JohnnyJ

My take on Kofi is that he's really content doing what he likes and earning a nice paycheck. Whenever a JR type refers to wrestlers on the roster who don't have the desire to be champion and are happy making the money they're making he's one of the few people they could be referring to. What's so interesting about it is Kofi is Punks road beef. You would think some of Punk would rub off on him by now.

In reading this thread, there is way too much focus on Ryback's feud with Punk. He was still very over coming out of that feud. It was the poor execution of his heel turn that brought him down several notches. If you remember, arguably the second most over face on the roster, was coming out to crickets within a month of his turn. Ryback literally got no reaction during his entrance at Payback. Who could forget those five minutes backstage promos where Ryback, the Neanderthal wrecking ball, was reading in complete audience silence, chapters from a book about his motivations. Once the crowd stopped caring about him, creative stopped caring about him too. He became just another guy for the Cenas and Punk of the world the defeat to send the crowd home happy.

It seems like TNA has recognized that for a variety of reasons, no talent moves the ratings in any meaningful direction. When this is the case, the value of an AJ Styles is pretty small. Is it pathetic? Yes. Is it embarrassing how TNA treats its stars? Absolutely. But how many viewers does an AJ Styles bring in? How many people attend a TNA house show because he's on the card? When you are a company just getting by, why would you pay an employee several times more than what you would have to pay his replacement?

Did anyone catch Cena heeling it up towards the end of his acceptance speech? Between that and the end of the final segment. Hmmm... Final segment was great. The main event scene finally has some juice for the first time in a few months.

On one of Austin's podcasts (the one with Keller?) he was talking about potentially coming back to the ring. He talked about how while it would only be for one match, it would take him 3 months of training to get into the shape to pull it off. Based off of his various projects, the time just wouldn't be there. Punk v. Austin would have been great during Punk's straight edge society days. The beer loving redneck v. high morals hypocrite is an awesome dynamic. If I'm not mistaken, it was around the SES/New Nexus period that Austin said that Punk would be the guy he would like to work with. I'm guessing that's what he had in mind. Today Punk v. Austin wouldn't work. For all of The Masked Man's post-modern ramblings he was right to recognize that Punk does represent some kind of a shift in the audience response to the heel/face dynamic. When Punk turned heel, he had to turn his routine all the way up to 11 to elicit a heel response. There is a large chunk of the audience that likes their perception of CM Punk as a person and are going to cheer him no matter what. Without your traditional heel/face dynamic its gets heated but rarely too heated. You end up with lots of rap offs and sign pointing. It blows.

The Bryan interview was really enjoyable. It's the first interview I've heard with him since he really took off. He is way too humble.

I would go with Cena=Foo Fighters. Both are the most recognizable acts in their genre during a down period. Each have very clear strengths and weaknesses. Both have been around for so long and have such a large body of moderate hits that even their detractors have no choice but to respect and reluctantly appreciate them. Punk=The White Stripes or the mainstream indy band of the moment. HHH=Metallica. A big, bloated parody of a once very solid act.

It pains me to say it because his spot feels like a result of booking decisions but the answer is HHH. He's the only main event heel (other than lesnar) who hasn't had to take credibility damaging losses to either Punk, Cena, Sheamus or Bryan in the last year. Let him play the cowardly heel with an enormous ego who never wrestles. Have him use his position of power to avoid having defend the title. He'll be forced into wrestling once a month on ppv. His lineup of yes men and enforcers can fill up time on raw/smack down. Every title match would actually matter and the heat would be nuclear.

I may be in the minority but I think Orton is a fantastic wrestler. He has a clean effective move set that looks like it hurts.. He's got a million dollar look and tons of heel intensity. Ortons faults are that his mic work is below average and the WWE can't book a heel long term to save its life. If Orton was booked the way Lesnar has been booked wed look at the guy much differently. Keep him quiet and always have him appear dangerous. It's that simple. Instead we have to constantly hear him cut long promos. The moment he opens his mouth it takes something away from his persona. We have to see him win with screwy finish after screwy finish with the aid of a villainous authority figure. This take away his credibility as a serious threat. In the ucoming tlc match, has WWE given any reason for the viewer to think Orton will unify the titles in a fair fight? That's on creative, not Orton.

