cm funk

This and Colt Cabana's story about asking for the match has probably been blown out of proportion by some fans. He asked about it because Meltzer had talked about the match, and Bret had talked about it. It's entirely possible that it couldn't be found or wasn't even in the vault, I don't think it's the conspiracy that he makes it out to be, but it does make for a nice tall tale Or maybe Dave is just working us

Also, wow offering him that contract when they've cut costs across the board (talent/staff/production/running house shows etc.). As if Del Rio for a couple dates a month (if that with how they tape months of TV in a couple shots) would justify that cost

If you believe the gossip Kevin Dunn hates accents. Jim Ross was "too southern". Regal is too British to be doing commentary on tv (let's ignore the fact that he's great at it and the fact that he's British has never seemed to bother the audience). Meltzer thought the main reason they did the elaborate entrance and paint for Balor on the NXT show is because HHH expects Dunn to bury him when he's called up, and he wants him to have a running start on an uphill climb So who knows. I'm not the biggest Balor fan but if he's given a fair shot he'll probably get over. I don't see him ever being as over as Mysterio, Guerrero or Benoit.....but stranger things have happened

If he thinks race doesn't matter then why does he keep bringing it up? Did we listen to the same audio? Alvarez just let him go an and on, but when he did his show with Todd Martin Alvarez sounded like he was baffled at what was coming out of Dave's mouth (I don't blame him for not trying to argue with him though, it would have been pointless) and Todd pretty much had the same reaction that I did listening to it whatever point Dave is trying to make.....he's not doing a good job of it

What? He was saying the complete opposite of that if you're talking about the latest radio. No, he mentioned all the valid reasons why people don't like Jones.....but he kept going back to race for some inexplicable reason

Dave boiling down why people don't like Jon Jones is getting really tiresome. He goes back to "I was in New Jersey and someone called him the N word!" Dave, you're better than this. Do you really think Jones' heat is because he's black? He was a super popular fighter on the way up because he was so damn talented, then the more exposure put on him the more everyone realized that he was an unlikeable dick. Boiling it down to race is insultingly ignorant

I wouldnt say he was hot. His reign was pretty dull. When you think of Wrestlemania you think the biggest PPV of the year and when you think the WWE Title match you expect the main event to be top notch especially if its the last match going on. It just seemed terrible doing a double countout and then Rock just restarting the match so he can Rock Bottom Cena and cost him the match because Miz just covered after and then got beat up by Rock. Yeah I know it was Payback for what happened on Raw weeks previous & to add Cena/Rock for the following mania but they should have had a clear cut winner in the match either Cena by pin or a sneeky rollup by Miz. Rock's my guy but I was less that impressed by how the ending of the show went. I think I would have preferred Cena to win cleanly and then as he celebrates with Rock he eats a Rock Bottom. The problem was IMO Miz was a really good character and had legit heat, but he wasn't anywhere close to Rock/Cena level, plus he'd been booked a lucky champion who cheated and sneaked his way out of things, and never really beat anybody. He beat John Morrison on a really good falls count anywhere match on RAW, and I actually thought that should have been the WM title match, maybe a 6 man where Rock barely has to get in the ring and they tease animosity......but I digress. Miz had no big wins, so it was like having Honky Tonk man against Hulk Hogan with Randy Savage as the ref. And the way the booked the ending......terrible and predictable. They did so much crappy booking with Cena and Rock....not a program I'll ever look back on fondly

I actually think Bruce Mitchell is great, if you can get past the "everything was better in Crockett" stuff. He did a podcast with Keller this week that dissected every issue with WWE and TNA programming like a serial killer. Wait, everything wasn't better in Crockett?? Maybe it was, but it's at the point of ridiculousness. Normal people don't compare everything to their favorite thing. He's the typical know-it-all fanboy nerd that everyone hates.

