fakeplastictrees

Yes. I would fill the NWO with job guys that would get a little rub while specifically being there to make sure Hogan, Hall, Nash, Big Show, and Pac don't take falls. Maven was a good talker and Test and Albert were both moving into being good workers (Test heel worker in 2003 was fantasic). The Stasiak and Jindrak combo would again be designed to try to actually given these guy some spotlight to hopefully carry forward in 2003 and beyond vs. being released shortly after. Its hard to make a star-studded NWO as SOMEONE will need to take an ass whopping from the top faces in the company. Maven, Albert, Test, etc. taking an ass whopping from HHH/HBK/Taker/Kane would be more acceptable (as it was in WCW) then those same guys jobbing out Hogan, Show, Nash, Hall, and Pac and not making any money. Another reason for adding some of the other guys is at the end of the day we are talking about a stable consisting of SCOTT HALL, KEVIN NASH, HOLLYWOOD HOGAN, AND X-PAC. I am sorry, but in 2002 if the NWO was a stock, I wouldn't put all my money in there. The filling out of the NWO is to ensure that if one (or multiple) guys go down there is still some clout with 2-3 members still being orginial while not having to job out and eat pinfalls every week (a current problem with WWE tv today). In a perfect world, I 100% agree with you that NWO should have just been those 5 guys with Vince calling the shots and no one else. But again in 2002 there is no way in hell I would trust 3 of the 5 guys to see that year through without some kinda drama/contract re-negotiations/walk-outs/etc. occurring. I think WWE would have gotten more out of the org. 3 if Hogan, Hall, and Nash all only wrestled 4-5 times that year. No one would have predicted The Plane Ride From Hell happenning, so the booking would have at least protected Nash and Hogan until Nash got injured.

