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


Adam Ryland

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Guy has been rumored to have a shoulder injury for what, like 2 years? They had all that time to plan these 6 months around Mania, instead they tried to push through it, including this latest break where they tried to heal a bum shoulder by just not having him work. Guys break down on the WWE schedule, and it doesn't help WWE pushes them well past when they should have been shut down for surgery/recovery.

 

Spot on with Cena. Pushing off surgery and making guys work intense schedules with it is just horrible. I don't know if this injury was just bad luck or the schedule. He took all off some of October, all of November, and most of December then gets injured a few weeks into the new year. The dude's body has to be trashed with his history of rushing back from injury I imagine. Especially at 38.

 

That said, with the aid of modern "medicine", I could see Cena making it back, but I think he'll still miss Mania.

 

Guys, remember that surgery isn't always a panacea. Not every shoulder injury requires surgery or is even a good candidate for surgery. If he had, say, a partially torn labrum he could easily work through that (well not "easily" but he's not a pitcher or a quarterback so it might not affect him as much). If surgery required him to miss 8-12 months (which some surgeries do involving that joint), there's no way he'd agree to something like that. It's not all the company's doing (at least not directly). As we've seen over the last several years, sometimes athletes themselves decide to go with "alternative methods" (whether rest, rehab, electrical therapy, stem cell injections, or any of a hundred "new techniques") and eschew surgery. Examples? Kurt Angle and his neck. Rey Mysterio and his knees. Kane and his knees. Randy Orton and his hypermobile shoulders. Sometimes you make a "business decision" with your health. I could definitely see Cena trying to push back a surgery that would have him out for half a year or more.

 

I think the only truly healthy people on the roster are people like Zach Ryder. :p

 

I agree with crownsy though. How's the old saying go? Necessity is the mother of invention? Last time WWE was in a situation similar to this, they rebounded by bringing back Brock and pushing the Shield to the moon. That got them three "stars" and a Beast. Now you have people like Kevin Owens and Bray Wyatt on the fringes and, if they quit jobbing him, Cesaro's a possibility too. In-ring quality is far better (with an actual tag team division worth watching and a divas division that isn't complete crap) and the only roadblock is the writing, really. But that's a HUGE roadblock. They even hit the panic button and brought Vince back onscreen.

 

But, I don't think AJ Styles is going to be the AJ of old. His primary finisher was taken by a lesser diva (and Taker's wife) and his style is way too similar to Neville (though a lot more polished, obviously). I think they'll make changes to that and I'm hoping he can still retain some of what made him the performer he's always been. I can't even imagine how they'll market him since so many of his monickers are taken or close to existing workers (Phenomenal is too close to Taker's Phenom, for example).

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A WrestleMania ticket is 600 dollars??? :eek:

Tickets for myself, my wife and my soon to be 5 year old daughter + parking. I'm super happy that my daughter loves it. My dad got me into it when I was 3 or 4. Some of the best memories I have involve wrestling. The Hogan/Rock staredown is probably my favorite I saw growing up.

I took her to the Legends Edition of Raw that came through a few months back. She loved it. She was doing all the chants and cheers and such. It was cool! I don't think she'll appreciate having been at Wrestlemania until she's older, but I couldn't exclude her! As far as my wife, I've corrupted her to become a fan lol.

 

Might include airfare and hotel.

Nope, I live in the Dallas area. 45 minutes from Jerry World (AT&T Stadium).

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I keep hearing that the in-ring quality is much better these days, but every time I've tried to tune in to the show somebody like Sheamus or Big Show comes out and I immediately change the channel. Perhaps I should DVR the next episode of Raw and see if anything catches my eye.

 

It's mainly due to the new guard. If you watch a Kevin Owens-Cesaro match or Owens-Neville or probably the best tag team match since Edge & Christian/The Hardys/Dudley Boys was the triple threat tag team ladder match from TLC (New Day vs The Usos vs The Lucha Dragons). It's probably best to watch the beginning of Raw since it seems common to have them open (after the initial talky-talky). But the old guys basically wrestle the same as they've done for the last 10 years.

