The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*

[iruleall15]

....Blah hey look Vince Seth seems to be getting a lot of heat from the fans...lets feed him to John Cena

 

Sounds about right... The second I seen Cena come out in the segment it was obvious... Cena is using his backstage politics to the max lately

[UkWrestleFan]

Sounds about right... The second I seen Cena come out in the segment it was obvious... Cena is using his backstage politics to the max lately

 

Or maybe the company want to increase ratings and merch revenue.

[K-Nection]

Or maybe the company want to increase ratings and merch revenue.

 

Cena is not the only one capable of selling merch. Punk out sold him so they turned him heel to thank him (there was sarcasm in this statement if you can't tell). I was actually loving the direction John Cena was going up until Battleground because they was keeping him away from a championship he doesn't need.

 

I'm glad John Cena has actually made the U.S. Title mean something because that belt has been the red headed step child for a long time. But him rubbing shoulders with World Title Picture is the last thing that is good for business.

 

I've actually started respecting him a little bit (until Battleground) because he was actually not as Supermanish. He was showing he has flaws he was looking a tiny bit interesting he looked like he was willing to give back to the business. But alas after that win at Battleground where they made Owens tap Cena might as well keep that belt till he retires because he has killed his biggest challengers momentum in taking it.

 

And if they hold a multi-man match for Cena to not take a direct loss to pull the strap off of him then there was no point in building that belt to mean something. We all see the writing on the wall WWE is ready to push him back to the main event again and be as stale and generic as he always was.

[K-Nection]

Actually this might sound crazy but they should go ahead and have Seth vs. John but do something crazy...have John lose clean. Seth Rollins would be legitimized and John Cena can go back to the midcard and keep working with those guys. These are some of the best matches I've seen that guy perform in a long time and I was actually looking forward to seeing those.

[Russelrules44]

Or maybe the company want to increase ratings and merch revenue.

 

To be fairly honest; I saw this coming. Ratings have been down recently and again to be honest; Seth has kinda gotten lazy in his ring-work other than matches against Dean Ambrose.

[K-Nection]

To be fairly honest; I saw this coming. Ratings have been down recently and again to be honest; Seth has kinda gotten lazy in his ring-work other than matches against Dean Ambrose.

 

Honestly I think they have almost pissed away possible opponents for Seth. They had 4 strong opponents at the beginning of his reign and in 3 months burned through all 4 of them. Honestly that should have lasted him until Wrestlemania next year but they are already looking to John Cena 3 months into the title reign. It's kind of sad really but what can I say that has not already been said. Well I'm going ahead and do what is popular and blame Kevin Dunn!

 

Edit: I'm actually more invested in the "diva revolution" than I am with the title pictures at the moment. 5 years ago I would've slapped the hell out of myself for saying that but it is the almost the most interesting thing going on at the moment besides the re ignition of The Undertaker vs. Brock feud. Forgive me but I'm not overly hyped about the match for The Undertaker vs. Brock because of Taker's age and not going to be able to hold up as well as he would have 10 years ago against him. It might even be a retirement match for him which is a chilling thought to think.

[RKOwnage]

To be fairly honest; I saw this coming. Ratings have been down recently

 

That's exactly it. Why is Taker coming back? Why is Sting supposedly coming back? Why is there a Divas revolution? Why is Brock on TV more? Why is Cena in the title feud?

 

All of these answers point to two things - ratings and money. Cena is a cash cow no matter how you slice it and the fact of the matter is, at this point in his career, Kevin Owens is not. Cesaro is not. Rusev is not. Bray Wyatt is not. Hell, Seth Rollins isn't. People aren't paying to see Seth main event PPVs right now.

 

Sure, the point is that they should have been building new moneymakers and they haven't been, so this is a patched-up plan to go all-out for SummerSlam. I don't know why it's surprising though.

 

Also the hate Cena gets is insane. Why is it that every time he beats someone the IWC likes, it's his "creative control" at work? He's shown he's more than willing to put people over and do what's best, but WWE doesn't want to put these guys over him because they're milking him til he retires. Because he makes the most money.

