Coffey

I'm not sure if I have said this before here or not: I love Brock Lesnar. I think he's an awesome special attraction. Whenever his music hits, you know shit is about to go down. Him being protected & not being subjected to over-exposure is a good thing. Much like André the Giant to me. He's Godzilla. That's not someone that 1. needs the title or 2. should have the title. Especially when he appears so seldomly. Now, granted, I don't think that the champion needs to be on every show. Brock should not be on every RAW just because he's WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Just like Hulk Hogan wasn't. However, he should certainly be on the big shows. Not being there for Survivor Series is pretty unacceptable. If Brock is treated as this monster, of this caliber (pretty much the only guy on the roster that seems to be above John Cena) -- he should be above the belt. Much like, for awhile, The Undertaker at Wrestlemania was. Now Brock is even above The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Brock could have been WWE's Bill Goldberg: just the unstoppable juggernaut that lower card guys and main eventers alike could not topple. I think WWE made some weird decisions with him since his comeback. Including his first match back, at Extreme Rules, where he lost to John Cena. That still doesn't make any sense. Then his feud with Triple H, which was pretty bad. Him going over The Undertaker & ending the Streak also didn't make any sense as the last person that needed that rub was him. It also pretty much killed, in my opinion, any interest in seeing The Undertaker at Wrestlemania anymore. Then Brock was gone pretty much the whole time after Wrestlemania, so they could not even capitalize on his win. So they blew a 20+ year streak on a guy that didn't need it that then didn't use it. Mind-boggling. There's two things I think WWE did pretty well with Brock: 1. when he came out & killed Vince McMahon when Vince was going to fire Paul Heyman. That seemed like a big deal. That whole segment was great to me. 2. When Brock Lesnar demolished John Cena. The 16 German Suplexes match. Dismantling the top dog in that fashion is going to make you seem like an enormous deal. If Brock didn't have the title & just every other month or every third month had his music hit for him to come out & kill someone, he would still feel special & it would always be an "oh shit!" moment. Now WWE seems like they're in a no-win situation.

I have heard before in wrestling, that after a seven year period (I think it was Jim Cornette that said that time table), that everything old is new again. Go back seven years in WWE. What has really changed in that time? Not really much of anything... I miss when pro-wrestling was about two people that hated each other beating the hell out of one another. Whether is was because the babyface was jumped in the street, or was protecting his valet, or was cheated out of his title by nefarious means, whatever. I want to see the heels cheat and the faces want redemption. I have no problem with the babyface winning the blowoff match in a definitive fashion, as they should. What WWE seems to lack right now, in my opinion, is the stuff leading up to the big, final match with the babyface triumph. Outside of Brock Lesnar, the heels never really dominate. Look at the John Cena Vs. Bray Wyatt feud. At no point did it ever really feel like John Cena was in trouble. Or when John Cena was in a 2-vs-1 handicap match against The Miz & Alex Riley. Or when John Cena was against the entirety of the Nexus. Superman has to look weak so that the final scene has any meaning. That's why he has the krytopnite weakness. I guess a lot of the things in pro-wrestling that I have enjoyed all seem to be relics of the past. In the modern era, we're not really going to get blood feuds, with guys that hate each other, settling their beef in a case match until one of them can't stand anymore. Not in a publicly traded company with a TV-PG rating that probably cares more about a Mattel toyline than they do with their "flagship" show. Good versus Evil, with Good prevailing in the end but Evil making you hate them along the way so that you want to see them get their comeuppance. We don't get that anymore. Instead, we get good guys that half the crowd boos, bad guys that are more over (sometimes even sarcastically), and three PPVs in a row of rematches where none of the wins, losses or titles matter. Pro-wrestling, to me, is at its best when you not only want to see the good guy win and get his revenge, but you also want to see the bad guy lose and get what is coming to him. I just don't think that's really possible anymore. Not with the death of kayfabe.

Commentary micro-management. That's something I would have asked since I think it hurts the on-air product a lot.

