Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread **Spoilers Possible**

[bulletsponge]

^^ i think Hogan admitted he convinced them to keep the belt on Angle cause he thought roode wasnt ready yet

[Matthean]

So Hogan didn't "retire?"

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Matthean

So Hogan didn't "retire?"

Did research and see he is wrestling now. Joy. Rumors of him burying Roode seem legit as he did an interview and pretty much buried him on it while saying Jeff Hardy is the guy he would back. Jeff just isn't a guy I would want to be backing unless you 100% knew he was past his issues.

[Toddzilla]

Yeah, Hogan went on some radio show last week and just buried Roode. Said he wasn't ready, didn't have what it takes to main event, and pretty much said he wasn't getting the belt. Caused quite the stir in the locker room, AJ Styles even called Hogan out on Twitter in a very non-kayfabe manner.

[Matthean]

Hogan admitted that Styles wasn't working either for whatever reason so AJ likely took issue with that as well.

[molson]

Amusing turn of events at the impact tapings tonight

Spoiler

James Storm beats Kurt Angle and wins the world title. I think its a fun angle, and it makes more sense then TNA angles sometimes do. One member of a popular tag team wins a convoluted round robin tournament (where many of the credited wins were as that tag team). That guy is pushed hard by the company as the breakout start of the team - he gets video packages, lots of interviews, and a main event spot on a PPV...which he blows. The next night, the forgotten tag team partner wins the belt instead. I wonder how those two guys will get along now....Did Storm feel like Roode was abandoning him on the way up? Did Storm secretly resent the promotion's attention paid to Roode? Does Roode think he softened up Angle for Storm? Does Roode feel slighted that he won this entire tournament to get a shot and then his partner somehow gets one the next night? I think it's a fun angle. They've elevated two members of a tag team to the main event. Ya, I understand peoples' annoyance with TNA using PPVs to setup TV angles, but TNA sells so few PPVs I think it hardly matters. The 11 guys who buy them every month will continue to buy them. Per usual, I feel like the only one who thinks this is at least an OK storyline, and TNA is being torn apart on the wrestlecrap forum, and dvd.

[Mota]

So basically it's more like the Christian angle rather than the Lex Express.

[molson]

I don't think it's like either of those, it'd be like (screw the spoiler tags, I don't think anybody cares), if towards the end of the Edge and Christian team in 1999 or 2000, Edge got a sudden, and strong, 1-month push and got a shot at the the Undertaker for the title at a PPV. He loses, and the next night on RAW, Christian wins the gold. Edge and Christian would then either feud for the title, or somehow try to co-exist as friends, with that whole title situation lurking in the background. I think that would have been considered exciting stuff/good booking in 2000, pre the "everything sucks" era of internet cynicism. It kind of actually feels like a late 90s ECW-type angle (in reality, the WWE wasn't letting midcarders like Edge and Christian anywhere near main events, contrary to revisionist history that everybody was pushed back then).

The Lex Express is sometimes considered bad booking but I don't get why it was so absolutely necessary for Lex Luger and his patriotic underpants to be the face of the company. I think things worked better with Yokozuna staying champion, feuding with the undertaker and finally losing to Bret Hart. Yes, it did end Lex Luger's momentum, but so what? You have to make booking choices. Every push doesn't have to go all the way. Every guy can't be on top. Some guys, you have to pull the plug on so you can push a Bret Hart instead. Luger always worked better in WCW anyway, he wouldn't have fit in in 1996 WWF. They gave him a whole bus and he wasn't really connecting with the fans the way the Undertaker or Bret Hart could, or soon later, that Diesel could. They preserved Luger a little bit, he had some overness, he was in a tag team with the British Bulldog, had some lesser angles, which was a better spot for him by that point, IMO.

[Maple Leafs]

Here's the full ESPN:60 piece on Scott Hall:

The Wrestler: The Scott Hall Story - ESPN Video - ESPN

Not a fun thing to watch.

[Suicane75]

Just got done watching Memphis Heat, A documentary about the Memphis territory, and it was amazing. I'd suggest anyone even remotely interested in the history of wrestling to check it out.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Here's the full ESPN:60 piece on Scott Hall:

The Wrestler: The Scott Hall Story - ESPN Video - ESPN

Not a fun thing to watch.

