Royal Rumble 2014 Discussion

[Arch Stanton]

Best Bray Wyatt match yet last night, but it almost doesn't count when you're wrestling Bryan. Virtually everyone has their best match with him. He's pretty much my favourite character to come along in years though, looking forward to him working with Cena.

[King Pitcos]

I would have thought Daniel Bryan "Yes!" foam fingers would sell like hot cakes. First finger extended, with "yes" on them and selling them two at a time for fans to wear when they join in the chant.

It probably did sell alright, but I don't really remember seeing them much and it's been discontinued. Same for Cena's "gap year diving photo pose" foam hand, though.

 

I wasn't aware they actually brought any out. I've thought it was a good idea for ages, but I haven't seen any at all.

Aye, they did.

 

 

 

I don't think they miss a trick when the chance comes to get a foam finger out. Even Ryder and Fandango have had them. They'd be smart to rerelease the Bryan ones now, since the yes craze is catching on more and more.

[SpursRiot2012]

Brays the same age as me? I suddenly feel very depressed.

[seph]

Firstly, More fandumb, this time from the Beeb.

 

Orton will probably not make it to Mania with the belts if last night means anything. Dave got actual 'we hate you' heat instead of the 'just fuck off' heat that Rey got, and as loath as I am to suggest it I believe Mania will be Batista/Cena/Orton - The Wyatts are more of a complication in terms of the bigger title picture and it's way too soon to shift Cena onto them without stiffing Bryan even further.

[PunkStep]

Brays the same age as me? I suddenly feel very depressed.

That could've been you jobber, if you wasn't hoping to be the second coming of Scott Hall

[LaGoosh]

Brays the same age as me? I suddenly feel very depressed.

 

I know, same here. It's awful. All 3 members of The Shield are 26-27 too.

[twelve_grand]

Did anyone see Alexander Rusev potato Swagger's eye something rotten with his first punch? I'm not sure if Swagger then smacked him straight back but Rusev was selling his eye rather better than I'd expect.

 

All in all I feel a bit stupid breaking and spending money on the sky ppv but the first two matches/beatdowns were really fun. Can't understand criticism of the crowd - Orton is dead in the water and they got fully behind Reigns at the end. The crowds that attend PPVs and TV love Bryan and want him to see him in main events. That's it and if WWE want to ignore it then I for one look forward to seeing Lesner/Goldberg being recreated in New Orleans when Orton and Batista go out there. Let's hope they book Bryan vs HHH for the win and that takes the sting out of an awkward scene just as the network gets started. But as someone posted in an excellent post earlier HHH has an emotionally damaged relationship with WWE's fan base and critics - who else drags up a Meltzer "B+" 15 years later for a promo - Foley was the sane socially well adjusted one in that retirement match in 2000.

[Chris B]

Pitco, that's the kind of thing. All you need is to give out a bunch for free to the first few rows on a big show, and I'd have thought you'd sell loads.

 

 

I do think WWE have brought this all on themselves. If you look back at Summerslam, the ending to that left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths - which may have actually affected what happened when Cena left. But Bryan gets the belt, going cleanly over Cena, then is screwed over by HHH/Orton. The obvious thing that seems to set up is Bryan getting his revenge and the belt back - but they kept screwing him over on every attempt at that he had.

 

The one carrot left was that this was all playing a long game, with Bryan getting the Rumble and Mania push. I think that's something that people had stopped thinking about until they blew off the Wyatt feud, obviously a lot sooner than originally expected, and give Bryan a strong face push again - right in time for him to get the Rumble push (and while I think Batista was the major factor in that big rating last week, I think the fact that it came straight after that big Bryan angle was in the mix as well). Fine, some people added two and two together and got five, but the idea of it obviously generated a lot of excitement.

 

I don't think that the fans are being as unreasonable as they're being made out to be in places. They didn't seem unfairly disappointed when Bryan lost to Bray (and Bray got pops later). I don't think that loss pissed them off. I think it was that was clearly a blow-off to the feud, and this is where people wanted Bryan to go next.

 

Personally, I think they could do a lot worse than to roll with it and do what they can to give people what they want here. If they think Batista is the money maker (and I think he can be, but I think it's right place/right time), then a three way dance seems the way to go. He's probably going to be booed out of the building for the next month or so, so why not go with it?

