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FEBRUARY 2015 WRESTLING DISCUSSION


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Dave's article was the typical rambling, yet sometimes insightful mess he's made a career producing. There were some really good nuggets of history in it, but I'm not on board with Dave's main point. While I think Vince has broken the will of some of the fans who thought they could get Bryan into another Mania main event, I just don't see this as the end for him as a top guy. Unless Roman manages to find that magical charisma elixir in the next few months, his title... reign will be a miserable disaster and they'll have to scuttle it. I'm not saying Bryan will be the guy they turn to, but he'll be there and the fans will still love him. I think writing him off due to the fan reaction in Memphis and Nashville on back-to-back nights is poor inductive reasoning.

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And while Cristobal and quite a few have reached apathetic points of fandom in regards to WWE, how many would come back should Vince come to the conclusion that Roman isn't nearly ready for the top spot? I've stopped watching Raw and Smackdown but read the threads on here and check out the Uproxx reviews to see if there was anything worth tracking down in isolated segments. While I've accepted that Vince's show isn't for me at this time and released my anxiety and will to nitpick, I know that it won't always be like this.

 

Edit: Also, I foresee a smark Mania crowd chanting for Bryan during the main event and cheering Lesnar on regardless of him staying or leaving. I just don't see that many smart fans accepting the story they're telling.

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Huh, ESPN is doing a 30 for 30 short (unfortunately) on the Von Erichs. That should be absolutely heartbreaking. I know I broke down into tears when Gary described Kerry's death and I wasn't even a fan of his. 

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And while Cristobal and quite a few have reached apathetic points of fandom in regards to WWE, how many would come back should Vince come to the conclusion that Roman isn't nearly ready for the top spot? I've stopped watching Raw and Smackdown but read the threads on here and check out the Uproxx reviews to see if there was anything worth tracking down in isolated segments. While I've accepted that Vince's show isn't for me at this time and released my anxiety and will to nitpick, I know that it won't always be like this.

 

Edit: Also, I foresee a smark Mania crowd chanting for Bryan during the main event and cheering Lesnar on regardless of him staying or leaving. I just don't see that many smart fans accepting the story they're telling.

 

When it comes down to it that's the problem. Poor story telling. Aside from Roman coming from the equivalent of The Kennedy's of wrestling (minus the tragedies), they've never really given us a reason as to why we should cheer for him. Oh well it's cause he's the chosen one. Yeah well WHY is he the chosen one. What does he have that deserves this over someone else say like Ziggler who was a fuck ton way more over post Survivor Series and people could have gotten into him winning the Rumble.

 

We can blame the writers all we want. But in the end, Vince is the show runner. He decides what is what and he hasn't given us a compelling reason to root for Roman.

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The Meltzer piece is like just about every other Meltzer piece, fascinating historical nuggets and a lot of stuff I disagree with and find incoherent. It made me feel like I was back in school proof reading stuff for other students so it had that going for it. I'm sure there's wrestling fans who subscribe to the Observer that would offer to proof or edit Dave's writing for free, not necessarily random news pieces or whatever but op-eds like that, they would certainly benefit from it.

 

I'm looking forward to the Von Erich piece but with at least 3 detailed documentaries and numerous books already out there about World Class and the tragedies that befell the promotion and family, I'm not expecting anything more than a rehash and recap.

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Reading that piece it does make me remember just how much of a great spot they should have been in with Reigns.  Young, tough but untested and they had a year to have the evil monster destroy the village while the young naive hero gradually came of age and learned and grew and gathered strength by going out on his own until he was suddenly asked to save everyone from the monster.

 

It should have been a goddamn perfect epic.  The injury hurt.  I wonder if they had just reset the clock and not forced the payday to be at Mania.  Mania could have been Brock's final destruction or Cena, or his dismantling of Bryan, or hell both of them at once in a triple threat...while Roman's story was kept separate as he grew into the role.  "What about Roman?"  "Reigns? He's not ready.  Nah.  Cena and Bryan can defeat the monster..."  And then they're both dead and the kid is all that's left.

 

But that contract had them locked in.

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WWE Network's Facebook page shared an image of the Steph/AJ back and forth. Looks like an angle or something that they're happy to just run with

They have to publically. It would look terrible if they tried to shut AJ up. Doesn't mean they like it.

Punk tweeted in support of AJ about this yesterday. If it was intended to be an angle from the start, no chance he'd do that.

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And while Cristobal and quite a few have reached apathetic points of fandom in regards to WWE, how many would come back should Vince come to the conclusion that Roman isn't nearly ready for the top spot?

Anyone who was a big fan of Benoit and Guerrero and still watches a lot of wrestling obviously has more hope than brains. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if I signed back up onto the Network just to get the next NXT Takeover. Because the hope isn't that the whims of either the fanbase or the tiny gay elf that lives in Vince's head and makes decisions on who to push will shift when the wind blows. The hope is that his doofus son-in-law's tastes more closely match my own, and that even if Bryan doesn't get the shot at the top that I (and apparently Meltzer) think he should have, that maybe the next guy will.

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I decided after Summerslam that I would give the WWE until WM, then decide. Right now it sounds like I'll be done.  NXT is great, but it will get gutted/ruined at some point soon.

 

I just think pro wrestling in the US is going to slowly die now.

 

I think Roman is ruined now- if he's main eventing in ten years- the Raw Zone will return, at Universal Studios.

