Re: John Cena's unprecedented sacrifice--

The counterargument was delivered by the crowd last night: "BOOOOOOOOOOOO."

To be fair, they're booing the front office more than any particular person. But Cena's credit is mitigated by the fact that he's the company's immovable object, that his W/L record is irrelevant to a status which never erodes, that everyone goes "through" him, and that his losses are entirely about never giving up. Cena's surgical procedures are pushed harder than other wrestlers' title reigns. It's a little easier to take a beating for the team when you're never expected to limp the following night.

Again, this is much less about John Cena than it is about a company seemingly incapable of entertaining a new thought that doesn't jibe perfectly with their preexisting interoffice psychodrama.

Raw's apparently been cancelled tonight due to the storm.

I watched this. After the triple threat match, it would have taken a herculean effort to lose that crowd. Then they brought back BUBBUH RAY for the ECW crowd, and it was virtually impossible to screw it up. So kudos to the WWE for doing something that difficult.

It can all be salvaged, of course. Reigns/Ambrose/Rollins at WM. Or Reigns/Lesnar/Bryan. Or Reigns/Lesnar/Rollins/Bryan. And then on down the card (though I really hope they don't feed Rusev's undefeated streak to Cena, the man who needs the rub less than anyone in the world right now; if you really want to build Rusev up, have him make Cena pass out in that camel clutch he does). They supposedly called an audible after last year's Rumble fiasco, so it's not without precedent. And if they don't, then it should be Rollins/Bryan (the man with the case vs. the man who never lost the title) in an opener that blows the doors off the place, followed by Rollins cashing in after the main event.

The biggest issue I had with last night was that the guy who looked the strongest was the Big Show. His KO punch not only led to 3 big eliminations, they weren't even difficult eliminations - they were dropped like garbage over the top rope. That's the same punch that knocked out Cena at Survivor Series. Right now, I want to see (kayfabe) Big Show vs. Lesnar - the unstoppable punch vs. the F5. Of course, it doesn't help things that, in Show and Kane, they're pushing two guys with a combined age around 90 over the rest of the roster. Those two should be acting as enhancement talent right now - the correct use of Big Show is what they did at WM last year when they let Cesaro pick him up and dump him outside (that they screwed it up later is beside the point). He should not be knocking out Ambrose, Wyatt, and Ziggler. It's lunatic booking.

There were so many better ways to handle that RR, even if Reigns wins. People didn't boo solely because Bryan went out - they booed because the whole thing was a trainwreck that only got worse and worse. I'd love to get my eyes on the # of people who canceled their subscriptions in the last 24 hours - and that story got picked up by the national media (Time ran a piece on it this AM, and so did USA Today). For a company that's struggling financially and missing its projections every quarter, this has the potential to be a much bigger mess than just a badly booked show.

Raw's apparently been cancelled tonight due to the storm.

I think this is Vince's best possible scenario. It gives them a week to game plan on what to do next, and also gives people a week to calm down a little bit. Tonight's RAW was setting up to be an epic train wreck, and short of Rollins attacking an injured Lesnar and taking the title, there wasn't going to be much to save it.

And if they don't, then it should be Rollins/Bryan (the man with the case vs. the man who never lost the title) in an opener that blows the doors off the place, followed by Rollins cashing in after the main event.

I think this is what happens, and I think Bryan wins the singles match. That sets up a crazy three-way title dance between Reigns, Rollins, and Bryan after Mania when Brock presumably walks away.

Being a part of that crowd was quite the experience. The WWE title match was incredible; the elbow Rollins gave to Brock on the table was just great.

The rumble was...well I just can't believe they didn't think that was what was going to happen. It wasn't just Bryan either. Ziggler, Mizdow, Ambrose; al the people the crowd was into barely got any shine at all. Even the Rock got booed!

Edit: #403, I was one who cancelled today.

Mizdow

I hope they're going to pull the plug on his turn between now and WM. They missed a golden opportunity last night - play it just like they did, but let Mizdow go into the Rumble and let him do well. He's holding his own for 5-6 minutes, maybe even gets an elimination or two. Then Miz either distracts him or outright interferes with him, leading to him being eliminated. The next night on RAW, he's yelling at Mizdow "I'm the star! You're the double!" etc. etc. It breaks down from there, maybe they break up at the Fastlane PPV, and then Mizdow beats him at Wrestlemania.

The stunt double stuff is funny, but it's not going to hold people's attention forever. Sandow's got the talent to be an upper mid-card guy in the Ziggler mold, and they need more people like that so that maybe they don't have to keep hauling Kane and the Big Show out there and putting them in important spots.

I'd bet 95% of those who rage-cancelled last night will be back for Mania, meaning their Q1 numbers will be just fine.

I'd bet 95% of those who rage-cancelled last night will be back for Mania, meaning their Q1 numbers will be just fine.

Speaking for myself, probably. But it's at least something I can do. and I'll probably cancel after Mania again

I'd bet 95% of those who rage-cancelled last night will be back for Mania, meaning their Q1 numbers will be just fine.

