Where you guys betting on WM? I have money on Bodog, just didnt know if there is a better book out there.

I just looked at what I thought was a well respected UK book, but Im seeing some ridiculous odds. I wont mention them here because I dont want to ruin anything for anyone, I will say that some of the names listed for the battle royal intrigue me though. It looked like 3 or 4 NXT guys on the list

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Smackdown:

Turning the US Title into a TV Title like that is probably a decent enough idea.

Really wish they had moved Rusev onto something new right away on Raw last week instead of doing this thing where Cena beats him again just to double down the last result.

Dude. Sheamus beat down Bryan on Raw. Set it up for the damn PPV. Start by explaining the beatdown. Build some heat with minimal-to-no physical contact. Tell a good story and let the fans salivate over the chance to see Bryan get his hands on Sheamus again. Don't insta-throw them into a match on the next show.

I would love to see a tv title type with a time limit.

At least DB didn't get pinned?

I guess they're probably setting up a triple threat with Bryan-Sheamus-BNB.

I wish they'd scale back on how much they do those matches too, especially as they openly admit that in kayfabe it puts the champion at a disadvantage, and for ages they've always talked about how the champions are at the advantage in keeping their titles. Bryan receives the punishment of defending against two men because...Sheamus chose to attack him? Seems legit.

Preaching to the choir I know, but this is exactly the problem with too many hours per week of programming.

According to wrestling observer reigns family (especially sika) lost their minds after he lost and caused chaos backstage after the event

Also Rollins Lesnar reigns and Heyman were not told the finish until halfway through the show

It's sorta amazing how the only way to optimally build a ppv feud they've correctly used in the last I have no ****ing idea how long was used to write Bork off tv

Tease a match on free tv, doesn't happen for one reason or another, slow build and make the audiance invested and excited for the inevitable ppv match, have a tag team match playa where you tease them both being in the ring at once

Or instead do it to death every week on raw and sd in advance of the BUT THIS TIME IT COUNTS FOR REAL on ppv

The way I'd do it would go something like this:

3/30/15 Raw - Sheamus does the beatdown of Bryan that he did.

4/2/15 SD - Sheamus wrestles a squash or semi-squash match, announcers talk during the match about the beatdown of Bryan from Raw and said that he wasn't medically cleared to be there tonight.

4/6/15 Raw - Bryan gets a promo segment, cuts an angry promo and calls out Sheamus, but Sheamus doesn't appear.

4/9/15 SD - Video recap of what has happened so far. Renee Young catches up with Sheamus backstage and goes "WTF, why did you attack Daniel Bryan?" Sheamus remains cryptic, smirks at the camera, chuckles, and says "Nothing personal, fella." Announcers act indignant. "NOTHING PERSONAL? BUT YOU ATTACKED HIM!" etc.

4/13/15 Raw - Sheamus wrestles, and defeats, someone else. Bryan hits the ring after the match but Sheamus escapes through the audience untouched.

4/16/15 SD - Sheamus finally says more in an interview, says that of course it's personal. He's hated Bryan for years now, dating back to WrestleMania XXVIII, that he hates the "Yes!" chants and hates the WWE Universe for mindlessly chanting that in support of Daniel Bryan.

4/20/15 Raw - Daniel Bryan confronts Steph and/or HHH, demands a match against Sheamus. They agree and book it for Extreme Rules, but tell him that he is not to go attacking Sheamus like he tried to do on last week's Raw, and that if he lays a hand on Sheamus before then he'll be stripped of the IC Title. Segment later in the show where Sheamus gets in Bryan's way backstage and mocks him by pointing at his chin and daring him to punch him, adding that "it wouldn't be fair for me to take the first shot; the last time I did that, I embarrassed you in 18 seconds." Bryan resists the urge to clock him and then fumes off.

4/23/15 SD - Bryan wrestles a match. Sheamus comes down to ringside, openly taunts Bryan and actively dares him to hit him again. He finally runs in after or during a Bryan finisher and attacks him to cause a DQ. When Bryan goes to return the favor, enter Steph shouting the reminder that Bryan cannot and will not touch Sheamus. Bryan is furious but forced to swallow it as Sheamus laughs at him. Face announcer QQs about how unfair it is that Sheamus has attacked Bryan twice and Bryan isn't allowed to stand up for himself.

4/26/15 Extreme Rules - Bryan beats Sheamus in a hard-fought match, forcing him to tap, and retains the title.

That's a very basic story, but it's a superior alternative to what they've chosen to do instead. It builds the IC Title by showing that it's important enough to Bryan to force him to swallow a lot to wait until the PPV. It creates a tangible reason that the match has to wait until PPV. It's true to the face/heel continuum. It pays off in a satisfying finish for the fans after making them wait for weeks to see it and building their interest over time.

