WWE Plans Thrown for Loop

It looks like The Rock’s injury, and subsequent absence from TV, following WrestleMania really did throw the WWE for a bit of a loop.

As a result, we are saddled with a Triple H-Brock Lesnar rematch just one month after WrestleMania 29, CM Punk being out until SummerSlam, the Undertaker working shows when he’d normally be off and, quite possibly, no more Rock at all.

We’ll start with CM Punk, whose odd promo last Monday led many to believe that the top heel would be turning into a good guy.

Punk was actually supposed to cut the promo two weeks ago, at the post-WrestleMania Raw. However, because of the rabid crowd, WWE decided to hold it off until this past Monday because they feared it would get the “wrong crowd reaction.” Also, Punk wasn’t happy with the verbiage the WWE writers came up with, feeling that it made him sound like a “whiner.”

Punk came out and talked about holding the title for 400-plus days and how ending the Undertaker’s streak may have been the one thing that could have been bigger than winning back the WWE Title, and then stopped in mid-promo, handed the mic to Paul Heyman, hugged him, and walked out of the arena. In fact, he didn’t even use the regular entrance, instead walking off to the side of the stage and through a curtain.

The promo was supposed to convey Punk walking out of the company. I don’t think it conveyed the right message.

The reality is, Punk actually came close to turning in his notice to leave the company after a blowup against the WWE creative team a few weeks ago. After talking it over with WWE officials, he backed down from his threat. However, as a compromise, he was kept off of live shows, only appearing on TV and at WrestleMania 29.

After severely tearing knee ligaments during his WrestleMania match against The Undertaker, WWE was going to give Punk some time off. They used his promo as the way to write him off TV for the next few months.

WWE has revealed that Punk is set to return at the May 13 Raw and appear at the subsequent TV tapings throughout the summer, albeit in a non-wrestling capacity. He is also listed on the event pages for the Payback, Money in the Bank and SummerSlam PPVs, but no definite plans for him have been revealed.

Because of Punk and Rock’s absence on TV, they returned both Brock Lesnar and Taker to TV because of the lack of “star power” on the TV programs. Hence, why Lesnar was quickly booked into a rematch with HHH and why Taker has been working with Kane and Daniel Bryan against The Shield.

The original plan was to revisit the Lesnar-HHH feud later this year, perhaps at SummerSlam, and not at Extreme Rules.  Supposedly, the planned angle between Lesnar and The Rock, which was supposed to happen at the post-WM Raw, would have built up for a SummerSlam match between the two and not a match at WrestleMania XXX, but I don’t buy that.

So, if you were going to do Lesnar-HHH at SummerSlam, then why would you do Rock-Lesnar at SummerSlam? It doesn’t work that way, Internet goons.

There is some paranoia among the WWE that The Rock may have actually wrestled his last match with the company and that he won’t be returning at all. He did suffer a pretty severe injury to his pelvis at WrestleMania, and I’m sure it’s got to bother him when it comes to his acting career.

The Rock believes that the injury happened when he went to give Cena the Rock Bottom. On advice from his physician, The Rock will not have surgery to reattach the tendons because “they will just scar up” and instead will undergo intense therapy.

The Rock said he started physical therapy this week, via his Twitter feed, and that he aims to be healthy in five weeks when he starts filming a movie about Hercules.

DOWN BUYRATES: Early reports are that WrestleMania 29 wasn’t just a dud to the viewers. It also appeared to be a dud with the numbers as well.

According to Figure 4 Weekly (www.f4Wonline.com), three different sources claim that the early estimates for buyrates for WM were very low. One of them went as far to say the numbers were “downright shocking.”

WWE’s own projections went down a week before the event due to low numbers for the Elimination Chamber PPV in February. However, those lowered expectations may not have been low enough.

EXTREME RULES: The WWE’s next PPV, Extreme Rules, will be headlined by John Cena vs. Ryback for the WWE Title, HHH vs. Lesnar in a Steel Cage and Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger in a Triple Threat Match for the World Title.

Another match that could take place is Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) defending their Tag Team Titles against two member of The Shield (no one knows which two yet – my guess is Ambrose and Reigns). The early plan is to put the tag straps on The Shield, ending the reign of Team Hell No. According to some Internet goons, there was a plan to have to duo drop the straps at WrestleMania, but the plans involving Ziggler and Swagger caused the change in those plans.

Other matches that could happen is Kaitlyn vs. Nikki Bella for the Divas Title, Mark Henry vs. Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. The Big Show.

The theme song is “Live It Up” by Airborne. I’ve never heard of them, so they must suck.

DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER: The WWE announced this week that they are opening a new training facility, or developmental center, in Orlando. Triple H, who is the WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, represented WWE in a news conference in Orlando to announce the plans.

The facility, which they broke ground on, will be a 25,000-square foot building with seven rings, a world-class strength and conditioning center, and a cutting-edge edit and production facility. WWE said it should create 100 “high-wage” jobs in Orlando. It appears to be similar to WCW’s Power Plant facility in Atlanta, except better run.

The facility will be built near Full Sail University, which had partnered with WWE to exclusively host the NXT series at its state-of-the-art performance venue, and will further the partnership fuller.

The governor of Florida, mayor of Orlando and president of Full Sail University were on hand for the press conference along with HHH and several of the NXT performers, including Mason Ryan.

With the Performance Center reveal, the WWE has begun signing some Indy wrestlers to train there and compete with NXT. Sami Callihan was the first Indy wrestler announced to have signed a developmental deal, and they expect that number to increase of the next few months.

BACKLUND BACKLASH: Several sources have said that former WWF champion Bob Backlund, who was inducted in the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame Class, threatened to back out of the ceremony many times during the weeks leading up to it.

Backlund’s reason was that he believed that he would be overshadowed by the other members of the Hall of Fame class. It was clear that the WWE was making Bruno Sammartino the cornerstone member of this Hall of Fame class, and Mick Foley was also a highly publicized member because of his ties to the Attitude Era.

More backlash came from Backlund’s hand-picked choice to give his introductory speech – actress and TV personality Maria Menounos. WWE officials were unhappy with the negative reaction fans showered upon the one-time WrestleMania competitor by fans in attendance.

Menounos took it upon herself to chastise the WWE fans who booed her, saying that some WWE fans lack proper manners, refinement and decency. The WWE, which loves to exploit its ties to various celebrities, felt the reaction was also over the line.

Menounos later released her entire introduction speech for Backlund to the Internet. It was 22 paragraphs long and reportedly almost 20 minutes in length.

MORE GOONAGE: Former WWE wrestler Brian Christopher Lawler (aka Grandmaster Sexay) was arrested for DUI  in Chester County, Tenn., on April 11. He was set to appear in front of a judge on Friday. Lawler, the son of Jerry “The King” Lawler, admitted to police that he drank a half-liter of vodka, along with taking Xanax and Methadone. Police said he couldn’t recite the alphabet during his field sobriety test.

¨       Bruno Sammartino discussed his long awaited meeting with Vince McMahon, which took place during WrestleMania weekend. He said he told him he stood by his criticisms of the product he made in the past and was pleased with the new direction of the company, which is why he finally relented to being inducted in the Hall of Fame. He said he was open to contributing in some fashion, especially with young talent.

¨       Further capitalizing on the Fandango phenomenon, WWE has released a remixed version of Fandango’s entrance theme to iTunes.

¨       WWE will release a DVD and Blu-Ray dedicated to War Games, titled “War Games: WCW’s Most Notorious Matches,” on June 25. Fourteen War Games style matches will be included on the three-disc set, with the first match being The Super Powers (Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering) vs. The Four Horseman (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger and J.J. Dillon) from The Great American Bash on July 24, 1987.

¨       Former WWF wrestler Sir Mo, who may be better known as Mabel’s tag team partner in the Men on a Mission duo, revealed that he needs a kidney transplant due to renal failure. He has asked the WWE for financial help, but they have reportedly turned down his request. He’s upset because they have given former wrestlers like Scott Hall and Marty Jannetty financial assistance to help with their drug addiction.

¨       Sean “X-Pac” Waltman reportedly suffered a torn anus when he attempted his bronco buster maneuver during a recent independent match. No further comment.

¨       Sgt. Slaughter said that he was originally slated to be Jack Swagger’s manager when his character was still supposed to be a babyface. He also said he was supposed to be cast in the most recent G.I. Joe movie in the role that went to Bruce Willis.

¨       Curt Hawkins recently celebrated his 28^th birthday. Happy Birthday to him.

¨       Ryback sent out a controversial Tweet about John Cena’s ex-wife on Tuesday. Shortly after, every single Tweet he ever sent out was deleted.

¨       Plans to turn Booker T heel have been scrapped. Now, the plan is to turn Teddy Long heel and turn him into the heel General Manager of SmackDown.

¨       The Undertaker apparently underwent minor knee surgery before his WrestleMania 29 match with CM Punk. It was reportedly a minor cleanup.

¨       The Rock has reportedly dropped out of making The Fast and The Furious 7 because it conflicts with filming of the Hercules movie.

¨       And finally, TNA’s Bound for Glory PPV will reportedly take place in San Diego in October.

Until next time, watch out for the Doomsday Device.