 

Have Bryan make the point that Mania is going to be HHH's best mate vs HHH's other best mate (since they've already aligned HHH and Batista), and accuse HHH of keeping him out of the Rumble (as he's just done in social media). One way or the other, have HHH get pissed off enough to agree to giving Bryan a chance at the main event, but that the winner of the elimination chamber gets added - throw in the Wyatts, Roman Reigns and Cena, so the odds are really stacked against Bryan (as the Wyatts hate him, Cena still wants the shot plus maybe some revenge for last Summer and Reigns is part of the Shield, so works for them). Meanwhile, run Batista vs, say, Sheamus and Orton against...well, let's say Kofi to keep them busy for the PPV. Cena and the Wyatts take each other out, and you get a nice, lengthy end of the match between Reigns and Bryan, with Bryan getting through by the skin of his teeth.

[UK Kat Von D]

Are you being serious? You cant have actually missed the point that much.

 

People will be embarrassed to wear tshirts with flying goats on and hats with beards. People are not embarrassed to wear wrestling shirts.

 

This isnt me saying they should push him, its me saying if they want people to buy merch then they should make merch which isnt dogshit. Then people will buy it.

Have you really convinced yourself that wrestling fans will only buy t-shirts that are super cool? Because that nonsense excuse for why Bryan's t-shirts don't sell on the megastar level was roundly mocked yesterday after Alvarez tried it. And it's easily beaten by a snapshot of one of the best-selling wrestling shirts of the last decade:

 

 

It's hardly convincing myself to look at most of WWE's merch and think "who the fuck would wear that?" They don't have to be super cool, just not a child's tshirt in an adult size. The DX tshirt doesn't really prove anything, they were an extremely over act who mainly just fucked about all the time and cracked jokes. Pretty much a comedy act, so they have a funny tshirt. That's fine with me, it keeps with their character. I wouldn't buy it, I probably would buy a retro one.

 

I own a few wrestling tops, including Squared Circle's Razor Ramon one. Razor isn't exactly one of my favourite wrestlers, but I bought the top because I thought it was cool. If WWE had more tops I thought looked okay, I would put my hand in my pocket for one. I can't really be the only person in the world who decides what clothes I buy based on what I think looks alright.

[patiirc]

Bray Wyatt really reminds me of the Earthquake. there is something about the facial similarities and, the kick arse get on with it aura about him. Like Bray alot.

 

I liked most of the Rumble PPV to be fair, was certainly better than some last years was dire for exampl. The Rumble itself was actually quality until the end where it went sloppy. Punk did a Valentine/Dibiase stint to make sure newbies had some one to bounce off and I thought Rollins was probs better than Reigns. Number 2 is a bigger responsibility than getting the record, or is from the way I see it because it shows the bookers trust you in the ring, that has to count for a lot doesnt it? The record gets plaudits, but surely being asked to anchor a rumble is also an honour

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

On the subject of merch, last time I was at a show I didn't buy any, to back up Kat's point, I had a look at the stand and had the cash, but none of the designs appealed to me. I saw a couple of people in a Shield "Hounds of Justice" shirt and thought that looked badass, but WWE weren't selling those at this show. The shirt I was closest to buying was the "Respect the Beard" one, and I liked the design. The problem is, I can't grow a beard, and thought it would be a bit daft to wear a pro-beard shirt with my bit of stubble. They need to release a new shirt that focuses on Bryan, not just his beard. He's not a one-dimensional performer, but his merch makes him out to be just a big "YES-ing" beard.

[Arch Stanton]

He's not a one-dimensional performer, but his merch makes him out to be just a big "YES-ing" beard.

What else do you put on his merch then? A picture of a wrestling ring? Done that. A reference to his submission move? Done that too.

[d-d-d-dAz]

The worry must be that Batista becomes a b

[ColinBollocks]

Having found out that Extreme Rules is in Seattle Washington, you would imagine all roads are leading to an eventual Bryan/Batista match. If so, last night was pretty well played.

[King Pitcos]

It's hardly convincing myself to look at most of WWE's merch and think "who the fuck would wear that?" They don't have to be super cool, just not a child's tshirt in an adult size.

Daniel Bryan's got at least one "LOL beard" t-shirt that is far more in keeping with pop culture than most shirts WWE puts out. The Internet is full of this sort of shit:

 

 

So yeah, the notion that his merchandise sells less than it should because it's shit-looking is a poor excuse considering that the vast majority of Stone Cold, The Rock, DX, John Cena and CM Punk's t-shirts and gear have been pretty appalling, too. If Bryan's as over as Stone Cold was in '98, he should be able to flog worse than this:

 

 

Wrestling does not have a history where every t-shirt was the ultimate in cool except for Daniel Bryan's. It has a history of about 99% of the shirts being terrible -- but plenty of them still sold, as long as you've got the right performer's name on them. And Bryan's obviously do sell decently, but not to the "he is the new Stone Cold, he should be pushed to the moon at all costs" degree. He'd be better off appealing to the crowd who don't look down their nose at a crap wrestling shirt, because the crowd that does aren't showing Vince any dollar signs in him.