Really sad. Hearing him talk and being self aware of it all. He just sounds completely broken.

Also, that's one hell of a piece put together by ESPN. The production is great.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Here's the full ESPN:60 piece on Scott Hall:

The Wrestler: The Scott Hall Story - ESPN Video - ESPN

Not a fun thing to watch.

I don't care that he did it to himself and many people would say deserves what he is getting. I feel bad for the man, that was just heartwrenching to watch.

Very well done by ESPN and another sad reminder of how fame can consume you...

[JonInMiddleGA]

I saw a note from some of the dirt sheets that Scott & his son Cody (apparently their relationship featured prominently in the ESPN story) are already estranged again, per Scott's ex-wife.

[molson]

I don't feel bad for Hall, he made the choice that a lot guys make - live over the top in your 20s and 30s and not worry about the future. The guy's 53 but he's probably put his body through 100+ years of living. But he had a good time doing it. I'm sure if you told him when he was 30 he could live a simpler lifestyle as a construction worker in Florida, he would have rejected that even if he knew he'd be healthier 2 decades later. You can live like a rock star or you can have longevity, but you usually can't have both. And you argue there's no "wrong" choice even, but it is a choice.

[DaddyTorgo]

A review of WWE's Greatest Rivalries: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels - Grantland

[Mota]

Well, let's just say that if Cena doesn't turn heel at Survivor Series, they will have gone a long way towards killing their main event at Wrestlemania.

The whole point of this feud is to make Cena look good and bring him to the next level, this is the only way to do it. The only way. He's set to get booed out of the arena as it is, so might as well try and go in as a heel where that is the desired reaction.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Mota

The whole point of this feud is to make Cena look good and bring him to the next level, this is the only way to do it. The only way. He's set to get booed out of the arena as it is, so might as well try and go in as a heel where that is the desired reaction.

The point of the feud is to get a record gate at Mania and to get the best PPV buyrate in 10ish years. It's not to fulfill smarkish booking fantasies. Rock is temporary, Cena's still going to be the face of the promotion and undisputed leading merchandise seller after mania.

Edit: Though I could see them doing what they did with HBK/Hogan a few years ago. Where HBK was the heel for the PPV build-up (because everyone was going to cheer Hogan anyway), but then he's back to normal right after the show's over. They've shown a willingness to go with the flow and make Cena heel against RVD, CM Punk...they just realize that for Cena to be a "heel" with the crowd in those situations, he really just needs to act like a face. If he starts acting like a heel (the traditional TURN moment) he'd actually lose his heel heat.

[Mota]

3.2 rating for Raw this week featuring The Rock and Mick Foley.

No buzz at all for the PPV with The Rock's first wrestling match in about 10 years.

Whatever it is they're doing, they're going to have to try a lot harder than that.

And if they're trying to protect Cena, putting him in the ring against Rock in Miami where he'll get booed by 100% of the crowd in front of a huge PPV audience would not be my way of doing it. Cena can't win over the crowd. IMO his 2011 run is disastrous, on par with the 1995 Diesel run. Your lead babyface should not get booed out of half the arenas he enters.

[RainMaker]

They won't turn him heel. Still sells too many t-shirts to the kids and does all the promo work they ask of him. Can't blame them as their business has shifted. It is kind of sad though how hard they are trying to get him over with the crowds. Having to bring back legends like Foley to cut a 20 minute promo to get him over.

[molson]

Happened to be in the right place at the right time - and I'm going to survivor series tonight, should be fun. The last time I went to a wrestling show was 2000 - I saw KOTR in Boston (including a hardcore evening gown match between Pat Patterson and Gerry Briscoe) and a random WCW Thunder in Syracuse that featured David Arquette winning the WCW World Title. I doubt either of those can be topped, but I've never been to MSG, so it should be a good time regardless.

[duckman]

I'm actually looking forward to tonight's PPV. I think Punk-Del Rio and Rock/Cena-Awesome Truth will be pretty good.

[RainMaker]

How was it molson. Crowd seemed really good throughout the night on TV.

[molson]

It was pretty fun. I don't think anybody was blown away but there was plenty enough there for everyone to stay fired up.