The problem with this is, WWE needs the network to be like Netflix. If fans treat the network as just a way to watch Mania (and maybe the Rumble and/or SummerSlam) for $10, WWE's in big trouble. And considering that WWE didn't hit their projections for the Network any number of people unsubscribing is very bad news for them.

Oh I think they severely botched it by removing the 6 month commitment. It was a total panic move to try and get more subscribers in the short-term, but allowing no commitment did exactly what you're saying allowing those that don't care as much about the old content to just cut their PPV costs down in sixths.

Is it crazy for me not to care much about WWE's stock price? It just seems very ancillary to the parts of wrestling that interest me.

Something weird was going on last night. Botches all over. Two of the tag matches had missed tags, Miz and an Uso messed up a suicide dive, Wyatt apparently cut his promo one guy too early. Pretty sure watching it live that I heard someone say something like "check if he's alright to do the finish" in regards to Lesnar (maybe part of the work of the broken rib angle?).

Besides the title match, there were some good things:

1. The booking of the second half of the Rumble match was really bad, but it was pretty cool to have that brief Ambrose-Reigns team up.
2. The Bellas did a pretty neat tandem move.
3. Wyatt's sequence before Bryan entered.
4. Kidd and Cesaro come up with some great teamwork stuff. Tyson's finisher is also pretty good, hadn't seen that before.

They really should have gotten DDP and Orton into the ring at the same time to do a cutter competition.

I'm quite sure that replaying the Royal Rumble match to an even larger audience is sure to help things out.

I wonder if they'll turn the volume down on the boos a bit. It sounds like Reigns is going to address the reaction in the interview, but maybe make it sound a little more respectable.

I'm watching purely to see how much editing is done for the boos.

Cena vs Rusev has been set for Fast Lane, which is interesting.

Interesting point by Matt Hardy. If you know you're going with Reigns, why not delay Bryan's return to avoid the Daniel Bryan is healthy and didn't win the Rumble backlash?

They probably hadn't fully decided on the winner yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they were considering Bryan until they brought the Rock in, hoping it would protect from backlash.

Great show closing segment.

I'm watching purely to see how much editing is done for the boos.

The Universe wasn't saying "BOOOO." They were saying "Boo-lieve in Roman Reigns."

Great show closing segment.

Heyman is just so great.

Seems they didn't scrub the booing at all. Good on them.

Seems they didn't scrub the booing at all. Good on them.

I didnt think they did, and then Alvarez was talking like they had. I definitely wanted to see what they had done to it (I also watched it yesterday afternoon because I wanted to see if it came across on tv like it did live- it did) and it sure as hell seemed like there was the same amount of booing as there was before.

I know the weather forced it on them, but if they had this type of raw episode once every 3 or 4 months, I don't think I would hate it at all.

Cena vs Rusev has been set for Fast Lane, which is interesting.

So I assume Rusev goes over at Fast Lane and then Cena ends his unpinned streak on The Grandest Stage Of Them All? A year-long unpinned streak featuring a win over Cena is something the announcers could still get a couple of extra months of juice out of in terms of hyping Rusev.

Soooo, Cena-Rusev. At Fast Lane, Rusev should either 1. lose by DQ by not breaking the Accolade, Cena eventually passes out 2. win clean 3. win dirty

Cena should win at Mania in a way that doesn't kill Rusev.

Cena is now the US Champ. And he should hold that belt for a long time. Have him defend it often, and after several months he can drop it to an up and comer, and suddenly both the new guy and the US title are made. It also keeps Cena out of the main title picture (which I think WWE has actually been trying to do, Bryan's injury just forced their hand since no one else made sense to feed to Lesnar).

They could do a similar thing with Bryan and the IC title on Smackdown. Have him win and hold the belt until next year's Rumble, then win the Rumble. Doesn't need to win the title at Mania again (or can get cashed in on), but at this point they really do owe him a Rumble win.

Please please kill Rusev dead. There are enough piss breaks in the current product without him wasting 15 minutes a week on cheap heat and plodding beatdowns.

Tyson's finisher is also pretty good, hadn't seen that before.

It's Perry Saturn's old finisher. The moss-covered, three-handled family gradunza.

The Universe wasn't saying "BOOOO." They were saying "Boo-lieve in Roman Reigns."

Bo Dallas return imminent.

I'm glad I watched the unscheduled two-hour Lucha Underground broadcast they aired last night instead. #VivaLaBlizzard!

Aztec Warfare > Royal Rumble

I know the weather forced it on them, but if they had this type of raw episode once every 3 or 4 months, I don't think I would hate it at all.

I agree, except that it was a 3 hour show. It really should have been an hour, but I understand they have airtime to fill.

Soooo, Cena-Rusev. At Fast Lane, Rusev should either 1. lose by DQ by not breaking the Accolade, Cena eventually passes out 2. win clean 3. win dirty

Cena should win at Mania in a way that doesn't kill Rusev.

Cena is now the US Champ. And he should hold that belt for a long time. Have him defend it often, and after several months he can drop it to an up and comer, and suddenly both the new guy and the US title are made. It also keeps Cena out of the main title picture (which I think WWE has actually been trying to do, Bryan's injury just forced their hand since no one else made sense to feed to Lesnar).