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I keep hearing that the in-ring quality is much better these days, but every time I've tried to tune in to the show somebody like Sheamus or Big Show comes out and I immediately change the channel. Perhaps I should DVR the next episode of Raw and see if anything catches my eye.

 

Yeah you are going to have to hit the fast forward button on almost everyone over 38....But anyone that is not the same guys you seen lumbering around for a decade are having fantastic matches. Hell Cena was even having fantastic matches because he was working with new "dance partners". If you seen one Shemus match you have seen them all same goes for Kane and Big Show.

 

The tag team matches are reminding me of that era of the big 3 but they are still dominated by the New Day (They are the only entertaining promos of the show IMO). The Divas matches are now watchable but the story is pretty garbage. If you are watching NXT there are no "writers" involved it's the trainers and road agents writing the shows and it's great.

 

One thing they are finally doing right is booking Roman Reigns to not speak alot and just be a face style monster. Until this man can cut good promos that is exactly how they should tread with him.

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So its been building up inside me and I need to finally vent my frustrations with WWE and Roman Reigns... I am sorry for my potential foul language.

 

 

 

Am I the only one sick and freaking tired of WWEs mentality that Faces cannot lose? They are untouchable and must be kept to look like god in human form? Especially Reigns who has 0 talent what so ever. How in the hell is he WWE champion? The man has 3 damn moves and thats it. His Superman Punch, Spear i think, and his stupid freaking Drive By. The same crap every match. The only reason he is over is because its moves that pops. His moves are that of a high flier without the high flying. It gets the sheeple(The children, females, and some males who only watch WWE and cheer the faces/boo the heels becauase WWE says to) excited which is complete trash. Lets get to his mic work... He might be the worst talker in the company. He makes Axel look good on the mic. Obviously the women cheer for him because all they go for it looks. Hes a good looking man but thats it. How has he evolved since Shield broke up?

 

 

Same theme. Same attire. Same moveset. WHY IS HE BEING PUSHED ANYTHING PAST MIDCARD!! Is the Dwayne really that good as kissing VKMs backside? Why is Reigns on top? Why cant WWE push the men who actually have talent? Wyatt carried the entire feud with Reigns? All the mic work was done by Wyatt. Look on Raw the segment with Reigns and Sheamus. Neither man is any good on the mic. Sheamus is just stale and a half no matter what he does. He isnt interesting. This Reigns/Sheamus crap is worse than the never ending ADR/Sheamus storyline for the WHC.

 

 

But why does WWE seem to think they need 1 guy to be the end all? Look how it worked for Cena... Wrestling has borderline died because of him. WWE has been terrible for almost 10 years now. Do they not see that the greatest way to keep a fresh product is to have no top guy but a crop of top guys who all can be the "Face" when needed. Austin, Rock, Taker, HHH, Michaels, ect all dominated the attitude era together. No guy was shoved down our throats. No one was booked to be untouchable. Hell how many times did Rock lose to Hurricane?

 

 

The fact that Vince feels the need to find a new Cena instead of giving everyone a chance and having fresh crop of people at all times is why this company needs to die IMO. It wont get better. Maybe im not into wrestling anymore. Even NXT seems to have lost its touch since Kevin Owens left. Balor is boring me to death. Gable/Jordan is the only thing in NXT that I love. WWE I cant even watch. Whats the point? I can call 99% of the matches now. Its not fun. There is no midcard storylines anymore. They dont book guys strong. Its either Main Event superman or pure burial.

 

 

But back to WWE. How is it guys like Wyatt, Ziggler, Barrett get shafted while a nontalented trash like Ryberg and Reigns are given more than they deserve?

 

Also where in the hell is Ambrose character? How is he unstable? WHAT HAS HE DONE TO BE UNSTABLE? More like uninteresting. His Shield Promos were great. I loved his ability to talk. But now he is so damn stale i hate him with a strong passion.

 

 

So to end my rant here is how you fix WWE.

