wrestling The Big Wrestling Thread!

[Rappy Veteran]

While flipping channels this past Monday night, former WWE performer Tammy Sytch (a.k.a. Sunny) came upon RAW and put up a status update on her Facebook page noting how chubby The Bella Twins got over the holidays.

Sytch exclaimed, "I saw back fat!"

At least in the case of Nikki Bella, who accompanied Brie for her match against Maryse on Monday's show, she wore a much-too-tight bikini top which caused her back skin to noticeably fold. It was so noticeable that it could even be seen from WWE's distant camera angle during her sister's match.

Her disparaging remarks garnered much feedback from her Facebook followers and she added maybe she wouldn't have called them chubby had they been nicer to her at WrestleMania. If you recall, both Sytch and the Bellas took part in the 25-Diva battle royal that took place at the event.

Sytch continued: "I only said they look chubby, i didnt call them obese slobs...christ dude, get over it. And maybe if they were a little nicer at Wrestlemania, I wouldnt call them chubby either...but theres no excuse for any of those girls in their early 20's to get a little chubby... wait til ... See Morethey hit 35 and everything slows the **** down..then what??? They are getting paid to look a certain way... If I was there right now, I'd weigh 118 ****ing skinny ass pounds again!!"

Considering Sytch battled her own weight in the past (as well as the criticism that some fans heaped on her as a result of her ballooned appearance), it would appear hypocritical for her to poke fun at the Bellas' bodies. However, she said it was "a medical reason," and wants to know their excuse.

"Hey, at least I had a medical reason for gaining weight...whats their's? too much partying and pastry?"

[LOC Veteran]

So will they start calling the Bella Twins "Piggy" also now? I think not. Typical WWE.

[Yorak]

I never really liked the Bella Twins. Is it just me, or does it seem like Vince McMahon truly loves them to death? Why? They are really not that good looking. Mickie James is in a whole different class. (Read as: she can actually wrestle, lolz.)

Oh and that video was bloody epic. Indeed it was!

[LOC Veteran]

Vince loves any woman who has TnA (hahaha get it!) and doesn't mind showing it off. Personally I think the storyline they are doing with Mickie James is disgusting and totally degrading to her. But, she had to have agreed to do it so, eh. Either way, I just want Trish Stratus back :(

[Yorak]

Indeed, haha. Vince is quite a tool at times. Well...Trish Stratus is awesome and all, but I would definitely prefer to see Lita back. She was my favorite diva until Mickie James came along. I think I am slightly obsessed. My goodness, starting to sound like JediAngelX or whatever his name is. :-P

[Rappy Veteran]

I think the Bella twins are alright, Kelly Kelly and Mickie are the nicest though!

[LOC Veteran]

Lita was awesome (and I lurvveeee her thongs sticking out of her pants in the back tee hee) but she was very injury prone not to mention anytime she did a move and landed on her chest or side front area she'd always hold one of her arms on her chest like she was hurt or couldn't breath. I couldn't STAND that about her lol I know very nitpicky of me eh?

I'd love to see Awesome Kong in WWE. OMG imagine that one.

[Rappy Veteran]

oh god Kong would be good actually would certainly spice up the womens division! think Bull Nakano or Bertha Faye of old

[LOC Veteran]

Kong could take on most of the WWE roster and win probably :D

[Rappy Veteran]

WWE officials are unhappy with this week's Raw rating. Though TNA provided competition, they felt Bret Hart's return to the company would have garnered at least a 4.0. The show finished with a 3.6 cable rating, the same number as last week. The show drew hours of 3.51 and 3.73 with the first hour scoring 5,441,000 viewers and hour two pulling in 5,773,000. Raw averaged 5,600,000 for the broadcast.

[timster]

WWE officials are unhappy with this week's Raw rating. Though TNA provided competition, they felt Bret Hart's return to the company would have garnered at least a 4.0. The show finished with a 3.6 cable rating, the same number as last week. The show drew hours of 3.51 and 3.73 with the first hour scoring 5,441,000 viewers and hour two pulling in 5,773,000. Raw averaged 5,600,000 for the broadcast.

of course this number only accounts for the viewers in the United States

[LOC Veteran]

of course this number only accounts for the viewers in the United States

I think that's the only number the WWE cares about really. I never see them say how the ratings are for other countries on other channels, except once in awhile like Sky or something like that.