MSG is definitely a unique crowd. Much older than average probably, there were only a smattering of kids - maybe 5% of the audience was kids. I was out in the concession area right before the dark match started and I saw several grown men running back to their seats when Santino's music started - they were running to not miss ANY of the Santino dark match. That's a hardcore crowd.

The fans loved Santino, and Dolph Ziggler, and especially Zack Ryder, who got spontaneous chants all night. Cody Rhodes got a lot of chants too but I got the feeling those were just started by a couple of guys who got it going - Rhodes didn't have the overall "pop" that Ziggler did.

Everybody seemed bored during Show/Henry so they started with the chants - "Mae Young", "Sexual Chocolate"...nothing too clever really.....but it was funny to just hear the smattering of boredom. I think boredom is an actual audible sound at a wrestling show, you start to hear all of this conversation around you about unrelated topics. I usually don't mind the slow/big guy matches, but this just seemed off.

It's amazing how fast the matches went by in person - it didn't feel like there was a slow moment (except for Show/Henry, and a few minutes of the tag team elimination match, after Sin Cara was injured, when it felt like they were trying to reset and get word from the back about what the new finish/order of elimination would be). But otherwise, the crowd popped for pretty much every move, which made CM Punk/Del Rio just fly by.

Rock looked great...I'm sure every second of that match was planned out and rehearsed (I read somewhere that Rock worked with Miz and R-Truth in Florida a handful of times to get the match down) but he put the time in to pull it off. I'm sure he can have a great main-event caliber match with Cena. I know a lot of people were looking for more storyline development in that finish, but Rock's off to shoot a movie and they still have another 5 months to build this thing for Mania. Rock blew the roof off the place, so I guess they figured that was enough for tonight. Still, a little anti-climatic. Rock did about 5 more minutes on the mic after the show went off the air - there again, there was a "We want Ryder" chant, and Rock acknowledged it, saying, "ya, I like that guy too", and then moving on, basically a little sentimental promo about MSG and his return.

Overall, it was fun, it is really tough to get through 2 1/2 - 3 hours of a PPV when you're drinking heavily, there's not a lot of natural bathroom breaks, and it's a bit of a commitment to get out and back. I think people were waiting for the divas' music to hit to make a break for it, but that was the second match and we were caught a little off guard.

[JonInMiddleGA]

from prowrestling.net

Independent wrestler Bison Smith (a/k/a Mark Smith) reportedly died on Tuesday in Puerto Rico at the age of 38, according to PRWrestling.com. The initial cause of death is listed in the story as heart complications.

Powell's POV: Smith worked regularly in Japan and also had a run with Ring of Honor in 2009. He was scheduled to wrestle this weekend in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council.

[SirFozzie]

Looks like rtruth was caught in the latest round of Wellness testing and is suspended 30 days.. which is why they rushed the miiz truth split last night

[Mota]

Wow, that's sad about Bison Smith. I watched him quite a few times in Pro Wrestling NOAH where he was pretty darn good. Also just about had him crash into me at an RoH show when he went over the guard rail.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Looks like rtruth was caught in the latest round of Wellness testing and is suspended 30 days.. which is why they rushed the miiz truth split last night

which is also an indication of how bullshit phony the WWE Wellness policy is. Killings tested positive after the PPV? Really?

Really?

Really?

Most likely it was some time before the PPV and they need him for the PPV AND Raw, so let him compete after a "violation" and then suspend him when it's convenient.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Most likely it was some time before the PPV and they need him for the PPV AND Raw, so let him compete after a "violation" and then suspend him when it's convenient.

Well, he's still eating the time w/out pay, not sure that it's necessarily incumbent upon the company to create significant disruption for themselves by doing it on the spot rather than several days later. After all, doing anything at all exceeds what's required of them.

[RainMaker]

Yeah, I read it was him and Bourne that got busted smoking some weird herbal drug I'd never heard of. Bourne got suspended before the PPV and R-Truth after.

I don't think it's that big of a deal. Not fair to the fans and other performers to completely overhaul a PPV the night of because of a test. He'll get his 30 days and go from there. Surprised they didn't have Bourne and Kofi drop the tag titles before the suspension, but I guess those belts don't matter much anyway.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ron smoking is about the least shocking news ever. That's not a new development for him at all, although I guess the synthetic version puts a new spin on it.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by molson

It was pretty fun. I don't think anybody was blown away but there was plenty enough there for everyone to stay fired up.

