Howdy Blog O'Doomers!
I think we should just be patient and see where this goes. Because obviously we've all been overreacting up to this point.
Besides the Seahawks should crush the Rams and I fucking hate the Cardinals and the Red Sox.
So enjoy the show and come out swinging but try to keep it clean!
I think we should just be patient and see where this goes. Because obviously we've all been overreacting up to this point.
Besides the Seahawks should crush the Rams and I fucking hate the Cardinals and the Red Sox.
So enjoy the show and come out swinging but try to keep it clean!
I threw out "they must have 25 world title reigns between them" in the other thread, feeling that I was slightly exaggerating. Turns out I was right on the nose.
ReplyDeleteThe two top guys are Cena and Punk, not Cena and Orton. And as far as I know, Orton is both less of a draw than Punk, and not much of a draw in general.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the reasons I'm not watching Raw tonight, to be honest; I usually watch for awhile and post on the Blog. But I'm just not interested in what the WWE is promoting any longer. I've been seeing the same guys prominently featured since, what, 2004 now? I was tired of it in 2008, kept suffering through it while glimmers of hope popped up every now and again. But it's a simple case of having been burnt so many times. I don't even really care that there are wrestlers I really like on the roster. If I stick around, I'll see them wrestle one another ad nauseum until even I could call the spots out with regularity. There's no interest in the product; it's bland and repetitive. I'd rather just watch New Japan, where at least it's not the same shit week in and week out.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what Orton's career trajectory will really be. He's young as shit, but he's been going for a long time and the injuries will inevitably rack up. Plus the simple element of burnout. I mean, in ten years he'll still be of reasonable age, and he'll have been going for twenty years. You gotta think sometime in the next few years he might need to take a year or two off and have a Michaels style second act, or else he'll just end up retired before 40 and living a long fruitless life as an ex wrestler.
ReplyDeleteOrton draws well as a heel, but was never a draw as a face.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, you could probably say the same thing about Punk - the other top guy in the WWE right now, though to be honest he wasn't booked particularly well coming out of the Summer of Punk until he turned heel anyway.
....oh fuck it, let's just be nice about this. Of all the people that go up against Cena, Orton and Punk consistently get good numbers. Lesnar and HHH could be up there too, I guess, but they aren't really consistent players right now as far as legit opponents.
if YOU were booking WWE, would you keep going with whatworks(these two guys), or push someone new? It's clear that no one else can
ReplyDeletereally do the business they can
I wonder why that is.
There's no way Orton can be seen has a top guy heading into Mania. They tried that for Wrestlemania 24 and 25 and IT DIDN'T WORK
ReplyDeleteWait what? The matches were bad but the angles were hot (particularly the second one) and the buy-rates were fine.
ReplyDeleteWM26 the next year with Cena/Batista and HBK/Undertaker 2 did a worse buy-rate.
Cena/Rock popped the buy rate though, that's for sure. So yes, if by top guy you mean somebody that can draw at the top of the card like a returning Rock can, then Orton is not a top guy.
This is where not having a WCW hurts them. Orton and Cena were the biggest stars of their era and WWE did a good job in getting Bryan and Punk up there to replace them.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is now, there is nowhere for Cena and Orton to go. WCW always bailed them out of this problem in the past.
It seems like it would be easy enough to use those guys to elevate new stars, much like they use Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry, Jericho etc. Obviously Cena would be around the title picture/main event once in a while but there's no reason you can't transition him to non-Main Event feuds. Whether he'd accept that role, I don't know but it seems pretty simple.
ReplyDeleteSo it's safe to say that as these guys keep going, they're going to make accomplishments of past wrestlers seem meaningless.
ReplyDeleteSoon, Cena is going to pass the 16-time World Champion for number of reigns. Both him and Orton already make Mick Foley look like a huge pussy for retiring in Hell in a Cell considering they've been in about 7 or so now.
After all the moneys gone, he'll be left homeless, sitting outside gymnasiums with a placard that reads: "Will shit in gym bags for change"
ReplyDeleteOrton is actually for being really good with his finances. He'll likely be able to walk away on his own terms.
ReplyDeleteWell, okay, then he'll just shit in the gymbags voluntarily.
ReplyDeleteI personally like them in the Undertaker role for almost all of his career or the Shawn Michaels role in the 2nd half of his career. They would main event occasionally, hold onto the title occasionally, do other feuds (michaels with hogan, jericho, taker, legacy; taker with michaels, orton, kane, triple h, tag teams with kane), leave for 4-6 months at a time to recharge and people won't get tired of them.
