Greylocke

Santana Garrett's entrance theme sounds like.....a remix of Emma's? The similarity is extremely obvious when they faced each other last episode. Was that deliberate?

Yikes, apparently, according to Bryan's interview on ESPN, the guy has had like 10 documented concussions and seizures over the years. Whatever WWE's motivation might have been, selfish or altruistic, I'm pretty sure they just did Bryan a favour. Let the poor guy retire while he can still enjoy life. Chris Benoit would probably wish the WWE had "forced him to retire".

Finn Balor is apparently injured at a live event. Supposedly not a major one, but he's on crutches at the moment. But to me, the major thing is this: https://www.facebook.com/wwe/videos/10153518033521443/

They don't actually need new tag teams to be brought up. Sin Cara getting injured was a big blow, but they have plenty of guys on the main roster that they can use but are somehow choosing not to use in the tag team division. There was no real reason to break up Titus and Darren. I mean, I understand if they want to give Titus a singles push, I even like him personally as a singles competitor, but the guy is not even really doing anything as a singles star at the moment. He doesn't have a real feud despite getting put of TV quite often. As for the rest, Los Matadores have disappeared for no apparent reason The Wyatt Family are still around but is never in the title picture. Again there's no reason not to use them there, even if they're supporting characters for Bray's feuds. Being HHH's lackey's never stopped Evolution from going after the tag titles, and being JBL's or Edge's lackeys never stopped the Bashams and Hawkins/Ryder, so I don't see why they have to be kept away. Same with Social Outcasts. You have a new faction formed and not really doing anything. Why not the tag titles. Yeah, they're jobbers and joke characters, nobody said they have to win the titles, but again, what's the point of having teams and factions around when none of them are interested in going after what's supposedly the biggest prize for teams? On that note, even the League of Nations can get involved. It's not like any of them are getting any success on their own right now. It's not a matter of them not having enough tag teams, it's them choosing not to use what they have. If they do bring in new teams, I'm pulling for Jordan and Gable. I don't know if Enzo and Cass' shtick will work on the main roster, but I definitely have high hopes for the Alpha Americans. They look like they can fit in any time.

I don't see why the big guys should exist only to sweep the ring. In this case, their purpose is quite apparent. All of them (besides Lesnar) are there to be swept by bigger/higher-tier monsters than themselves. Titus and Ryback were there to get tossed by the Big Show (the bigger guy). The older established monsters (Show, Kane, Mark Henry) were there to put over the new monsters that the WWE are trying to establish (Wyatt Family....especially Strowman). And of course the Wyatt Family in turn get swept by the Ultimate Monster (Brock). It's not a particularly brilliant or groundbreaking concept (using established big guys/monsters to make another monster character to look even more unstoppable), but is it really any worse than the same old tired formula of "big guy comes in a toss a bunch of middle/lightweight midcarders"? In fact the latter would be exactly the kind of "repetitive booking" that you were talking about in the later part of your post, since they happen in every battle royal. I actually think it helps someone like Strowman a lot more to have him throw out Big Show, Kane and Henry as compared to just throwing out the likes of Neville and Stardust.

Wow, this Rumble crowd hates muscular big men. It's not just Roman, all the prototype big men got booed besides Superman Lesnar. Guys like Titus O'Neal usually get good reactions with the fans, but not on this night.

There's always a place for entertaining jobber groups in wrestling. That's why I said previously that Slater should form random jobber stables every couple years or so. Slater is not someone I'd ever want to see hold the World Title, but he's excellent at what he's been given to do. 3MB was awesome and could get a reaction no matter how many times they were buried. And 3MB calling out the Shield was way more memorable than any of the other random trios of super-faces going against the Shield.

OMG, I heard they actually did Wyatt Family vs Slater's new stable like I was hoping for! Pity it's not at the PPV, but I'd take what I can get. Can't wait to watch RAW this weekend.

Heath Slater needs to form random jobber stables every couple years or so with whomever that happens to be jobbers at the time. Hoping for an encounter between Slater's new stable and the Wyatt Family during the Rumble!