Reducing the number of titles would have been a good start. WWE, Tag, and Divas title on Raw. WHC, CW, and I.C. title on Smackdown. None of that two tag team champions and two Divas champions bullshit. The biggest thing for 2002 is to placate HHH's and Hulk Hogan's egos while actually booking for the fans. In the two situations I present below, HHH will be able to cosplay as NWA Champion Ric Flair and beat Hogan and The NWO while at the same time NOT prevent guys like Jericho, RVD, and Booker T from rising to the next level. While on the other hand, Hogan will also get to lead the NWO, not eat any pinfalls (except against Rock at WMX8 and in the Survivor Series Match), wrestle only 4-5 times that year (all on PPV), be viewed as the guy calling the shots right alongside Vince McMahon, and eventually move gracefully his final active face run as WHC. There are two major things that standout to me Early 2002 had a big issue with The NWO. Vince McMahon and company were not interested in re-defining the already tired gimmick and instead decided to 'WWE' the gimmick to the hilt which lead to WWE NWO version much, polished graphics, and then tired 'we are taking over' talking points without much merit. The lack of involvement of Vince also hurt it the angle as well as the injuries and the constant rotating of members. It got so bad that at one point it was Flair, X-Pac, and Big Show wearing NWO colors talking about taking over while the orginal three members were doing other things (i.e. being unrealible, being injured, or going back to the 80s gimmick that made WWE a shit ton of money). So what should have been done? Simple. Never turn Hogan. I think turning Hogan was the biggest mistake WWE made that year as heel Hogan had a lot of reasons to want to take over WWE from the inside vs. becoming a smiling babyface just because Toronto popped for his shit. Hogan should have been allowed to keep the grizzled-veteran persona of calling shots, taking short cuts, and politicking his way into situations. Hall would have still been Hall and wind up in the situation he did and Nash would have still blown his quad, but if WWE began redefining the purpose of The NWO, The NWO could have been a combination of the good elements of Nexus (gang warfare, surprise attacks, and turning the WWE upside) mixed with staple NWOisms. Hogan, Pac, Nash, Big Show, and Hall would have been a good start. The remaining members would have been disgruntled WWE employees who feel as though they have not gotten a fair shake by managment and are lead astray by Hogan: Maven, Albert, Shawn Stasiak, Test, and Mark Jindrak would have been those guys. By June 2002 the NWO would have consisted of Hogan, Pac, Big Show, Maven, Albert, SS, Test, and Jindrak with Hogan making constant mentions of "talking to Big Kev" while Nash is out tending to his injury. Enter HBK.HBK/HHH would decide to put aside their feud post SS to get rid fo NWO once and for-all, however they need some help. WWE would have to put the Billy and Chuck stuff on hold for 'one night', bring back Road Dogg for a 2 month period as well as Hall, have Pac play the loyal friend who is conflicted, and then of course a returning Nash who is pissed at the entire world for NWO not accomplishing what it should have, Hogan being Hogan, HHH trying to play their friendship against him and other elements which leads to: Survivor Series 2002: NWO (Hogan, Hall, Nash*, Big Show, and Jindrak ) vs. DX (HHH, HBK, Pac, Billy Gunn, and Road Dogg) * If Nash is still hurt and can't wrestle the team of Jindrak and Stasiak should have been built up all of this time [being tag champions going into Survivor Series] to lend some cred to the NWO side with such a big player out of action. The stipulation: losing team has to disband forever. NWO loses with everyone blaming Hogan as he took the pinfall, Hogan has his Hogan/Sting BFG 2010 moment and turns face. - Gunn goes back to re-teaming with Chuck - Road Dogg says his goodbyes backstage and heads to TNA - HHH and HBK stay on Raw and do not intersect in career paths with the expection of the occassional tag match on Raw - Pac continues his ways until he is eventually released This would have given the WWE fanbase DX vs. NWO, allow Hogan to turn face without killing off The NWO, position Jindrak and Stasisk as prime time players in WWE, and allow for one more X-Pac babyface run in WWE (which would have been better than the go-away heat he received during this time), keep HBK and others who didn't need NWO- out of NWO. The whole year would have be used as a nice setup for the Hogan/McMahon WMXIX match, as well as Vince wanted to take over WWE with Hogan hand-in-hand just as he did in the 80's, but Hogan losing caused all of Vince's plans and hardwork to go to shit. ................... Something else that should have been done, RVD as WHC. RVD just came off a hot year, but 2002 begin the slow decline of RVD as WWE refused to cash-in on his popularity. It would have been a really simple move...just move him to Smackdown right-out the gate. Smackdown's roster in 2002 should have consisted of these guys as the top: Angle, Lesnar, Benoit, Jericho, Rock, RVD, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Booker T, and Undertaker. That would have been a strong 10 and RVD would never run into the politics of HHH, etc. HHH can cosplay Ric Flair to his heart's content without ever burying Booker T, Jericho, or RVD and all three of those guys would have most likely had WHC before 2005. Raw would have sucked (HHH, Kane, Big Show, Hardys, Hogan, Austin, Nash, Dudleys [ I would have kept them together but TOTALLY freshen up the act] ) but it sucks now...so yeah...

Jesus Making Pancakes Christ...GET OUT OF MY HEAD LOSS! Every time I am about to reply to these threads, Loss sums it all up. There is NOTHING wrong with the 4 Horsewomen sharing a moment. That's fine. But Vince/Steph/Dunn/HHH/Whomever telling Charlotte and Becky to go out there and hug and pose to the end show- that's bullshit. It wasn't a truly genuine moment and was calucalated. I remember watching a video of Michael Jackson's rehesarsal of a show part of the HIStory tour and during this reherasal (in an empty stadium), he begins practicing his 'I Love You' that he would say to the crowd during show time. He was practicing what should be completely sincere and spontaneous. I guess this all goes back to Loss thread about WWE being sincere in its charity work. WWE is so self-aware that the charity work doesn't come off as sincere and the 'special' moments don't come off as organic but more of 'Hey you stand here- and you stand over there' type of special moments.