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I gotta admit I didn't have my editing filter on, but I edit for a living and Meltzer's piece wasn't so bad. Seemed a step up from some of his usual stuff.

 

I've argued this before - you can't hold Meltzer to the same standard as a "journalist," because if any of you read small-town newspapers, you'd realize Meltzer's a step above the "journalists" writing for a living. He's not a journalist, he's a wrestling journalist. He gets a semi-pass from me over grammar and structure because he has his own unique niche.

 

He always makes good points, and I like reading his writing. He pegs the whole Reigns-Bryan debate. I say Bryan makes the better matchup for Lesnar in a strict "can he outsmart the beast?" manner, not "can he outbeast the beast" like with Reigns.

 

Besides, if Reigns winning is circling the bowl, they just have Rollins cash in, no sweat. Rollins is over enough as a heel to carry the title for a while.

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I haven't seen Fastlane or RAW yet, so maybe the dynamics have changed, but surely it must be obvious to everyone that, to the fans, this isn't a a Reigns vs Bryan thing but a flat no to Reigns thing and people just happen to like Bryan at the same time.  After Bryan's elimination at the Rumble, there were a number of ways they could have still sent the fans home happy.  The crowd popped for Ambrose, Ziggler, Barrett, Sandow, Cesaro a little bit, and JACK SWAGGER.

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I haven't seen Fastlane or RAW yet, so maybe the dynamics have changed, but surely it must be obvious to everyone that, to the fans, this isn't a a Reigns vs Bryan thing but a flat no to Reigns thing and people just happen to like Bryan at the same time.  After Bryan's elimination at the Rumble, there were a number of ways they could have still sent the fans home happy.  The crowd popped for Ambrose, Ziggler, Barrett, Sandow, Cesaro a little bit, and JACK SWAGGER.

Reigns has been mostly over post Rumble.

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I rarely if ever paid attention to WWE save for a few big events between 04 and 10 or so.  Most of the reason was people like Cena, Orton and Edge, who completely weren't appealing to me as key players being the main faces of the company.  Are things that significantly worse now than they were then?  Granted they had guys like Eddy, Benoit, and Rey working full time and more leeway in how un-PG things could be, but based on what stuff I've seen from that era on the network it doesn't seem to be that much worse.  This could be personal preference, but I thought Cena was terrible up until just a few years ago when he seemed to come into his own without having to be carried by someone significantly better.  Reigns isn't that much older now than Cena was in his formative years, so I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility he couldn't get to that level.

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Just reposting this to make sure I didn't imagine it.

 

 

*sigh*

 

Actually gave me goosebumps re-watching that. That is some attitude era level pops. Pretty sure if he wasn't getting reactions like that they would have kept him in the Wyatt family as a heel as well, so it's not like they haven't tried that route already.

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Again, all this Reigns criticism doesn't need to be complicated busllshit analysis. It just boils down to 'he isn't Bryan Danielson.' I don't care what asshole you pushed instead, it would still be that criticism of the guy. Yes, there are still losers who call him that because they are too cool for school.

And last rant on the divas until Monday:

I started watching Raw 'seriously' again around 2000. Anyone who think women have no place on the show wasn't watching before 2006. I will grant you that there are too many women or that some of them stink in a wrestling capacity. But AJ and Brie proved in the last few years that when you make a 'diva' an important part of the show, the crowd will fucking care.

People talk about popular women of the past. But does anyone think people would've gave a shit if Wendi didn't Have that run with Lauper? Like if she was just having 30 seconds to 3 minute matches that you could plug and play into any show and you wouldn't know the difference? And I would like to think most of us know the importance of Cyndi Lauper and Wendi to the WWF in the 80's.

Which is why I hate that I have to go looking for Main Event. It's an 45 minute show, but most weeks has a divas match that goes about five minutes hell to bell. And some weeks have been the 15 min featured match. I don't think any time they gotten that 15 minute match was wasted because all I them have been good.

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My take on "Romangate" (please everyone start calling it that) is pretty simple. I really like Roman. I think he has the look and pretty serious potential. Do I think Bryan is a better wrestler? Yes, because I have a full functional brain. The problems Roman has right now are problems that Sugar Daddy VKM is creating for him. Reigns can totally be "the guy"...in about two years. He's just not ready and the fans know it. Would I rather see Bryan vs. Brock. Sure, but I also know it's not going to happen. I don't like it but it has less to do with "the wrong guy" than it does with "pretty boy isn't ready yet."

 

Now, to the bigger point. I find it ridiculous that people are saying fans are bad when they boo at a product they want to see improve. Look, for the most part, Vinny Mac has the only show in town and if we want big time rasslin', we have very few options. With that said, lack of competition has resulted in a lazy, self-indulgent, and frankly tone deaf product. The company hears two things and two things only, the cash register and the main stream media. When tickets don't sell, ratings go down, the network loses subscriptions, that gets their attention. However, because we have the one place to get our sweet sweet big time rasslin', for the most part, we're not going anywhere. So, the other recourse is to boo shitty, lazy writing that takes blind faith for granted. When that happens, the rest of the sports and entertainment media take notice and point the spotlight on the creative direction of the company. Folks love to bag on Punk around these parts but "a millionaire who should be a billionaire" and "better off when Vince is dead" don't feel like platitudes so much as they feel like cold hard truth.

 

I reserve the right to call bullshit on an awful product and shame on anyone suggesting other wise. The "shut up and cheer what we tell you to cheer" mentality is terrible for stuffing instead of potatoes that brings us all here in the first place.

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