Coffey

I think what WWE needs to do right now is just change the damn format. The show feels exactly the same right now as it did ten years ago. Starting with an opening promo, having a heel authority figure, a runover segment in the main event slot, etc. It's dated. They need to change things up. Present something fresh & new. Return the feeling of unpredictability. Even if that means starting with a new set, new intro music, new ring ropes, new guard rails, whatever. If you go back & compare the first days of RAW to RAW today, they're vastly different. Not just cause of production values either. But if you go back to RAW in like 2004 & compare it to today...it's like the same show.

The "never do comedy" point is so true. Whenever something is funny on WWE TV, it's because it's something delivered off-the-cuff or unscripted from a genuinely funny, charismatic person. The writers trying to write funny lines or skits for the performers just comes off as cringe-inducing television. I hate it. I think the big star is important to have another "boom" (if there ever is one) but it also has to be in an era with something current in the non-wrestling world as well, so people can relate to it. Austin was an everyman that didn't put up with people's shit & got to put his hands on the boss. Anyone with a crummy job could relate to that. He wanted to drink beer & didn't take shit. That's like a lot of middle-American men. Hulk Hogan was an over-come-the-odds patriotic good guy in an era where it was all about patriotism leading into the gulf war & whatnot. Granted he was over before that too, but do you see wrestlers nowadays on the cover of Sports Illustrated or making appearances on Johnny Carson? He was also the top guy of the first era of cable TV. Kids looked up to him & he toppled over-the-top villains. What are the things that people can relate with nowadays? Being under-qualified for jobs despite having experience and degrees, being in debt due to student loans or medical bills, not being able to get a loan for a home, maybe doubt or a lack of trust in the government. How do you relate things like that to a pro-wrestler? Daniel Bryan was pretty close, I guess.

Yeah, I can see that. When The Ascension get called up, he's going to be down on them too.

I like Ryback but honestly feel like the RybAxel group is doing them both good. I think they work as a tag team, they just need some credible wins & they would be OK. *shrugs*

Can I just say, that although I'm not a big fan of the overall WWE scene right now, there's still a lot that I enjoy. Maybe I'm on this limb by myself, or at least not with a ton of other folk, but I'm really enjoying the Lana & Rusev pairing. It's just so cheesy & over-the-top, it's like a big nostalgic throwback to the 80s. Either when WWF had all sorts of evil foreigners running around, like The Bolsheviks or just straight-up ripping off Brigitte Nielsen in Rocky IV. I like Lana quite a bit, I think she's doing a good job & I think that the crowd will turn her babyface before too long. Rusev (not entirely sure why WWE lately has a habit of dropping people's first names) I still need to see more. He has a couple of gross spots but I need to see him work a non-squash match. Something that goes like 10 minutes. I think he could be decent though. He's certainly athletic & he has like that old Scott Norton feel about him to me. They're going all out with the anti-American thing again. The medal presentation, the giant flag that drops down now...it's ridiculous. The only parts of it I don't like are that Lana has to tell Rusev to "crush!" before putting on The Accolade. Plus, Lana is the one that is going to get over, not the wrestler, and they'll probably split them up eventually, which will leave Rusev dead in the water as just another Vladimir Koslov. Is the goal going to be to build Rusev up & just feed him to Cena (or whomever is the top face at the time) then let him fade away into obscurity? This gimmick doesn't seem to have a real long shelf life or long-term potential.

Randy Orton, to me, is like a WWE version of someone that would have came out of the WCW Power Plant & been slapped in the Natural Born Thrillers. He's just bland & unexciting. I really like that he uses the Diamond Cutter as a finish but what worked for Diamond Dallas Page seems forced for Randy Orton. Namely the "out of nowhere" spots. For DDP, it worked because Page was pretty much just always face-in-peril, getting beat down, having taped ribs...but never giving up. As a fan, you never gave up on Page either because you knew, no matter how bad he was beaten up or injured, or how many times the nWo would beat him with a crutch, at anytime he could hit a Diamond Cutter & it was over. You don't really get that with Orton. He's never really vulnerable, even when he's a babyface. You never feel sympathy for him. You don't think, whether he's heel or face, that he has an attitude where he won't just quit or lose. A lot of it is a stigma that has carried over from his past characters that he's played. He's switch from heel to face & back again about a dozen times. He used to be cocky, then crazy, then cocky & crazy... There's no reason to buy into him. He's just another dude that seems to have been around forever now, that might be heel or might be face but it doesn't matter. Just like Kane, Big Show, Alberto Del Rio or even Christian, since he was mentioned. We've seen all that they are ever going to do. It would take a completely overhaul & repackage, like Isaac Yankem into Kane or Leo Krueger into Adam Rose at this point to make them feel different at all. Randy Orton is going to cut the same promos, work the same match & play the same character that he always has.