What makes the whole Steph/HHH thing even worse is that this isn't a new regime coming into power. This isn't a new adminstration. Remember, Stephanie McMahon was the head of creative for a VERY LONG TIME. HLA, pudding matches, Bra & Panties, Bikini Posedowns, Jackie Gayda, etc. All of this was under the Stephanie McMahon watch. Women could have main evented throwaway Raws and Smackdowns for ages, but it never happened. Stephanie McMahon hasn't been as bad to women's wrestling as Moolah and Dixie Carter, but SURELY she is top 3. All the photo Ops with THE REAL STARS in a desperate attempt to steal heat and 'relate' is all bullshit and I am not going to sit here and praise the con nor the con-artist.

Everyone complains about Vince hating pro wrestling, but if the numbers prove that the current audience doesn't really give a shit outside of the 90's and big points int he 80's...isn't he kind of right? I am not sure if this is all a self-fulling prophecy/re-education of the fans for years that had lead us to this point, but I think its an instresting case in which came first the chicken or the egg or a more apt description which came firs Vince's apathy towards wrestling past or the fans?

I agree. I hate it. We see this every year with WM with guys/gals talking about creating his/her WM Moment, all-the-while WWE tries desperately to anything and everything occuring at WM as some landmark moment that will be talked about 20 years from now when in reality WM has become a glorified Raw for the most part. The Rousey/Rock stuff from last year was cool, but it went too long. The reason? I think it really boiled down to what you mentioned. Its all just too self-aware.I hated the WM25 HBK/Taker match because it was too self-aware. Stephanie being involved with the 'Divas Revolution', etc. Its just too much.

Watching Stephanie this Monday night got me thinking about Vince not wanting people to get TOO OVER in fear they will become bigger than the brand and leave. I began to wonder is Stephanie shares this same way of thinking and is going out to bury Rollins/New Day/etc. because Vince tells her to/she knows what Vince wants or if she is doing this on her own. Is this a sub-concious thing or something well planned out. I guess my question is how many of the current Mcmahonisms that we can point to coming from Vince will still channel through Stephanie regardless of Vince's involvement with the company.

Its pretty sad that WWE still runs with that carny mentality with all the information have about CTE and concussions. Factor in the lawsuits WWE is facing regarding these things (and its attempt to hide it) and its pretty mind blowing that this 52 years a week menatality is still a thing in 2015.

In all honesty, WWE shouldn't be running shows past SummerSlam. SummerSlam should be the yearly blow off until Jan of the following year where WWE returns to television to start building toward The Rumble. 8 months on and 4 months off. WWE can then have Network specials for Oct. (Halloween Havoc), Survivor Series(Traditional), and a NYE type of show. This would be 3 non-canon shows where WWE can try out new things to see what works and doesn't work for the following year. New commentary team for each show, bring in Quentin Taratino to conceptualize and direct Survivor Series, let Chael Sonnen call tthe NYE card featuring the main event consisting of the part-timers who should not be part of WWE canon at this point. So maybe something like Chris Jericho/Rollins/New Day vs. RVD/Neville/Usos. Taking this break will also give the writing team a time to re-charge for a month or two before coming back in Nov/Dec. to start hashing out ideas for the following year.

When was the last time the Rumble was used to create a star? I honestly think WWE should build toward Cesaro/Brock for the WWE title as the main event of WM32. That match can easily blow the roof off Cowboys Stadium. Ceasaro has a growing following and WWE can play into the whole 'not grabbing the brass ring' speec Vince did about a year ago. There is so much WWE can do with those two going into the fight and Cesaro winning the strap would be a 'new era' feeling.

One of the things I like about CFO is that they are aware of all of this and are blatantly ripping off popular songs of TODAY. Carmella's entrace sounds close to "Fancy", Bayley's entrance can be interested into any anime opening theme, Itami has the PRIDE drum sound interested into his music, and Zayn sounds like something that would still be playing in a Ska club, etc. Even a remixed and updated version of Emma's theme sounds fresh and like something you would hear on the radio. Its clear Jim favors guitar and CFO favors base. Once they take over completely, I suspect a lot more BOOMS in entrance music and not just for the 'urban' talent.

