The Grinch That Stole Wrestlemania

[juggalotus]

I had a cool idea for a storyline yesterday. What if WWE started a storyline next year or some year after this one, in which the possibility of there even being a Wrestlemania was unclear? I think this could work best for either John Laurenitis if he's still around, or maybe a heel Triple H. If the WWE can pull off a storyline about HBK needing to be JBL's assistant to get more money for his family, I'm sure they could go the route of how all the expenses of holding an event like Wrestlemania was bankrupting the WWE and that it was bad for business. Or something completely different. Either way I think this could be a very fresh and new storyline. What do you guys think? Would you be interested in this story line? How would you book it?

 

[GoShtate]

So you want to take the last big event the WWE has and make it "unclear" as to whether or not it will happen? This is the only time of the year the WWE gets a little bit of national exposure.

But, I do get where your coming from. It would be fresh and new but it wouldn't be fun. It is too predictable we all know no matter what WM will go down.

I am trying think of another way to use this idea without WM involved but no event is big enough for anyone to buy it.

 

[GoShtate]

Maybe the only way to have something similar happen is to have a guy like the Miz desperate for a match at Mania, doesn't get one and proceeds to run in and attempt to ruin the show during the first few matches. That is when the glass shatters, business is handled, and the show goes on.

 

[smokeyjoe414]

I cant see the idea ever happening due to the many ineptitude's of WWE's current creative staff, but I like it and if handled correctly would make for very interesting T.V, i think the closest they ever came to this is when, in the run up to WM25, randy orton threatend to sue vince, but it was in the storyline to make sure randy got his main event title match.

 

[Cats Pajamas]

I think the problem you'd run into, no criticism intended, is that the arenas that house a Wrestlemania event are confirmed so far in advance that it would make it hard for someone to time the story right. They're already well into the bidding for Wrestlemania 30 (I don't know for sure where they are with that nor do I really care) which would take us through 2014, so you can imagine that if someone like Johnny Ace was saying "there's going to be no WrestleMania in 2015..." this year or next you might have a little trouble getting people invested until The Road starts again 2 to 3 years later.

One other possible issue would be that when a venue finally is confirmed, they start promoting it extremely early and by the time the Royal Rumble 2015 (or whatever year) rolled around when it would really start to matter you'd already have people with Wrestlemania tickets. On the other hand, if they chose to claim WrestleMania was too financially cumbersome, the fans would have no choice to accept it because the storylines are WWE's perogative. If we don't like it; we can sit and spin.

This particular viewer could buy it. I don't ever intend on going to Mania nor is it ever going to come to my neck of the woods, so if they chose to put that storyline into programming I'd be happy to watch it quietly with my "complaining mouth" hanging from a coat rack at the door. So to me, the storyline would be fresh and new and enjoyable.

But that may be just my humble opinion, and who should really give a crap about my humble opinion besides yours truly? Best regards, wrestling fans.

 

[M3420]

Absolutely not in my opinion. Wrestlemania rivals or even surpasses the Super Bowl for many of us, and 'The Granddaddy of all' should not be disrespected like this. However, this may have almost actually worked somewhere around Wrestlemania 13 or so when WWF--at the time was really struggling and getting its ass kicked by WCW. But now that Wrestlemania is such an established event and so well-known even by people who never watch pro wrestling, toying with its existence would not be a good storyline. Especially since we're closing in on number 30.

But if I could tweak the idea just a bit, I would think that this would be a Vince, Shane, or Steph led angle and not Laurinitis. Laurinitis is a good administrative heel or whatever you want to call it, but a move that large would have to be pulled off by someone higher on the food chain. Mean Street Posse??

 

[jrichardson25]

I don't see it happening. It is a great idea in theory because it could make for really good television but the facts and figures are out there that Mania makes it's host city somewhere in the 10-30 million dollar range in that week (not exactly sure on the numbers). There's a lot riding on Mania and for it to be taken out of context aka taken seriously vs a storyline could be really detrimental to the WWE and the event itself.

 

[JJ15776]

I guess it sounds cool for like a second when you hear it, but then you realize how stupid and impossible it is.

WWE spends more than 2 months in full hype mode for WrestleMania. Tickets go on sale 5 months before the show. When would this storyline take place? When would the payoff be? Elimination Chamber is too close, it would drastically cut down on their ability to hype up matches. I guess Royal Rumble could work, but that's still almost 3 months of ticket sales that would be damaged. ("Tickets are on sale now, go to Ticketmaster...just in case the show still happens!"?)

Survivor Series is the latest they could culminate this storyline. But that's awfully early to start making a big deal about WrestleMania, it might be hard to get the fans fully invested at that point. And what would the culmination be, exactly? A match between Triple H and some face? Would they get more money from somewhere if the face wins, allowing them to have WrestleMania? Not to mention the bad PR they'd get, even for just pretending to be in financial trouble. Remember the hits their stock took when Vince's limo exploded, when Donald Trump "bought" Raw and when Triple H became the new COO in storyline? This storyline would likely have the same affect.

