I really hope there's another Kofi/Ziggles match soon, I don't feel like they've done it enough yet.

2/18/2013 3:37:15 PM

perhaps another Orton/Barrett match will tickle your fancy.

2/18/2013 3:50:02 PM

so i know that the whole Smackdown vs. Raw brand differentiation was dissolved awhile back but it still seems like the WHC is the "smackdown championship" and the WWE is the raw championship. They seem to have really dumbed down the honor of being WHC and it's almost a second rate belt now. And that makes the Intercontinental Belt even more irrelevant. Gone are the days of rising superstars like Triple H and the Rock headlining Summer Slam for the IC title and feeling like it truly matters

2/18/2013 4:05:07 PM

what grown adult feels like any "professional wrestling" truly matters?

2/18/2013 4:17:40 PM

^^ That's the only thing about brand dissolution that's disappointing. When the shows were divided, they'd occasionally switch the WHC and WWE belts from show to show, meaning that Big Gold was the main championship on RAW for periods of time.

2/18/2013 7:32:35 PM

New belt looks good.

2/18/2013 11:09:28 PM

It's better than the spinner, but it still looks like a toy.

The first we heard about a new belt was back in June. Punk was asked about it and said:

"I email people that you people don't know exist and I bother them constantly about this damn thing. There is a new title. I've seen it. I'll probably get in trouble for saying it, but I don't know if it's any better than the current one."

An image surfaced around the same time. Same design, but all gold:



Bret's belt will always be the real belt to me:



[Edited on February 19, 2013 at 3:04 AM. Reason : 2]

2/19/2013 2:56:58 AM

^yeah, that one is iconic WWE belt IMO. I guess they need something to stand apart from big gold, but I wouldn't mind them bringing that one back.

2/19/2013 8:12:21 AM

When Flair came from WCW in '91, he brought Big Gold with him, then won the Winged Eagle belt at the Rumble. They look plenty different. The funny part is that the belt WCW used while that NWA belt was gone looks exactly like the WWF belt:

2/19/2013 12:53:02 PM

2/19/2013 12:54:50 PM

First things first.

I want the Doctor Proper, Doctor Unger, Doctor Hughes to know, ..... the release forms have been signed. ..... Your not responsible for the last couple fractures in the forearm, brutha.

The main priority in the yapapi Indian strap match, is to have flexibility in the wrist that you strap to your opponent with, brutha, ..... because in the yapapi Indian strap match, when your in the four corners of the battlezone, ..... the main priority is to get the body in the proper position for the strapation, dudes.

When I get my opponent, right where I want him, ..... when I get him, ..... out of wind, ............ sucking air, .................... sweating from head to toe, I will call out to Indian strapmaster, Jimmy Hart, on ringside,

and I will say to Jimmy Hart, at ringside.

"Gimme yapipi Indian punishment strap number one"

And as I strap your body..... as you scream to the heavens for mercy, ..... as I see your skin start to bubble off your body. ..... You will drop to your knees, and you will say "Please Mr. HOOPS, please, I can't take it anymore. Please I'm sorry I crossed the line."

And as I hear you beg for mercy, that's when I will call to the Indian strapmaster Jimmy Hart, at ringside for Yapipi Indian Punishment strap number two.

That's when the heavier bats will come out.

That's when I will strap your skin.

That's when your skin will start to bubble.

That's when the flesh will start to peel from your hide.

And as I see the raw pink meat on your back brutha, I will take it to another level.

I will transform from Hulk to Hollywood.

I will double strap you with both fists, and you will scream to the heavens,
"Please Hulk, don't hurt me anymore."

And I will never stop.

2/19/2013 12:56:03 PM

honestly, i don't understand why while taking 8 years to redesign the belt they didn't take the time to rebrand the scratch logo as well. Just introduce a brand new image all together. the WWE scratch logo needs to go.

2/19/2013 1:20:54 PM

Quote :

"Bret's belt will always be the real belt to me"

2/19/2013 1:25:01 PM

Here are the Yappapi promos, because why not:

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

I always found it interesting that Yappapi Indian straps say "HULKSTER" on them.

