General : WWE (no spoilers for 24 hours)

[adzii_nufc]

Told you so

Now begins the undisputed champion angle... all over again

[adzii_nufc]

Ah by the way.. John Cena Heel turn incoming It's gonna be the biggest change in ages! I think it will go over stupidly well with the fans.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Good RAW but what a joke they couldn't even let Rey have the title one night before Fruity Pebbles wins the (what seemed like a cheap replica) belt back for the billionth time.

Give someone a long run with a major belt for christ sake.

I think they did it right considering it's a fake title.
Set it up perfectly for the ending, you couldn't really have that ending with anyone other than Cena.

I loved JR during the match when Rey had him in the STFU and Cena started getting up he went "he's like superman" saying what we're all thinking.

As soon as cult of personality hit I knew we'd be seeing CM Punk (it was his entrance music when he wrestled on the indie circuit), that end was awesome.

JR's return, Zack Ryder on Raw (him shouting "I'm on Raw" after the match was awesome), Jim Morrisson back, and CM Punk? More booking like that please!

That JR's back makes me think we're definitely going in the right direciton, he's been a pretty vocal critic of the WWE recently with how stale it's got, so if he's back he must know it's getting a lot better.

[Russ]

WWE simply won't turn Cena heel while he's making millions for the company. In any other era he would have turned years ago, his situation is just like "Rocky Maivia" and HBK's first WWE title run. White meat babyfaces get turned against very quickly and it's only the Cena merchandise machine that keeps him face.

I see Punk turning full face soon enough but he'll be a tweener for a while first.

[TheDon]

That's my thinking too, but they're making it seem like he's going that way.

Honestly if they keep on the old path they won't have a choice. He's already booed by the majority of people that aren't female or under 14, it can't be too much longer before the others see through him.

Either a heel turn or a drastic reinvention is needed with him.

[Russ]

I get the feeling they are doing something with his move-set - if you notice during the Punk and Rey matches both men broke up his shoulder-block 'hulking up". That's one of the biggest gripes about him - his predictability towards the end of matches.

[wwe]

Im so glad cmpunk is back allready. But i didn't think it be so soon. Car't belive they did that to poor rey on raw its kind of like no 1 really alound to win it but cena. I reckon they will do it cmpunk vs cena with both belts on the line at the next ppv. When cena 1st came in to wwe he got well booed i remmber people chearing for brain kendrick when he was taking the mick out of him on sd. He making vince to much money i car't see them ever chaging him again

He's the merchandising cow that has changed the entire company and it looks like the new experiment of online media with Ryder has paid off for them as well. He's got two highly popular shirts for someone who has only participated in two ten second squashes on RAW.

For the all stick the 'PG' era gets (from those who just moan and ECW fans presumably), it still certainly has its fair share of entertainment and if it means the people involved are in better health by less risque spots (though having seen MITB...) and not having to blade, then long may it continue.

[Russ]

The "Attitude" era produced some of the greatest moments in WWE history.

I think I just prefer how it is now, its just more 'organised'? Poor wording. Anyway, the pace has been really good recently, hope it continues.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

I think I just prefer how it is now

Prior to the CM Punk storyline WWE has been stale for years.

The PG era has slowly strangled it, constantly declining viewing figures and PPV buys.

The Attitude era was amazing, the height of WWE, I really don't see anything WWE has done in the past few years that comes close to even the worst angles in the Attitude era.

There's a reason why the "lets go cena"/"cena sucks" chants have been changing in volume month by month, with more and more people leaving the first camp for the second. At this point he has only the women and kids left supporting him whilst the rest of the audience is completely turned off by his constant superman impressions and ****** "Cena must come out on top" booking.

(And don't get me started on smackdown where the super face Randy Orton just can't lose clean despite acting almost entirely like a heel, just goes to show face/heel is based on if you're winning or not rather than any underlying gimmick because there's no way in hell you can sell me Orton's gimmick as a face.)

[adzii_nufc]

One thing is certain, There is no way The Rock will be leaving WrestleMania as a winner.

Its the same thing Hogan did for him all those years ago.

So I'd expect Cena to be booked in 8 years time against a new face of WWE and lose cleanly.

Funny thing is even with the boo's Cena gets I think he is the biggest Face of the WWE we have ever seen.