This is perfect. I actually wrote about a similar trajectory in my Raw review. I think Rusev should get DQ'd for a really violent attack to make it seem like they have a personal hatred, then the rest as you laid out.

The belief is that we're getting Bryan-Sheamus at WM 31. Fan ...tastic.

The belief is that we're getting Bryan-Sheamus at WM 31. Fan ...tastic.

Apparently they're setting up for Bryan/Kane at Fastlane. Maybe Vince figures if they make the booking bad enough, eventually people will tired of cheering for him.

I guess that's preferable to pushing him and making a pile of money off maybe the most over guy since Rock/Austin.

Berg, I can't find a RAW review on your site and when I go to the main page I don't see a link for the Rumble review either.

Site is weird about refreshing sometimes.

Here are the links: Raw Royal Rumble

Apparently they're setting up for Bryan/Kane at Fastlane. Maybe Vince figures if they make the booking bad enough, eventually people will tired of cheering for him.

Which is funny because part of the reason he got so over in the first place was because of bad booking.

I guess that's preferable to pushing him and making a pile of money off maybe the most over guy since Rock/Austin.

What fun is that?

Maybe Vince figures if they make the booking bad enough, eventually people will tired of cheering for him.

Short of "Bryan forms tag team with Zack Ryder, tag team loses feud with the Ascension, Bryan turns heel on Ryder, Bryan loses feud blowoff "I Quit" Match vs Ryder in five minute match on Raw, Bryan cuts angry promo saying he needs to return to his roots, mysterious masked American Dragon appears on Raw next week and uses Ricky Steamboat's fire-spewing entrance, American Dragon loses to Fandango in two minutes, a shattered Bryan joins New Day as Big E's footstool", I'm not sure this is possible.

(I was writing a longer post, but Conor beat me to the basic gist: when your gimmick is "technical wrestling underdog who gets over despite kayfabe and worked obstacles, poor booking isn't necessarily going to hurt your overness).

But they are doing a Bryan-Kane casket match on Smackdown Thursday. Such a dated concept.

The belief is that we're getting Bryan-Sheamus at WM 31. Fan ...tastic.

i can only hope it's as much fun as last time. i'm not even being sarcastic, i thought that was hilarious.


occams razor says they're just trying to bury him, but i wonder if it's possible that they're laying the foundation for an ROH/indy stable. the talent is there; take your pick of rollins/bryan/cesaro/owens/zayn/harper/neville/balor/itami. maybe add in an enforcer like ryback or big show to give them some added muscle. let bryan chase the WWE title; put the IC title on neville or cesaro; put the tag titles on owens/zayn or balor/itami. let those guys put on a show in the mid card, but keep pulling the rug out from under bryan until you let him break through at next year's rumble.

Occam's razor does not say they're trying to bury one of the most popular stars on their roster who actually has crossover appeal. A guy they put over 3 huge stars at WM last year.

Occam's razor does not say they're trying to bury one of the most popular stars on their roster who actually has crossover appeal. A guy they put over 3 huge stars at WM last year.

No kidding. Occam's razor says that there are more top faces than heels. It says that when you need to pair off guys to wrestle Reigns, Bryan, Sting, Ziggler, Orton, Cena, maybe Ryback, and possibly Undertaker (8 guys), and your pool of possible opponents on their level is Lesnar, HHH, Rollins, Wyatt, and maybe Sheamus, then somebody is going to have to take a non-main event match.

And Ambrose.

And even Sheamus is going to require a turn.

Yeah, they aren't trying to bury him. They've never wanted to bury him. They wouldn't be having him do all this press, putting out a DVD and an autobiography, etc if they didn't love the guy. They just don't want him to be THE guy. And he's old enough and beat up enough that that is perfectly defensible. I do think they are making a big mistake by not sticking with him while the iron is hot and giving Reigns more time to develop.

Probably the best role for Bryan is the post-return HBK slot: the guy who is intermittently in the title picture, but is really the beloved veteran trusted to make sure each show has at least one top-level match. He should get another title win or two (which HBK didn't really get), but he doesn't really need the belt.

They do have to give him a Rumble win though. The pop when that happens will be something else.

Bryan and Sheamus will be a good match if it happens. The guy it really should be is Bray. They've already built up a story, entirely by accident, that Bray is just the guy who has Bryan's number.

Bryan and Ziggler are swapping tweets about stealing the show at Wrestlemania. I'd book them to have a mind-blowing 30-minute (at least) textbook scientific showdown and Dolph ultimately stealing the win with a heel move.

A complete list of Roman Reigns' One on One PPV matches:

1. Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton, Summerslam 2014

Pushing Reigns makes sense to me, but the need to do it RIGHT NOW is baffling.

If Reigns wins, he will be the third man to ever win his first singles title in the main event of Wrestlemania. Oddly, he'll only be the second member of his family to do so.

WWE Network cleared 1M subscribers, which doesn't really surprise me, but Raw ratings being up last night certainly did.

The reason Reigns is getting this now is because Lesnar is likely leaving. Giving Bryan the Lesnar rub is unnecessary.

[445]I'm guessing the 3rd was during the 10 years or so I wasn't watching. Batista?