Of course the polls are legit. If WWE had been rigging their polls then Evan Bourne wouldn't have been so shocked at Mason Ryan accidentally winning the votes over Sin Cara due a to technical glitch several years back. Caught last week's NXT.....now that was an main event where the crowd is actually into the characters. A match between a returning top face and a midcarder, with predictable results, but the crowd reaction alone was enough to make it more entertaining than the Balor/Joe title match. I know they were getting ready to promote Zayn to the main roster before he got injured, but I hope he sticks around on NXT a bit more until they build up another top face I can care about. It says something about the lack of personality in your champion when a midcard heel is getting better reactions. The Sasha/Becky match on RAW illustrates the WWE's major problem at their "Divas Revolution". 5 minutes into the match and the crowd found it boring. It certainly wasn't because they didn't care about the competitors, because they were red-hot during the first 5 minutes. They were certainly more into Sasha than they were into the League of Nations. Great ending sequence woke them up again, but a crowd like that probably isn't going to react well to 30 minute Iron Women matches.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="lr10540" data-cite="lr10540" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>In fairness,most baby faces are boring. It's why I'm a pro heel fan. The only baby faces I like, generally, are the ones more in the middle; edgy type characters, or cocky and charismatic a la Enzo and Cass. The vanilla, white meat baby faces suck.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's why I think Bayley is an absolute gem. Most of the fans these days have been demanding "cool" and "edginess" from the babyfaces and absolutely refusing to get behind the pure innocent and fun-loving babyfaces, but Bayley somehow manages it to win the fans over with a character like that. She's one of the very few (in fact the only one in recent years) who manage to get to this level of popularity without ever being forced to be "edgy" or "show a darker side to her character", or (as so many women had been made to do) use sex appeal as a tool to get over. She's just a nice girl who genuinely likes what she's doing and really wants everyone to enjoy it with her. A talent like that is rarer than one who's good at being cool or edgy, because everyone is trying to do the latter these days, and frankly I'm getting a bit turned off by that. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Wrestling can a form of "wish-fulfilment" fantasy to some, and in that regard it's occasionally nice to see genuinely nice guys and girls actually having good things happen to them by staying nice, and people (the fans) actually feeling happy for them as a result. It's nice momentary escape from the cynical real world we live in. :/</p><p> </p><p> So many of the teens and smarks had been leery about the WWE's "PG" and kid-pandering approach, and the clash in interest is understandable. But it <em>is</em> nice (and undeniably good for business), I think, to be able to have a strong babyface who can make children smile by stepping into the shoes of their fantasy heroes and heroines without having the other parts of the fanbase turning on them. Bayley is one of the few who proved she can manage that, and I think the WWE needs to hold on to her for dear life if they wants someone like that as the face of their women's division.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="iruleall15" data-cite="iruleall15" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Am I the only one who doesnt give a damn about Balor? Since he has won the title theres been no storyline until this one with Joe. Im just not caring about him as a character or champion.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="petecrimson00" data-cite="petecrimson00" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>1. Yes. Balor got everyone's attention with a gimmick and will not keep their attention as the guy is INCREDIBLY boring. I'm glad I'm not alone in this. Guy can work, but in terms of entertainment and mic work, guy looks like a fish out of water.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I thought I'd voice my agreement on these, as I've just finished watching NXT London (Yes, I'm way late to the party.....I normally get my wrestling 1-2 weeks later than they air in the US, so I haven't even watched the Slammys yet). These is possibly the first NXT live event where the main event is the match I care least about. There's nothing wrong with the action, in fact it was very good and fun to watch, but this is the only match where I just don't care about who wins. I was really rooting for Enzo, Cass, Bayley, Asuka, even if I wasn't expecting some of them to win. I wasn't that invested in Crews/Corbin either, but the crowd reaction made it more fun than expected and I found myself going along with them to root against Corbin (not so much <em>for</em> Crews, though, it's the heel that gets my attention here).