 

 

1. GIVE EVERYONE AN ACTUAL GIMMICK!! Stop is the 1 name BS like Cesaro, Neville, Rusev. Its completely retarded.

 

2. Storylines. Idk wtf is going on in the uncreative department but changes are needed. They need fresh ideas. They need fresh storylines. They need to stop making the top 5 faces unstoppable. No one should be book as strong as Reigns is. Its not needed. The sheeple have a short memory. So why bother keeping him strong? Hell why bother caring who they like when they will love anyone you tell them to. Its the hardcore fans they need to listen to. The hardcore(ICW) are the fans who know talent most of the time. They are the reason DB got to the top, why CM Punk excelled.

 

3. Stop with the Top faces being kept stronger than the WWE title itself. The title no longer means anything. Its the Top 5 faces first followed by the title. That needs to stop. The WWE title should always be the end all in the company. That should be everyones goal.

 

4. No more authority figure vs "underdog" babyface who is also being booked stronger than Superman on steroids... Its been dead since Austin vs McMahon. You cant recreate it. Just stop trying.

 

 

Thats the end of my rant. For now.

 

 

TL;DR

 

Reigns is crap, WWE sucks, and im sick of this company.

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You don't like what is going on in the WWE? Don't watch. Unless Vince or HHH are coming to your house, no one is forcing you to watch the WWE on TV or PPV.

 

There are several alternatives out there to get your wrestling fix besides the WWE. But don't expect any game-changing ideas, storylines or gimmicks because everything in wrestling that has happening now has been done before. With the possible exception of Joey Ryan's dong style. :D

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WWE is a mixed bag and always will be. No point in complaining to the point that you give yourself a hernia.

 

The good thing about WWE is you can easily access it after it's aired live and fast forward the boring bits. You can even ignore the TV shows and just watch the PPVs/Specials so it feels more fresh when you watch. NXT have a got a batch of new guys and girls coming through a few times a year so any time they hit a slump it doesn't last long.

 

The talent in the roster is probably the best it's been in the last decade. Fingers crossed Vince and the creative team stop trying to swim upstream to repeat the past and start making better use of what they have instead.

 

Alternatively there is ROH, New Japan, Lucha Underground to watch.

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My biggest disagreement withthe rant is that they should listen to the hardcores. That's extremely ignorant. The hardcores are such because they love you wrestling. Vince would have to run a real life Big Show/Bossman funeral angle just to get the IWC to turn away. Even then, they'll be back! The IWC will buy merchandise based on who they believe should get pushed, so that's a non point.

 

The casual fans are what need to be catered to. They're the people you're trying to turn in to consumers for life. They're the ones that watch when their other show is running a commercial. You must find ways to get them engaged in your product. If women see a Roman Reigns instead of a Daniel Bryan, they're probably more likely to keep watching.

 

As far as pushing those that "deserve" it. They usually have a decent idea of why they don't push someone. It seems with DB they felt his body couldn't hold up to the champion's schedule with all his indy career and his in ring style. Punk, I can only imagine it being his look and then his attitude. While he was major over, his post wwe interviews paint him as being a complete dick backstage. Why give someone like that all the leverage, even if his burial of backstage going ons was spot on?

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So its been building up inside me and I need to finally vent my frustrations with WWE and Roman Reigns... I am sorry for my potential foul language.

 

 

 

Am I the only one sick and freaking tired of WWEs mentality that Faces cannot lose? They are untouchable and must be kept to look like god in human form? Especially Reigns who has 0 talent what so ever. How in the hell is he WWE champion? The man has 3 damn moves and thats it. His Superman Punch, Spear i think, and his stupid freaking Drive By. The same crap every match. The only reason he is over is because its moves that pops. His moves are that of a high flier without the high flying. It gets the sheeple(The children, females, and some males who only watch WWE and cheer the faces/boo the heels becauase WWE says to) excited which is complete trash. Lets get to his mic work... He might be the worst talker in the company. He makes Axel look good on the mic. Obviously the women cheer for him because all they go for it looks. Hes a good looking man but thats it. How has he evolved since Shield broke up?