[UkWrestleFan]

That's exactly it. Why is Taker coming back? Why is Sting supposedly coming back? Why is there a Divas revolution? Why is Brock on TV more? Why is Cena in the title feud?

 

All of these answers point to two things - ratings and money. Cena is a cash cow no matter how you slice it and the fact of the matter is, at this point in his career, Kevin Owens is not. Cesaro is not. Rusev is not. Bray Wyatt is not. Hell, Seth Rollins isn't. People aren't paying to see Seth main event PPVs right now.

 

Sure, the point is that they should have been building new moneymakers and they haven't been, so this is a patched-up plan to go all-out for SummerSlam. I don't know why it's surprising though.

 

Also the hate Cena gets is insane. Why is it that every time he beats someone the IWC likes, it's his "creative control" at work? He's shown he's more than willing to put people over and do what's best, but WWE doesn't want to put these guys over him because they're milking him til he retires. Because he makes the most money.

 

Great post.

[Anderz]

Ok, so John Cena is the best wrestler in the world right now. No debate. I know that it's still (for some reason) the cool thing to hate on him and blame him for how ridiculous his character is booked; but he is without doubt the best worker in the world. Should Owens have won the U.S. Title? Probably. But then because we've already blown through three matches between this pair in as many weeks we're still nowhere near Summerslam which would have been the sensible place to end Cena's reign.

 

The booking of Cena is obviously a different matter - he should lose a feud every once in a while; he should have lost to Wyatt or Rusev or Owens because he is the only full time member of the roster that winning a feud over actually matters. And that's the problem. They've booked themselves into a hole. Cena is the only person who actually matters (and maybe Lesnar but he's not full time) - so a win over Cena means something; but if everyone beats him it means nothing. You don't want to put just anybody over Cena, but then there's no one else on the roster who means anything. So we go round and round and round. The whole roster is full of people who don't really mean anything for more than a few weeks and any match that has potential to actually ignite a character or two has already happened 20 times on TV before we even get to a PPV. So why should anyone care any more?

 

The in-ring product is perhaps the best it's ever been but the only way I've found to tolerate the silly "nothing really matters" booking is to just watch the network specials and nothing else. That way I haven't seen Wyatt vs Reigns on TV 12 times and the match up is actually fresh and interesting. But ultimately the outcome doesn't matter anyway; because once the feud is over they'll go back to facing each other in nothing matches every other week until the roulette wheel stops and they are paired up to feud again.

 

The in-ring quality is awesome but the product and company is stale as hell. It's the done thing to blame Kevin Dunn; but if NXT is any indication of what the future holds I can't wait for Vince and Dunn to get out and Triple H to save the damn product.

 

In other news, the Divas Revolution - while great on paper, irks me a bit. Why do we need to be told that there's a Revolution. They've basically said "our current divas all suck, so here are some new ones who are much better but unless you've been watching NXT you have zero reason to care about any of them" and they've been set up to fail. If they don't replicate their classic NXT matches then everyone will complain. But they are forgetting that those matches weren't just thrown together they were built towards and had a reason to happen.. I get that they want to refresh the division; but surely something more natural is better than this? Oh and Brie looks even more out of her depth now than she did before.

 

Finally, why is a fat old man doing an Undertaker impression ruining my main event? Ugh. And to make matters worse the booking doesn't make sense. Is he face or heel? He's acting like a heel but getting face reactions (but then really, who other than Sheamus isn't?) he's ruined a decent match where the heel was getting decimated by the face (which doesn't really work but Rollins was selling his ass off and Lesnar is Lesnar so we'll let them off) and then the old man with a grudge turns up unannounced and sticks his fat gut into things. Why did he bother with the Wyatt match at Mania and not go after Brock then? Raw might tell me (probably won't) but I'll wait until Summerslam to find out why.

 

 

All in all; I love watching the network specials because I don't watch Raw or Smackdown but there are some things that just don't make any sense whatsoever to me any more.

 

Rant over. Apologies.

[djthefunkchris]

I'm way behind with watching any wrestling this year. I tried to keep up at the beginning of the year, and did pretty good up til' mania. I've failed miserably since.