</p><p> </p><p> That's the thing about the crowd: it looks like they might be of the same mind as I was for the most part. They appreciate the good action in the main event, there were generic cheers, applause, and chants about "This is wrestling". They know it was a good match....but the guys in the ring didn't get the kind of fun sing-a-long, character-specific chants that Asuka, Bayley and Enzo were getting earlier. They enjoyed the match, but were not as interested in the characters. Action-wise it was way better than Bayley vs Jax, but it's clear that the latter is the one that really gets the audience emotionally-invested.</p><p> </p><p> I heard a lot of complaints (not talking about this board specifically, but on the internet in general) that the WWE has the tendency to use the same mould to create their top babyfaces, that they're trying too hard to make Roman Reigns the next John Cena, and that Cena was just a modern Hogan, etc.....well, I think NXT is starting to develop a similar problems. There's been way too many new babyface character coming out of the same mould because of their similar backgrounds: </p><p> </p><p> "He/she's always wanted to do this as a kid, had wrestled all over the world, paid their dues in various independent leagues, devoted most of his/her life to perfecting their crafts, sacrificed blood sweat and tears, yada yada.....and finally, they're fulfilling their lifelong dreams making it to NXT/WWE!"</p><p> </p><p> I get that for most of them it's a legit part of their history, and I'm not asking for the to pretend it didn't happen, but I'm really not that interested in seeing everyone from Finn Balor, Becky Lynch to Apollo Crews all saying the same kind of things in most of their promos....especially when I've already seen Sami Zayn do it before and do it so much better (mostly because he's way more natural on the mic and a much more convincing talker). I mean, it's a nice way to <em>introduce</em> a new character, but when you've been the top champion for a couple months now, I need to see more than that for you to stand out in my mind. It reminds me a bit of Chris Benoit's World Title reign. The way it started was great, the story of how he finally "made it" and prove that he's main event material was well-booked and the moment when he stood at the end of WM with the title was awesome....but two months after his big win and he's still trying to convince the crowd that he's "4-REALZ" and I just switched off after that.</p><p> </p><p> It doesn't help that, despite finally having an actual feud, his storyline is just too much similar to Sami Zayn's with Kevin Owens. Hardworking underdog babyface getting betrayed by a longtime friend because the friend wants the World title he has. It's a very similar storyline, except when the last time it happened I actually cared and really wanted Sami Zayn to kick Owen's ass. Now I just don't. Of course, part of it is also Joe not being as good a heel as Owens IMO.</p><p> </p><p> Now, speaking of Kevin Owens, <em>that</em> was an example of how you can retain the same background and still come up with a good character. Kevin Owens had similar backgrounds as the afore-mentioned babyfaces, but in his case all the sacrifices he's had to make and his desire to provide a better life for his family made him more mercenary ("prize-fighter") and ruthless. That makes him stand out. In two weeks, he's shown more personality than Finn had done in 2 months. Of course, the fact that Owens had a heel turn gave him more material to work with, but I need to hear something more Finn other than how much he's loved wrestling since young, how hard he's worked to get here, and what so many faces have already said for months. Some people can say and do the same thing every week and still make it entertaining (Enzo and Cass), Finn Balor is NOT one of those people. They need to come up with better material for him. So far the most memorable thing about him is his elaborate entrances.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Self" data-cite="Self" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>NXT was fun again this week. I'd never seen Enzo Amore and Big Cass do their thing before. It's awesome. Very Road Dogg. The girl they have with them takes it down a notch, more due to her being a heel and them being such lovable babyfaces. They are babyfaces, right? <p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> They're faces. I think the problem was that Carmella was originally meant to be a face as well when she debuted with them, but she didn't connect with the crowd. The fact that her designated jobber, Blue Pants (whom I think originally was brought in for a one-time job), unexpectedly became vastly popular with the crowd to the point that they kept bringing her back due to popular demands and seems like may even become a permanent member, probably didn't help her.</p>

