

There's no way he's really stepping down as Chairman. Though he may be stepping down from a decision making position, and maybe this new "Era" is Triple H and Stephanie's work??

It would make sense - being products of the Attitude era themselves.

Just watching the Triple H segment now...personally i think its brilliant. they could take this so many different ways. Battle for the company, Punk alignign with McMahon, the "Directors" controlling things through Triple H, Triple H turning into a evil owner who has no problems with fighting people against him, a locker room revolt type thing..it leaves a lot of questions open for the next RAW thats for sure.

The reactions from the crowd is huge! Big big news. It has been looking like WWE is moving slightly away fro mthe PG-ness and this could be part of it. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on this, it could be epic and run for the whole year...or it could die in a ditch and be rubbish..

Heard a remour though that Vince has stepped down and Triple H is running things for real atm..not sure how true that is though. Surely if Vince had stepped down they would have had a more real moment where people break character for it?

Why was Miz no selling that knee injury at the start? He got carried out twice at MitB, he should have had a brace on or had it strapped up and he should have limped to the ring

Will Punk sympathise with a riches to rags Vince against the 'doofus'

Mark_Seven wrote:The only problem I had with it was before Wrestlemania we were told how Triple H is cold and feels no remorse or emotion, but now he's on raw on the verge of tears. I suppose it is his father in law but it raised a question mark in my mind.

Surely there will be a response from Vince, he wont just leave at that. Or is he done as an on-screen character?

and at WrestleMania he showed a glimmer of remorse when he screamed at Taker "stay down" and "just die" he eventually grabbed his sledgehammer but he was reluctant to use it. But that was the point of the story - Taker's resilience and tenacity drove HHH to the brink of what he was capable of doing. Even Taker forced HHH to question his moral boundaries. HHH isn't inhuman, he's allowed to show vulnerability - he showed plenty of emotion in HBK's fairwell speech. The promos pre Mania were meant to contrast his and HBK's approach to beating Taker - his match was a no holds barred match and to be fair to HHH he threw practically everything at Taker accept using the sledge hammer, which they teased the fans with but ultimately Taker locked in the Hells Gate, which was a great piece of storytelling. HHH was pretty brutal in that match - he used an illegal chair shot to the head, he spinebustered Taker through the announce desk and he even Tombstoned him besides pedigreeing him about 4 times!

Going back to Raw - as far as I can gather kayfabe Vince has lost the confidence of the board of directors, HHH's role was to inform Vince he was taking over. It was a business decision for the future of the company, not a personal one based on Vince's personality. However as HHH is the son-in-law he has a degree of family loyalty and so therefore his appointment was bittersweet. Again good storytelling. I love the irony to this angle - no-one is above the company - not even Vince! I think its a superb twist.

I hope the idiots in Wall Street can understand this is a storyline this time, last time they tried something like this stock shares plummeted when Trump 'bought out' Vince, they had to do a major re-work a week later and we ended up with guest gm/hosts for 2 years

After Money in the Bank we weren't sure what Raw would hold for us. After this Raw, we're still not sure what next week's Raw will hold for us. And that's a big hook, that will keep people watching.

As mentioned, will Vince subside quietly, or will he fight back against HHH? If HHH appears more on screen, what does this mean for the anonymous Raw GM?

We also have a WWE Champion who isn't contracted to the company, a WWE Championship match between Rey and Miz, Cena with a possible re-match clause and Mr Money in the Bank Alberto Del Rio, who won a Number 1 Contendership match the week before MitB, so a truly messy situation that will need resolving.

Taken out of context this Raw was nothing special. But this storyline is evolving and this Raw moved it on nicely. I personally can't wait to see what happens next week.

I wonder if Nexus will storm and destroy the World Title match between Miz and Rey, so a new champion can't be crowned?

Electric Demon wrote:I wonder if Nexus will storm and destroy the World Title match between Miz and Rey, so a new champion can't be crowned?