 

Anderz and RKOwnage, those were some good objectional posts (don't really consider it a rant Anderz) and I just wanted to let you know I appreciate posts like that. K-Nection, I liked your posts as well, although they weren't as objectional, they were still enlightening. I come here every now and then, and find more and more posts such as the ones I pointed out, and it makes for good reading. I'm sure everyone knows, but in case you don't, I'm one of many that sometimes isn't around to comment for a good length of time, but still reads along as much as time permits. Especially when some of us really don't have time to "catch-up" on three months of TV.

[Bonafide_Bluffa]

Ok, so John Cena is the best wrestler in the world right now. No debate. I know that it's still (for some reason) the cool thing to hate on him and blame him for how ridiculous his character is booked; but he is without doubt the best worker in the world. Should Owens have won the U.S. Title? Probably. But then because we've already blown through three matches between this pair in as many weeks we're still nowhere near Summerslam which would have been the sensible place to end Cena's reign.

 

The booking of Cena is obviously a different matter - he should lose a feud every once in a while; he should have lost to Wyatt or Rusev or Owens because he is the only full time member of the roster that winning a feud over actually matters. And that's the problem. They've booked themselves into a hole. Cena is the only person who actually matters (and maybe Lesnar but he's not full time) - so a win over Cena means something; but if everyone beats him it means nothing. You don't want to put just anybody over Cena, but then there's no one else on the roster who means anything. So we go round and round and round. The whole roster is full of people who don't really mean anything for more than a few weeks and any match that has potential to actually ignite a character or two has already happened 20 times on TV before we even get to a PPV. So why should anyone care any more?

 

The in-ring product is perhaps the best it's ever been but the only way I've found to tolerate the silly "nothing really matters" booking is to just watch the network specials and nothing else. That way I haven't seen Wyatt vs Reigns on TV 12 times and the match up is actually fresh and interesting. But ultimately the outcome doesn't matter anyway; because once the feud is over they'll go back to facing each other in nothing matches every other week until the roulette wheel stops and they are paired up to feud again.

 

The in-ring quality is awesome but the product and company is stale as hell. It's the done thing to blame Kevin Dunn; but if NXT is any indication of what the future holds I can't wait for Vince and Dunn to get out and Triple H to save the damn product.

 

In other news, the Divas Revolution - while great on paper, irks me a bit. Why do we need to be told that there's a Revolution. They've basically said "our current divas all suck, so here are some new ones who are much better but unless you've been watching NXT you have zero reason to care about any of them" and they've been set up to fail. If they don't replicate their classic NXT matches then everyone will complain. But they are forgetting that those matches weren't just thrown together they were built towards and had a reason to happen.. I get that they want to refresh the division; but surely something more natural is better than this? Oh and Brie looks even more out of her depth now than she did before.

 

Finally, why is a fat old man doing an Undertaker impression ruining my main event? Ugh. And to make matters worse the booking doesn't make sense. Is he face or heel? He's acting like a heel but getting face reactions (but then really, who other than Sheamus isn't?) he's ruined a decent match where the heel was getting decimated by the face (which doesn't really work but Rollins was selling his ass off and Lesnar is Lesnar so we'll let them off) and then the old man with a grudge turns up unannounced and sticks his fat gut into things. Why did he bother with the Wyatt match at Mania and not go after Brock then? Raw might tell me (probably won't) but I'll wait until Summerslam to find out why.

 

 

All in all; I love watching the network specials because I don't watch Raw or Smackdown but there are some things that just don't make any sense whatsoever to me any more.

 

Rant over. Apologies.

 

^ this guy gets it

[GhostDogg]

I want to follow up what Anderz said.

 

Sadly John Cena is booked up like this generation's "Hulk Hogan". Only not as bad. I mean I agree that Owens, Cesaro and of course Wyatt, should have gotten over him, and I also agree that he should be NO WHERE NEAR the Main Event Title Picture. You see there are 2 types of people in wrestling.

 

1. Is the wrestler who needs a title to stay relevant (i.e. Nikki Bella, The Miz, and sadly... Triple H.)

 

and

 

2. The Wrestler who is over and DOESNT NEED the title to be relevant or loved (Dean Ambrose, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin)

 

At this point Cena needs to accept that hes not a spring chicken anymore and he needs to groom the next generation for Main Stage, kinda like what Angle did for him. I was liking what Cena was doing with the U.S. Title invitational matches every week, and he brought new life into his arsenal, with his matches with Zayn, Neville, Cesaro, Rusev, and of course, Owens, but whats the point when you put him in another title match with Rollins for the WWE WHC, (which we ALL know hes gonna win), but at the end of the day.. whats the point?

