The Warrior has passed away. He looked so healthy at HOF, WM and Raw. Another reminder of how sudden and precious life can really be.

He's only just patched things up with the WWE and then tragically passes away. RIP Warrior.

I find it really bizarre that after all the years he had with his issues, 48 hours after being inducted into the HOF he passes away.

Shocking.

Terrible news for his family.

He didn't look the best on Raw, maybe he knew something was up, hence patching things up with a lot of people.

RIP Warrior

His promo does feel a little eery now. But by all accounts this is an absolute shock - my mate who went to Mania was sat just a couple of rows down from him on a plane that morning and he was posing for photos with fans he said. Apparently he collapsed with his wife by his side outside a hotel. Really sad.

Well I think we can now confirm the PG-era is over.

I see this threads been quiet.

If anyone gets chance, got to a certain video sharing site and search "Connor crusher wwe" it's a 5 min vid that will move anyone.

Wwe gets a lot of stick, and much of it justified. But you have to respect them for things like this.

Bryan's neck injury.
Real or a work?

I wish it would go back to the Attitude era.

Anyone watched Battleground then? The gorgeous Lana's promo has caused a stir in the media.

I watched bits of it, seemed pretty poor. I worry the Reigns push has come too soon?
I haven't really watched since Mania though.

What was the Lana promo?

Yeah I agree Richard, my friend and I went halves and watched it live. Not a bad event, but they can do so much better, and you couldn't help but sense that everyone (from writers to the wrestlers) were probably saving themselves for SummerSlam. The Ambrose v Rollins thing was a disgrace IMO. I understand that they sometimes want feuds to run as long as possible, but don't advertise a match on PPV if you're not going to deliver it.

Re Reigns definitely, but unfortunately it's something WWE has done so much over the last ten years, and it drives me insane. I'm very old-school with wrestling pushes, and feel that a guy should (when going single) work his way up from the very bottom, say NXTm Superstars, then SmackDown or Raw. Same with the belts, start with say the NXT belt, then US or IC, then the World. Bubba Ray Dudley put it so right in a shoot interview when he said that when it comes to winning belts, the chase is always better than the catch. WWE however throws titles at people, sometimes on their very first night (e.g. Paige on her first Raw, Santino on his first Raw etc), but when you do that, where do you go from there? I firmly believe that is the main reason Paige has struggled a bit on Raw since her debut. If you win the belt on your first night, what reason do the fans have to support you? You've already achieved your goal! It's so crazy. I hope they don't stick the belt on Reigns, he needs plenty of time for sure.

The Lana promo seemed like the usual Anti-American, pro-Russian thing she's been doing. The problem is she mentioned something like "recent events" or "recent incidents". She blamed America rather than Russia, and praised Putin (this was all how I saw it). Whilst she didn't specifically mention MH17 it seemed clear that this was the reference. Many of the media have taken it the same way and slated WWE for using the tragedy to get cheap heat. As usual though some of the media have been completely dumb, e.g. this from the Daily Mail:

"Blonde WWE star slammed for using MH17 tragedy as tasteless storyline in grudge match between Russian and American wrestlers"

IMO this is ridiculous - she's a performer delivering a script. She doesn't deserve stick because she was simply doing her job. It's like slamming an actor for a line in a film - he or she didn't (in most cases) write the damn thing! From what Lana said it was a Vince McMahon script, e.g. she pointed at the crowd and said "...each and every one of you!" which according to Lance Storm is a Vince line he likes his stars to use.

It's because the guys writing WWE think that a title can make a wrestler when in fact it's the other way round.

Seen it now. Obviously (well no, probably or maybe even HOPEFULLY) WWE wouldn't poke a dig at such matters - but the whole Lana / Rusev gimmick should be used very carefullly at the moment.

It's not quite as dramatic as when Vince 'died' - just before the Benoit tragedy, but they really ought scale back on the Cold War angle while its topical, imo. WWE's statement on it was embarrassing I thought.

Summerslam looks a cracker though. Love or loathe Lesnar - he's an absolute star. Everyone knew his music was going to hit on RAW but it still sent shivers through me. Him and Cena will put on a great match.

Reigns v Orton doesn't really excite me. Randall, to me, is even more stale since his push last year than when he was a face. As I said I think Reigns is being pushed too soon - but I'd rather him go up against Trips to elevate him to in and around the main event picture.

Roofs you are so right about winning the belts early, the fun is in the chase. Daniel Bryan's Summerslam - Wrestlemania journey provided what would have been the best Mania moment of all-time for me, had it not been for the Streak ending 45 mins earlier.