Undertaker and Brock Lesnar:

On Undertaker being booed:

"Believe me, they knew what they were doing. Maybe they didn't think it would be that strong because The Undertaker is a legend. ... It's not like they did something and got something they didn't expect. Like when they put the women in the last match. That Undertaker/Brock thing went exactly as they expected."

On who the crowd is going to cheer in Brooklyn:

"I'm thinking it'll be Undertaker. Uhm, I don't know. I mean Lesnar is the hottest guy in the promotion. ... New York audiences aren't easy to predict."

Meltzer expects the majority of the crowd to be from the New York area and no more than a couple thousand fans being from out of town.

"I think the main event feels very very strong."

Meltzer thinks you have to do a clean finish in the Brock/Undertaker match.

Bryan Alvarez says he believes the current plan for the storyline is that Brock will beat him again here and that Undertaker will get one last chance to finally beat him at Wrestlemania 32 and he'll finally get his win there. "It doesn't make sense for Brock to lose at Summerslam. It kills this story dead."

"I can't see anyone else for Lesnar! (for Wrestlemania 32) ... I don't think they'll do Cena again. Lesnar and Orton isn't strong enough for Mania. ... They could do Lesnar and Reigns."

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Rollins and Cena:

Meltzer said he sure didn't get the impression that Rollins was gonna win, but "that could be a swerve."

Bryan Alvarez thinks "either they do a disputed finish... OR Sheamus leaves as champion." in regards to the Cena/Rollins match.

Meltzer - "If that's gonna happen, Randy Orton will probably beat Sheamus."

Alvarez: "I don't see them wasting the 16th win with one week of build for that fact. I don't see Seth getting a statue."

Meltzer thinks Sheamus leaving with the belt would "be a mistake" and a "step back" from Rollins.

"It makes absolutely no sense for Seth Rollins to have the US Title"

Bryan Alvarez thinks they'll do disputed finishes with Cena/Rollins in a program building to Hell in a Cell.

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Roman Reigns: (MUST READ!)

Meltzer - "I think Reigns is going to be groomed for the WWE title. It may not go that way at the end, but I think they're going to start that push after November or December figuring they don't have Daniel Bryan to screw it up. With no real sentimental or or other favorite... it'll still be a tough thing. I don't know if he's going to win (The Royal Rumble), even if they think he's going to win."

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WWE/ESPN:

It sets a precedent. Going forward you'd think at least the Big 3 will be treated like legitimate events.

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Cesaro

The Cesaro Section going on the road proves that Cesaro is organically gaining a following and "If I'm a promoter, that's one of the things I'd look at. I'd think he's in line for a big push."

Bryan Alvarez: "It worked out GREAT for Zack Ryder!"

Meltzer: "He's very different from Zack Ryder. They did blow it with Zack Ryder. Zack Ryder had a limited ceiling. He was never gonna be a top guy in the promotion. Cesaro could easily be in the top four, five, six and in the top two when needed. He could easily be what they see Randy Orton as. ... They may be doing it. We'll see."


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Womens angle

All the girls come to ring side so if the crowd gets down, they can pound on the mat.

The announcers lied about Becky Lynch being the youngest woman's wrestling in Japanese history. Almost every woman in All Japan history got in younger. They tried to get the girls at 15 or 16 years old so they could train and start working as teenagers because they planned obsolescence for their women as they age.

"She may have been the youngest foreigner."

Meltzer says Becky Lynch has the most potential because of her charisma. Sasha Banks is the best worker but not good enough to make it work with Nikki Bella. Both men praised Becky for her work with Tamina.

The Sasha/Nikki match "died" and didn't make any sense to give away champion vs champion on Raw with no build. If men had done the match "this match would suck."

Meltzer predicted (a month ago) that the angle wouldn't get over because none o

There backstage promo was "contrived" and "horrible"

"As good as Sasha Banks is, she can't have those classic matches with Nikki Bella."

Meltzer buries the existing divas, saying they're dragging down the new girls. Wonders why Natalya isn't there considering she's the best current diva.

"I'm figuring the Charlotte team should win."

Meltzer expects either Charlotte or Sasha will beat Nikki and will be in line for the September PPV title shot.

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Miscellaneous:

Alvarez thinks Rusev and Lana are definitely getting back together. Vince has already given up on the big Lana push (Probably because she got engaged to Rusev, just my guess.)

Both men feel sorry for "The cosmic king" Wade Barrett.

Meltzer expects there to be a pre-show match that wasn't announced yet.

Meltzer says Kevin Dunn made the call to focus on the Kevin Owens sign on Raw making fun of his weight. Kevin Dunn HATES Kevin Owens and is his main detractor backstage.