I actually think Bruce Mitchell is great, if you can get past the "everything was better in Crockett" stuff. He did a podcast with Keller this week that dissected every issue with WWE and TNA programming like a serial killer. Agreed. He has a few peculiarities and annoying traits, but I've never understood why Mitchell is barely mentioned in PWO. Mitchell can be great at times, but as someone that was a Torch subscriber from 2008-2013, it really devolved into "we've heard this before too many times" and he came across as a blowhard that refused to move an inch on any past opinion he had formed. Digging back into the archives, you see even more examples of him really taking a minority line and sticking up for important issues. I do like Bruce and think the Torch overall gets dissed on too much from the F4W crowd, but lapsing my Torch sub hasn't given me many regrets. yeah, he's a broken record..... Him and Keller do terrible audio shows, IMO, don't understand why anybody would pay for that stuff. Bruce Mitchell comes off like such an annoying douchey know it all nerd, Keller too most of the time. It's nails on chalk to me. I might rag on the peculiarities of Meltzer from time to time, but I love listening to his audio shows

The difference was, they had the carrot of The Rock to stop the fans shitting on it. The match was simply a vehicle for setting up the main event the next year. Pretty amazing that the main event of Wrestlemania can be reduced to setting up a later match, but the numbers and interest for Rock/Cena justified it. You know, they wanted to do HHH in someone's corner vs. Vince in someone's corner for control of WWE last year, then changed plans. Then several months ago Meltzer casually mentioned that that idea might be back in play for this next WM. Reigns w/ Vince vs. Seth w/ HHH and making it totally over the top Attitude throwback with all sorts of run ins and chaos might work. But, if HHH is wrestling Sting, you can't really do that. So put Steph in Seth's corner. I've noticed a bit more affection between them since Seth brought them back.....and HHH was yelling "NO!" when Seth was thinking about curbstomping Brock and Steph was yelling "DO IT!"....and Steph seemed way more pleased than HHH at the end of the show. That could totally work if they wanted to go that direction. The thing with this Mania is I feel like they could do a 4 man or a 6 pack challenge or a mini tournament with all the guys they have in the top mix now and no clear frontrunners. Every scenario I come up with seems to be leaving at least one guy out in the cold. If they did Reigns vs. Rollins and Bryan vs. Brock where would that leave Cena, Orton and Ambrose? Part of the problem is other than Brock and Rollins they have no top heels. Rusev I guess.....but after those 3.....Miz? Big Show and Kane are top heels.....but they're Big Show and Kane

But this is why Rollins as a heel works. He's this amazing young talent who HHH is grooming and corrupting. There's been all kinds of great touches in his booking. The way HHH was in his ear to turn him heel and break up The Shield, after The Shield had wiped the mat with Evolution....the "Plan B". Rollins believing all the bullshit HHH was feeding him. The simmering feud with HHH's former chosen one Orton, and how he's kind of gone from cocky bragging but "yea right bud" to "ok, he's getting a real mean streak and starting to back up a lot of the shit he talks". I think he's been a great heel, and one of the best and most consistently booked characters in the company. Maybe he could beat anybody on any given night, but he'd rather take shortcuts and think he's outthinking everyone, because he's better and smarter than everyone else. He's a heel! That's what heels do. And he's got real heat and whenever he gets his comeuppance in doses the crowd goes wild for it. I also thought he was booked great on RAW. I thought shoehorning him into the Lesnar-Cena match was odd, but last night sold me on it and has me really interested. They've also done a really good job mixing Heyman in, and his admiration for and buttering up of Rollins has gone back a ways so they've foreshadowed the idea that Heyman might weasel his way into making Rollins his client....because he knows his meal ticket Brock is getting bored with WWE and he's always looking forward

Dave & Bryan spend the first 20 minutes of today's audio show gushing over Lucha Underground and NJPW on AXS (episode 3 because Dave got a spoiler copy, when episode 1 hasn't even aired yet). Apparently ep 3 is the "best hour of wrestling television ever" and "Mauro and Barnett did the best commentary of a match ever". Dave overblows Tanahashi and Okada as is and Alvarez parrots him, so it's hard to take this remotely seriously. And the Aztec Rumble blows away Royal Rumbles and is already better than the 2015 RR and Dave learned all sorts of new things watching it I mean....come on. I like Lucha Underground and I like New Japan, but really? And they're already just burying RAW from the start, which I thought was a good show and an effective RR build. I'm sure they're about to nitpick it to death as I listen on