 

 

Same theme. Same attire. Same moveset. WHY IS HE BEING PUSHED ANYTHING PAST MIDCARD!! Is the Dwayne really that good as kissing VKMs backside? Why is Reigns on top? Why cant WWE push the men who actually have talent? Wyatt carried the entire feud with Reigns? All the mic work was done by Wyatt. Look on Raw the segment with Reigns and Sheamus. Neither man is any good on the mic. Sheamus is just stale and a half no matter what he does. He isnt interesting. This Reigns/Sheamus crap is worse than the never ending ADR/Sheamus storyline for the WHC.

 

 

But why does WWE seem to think they need 1 guy to be the end all? Look how it worked for Cena... Wrestling has borderline died because of him. WWE has been terrible for almost 10 years now. Do they not see that the greatest way to keep a fresh product is to have no top guy but a crop of top guys who all can be the "Face" when needed. Austin, Rock, Taker, HHH, Michaels, ect all dominated the attitude era together. No guy was shoved down our throats. No one was booked to be untouchable. Hell how many times did Rock lose to Hurricane?

 

 

The fact that Vince feels the need to find a new Cena instead of giving everyone a chance and having fresh crop of people at all times is why this company needs to die IMO. It wont get better. Maybe im not into wrestling anymore. Even NXT seems to have lost its touch since Kevin Owens left. Balor is boring me to death. Gable/Jordan is the only thing in NXT that I love. WWE I cant even watch. Whats the point? I can call 99% of the matches now. Its not fun. There is no midcard storylines anymore. They dont book guys strong. Its either Main Event superman or pure burial.

 

 

But back to WWE. How is it guys like Wyatt, Ziggler, Barrett get shafted while a nontalented trash like Ryberg and Reigns are given more than they deserve?

 

Also where in the hell is Ambrose character? How is he unstable? WHAT HAS HE DONE TO BE UNSTABLE? More like uninteresting. His Shield Promos were great. I loved his ability to talk. But now he is so damn stale i hate him with a strong passion.

 

 

So to end my rant here is how you fix WWE.

 

 

1. GIVE EVERYONE AN ACTUAL GIMMICK!! Stop is the 1 name BS like Cesaro, Neville, Rusev. Its completely retarded.

 

2. Storylines. Idk wtf is going on in the uncreative department but changes are needed. They need fresh ideas. They need fresh storylines. They need to stop making the top 5 faces unstoppable. No one should be book as strong as Reigns is. Its not needed. The sheeple have a short memory. So why bother keeping him strong? Hell why bother caring who they like when they will love anyone you tell them to. Its the hardcore fans they need to listen to. The hardcore(ICW) are the fans who know talent most of the time. They are the reason DB got to the top, why CM Punk excelled.

 

3. Stop with the Top faces being kept stronger than the WWE title itself. The title no longer means anything. Its the Top 5 faces first followed by the title. That needs to stop. The WWE title should always be the end all in the company. That should be everyones goal.

 

4. No more authority figure vs "underdog" babyface who is also being booked stronger than Superman on steroids... Its been dead since Austin vs McMahon. You cant recreate it. Just stop trying.

 

 

Thats the end of my rant. For now.

 

 

TL;DR

 

Reigns is crap, WWE sucks, and im sick of this company.

 

I agree with your rant on Reigns. I think we are heading into a dark time to be a WWE fan.

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I agree with your rant on Reigns. I think we are heading into a dark time to be a WWE fan.

 

You are insane with Styles, Mr. YEAOOH, Gallows and Anderson on there way to the WWE, John Cena going part time, Seths face return, the rise of Owens, Balor/Zayn/Gable/Jordan/SAWFT/Bayley all coming up to the main roster, one of the biggest Wrestlemanias, a new refreshed Smackdown and the divas division getting stronger 2016 is going to be awesome for a WWE fan, but hey thats my opinion.

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So, I just watched Smackdown. I know it's early, but I really like the addition of Mauro Ranallo to the commentary team.

 

He seemed to know what he was talking about, and he was a breath of fresh air from the usually terrible WWE commentary. If they put him on events over Cole, I'd definitely be happy with that.

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So, I just watched Smackdown. I know it's early, but I really like the addition of Mauro Ranallo to the commentary team.

 

He seemed to know what he was talking about, and he was a breath of fresh air from the usually terrible WWE commentary. If they put him on events over Cole, I'd definitely be happy with that.