No kidding. Occam's razor says that there are more top faces than heels. It says that when you need to pair off guys to wrestle Reigns, Bryan, Sting, Ziggler, Orton, Cena, maybe Ryback, and possibly Undertaker (8 guys), and your pool of possible opponents on their level is Lesnar, HHH, Rollins, Wyatt, and maybe Sheamus, then somebody is going to have to take a non-main event match.

That's true, but Bryan is the most over guy on the roster. They should be booking around him, at least for now. There are reasons that he may not be the guy long term, but he is the most popular guy on the roster right now. And the guy they are going with is far from ready.

I said this before, but I'd like to see Bryan get a legit (3-4 month) run with the belt with some good opponents lined up.

That's true, but Bryan is the most over guy on the roster. They should be booking around him, at least for now.

If he's super-over without being pushed, maybe they figure they don't need to waste the energy on him. Save the booking for guys who need it.

[447] Yeah, Batista. And he actually won the world title, not WWE. Back then it seems like they were treated equally. World title main evented 20, 21, and 24. After that the WWE title was always booked higher on the card.

Yeah, Batista. And he actually won the world title, not WWE. Back then it seems like they were treated equally. World title main evented 20, 21, and 24. After that the WWE title was always booked higher on the card.

I rewatched all of this stuff recently. The World Title was the "higher" belt at that time because it was the one Triple H had and Batista was the guy the machine was behind. Meanwhile an upstart John Cena was busy earning his status.

Watching Over The Limit 2010. Looks like Orton legitimately injured himself in the Orton vs Edge match, but before that happened I couldn't figure out whether both guys were faces or both were heels or one was face and one was heel. If someone could provide that answer without spoiling anything it would be much appreciated.The fans chanted "RKO" and "Spear" at multiple points in the match, but (I think) the PPV was in St. Louis and in both cases their finishers might just be more over than they are so I couldn't tell based on that. Edge also came back as a babyface at the 2010 Rumble, which was only a few PPVs ago, but most of his career has been as a heel and the announcers seemed to be painting him as the opportunistic/rule breaking person in the match. However, the announcers also had a line about Orton threatening Vickie Guerrero, which...because she's a woman makes me think heel...but because it's Vickie they praised him for doing so so maybe face?

If anyone is interested, the first podcast for our new website is now up. I'm not sure if the subscriptions are working yet, but you can find it here: podcast

Watching Over The Limit 2010. Looks like Orton legitimately injured himself in the Orton vs Edge match, but before that happened I couldn't figure out whether both guys were faces or both were heels or one was face and one was heel. If someone could provide that answer without spoiling anything it would be much appreciated.The fans chanted "RKO" and "Spear" at multiple points in the match, but (I think) the PPV was in St. Louis and in both cases their finishers might just be more over than they are so I couldn't tell based on that. Edge also came back as a babyface at the 2010 Rumble, which was only a few PPVs ago, but most of his career has been as a heel and the announcers seemed to be painting him as the opportunistic/rule breaking person in the match. However, the announcers also had a line about Orton threatening Vickie Guerrero, which...because she's a woman makes me think heel...but because it's Vickie they praised him for doing so so maybe face?

Not sure how much 'anything' is in terms of spoiling, so without mentioning storylines that set this up, Edge was the heel and Orton was the face. Edge's face run (which mostly consisted of him trying to get people to chant 'spear!' over and over again) didn't go over so well.

WWE Rules: anyone can threaten Vickie Guerrero. Heel, face, doesn't matter, she's fair game for anyone.

Supposedly Bryan vs Ziggler is now the plan. Good luck to the rest of the card, you know those two guys are going to be hungry. It is kind of funny that Bryan plans apparently changed from one guy he worked Mania with a couple of times to another guy he's worked it with before.

- Reigns/Lesnar
- Sting/HHH
- Cena/Rusev
- Rollins/Orton
- Wyatt/Taker
- Bryan/Ziggler
- Divas match (Bellas, Paige, AJ fatal fourway?)
- Battle Royale

Any chance they limit Lesnar/Reigns to 15 minutes or so and pad things out with the worker matches instead?

I don't watch a lot of NXT. How are the heels down there? Just from watching the last Takeover it seems like every top singles guy is pretty much face except Owens. As Andrew points out in his podcast, one of the big problems with the main roster is a lack of top heels, and I don't get the impression that NXT is going to help with that. Neville seems like he might be a tweener now? Just the concept of Tyler Breeze doesn't really seem main event level.

Supposedly Bryan vs Ziggler is now the plan. Good luck to the rest of the card, you know those two guys are going to be hungry. It is kind of funny that Bryan plans apparently changed from one guy he worked Mania with a couple of times to another guy he's worked it with before.

i'd still like to see ambrose/bryan. throw ziggler in with cena and rusev to oversell everything. and if taker is gonna be on the card, i'd rather see him against rollins.

- Reigns/Lesnar
- Sting/HHH
- Cena/Rusev/ziggler
- rollins/Taker
- Bryan/ambrose
- Divas match (Bellas, Paige, AJ fatal fourway?)
- Battle Royale


as for my comment about WWE burying bryan, that wasn't meant to be a lightening rod.