It feels like the TLC match is a sneaky way to get the Raw title on Cena and the Smackdown title on Orton. Getting the Raw title on Cena hasn't felt this choreographed since Cena-Ziggler at Money in the Bank last year. The live audience reactions over the last few weeks have been interesting. It almost seems like the audiences are protesting the entire product with the exception of the tag division and punk/bryan. 3MB and Orton getting same level reactions? Even Cenas reaction was muted. And it wasn't a dead crowd either. R-Truth got himself a nice pop. My prediction is this somehow ends up with the title on Bryan. Almost every part of the last 4 months have played out like the summer of punk. Now we're in the "attempting to distract the audience from what they want (the Punk v. Nash phase) phase while WWE gets behind who they believe in (ADR)". Coming soon is the "we made a mistake phase and we need to build a moment to make it up to the fans phase" (Survivor Series 11). Royal Rumble anyone?

Also, can they please retire the distracting entrance music of a heel leads to a pin/change of momentum in the match. It comes off as unrealistic. If you're that easily distracted you probably entered the wrong profession. At least wait until the guy is at ringside to get 190% thrown off your game. Its a more predictable trope than a toss to the outside = commercial break.

The 5 on 5, as expected was the match of the night. While I'm all for a classic survivor series elimination match it is tough watching so manh guys I like eating dopey looking pins to keep the match moving. This was a very flat crowd. I don't even think it was a particularly smart crowd who was crapping on things. The crowd just wasn't into what they were being sold. What I don't understand about WWE creative is they have made it a priority to introduce new talents with builds and purpose. Yet they keep on bringing back main event players(Cena,Mysterio and now Henry) in the most inconsequential anti-climactic way possible.

What stuck out to me about that Nexus angle is Barrett was getting booed out of the buildings. I can't remember the last time someone else was getting that kind of heat. He even got the crowd to get behind Cena. When does that happen?

I'm not crapping on the Lawler feud. From a storyline perspecting it was entetaining. However it did Miz no favors as far as establishing him as a big time player. How can you be expected to take on the Cenas of the world when you can barely finish off a 60 year old retired wrestler? The only decisive victory i recall Miz having was a long tv match against John Morrison. Think about how pathetic Orton looked Monday night allowing Maddox to show some fight. Now imagine if that went on for almost two months.

When Miz won the title it was a great moment. The guy slowly moved up the ladder and was cutting million dollar promos. He was never going to be a imposing champ. Which was fine because he had his muscle in Riley. Once winning the title he ended up in a feud with Lawler. I recall the feud being solid and the crowds eating it up. But what you routinely ended up with was the world champ and his muscle having the hardest time keeping down a 60 year old commentator. It was embarrassing. Once they turned Riley, Miz was left on his own looking weak as hell for his place on the card. Mizs fall is largely WWE not understanding his character. Becoming one of the few upper midcarders routinely pinned in inconsequential matches (the ADR-Ziggler crew) certainly didn't help.

I think the WWE are stuck. And they know they're stuck. Which is why they wont shake up the status quo too much. WWE PPVs are comically overpriced but they are still making a lot of money off of them. Lowering the price of WWE PPVs to a consumer friendly price ($15-$20) would increase the buyrates but likely lower overall revenue. Givings B-ppvs away for free with a WWE Network subscription would increase subscriptions but likely lower overall revenue. I have no idea what the answer is. The shame of it from a business perspective is the WWE is not getting nearly enough revenue out of someone like me. I watch the product religiously and have a nice chunk of disposable income. However, because of the prices of PPVs and my lack of interest in wrestling merch I spend next to nothing on my wrestling addiction. Even the dvds I want to see show up for free on Netflix within a few months. They could easily get me on the hook for $15-$20 per month they just haven't figured out a way to do it.

