OldStingberg

I agree that a lot of what it said isn't explicitly written beforehand. But there's absolutely no way Beth Phoenix or any of the divas themselves decided to say something as stupid as "we're girls, we might get hurt, tee hee". These ladies have been getting the short end of the stick for years. Do you honestly think any of them are going to demean themselves like that, completely going out of character to say that they can't take care of themselves because they're girls? That's insane.

Oh my god, I totally forgot to mention that. I cannot believe that that line was written, approved, and spoken. That line coming from any of the ladies would have been pretty offensive, but they managed to make it even worse by having the strong, not-a-runway-model-but-still-beautiful Beth Phoenix say it. It was like they were actively and vindictively trying to alienate their female fans.

According to one former WWE writer, HHH was supposed to put over RVD in 2002, but HHH changed those plans. Same thing happened with Randy Orton in 2004/5. That's one of the reasons that this whole thing with Punk is so frustrating. If someone didn't know better, it'd make sense to say to just sit back and wait and Triple H will put Punk over like every reasonable person would think he'd do. But for those people that know Triple H's history with putting over young, not-totally-established talents, what's happened to Punk isn't surprising.

I literally have no idea how you came to this conclusion. I'm not saying, nor have I ever said, that they should only do Cena and/or Orton main events. I'm saying they can only do those, because they don't have any other active wrestlers over enough to carry a PPV main event. I'd love it if they were headlining PPVs with Punk/Ziggler, but that's not even close to feasible right now. ...seriously? Triple H is notorious for not putting over talent. Former WWE creative members have been ranting/joking about it on Twitter a lot lately. And it's no surprise. Look what HHH has done to "elevate" Punk. Trips played the moral babyface to Punk's raging douche then pinned him in the main event at Night of Champions. Now Punk is a generic babyface with no direction, while Triple H is the star ending Raw soaking in the applause of an adoring crowd. Imagine that after everyone walks out on Triple H, Punk's music hits and he shows up and delivers that Twitter work nearly line-by-line. Suddenly he gets some positive spotlight, his character regains some of what made him wildly popular a couple months ago, and he gets a little rub from Triple H. Instead Punk's character is relegated to Twitter while Triple H is on TV basking in the chants from the crowd. And you're seriously trying to say that isn't messed up?

No. They hotshotted Punk back and put him in the main event of Summerslam with Triple H and Cena and the buyrate fell 14% from last year. And that was when Punk still had momentum. I'm not necessarily putting that on Punk, but it does clearly show that Punk's presence can't carry a PPV main event, even with Cena and Triple H involved. The idea of Punk headlining a PPV against ADR or The Miz right now is pretty crazy. Punk is in the title picture about as much as Morrison was in the title picture against Mark Henry last night. Punk got one half-assed defense of his title before they took it off of him and sent him on a run of getting pinned in every notable match he's had. He's got no momentum, no feuds, no promos, no notable wins lately, so even by WWE standards that's hard to say he's really in the title picture.

Actually, I don't care about Punk much at all. I mean, not him specifically. I care about the best workers getting over, especially when they almost single-handedly get themselves over. In this case, it's Punk. If it would have been David Otunga that pulled off the summer Punk had, I'd be rallying behind David Otunga. And you say that everyone's gotta take a backseat sometime. That's the thinking, that guys can and even should just be rotated in and out of the main event every few months when needed, that has led the WWE to the point where they are now where they have exactly two active wrestlers that can legitimately main event a PPV right now. Punk gave them an opportunity to have a third guy capable of carrying a main event, but the WWE has instead pushed him aside so that Triple H can close out shows and soak in applause from the crowd. It's pretty telling that your best comparison to what's happening to Punk is what has happened to The Miz, Swagger, and Ziggler, three young talented guys who as a result of the booking are totally and completely incapable of main eventing a PPV right now unless it's against Cena or Orton. It's an absolute shame what has happened to Punk. You can certainly like what the WWE is doing overall right now. I won't, and can't, argue that. But there's just no way to say they didn't totally mess up what Punk gave them. And I don't know why any wrestling fan, to some degree, wouldn't be a bit regretful about that.