If you took the money thing out of it, and instead just had Triple H or Vince or whoever be just so angry they wanted to take WrestleMania away from the universe...and, again, had the blowoff match at Survivor series...it could work.

Decent idea on paper, there's just too many flaws for this to work.

 

[GameOver]

I had a cool idea for a storyline yesterday. What if WWE started a storyline next year or some year after this one, in which the possibility of there even being a Wrestlemania was unclear? I think this could work best for either John Laurenitis if he's still around, or maybe a heel Triple H. If the WWE can pull off a storyline about HBK needing to be JBL's assistant to get more money for his family, I'm sure they could go the route of how all the expenses of holding an event like Wrestlemania was bankrupting the WWE and that it was bad for business. Or something completely different. Either way I think this could be a very fresh and new storyline. What do you guys think? Would you be interested in this story line? How would you book it?

except everyone would know it's complete bullshit. It's a no brainer that WrestleMania is the one PPV that makes WWE alot of money and exposure since they spend all year building to it and HBK needing to be JBL's assistant, they already did that and it was stupid. HBK was bankrupt yet he was still working full time so was still getting a paycheck and he was too proud to ask for help from his friend but he was fine working for JBL? ******ed.

as for ticket sales. um the big 4 PPV's generally sell out within a week of going on sale so unless they did the storyline b4 ticket sales went up for grabs it's not going to work and if anything could be negative, people wanting there money back or not bothering to but a ticket at all.

If you took the money thing out of it, and instead just had Triple H or Vince or whoever be just so angry they wanted to take WrestleMania away from the universe...and, again, had the blowoff match at Survivor series...it could work.
.

Now that sounds more plausible. and the Alliance storyline was kinda along those lines. Stephanie and Shane trying to run WWE out of business which culminated at Survivor Series in a match to determine which company would be gone for good and which would prevail, had "in storyline" the Alliance won it's probable they would've scrapped all the WWE PPV's and replaced with the ECW/WCW alternatives

 

[GoShtate]

Like everyone is saying, no one and I mean no one will buy Wrestlemania being canceled. I have thought about it some more though and I think this idea with someone like the Miz could work. Say has a short stint as one of the World/WWE Champions. Loses the belt at the Rumble in some screwy fashion, enters the Rumble later and finishes 2nd. Then loses his rematch clause the following night on Raw in another questionable finish. Then he gets into the Chamber enters 1st and disposes of most of the competition only to be taken out as one of the final two. A few weeks go by and he isn't really feuding with anyone and decides that he wants a WM match and he can go on and on in his annoying fashion and no one grants him a match. The Monday before Mania he comes out and says if he doesn't get a match he will make sure that Wrestlemania does not go down as planned. Whoever is in charge tells him they have a secret "special enforcer" to make sure Miz does not get out of line. Miz proceeds to do a run-in in the opening match at Mania and says he refuses to leave the ring and will stop the show unless (whoevers in-charge) comes out and gives him a match. The special enforcer is Austin, Austin whoops ass and everyone is happy.

 

[TheGamea]

I think the problem you'd run into, no criticism intended, is that the arenas that house a Wrestlemania event are confirmed so far in advance that it would make it hard for someone to time the story right. They're already well into the bidding for Wrestlemania 30 (I don't know for sure where they are with that nor do I really care) which would take us through 2014, so you can imagine that if someone like Johnny Ace was saying "there's going to be no WrestleMania in 2015..." this year or next you might have a little trouble getting people invested until The Road starts again 2 to 3 years later.

One other possible issue would be that when a venue finally is confirmed, they start promoting it extremely early and by the time the Royal Rumble 2015 (or whatever year) rolled around when it would really start to matter you'd already have people with Wrestlemania tickets. On the other hand, if they chose to claim WrestleMania was too financially cumbersome, the fans would have no choice to accept it because the storylines are WWE's perogative. If we don't like it; we can sit and spin.

This particular viewer could buy it. I don't ever intend on going to Mania nor is it ever going to come to my neck of the woods, so if they chose to put that storyline into programming I'd be happy to watch it quietly with my "complaining mouth" hanging from a coat rack at the door. So to me, the storyline would be fresh and new and enjoyable.

But that may be just my humble opinion, and who should really give a crap about my humble opinion besides yours truly? Best regards, wrestling fans.

Ok you and me know that WM hosts are booked early but not everyone, however with that said the BEST year to have done would be this year... becuz the flip side to doing this is that ticket sales are down HOWEVER if when the wool came out and they say WM is happening it would have to be such an awesome show people would feel like idiots for NOT buying it and to me honest this WM with cena v rock and HHH v Taker could be the greatest WM of all time, I dont see how ANY WM would be able to top this billing.

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

It'd would never happen. WM is simply too much of a financial monster for WWE year in and year out. WWE is obsessed with WM buyrates, and spends a ton of money to start promoting the event, in commercials, in the host cities, and on their own programming each year, they aren't going to risk the chance of having any of their fan base think there won't be a WM. Plus, I don't think many fans would really buy in to the idea of their being no Wrestlemania.