Goldberg had a lot of competent individuals to work with as he moved up the card that could make him look good and help pace matches out coupled with his natural ability. Reigns has the ability but given the strict soft style WWE works as compared to Goldberg in WCW, I don't know how far Reigns can ever progress. I'd even wager he regresses a lot given these limitations. Also outside of someone like Bryan, Rollins or Cesaro there aren't a lot of guys on the main roster that can really cover for Reigns if necessary. Sure you got Itami, Zayne, Owens, and Balor down in NXT but there is no guarantee once they move up to the main roster they get to do what they've done in NXT and in the past. So, honestly, you've just made a clear cut solid argument why Reigns is NOT the guy you want as your champion right now given how very limited he is in skillset. Also, shit promo material like the one you gave him Friday isn't doing him any favors... The Goldberg v. Reigns comparison isn't fair for a lot of reasons One thing I'll say strongly on Goldberg's side of the ledger is he was a much more impressive power wrestler and more impressive physically. He held big dudes up in the Jackhammer, did big press slams.....he was an impressive athlete and that's what got him over. Reigns is a good athlete....but he doesn't match the brute power at all. He's pushed as a power wrestler but his big moves are strong leaping strikes. He's added the big Samoan Drop, doing it on Big Show who is great at going up for that stuff, so that should get over as a signature spot......but he doesn't do any real impressive power stuff, and he doesn't have if you ripped his face off he might be a terminator physique That's the stuff that really got Goldberg over, so it's hard to compare the two just on raw basic skillsets. I think Reigns can connect much more as a character and has a cool charisma that WWE is just doing a terrible time tapping into. I think that's why they want to make him the next Cena. He's got more potential to be the next Cena than the next Batista. He could also become a much better wrestler than Goldberg was. It took Cena a while for it all to click too.

Thought that was a pretty awesome RAW, best in a long time. Felt like they let someone else write it than whoever has been in charge lately. This might sound like a complaint, but it's really just an observation.....they're probably better served spreading out all the returns and big angles than throwing everything on one show. This show had Edge & Christian, Brock, Barrett, the first Rusev/Ziggler match, the first Rollins/Reigns match! (amazed they did this on tv), a tag title change, the Ascension debut, and the return of the Authority. That's a LOT for one show, the only things they held back on were Orton and Sting. I was listening to some old Observer Radio shows and Dave was making this point back in 05 or 06 when they had a 3 hour RAW and brought back Hogan, Flair, Piper and a ton of other stuff because the ratings had been down. Almost a decade later and nothing has changed. But again, it made for an awesome show. A few thoughts - More proof that Reigns isn't ready as the crowd was barely engaged in what SHOULD have been a huge match. Partly WWE's fault for just throwing it out there like that....but it also tells me they're waving from the Reigns plan otherwise they wouldn't give away this match and it was probably another way to gauge where Roman is at after the disaster with Big Show on RAW. I really hope for his sake they give him a slower build and aim for SummerSlam or WM next year. I don't see any reason to not take their time with him and build him up with a secondary title....it worked for Cena, Warrior and lots of other guys. Also, they need to modify his gear because it looks super lame - Bryan has to win the Rumble, right? Doesn't make sense to bring him back and put him in only to lose - The Ascension debut came off extremely underwhelming. The key to them is their offense looking like it kills people ala Road Warriors/Eliminators etc......and it looked sloppy and unimpressive. Doesn't help that they aren't physically impressive compared to other people on the roster either. They've looked better in NXT so I don't want to completely write them off, but not off to a good start - I liked the Ryback promo. It was different and a nice change from what they usually do. When was the last time they referenced stuff from 4-5 let alone 10 years ago with someone like him? Refreshing when WWE usually pretends like what happened a couple months ago never happened, let alone years ago - The Authority being brought back doesn't bother me, because I knew it was going to happen sooner than later. WWE actually honored this stip longer than usual (every Cena stip ever), but as soon as they did the "only John Cena can bring them back!" stuff and did the finish with Sting you knew they'd be back by the Rumble to start building to HHH vs. Sting at Mania. The one thing that bothered me about it is nobody else coming out to help (where's Ziggler for example?!! Bryan? Usos? All the people in the back who hate the Authority?!) but they do that shit all the time so it's just one of those annoying WWE-isms that you learn to live with