I wonder if Vince is the much alluded to leader of the Nexus... What else will become of them now Punk is 'gone'?

And good point Gaffer -- I wonder what WWE do about this sort of storyline... they must have to inform the stock market of any real changes like that because it will drop the shares to have HHH take over...a guy with no management experience taking on a global brand.

What else will become of them now Punk is 'gone'?

Released probably!

I really like the way they are taking the story, I agree with tp, it made perfect sense that Triple H was showing some emotion in that scene, I thought it was done very well, and nobody expected it which is always good.

I actually think WWE is on the top of their game right now, both brands top feuds are red hot and we've had two huge events that haven't happened before, and the WWE seems for some reason less vulnerable than it has done in the past, it's allowed a more edgier product to come through, it's referencing the fact there are other wrestling companies.

Stayed up last night to watch Raw dont know if it was 2 nights with no sleep but i did feel deflated with the show but then in hindsight anything after mitb was going to be a step down .

The matches were ok and agree crowd did nothing to help , like gaffer i didnt get the miz not playing more on the knee , the talk lastnight on chat was of a possible miz face turn after winning belt and adr cashing in suppose this is still possible .

Watched the trip vince ending again this morning and thinking about it it does give even more possible storyline branches .
Would this of been better at the start of the show ? before tourny was announced , this could then of been trips plan for a new wwe with new champ ..

Again its got people talking about wwe and will keep people watching to find out what is going to happen to Punk , cena , vince etc so as long as there is payoff somewhere down the track i will be happy .

talkingpoint wrote:

Mark_Seven wrote:The only problem I had with it was before Wrestlemania we were told how Triple H is cold and feels no remorse or emotion, but now he's on raw on the verge of tears. I suppose it is his father in law but it raised a question mark in my mind.

Surely there will be a response from Vince, he wont just leave at that. Or is he done as an on-screen character?

and at WrestleMania he showed a glimmer of remorse when he screamed at Taker "stay down" and "just die" he eventually grabbed his sledgehammer but he was reluctant to use it. But that was the point of the story - Taker's resilience and tenacity drove HHH to the brink of what he was capable of doing. Even Taker forced HHH to question his moral boundaries. HHH isn't inhuman, he's allowed to show vulnerability - he showed plenty of emotion in HBK's fairwell speech. The promos pre Mania were meant to contrast his and HBK's approach to beating Taker - his match was a no holds barred match and to be fair to HHH he threw practically everything at Taker accept using the sledge hammer, which they teased the fans with but ultimately Taker locked in the Hells Gate, which was a great piece of storytelling. HHH was pretty brutal in that match - he used an illegal chair shot to the head, he spinebustered Taker through the announce desk and he even Tombstoned him besides pedigreeing him about 4 times!

A good point well put.

Someone posted a link to the Bloomberg interview a few weeks ago and in the interview Vince said that he would continue to run the company until either he dies or someone takes him to one side and says 'Vince, you're not doing it anymore, you're losing your touch'. Fastforward to today and it's a new storyline. Definitely interesting though, to quote JR "business is about to pick up" (I hope)..

The Tournament was quite inexcusable. It didn't feature genuine WWE Championship material so I fast forwarded the earlier matches. I got the ominous feeling upon the tournaments announcement that the show wasn't going to be great or continue the tempo of previous ones because tournaments are usually dull, drawn out too much and the earlier matches have no relevance.

What we really wanted to see was the McMahon angle and it was good. Slightly cringeworthy but I'm intrigued to see what HHH can do as the new 'leader'. Someone before me alluded to a HHH that can fight/punish his locker room political enemies which i liked the idea of. I can see him facing a still heel CM Punk(his persona won't change much) if and when he returns. - I can actually see Punk being back on from as early as next week, HHH may announce that a contract has been sorted with a few clauses here and there.

Cena not being fired was inevitable and last nights show was a 'lets just get it over with and say he's not fired' one.

The Tournament was quite inexcusable. It didn't feature genuine WWE Championship material so I fast forwarded the earlier matches.