Not to keep harping on Punk, but he'd be the perfect guy to pull off a belt switcheroo. He and his character have that reverence for the old school wrestlers and the titles they had and he would undoubtedly bristle at carrying around Cena's gaudy belt. Imagine giving Punk an extended run with the WWE title and having him bring back the eagle belt. Damn it, this is making me really want to download a real world mod and do this.

It's pretty incredible that the Summer of Punk has turned into the Fall of Triple H. It's not the COO storyline itself that is killing me right now. I don't really like it, but I could put up with it. It's that they're doing this storyline at the expense of Punk. They took the belt off him at nearly the earliest possible opportunity, they killed his white-hot momentum, they've had him getting pinned essentially close out the last three PPVs, he has no serious feuds going right now, and he hasn't cut an even-halfway notable promo in at least a month. And Punk is easily the best worker on the roster and the guy who was the WWE's best chance to be the next breakout star. It's literally almost inconceivable what has happened to him. It's very easy to see why Triple H has a reputation for having a huge ego, though. Anyway, loved the 12-man match tonight. More stuff like that should be closing out TV shows. I would have liked to have seen Zack Ryder in Mason Ryan's spot, what with my desire to see a talented worker who actually has fans get the main event rub, but whatever, if that's my biggest complaint with a match, that's fine. I continue to love what they're doing with Mark Henry and Cody Rhodes. Dolph Ziggler continues to be awesome and about as sure-fire a success as a main event heel that the WWE has right now, if they can just find a reasonable way to rid him of Vickie and the US title. All in all, I'd actually probably be loving what the WWE was doing right now if they were focusing on Punk/Cena/ADR instead of Triple H with their main program.

Some interesting news from Dana following the card. First, he said that he expects the UFC to put in a flyweight division by early next year. And second, he clarified the Japan/February cards thing. Apparently the Japan card is going to air live on free TV in the States and will lead into a PPV in Las Vegas that night. Sounds like the Japan card will be a souped-up version of the Spike prelims. I think that's an interesting idea.

I do like what they're doing with Rhodes. He's a guy that should be main eventing, but since Henry's doing such a good job, it makes a lot of sense to keep Rhodes with the IC title for a while, building up both Rhodes and the IC title. I watched the OMG DVD yesterday. I was pretty disappointed all the commentary was done in character. I thought that made it much less interesting than it could have been. But it was still a worthwhile watch on Netflix.

Anytime you have the chance to end three straight PPVs with screwy finishes that create more questions than answers, all the while jerking around two of your few potential superstars (Punk and Del Rio), and cheapen the WWE Championship even more, you've gotta take it. I can't imagine what could possibly go wrong in that situation.

Not only were they going after each other, but they were each using pretty much every weapon possible in MMA. Punches, kicks, elbows, knees, submissions, it was all there. Fun fight. I ended up having to watch a UK stream last night since I don't get Versus. As a result, I saw roughly 40 commercials for their upcoming UK card headlined by Leben/Munoz. What I thought was interesting is that they've decided to sell Mark Munoz as a muay thai master in an attempt to hype the fight. I got a good chuckle each time I heard that.

Wiman/Danzig was awesome. If someone was new to MMA, that'd be a fight I'd want them to see. Good, constant, dynamic action. One of my favorite fights of the year. I really hope the UFC adds the flyweight division soon. I'd love to see Mighty Mouse and Benavidez fight for that belt.

Yeah, I think the handshake criticism is kind of odd. The production values are truly terrible, though, even for an indy company. No one's expecting curving megatrons of doom, but the show looks only a step or two above public access. Like I said before, it looks like an indy promotion from 1990. Personally, I like that because it kind of gives me a dose of nostalgia. But if they want more relative mainstream acceptance, they're gonna have to step the production up a couple notches. Not with megatrons, but with basic stuff like better cameras, lighting, directing, etc.

So I watched ROH tonight. I enjoyed it. I liked the focus on tag teams, and the innovation the ROH guys try to bring to the ring. It makes you realize how stale 90% of WWE matches are. The production, though, was really bad. In a way, it was so bad that I found it endearing because it reminded me of watching GWF stuff back in the day. So while I'm not sure how ready they are for prime time, so to speak, I'm interested and I'll certainly be watching next week.