How many times can a wrestling fan watch the same Sheamus/Barrett match, regardless of how good it is, until they stop giving a fuck? Once shit is old & played out, it's old & played out. What differs is how long it takes individuals to get to their breaking point. In 2014, with Twitter, texts, DVR, etc. people have a lot shorter attention spans.

WWE has no direction whatsoever & RAW for over a month now, has been absolutely nothing but 100% filler & rematches. Even if you take the Daniel Bryan situation out of it, that doesn't excuse the non-stop rematches, non-progressing storylines or nothing having a fucking point. Shit, I'm not sure if anything after Wrestlemania XXX has mattered. Seth just left The Shield & joined the Authority. Yet tonight the show feels exactly the same as RAW last week. Only now instead of Cena Vs. Wyatt & Shield Vs. Authority, it's Cena & The Shield Vs. The Authority & The Wyatts. They just slapped 'em the fuck together. And the WWE World Heavyweight Title match at Money in the Bank is going to be the same old guys doing the same old shit. Rusev squash, Bo Dallas nothing match, RVD Vs. Cesaro, Barrett Vs. Sheamus, 3MB Vs Los Matadores, etc. It's the same show every fucking week.

Feb, 21, 1998. http://www.wwe.com/videos/the-rock-gives-the-nation-of-domination-gifts-raw-february-21-1998-26023674 (if this is the right one)

I really don't watch much anymore. I used to watch a ton more. Nowadays, I pretty much just catch some of RAW, WWE PPVs & then random shows every now & then like NXT or a NJPW iPPV. Now, if all the time in the past watching wrestlers were time I used to do something like work out, yeah, I would probably be better off. Then again, if all the pizza I've ever eaten in my life had been celery, I would be better off too. I actually thought WWE Network would dramatically increase the amount of wrestling that I watched. Truth is, most of those old PPVs I have no desire to watch, or I remember them because they don't feel like they were that long ago. I'm waiting on the WCW Nitro episodes to go online, then maybe I'll watch some more stuff. Right now, my Network subscription is pretty much for an occasional NXT show & the monthly new WWE PPVs.

If they are dead-set on the Kane/Bryan feud AND want it to keep going, I hope Bryan does get stripped of the title. Is anyone clamoring for that match, let alone feud? Jesus.

Somewhat related but I was watching old WCW PPVs on the WWE Network on the Chrome Cast at my friend's place the other day. We were watching WCW Slamboree 1993, which was a reunion of legends. I had NO IDEA Missy Hyatt was that attractive back in the day.

I know that the episodes of WCW Nitro can not get here soon enough. More than anything, including old Pay-Per-Views, I want to watch old episodes of Nitro in order. For the most part, Nitro was better than WCW PPVs anyway. I want to see all of the Sting Vs. nWo storyline again. That was a great time to be a wrestling fan, even if every episode ending right as it seemed things were about to get good. I miss those cliffhangers!

I love Tanahashi's Frog Splash. If there's one thing I didn't expect to read here, it was people saying he doesn't have a good one. Especially when compared to Mr. 40% RVD. My goodness. And I like the Rainmaker too but I would like it a lot more if he didn't use a freakin' Tombstone Piledriver as the set-up move for it. Ugh.

That's what I want them to do today! It would break-up a lot of the problems I have with RAW: which is where it feels like not only have I seen everything but seen them all a bunch of times. I get tired of feuds never ending & matches being just recycled over-and-over by slapping some new bullshit stipulation on the match. It would be fun to see different matches with different people from different areas of the pecking order. Much like Hogan Vs. Mountie would be awesome, I would like to see TV matches with, let's use Orton as champ for an example: Fandango, Santino, Brodus Clay (who's not even any good), random Diego, Heath Slater...whatever. Even if Orton wins every single match clean in the middle with the RKO, give those other guys something in an 8-10 minute match & at least it's something new & fresh. That's why I used to love the WCW Battlebowl so much. It was just different.