Putting Neville under a mask or giving him a literal 'Mighty Mouse' gimmick would be awful......but I think a Demitrious Johnson 'Mighty Mouse' gimmick would work. Portray him as this awesome power packed little wrestler who's always fighting from underneath but is so skilled P4P wise that he can hang in the land of the giants. I think that's a perfect way to use him actually, he'll get sympathy as an underdog babyface who's crisp great looking offense will win over crowds immediately. But then, this is WWE, I don't have faith in them to book him and protect him in the right ways, and he could very much end up like an Evan Bourne who got lost in the shuffle as soon as he was moved from ECW to RAW, or like any of the dozens of aimless midcarders who pinball between decent and downright horrible booking from week to week On one of the recent F4W shows Alvarez said the idea was more of a Crash Holly gimmick than a "let's put him in a Mouse costume!" idea......which sounds better, but not by a lot. Crash Holly was a comedy gimmick that worked in the Attitude era and worked in the hardcore division....that's not gonna work in 2015 WWE, and it's not the right way to use Neville

Well, Ambrose did beat Wyatt at Tribute to the Troops, a show nobody watches and a match that was never mentioned by the announcers tonight..... Yeah, it's ridiculous how he's yet to win any important match. I know they thing they're protecting him with all the wacky gimmick finishes, but it's not working

I actually thought the plan was going to be Brock beating Bryan for the belt at SummerSlam, and aligning Cesaro with Heyman was to make him the "gatekeeper" feud for Bryan after the Kane stuff until SummerSlam. It makes perfect sense. Bryan going out screwed up their longterm plans, and they waited as long as possible to take the belt off him. And when they did they went back to Orton/Cena again and put the belt on Cena because they had the Lesnar plan set in stone and Cena was the only other credible face for him to beat for the title. Which was all fine, I would have done the same thing in that situation Where they went off the rails was bringing Cena back immediately after Brock destroyed him, rematching it the next month, then rematching it again for the Rumble. Complete lack of creativity and they killed any chance of the rematch mattering or Brock as champ being special right out of the gate

I agree. I just don't see the point of doing Cena-Lesnar again unless Cena is winning. And they've basically wasted Brock by only having him wrestle 4 guys his entire run. (Cena 4 times, HHH 3, Punk once and Taker once). I guess 5 if you want to count that "match" with Big Show at the Rumble which was just Brock destroying him before the bell even rang. They could have put Orton against him at Survivor Series or Rumble which is a match I wanted to see, they could have built Sheamus up strong and heated him up for a match with Lesnar (yeah, I know, they're not competent enough to do that) where Sheamus gets over more in a loss, or even Ziggler who even though it's such a mismatch he bumps all over and shows fighting spirit and the fans respect the effort. They really wasted their opportunities with Brock. Now, everyone knows he's done at WM and is going back to MMA, so he's in that lameduck role again. And the WM crowds being the smartest and most hardcore....with there already being some backlash against Reigns having the rocket strapped to him.....might be a recipe for disaster that could hurt Roman. At this point Cena just seems like the perfect opponent for him, and it's probably better to get the belt off Brock sooner than later. Makes his holding the belt this long and never being on TV kind of pointless, but again, this is their own fault. The other problem with Cena is, if he loses to Brock again, what do you do with him at WM? I know Rusev has been rumoured, but I think that's a really shitty idea and would end up killing Rusev who has been so well booked and protected, much like it killed Wyatt. I'd much rather they keep Rusev strong and feed him to fresh new champ Roman Reigns next summer. I also think Ambrose-Rollins has to happen at WM because that feud never really got it's proper blowoff, and that can transition into a 3-way feud of the ex-Shield members post-WM where Ambrose has finally beaten Rollins, who still has that pesky briefcase he can cash in at any time. It's easy to keep Ambrose an off-kilter face who butts heads with Reigns, and they both hate Seth. It writes itself As for what you do with Brock at WM then, who knows. I think ideally Bryan is ready to come back, and they're confident that he's good and ready to be a top guy for a couple more years, and he taps Brock and sends him packing. An Undertaker rematch seems pointless and counterproductive, and honestly I don't want to see Taker wrestle again. Other than Bryan or Taker......the only other possible matchup I can think of is Batista if he wants to come back again because it's kind of a 'dream match' that's never happened before, and I think the crowds would be much more supportive of Dave this time around based off of how awesome he was in Guardians of the Galaxy. Come to think of it, I guess Brock vs. Rock is a possibility too. I'd be fine with Bryan, Batista or Rock against Brock.