Am I the only one who thinks that Sting needs a partner if he's going to have a match at Mania? His most recent work in TNA wasn't exactly promising, and it'd take some pressure off him if he was teamed with someone. Sting/Ambrose vs HHH / someone (Rollins?) would probably be a better match than Sting/HHH and it'd give Rollins and Ambrose a meaningful match.

I have no idea what they should do with Bryan here. "20 minute workfest" is probably the best case scenario, but I'm not sure who's left for him to fight. I can't imagine a good feud that'd involve a match with Ziggler and a match vs Sheamus would make everyone groan. Bryan/Jericho for the intercontinental championship might work, but the result would never be in doubt and I'm not much of a fan of Jericho's recent work. I would like the "Man who beat HHH and Batista in the same night vs Man who beat Austin and Rock in the same night" parallel, they might be able to build something out of that.

Don't rule out the possibility/likelihood that HHH is still able to carry a match with Sting. He was tremendous with Bryan (granted, it's Bryan) last year and we haven't seen him in anything less than a very good match in a couple of years.

I told myself after Reigns won that I wouldn't complain if they did a "workers" semi-main with two of Rolilns/Bryan/Ziggler. If we get that, it can be the Steamboat/Savage to the pageantry of the main event.

Grantland: WWE Thinks Roman Reigns Is Its Next Big Star, No Matter What Fans Say:

[At Royal Rumble 2014, the fans] showered boos on Batista and Mysterio and WWE in general. Batista appeared shaken as he celebrated his win... Sunday night in Philadelphia, fans got the sequel to that disaster, this time starring Roman Reigns in the role of Batista.

...Let’s get this out of the way: One year ago, Roman Reigns was insanely over... But rather than let Reigns develop into a headliner, WWE heard the cheers and decided to shove him straight into the spotlight, readiness be damned. Reigns would be fast-tracked to become the company’s new superman, no matter how fans reacted. Sunday’s debacle was inevitable. On the night that the fans rejected WWE’s plans for Batista and Bryan so forcefully that they changed the company’s narrative over the next several months, WWE failed to grasp the larger point: Fans won’t like somebody just because WWE tells them to. The “suspension of disbelief” is one of the most central ideas of modern pro wrestling — you have to give yourself over to the show, to accept its intrinsic limitations and allow yourself to enjoy it. But WWE has taken this to a whole new level — it convinced itself that fans will love Reigns in the face of so much evidence to the contrary... His victory at the Rumble makes him an even stronger symbol of WWE’s blinkered intractability than Batista was a year ago — and that’s saying a lot. So at Sunday’s Rumble, when Reigns’s impending victory became obvious, the crowd turned on him. Loudly. So loudly that WWE edited the boos out of re-broadcasts of the event and announcer Michael Cole was later forced to call the event “controversial” — a bit of doublespeak used whenever a story line or character utterly fails (and often applied to Cena in his most despised moments).

[On Raw], Reigns seemed slightly shell-shocked from the previous night. And who wouldn’t be? ...The saving grace of Monday’s show was when Brock Lesnar’s “advocate,” Paul Heyman, took over the interviewer’s duties and conferred some history and significance upon the title match. And most importantly, Heyman’s spiel allowed Reigns to be the character who had been so popular a year ago — steely, silent, and ambiguous... This was the fix WWE settled on — but it’s what it needed from the start. If this turns out to be a Band-Aid that gets replaced by further tone-deaf mythmaking for Reigns, then the fan reaction will be relentless.

...An about-face worked last year with Bryan, who went from being perennially “buried” to full-fledged World Heavyweight Champion status before his injury. WWE would like you to think it had planned that outcome all along, and that leaving Bryan out of last year’s Rumble was an inspired feat of misdirection. The debate over Bryan is whether WWE was actively trying to hold him down before fan outrage forced it to include him in the WrestleMania main event, or if it was playing the fans all along... The problem is that it spent months ignoring and discounting the groundswell behind Bryan, just like it ignored the negative response Reigns had been getting in recent weeks... The events at Sunday’s Rumble dispel the notion that last year’s Bryan story line was deliberate, because WWE still doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing... The biggest problem with the Bryan story line last year was the uncertainty of it all, the lack of storytelling. When he didn’t appear in the Rumble and WWE made no mention of him, it seemed clear WWE had hoped nobody would notice his absence. When Reigns gets the Rumble win with a booking sheet from a 1988 Hulk Hogan match, it’s clear WWE is back in wishful-thinking mode.

What’s at stake is more than just booing a character they aren’t fond of. Many fans feel ostracized from the product, having spent the last decade bored by the sovereignty of Cena. Now they look at Reigns and see Cena being created all over again, with even less emphasis on wrestling ability and coherent storytelling. The fans see this and they’re desperate to prevent it from happening. If WWE is dead set on re-creating the past 10 years instead of offering something fresh, then wrestling fans will do whatever they can to change the course of history.

...To be clear, WWE fans don’t believe any of this is real. Winning matters to them only insomuch as it predicts how WWE will book the fans’ favorite wrestlers in future events. Fans care about who main-events WrestleMania because fans know how much it means within WWE.