 

I mean I can list a hand full of people that could go into the Main Title picture and it would cause more of an impact than Cena's. (And NO I DONT HATE CENA. I actually respect the guy. I just HATE hows hes booked).

 

Oh well... we can only wait and see.

[K-Nection]

Oh let me go on record on saying that my hate for Cena is not that I hate Cena himself. I will echo some other things. I hate how he is booked. I hate that the character smiles everything off and is Superman in jean shorts. But as far as John Cena the person I respect him. He is constantly turning a bad situation into a good one. He is epic at making a crowd cheer for him even though they hate his character. But yes the character is as fresh as the pyramids in Egypt.

[RKOwnage]

Totally agree with ya Anderz, you said it much better than I did.

 

In other news, the Divas Revolution - while great on paper, irks me a bit. Why do we need to be told that there's a Revolution. They've basically said "our current divas all suck, so here are some new ones who are much better but unless you've been watching NXT you have zero reason to care about any of them" and they've been set up to fail. If they don't replicate their classic NXT matches then everyone will complain. But they are forgetting that those matches weren't just thrown together they were built towards and had a reason to happen.. I get that they want to refresh the division; but surely something more natural is better than this? Oh and Brie looks even more out of her depth now than she did before.

 

It's the same reason that every time anything happens at WrestleMania, Cole lets us know that we're watching a "WrestleMania Moment" ... WWE wants to 'be there' when a moment happens so they can capitalize on it and (see my previous post) make money off of it. That's why they're branding it a revolution and basically burying their current Divas - only the Bellas make them any sort of revenue and so they're trying to shoot three talented ladies into the spotlight using their "Revolution" tag to get people to watch. It's the same reason they had Stephanie introduce them. Steph is a big face in the company and so they trust that people will listen to her and take this revolution as legitimate. So people will watch.

[Remianen]

Also the hate Cena gets is insane. Why is it that every time he beats someone the IWC likes, it's his "creative control" at work? He's shown he's more than willing to put people over and do what's best, but WWE doesn't want to put these guys over him because they're milking him til he retires. Because he makes the most money.

 

Ok, so John Cena is the best wrestler in the world right now. No debate. I know that it's still (for some reason) the cool thing to hate on him and blame him for how ridiculous his character is booked

 

Because creative control works both ways. It's the proverbial double edged sword. Just like you can turn down things that make you look weak, you can also speak up for things that help the business in the long run at your own temporary expense. Owens beating Cena clean would have made him, particularly in the eyes of the casual fan (hardcore fans already knew who Steen was). Storyline injury at Raw postponing the title match to SummerSlam, Cena's 'never give up' spiel in the runup, and a clean win would've catapulted Owens.

 

In the short term, yes, what seems to be happening now is good for business right now. But once the Rumble rolls around, you'll be back in the same position that has become customary: two or three bonafide stars with Cena at the top and a HUGE falloff.

 

2. The Wrestler who is over and DOESNT NEED the title to be relevant or loved (Dean Ambrose, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin)

 

That's some rarified air you're putting Ambrose in. I think a better comparison would be Taker in his prime (who, not surprisingly, was a contemporary of those two). More recent examples might be Daniel Bryan and Punk. But I'd hesitate to put Ambrose in that category because there's no point of reference. He doesn't need a title he's never held? How do you know? If he has a weak title reign (maybe as bad as Kane's first one), what would that do to his appeal? We don't know that. Rock & Austin proved their pull with and without the title. Mind you, I love Ambrose (and typically love antiestablishment type characters) but I'm not ready to anoint him yet (mainly because I'm leery on how the writers would book him as champion. I think they'd give him the Wade Barrett treatment, not knowing how to book a 'loose cannon' type at that level).