ReplyDeleteMy point is WWE is incapable of doing this. When have they ever(at least since Hogan's reign) successfully moved in the new guy in place of the old guy? I'm talking major stars here like Hogan, Austin, and Bret.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that they financially can't afford to book Cena that way. They've invested so much of their financial well-being into Cena that profit margins would take a serious hit without him around, since they've done such an elegantly shitty job of grooming a replacement.
ReplyDeleteThus, if they have Cena, they're going to use him at the capacity with the highest visibility. It's an unfortunate byproduct of the company hitching its wagon to one guy.
You forgot to mention "4 wellness violations between them".
ReplyDeleteYou: "But Orton only has two strikes".
Me: "Ssshhhh. Cena's been gone for 60 days. There's the rug...go ahead, lift it up and look under there."
Besides Cena, who else is there?
ReplyDeleteFoley didn't actually retire in HitC given that he's returned a ton of times since 2000, including one just a month after that match. Also, it was a retirement stipulation --- it wasn't like Mick said, "ouch, too banged up after that one, gotta hang up the boots!"
ReplyDeleteThis is the "Michael Jordan was suspended by the NBA for 18 months over gambling" conspiracy theory for wrestling.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't hurt that he pulls down 300k per month.
ReplyDeleteHe's had some moments, but Orton is more like HHH in that he's more interesting when paired with certain workers (Foley, Cena, the '09 HHH feud) than in general like say Punk or Cena are able to be.
ReplyDeleteCena doesn't draw buys either. That's the worst kept secret around. He misses shows and the buyrates don't tank. The same rubes must buy the show all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe TLC PPV that had the murders row of Punk vs. Del Rio vs. Miz and Trips and Nash in the oldest ladder match in history, was pretty much in line with what they normally do
That's not how WWE plays it up as.
ReplyDeleteA lot of pro athletes go broke making that kind of dough.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of that. I don't really remember them mentioning the HHH/Cactus Cell match at all, really.
ReplyDeleteAs long as he doesn't invest in any carwashes, he'll probably be okay. At least that's what I got out of that 30 for 30 documentary about athletes going broke.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the huge swollen elbow? A work?
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Cena never won a King of the Ring,
ReplyDelete... When did he miss 30 days?
ReplyDeleteEvery time Orton pounds the mat before the RKO I keep expecting his shoulder to blow up again. Dude does have rubber bands keeping his arm to his body.
ReplyDelete"It's clear that no one else can really do the business they can(including Daniel Bryan)."
ReplyDeleteWhat business has Randy Orton ever done???
I'd rather watch a Mabel vs. Yokozuna iron man match than watch anything involving these two fuck stains.
ReplyDeleteOnly idiots would allow for these two blowhards to make accomplishments of past wrestlers seem meaningless. The WWE, Michael Cole, whoever can continue to put these guys over night after night, but most realize that it's all a bunch of bullshit.
ReplyDeleteHe did his business in someone's gym bag...
ReplyDeleteFor years they mentioned how it was Hell in a Cell that ended Foley's career. They stopped once the PPV started though.
ReplyDeleteVince fucked that up. All he had to do is quietly buy WCW and not let anyone know, but he bragged about it and killed it. He could have done the same with ECW, but he wanted to make it into his vision of what wrestling is.
ReplyDeleteI can only hope that TNA gets the proper financial backing to not just survive but prosper as a viable alternative. (If not them then SOME other organization in the U.S.)
They could have a 10 month cycle. This way a wrestler may not in the ring wrestling but they would still be doing promo work. That way they are still visible to the fans.
ReplyDeleteIt's forever a head-scratcher too, because if ANYone has given them a reason to abandon them it's Randy Orton. Yet he remains bulletproof.
ReplyDeleteThey could have Cena do "monster of the week" stuff or work mini-programs with dudes like Cesaro, Ambrose, etc. to test them out for elevation programs. He can still draw his fanbase and sell merch without working the millionth Orton match or facing HHH yet again.
ReplyDeleteI think that says something about how far KotR has fallen in prestige.
ReplyDeleteHe's attractive. When I worked at KB Toys my manager proclaimed her love for Randy Orton even though she'd never watched a single wrestling match. I imagine the same goes for a lot of females, some of whom must actually watch wrestling. You always see SOME ladies in the crowd. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if Vince saw him as a good counterpart to Cena just because he's all inked up ("sorry Punk, we've already got a guy whose arms are covered with silly pictures.")
ReplyDeleteI can see them resurrecting KOTR just to do that
ReplyDeleteAnd that TLC PPV did more buys than the following year, which was headlined by Cena, but had no Punk. Hmm...
ReplyDelete