This show was surreal to me. I think I've said that like a dozen times in the last hour. Vince McMahon sitting there with Steve Austin letting all the insider terms fly, calling Undertaker by his real name, saying Cesaro didn't have any charisma, saying the wrestlers of today aren't as ambitious as the ones of past eras...there was a helluva lot of stuff in that hour. I was legit shocked that CM Punk was mentioned at all. Then Vince apologized for Punk getting fired on his wedding day. Just crazy. If WWE Network had more stuff like that, I would certainly watch it more. I said this on Twitter but this last week of pro-wrestling has been crazy & surreal...and none of it involved any actual wrestling. Instead it was podcasts, social media, people replying to audio comments, etc. It's a weird time to be a wrestling fan.

Not sure of the validity of it, as I'm just guessing after all, but I would imagine he would give some line about having to be able to plan out the time of the promos down to the minute, needing to take a character/story in a certain direction or some else similar. Which, that stuff could be true but when each RAW opens with a 15-20 minute promo that basically says nothing, instead of just doing it in like 2 minutes, it would be hard to believe/take seriously. It is certainly an interesting question though. Everything about WWE feels so overly scripted & micromanaged, to me, that is a big part of why the show doesn't feel as fun as it should anymore. It all sort of feels the same. Even when it's vastly different wrestlers with different styles in different matches telling different stories...it some how still feels way too similar. Also, I think this is going to be kayfabed...we'll see though.

Just listened to the podcast. I'm curious if WWE will try to take any petty potshots at CM Punk on RAW tonight. I fully expect a skit with Triple H or Ryback picking on a whining quitter or something. As was stated earlier in the thread, nothing was really said that I think any of us didn't foresee coming. It was still pretty surreal to hear it from the horse's mouth though. Punk seems to buy into a lot of his own hype but I guess in pro-wrestling, you have to have that sort of mindset to be successful at the top level. I would think as a wrestler, wrestling The Undertaker at Wrestlemania would be a pretty big deal. Punk was aiming even higher than that. I didn't expect to hear the parts about Ryback. The medical issues are scary but sadly not overly surprising. Even in 2014 pro-wrestling seems like just a meat locker.

I don't like the new trend of people labeling posts & posters as trolls automatically if they express a differing viewpoint. Or, as it pertained to me personally in the Survivor Series thread, basically being called a gimmick poster. Yes, sometimes I am overly negative however if I genuinely feel a show is disappointing, should I just either say nothing or fake positivity? You can see the word troll pop up a few times in just the last two pages of this thread, in example, or in the CM Punk on Colt Cabana's Podcast thread. Also, I've read the "I have a platform to speak to MILLIONS OF POTENTIAL READERS~!" bullshit defense twice from evilclown now & it's grating my nerves (podcast thread most recently). I'm sure that most people here don't give two shits what others do when not on this forum but even if they do, it should not be the backbone of trying to defend any differing viewpoints.

The worst ones in WWE that first came to mind to compare it to, for me, were Earl Hebner Vs. Nick Patrick and the RAW tag match with Jackie Gayda & Trish Stratus.

In an era where "@HEELZiggler" is one of the most over guys on the roster, even when he wasn't a babyface, I definitely think it's time for a change. A lot of the fans of today are so smart, or think they are, that they'll do things just to be contrarian anyway. "CM Punk" chants, "This is awesome" chants, etc. I think it all goes hand-in-hand with killing kayfabe. I'm not sure what would work but just trying to have a guy act like he's a bad guy & beat-up good guys isn't going to work anymore. It's antiquated. Regardless of if he burns Pokémon cards or whatever else. Wrestling is like a nerd hobby now. A lot of which is due to the internet. How evil can a heel be in this day & age when they have to have a Twitter account, do autograph signing sessions, sell T-shirts & use buzzwords?

I disagree that Brock doesn't get cheers.

The heels that work right now tend to be the ones that people think "suck" or are "boring." If you do anything that gets a pop, stop doing it. If you make the crowd cheer, or laugh they won't hate you. If you're dominant, they'll get behind you. You gotta go out there and be like The Miz nowadays, seemingly, to get any heat. Annoying IS hated. X-Pac heat is heat.