 

I don't have a dog in this race since I don't really care what happens either way. It just seems to me like they're waiting for another 'Austin 3:16' moment to spontaneously create a new franchise player. Cena was created in a similar fashion (though not from a single moment) so it seems like they're hoping someone at the midcard level just spontaneously combusts and becomes red hot inexplicably. (I note 'inexplicably' because if they could explain it or figure out how it happened, they'd be replicating it on a massive scale).

 

EDIT: I should note that, unsurprisingly, I hope the diva revolution actually happens but I'm not optimistic. The 'E has too much riding on the Bellas remaining 'on top' (who's going to carry Total Divas if the Bellas aren't front & center and 'kept strong'?) so I doubt they're going to be allowed to lose, overall. I fear it's going to devolve into the same ol, same ol' with Nikki keeping the title (further diminishing its importance) and the other "teams" self-destructing in short order.

[Russelrules44]

Because creative control works both ways. It's the proverbial double edged sword. Just like you can turn down things that make you look weak, you can also speak up for things that help the business in the long run at your own temporary expense. Owens beating Cena clean would have made him, particularly in the eyes of the casual fan (hardcore fans already knew who Steen was). Storyline injury at Raw postponing the title match to SummerSlam, Cena's 'never give up' spiel in the runup, and a clean win would've catapulted Owens.

 

In the short term, yes, what seems to be happening now is good for business right now. But once the Rumble rolls around, you'll be back in the same position that has become customary: two or three bonafide stars with Cena at the top and a HUGE falloff.

 

 

 

That's some rarified air you're putting Ambrose in. I think a better comparison would be Taker in his prime (who, not surprisingly, was a contemporary of those two). More recent examples might be Daniel Bryan and Punk. But I'd hesitate to put Ambrose in that category because there's no point of reference. He doesn't need a title he's never held? How do you know? If he has a weak title reign (maybe as bad as Kane's first one), what would that do to his appeal? We don't know that. Rock & Austin proved their pull with and without the title. Mind you, I love Ambrose (and typically love antiestablishment type characters) but I'm not ready to anoint him yet (mainly because I'm leery on how the writers would book him as champion. I think they'd give him the Wade Barrett treatment, not knowing how to book a 'loose cannon' type at that level).

 

I don't have a dog in this race since I don't really care what happens either way. It just seems to me like they're waiting for another 'Austin 3:16' moment to spontaneously create a new franchise player. Cena was created in a similar fashion (though not from a single moment) so it seems like they're hoping someone at the midcard level just spontaneously combusts and becomes red hot inexplicably. (I note 'inexplicably' because if they could explain it or figure out how it happened, they'd be replicating it on a massive scale).

 

EDIT: I should note that, unsurprisingly, I hope the diva revolution actually happens but I'm not optimistic. The 'E has too much riding on the Bellas remaining 'on top' (who's going to carry Total Divas if the Bellas aren't front & center and 'kept strong'?) so I doubt they're going to be allowed to lose, overall. I fear it's going to devolve into the same ol, same ol' with Nikki keeping the title (further diminishing its importance) and the other "teams" self-destructing in short order.

 

This guy gets it. Except for the last one; i'm going to be hopeful yet cautious on the Divas Revolution.

[Moe Hunter]

In amongst this character vs person talk re: John Cena, let's take a second to remember that it was his idea to squash The Nexus at Summerslam '10 - including the specifics of leaping up after the DDT to the floor, and single-handedly beating Barrett & Gabriel in quick succession. Edge and Jericho tried their best to talk him out of it, but he was having none of it.

[K-Nection]

In amongst this character vs person talk re: John Cena, let's take a second to remember that it was his idea to squash The Nexus at Summerslam '10 - including the specifics of leaping up after the DDT to the floor, and single-handedly beating Barrett & Gabriel in quick succession. Edge and Jericho tried their best to talk him out of it, but he was having none of it.

 

Yup thanks for reminding me...yea Cena is an a$$H01e!

[DaMegaFish]

I went to Smackdown the other night. Boring show. I'd blame a dead crowd, but there was absolutely nothing to get excited about. Cesaro vs Rollins just didn't seem like they went well together. Maybe it'll come off better on TV, but the show just felt flat. That probably has a lot to do with basically every bit of fallout from Battlegrounds involves guys who only work on Monday.

