Loss

You will not be able to stay home, brother You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out You will not be able to lose yourself on skag And skip out for bathroom breaks during heatless matches put in the death spot Because the Divas Revolution will not be televised

Both guys doing the slugfest on their knees was my favorite few seconds of wrestling on the show.

It's been a while since Lawler threw out the "All women secretly hate each other" line, right? He used to say it regularly.

I'd take Tamina out of the ring and make her a bodyguard for Bo Dallas.

Here's another. I think sadly that her time has passed in terms of potential to be a top star, but they should get Nattie back in the ring ASAP. She should be the bridge in all of this -- the one who is part of the old group who can give the new group exactly the types of matches they need. She's the vet. They need to try to recreate Charlotte-Nattie on Raw at some point. Even if it's not as good as the original, I'd still expect it to be good and a step in the right direction.

She's the perfect example of what people are talking about when they mention focusing on strengths and hiding weaknesses.

I think they're missing out on Charlotte's potential by not separating her from the pack. Whether she's the top star or not, she's the one who needs the most booking help to maintain some semblance of aura. Charlotte may never be a superworker, but there is something special in how she carries herself and her athleticism that could make that not matter at all, as long as her matches are carefully laid out.

Oh, and for big shows, they did bring in outside talent, which is far more conceivable for WWE now than it was in the past.

Some of the basics from NJ juniors that I think might transfer: - They worked the house style, but they also gave you something you weren't going to get in any other spot on the card - They were only rarely mixed with talent outside the division (which isn't as much of a concern here) - They created their own annual, self-contained traditions - They did multi-person matches to help advance storylines with the payoffs coming on the big shows in singles matches (Not exclusive to NJ juniors) - The booking style fit the presentation at large, but it was also different in some key ways. There were less upsets than there were among the NJ heavies of the time and a much sharper sense of hierarchy - Matches usually hit the sweet spot when they were about 15-18 minutes - There was usually more than one match to represent the division on an average card

The best historical comparison for building a division around one superstar and a group of rotating challengers would be the 1990s New Japan juniors. Should Sasha be Liger? Is there anything that worked there that could be adapted now?

I'm not "upset", but otherwise, that's probably true. This thread is intended to be a discussion about their skills at promoting their charitable actions, not that they do promote them at all, or what their reasons are for being charitable in the first place. Are they good at it? Does it have the desired effect of softening their image? Has it ("it" being the videos shown on television, not the actual act of charity) helped their ad rates? Does it work?

That's part of it. But if not for stuff like Hogan's USO tour, the Michael Landon Awards segments, etc., there probably wouldn't be a need for this thread.

In other words, it is probably somewhere between Dr. Death turning babyface in Mid South because he saved a few lives and the USWA running sappy videos to repair Lawler's image after charges of statutory rape. But which is it closer to?

I'm not attacking their motives. I am questioning their ability to at least appear sincere about it. It's not a question of good or bad for me, and I don't even know that they shouldn't promote their charity work, given their image problems. But again: (1) Does it seem more or less sincere than when other companies do it? To me, it seems less so, but admittedly, that could be because I am too jaded and know too much about the people in power in WWE. (2) In the past, when other wrestling companies have attempted to use real-life events to get over a babyface, has it been so obviously phony, or did it seem more sincere?

I think a more clear way to phrase my point would be that no one is booing Cena because of his charity work, but segments like that aren't going to flip the script either. And I do think that's at least part of the motivation for WWE doing those video packages. I think it might work if it seemed at all sincere, but it doesn't. Whether it is or not is something only the people involved know, and I'm not aiming to comment on that. Just on how it appears. So the question is, while WWE is not a unique corporation in that they are charitable to improve their public image, are they uniquely bad at disguising their intentions? And historically, have other wrestling companies been better at using honorable actions in real life to get over a babyface without seeming so heavy handed about it? Like I said, it doesn't matter what their intentions are if people benefit from what they do, but the video packages do at least seem manipulative.

Yeah, and she tweeted that right before Connor Michalek's HOF induction.

I don't want to in any way criticize WWE for doing this, because they are hardly unique in doing charity to improve their public image. And regardless of their motivations, there are people who benefit from what they do. But are most other big companies as obvious about their self-interested philanthropy? I just listened to Dave talk about how WWE promotes Cena's Make-a-Wish stuff and he made some great points. I think in their minds, those are the types of things that will make fans eventually start supporting Cena, but I actually think that's part of the reason people boo him. It makes me feel for Cena because he has never wanted his Make-a-Wish work spotlighted, but WWE sort of co-opted that to get themselves over in the media. Anyway, I'm not so much looking at the ethical issues around this. It's more to point out how cynical it comes across on television. WWE's constant self congratulations can get really old really quickly. In fact, it often sometimes works against their other goals because while they are in many ways master manipulators, the one thing they really have trouble projecting is sincerity. I guess you could say that was the biggest factor in Daniel Bryan's rise. I want to think about historical examples. I know about Dr. Death's face in turn in Mid South that was based on his real-life heroic actions, but they weren't so heavy-handed about it. Is the inability to come off as authentic on this type of stuff something that applies to all wrestling or just to this company?

Latest audio where Dave talks about the way WWE promotes Cena's Make-A-Wish stuff is a great listen.

My favorite part of the Dudleys segment was Xavier Woods' reaction to seeing them and the way he sold the headbutt from the top rope. People, this kid is the real deal.

Clean finishes on TV to build to the non-finish on the PPV. That doesn't make sense, you say?

Using Brock at Battleground and Sting at NOC shows that they are trying to lure people every single month instead of just relying on the Big 4 so much now. I don't know if that will work, but that's worth a try for sure.

I'm sorry, guys. This is all my fault.

I was going to say that it felt like one of those moments from the Monday Night Wars when someone was about to go to the competition.

For the company, as a business decision, I think the benefits outweigh the negatives, but aesthetically, non-wrestlers taking wrestling moves should be doing stretcher jobs. I can only wonder what Lawler thought to himself during that.

Hopefully it's not another Mason Ryan thing. Hopefully it's another Rusev thing where he improves in record time.