...[I was] asked what I thought the Rock was thinking when the boos rained down on him Sunday night. The answer is simple: He was thinking “Die Rocky Die!” — the chant he got at the beginning of his career when he was being over-pushed as a squeaky-clean blue-chipper. Rocky Maivia was like Luger and Cena [and Batista, and the first half of Randy Orton’s career, or the second half of the Ultimate Warrior’s].

...When WWE forces it, it’s more likely to derail a career than make one. The harder WWE tries, the more excruciating it becomes. I joked while watching Reigns’s Jack and the Beanstalk promo that someday we’d watch that video the same way football fans watch the clip of Joe Theismann’s leg breaking. And that makes me sad. I don’t want Reigns in the WrestleMania main event, but even more than that, I don’t want his career to be over. WWE might accomplish both the way it’s going.

A lot more at Grantland.

I just don't get why WWE is so adamant that a) there always has to be One Top Guy, b) One Top Guy is always a babyface, c) the main storyline always has to be that One Top Guy is either defending or trying to win back the world title, and d) One Top Guy doesn't have much personality, other than that he loves the fans and never gives up.

It comes down to, they still want Hulk Hogan. It's like nothing at all has happened in the past 30 years. It's so crazy.

(Hogan did inject a lot of personality into "loves the fans and never gives up", much more so than Cena or Reigns. I think that's why that at least worked for a long time.)

That is definitely a McMahon thing. WWE history can basically be divided into Sammartino-Morales-Backlund-Hogan-Hart-Michaels-Austin-Rock-Cena.

If there is a notion that it could change, it is in the fact that HHH was briefly kinda/sorta the face of the company as a heel and he is gaining booking power.

They sincerely believe that HHH riding a tank on an empty street outside WCW's loading dock was an all-time iconic moment, but that CM Punk took his ball and went home. They think that the WCW invasion needed Shane and Stephanie for the necessary "star rub" to win the fans' endorsement, but that Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan were fringe attractions.

Hogan did inject a lot of personality into "loves the fans and never gives up"

Hogan injected a lot of things.

They sincerely believe that HHH riding a tank on an empty street outside WCW's loading dock was an all-time iconic moment, but that CM Punk took his ball and went home.

I have to laugh when I watch the monday night war show and they talk about how DX, like you said, this iconic group that really turned the tide in the war. They were a part of it, but they were really a midcard act after Shawn left in 98. Basically they passed WCW because Stone Cold was the hottest star in the history of the business for a while.

Hogan injected a lot of things.

You lying bastard, those were all Hulk Hogan Children's Chewable Vitamins.

With some help from the prayers. As Hogan once said-- and this is a direct quote from WWF television committed to memory-- "The Big Hulkster in the sky gave His life on the cross so the red and yellow of Hulkamania would live forever."

I agree about the Sting/partner thing. There's not a lot in his singles wrestling at this point. Well, there's pretty much the same stuff there that there used to be, but the bar was a lot lower in the 80s and 90s

I mean, he's no Hogan, but I'd be surprised to see anything other than what you've seen for the past 20 years. But maybe we'll be surprised by his first WWE match, given the remarkably good worker that HHH is at this point in his career.

Vince McMahon brings a lot to the table in terms of running a successful wrestling promotion, but he takes some stuff off too -- the Hogan-type face booking, for one.

I think Sting and HHH can have a match that is good enough for what it's supposed to be. No one is expecting a 4.5 star technical classic, but I'm sure it will be booked with all the bells and whistles they can give it and it'll probably be pretty entertaining.
I really hadn't even thought about it, but who is gonna win that match?

@464, I don't know. I haven't seen the Monday night wars thing yet, but DX started and set the tone for the era. I agree the faded on a day to day basis, but the impact of their peak set the bar for the attitude era. But yeah, if Austin doesn't come along I don't know if the attitude era alone would've been enough.

Edit: and its a shame HHH v Sting didn't happen pre PG, a bat v sledgehammer match would've soothed a lot of the worries over Sting's limitations.

Yeah, don't discount the amount of people who loved (still love?) screaming 'suck it'. But agreed that WWE overemphasizes the group's role, especially over the course of the MNW series (still can't believe I watched an entire episode on The Kliq). If I never see clips of the DX tank or their NOD skit it will be way too soon.

Sledgehammer: worst foreign object that was so frequently featured?

Sledgehammer: worst foreign object that was so frequently featured?

depends on how you define "worst". cheese graters were (are?) pretty godawful.

WWE overemphasizes the group's role

The revisionist history about the HHH/HBK pairing is especially weird. That lasted for all of 5 or 6 months in its first iteration. I'm not even sure it would have ever taken shape if Shawn was fully healthy (broke his back at RR 98) and didn't need someone to caddy for him in matches. Even at Survivor Series a couple of months prior, it was more like a friendship than a faction.

The HHH-Gunn-Road Dogg-XPac-Chyna iteration was useful as a sort of 1B storyline. It helped HHH get over- particularly the night after WM XIV when he emerged as the leader of the reformed group- and they were good with Foley, the Nation, and whoever else was just below the Austin/Rock stuff.