Instead they'll just wrestle each other five times and hope that people care more about one of them because it will take place on a Sunday night instead of a Monday night.

Great stuff lkj

[WWE Creative]

Not enough six-man tags, distraction roll-ups or non-title/DQ losses for Bryan. Also where were you planning to insert Big Show and/or Kane into this?

[/WWE Creative]

This is good, but how does is get Reigns over?

from Wrestling Observer:

I have to admit, if I was suddenly appointed head of creative today and told from up on high that I was to get Reigns over as one of the top faces in the company, that would be a much harder task than storyboarding something like Bryan/Sheamus.

Rollins has good enough heat that maybe it's at least possible? But I'm not really sure. Also it seems that Orton is Rollins's own personal Kane and is getting the first title shot, so with Lesnar written off-camera I don't have any idea what Reigns is even doing this month.

None of the heat on roman has any positive implications. It's like saying if you turn new day heel they'll be super over cuz clearly that's what the crowd wants when in actuality it's 'holy **** this is awful get it off my tv'

Roman is FUBAR

I'm certain you would have said the same of Rocky Maivia in 1996-97. I would guess likewise for pre-Hall of Pain Mark Henry. A lot of people get dramatically better after a turn, to an extent that it's really surprising. When R-Truth turned heel a few years ago it was amazing how quickly we all thought that he went from completely worthless to one of the most entertaining characters on the show for a time.

If you retool a guy and give him a character that he can play effectively (I would give Roman an arrogant douchebag heel role, which...well, I'm just guessing he could pull that off), then they'll start getting a reaction for the right reasons.

I feel like the majority of his heat is due to being over-pushed rather than the audience truly feeling like he's so overwhelmingly awful that he should never be on-screen on a wrestling show.

His heat comes completely from ticked off Bryan fans. Roman was loved in the Shield. Had he won the Royal Rumble in 2014, I think fans would have been okay with it (anybody but Batista). Had he won the title at Money in the Bank last year, fans would have been happy. But this year, they would have booed anybody who won the Rumble outside of Bryan (and maybe Ziggler).

Nothing he does will convince some people he deserves it. Reigns has now main evented two PPVs. His match against Bryan at Fastlane was excellent. At Wrestlemania, it was one of the best Main Events I've seen. The way he sold the beating (which isn't easy) and then his ability to convey such shock/joy after he finally gained the upperhand. Sure, he might not know a hundred submissions or a dozen suplexes. But you can teach that. You can't teach the ability to tell a story in the ring and Reigns has that. Unfortunately, angry fans who wish their guy was the top face will never allow themselves to see that.

Jim Neidhart was loved in the Hart Foundation, when all he had to do was take a hot tag and do a couple of power moves.

Reigns gets hate because Vince ignored crowd reaction and decided to just shove his agenda through over what the crowd wanted (there are definitely more results the crowd would have accepted than just Bryan winning), and the crowd saw through it every step of the way. The Reigns haters and Bryan fans have significant overlap, yes, but I think you're drawing the wrong cause --> effect relationship.

No.

Change this to, "The Shield was loved." and that's an accurate statement.

They would have been ok with it...until the next night on RAW because at that point Batista would be gone but nobody wanted Reigns either.

Perhaps not. He needs to improve though and even Roman marks will tell you that.

Pathetic isn't it?

It was awful. The match might have been ok but the fans took me out of it. Is that Roman's fault? Kind of. Nobody wanted him there so there was apathy all around.

You need to watch more main events. The match was good but a top tier main event? No.

Every wrestler will tell you that selling is the easiest part of wrestling.

He's been in the WWE for 5 years. The only thing he's learned about is different shampoos.

Actually, you can. This is exactly why wrestling schools and NXT exist.

I'll believe it when I actually do see it. I'm not asking him to wrestle like Daniel Bryan. I'm asking him to be passable. I'm asking him to be able to do a control segment without falling on his face. And for gods ****ing sake, I'm asking him to put intensity into his promos instead of just monotonously talking, duck facing, or winking.

Brock could have kicked my ass for 15 minutes and I could do a fake punch and spear to him to. Believe me, you'd have sympy for me if Brock threw me around.

I'm way more of a Brock fan than a Bryan fan fwiw. I wanted to see Bryan vs Brock because it would be great. I'm way more of a fan of great matches than who wins a scripted match. The Passion of Roman part 2 was good but only because I wanted Brock to straight up destroy him. It was not an actual match by any means.

Man, isolated hates Reigns