I think in hindsight that The Undertaker turned out pretty well. Do we really want to go with Berserker in that spot & hope things work out as well? The Undertaker is going to go down as one of the best ever in WWE history. More than 20 years of work. I'll admit though, Nord had a great look. The Berserker gimmick was a shame.

Well, nowadays, I think the 2014 version of Rob Vam Dam has climbed to the top of the mountain in terms of wrestlers that I don't give a shit about. Before Van Dam came back, it was a neck-and-neck fight between Randy Orton & Alberto Del Rio however. They're just both so bland & kinda...just there. Kane & The Big Show have also both been around for WAY too long at this point. So, to answer the thread title, nope -- don't give a shit about Orton & wish he would go away. Another example of where I think wrestlers getting "seasons" off, like NBA, NFL could help keep them fresh. There's not territories anymore, so you can't exactly ship Orton to Florida, Texas or Atlanta.

Tito Santana. Namely, in early-mid WWF instead of Bret Hart & target the Latino demographic. Tito had pretty much everything that I look for in a pro-wrestler & he was an incredible babyface. Not that Bret ended up badly or anything when they went with him but Tito did when he got the El Matador gimmick. Great babyface, great face-in-peril, excellent bumper & seller, good, solid offense, good look, decent promo.

This RAW show tonight, after Payback last night which I really liked, felt like a kick in the gut. My big problem is that WWE uses so many guys on TV that I am just not ever going to give two flying fucks about anymore. I never want to see Kane, The Big Show, Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton, Jack Swagger or Alberto Del Rio ever again. Instead they're on every single show, sometimes multiple times. Especially if you include all the damn replays. I'm tired of John Cena too. I like Luke Harper but I don't like Rowan or Bray. I don't care if Bryan comes back or not, really. The "Yes!" shit drives me crazy & I wish he would just wrestle. The Usos are pretty good. Goldust is pretty good. Ryback & Axel, surprisingly, have become pretty good. I would like to see more Fandango, which a lot of people would probably disagree with but at least he still feels fresh to me. Would love a change-up to commentary too. Make it a 2-man team & bring Regal to RAW from NXT. Bring back Brock too, fuck. Would be cool if C.M. Punk could come back too. I want to see new people doing new things & each week being a dramatic continuation of stories. Instead, we get meaningless rematches that last forever that no one was clamoring for in the first place, bad writing, no continuity & unfunny comedy that insults our intelligence. WWE spends so much time sucking their own dick, trying to get over Twitter, WWE.com, the WWE Network, the WWE App, etc. that they forget to get over the goddamn wrestling show.

I thought the Small Package surprise finish to the Cesaro/Sheamus match was great & I usually hate roll-up finishes. Right after a 20-count Giant Swing where Cesaro would be disoriented though? It made perfect sense.

Great, great show. Highly exceeded my expectations. Best WWE PPV this year so far, in my opinion, with Elimination Chamber having the best WWE match so far. Top to bottom, this show was pretty above average. Even the "bad" was inoffensive, kept short or funny. The only thing I didn't really like was the Brie acting & Kane's random involvement for no reason. And of course, as always, the commentary is bad. The ring work was great though. Sheamus/Cesaro was good. Wyatt/Cena was good. Shield/Evolution was good. Alicia/Paige was in the deathslot & still wasn't terrible. The added Rhodes/RybAxel match was good. Hornswoggle/Torito was entertaining. Rusev/Big E was short & had two awesome spots. I'm a happy camper.

I have high expectations tonight for Sheamus Vs. Cesaro on the Payback PPV. Here's the entire card, by the way: The Shield Vs. Evolution - No holds barred Elimination Match John Cena Vs. Bray Wyatt - Last Man Standing Match Bad News Barrett Vs. Rob Van Dam - Intercontinental Title Match Sheamus Vs. Cesaro - U.S. Title Match Paige Vs. Alicia Fox - Divas Championship Hornswoggle Vs. El Torito - Hair Vs. Mask Rusev Vs. Big E

I feel like the only person on the planet at this point that wasn't impressed with Natalya Vs. Charlotte at all.

I'm interested for non-wrestling reasons, I suppose. Curious which direction they go with the World Title. Curious if anyone new (or returning) shows up. Curious what the crowd is going to be like. The matches though, I'm pretty apathetic towards. But, well, I mean, I already get it for free 'cause of the Network, so it's not like I won't watch it.