Meltzer expects The New Day to win the tag title match.

Meltzer jokes about Miz going over in the IC triple threat. "they may!" (and he was serious.)

Royal Rumble is going head to head with the NFL. No one knows why.

Meltzer thinks Jarrett will try to pick up WrestleKingdom for PPV again and if he doesn't, ROH will try. It was profitable and did better than the ROH PPVs.

Mike Tenay's contract is coming up soon and Dave thinks he could call the NJPW show for Global Force if indeed a deal comes through. He expects Tenay to leave TNA for Global Force.

"Yeah Ian we'll totally like those threads!"

no one replies

"Bryan Alvarez says he believes the current plan for the storyline is that Brock will beat him again here and that Undertaker will get one last chance to finally beat him at Wrestlemania 32 and he'll finally get his win there. "It doesn't make sense for Brock to lose at Summerslam. It kills this story dead."

I agree with this tbh. It kinda' makes sense to prolong this. I don't see them trying to have Lesnar and Reigns face again after this year's Mania, Lesnar vs. Taker at Mania would fit. If they are going to push Reigns again, I doubt it'd be against Lesnar.

And the Divas thing is honestly no different from what they've done for years and they just keep revolving the matches, with zero character development or actual promo time beyond lame ass 30 second comments during entrances/terrible brief encounters backstage. The actual only difference is, they are getting better in ring time (which is obviously good) and are getting two matches a card.

I don't see there being a clear, definitive winner for Cena vs. Rollins. Like they said, no way Cena is getting a 16th World Title with a rubbish ass build. They'd glorify this to no end beforehand if that was the case and probably present it as Cena's 'last shot' or something, then overcomes the odds for the billionth time. Probably a DQ of sorts happens and then the match at HiaC, like they said...but I still see Rollins then winning that too, but maybe via some sort of screwjob. Sheamus walking out with the belt would be crap imo right now.

I agree that Undertaker pinning Lesnar at Summerslam wouldn't make much sense, but I don't think that prolonging the feud to Wrestlemania is a good idea. Brock Lesnar is an attraction, is in amazing shape, and is a fantastic entertainer; I know it's easy to hate on his 28-suplexes-in-a-row gimmick, but his matches with Cena/Rollins at Royal Rumble, and Reigns at WM31, were excellent. Aside from that, he'll have handed Undertaker two losses in a row (over the course of two years, mind you); should we realistically believe that Taker is capable of winning the third time? It would be a waste of Lesnar's talents to pair him up with the Undertaker again at WM32, because Lesnar is capable of so much more than the Undertaker could allow him to do. It would be one of those unbelievable bullshit Taker-kicks-out-of-twelve-finishers-type matches that his Wrestlemania streak had devolved into during the latter years.

If anything, I'd have Taker attempt the third match with Lesnar at Survivor Series, and have Sting or Kane interfere, setting up Undertaker/Sting or Undertaker/Kane for Wrestlemania 32. Those are the types of opponents suited for the Undertaker at this point in his career, not a guy in his prime like Brock Lesnar whom Undertaker would merely slow down.

Well, yeah, all that makes sense...but WWE works in dollar signs and Taker vs. Lesnar at Mania a second time will equal those big dollar signs. Lesnar is the hottest thing in wrestling right now and basically everyone knows the Undertaker, so I can see their reasoning.

I would rather Taker and Sting face at Mania, but for whatever reason, WWE decided to let that boat sail...and we got the match EVERYBODY ON THE PLANET WANTED TO SEE AND HAD BEEN TALKING ABOUT FOR 14 PLUS YEARS...Sting vs. Triple H

I think a lot of them not doing that they went all in for him to come in at Wrestlemania 27 (I believe. The WM in Atlanta) and he backed out at the last minute. They even went so far as to pay Metalica because they were going to play "Seek and Destroy" and the original plan was for Sting to beat the Streak.

Sting said "no" to all of that. (Even if I think they would have ultimately changed plans and Sting wouldn't have gotten the win.)

That's pretty hard to forgive if you're WWE.

I don't actually remember that. Wow lol.

No way he would have ended the streak, though.

Roman Reigns now doesn't have a Bret Hart to his Lex Luger.

MooseNugget wrote:

Roman Reigns now doesn't have a Bret Hart to his Lex Luger.

I talked about this a lot on Reddit. They know why he failed but don't understand why. He's going to fail again. There will be someone else. I think they're going to position Seth Rollins to be the alternative and frankly that might be the best decision they're making on the whole thing because Seth really could be the next top guy.