Not solely based on popularity because then it would be The Hulkster or The Rock but based on Popularity and Money generated. People make claims about Cena fans being women and children which in ways is true but at the same time there are countless number of over 18 males who would cheer him. People fail to realise that at least 60% of WWE's fanbase are Women and Children. Saying that I feel WWE is now going to offer more to the Adult fanbase again as I believe the PG era is coming to end with the slow retirement process of the chairman Mcmahon and the ushering in of Paul Levsque (HHH) Whether he continues with his stage name remains to be seen.

The hard part about any change is to keep it balanced, if they rush into blood splattering everywhere you will find that parents do not want their child being affiliated with that sort of thing but at the same time if they cater too much for the younger generation they will find adults do not get any entertainment out of it. It has to be entertaining for both parties and at the same time.

I found they achieved this perfectly before the PG rating by having Raw Live but the following day showing a PG edited version. I think they could take advantage of this again and should take advantage of the fact they have two brands.

Show Raw with its old American rating on the Monday Live.
Show a repeat the following morning that is edited (Used to be on SKY 1 uk)

Show Smackdown as normal (PG Unedited)

[wwe]

It was great to see jim ross back on raw is he back for good?

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc

I found they achieved this perfectly before the PG rating by having Raw Live but the following day showing a PG edited version. I think they could take advantage of this again and should take advantage of the fact they have two brands.

Show Raw with its old American rating on the Monday Live.
Show a repeat the following morning that is edited (Used to be on SKY 1 uk)

What would benefit from not having the PG rating? The moves haven't really changed, the loss of blading is better for their health leaving only the mind numbingly tedious insults they now have to use because they're not allowed to swear.

Contradicting myself, I find it stupid it even has a PG rating, the PPV's are of the same content and are released on DVD with a 15 rating (over here). Plus RAW's live broadcast is at 2am over here and 8pm over here so why the concern about the little jimmys anyway, if they're that young to be affected by the content they should be asleep. Plus as you say, they can show a watered down version the morning after for kids to watch, at a more respectable time as well.

Originally Posted by wwe

It was great to see jim ross back on raw is he back for good?

Based on his Wikipedia article, he's back for good.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by TheDon

Prior to the CM Punk storyline WWE has been stale for years.

The PG era has slowly strangled it, constantly declining viewing figures and PPV buys.

The Attitude era was amazing, the height of WWE, I really don't see anything WWE has done in the past few years that comes close to even the worst angles in the Attitude era.

There's a reason why the "lets go cena"/"cena sucks" chants have been changing in volume month by month, with more and more people leaving the first camp for the second. At this point he has only the women and kids left supporting him whilst the rest of the audience is completely turned off by his constant superman impressions and ****** "Cena must come out on top" booking.

(And don't get me started on smackdown where the super face Randy Orton just can't lose clean despite acting almost entirely like a heel, just goes to show face/heel is based on if you're winning or not rather than any underlying gimmick because there's no way in hell you can sell me Orton's gimmick as a face.)

I admit to being a huge mark for the attitude era. Stone Cold, DX, all the different stables, the monday night wars, in my opinion it was the greatest 4 or 5-odd year period in the history of the business. Punk becoming almost SCSA-like in his anti-hero status, Orton still doing everything a heel would despite being a massive over face, white-meat faces (ie Cena) getting booed out of the building, it all looks like becoming more and more like those days again and you won't hear me complaining - as long as they do it right.

The original era was awesome because it was so new, so fresh, nobody had seen anything like DX before, nobody had ever assaulted Vinnce never mind give him a stunner. One thing which made it work was the boys had little or no restrictions in what they could do - it was adult orientated. They did stuff purely because they could. I remember one Raw where Ken Shamrock put HBK in an ankle-lock and Shawn was writhing about in agony but had a lolly-pop in his mouth at the time. Stuff like that was pure gold.

If we entered a similar era now unless they were allowed to go over their PG rating it'll look like they're doing stuff but 'within the rules' which kills off any credability. You could watch Raw in 1998 and think to yourself "I know this is all scripted but I'm sure THAT wasn't supposed to happen". Doing it all 'by the book' now would just look awful.

They had better push Punk to the moon given his current popularity at the moment otherwise they'll miss a huge opportunity. Let's hope HHH will try to 'control' Punk in the way Vince did with Austin.