WWE wants mainstream attention for its #DIVASREVOLUTION..well...they got it... www.complex.com/sports/2015/09/wwe-divas-revolution-has-officially-failed?utm_campaign=complexmag&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&sr_share=facebook

But isn't that more post 2000 than anything else. I am sure Vince felt burned when Hogan, Macho, The Outsiders, and Lesnar left. I honestly think Lesnar was the last straw and since then (I cannot pinpoint when), but the even-steven-treadmill shit started soon after.

Pro wrestling by its very nature in a con. Speaking carny (carnival) and the whole STEPRIGHTUPFOLKS~! mentality passes down from person-to-person. Im not surprised its all fucked, however the internet has really helped pro wrestling step outside of the bullshit age. Guys/Girls are no longer living the gimmick outside of work (except Teddy Hart), no one is faking injuries/hosptistays (except for HHH), or pretending that they have no positive relations with heels/faces depending on the already established dynamic. Furthermore, the business isn't pretending that being on the road 300 plus days a year with no time off makes you 'tough', that chairshots to the back are for pussies and real mean take it to the head, WWE and other companies are a bit more aware of concussions, drug use, etc. and take steps (mileage will vary) to ensure there is not another Benoit situation.

Its 2015, PWI should definitely update. 500 is crazy. Just 50 will do and actually set out some rules to add method to the madness. Instead of being laughed at or ignored, it could actually lead to some interesting discussion for the 50 best wrestlers of the year (based off of hard data and a little but of opinion).

I think now more than ever WWE is actually looking toward the jaded fan to finally coughing up dough. Before the WWE Network, the last money I spent on a WWE product was my purchase of WM 18. The WWE Network and these live NXT specials make me fork money out of my pocket to support WWE. If The WWE Network were to close shop tomorrow and WWE felt that NXT was not worth it at all anymore and stopped televised operations completely, it is safe to say that I will be back at post WM 18 and pre-Network spending habits. Touching into all demos and not ignoring them (let's be honest about the NXT fanbase) is netting WWE more money. This is why Attitude (or anything close to it) will not work in 2015 pro wrestling or anytime in the foreseeable future. Attitude was specific and worked in a bubble. The bubble is smaller and so that specific brand (or a specfic brand) that heavily tackles one area of the audience will fail.

This is pretty general, but its somethig I absolutely HATE. Not dislike, but HATE. The excuse that 'its just pro wrestling'. We are not talking about hammerlocks, bad gimmicks, Michael Cole, or whatever. I am talking about the worse aspects of humanity slinking its way into pro wrestling and wrestling fans jusitifying it as 'just pro wrestling'. Like its something that comes with the terrority. Oh you like pro wrestling? Well get ready for some homophobia, because its coming fast and hard. Because you know you can't have pro wrestling without some good-old fashioned homophobia. Its like fries and ketchup, cookies and milk, Milli & Vanilli!

