General WWE Discussion: Roman Weeps, Taker Retires, MNK/SAM/RDM LFP

**AidenCarby** · 2014-03-22 12:58

Damn he's still fucking yoked.

**Kang** · 2014-03-22 17:14

Twoish weeks till Jeff Jarrett drops his announcement. I wish him the best with his new promotion. Any new successful group in the US would be healthy competition for the WWE and hopefully make their brand better. TNA wasn't up to the job and ROH is too small. Also, AAA is going to be filming in the US in the summer. So here's hoping wrestling will be like it was back in the late 90s.

**Krandor** · 2014-03-22 18:11

Now with less Vince Russo.

**Xno Kappa** · 2014-03-22 18:35

Until they inevitably hire Vince Russo.

**Kang** · 2014-03-22 20:52

Not sure if you guys have seen this. But I find this funny in a way.

***********************

'WWE Slam City' aims at younger audience

If the producers of TV shows, movie franchises and other mass-market entertainment had their way, audiences would never age. But fans have an annoying way of growing older and moving on from the things they once loved.

Well, some do. Others may or may not have He-Man action figures on our - err, I mean their - desks.

Perhaps no one feels this more keenly than World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., the sports entertainment juggernaut that's transformed from a hard-hitting spectacle of choreographed violence to increasingly family-friendly fare. Their latest lunge in that direction is WWE Slam City, a stop-motion animated web series aimed at bringing fans as young as six into the WWE fold.

Animated by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the people behind Robot Chicken, Slam City sees various WWE superstars fired from their wrestling jobs by a villain called the Finisher. Cut loose - and with understandably sparse resumes - the wrasslers have to try to find work in the real world.

The first batch of four webisodes, debuting today on wweslamcity.com, has John Cena interviewing for a job as an auto mechanic, where he has to modify a car to accommodate the larger-than-life bulk of fellow wrestler Big Show. Meanwhile, the pyrophile Kane gets a job as a school lunch lady, creating the spiciest meatloaf imaginable.

It's goofy stuff, aimed at young audiences (boys aged six to nine are the target demographic) and short attention spans (the episodes are about two minutes each.) And WWE isn't shy about their intentions with Slam City, which includes a Mattel toy line, comics, clothes and a staggering array of upcoming merch, from video games to bath gels.

"We wanted to use animation and our current superstars to reach beyond our audience, and try to recruit new kids into the WWE brand and make them fans for life," says Casey Collins, WWE's executive vice-president of consumer products.

"There are 26 Slam City webisodes in all, available in Canada via the wweslamcity.com website, YouTube, the video marketplace services on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network as well as other methods."

But not everyone is thrilled with the idea of seeing wrestling stars reduced to big-handed, kid-friendly cartoon characters and toys. There's been some backlash from longtime wrestling fans becoming irate by the WWE catering to younger audiences, and Slam City seems to be the proverbial back-breaking straw for some.

But the WWE is unrepentant, having made the decision in 2008 to make all their primetime shows conform to the U.S. television industry's TV-PG rating.

"That's the directive from (WWE CEO) Vince McMahon himself, so we feel that's a strategy that has helped grow our business over the last few years."

And if it ultimately doesn't work out, maybe those Slam City action figures will be worth a bundle. Enough to finally afford that mint condition He-Man Battle Cat.

**noblemountain** · 2014-03-22 22:09

meh, make that chedda

**Anoat** · 2014-03-23 02:32

They are on the WWE Network as well. Caught the first four. They are kind of like a PG Robot Chicken with WWE guys. It's ok for a chuckle or two. Was a little disappointed that the they didn't get the actual wrestlers to do the voices though.

**Anoat** · 2014-03-23 11:09

Looks like we are getting Kane and New Age Outlaws vs. a face turned Shield at WrestleMania...um...not sure how I feel about that one. I'm hoping that we get one more PPV matchup of Shield vs. Wyatts at Extreme Rules in some kind of crazy match before they split up the Shield and send Roman Reigns off to singles super stardom.

**Kang** · 2014-03-23 11:55

Originally Posted by Anoat

Looks like we are getting Kane and New Age Outlaws vs. a face turned Shield at WrestleMania...um...not sure how I feel about that one. I'm hoping that we get one more PPV matchup of Shield vs. Wyatts at Extreme Rules in some kind of crazy match before they split up the Shield and send Roman Reigns off to singles super stardom.

Has anyone noticed that with two weeks to go they only have 5 confirmed matches for a 4 hour show (plus the Shield match and I assume a tag title match maybe)?

**Fiendishone** · 2014-03-23 12:39

They'll add some random divas match (either title or lame battle royal or some shit) along with a few undercards. Maybe Big E and/or Ambrose defending their titles, though Ambrose probly gonna be busy in a 6 man tag match so I guess we'll see.

Predicting Rusev winning that Andre battle royal match to get him some upper tier heat matches.

**Vagrant** · 2014-03-23 13:34

At the moment the card is

WWE Title match
Bryan/HHH
Cena/Wyatt
Undertaker/Lesnar
Andre the Giant Battle Royal
Usos/Real Americans/Rybaxel

Obviously Kane and NAO vs. the Shield is going to happen. AJ will defend her title against a group of divas probably one of the Bella's, Natalya and Naomi. That's probably all that they will add as all of the mid card guys are in the battle royal. Maybe a NXT match for the pre-show possibly?

**Kang** · 2014-03-23 15:52

I just read that Jake Roberts wrestled at an indie show last night. Maybe he will be in the battle royal. Fingers crossed. I do hope that they have some surprise entrants. You can't have a memorial battle royal for Andre and not include some wrestlers from his period.

**Vagrant** · 2014-03-23 16:15

I'd be shocked if he could pass the physical. WWE won't allow him to get in the ring and compete if he can't. Indy's don't give a crap about that. There just aren't many guys from Andre's era left that can get in there really. Maybe you'll get somebody like Slaughter, Steamboat, or Snuka but wouldn't expect many. Even Hogan couldn't pass the physical to compete so he's out also.

**Kang** · 2014-03-23 20:55

Yeah I expect Slaughter to be in it for sure if they let the legends in. But we've seen him a million times already. Would be nice to see someone new.

**Vagrant** · 2014-03-23 21:29

Really I think the most likely of a surprise entrant is RVD. Other than that I just don't expect to see many surprises in it.

**Exoduso** · 2014-03-23 22:23

Would be nice to see RVD and Y2J make surprise entries, but doubtful.

**Tyrath** · 2014-03-24 19:13

Stephanie plays the bitch role so well.

**Xno Kappa** · 2014-03-24 19:27

Heel bootista is freaking hilarious lol.

**Tyrath** · 2014-03-24 19:28

He still can't hit a spear worth a crap though.

**Krandor** · 2014-03-24 19:40

Thread: General WWE Discussion: Roman Weeps, Taker Retires, MNK/SAM/RDM LFP

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