2/19/2013 7:54:43 PM

so our top 4 matches for Wrestlemania look like:

for the WWE Championship:

The Rock (c) vs. John Cena, percentage we know the match result: 100%

The Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk (w/ Paul Heyman), percentage we know the match result: 90% (it's plausible at least with Punk's character, just not likely)

Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Triple H, percentage we know the match result: 95% (it's Hunter)

for the World Heavyweight Championship:

Alberto del Rio (c) (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez) vs. Jack Swagger (w/ Zeb Colter), percentage we know the match result: 67% (don't think they'd have del Rio fail this spectacularly and I don't think they'd give Swagger the title again after he had such a nothing reign the past time, but if we're going to count Cena as a face , that's 3 for 3 on face wins in the top 3 matches and you'd think they'd like to have one high up heel win)


guys that need to be slotted yet and have at least a decent chance of being on the card:

Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Ryback, the Shield, Big Show, Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Wade Barrett, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Sheamus, R-Truth, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, the Miz, Antonio Cesaro, Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara

I figure they'll have a tag title match as a blowoff for Kane and Bryan to lose and finally break up. Maybe the Shield?

Jericho was supposed to feud with Ryback as the heel. But I think that would die a hundred deaths in New York. Looks like based on the past couple shows they're teasing to turn Ryback heel instead. If they do though, they would have Ryback, Mark Henry, Big Show, and Lesnar all pretty much doing the same monster heel gimmick.

I have no clue what the hell they're doing with Orton.

There's a lot of guys in there for the obligatory "let's give as many guys as we can a Wrestlemania payoff" 8-man, 3-minute tag match.

And for the second year in a row, only two of the six guys in the top three matches on the card are full-timers. The one new addition to the top three matches is Lesnar replacing Jericho.

[Edited on February 19, 2013 at 9:56 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2013 9:37:21 PM

Swagger was arrested after Smackdown last night and charged with DUI, marijuana possession, and speeding.

We'll see how this affects his match.

2/20/2013 6:54:36 PM

^ I'm having issues deciding who is stupider for throwing away more money, Jack Swagger or Nick Diaz.

2/20/2013 7:08:40 PM

thats what they get for giving that lispy motherfucker another push

2/20/2013 7:23:05 PM

the All-American American...Jack Soowaggah

2/20/2013 8:30:36 PM

jesus christ. with one of the best angles they've created in quite awhile and he throws it all away.

Orton was suspended last year for 2 months after getting caught with marijuana and he still hasn't received a major push to another title. I can't imagine they'll just overlook this for someone like Swagger.

2/20/2013 8:37:50 PM

I can't imagine they'll can him like Kennedy after putting him on the Mania card, but he's fucked one way or another.

2/21/2013 12:27:19 AM

i wonder if he tried the whole "do you know who i am!? I'm jack swagger!" angle on the cops.

2/21/2013 7:51:36 AM

"Says here you're Jake Hager, sir."

2/21/2013 12:02:21 PM

apparent Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara match scrapped from Wrestlemania due to RM personal issues.

i'm ok with this.


has there been any new rumors about the Taker? Any chance we'll see a clean Cena win on Raw to get Punk out of the title picture once and for all?

2/22/2013 8:16:55 AM

There are two options as far as I can see:

Some schmoz that makes the match a triple threat, or Taker interfering to set up a match with Punk.

There's no other option for Punk that's acceptable.

2/22/2013 1:36:19 PM

Taker wrestled a tag match tonight. Look for him Monday.

2/24/2013 1:33:15 AM

awesome news. pumped for Raw

2/24/2013 7:22:08 PM

I really hope they don't treat Glenn Beck like they did Stan Kroenke. I don't give two shits about Beck, but I'd rather see a good wrestling show than a really bad comedy show.

2/25/2013 3:41:23 AM

Eric Bischoff can challenge him to a match and then win on a count out when he doesn't show.

2/25/2013 1:27:19 PM

sooooooooooo....

taker interferes with cena/punk tonight to setup taker/punk at WM?

p.s. ziggles leaves WM as world champ after pinning swagger

2/25/2013 5:10:04 PM

Triple H! Oh shit!

2/25/2013 8:12:12 PM

i'll stay away from this thread until tomorrow. can't watch live. I can DVR and finish the entire thing in like an hour and half.

2/25/2013 8:14:56 PM

I'll stop posting lol

2/25/2013 8:18:37 PM

This main event from Cena and Punk has been unreal. Top level PPV effort from both of these guys.

2/25/2013 11:08:52 PM

Damn, no Undertaker though.

2/25/2013 11:11:45 PM

fun match. I laughed twice.

1) when Cena jumped out his out of the ring "coma" and jumped back into the ring at the count of nine

2) when Cena pulled that hurricanrana the crowd was like " where.. in .. the hell.. did that come from?"

2/25/2013 11:19:28 PM

Secret Sixth Move of Doom.

2/26/2013 3:48:05 AM

^^during the Cena count out i was thinking "ok, he's taking way too long..is this where the Undertaker interrupts it??" but then the camera panned away and you just see Cena launch himself back into the ring.