I want to nominate Jamie Noble. (1, 2, 3) Some of the "reviews" on PWO didn't really have any replies. So here's a few more from off-site: (4, 5) I really enjoyed his ROH run as James Gibson including his short title stint. He's worked against Rey Mysterio, Tajiri, CM Punk, Austin Aries, Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, etc. & is someone that I want to revisit after seeing him on WWE TV again lately. Scott Keith gave Roderick Strong Vs. James Gibson 4-stars from ROH Unforgettable 10/2/05.

I stand by my comments about the women's elimination tag. It was too long, chalked full of botches, with a dead crowd & Naomi even looking like she got hurt in the end. There were eight women in that match & six of them were actively horrible. For long stretches of time. It is the worst match I can recall seeing on WWE PPV.

I wouldn't be surprised if Vince McMahon makes him the GM tomorrow on RAW & it leads to a Sting Vs. Triple H match at Wrestlemania. Of course, that's not what I want to see at all.

Main event was great. Ziggler looked great. A lot of soap opera story but that's leading to RAW tomorrow, so that's good too, IMO. Sting was alright. Triple H sold the shit outta that Death Drop.

It was long and boring, not some crime against humanity. I know being hyperbolic, "worst thing ever!" is your thing, but give me a break. Yes, it's my "thing." That was the worst match I have seen in years, maybe ever...and if I can vote for it being so in any sort of poll or anything, I would. Without hesitation. Everyone in the match was bad. Naomi looked like she got injured. There were botches left and right. It was too long. The crowd was completely dead. What was good in ANY of it? Paige yelling one-liners that you can only hear because of the silence from the crowd? It was hot garbage. Anyone that tries to defend it is just trying to be contrarian.

Embarrassingly bad & WWE should feel bad for putting it on the show, free or not. One of the worst matches ever on PPV. Not hyperbolic. Outside of that match in TNA with Sharmell & the non-wrestler, I can't think of anything else, certainly not recently, that was worse. Just 100% trash. I hope it shuts up anyone that says the Divas should be getting more time.

Five finger stinker.

Four years is a long time. He was quite a bit smaller back then. Now he's walking around like The Warlord. He looks stuck.

If WWE were going to call someone up from NXT, today, whom would it be? Sami Zayn, maybe? I'm still waiting on The Ascension to show up as I heard they were coming like two months ago. WWE could definitely make a fun, last minute thrown together match with a lot of the familiar Superstars/Main Event faces: Adam Rose, Christian, Big E., Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods. Vs. Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Fandango, Heath Slater & Jack Swagger That could be fun. Continue the Rose/Bunny crap, give Christian a PPV match again, continue the "New Day" thing...

The main event does have a chance to be really good. There's a lot of talent in it & it's probably going to get a lot of time. Plus I imagine at least one surprise in that match and maybe up to three. A Cena/Rusev confrontation or Ryback/Rusev confrontation, I imagine will get a pretty big reaction. Probably Rowan & Harper too.

WWE Survivor Series is tonight & free on WWE Network. There's quite a few rumors circling today, which I'm not sure how much of it will come to fruition & how much is just flying around to build up some anticipation for the event. On paper, to me, this does not look like a great show. Maybe a few surprises would change that. ******************************************************************************* John Cena has put together a team of Superstars to take on The Authority's chosen ones in the ultimate in team combat — a Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match! Two of WWE's most deranged Superstars will clash one-on-one when Dean Ambrose faces Bray Wyatt at Survivor Series. Which Divas will be left standing tall when eight of the division's top athletes mix it up in a Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match? Will Gold & Stardust still be in possession of the cosmic key when they face three pairs of challengers in Survivor Series' WWE Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way Match? Divas Champion AJ Lee will defend the crown against Nikki Bella at Survivor Series on Nov. 23, WWE.com has learned. *******************************************************************************

I'm just curious, if he shows up, what he'll look like. Is he going to be "Crow" Sting again?

Well, the Sunday Night Fooball game is Cowboys@Giants, that should be enough reason to not watch that. Unless you want to watch the 3-7 Giants?

I was just thinking about trying to nominate Alberto Del Rio myself but wasn't sure if I would be able to make a strong enough claim to do so.