It really did, though. Rico was WAAAAAAAAY over with the crowd during his face run despite never really getting a strong push. No one even cared about Charlie Haas after his partner Rico got injured despite the tag team itself being really over. Rico was the one getting all the pops.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> Most other heel stables didn't call out the ENTIRE ROSTER the second night of it's debut and make them all look pathetic.</p><p> </p><p> It's about not standing there like a female dog doing nothing while 3 pansies, the guy who could never hold number 2, and a retired guy in a suit purposely involve all of you just to teach you you're nothing.</p><p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> You'd be surprised at how many people in real life are slaves to some retired guy in a suit because that guy in a suit can take away your job and deprive you of the ability to support your family. It'll be <em>completely</em> unrealistic for majority of those guys standing at the ramp to just throw away their job because they were asked to watch someone getting bullied, which doesn't cost them anything. They weren't told to get down on their knees and kiss the boss' ass like Big Show was forced to 2 years ago (and nobody came to his help then either, I might point out); they weren't even forced to pay their respects to the new champion Orton, they were just there as an audience. What happens in the ring is no different from any underdog vs Authority story that we've seen many times before, and just like in most of those cases, the underdog is expected to fight his own battles, not to have the rest of the roster save him and make HIM look like a pansy.</p><p> </p><p> What's it about watching the scene from the entrance that makes this situation so different from all those other storylines of big bullying stables? If the guys were watching backstage on the monitors and still chose not to come out and help, they'd still be doing something against the spirit of the anti-bullying campaign. Being at the entrance doesn't make a difference.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>If you're not going to fight for your dignity, what are you going to fight for?<p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Oh, I don't know......the ability to continue earning a living for those who might depend on you? If Kofi Kingston, who just had a newborn daughter and probably needs all the income he can get, is going to throw all that away because his boss was bullying some guy that his wife and kids probably didn't even know, how the hell do you expect him to explain that to his family?</p><p> </p><p> Heck, we even have a real life example. How long did Mick Foley "quit" the WWE for his "dignity" after watching Bret Hart get screwed? How many guys really quit for real after witnessing this injustice? A grand total of one! At the end of the day, providing for their family is what ultimately matters to the wrestlers. It's <em>far</em> more realistic that seeing the entire roster walking out, which was never going to happen in RL.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I don't expect bullying to be gone. I do expect a bunch of grown men who travel the country preaching standing up for what is right to stand up for what is right. Not doing anything basically tells kids they've been lying, and standing up to bullies is a bad idea. It's just going to end worse for you.<p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Oh, come on now, are you saying that if an actor or movie star were to get involved in an Anti-Bullying campaign like this, they should never, ever play an onscreen character that does something against the spirit of the campaign? Remember, MARK HENRY was one of the speakers during the campaign, and that was <strong>back when his character was basically a bully</strong> onscreen. Did any kid call him out for being a liar? Give the kids some credit, they can tell the difference between the two and understand that what the wrestlers do onscreen do NOT represent what the actual message that the performers are trying to send. As long as the bullies do eventually get their comeuppance at the end, the right message is being sent.</p><p> </p><p> Besides, a kid reading The Hobbit isn't going to go "BOO! This random dwarf didn't stand up against the big bullying dragon!", all he cares about is that the hero, the hobbit himself, DID stand up against the dragon. Likewise, kids watching RAW isn't going to care that Yoshi Tatsu wasn't standing up against the heels, all he's going to think is that Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler are cool for daring to do what no one else dare to do by defying the authority. The hero of the story is supposed to be the role model here, not the random mooks standing watching by the side. Stone Cold wouldn't be the star that he is if everyone else on the roster were sticking it to the boss like he was.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>You don't know how things are going to go down?<p> </p><p> Bryan wins the belt at Survivor Series. Orton wins the belt back at Royal Rumble. The rumble then becomes a battle to see who takes on Orton at Mania to finally put an end to this stable. Cena makes a huge return during it, wins it, and goes on to defeat Orton at Mania to become champion yet again and ensure the world knows that only he can stop fore... er, defeat evil.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Like I said, you can be skeptical about the future of the storyline, I already said there's nothing wrong with that. I personally won't be surprised if the WWE does screw this up, but as it is, I don't see anything wrong with what happened last Monday night yet.