But man, i'm still really impressed with that match. It's great to see two men actually grappling in the ring and reversing each other. It seems to be missing these days with the bigger superstars. Cena seemed to have a hard time locking in the STF. Just didn't seem comfortable getting his arms around Punk's head. He also almost blew a couple close 2 counts. Like he genuinely was struggling to get a shoulder up.


Ok, i'm starting to really have a quibble with Randy Orton. I really like him, like that they are trying to push a strong face build but holy fuck if his matches are not identical with every single opponent. Look, i know each superstar has their trademark moves and the crowd pays to see it but come on, mix it up a little bit. The Cesaro match tried to, with Cesaro blocking the rope hung DDT and the first RKO attempt, but you could see the patterns forming. Orton seems like a very talented wrestler, so why is he sticking with such a basic 5 move set in every single match?

2/26/2013 8:11:23 AM

so i randomly caught the last bit of RAW last night, after not having watched wrestling in decades, and have just a few questions

is the new belt always going to have the bulls on it, or is that like the nameplates and will get swapped out with whoever is holding it?

do all matches nowadays take a dozen+ finishing moves to knock someone down for 3? back in my day, a finisher meant something

[Edited on February 26, 2013 at 10:43 AM. Reason : also, where can i get a reproduction of the bret hart belt?]

2/26/2013 10:42:41 AM

1. plates on the new belt will change with each champion. Bulls strictly for The Rock.

2. last night's main event was a PPV level match with PPV level implications on the line, so you can expect multiple signature moves and multiple finishers. In short, no. Usually a finisher is still a match ender in a standard TV match. But WWE is still pushing the Cena is Superman angle thus he was able to survive several in a match of that magnitude.

3. you can buy official replicas of almost any belt of WWE.com, including the Bret Hart belt. They range from pricing from plastic imitation to full scale $300 replica.

2/26/2013 10:48:43 AM

The Cena and Punk match was was great! The best match I've seen in a while. I was hoping to see The Undertaker, but no such luck

2/26/2013 6:19:02 PM

^^ Or, if you're feeling frisky, you can get Reggie Parks (the guy who made the actual Winged Eagle belt) to make you an exact copy of the real thing for $2600.

2/26/2013 7:59:21 PM

Old School Raw tonight.

3/4/2013 10:19:58 AM

OH YOU DIDN'T KNOW??

3/4/2013 10:59:04 AM

they should stick with the throwback logo

3/4/2013 8:01:24 PM

He's baaaaaaaack!

3/4/2013 8:04:39 PM

Anyone planning on ordering WM? I want to watch it in HD but would hate to pay for the whole shabang by myself. Maybe get a group to split it up?

3/4/2013 9:37:04 PM

If you don't already have a group who are going to order it no matter what, I wouldn't drop the money by yourself for what's on the card so far this year.

Punk & Taker tearing the house down + 3.5 hours of filler, unless Ziggler cashes after an early card WHC match and then defends later on the show against Jericho.

3/5/2013 2:56:07 AM

what an overall terrible raw. I'm so sick of the second tier belts being treated like they mean nothing. At least Barrett lost to the WHC. Cesaro was building a decent rivalry with Miz and it was totally bunked to have him basically put over Ryback. and Barrett hasn't truly "defended" his IC belt since Bo Dallas, who has completely been taken off the card since a DUI arrest. way to go guy.

but i just don't get it. I know they don't want a top superstar to have a mid tier belt, but stop sending your "champions" up to get squased by babyfaces. How can someone be a champion at any level when they lose more times than win?


Last night was actually a step back for me in my wrestling appreciation. WWE creative teams seem to be completely lost as what to do and where to go. The roster is small, there are no true feuds for any of the full time stars, and the WM card is turning into a joke.

3/5/2013 8:21:15 AM

The thing is, the roster isn't small, but there are dozens of guys who don't make it on TV for months at a time.

Hell No shouldn't wrestle PTP three weeks in a row when JTG and Yoshi Tatsu are sitting in the back. I appreciate that they want Zack Ryder on TV, but the people who love him don't want him fed to a different monster every other Raw.

I understand that constant squashes and full-fledged jobbers are seen as too old school these days, but the way they're doing it now kills the momentum of everyone outside the top five.

Look at Ziggler. He almost beat Sheamus for the WHC on PPV. He was the Sole Survivor. He was in the Rumble for 50 minutes. He won and successfully defended his MITB briefcase on PPV. And now he loses to the Miz's wonky figure four? Ugh.

3/5/2013 12:13:27 PM