Jon Jones is good. I don't see anyone in the LHW division that has better than a puncher's chance against him.

Actually, it's kind of the opposite. My expectations are really, really low. Because of my history with wrestling (which I watched religiously until I was maybe 19 or 20, not just as some doe-eyed kid that didn't know better), I would totally be on board with watching it right now if it was merely mediocre. I've got a totally different standard of watchable for wrestling than I do for, let's say, Two and a Half Men. For me, personally, to get behind a standard sitcom, the sitcom would have to be really good, because it's just not something that interests me in general. But wrestling, for me to get behind that, it's only got to be mediocre. And the WWE isn't delivering that for me. But I don't want to beat that point into the ground. With The Sing Off, Castle, and Monday Night Football back, I probably won't be watching much wrestling anymore unless things change, so it's probably best for me to just move on.

Here's the thing, though. Good entertainment isn't an either/or. It's not a case of either providing answers or asking new questions. Good entertainment delivers satisfying programming while also creating intrigue for future programming. In my opinion, and it seems a lot of people's opinions considering the ratings, the WWE just isn't doing that right now. They're creating a lot of (some sort of) intrigue, but they're not also delivering satisfying programming while doing it. That's why people are saying this sucks and aren't sticking around to see where these stories end up. And trust me, I really, really want to like wrestling. It was pretty much my entire childhood. One of my earliest memories involves me when I was no more than six years old trying to sneak out of my room while grounded so I could watch some late-80's WCW. I would come home from school and watch the Global Wrestling Federation. I had two of the exact same Sting action figures and I'd have matches between the two of them. As crazy as it is for me to think about me saying this, I enjoyed The Sing-Off a lot more last night than I have the WWE since Money in the Bank, because the WWE just isn't doing a good job of delivering satisfying entertainment while also creating reasons to tune in each week, and that's a shame.

I thought Henry totally crushed his post-match promo. I was very impressed. Best part of the night.

But Swagger's the one actively campaigning for Vicki Guerrero's services. That seems like a terrible setup for a face turn.

I've got two issues with this feud. 1) It's not going anywhere. It's literally been a month of the exact same thing. Ziggler and Swagger get in each other's way somehow. Ok, let's go somewhere with that. But instead they just keep getting in each other's way. One show they had two segments spinning those same wheels in place. 2) They can't do a heel/heel feud, so one guy has to turn, but both guys have been acting like complete twits, so neither is really prepared to turn. Where can they go with this?

This PPV was like Money in the Bank, but the exact opposite. The tag match was terrible.They scuttled what would have been one of the biggest (and only) pops of the night, an Air Boom win, for some stupid finish that involved Air Boom acting like heels and Awesome Truth furthering a silly gimmick. They did nothing to move Ziggler/Swagger forward at all, let alone resolve the damn thing in any way that made sense. They didn't even let Beth Phoenix pick up the damn win in her hometown. They totally and inexplicably destroyed Alberto Del Rio, one of their best hopes for a future star. Almost overnight they turned him from a bad ass fighting champion to a total weasel who couldn't win a single clean match. Cena got the better of him in the entrance, in the intro, and in the match, giving ADR nothing except one of the worst title reigns in WWE history. And then they did the whole thing with HHH and Punk, further making sure CM Punk doesn't succeed in doing the WWE's work for them and turning himself into a bona fide superstar. I am blown away by how terrible that was. I didn't have high expectations, but even I wouldn't have thought it would have went like this.

I honestly can not believe that just happened. With as little credit as I give the WWE, even I didn't think they'd possibly have HHH go over Punk clean(ish) without someone turning heel on Punk. Wow.

Why are you being such a douche? We disagree, deal with it. There's no need to simplify things for anyone, there's no need to call anyone a brick wall because they have a different opinion.

How much of an allure is it if won't take buys away from WM at all? The real allure is only that The Rock is wrestling, not that The Rock is wrestling for the first time in seven years or whatever. That's why his return at SS won't take away a single buy from WM.