 

If you don't want Smackdown spoiled don't read any more of this post!

 

Opening match Sheamus vs Ambrose- Sheamus wins after Ambrose is distracted by a Bray and Luke distraction. No physical interaction between Ambrose and the Wyatt family.

 

Neville beat Adam Rose in a match that didn't last long at all. It was what you would expect from anyone going against Adam Rose at this point in terms of time.

 

Rusev vs Kevin Owens- This was good for the action that was in it. Maybe I'm a bit biased because I like both these guys alot, but Owens walked out on a match again bringing it to a unsatisfying close. I know they can't give away all the big matches on TV, but its getting old watching Kevin Owens dip out of each match early and then lose when he doesn't.

 

Sasha Banks and Naomi vs The Bella Twins

With Paige doing Tough Enough on Tuesday, the Bellas are face for a night again...and they win.

 

Cesaro vs Rollins- As I said before, something just felt like it was missing in this match. This should by all means be excellent and it just felt flat. Maybe since the rest of the show didn't have really good action the crowd was just bored out of it. The crowd did get excited at the end. Rollins won cleanly, but Kevin Owens who had verbally got in to it with Cesaro before this match backstage came down and laid some boots in to Cesaro. Rollins decided to come back and become best friends with Owens until Ambrose's music hit and he ran down to the ring. Ambrose with a kendo stick makes the save and Cesaro recovers. Owens runs away, and Rollins gets elbowed through a table. I think the Owens attack on Cesaro will probably be what closes Smackdown, since he kinda posed over a downed Cesaro for a while before Rollins came back.

 

There are two matches on that show that should have been highlights of the night, instead the highlights were a Stardust promo and a verbal spar between Owens and Cesaro. Cesaro just felt like he was sinking in his promo before Owens walked in, but then he picked it up.

 

Locally, a "Lincoln Street Fight" was advertised on the radio from what everyone was saying, but that obviously never happened.

 

If this show comes off on TV like it did in person, this will probably be one of the worst Smackdowns in a while.

[ThriceP86]

That's too bad Smackdown wasn't all that great because RAW was off the hook on Monday! Seriously, I was entertained by this weeks RAW and without the match quality dwindling. It had hints of a DQ era... oops, I mean an attitude era RAW. (Seriously, go back and watch the Attitude Era RAW's on the WWE Network and count the DQs...)

[Mootinie]

In all honesty, and this is from Jericho himself, Cena did regret doing that the moment he walked through the curtain. Straight away, he told both Edge and Jericho that they were right and that he should have put The Nexus over.

 

I don't know, I don't blame Cena for these problems and I'm not even mad that he beat Owens. U.S. Champion Kevin Owens would have to lose to NXT Champion Finn Balor at Takeover. Besides, if Owens was called up and was just beating jobbers, he wouldn't be anywhere near as relevant as he is having feuded with Cena. He owes John a lot, Cena made him look great in their matches and I'm sure Owens will have his day eventually - if at all.

 

It's just aggravating to me that Summerslam will be headlined by Lesnar vs. Taker. I have no doubt it'll be a good match, but it's the same CM Punk situation where a guy like Rollins busts his ass all year and works with all the crap they give him... just to get bumped down the card so a part-timer can headline instead. It's almost as though they're telling their audience that the younger guys just aren't stars, so here's some guys you liked ten years ago instead. How can they build stars if they aren't even willing to put them at the same level as the part-timers?

 

I miss when WrestleMania was headlined by Austin and The Rock, not because of how great they were but just because it was super nice to have those events headlined by the guys that were the most over throughout the year. Now if you're a Rollins, or a Punk, you have to play second fiddle to these old buggers because WWE don't believe you're a draw. I liked the build to Mania with Reigns, the crowd treated him with apathy, sure, but having a new guy in the mix like that was very refreshing.

 

Now nobody is getting elevated, they've booked themselves into a corner where they have no top face for Rollins to feud with, so it's back to the Cena well, a program they did no less than a year ago, and one that I have no interest in whatsoever. I can't be the only one, right? It's happened, it was completely forgettable, now they're doing it again as a marquee match? Ugh, I'll pass.