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="panix04" data-cite="panix04" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I like the analogy but in the wizard of OZ even the cowardly lion had the minerals to help Dorothy on her mission <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> mind you if the cowardly lion's contract had been threatened he probably would have just joined TNA, less travelling (pesky yellow brick roads)</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> The Cowardly Lion did try to help Bryan, too, and so did the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. Their names are Dolph Ziggler and the Big Show, and just like the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, they got completely dismantled by the Winged Monkeys (the Shield) for their troubles. And the Cowardly Lion (Mark Henry) only helped after the cameras stopped rolling, because he's Cowardly. <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> If the entire roster had stormed the ring and taken out the heels, it would be more like the kingdom of the Winkies rising up and overthrowing the Wicked Witch by themselves and rescuing Dorothy from her instead of vice versa. In that case, Bryan won't be the hero, the knight in shiny armour, he'd just be the damsel in distress.</p><p> </p><p> I saw that you were upset about Dolph Ziggler not being the man to put a stop to the heels, but remember that the hero of the story is supposed to be Bryan, not Dolph. Dolph isn't Dorothy, he's more like the Scarecrow, the hero/heroine's companion, therefore his place is to get dismantled by the evil lackeys so that Dorothy can save the day later.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Corporation had the Union. Not the most talented bunch to stand up, but a group did in fact come together to stand up. </div></blockquote><p> </p><p> As 2 other guys have already pointed out, the opposition didn't appear on the SECOND night of the heel stable's debut, which is what you seem to be expecting. How do you know that a group won't eventually form to oppose this new Shield/HHH/Orton faction? You may be skeptical about whether this will happen in the long run, and there's nothing wrong with that, but to complain about it not happening in the second night is <em>really</em> reaching.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>3 men against The Shield is fair. More baby faces jump on them and they start to look like the bad guys for using numbers.<p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><p> Weren't you the one who was saying "They can't fire everyone! If everybody walks down the ramp against the bullies they will win!" So which do you want to happen? The entire roster coming down to Bryan's rescue and completely neuter the heel stable on the second night of their debut and "look like bad guys for using numbers?" Or a few select babyfaces to do that and get fired, because while McMahon can't fire EVERYONE, he can jolly well fire the 3-4 babyfaces that may be thinking of helping Bryan out. </p><p> </p><p> It's quite realistic in that regard. The Superstars know that McMahon can't fire everyone, but they also know that not everyone will be trying to help, so nobody wants to take that first step. They know that individually, most of them are quite expendable. The few guys who might have still tried to help despite the risk are given an excuse. John Cena (the ultimate good guy) is not there; CM Punk (the rebel who stood up against HHH and Johnny Ace 2 years ago) was taken out by Brock; Big Show (who has an ironclad contract) was taken out earlier by the Shield; Kane (Bryan's best pal) was taken out by the Wyatt Family. The only remaining guy present who I can picture <em>may</em> try to interfere is Mark Henry.</p><p> </p><p> Remember how the Big Show was willing to go down on his knees and cry and plead for Laurinaitis not to fire him? I know Stone Cold set up the fantasy image of how the good guys must always rebel against the evil boss, but realistically, such characters should be extremely rare. Most people simply won't risk their jobs that way, especially not for a guy who probably wasn't even their friend. I can see rare circumstances like the Usos being willing to stick out their neck for each other, but I don't see anyone (kayfabewise) who would do that for Bryan besides possibly Kane. At this point, HHH and Orton hasn't done enough harm to the rest of the roster yet to trigger that kind of reaction.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>You're talking about a group of men who travel the country PROMOTING NOT BEING BULLIES AND STANDING UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT. To then turn around and do the exact opposite spits on the entire campaign and makes it look exactly like the joke it's been since they started it. How can ANYONE who stood on that stage on RAW now go to ANY school and speak to kids about the Be A STAR campaign? <strong>They've lost all credibility</strong>.<p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> They'll only lose credibility if:</p><p> </p><p> 1) The bully is actually portrayed as a good guy/babyface;</p><p> 2) The face commentators are making the bullies out to be role models and condone their actions;</p><p> OR </p><p> 3) The bullies end up winning the war and go unpunished.</p><p> </p><p> Those conditions may have happened for some of the other storylines, but for this current on we're talking about, 1 and 2 hasn't happened, and it's too soon make statements on 3. That'll be like picking up a fairytale book, reading only the first 2 chapters, and then go on to complain "Hey, this book is a bad example to kids because the bad guys don't get punished and get away with all the bad stuff they did!", despite the fact that the ending of the book may very well have ended with the bad guys getting their comuppance.</p><p> </p><p> Are you <em>seriously</em> expecting the WWE to erase every trace and element of bullying from their angles and storylines? That's what heel stables are all about, using their numbers to bully the weak! Or that everytime they use that number advantage they should <em>immediately</em> have their advantage nullified because, hey, we can't have an episode end with the big bad bullies getting the upper hand!??</p><p> </p><p> To me, one of the many things that really weakened the Nexus' image as a threat was the fact that on the <em>second</em> week of their debut, John Cena summoned a bunch of allies and immediately neutered their one and only strength, numbers. Something like that should only happen near the end of the storyline, where all individual attempts at tackling the stable by themselves have failed. If you're going to throw water on the Wicked Witch in the 1st or 2nd chapter, you might as well just end the story right there. Daniel Bryan is the protangonist now, let him be the sole underdog in the spotlight standing against the bullies for now, and see how things go down in the future.</p>

