Paid Members Supremo Posted February 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 15, 2022 Was it a usual dull, inconsequential episode of Raw, barely worth having on as background viewing, where the only thing of note was Brock Lesnar rocking the most amazing combination of cowboy hat and knitted cardigan? Yes. Well, at least until the show ended and I read this. Suddenly, Kevin Owens slagging off Texas with a massive, shit-eating grin had a whole new, mind-blowing significance. Holy shit. No wonder Owens signed a new deal. Who the fuck wouldn’t if they were given the chance to wrestle Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Surely it'll be an Undertaker/Cena type fair? Austin will likely do about as much action as any number of beer soaked stunner segments he's been doing since 2003, only within the sanctions of a billed match. Not to be a party pooper but if that were the case for me it may as well not be happening. It is- however - a fantastic idea to shift a couple of thousand cheap seats to the local markets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted February 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 15, 2022 One of two things is going to happen. Either the rumour merchants have got ahold early of fact they’re asking - they’re asking, and he’ll say no, like always. Or like you say, it will be akin to Rock vs Erick Rowan except with actual announcement and hype, so people will actually be able to answer “Who was Stone Colds last opponent?” correctly. WWE really have fucked the art of the big last match. Do you think anyone but real losers like me can rattle off that Brets last match after his ill-fated return was a tag with Cena against Del Rio and Ricardo on Raw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted February 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) Reports coming out that Steve had a ring built at his home last Summer. Seems it might finally be happening. I wonder if Steve watched enough of Sting in AEW to realise he can have a short, safe match where he takes little to no damage and still deliver a satisfying performance. Especially with Owens, who’s been willing to kill himself for far less. You couldn’t pick a better opponent to do all the work. Super bitter-sweet that he’s coming back now though, in the fuck-all-matters, crowd-pop.mp3 era. Perhaps that’s the very reason he’s doing it, since there’s never been less pressure, but man. To think what could’ve been with CM Punk ten years ago! However, I think we can all agree that whatever he does, the real money is in the inevitable podcast where he watches it back and marks out over everything. “WHAM! BIG COMEBACK! GREAT SELL! GREAT SELL!” But yeah. This is art. To think how many years he spent with Heyman as his mouth piece, wearing the same Suplex City T-shirt, when he had this in this act in his back pocket the whole time. He’s never been better. Edited February 15, 2022 by Supremo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted February 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 15, 2022 5 minutes ago, air_raid said: One of two things is going to happen. Either the rumour merchants have got ahold early of fact they’re asking - they’re asking, and he’ll say no, like always. Or like you say, it will be akin to Rock vs Erick Rowan except with actual announcement and hype, so people will actually be able to answer “Who was Stone Colds last opponent?” correctly. WWE really have fucked the art of the big last match. Do you think anyone but real losers like me can rattle off that Brets last match after his ill-fated return was a tag with Cena against Del Rio and Ricardo on Raw? In fairness, how many wrestlers in history have actually had that "big last match"? It's very rare, because retirements rarely stick, and careers tend to peter out rather than have an emphatic big goodbye and ride off into the sunset. I can't really remember anyone other than Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair getting the big hyped up "last match" treatment, and actually, even though Flair fucked it by going back to wrestling, the fact that his actual last match ended up being with Sting probably worked out better anyway. Michaels cocked it up by taking the Saudi money. Hogan's last match was a house show tag in Manchester, Piper's was a tag match for the Insane Clown Posse (weirdly, also Foley's last non-Royal Rumble match), Bruno was back knocking about doing house show tags for years after he "retired", Warrior's last match was with Orlando Jordan, Savage's was a TNA tag match he barely remembered to show up for, Triple H's was a house show tag match, and so on. Austin's one of the few to have a genuinely brilliant, great match as his last on record, even if he did dick about doing all kinds of nonsense after that. In terms of an actual match, they've got Owens doing Andy Kaufman Memphis promos about Texas out of nowhere, so they've clearly decided that he's the fall guy to get battered about by a local hero at Wrestlemania. In happier times, I doubt they'd even put something together to promote that, just have him do a promo on the night and then get beaten up by a babyface to get a big pop. But given that ticket sales seem to be slow and they've got two nights to fill, if the plan was already for Steve Austin to give him a Stunner to send the crowd home happy, may as well make it a "match" so they can advertise it ahead of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Yeah if Bret can have a few safe 'smoke-and-mirrors' matches where he does a few safe spots and his opponent bumps and sells like crazy for him then so can Austin. As has been said, Owens will fling himself around for him and you have the expect the verbal back and forth in the build between the two could be very good also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Nick James Posted February 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 15, 2022 So Sami and Owens re-signed with the company, potentially on better terms and are both rumoured to have big WrestleMania matches, Owens with Austin and Sami with Johnny Knoxville? No wonder they put pen to paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted February 15, 2022 Awards Moderator Share Posted February 15, 2022 Wasn’t Austin’s last match against Coach at Bad Blood 2005 or some Raw b-show like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 7 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Wasn’t Austin’s last match against Coach at Bad Blood 2005 or some Raw b-show like that? That match was initially announced for (I think) Taboo Tuesday that year, but Austin wound up withdrawing from the match for whatever reason, and Batista took his place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted February 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 15, 2022 36 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Wasn’t Austin’s last match against Coach at Bad Blood 2005 or some Raw b-show like that? See above, as it stands Austin had the best “last match” of all time, flat on his back against his greatest rival, still near the top of the card, at a WrestleMania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69MeDon Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 What in the world are WWE going to do after this, when they can no longer rely on bringing in Attitude era/Ruthless Aggression era stars to sell tickets for Mania? Don't get me wrong, I'd be interested in seeing Steve Austin one more time, but 37 year old Kevin Owens vs 53 year old Steve Austin is hardly building future stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 WWE's making record profits and been 'needing to build future stars' for 20 years. I dont think they give a fuck at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 27 minutes ago, 69MeDon said: What in the world are WWE going to do after this, when they can no longer rely on bringing in Attitude era/Ruthless Aggression era stars to sell tickets for Mania? You mean you’re not looking forward to Wrestlemania- Kingston v Ziggler: Sixty-Twice In A Lifetime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted February 15, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 15, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 2 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said: According to Meltzer last week, they’d sold a little over 50k for each night and had around 5k for each night remaining, so it appear they’re not setting for full capacity* like they did last time. Even though it’s only been 6 years since they were last there Getting 55(ish)K to buy two nights worth of tickets is probably more achievable than convincing 100k to do the same *or whatever counts as full capacity when you factor in the entrance, aisleway, ring etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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