 

Yep, his selling of the Main Event was masterfully done and the Intercontinental Championship looked golden as an accolade once more. I agree that he is ages better than Cole and brings out a lot of emotion to the table. Plus, King has turned heel, so it's one more plus!

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You are insane with Styles, Mr. YEAOOH, Gallows and Anderson on there way to the WWE, John Cena going part time, Seths face return, the rise of Owens, Balor/Zayn/Gable/Jordan/SAWFT/Bayley all coming up to the main roster, one of the biggest Wrestlemanias, a new refreshed Smackdown and the divas division getting stronger 2016 is going to be awesome for a WWE fan, but hey thats my opinion.

 

The main event scene could suck because of Reigns even if the under card is good. I am honestly afraid WWE will screw all the NJPW talent over and feed them all to Reigns and Cena. Which would be terrible.

 

I agree. You might even say it will be a Reign of Darkness. When it Reigns it pours, so it might seem like it's hopeless, but don't worry; after the Reigns always comes the sun.

 

At least you have a sense of humor about it.

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Smackdown got 2.75 million viewers and deservedly so. It was a really good show. The Del Rio match presumably set up a US Title match at the Royal Rumble. The 2 title matches had well booked finishes to escalate the feuds heading into the Royal Rumble.

 

Ranallo is great. He adds a big fight feel to the matches, puts the titles and wrestlers over, and keeps the focus on the in-ring action. King is more tolerable as a heel and less overbearing than JBL.

 

As for the Rumble match, I hope AJ Styles debuts. I don't expect Reigns to retain. Having him chase the title on the Road to Wrestlemania would be more interesting. Lesnar, HHH, Sheamus and Owens are the only winners that make sense to me but Lesnar is probably most likely.

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The Main Event would suck just because of Reigns? Jesus Christ, why do I still read this...

 

LMAO....this right here! The uncalled for hate on Reigns now is baffling me. He is actually being booked the way he should have been all along and you are complaining about that. Nobody complained when he was the sole survivor at Survivor Series because he was booked as a bad*** monster. Nobody complained when he eclipsed Kane's Royal Rumble eliminations because he was a bad*** monster.

 

But then he started being fleshed out in a terrible direction going as far as doing horrible impersonations of looney toons characters. Yeah that sucked and I crapped on him for that one. But it took almost a year to distance himself from that direction and we are finally getting the bad*** monster again and some of you are still complaining.

 

We know he can't talk yet but they seem to be covering that weakness up and the guy can work the crowd very well in the ring. The guy looks like a million bucks and is not sloppy in the ring at all. You guys need to step back and chill for a second....who else is in the correct position to be built going into Wrestlemania? Not Dean Ambrose, Not Kevin Owens, Not Dolph Ziggler...

 

I remember 2 years ago when people were fantasy booking Roman Reigns to take the streak. No matter how you look at it he has the biggest mass market appeal. We all know that trying to turn Kevin Owens into the face of the company would be a bad move from a business standpoint. That guy is only going to sell T-shirts to hardcore fans because he hasn't been around long enough.

 

Who else can they throw that belt on going into Wrestlemania that we have not seen done before and still make sense?

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Smackdown got 2.75 million viewers and deservedly so. It was a really good show. The Del Rio match presumably set up a US Title match at the Royal Rumble. The 2 title matches had well booked finishes to escalate the feuds heading into the Royal Rumble.

 

Ranallo is great. He adds a big fight feel to the matches, puts the titles and wrestlers over, and keeps the focus on the in-ring action. King is more tolerable as a heel and less overbearing than JBL.

 

As for the Rumble match, I hope AJ Styles debuts. I don't expect Reigns to retain. Having him chase the title on the Road to Wrestlemania would be more interesting. Lesnar, HHH, Sheamus and Owens are the only winners that make sense to me but Lesnar is probably most likely.

 

I hope not Lesnar Vs Reigns was terribly booked last year and sucked, we need something new and fresh, not a rematch of a terrible Wrestlemania main event.