You have a clever idea for sure, but it just isn't one that I could really see ever happening. Cheers for thinking outside the box though!

 

[d_henderson1810]

I think the best way to do this storyline, is not so much put the emphasis on whether there will be a "Wrestlemania", but whether there will even be a WWE in business.

Have the storyline be that a vindictive heel sues the WWE for injury, and promises to bankrupt them. Make it look like that the whole company could be in jeopardy because of the lawsuit. Have the McMahons plead for talent to help them save the company, and then have a match, (maybe at "Bragging Rights" or "Survivor Series") where there are two teams- one consisiting of disgruntled talent wanting to put WWE out of business (Maybe they could be stars facing being "future-endeavoured", and think "if I can't work for WWE, then no-one else will, either". The other team would be a team of "WWE saviours" (maybe top guys like Cena, who are fighting to save WWE). If the guy bringing the lawsuit's team wins, he takes over running WWE, but if the "WWE saviours" win, the lawsuit must be dropped, and the WWE is saved.

Doing it at "BR" or "SS" then allows plenty of time to build for Wrestlemania, so it won't affect Wrestlemania at all.

 

[Lugar]

I like the general idea just not the Wrestlemania part.

What I would do is have Vince come out on the Raw after Wrestlemania and say that as only a few PPV events make money then the entire idea is now scrapped. "After all I created PPV and I can end it". This would lead someone (HHH probably) to come out and say that they have managed to speak to the board of directors and have saved a few (4,6,8). This could carry on to say Survivor Series/Bragging Rights (in my fantasy world they are combined to make one PPV) and the mess could be sorted out.

 

[Cats Pajamas]

Ok you and me know that WM hosts are booked early but not everyone, however with that said the BEST year to have done would be this year... becuz the flip side to doing this is that ticket sales are down HOWEVER if when the wool came out and they say WM is happening it would have to be such an awesome show people would feel like idiots for NOT buying it and to me honest this WM with cena v rock and HHH v Taker could be the greatest WM of all time, I dont see how ANY WM would be able to top this billing.

You're absolutely right. My post came strictly from a promotional standpoint, more to do with the venue than WWE television and I probably lost a little grounds for arguing on that alone. From my perspective and I could be the odd one out, is that with the price of some of these tickets (upwards of six hundred dollars as of years ago years ago) some people need to do some smart budgeting all year round to afford it. Especially if they're taking their family.

And aside from Rocky booking this match for Wrestlemania a year ago to extend the anticipation, I absolutely agree that no year would be bigger than this year for such a storyline. Thus far, anyways; we'll see how next Mania shapes up (I know I've certainly got high hopes). I appreciate your discussion, my friend. It's good to hear from ya.

Someone mentioned Shane or Steph hijacking Mania as a potential storyline, I think? Maybe not... but I thought that was kinda cool too. Now holla back, wrestling fans!

 

[Natural Selection]

This is a decent idea, but I can't see it working with Wrestle Mania. Maybe with SS or RR. WM is just too big for anyone to buy it, I mean I've been waiting for it all year its bigger then the Super Bowl to me... So actually if set up correctly maybe just maybe it could work. But

Like everyone is saying, no one and I mean no one will buy Wrestlemania being canceled. I have thought about it some more though and I think this idea with someone like the Miz could work. Say has a short stint as one of the World/WWE Champions. Loses the belt at the Rumble in some screwy fashion, enters the Rumble later and finishes 2nd. Then loses his rematch clause the following night on Raw in another questionable finish. Then he gets into the Chamber enters 1st and disposes of most of the competition only to be taken out as one of the final two. A few weeks go by and he isn't really feuding with anyone and decides that he wants a WM match and he can go on and on in his annoying fashion and no one grants him a match. The Monday before Mania he comes out and says if he doesn't get a match he will make sure that Wrestlemania does not go down as planned. Whoever is in charge tells him they have a secret "special enforcer" to make sure Miz does not get out of line. Miz proceeds to do a run-in in the opening match at Mania and says he refuses to leave the ring and will stop the show unless (whoevers in-charge) comes out and gives him a match. The special enforcer is Austin, Austin whoops ass and everyone is happy.

that could work.

 

[midgensa]

I am pretty sure you got this idea from that awful WWE video game that had this as a storyline. I remember my buddy playing as Matt Hardy and having to actually kill Goldberg to "save WrestleMania" ... was hilarious.

As for the idea itself, I kind of like it. At first I was thinking you can't do it with WrestleMania, but — honestly — doing it with SummerSlam or something of the like would not make a big enough story to work IMO.

Something like this could definitely work with someone like Laurinaitus running the angle, but it would be sooooo far fetched to believe it.

Maybe they could do it with the Royal Rumble. Somehow run it as there will be no rumble match at the event because they cannot afford to have that much "talent" get paid on the show, "especially the ones that have no chance of winning." Then have the midcard talent "rise up" to challenge the notion and have them battle to earn the match or whatnot.

This still only works if a midcarder then wins the event and elevates, but not a horrible idea. There are a lot of different ways you could go with this pitch that could possibly work. So, I like it.