Miz - recent champion
Rey - 2 time champion
R Truth - recent title challenger
ADR - current MITB holder
Dolph Ziggler - recent champion (albeit for 1 day or whatever it was)
Jack Swagger - recent champion

That only leaves Alex Riley and Kofi Kingston.
Both of whom were in the MITB match so surely are around that level as well.
Fact of it is there were 6 one on one matches last night on a two hour show, that's pretty good going!

Maccs how many of those listed would be worthy champions?

If it where a King Of The Ring tournament I'd say nice list, World Championship list though? Nowhere near good enough IMO

I'm a fan of Kofi Kingston

Swagger given the right creative push could have and should been a decent champion.

R-Truth in his current gimmick could easily have a strap run and be decent with it.

ADR at some point will hold it.

Miz generates great heat.

Dolph Ziggler is solid but perhaps needs a bit more work on him, given the right angle he could do something.

Kofi would appeal to the Universe fans in a Cena extended absence (injury, long movie filming etc), not my cup of tea but I think he'd sell to the kids.

Only two I wouldn't put near it would be Rey and Riley.

Hero wrote:
Kofi would appeal to the Universe fans in a Cena extended absence (injury, long movie filming etc), not my cup of tea but I think he'd sell to the kids.

.

Thanks

Just a point on Miz generating heat, do you not think given his performance last night he might be on the cusp of a turn. He was fighting injured and in his matches he looked more like a gutsy babyface than the cowardly heel he has portrayed.

In some ways its weird they did this because he still has some heat with Riley, who has turned face, and he is about to fight Rey, arguably the biggest babyface next to Cena.

Hero wrote:Swagger given the right creative push could have and should been a decent champion.

R-Truth in his current gimmick could easily have a strap run and be decent with it.

ADR at some point will hold it.

Miz generates great heat.

Dolph Ziggler is solid but perhaps needs a bit more work on him, given the right angle he could do something.

Kofi would appeal to the Universe fans in a Cena extended absence (injury, long movie filming etc), not my cup of tea but I think he'd sell to the kids.

Only two I wouldn't put near it would be Rey and Riley.

The thing is they could be pushed to the point where you could believe them as a credible WWE Champion, but none of them are really quite there at the moment. ADR or the Miz possibly could have won the belt, but then they would have won it by beating a load of uncredible challengers, and it just wouldn't have felt right.

But I think that is what WWE were playing for. I think they wanted the tournament to be seen as an act of denial by Vince, saying everything is rosy without Punk or Cena when really it isn't and there aren't that many credible challengers. As soon as the tournament was announced I had a feeling that we wouldn't get a result. It's still open at the moment, but I don't think either Rey or Miz will win the Championship on the back of this tournament.

Main eventing and main event level are 2 very different things.

Maccs so you thought the list was good enough then? For me although I don't like him, Rey would have been worthy to be on the list, R-Truth and Miz would have been the only others, I didn't get the logic in Del Rio entering a competition that would have seen him having to Wrestle 3 times when he could just wait for the winner to kill himself for the title then cash in the MitB

Ok, my idea of how they may take things forward.....

I think that Vince will be a broken man after the boardroom revolution. He'll become a sympathetic character, after having the center of his life taken away from him. Possibly with him trying to get support from the locker-room, in order to be able to turn round to the board and say 'the talent loves me, the talent wants me back.... etc'

Meanwhile, HHH will play the heel GM, punishing anyone who tries to support Vince, stopping his plan.

So Vince turns to the only one who can save him - the legitimate champion, CM Punk - convinces him to return, and Vince is reinstated maybe at Night of Champions, or Hell in a Cell (which is October 2nd, so still inside his genuine contract length I think) - with Punk putting the title on the line, if he wins he can dictate the demands of his contract, but if he loses, he's fired - the stip being that Punk's in a cell / cage to ensure that he can't run out of the building again.

(Not the best writing I've ever done, but you get the drift.....!)

