sek69

Perhaps I'm in the bubble here, but I wonder if the NWA Classics service might have poked someone in WWE to realize there's an audience out there willing to pay for classic stuff. You'd have to figure just dumping the already converted stuff would attract older fans to sign up, and any sub you get is basically free money without having to buy more libraries or pay to produce more shows.

Ratings do matter in the sense that USA likes to brag that they're the #1 cable network and WWE ratings were a large part of that. If WWE's ratings sag to the point where USA loses their bragging point, WWE loses a lot of steam when it comes time to the next renewal time.

Flair showed up for an interview later in the show with a t-shirt saying "I do it with FLAIR" in a font not unlike Charlotte's current merch.

Main event of the 1985 episode is pre-Horsemen Flair and the Andersons vs Terry Taylor, Ron Garvin, and Pez Whatley. Great stuff.

Yes, which is why it was so mind boggling it wasn't on the network.

Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...... That was my absolute favorite thing of the old VOD Classics, I still have the run they had there on DVD. From the relaunch after buying time back from WWF to right around the end of 1987. It was after the UWF buyout as Sting just started showing up when the service ended.

So it looks like standing pat with the same "champ is a toady for the Authority" story just earned them the lowest Raw ratings in 20 years. It's getting pretty amazing how completely paralyzed this company seems to be right now. It's like WWE is a turtle that someone flipped over and they are unable to get back up.

If he hasn't he should since they've done precisely jack shit with him. He must not have shook the right hands backstage since he went from getting hype videos to debut his character to becoming a jobber in record time.

I've noticed that NXT has hit some kind of hipster backlash where now it's cool to hate on Bayley and like Eva for purely contrarian reasons. Also NXT crowds are bad now because they have fun and chant things instead of sleeping the whole show like Raw crowds.

IMO if anything there's not enough outrage over a billion dollar company being so spineless as to not even take ownership of their tastelessness completely and having to throw an employee -excuse me, Independent Contractor- under the bus. That's the key to me, it's not even that shocking that pro wrestling would exploit death, but they half ass it like they half ass everything else.

It's almost charming how Dave expects outlets like ESPN to have any journalistic integrity in 2015, especially after they just cleaned house and shitcanned most of the people who would have done the kind of work he expects out of them.

WWE statement: Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooow. Implying she not only came up with the idea but "strongly advocated" for it is some next level bullshit.

Wow, someone on the WO board posted a blurry pic of what looks like AJ Styles....

He's there.

So in the "how can they possibly make this worse" department, WWE is going to release a press statement on the Reid issue by basically saying they're sorry but it was Charlotte's idea. As in her own father didn't feel she had enough tenure to refuse storylines, but somehow she can suggest something tasteless and no one in WWE had any power to stop it. As a wise man once said, give me a break.

...or maybe they don't like her because she sucks at wrestling and at least one point WWE was planning on fast tracking her to be the top woman in NXT. But yeah I'm sure it's because the fans are dumb marks.

The only heel I would add to the list would be Undertaker in the Austin era, and he was a clear second fiddle to the Corporation then (until they merged, which is a whole other kettle of shit).

The Miz and R-Truth were warm bodies put across the ring from Cena and the Rock, hardly top level heels.

The worst part of the Reid stuff IMO is how they half assed it. They don't mention his name (lest anyone use the evil Google machine and find out Bad Things), and as mentioned maybe 10% of the audience remembers Ric had other kids and maybe 1% of them know the story. Hell I wonder how many people in the audience think David Flair is dead now since that's the only brother wrestling fans could be expected to know of.

Not a historical question, but does anyone know who the masked La Revelucion guys are? WWC seems to have such a limited talent pool these days that I always assume new masked guys are someone already with the company repackaged.

I hate the pro wrestling/MMA comparisons as much as the next guy, but it's amazing UFC can hype up the next tomato can Ronda's going to smash as her toughest opponent ever and all their casual fans seem to buy in, and WWE can't create enough credible stars to fill out a title tournament.

Cena might be the only guy they could put against Reigns at WM that would ensure he'd get cheered though.

How bad with the crowd reject it if after all is said and done the plan ends up turning the guy everyone wants to cheer (Ambrose) against the one everyone wants to boo (Reigns). They way WWE heavy-hands everything they do, it's hard to see how it won't come off as pushing the guy they want down the fans' throats yet again.

Perfect example is Dragon Gate claiming more people at their Osaka show then New Japan Power Struggle even though New Japan looked like it had more people there. WWE does it too. Just look how they were claiming 13,500 for NXT Brooklyn and they bumped it up to over 15k on the night of. I don't know how it works in Japan, but WWE at least keeps accurate attendance records for the official books and a bullshit number for kayfabe purposes. WM this year should be real interesting, since it was noted in the WON that the capacity at AT&T Stadium with the usual stage setup would be around 75,000 and they maybe could get to 90,000 legit without the elaborate staging (although Dave doubts they'd do that) but they still will claim 100,000. It's one thing to bump up a show that size 5k or so, but a 25k kayfabe bump seems too exaggerated for them to seriously try to push.

So the latest WON has Dave mentioning Vince might actually be willing to consider bringing Bryan back since he was cleared by the Arizona Cardinals team doctor and is waiting on the results from Dr. Maroon. Someone on the board (I know,I know) made a good point that being cleared by a doctor that flat out told one player to retire and yanked another from a Super Bowl, and not getting clearance from the same WWE doctors who apparently clear guys like Ryback on wellness tests sure makes it seem more political than just being afraid of concussion lawsuits. My personal theory is that they are keeping Bryan on ice since this year was supposed to be the Reigns Anointing Version 2.0 and they still seem stuck on thinking the first attempt to strap the rocket failed because of whiny Bryan fans. Now that the roster blew up and ratings are in the shitter perhaps it's not a bad idea to bring back a guy who actually got himself over.