I really thought Bret coming back would have gotten a higher rating. But, maybe TNA did take some audience away, or something else Monday night. Either way, the storylines have to be built up before ratings will go up. Vince knows this especially well.

[MightyJordan]

I'm mainly a TNA fan nowadays, but I was expecting the Hogan episode to be a total flop, but it's been a complete shock to me; it got TNA's highest ever viewing figures in America: 2.2 million, and most of the American critics are saying TNA had the better show on the night!

Critics give first blood to TNA

TNA have won the first battle of the new wrestling war, according to America's critics.

Their flagship programme Impact went head to head with WWE Raw last night in the United States, pitting Hulk Hogan's debut against the return of Bret Hart. And those reviewing the shows mostly agreed that while both had good and bad points, TNA seemed fresher with more surprises.

Impact saw Jeff Hardy, Ric Flair, Sean Waltman, Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, Val Venis, The Nasty Boys, Orlando Jordan and Shannon Moore join TNA — and an outstanding Kurt Angle v AJ Styles main event.

Raw featured the long-awaited confrontations between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and The Hitman and Vince McMahon, as well as Michaels and Triple H retaining their tag titles against Chris Jericho and Big Show.

Mike Shannon of PWMania wrote: "Well, in the first shot of TNA v WWE, the winner was DEFINITELY Total Nonstop Action wrestling. Not only was their show more entertaining but the wrestling blew the WWE's right out of the water. WWE's handling of Hart's return was extremely disappointing, while TNA made sure to give themselves a much-needed facelift and showcase their stars. I really think this will get the company some new viewers and might show Vince that wrestling geared towards adults actually works."

Writing for the Wrestling Observer website, Todd Martin said: "TNA is a promotion with some serious and obvious flaws, but watching Impact and Raw tonight, it felt like TNA is the hot promotion and WWE is the stale one. WWE is so fixed to its narrow formula vision of sports entertainment that it feels like you know everything that's coming. The music openings for all WWE shows are the same. The fireworks are the same. The backstage segments are the same. The matches are the same. The comedy is the same. There isn't the feel of unpredictability. Everything feels sanitised and aimed at a young and unsophisticated audience.

If TNA tonight showed WWE that it needs to be more unpredictable and varied, watching WWE and TNA also sends the message that TNA needs to be much clearer with its storylines. WWE is always very careful to explain what's going on — and that's a good thing. You get video packages explaining the angles and they try to tie everything together. Impact, by contrast, was full of inside references and rapid-fire references to all sorts of things happening all at the same time. TNA needs to make sure their product is available to more than just the most hardcore wrestling fans. I'm not sure that tonight's show was, even if I found it more enjoyable than Raw."

However, the reviewers at Hit The Ropes Radio did rate Raw as better, saying: "WWE proved tonight that they didn't need shock value and returns to get momentum over TNA." Their writer Shane Howard added: "As the supposed alternative, I thought TNA would be a bit different from the WWE with the three hours. Unfortunately, there was still a whole lot of talking and backstage segments. Granted, there were some bright spots. I enjoyed the Knockouts tag team championship match, the Pope/Wolfe encounter and the main event. My question is: Can you live on only counting on Styles, Angle, Wolfe, Kong and Hamada to give great matches? For fans who haven't kept up with TNA, this might have been a great night. For those who actually watch the product, I was expecting more."

I did watch the Bret Hart videos on WWE.com, and I agree with Mike Shannon that Hart's return wasn't handled well. Especially with Vince just low blowing him. If it does however lead to Vince vs. Bret at WrestleMania, it might be justified in the end.

[Rappy Veteran]

I think that's the only number the WWE cares about really. I never see them say how the ratings are for other countries on other channels, except once in awhile like Sky or something like that.

I really thought Bret coming back would have gotten a higher rating. But, maybe TNA did take some audience away, or something else Monday night. Either way, the storylines have to be built up before ratings will go up. Vince knows this especially well.