Sledgehammer: worst foreign object that was so frequently featured?

My vote would be for Abyss's "Janice," but that's not a compliment to the sledgehammer.

Sledgehammer: worst foreign object that was so frequently featured?

Jeff Jarrett's guitar. I got so sick of him breaking those things over people's heads.

worst foreign object that was so frequently featured?

I would have to say Konnan.

Am I the only one who thinks that Sting needs a partner if he's going to have a match at Mania?

I think Mania should be about one-on-one matchups if at all possible. Mania matches are meant to be final statements, as it were.

There can be exceptions, of course, but I don't think this should be one. One exception is... well, there used to be these things called "tag teams"... nah, why even get into it, it doesn't matter now.

I've wanted to see Sting/Taker for years, and nothing has changed... other than Taker losing at Mania, which makes it even better. (In the sense that now, either guy could win. Really, I just want it to happen; I don't care who wins, or how good a match it is.)

As for who'd win Sting/HHH, I could take a guess...

I would have to say Konnan.

That is funny, but also, Konnan threw a shoe, and that is legitimately a candidate. Who throws a shoe??

Worst foreign object has to be the sledgehammer. Or anytime guys use cars. Basically, anytime a wrestler attempts to commit homicide.

Jeff Jarrett's guitar. I got so sick of him breaking those things over people's heads.

This is a solid choice. There were entire years where every appearance of his ended with the El Kabong.

The Honky Tonk Man is the greatest guitar-wackier of allll tiiiime.

Watching Fatal 4 Way 2010 and the crowd is regularly breaking out into "Daniel Bryan" chants. The more things change, I guess.

I'd admire the balls it would take to have Reigns go over Bryan at Fast Lane.

I think that's Roman's first pinfall loss in a singles match. Weird to give it to Big Show of all people.

Lots of new pairings tonight. Nice.

I think that's Roman's first pinfall loss in a singles match. Weird to give it to Big Show of all people.

cf. earlirer post:

Sandow's got the talent to be an upper mid-card guy in the Ziggler mold, and they need more people like that so that maybe they don't have to keep hauling Kane and the Big Show out there and putting them in important spots.

I don't think WWE sees "hauling Kane and the Big Show out there" as any sort of a problem. They just will. not. give up on those two guys, ever.

I don't know if it's simply because they're large human beings, or because they're veterans from a more successful era, or what. WWE did eventually give up on Great Khali, which I guess means size doesn't literally trump everything. But maybe it means nothing more than that there's some level of basic competence they have to uphold. (Which they gave him eight years to demonstrate his lack of.)

Anyway, it's so amazing to me how long they've been hauling Kane and Show out there like you said, and clearly getting no reaction when they do it. I wish I had a nickel for every "Your punishment is that you must face.... KANE!" (silence) promo I've ever heard. And yet, they keep doing it... year after year after year after year.

(To be clear, I think both Show and Kane were talented performers who were never used to their full potential. Show is charismatic, and one of the better "actors" in the company; Kane is an eloquent guy who should never have gotten that gimmick in the first place. But it's way too late now.)

That Ziggler-Wyatt match was really ####### good.

Ok, so Orton is interfering in the Rollins-Bryan match, about time he's back.

Looks like Wyatt-Undertaker is a go. Ugh. Whhhhhhhyyyyyyyyy.

Fantastic match

Bryan-Rollins and Wyatt-Ziggler were both excellent matches.

I didn't like the whole Reigns helps Bryan win the match to set up Reigns-Bryan at Fast Lane where honorable RR winner Roman Reigns will beat Daniel Bryan thing.

I don't know if it's simply because they're large human beings, or because they're veterans from a more successful era, or what. WWE did eventually give up on Great Khali, which I guess means size doesn't literally trump everything. But maybe it means nothing more than that there's some level of basic competence they have to uphold. (Which they gave him eight years to demonstrate his lack of.)

Khali could barely walk by the end of his WWE run. I'm pretty sour on Kane and Big Show, but they're far, far, far more competent and athletic than Khali. Kali's probably in the bottom 1% of wrestlers who've won any sort of title in the WWE, let alone the World title. He couldn't cut a promo at all. He could barely sell moves. His only good looking move was a chop that (according to other wrestlers) only looked good because he actually was hitting people with it. The real miracle with Khali is that he was ever employed in the first place, and even that was probably more due to his nationality than his size.

Kane and Big Show are easy to not give up on. They're safe in that they won't fail wellness (if that's even still a real thing) and won't say anything remarkably dumb in a media interview. They're big and they've got a long history in WWE, so it's easy to make them look strong either by in-ring beatdowns or video packages. They're competent at cutting live promos. They can work in tag team matches. They know exactly what WWE production wants in a match. They're credible enough (in theory) to be in main events, but you can make them lackeys or b storylines without (I suppose) angering them. Kane in particular has been in too many horrible storylines to count, Big Show's danced around in a diaper and had almost as many horrible comedy segments / humiliations. Big Show in particular has some of the old-style "come to our show, see the giant" carney appeal. None of this is an argument for them in anything beyond a 'midcard gatekeeper' role (Kane really should've retired after Team Hell No, and even that was a Goldust-esque career revival) but I can understand why WWE's autopilot booking keeps them employed and relevant.

