Loss

Austin made $13 million in his best year, so probably not. But merch is also higher priced and Cena has so much variety that that's how he's able to make so much. Dave rolled out the $10 million figure just a few weeks ago.

John Cena is pulling down about $10 million per year in income, if that tells you how big the merchandise gap is between him and everyone else.

I brought up Tyler Breeze just because that seemed to be his NXT role.

It seems like sometimes beating Cesaro creates resentment because people want to see him in main events. I don't know if I'm off on that.

Ziggler's bumping disqualifies him in my mind, because it's the type of Hennig-Michaels exaggerated bumping that gets himself over more than his opponent.

I like Heath, but he may be a little low on the card to pull it off. I guess good comparisons to past guys used this way are Jericho, Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect and Arn Anderson in WCW.

Can you elaborate on Cesaro?

WWE relying on Jericho to go the distance in the Rumble and give Styles a good match in his Raw debut shows that they really need a younger workhorse type to take on that role. It's just not a role for a 45-year-old. You need someone ideally who won't look odd working with big or small guys and who isn't going to threaten the main event picture, but is still protected to a lesser extent and can work with anyone in any spot on the card. You need someone who's over enough that they'll have reasonably heated matches. You also need someone who is great at carrying guys and making them look like a million bucks -- not just doing the job, but putting them over in a way where they look better for it. It's hard for me to find someone on the WWE roster who fits that bill entirely. I keep going back to Tyler Breeze since that was sort of his role in NXT, but I think he's almost too much of a gimmick. Maybe not, though. I also thought about Luke Harper since he's sort of taking on that role in a limited way now anyway, but he's so huge that I don't know if he's the type that could take a Styles Clash or put over smaller guys convincingly, for example. So who are the guys that best fit the bill?

I noticed Lana had to sell it like it actually happened too. She was smiling.

Rock probably has no idea. It's a woman, he calls her a slut.

Afa putting a hit on the McMahons would be money.

It does make me wonder -- what would WWE look like at this point if they booked for the pop first and foremost?

The reason people "hate watch" WWE is that deep down, everyone believes in WWE's potential to be great because all of the pieces are there for it to be. And there could literally be an overnight change in mentality, so you don't want to remove yourself too much in case things turn around in an instant. In many cases, it's actually more of a form of tough love watching than hate watching. There's no one who actively wants WWE to not be any good.

Something I'm genuinely curious about -- is there truly more money to be made with the salt-of-the-earth family types that attend house shows than there are vocal, college age types that reject direction sometimes? Or do they just prefer the first audience because they are easier to book for?

He absolutely was. But he won the Royal Rumble instead of Daniel Bryan, which is completely unforgivable. It's still being held against him.

I don't feel like most people have faced the truth yet that unless you have a positive difference maker like The Rock or John Cena around, business is going to be the same no matter who is on top from the full-time crew. WWE isn't going to go out of business if they put AJ Styles or Heath Slater on top, nor am I sure there's going to be a huge difference in Network subs or house show business between them and someone like Roman Reigns. They've succeeded in making almost everyone interchangeable. Reigns just has teacher's pet status, which makes people mad because they want WWE to be a meritocracy based on match quality. At one time going that route would have been a path to extinction. Now, I don't think it makes a difference either way.

John Cena reactions were something that were unique and contributed to his aura, but using that as a template for how to build top babyfaces moving forward is an awful idea.

When people say they want the Attitude Era back, what they mean is that they want hot crowds, an over midcard and guys presented as winners.

I think there's a long game with Jericho. I've come around to Johnny Sorrow's thinking on that. And there's no way they can turn Styles until the newness wears off.

I think it's a matter of quality control. There were things missed by the camera or simultaneous developments at times too, it seemed like.

It happens to an extent each year, but it also seemed like they had less regard for any semblance of order this time around. Roman was in, but out. Wyatts and the LON were out, but in. Miz was hanging out at the booth. I understand not wanting to close those loopholes because you never know when they can be good storytelling crutches, but it felt abused last night.

When given the choice between making HHH look great and building interest to a match, they chose the former, which isn't surprising. But HHH got his revenge and did it on the up-and-up. Where's the hook now? Where's the desire to see Reigns avenge this? Avenge what?

I never (and not saying you are accusing me of doing this), begrudge someone for making money in a non-sleazy way. I don't consider a grown woman or man going into contract negotiations for work to be a bad thing. The question I would like to ask people like Gorgeous George, Sunny, and Chyna is which is the scummiest business to work in: porn or pro wrestling? We have pondered that question at this board before. It's generally considered our all-time low point. We won't be pondering it again.

I don't feel like there's shaming here so much as pointing out that it's unfortunate considering her potential at one time that she's taking this step that she probably wouldn't take if she didn't feel like she had to.

I've heard that said a few times, but why couldn't AJ, Sami and/or Brock be in the ring at the same time? Not disputing it, I just want to understand.