There was some Fiesta Bowl on Monday I believe which did well like 13m in the ratings (I was going to say Heroes but yeah 4.9m there)

UK is thought of very highly by WWE so I wouldn't be surprised if they count because we dont get TNA until Thursday or something like that so WWE was the only live show!

[MightyJordan]

UK is thought of very highly by WWE so I wouldn't be surprised if they count because we dont get TNA until Thursday or something like that so WWE was the only live show!

Hopefully, that might change. If TNA keeps getting bigger and bigger, hopefully Sky Sports might take them off Bravo then show it live.

[LOC Veteran]

There was some Fiesta Bowl on Monday I believe which did well like 13m in the ratings (I was going to say Heroes but yeah 4.9m there)

UK is thought of very highly by WWE so I wouldn't be surprised if they count because we dont get TNA until Thursday or something like that so WWE was the only live show!

Yeah tis the Bowl Game season here in the US, bleh.

And yeah that's why I mentioned Sky :D

[Rappy Veteran]

Hopefully, that might change. If TNA keeps getting bigger and bigger, hopefully Sky Sports might take them off Bravo then show it live.

Sky Sports is purely exclusive to WWE and is for another 6 more years (new contract signed end of 2009) so dont forsee that, ESPN has close ties with Spike with showing UFC so expect ESPN to jump on TNA PPV's/Impacts if TNA gets more popular

[Loso]

Source: PWTorch Newsletter

- The latest issue of the Pro Wrestling Torch speculates that Booker T could return to World Wrestling Entertainment as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble.

The multi-time champion has had discussions with WWE officials in recent weeks regarding a possible return to the company.

[Rappy Veteran]

That would be interesting, I don't really want to see Booker back in WWE though :rofl:

[Victor Rambo]

I really want to see booker t and goldust together again. :p

[Rappy Veteran]

It would appear that Chris Jericho accidentally posted two messages on his Twitter account which were not meant to be read by the general public as the following tweets were deleted shortly after its initial posting:

"Well u can invite her too! Gotta take care of my Aussie girls (happy face emoticon) U ever come to the US?"

"Yes I have changed my wig a few times over the years."

Twitter has a feature which allows users to private message one another.

For those wondering, it is believed that Jericho is still tied to his wife of ten years, Jessica, as he noted on his Twitter account several weeks ago during an an overseas tour that he missed her.

:|

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Edge's WWE return: Received a nice text from Edge during the holidays from his mountain retreat in the Carolinas and it is my understanding that Edge is still questionable as it relates to him being physically ready to compete at WM26. I do understand that Edge is healing well from Achilles tendon surgery but it has always been a photo finish as to whether or not Edge will be able to wrestle at the end of March. I hope so and would hope that it would be Edge vs. Jericho. I'm certainly not counting Edge out of WM26 but Mother Nature has more to say about this matter than any one else. Edge returning prematurely and not being 100% would make no sense."

Regarding Johnson, Ross said he was under the impression that The Rock was going to guest-host an episode of Raw in January, but scheduling conflicts "eliminated that opportunity." Johnson's new "Toothfairy" movie comes out this month, which would have been the promotional tie-in for Johnson to guest-host. Commercials for Johnson's "Tooth Fairy" movie have been seen during all WWE shows over the past two weeks. Johnson said two months ago that he was working on a TV project with WWE beyond just guest hosting RAW for 1 week. Johnson has yet to provide an update on the status of the project.

As for Steve Austin, JR also said he "assumes" Steve Austin will guest host RAW, possibly in March to help promote Austin's new straight-to-DVD film "Damage" (and of course, WrestleMania).

Austin to host in March :D

[Victor Rambo]

^awesome news

I have already watched Damage. :p

Either way, I just want Trish Stratus back :(

Maryse is hotter than trish imo :p

[LOC Veteran]

She might be hotter, but she can't wrestle anywhere near as good as Trish.

[Rappy Veteran]

TNA ran ads during Monday's RAW in some markets. The ads opened with "What are you doing? You're missing Hulk Hogan. Wrestling is back on Monday night, watch now, live on Spike."

:rofl:

[LOC Veteran]

Yeah those ads really helped didn't they!