[smurphy1014]

In all honesty, and this is from Jericho himself, Cena did regret doing that the moment he walked through the curtain. Straight away, he told both Edge and Jericho that they were right and that he should have put The Nexus over.

 

I don't know, I don't blame Cena for these problems and I'm not even mad that he beat Owens. U.S. Champion Kevin Owens would have to lose to NXT Champion Finn Balor at Takeover. Besides, if Owens was called up and was just beating jobbers, he wouldn't be anywhere near as relevant as he is having feuded with Cena. He owes John a lot, Cena made him look great in their matches and I'm sure Owens will have his day eventually - if at all.

 

It's just aggravating to me that Summerslam will be headlined by Lesnar vs. Taker. I have no doubt it'll be a good match, but it's the same CM Punk situation where a guy like Rollins busts his ass all year and works with all the crap they give him... just to get bumped down the card so a part-timer can headline instead. It's almost as though they're telling their audience that the younger guys just aren't stars, so here's some guys you liked ten years ago instead. How can they build stars if they aren't even willing to put them at the same level as the part-timers?

 

I miss when WrestleMania was headlined by Austin and The Rock, not because of how great they were but just because it was super nice to have those events headlined by the guys that were the most over throughout the year. Now if you're a Rollins, or a Punk, you have to play second fiddle to these old buggers because WWE don't believe you're a draw. I liked the build to Mania with Reigns, the crowd treated him with apathy, sure, but having a new guy in the mix like that was very refreshing.

 

Now nobody is getting elevated, they've booked themselves into a corner where they have no top face for Rollins to feud with, so it's back to the Cena well, a program they did no less than a year ago, and one that I have no interest in whatsoever. I can't be the only one, right? It's happened, it was completely forgettable, now they're doing it again as a marquee match? Ugh, I'll pass.

 

Two words: Kevin Dunn.

 

Sadly I think we will see this kind of roller coaster type booking of the younger talents until HHH and Stephanie take over. I will admit the brawl Monday was awesome (especially live) but to me the World Title match should always be the main event. Putting a match between a part timer and a once (or twice) a year guy on last last devalues the World Title and the champion. Only time I can see not having the World Title match as the main event is at the Royal Rumble.

[milamber]

Two words: Kevin Dunn.

 

Sadly I think we will see this kind of roller coaster type booking of the younger talents until HHH and Stephanie take over. I will admit the brawl Monday was awesome (especially live) but to me the World Title match should always be the main event. Putting a match between a part timer and a once (or twice) a year guy on last last devalues the World Title and the champion. Only time I can see not having the World Title match as the main event is at the Royal Rumble.

 

Personally, I think the PPV cards should be ordered from least important to most important match. ROH, NXT and Lucha Underground could get away with it because they pay attention to all parts of their rosters so the hottest feuds could easily headline at least some PPVs/Specials. At the last Takeover I would have booked Sasha vs Becky as the main event if not for Owens vs Zayn. The Championship match isn't always going to be the best or most hyped match on the card. The problem with WWE is they don't pay enough attention to half their roster and care too much about social media and merch sales. So it makes sense to build the card around either Lesnar, Cena or the Championship match if neither are in it because no one else really matters to them right now.

[Big Roguey]

So, it looks like Hogan is persona non gratis in the WWE. Rumour has it a tape with Hulk being a massive racist is due to be released into the media and it seems WWE have gotten the jump on him and removed all traces of him from the website (Tough Enough website only has D-Bry and Paige as judges and you have to search to get to his wwe.com profile and even then it says the page is missing).

 

Also connected to this is Curtis Axel's profile on wwe.com going back to his normal look.

[milamber]

So, it looks like Hogan is persona non gratis in the WWE. Rumour has it a tape with Hulk being a massive racist is due to be released into the media and it seems WWE have gotten the jump on him and removed all traces of him from the website (Tough Enough website only has D-Bry and Paige as judges and you have to search to get to his wwe.com profile and even then it says the page is missing).

 

Also connected to this is Curtis Axel's profile on wwe.com going back to his normal look.

 

There's also a rumor that the audio in question is 3 years old. WWE must be pretty worried because last year he was in the Top 10 for merch sales.