I'm surprised they've never done a Diva Royal Rumble before. It would be a fun gimmick match that people would be interested in. Battle Royales and Rumble matches always get people interested, as long as it has some buildup and isn't something thrown out on tv randomly. I wouldn't put it on the pre-show either, that seems like a waste. Wouldn't open with it, but have something mid-card on the pre-show , a hot opener, then put the Diva Rumble 2nd and give it it time and a big match feel. It's usually a 5 match card anyway, and they don't double book people in matches on the show much anymore. The Rumble gets an hour+, the Divas get a half hour, Brock-Cena gets 30-45 minutes.....that's the balance of the show and you don't have to have stupid last minute throwaway matches just to kill time. Meltzer said they were thinking of doing a 40 man Rumble this year, which I thought would be a way to give a bunch of NXT guys some exposure and maybe have someone like Adrian Neville or Zayn have a strong showing and they're instantly made, but apparently they wanted to (because the show is in Philly) bring in random ECW guys for one night. I can't say I wouldn't mark out if Sandman or Sabu showed up in the Rumble in 2015, but I'm glad they're not doing it, that idea is TNA level stupid I don't know if I would do this, but if they want surprise/shock factor......HHH in the Rumble would do it. I think I'd put him in first, and have him really strong in the match, then Sting enters the match at like 20 or something, eliminates Hunter, and walks off. If the plan is Sting/HHH at Mania. That's a way to do it without giving anything away, and combined with the ending of Survivor Series makes for a strong build for the match without them being on RAW every week cutting promos back and forth

Again, if you think Vince didn't have a live satellite feed of the NXT on you're on another planet. You really think he isn't watching his favorite son's pet project, which by the way happens on the network he owns and at the end of the day cuts the paychecks for? REALLY? Also, again, how in the hell has Wyatt been de-pushed? If anything he's been overpushed because I'm sick of the character and the booking at this point. Be that as it may, they've pushed the hell out of him. He was in the semi-main at the last PPV. He's in the semi-main at TLC. He's been near the top of the card every big show this year. Hating the way he's booked/his character/typical WWE crap /= "de-pushed" As for Paige, you made the point that WWE sucks at booking the women. They totally do. But again, Paige gets as much face time as any Diva and has been treated as a strong character. If you can read WWE logic it's clear they are high on her, and think they might have the next AJ or Lita who appeals to everybody. She's never been jobbed out for no reason or put in embarrassing situations for no reason. The shitty writing and lack of direction is another issue, but that's a problem for everyone. How in the hell has she been "de-pushed?"