MSG is definitely a unique crowd. Much older than average probably, there were only a smattering of kids - maybe 5% of the audience was kids. I was out in the concession area right before the dark match started and I saw several grown men running back to their seats when Santino's music started - they were running to not miss ANY of the Santino dark match. That's a hardcore crowd.

The fans loved Santino, and Dolph Ziggler, and especially Zack Ryder, who got spontaneous chants all night. Cody Rhodes got a lot of chants too but I got the feeling those were just started by a couple of guys who got it going - Rhodes didn't have the overall "pop" that Ziggler did.

Everybody seemed bored during Show/Henry so they started with the chants - "Mae Young", "Sexual Chocolate"...nothing too clever really.....but it was funny to just hear the smattering of boredom. I think boredom is an actual audible sound at a wrestling show, you start to hear all of this conversation around you about unrelated topics. I usually don't mind the slow/big guy matches, but this just seemed off.

It's amazing how fast the matches went by in person - it didn't feel like there was a slow moment (except for Show/Henry, and a few minutes of the tag team elimination match, after Sin Cara was injured, when it felt like they were trying to reset and get word from the back about what the new finish/order of elimination would be). But otherwise, the crowd popped for pretty much every move, which made CM Punk/Del Rio just fly by.

Rock looked great...I'm sure every second of that match was planned out and rehearsed (I read somewhere that Rock worked with Miz and R-Truth in Florida a handful of times to get the match down) but he put the time in to pull it off. I'm sure he can have a great main-event caliber match with Cena. I know a lot of people were looking for more storyline development in that finish, but Rock's off to shoot a movie and they still have another 5 months to build this thing for Mania. Rock blew the roof off the place, so I guess they figured that was enough for tonight. Still, a little anti-climatic. Rock did about 5 more minutes on the mic after the show went off the air - there again, there was a "We want Ryder" chant, and Rock acknowledged it, saying, "ya, I like that guy too", and then moving on, basically a little sentimental promo about MSG and his return.

Overall, it was fun, it is really tough to get through 2 1/2 - 3 hours of a PPV when you're drinking heavily, there's not a lot of natural bathroom breaks, and it's a bit of a commitment to get out and back. I think people were waiting for the divas' music to hit to make a break for it, but that was the second match and we were caught a little off guard.

It seemed like a good PPV. You're right about Show/Henry, but I think a match like that can get buried when you have such a big main event. If that was headlining a PPV, it's another story. But it's fine for a midcard match. While I like Henry being a dominant champ, I don't like the feud with Show. Problem is that they don't really have another face besides Orton to throw at him right now.

I thought the Main Event was fine. I wasn't expecting some 5 star match, just wanted to see the Rock do his thing. Thought the rest of the card was fun too and the right guys won from a storytelling standpoint.

Their product has been better lately, although I still have no idea what they are trying to do with Kevin Nash. All I can think of is setting up a program with CM Punk but not sure that has much interest. Wouldn't mind seeing a short feud with Ziggler-Punk, the match they put on Monday was well done. And what the hell is with the Twitter obsession they have lately?

[RainMaker]

So it looks like Nash is done and has been pulled from WWE events. Not sure what the point of bringing him back was.

I wonder how long it's going to take before they pull a tweener storyline out of Cena. At some point they are going to run out of former stars begging fans to cheer him.

Also saw Todd Grisham hosting SportsCenter the other night. Seems like ESPN has a pipeline with WWE these days.

[molson]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

So it looks like Nash is done and has been pulled from WWE events. Not sure what the point of bringing him back was.

I wonder how long it's going to take before they pull a tweener storyline out of Cena. At some point they are going to run out of former stars begging fans to cheer him.