I like Jack Swagger and think he could be a big player, same with Ziggler and R-Truth and even Del Rio but they all need work before they could become the man, some more than others but apart from Truth at this moment in time none would intrest me

I can't see Jack Swagger being the man to be honest, his lack of microphone ability and that lisp is too detrimental for him sadly.
Del Rio is the closest to getting there in my opinion, he is good with the mic and excellent in the ring.

I think all Swagger needs is a mouthpiece, the lisp is noticeable but one of the best promo guys in history had a lisp and it done him no harm and his kid Cody is doing alright just now and he has a major lisp, Swagger has the look the height and the talent, he also has a gimmick that is a proven success in the past

I actually like Swagger on the mic, I don't think the lisp is detrimental to be honest.

Gaffer, who is the best promo guy with a lisp?

Dusty Rhodes, I thought I named him sorry

Yes Dusty's promos were class, I've posted the following before on here but it's certainly worth a look at if you haven't seen it.

His hard times promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxC3oAD1iUg

bit late on the band wagon but just watched raw and thought it was great, thought the ending was done well and for 1st time in ages im lookin forward to raw and smackdown and i have even "keep" them on my sky planner cant say ive ever done that before. just hope its as good as this for the next few months

I think it is best that Vince is off TV for the forseeable future.

I would certainly like to see HHH and CM Punk in like a Sgt Slaughter/Austin type feud by where HHH sets the rules and Punk breaks them. I cannot see why Cena then can't turn heel and maybe get a better fan reaction similar to when the Rock went from NOD to the Corparate Champ and then to the Peoples Champ.

It needs something like that. Get a mini stable bvehind Cena and have the likes of Punk and Miz being the rebels.

If triple h reign is the start of a new era,how would you think cena can fit in with his current character?

Definitely would like a change up in his gimmick.

With Cena being babyface and Punk likely to get face reactions, i dont think Triple H can also play the face Chairman. He has to turn heel and in this role his mic work would definately suit playing the heel. Id have Hunter open Raw next week and say Vince got soft and that he wont follow suit.

Im guessing Triple H v Taker II is out the window now.

Thats a good point could Taker factor in somewhere, not sure how he could but imagine Punk v Taker WM28

There are photos of Taker online with a recently shaved head! Not sure how he could come back anytime soon with that look and fit into his gimmick. I dont think Taker make an appearance until 2012 and who knows what the situation with Triple H will be then. I dont think we've seen the last of Vince though, do you really think his last TV appearance will be on Raw infront of a dead crowd? His ego is too big for that, if he's going out he'll go out in style.

Mr H wrote:Im guessing Triple H v Taker II is out the window now.

They could have Triple H getting his way over Raw until around 'Mania time, with the rebels fighting but ultimately falling short of Haitch's tricks, so they bring in the man that can stop him; The Undertaker.

Oh god does the shaved head mean the return of the Biker gimmick

Ché Guerrero wrote:Oh god does the shaved head mean the return of the Biker gimmick

If you search the picture he's toned down as well, he actually looks really ill.

EDIT: I don't mean he is actually ill, more just the shaved head and skinny physique aren't what we're used to.

He looks really really old.

Any direct links? McCool must be pumping him senseless

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/wrestlezone.com/upl_images/f9jura.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/article/photo-top-wwe-star-undergoes-drastic-change-in-look-132849&usg=__MNMLmHj2vTTSmwBh2JfiW0MyPJk=&h=612&w=612&sz=37&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=38O3pySP-Am14M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=131&ei=f98lTvmpBMe1hAeJiMjzCQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dundertaker%2Bshaved%2Bhead%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D395%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=172&page=1&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=106&ty=58

He actually looks like he has aids.

Apparently the pic is fake. His ink is different! If it is taker he looks Fked.

It could be the D.O.A II

He looks like Doc Brown

McCool's pregnant ain't she?

it looks like what takers grandad should look like

easiest way to turn triple h heel, have him the one who brought the injunction against vince