Cena is a draw. Easily the biggest draw on the roster. He is not even close the being universally over.

Hey guys. Remember a few weeks ago when we couldn't stop talking about what was going to happen next? When half the roster was involved in a storyline and given actual purpose? Now we're stuck debating why the one universally over guy on the roster isn't a draw and whether its wrong that big show stole his taunt and hijacked his angle. All I know is when Bryan was on top my interest was up. Now that big show is in top I couldn't care what happens next. I'm more interested in the 8th tamina snuka push.

Ryback is getting the Miz treatment. He's a guy who still has tons of potential but WWE for whatever reason has lost faith in him. Instead of protecting him a little bit and keeping him off of tv until they have a storyline for him they just keep on throwing him out there week after week. He loses every single feud and takes losses for no reason. Someone who looks like Ryback should be steamrolling guys. Axel going over Ziggler wouldn't make sense if we weren't already accustomed to Ziggler losing to anyone they want to give some shine to. I'm surprised AJ never tapped him out to her black widow during their mini-feud. Maybe I'm missing something but every time I see him cut a promo (as rare as that is) he comes off like someone who can talk. Once someone pointed out that JBL screams out all the audience participation chants I can't not hear it. What's worse than R-Truth's what's up song? JBL screaming what's up over and over and over again. The ending of Raw was great. I love the positioning of the Shield as true mercenaries for hire.

It's a storyline and he's a heel character Where was the storyline that explained why the wrestler they positioned as the true champion who got the best of both current world champions got chucked down the card?

What is so interesting about the last few months of storylines is there is a perception, which is almost entirely the WWE's doing, that the true champion is not on top. It had always frustrated a segment of the fanbase that the Cena/Orton types were so often holding the belts. But the WWE always presented it storyline-wise that these wrestlers were on top because they were the best wrestlers. HHH's "face of the company" and "best for business" stuff is indicative that the best wrestler is not as important as looking like the best wrestler. And HHH has made it clear through his words/actions that he plans on keeping the title on wrestlers who look the best. So somehow, in a fixed sport, WWE has created paper champions.

A stiff looking elbowis a great finish. Guess we can stop wondering how theyll change Heros finisher when he gets the call up.

Barrett's problem is twofold. First, the worst spot in the company (other than being an indy darling w/o a bankable look) is to be wedged between the intercontinental/us title picture and the world title picture. When you're in that spot, half the time you're trading wins to guys beneath you like Miz/Kofi. The other half of the time you are losing over and over again to the Ortons/Cenas of the world. It's the spot Ziggler was in for years and it cements your fate. The second problem is Barrett's wrestling style is completely uninspiring. He needs a moveset that fits his image as a rugged bare knuckle brawler. Instead he's nailing black hole slams.

I think Axels gimmick was going to be a young, hungry guy who under the tutelage of Paul Heyman would cheat his way to the top. Almost immediately after launching the gimmick he was dropped from the main event scene and going over the Kofis of the world clean. It didn't make any sense. He was no longer taking on the world and he was no longer cheating. My guess is someone in creative was behind the Axel character. His first few appearances in high-profile tv matches got poor ratings because no one knew who he was. This was all that needed to determine Axel a failure who should go back to superstars. It reminds me a little of Ryder from a few years back. The guy had a little buzz. Instead of a build, they briefly went all in behind him. There was that Raw in December of 11 where he faced Cena and Henry in one night and had like three other segments. WWE quickly learned that Ryder was not a main event draw. Of course, based off his build and how quickly he went from appearing as an extra in backstage segments to receiving high-profile matches on Raw there was no reason to think he would be. And back to superstars he went...

I keep trying to tell you guys, that is not a Daniel Bryan thing. It's something that the crowd does and Daniel Bryan just happened to be the guy that was doing it with them first.What other wrestler gets Yes chants? What other wrestler does the yes arm raise?Then again Big Show is the main event and Bryan is feuding with midcarders in the show opener. Show should be able to steal Bryan's gimmick.