That is definitely a downer of a post. The guys (and gals) with talent have mostly done well when moved to the main roster. Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns are top guys. Wyatt is a top guy, and while the writing/booking has been lacking, they're committed to him. Paige won the Diva title on her first night and along with AJ and the Bellas has been pushed as someone special and above the rest of the girls. There's really no basis in fact to what you're saying. Also, if you think Vince McMahon didn't watch the show I don't even know what to say. Of course he did. He might be old and out of touch, but c'mon....you're being ridiculous There is nothing but basis in fact for what I'm saying. Rollins, Ambrose, and Wyatt have been kept as mid-carders and I don't see that changing. In fact, Wyatt has been depushed almost as much as Cesaro. Ambrose has been turned into more of a comedy character than anything else, while Rollins has been booked to be one of the most idiotic heels on TV in quite some time. Paige was booked horrendously, and continues to be booked horrendously. The Bella's were given a main event level program, but neither of them were ready for such a program and it showed. Besides, Nikki has worked hard to be decent in the ring, but I wouldn't call her one of the talented ones. What reason does Vince have to watch? When has he ever given any inkling that he cares about anything but the main event? Him watching NXT would be the same as him knowing what is happening week in and out on Main Event and Superstars; he has no freaking clue because he never watches. Yeah, you're wrong. Rollins, Ambrose and Wyatt are mid-carders? They're top guys in the company. Wyatt has been de-pushed? seriously? The booking has sucked, but he hasn't been de-pushed at all. Rollins has been as hard pushed this year as anyone, so whether or not you think he's an "idiotic heel", and you're entitled to your opinion, you can't say they haven't pushed the shit out of him. Also Paige is one of the few divas they've shown a commitment to pushing. Why do you think they have her sit in on commentary a bunch of times? Why is she booked strong? I mean c'mon. Her, AJ, the Bellas and Natalya are the only divas who've had any sort of consistent tv time Also, again, if you honestly think Vince didn't watch the NXT show you're beyond clueless Not trying to be a dick about it, sorry if it came off that way, but you are way off base here

multiple typos! smackdwon mainroster daets undergrond I always get a laugh out of Meltzer's inability to proofread

As long as Vince is around KD isn't going anywhere, and Vince might outlive TNA. Then again, that promotion is like a cockroach..... The product clearly needs some new eyes and new ideas, but unless business falls of a cliff overnight I don't see a major shift happening. Vince is in Dunn's corner, he's been a loyal employee to him, and whether or not Steph or HHH want him out is kind of irrelevant at the moment. And to be fair, he's made a lot of money for the company while being the 'executive producer' or whatever his title is. They need a different formula because the product is getting beyond stale and predictable at this point, but I understand why Vince thinks Dunn isn't the problem. Vince is part of the problem too, but I don't expect him to be self-aware of that either

That is definitely a downer of a post. The guys (and gals) with talent have mostly done well when moved to the main roster. Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns are top guys. Wyatt is a top guy, and while the writing/booking has been lacking, they're committed to him. Paige won the Diva title on her first night and along with AJ and the Bellas has been pushed as someone special and above the rest of the girls. There's really no basis in fact to what you're saying. Also, if you think Vince McMahon didn't watch the show I don't even know what to say. Of course he did. He might be old and out of touch, but c'mon....you're being ridiculous I thought it was a tremendous show. Zayn-Neville kicked ass. Everyone knew going in that it was going to be a "passing the torch" to Zayn after all the buildup he's had, and a way for Neville to exit and be called up to the main roster. Even knowing the outcome, they did a great job making it dramatic, totally sucked me into the match. And honestly, I did not see the Steen turn coming. Maybe should have, but it legit surprised me. Also, the NXT crowds are so awesome, they really add to the show. They don't try to hijack the show and be smarky, it's just a smart crowd who seems genuinely engaged and entertained by the characters, stories and matches. A random guy tried to start a 'WE WANT KENTA' chant during his FIP segment and the rest of the crowd shut it down immediately. We all know it's KENTA, he's a different character now. It was awesome.

I wouldn't be surprised one bit if they rigged Superstar of the Year and all the other votes were legit given some of the results. And if you've ever voted on their App, the setup is terrible with super small print where you can easily tap on the wrong name and not know it, with no confirmation of your choice. It's like their app was designed by Diebold Orton not being nominated for Superstar of the year was really strange Jericho winning was funny because back when he did that spot in the opening match of RAW Seth Rollins went out in the main event and did the same thing The match of the year choices were a joke