None of this is any reason to put them over strong in one of the company's biggest PPV event, but

I didn't like the whole Reigns helps Bryan win the match to set up Reigns-Bryan at Fast Lane where honorable RR winner Roman Reigns will beat Daniel Bryan thing.

I think they are turning him tweener, if not heel. If they wanted to keep him face, they would have put him against Rollins.

An interesting dilemma that Austin brought up last week is that Reigns has probably never called a match, and Lesnar doesn't like to. Not a good formula for a Wrestlemania main event. I wonder if they decided to pair Reigns with a worker in order to have him call a match that the other guy can probably make look good regardless. Get him some experience and the other guy can give him pointers as they go. He really should only be working with those types from now until Mania. It's too bad they ruined Cesaro's credibility so much, he would be the ideal guy for Reigns to practice with.

They can always do a full on scripted match for Reigns/Lesnar, but who knows if either guy is up to that?

Did anyone catch the Austin-HHH interview on the Network after Raw? Kind of lame, kind of interesting.

First of all, very surreal to go from Raw directly to hearing HHH & Austin talk about kayfabe and pushes and such.

Anyway, the interview was mostly HHH ducking and dodging questions. He did say he'd like to see Raw reduced to 2 hours as it's very difficult to write a 3rd hour. I completely agreed with that.

I want a second hour of Lucha Underground.

I didn't like the whole Reigns helps Bryan win the match to set up Reigns-Bryan at Fast Lane where honorable RR winner Roman Reigns will beat Daniel Bryan thing.

I figure it's leading up to a money shot of Daniel raising Roman's arm at the end and saying, in effect, "There you go...it's okay to like and get behind this guy." Which...bleargh.

I figure it's leading up to a money shot of Daniel raising Roman's arm at the end and saying, in effect, "There you go...it's okay to like and get behind this guy." Which...bleargh.

It's just not going to work. If they think it is, I don't know what to say. Bryan shouldn't be in this match unless he's gonna win. But before the Rumble I would have said he can't be in that unless he's winning, so...

The main event last night has me really wanting a Bryan-Rollins feud.

The main event last night has me really wanting a Bryan-Rollins feud.

Ditto. I guess ideally I'd like to see Bryan wins at Fastlane, Bryan beats Brock at WM, Rollins cashes in, Bryan and Rollins tear it up all summer.

I have zero belief that will actually happen. This is my somewhat unlikely alternative theory: Bryan wins at Fastlane with the help of Rollins attacking Reigns (as payback), then at WM you get Bryan/Lesnar and a Shield 3-way (since Ambrose has nothing better to do at this point).

I don't think that will happen either. My guess is as stated above - Reigns and Bryan will fight, Reigns will win, and Bryan will come out the next night on RAW and tell people that he supports Reigns against Lesnar, but after Reigns beats Lesnar (cheers), Bryan wants the first title shot (more cheers).

I also really wish they would just leave the Undertaker retired. That was the right note for him to go out on, and pictures of him over the last 6 months have shown someone who seems to have aged 20 years in that time. I'm afraid if Wyatt tackles him off the ropes, he might just turn to dust.

I think the Bryan-Reigns thing makes Fast Lane infinitely more interesting and should help set Bryan up to do something at Wrestlemania. On the other hand, I do not think it addresses the underlying complaint about Reigns, which is that he's just not very good. He has been atrocious on the mic whenever he has had to say more than 1 sentence at a time and he has shown no ability to put together a match in an entertaining way. I don't think one match with Bryan will fix that.

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I think Wyatt-Undertaker will be fun and very good for Bray. I would book him to lose, then spend the next year beating everyone and slowly becoming more of a face just by not ever cheating. He would not wrestle all that often, but would not be pinned for the year and would be preoccupied with beating Taker. Then he would beat Undertaker at Wrestlemania 32 in Dallas in Taker's retirement match and they would do the one-knee salute thing to each other to signify passing the torch.

It will work because they're in Memphis and only fans like the ECW mutants in Philly dislike Reigns. Bryan wasn't even cheered at the end of Raw when he said he was going to beat Reigns.

I expect Rollins to cost Bryan the match at Fastlane unbeknownst to Reigns. Bryan gets Rollins at WM, goes over only for Rollins to cash in on Reigns at the end. Then you can go Triple Threat if Reigns is over enough, or Reigns-Rollins for a couple month if he isn't.

Reigns wasn't exactly booed out of the building last night but Bryan certainly got the loudest cheers of the evening.

Before the Rumble Reigns was getting lukewarm pops at best and he wasn't particularly well-received on Smackdown this past Thursday.

The worst part about Taker/Wyatt is that I can't honestly believe that Taker will lose at WM again. If he did, it would (retroactively) taint the awesome promos that Heyman had been cutting all year (21-1!)
So if Taker wins, then what? He's not coming back to wrestle, is he? So it's a one-off "goodbye" performance? To make everyone feel good about Taker again?
Then why use Wyatt? Is there enough heat on him to make Taker's win mean something?