Wasn't Piper telling Cena to tell the fans to fuck off? It was some fun continuity, that's the 2nd or 3rd Piper's Pit over the last few years where Piper has tried to talk Cena into turning heel. The WWE really isn't afraid of acknowledging Cena's boos - last night Cena actually brought up the 3-4 most hostile crowds he ever wrestled in front of over the last 5 years. You make it sound like Royal Rumble 1992 where the WWF didn't acknowledge, and then actually tried to edit out, the cheers when Sid eliminated Hogan, or when they cut short the Jake Roberts/Hogan feud because Roberts was getting too many cheers. For god's sake, they're booking him against the Rock at Mania, he will be the heel in that match, just like he was the heel against RVD, against Edge, against CM Punk. Every one of those matches involved a heel turn, and they were all considered great matches/storylines. In 2011, not unlike 1996, I don't think you can define heel/face strictly based on how a guy acts, or traditional booking. If Cena is boo'd and the Rock is cheered at Mania - Cena's the heel. And that alignment is very obviously intentional - just like it was intentional with RVD/Edge/CM Punk. If a company sets up a guy in a match where he'll be boo'd, and then he is, how is he not a heel?

I think the Nash thing is all about health. The guy has heart issues, I think they were hoping for 1 or 2 PPV garbage hardcore type matches, and that's still might be the plan, and opposed to him wrestling a full schedule.

[Toddzilla]

Nash couldn't even walk to the ring for chrissakes, he had to deliver his promo from the stage.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by molson

Wasn't Piper telling Cena to tell the fans to fuck off? It was some fun continuity, that's the 2nd or 3rd Piper's Pit over the last few years where Piper has tried to talk Cena into turning heel. The WWE really isn't afraid of acknowledging Cena's boos - last night Cena actually brought up the 3-4 most hostile crowds he ever wrestled in front of over the last 5 years. You make it sound like Royal Rumble 1992 where the WWF didn't acknowledge, and then actually tried to edit out, the cheers when Sid eliminated Hogan, or when they cut short the Jake Roberts/Hogan feud because Roberts was getting too many cheers. For god's sake, they're booking him against the Rock at Mania, he will be the heel in that match, just like he was the heel against RVD, against Edge, against CM Punk. Every one of those matches involved a heel turn, and they were all considered great matches/storylines. In 2011, not unlike 1996, I don't think you can define heel/face strictly based on how a guy acts, or traditional booking. If Cena is boo'd and the Rock is cheered at Mania - Cena's the heel. And that alignment is very obviously intentional - just like it was intentional with RVD/Edge/CM Punk. If a company sets up a guy in a match where he'll be boo'd, and then he is, how is he not a heel?

I think the Nash thing is all about health. The guy has heart issues, I think they were hoping for 1 or 2 PPV garbage hardcore type matches, and that's still might be the plan, and opposed to him wrestling a full schedule.

I think Cena is a heel right now. At best it seems like half the crowd is booing him and at worst it's most of the crowd like we saw at MSG. And while you can say it's not booked traditionally, they've been essentially running promos/segments every week begging fans to cheer for him. They had to run out multiple legends to pander to the crowd for him and even had to get rubs off of guys like CM Punk. Who would have thought that Cena would need to be using Ryder's name for cheap pops these days?

The Piper segment was good, although I thought it could have been better. Wouldn't have minded 5 minutes more. I thought Piper would push the angle more. There can be a good case to be made that he should be mad at certain fans who boo him and cheer the Rock. He is the guy out there every week, is the guy doing the promos, is the guy shaking hands and meeting kids. Rock comes in for a week every few months and gets the big pops. That is sort of bullshit.

As for Nash, I guess I don't understand why they bothered. They took the hottest angle they had and put Kevin Nash and his poor health in front of it. Just makes no sense at all.

[Mota]

I thought last night's Raw was pretty good. The whole Cena thing was cool. I certainly don't consider him a heel though. He's just a pretty lame face that doesn't get support from 50% of the crowd. I like that they're putting the moral dilemma for him though, so much more interesting to think about that rather than him just going along his merry way, not caring about anything.

I also liked the Daniel Bryan thing. It's another angle that makes you think, so 2 of these storylines in one episode is great. Will Bryan win the title? I don't know... they pretty much made it sound like he can't beat him 1 on 1 so maybe he'll lose the match and cash in later? What are the chances of him turning heel and aligning with Michael Cole? Seems like that would be a neat twist.

[molson]

The WWE's obsession with Nash does seem a little TNA-esque.

[RainMaker]

I never watch Smackdown so I just heard about the Bryan thing yesterday. But that seems like a cool storyline. I hope they don't turn him heel as I think underdog faces are fun to root for and so rare in WWE.