 

LMAO....this right here! The uncalled for hate on Reigns now is baffling me. He is actually being booked the way he should have been all along and you are complaining about that. Nobody complained when he was the sole survivor at Survivor Series because he was booked as a bad*** monster. Nobody complained when he eclipsed Kane's Royal Rumble eliminations because he was a bad*** monster.

 

But then he started being fleshed out in a terrible direction going as far as doing horrible impersonations of looney toons characters. Yeah that sucked and I crapped on him for that one. But it took almost a year to distance himself from that direction and we are finally getting the bad*** monster again and some of you are still complaining.

 

We know he can't talk yet but they seem to be covering that weakness up and the guy can work the crowd very well in the ring. The guy looks like a million bucks and is not sloppy in the ring at all. You guys need to step back and chill for a second....who else is in the correct position to be built going into Wrestlemania? Not Dean Ambrose, Not Kevin Owens, Not Dolph Ziggler...

 

I remember 2 years ago when people were fantasy booking Roman Reigns to take the streak. No matter how you look at it he has the biggest mass market appeal. We all know that trying to turn Kevin Owens into the face of the company would be a bad move from a business standpoint. That guy is only going to sell T-shirts to hardcore fans because he hasn't been around long enough.

 

Who else can they throw that belt on going into Wrestlemania that we have not seen done before and still make sense?

 

I hated it when Reigns was booked into those situations. I never liked him and I never will. Dean Ambrose could be pushed to main event Wrestlemania if they wanted too. Have Sheamus win the title back then drop it to someone like Ambrose or Ziggler at WM. Maybe do an Elimination Chamber match at Fast Lane to determine the number one contender. If he could still go I would say Daniel Bryan and have him get revenge for WM28. It sucks that likely won't happen, would be a hell of a lot better than Reigns Vs Lesnar II. WWE should book the League of Nations as a dominate heel stable, like Evolution.

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I hope not Lesnar Vs Reigns was terribly booked last year and sucked, we need something new and fresh, not a rematch of a terrible Wrestlemania main event.

 

I'm sorry but that match was fantastic. Everyone was booked perfect in that match because Lesnar didn't lose any momentum to Reigns. Reigns looked like a believable underdog (The only person in the WWE that Reigns would actually look like an underdog going against) and we seen a star born out of Seth Rollins. In that match figuratively everyone won!

 

I hated it when Reigns was booked into those situations. I never liked him and I never will. Dean Ambrose could be pushed to main event Wrestlemania if they wanted too. Have Sheamus win the title back then drop it to someone like Ambrose or Ziggler at WM. Maybe do an Elimination Chamber match at Fast Lane to determine the number one contender. If he could still go I would say Daniel Bryan and have him get revenge for WM28. It sucks that likely won't happen, would be a hell of a lot better than Reigns Vs Lesnar II. WWE should book the League of Nations as a dominate heel stable, like Evolution.

 

Sheamus to me is really bland. And hotshotting the title around is pretty messy in this day and age. If it was 1998 that would not surprise me in the slightest but I don't see that kind of knee jerk reaction plausibly happening and being able to be pulled off. Shemus going up against D-Bry at Mania is not a bad idea but there is no earthly way I could ever see or justify Daniel Bryan winning that match given his track record on staying healthy.

 

 

If they could possibly make Kevin Owens come out strong that would be a fantastic match but given Kevin Owens current fued with Ambrose it wouldn't be plausible.

 

I do have something that would shock and awe everyone....Stone Cold Steve Austin have him come out in the Rumble at 30 and eliminate Reigns. Reigns wins a number 1 contender match at Fastlane. Mania main event is Reigns vs. Austin and it makes Reigns into a made man at Wrestlemania while giving the Rattlesnake a great sendoff in his home state....Book it Vince!

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So, I just watched Smackdown. I know it's early, but I really like the addition of Mauro Ranallo to the commentary team.

 

He seemed to know what he was talking about, and he was a breath of fresh air from the usually terrible WWE commentary. If they put him on events over Cole, I'd definitely be happy with that.

 

It was like the days when Taz was on color commentary. You had a guy who knew what a move actually was called and was more interested in the match instead of what hashtag was trending.

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