You can pretty much ask the same question every time a big evil stable is in charge. Why didn't everyone just gang up on the evil McMahon and is Corporation back in the Attitude Era? Why didn't the whole roster unite against Vickie Guerrero and La Familia? Heck, why didn't the whole roster just get together and beat up the Shield for the last few months? Why were there never more than 3 guys getting together to fight them at the same time? I think history has told us that wrestlers for the most part are a self-centred bunch and it takes a lot for several of them to get together for a common cause. Actually, a very simple explanation in this case would be that most of the wrestlers don't even care that much about Daniel Bryan anyway. Daniel Bryan's character hasn't really been the most sociable guy. I mean, his best pal was Kane (who wasn't around on RAW), and even Kane couldn't stand him half the time! I really don't think half the roster cares enough about him to risk antagonising the boss. Yes, it was an injustice, but if the good guys are running out to help every time someone is in need we'll be seeing random run-ins in 90% of the matches and angles in wrestling.

I'm surprised that the announcers haven't brought up the fact that Christian won his first World Title by defeating Del Rio (or if they did I totally missed it). That can add on to the idea that Christian is the one guy who seemingly has Del Rio's number every time, given he's also beaten him 2 consecutive times recently.

Caught RAW really late this week, just yesterday, and as already been mentioned, Miz TV segment was awesome. Although I'm getting worried about the Special Referee thing. They need to be careful not to let the HHH/McMahon storyline take over too much that it might overshadow the Cena/Bryan match. So far it's working fine, with McMahon's stereotypical image (that he loves big jacked guys, discriminates against small indy/non-homegrown talents, etc) providing a good foil for Bryan's character, but there's a line they have to look out for in case they step over it. I don't really think the match needs a special referee. I'm also worried about the Summerslam Main Event turning into one big overbooked angle focused on Vince trying to screw Bryan and HHH countering his attempts. One thing I like about the Battle Royal after the ending: usually when a defeated wrestler gets into the ring while the winner is celebrating, the crowd gets excited to see whether he attacks or gives him a handshake. But when Henry got into the ring it was literally silence descending and you can almost feel the crowd going "Oh ****, what's he going to do to Van Dam?", kind of like the moment in a good horror movie right before the victim opens the door where the monster/serial killer/some other spooks is presumably waiting behind and the audience just watch with their breaths held preparing for the scream. Good moment, even if one can see the friendly fist-bump coming.

Yeah, if there's one bad thing I can say about that RAW main event, it's the fact that I can't imagine Cena and Rock to be able to top it at Wrestlemania. That was a WM main event-worthy match right there.

The guy who no-sold Cena's offense last PPV. I see Ryback winning the Royal Rumble and end up facing Big Show for the WH Title at Mania. Or he could face Ziggler, after the latter cashes in on Sheamus after he wins the Chair Match. WWE has the habit of using the WH Title to "trial-run" their new main eventers, so I won't be surprised if they do this to Ryback as well. Besides, the spectacle of Cena taking out a seemingly-unstoppable giant has been done to death already. Meanwhile, Punk drops the title to Rock, or get in a 3-way feud with Rock and Cena for the WWE title. As for Ziggler/Cena, I see a great chance of AJ costing Cena the match somehow, just to keep up with their storyline trend of AJ being painted as a liability to every man she's involved with so far.