[Mota]

He really can be a good face or a heel. The guy has a lot of FIRE during his matches and he is able to pull the fans into his matches even though half the time they have him ending up like a jobber.
As a face, he really needs to shut Michael Cole up. I really believe he should put him in a hold and make him tap. Then if Cole ever says anything bad about him, he just makes the tap symbol and Cole instantly shuts up. That would be a cool storyline. Really, after Cole trash talking Bryan for well over a year now, I feel like something needs to be done.

[Matthean]

Maria Menounos Will Be Wrestling in the WWE Again (Photos) | AthlonSports.com

[RainMaker]

Who'd have seen this coming a year ago?

[molson]

That was a really great RAW top to bottom.

And this is definitely the highest quality fan video of a wrestling event I've ever seen. If this is from a cell phone I'd like to know which one. Kind of a fun perspective on Daniel Bryan cashing in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIipaDBh9dU

[molson]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Who'd have seen this coming a year ago?

The only one I would have been surprised about was Zack Ryder, of course, I'm the one guy who thinks the WWE has been guilty of pushing new stars too quickly, Sheamus and Wade Barrett and even Jack Swagger would be a lot more interesting right now if they were still on the way up, and if the company hadn't already blown their initial main event run with all three guys already. (Though I don't think that's the case at all with Daniel Bryan and CM Punk).

[RainMaker]

They're trying to fix Barrett but I think they did a good job with Sheamus. He's made a decent face I think.

I still think it's a shock to see where things have gone. Punk was almost an afterthought this time last year and is now the top face. Ryder was never on TV and is popular as ever. They sort of have a tag division and almost everyone with a belt can actually wrestle. I guess it's just nice that in-ring ability is starting to matter, not just how many steroids you can do.

[Mota]

I watched Evolve 10 last night, since it was the Tribute to the ECW Arena and most likely the last wrestling event there.
I really believe that Evolve has the top up and coming talent that's out there right now, Ricochet is great, Johnny Gargano is really good and has a TON of personality. There's Uhaa Nation who is a big jacked guy who can do moves that some high flyers can't even do. Ronin is a really charismatic tag team.

Unfortunately during the main event of Richochet vs. Johnny Gargano, Gargano hurt his back somehow and the match just sucked. The crowd was crapping on the match and the chat room was really negative. Then you hear Gargano calling the match and they go right to the finish. Gargano was stuck on the mat for several minutes a lot of people came out to help him. They basically dragged him out of the ring, think Steve Austin after he took the bad piledriver from Owen Hart. An ambulance came to bring him to the hospital after the match. Hopefully he'll be okay.

They had an overbooked segment in the end involving some classic ECW people, CZW, it led into a Justin Credible vs. Sabu match and then Sami Callahan taking over the ring to send out the arena. It was a good moment where the old put over the new.

[General Mike]

Rumor is Johnny Ace is winning the Rumble tonight. Would be typical WWE.

[bulletsponge]

that sounds more WCW like.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by General Mike

Rumor is Johnny Ace is winning the Rumble tonight. Would be typical WWE.

I guess Vince changed his mind, or they talked him out of it. Thank god.

[molson]

Originally Posted by General Mike

I guess Vince changed his mind, or they talked him out of it. Thank god.

Ya, I'm sure they "changed their mind" and that wasn't NEWZ. (unless you can cite a reputable source).

They can put the belts on and build the company around the ROH guys and people will still be negative about everything. But it's been a fun few months for sure. Daniel Bryan is awesome as a subtle heel, John Laurinaitis can be hilarious as as the empty suit heel who kind of wishes he was a face, CM Punk is the center of everything, Ziggler and Sheamus and Barrett and Rhodes get pushed strongly, Orton and Cena are away from the world titles (even though they're the 2 most over guys in the company and not even 35 years old yet), Zach Ryder - mediocre talent - gets pushed in main event angles because he does a popular youtube video...."Typical WWE" indeed.

[General Mike]

Meltzer alluded to the idea of Laurinitus winning the Rumble on his audio show. They did not say it word for word, but said it was a terrible idea that fit in with the story.

I'm not sure where the idea if Sheamus winning fits in. I guess they could go 3 way on Smackdown with Orton, Bryan and Sheamus, or even 4 way with Henry in there, but I don't like it.