Loss, I am unsure how I missed your point in my response. I thought I addressed it. I never called for WWE to stop with the charity work, but rather choose what they decide to showcase and possibly even cut down (not completely eliminate) the fluff projects they get involved in just for the photo OPs. Footage of Cena visiting some kids in a hospital is fine. Footage of Eva Marie shaking hands with vets should probably be left on the cutting room floor. People like the charity work, but I think WWE will come off EVEN BETTER and MORE GENUINE if they didn't bring cameras into places all the time and word of mouth spread organically. Loss, I believe if you (and others) heard a grown man tell a story about how nice Charlotte was to him, in the back of your mind you will think "Yeah! That's cause the cameras were rolling!", but if this same guy told you the exact same story about how Charlotte showed up with no cameras, no boom operator, and just stayed for 2-3 hours being social, shaking hands, and signing autographs you would say "Wow! That's really nice of her! No glitz. No glamour! Just her being herself and most likely there on her on accord!". This goes back to someone I said during the last breast cancer awareness month and ties into this discussion. WWE is so heavy handed in its presentation of its charity work that EVERYONE during this month wears breast cancer awareness, etc. t-shirts and dressing in pink. I think that is fine for the faces to do it on TV, but not the heels. The heels should wear pink and support the cause while OFF OF TV, but once the cameras roll it should be business as usual as they should be getting heat and not have someone think "You know what, my aunt had an issue some years ago and I use to HATE Rusev last week for the way he was treating Lana, but now that I see him wearing the pin, I know he has a heart of gold. I can't boo him anymore!'. Now granted that is not what millions are thiking or else there would be no heat during this month as everyone would be a defacto fact. Again this plans into less-is-more and not hamming it up while also not completely jumping ship from a concept.

Hogan is being a carny. He is not sorry and anyone buying what he is saying is a complete mark. At the end of the day the guy flat out said "I guess I am a racist" or something to that effect. This wasn't a case of Hogan having one-too-many drinks, being super stressed out, and just saying a ton of crazy things in a row (one of which was racist). This was a situation of a calm-cool-and collected Hogan sitting down in the (assumed) privacy of his (buddy's) bedroom having a one-on-one conversation. He did the same thing when talking with Nick in jail. Hogan assumed it would never get out and see the light of day when he said he wouldn't want to come back to earth as a black man. Oh but its just a word!? A word so interwined with the thinking and application of institutional racism in the criminal justice, housing, health, and education systems which have impacted millions of African Americans. I know black and white people who use the term with an 'a' at the end (I don't use it at all), and they are NEVER going on a racist rant or saying things like Hogan said to his son. Its night and day. You want to keep this wrestling related? Okay...serious question. How can people mock Hogan (when he is out-of-character) telling his tall tales about his battles with Andre The Giant, flat out making up stories about Warrior (that never happened), etc. , while at the same time believing he is NOW telling the truth? This guy is a carny and one of the greatest ones of all time. He has been a master politician for over 30 years in the wrestling world. Why are people buying int his sincerity NOW? Another question... How the hell are people trying to pretend this term is 'wrestling' related. That is such bullshit. When I was first learning wrestling terms for a report on the history of pro wrestling back in middle school I never came across this word. And I really hope that in 2015 we haven't all just thrown our hands up and said 'fuck it!' its all pro wrestling anyways. The racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. DOESN'T have to be pro wrestling and while we do expect it (because we are realistic and only going off the track records of those in charge), we shouldn't be excusing it and brushing it off as something that is just done in the business. There is no way Dave or anyone can sit down with a straight face and explain how that or any other negative term is 'just pro wrestling'. Dave has officially JTTS with me and its taken some time. MMA understands pro wrestling better than pro wrestling and now I guess the KKK and every other hate group in the world understand pro wrestling better than pro wrestling because before The Golddust Trio- there were negative words and actions floating around for centuries, but I guess that these hate groups are just good workers and understand the business of pro wrestling better than Bill Watts or some bullshit like that...

Become a fan? Probably not. Have some interest- most likely. There have been tons of happenings in my life where I see something on TV, Youtube, whatever and I want to see/hear/know more. I am sure all of the guys on this forum at some point in time have seen a beautiful model on a billboard, in a magazine, on TV, etc. and wanted to know her name and see other photos of her, etc. I've always hated when Hogan didn't promote TNA while making all of these appearances on major new stations, radio shows, etc. and then Hogan/Bischoff would pretend that 100% of the time they were under some kind of contract that prevented them from talking about wrestling - more specifically TNA. But let's get back to the topic at hand: WWE's charity work could come off a bit more genuine if they tone down the TV presence of the work. I guess (for lack of better wording at the moment), WWE just should run two 'best of' video packages a year detailing its charity work. One for the first 6 months and another for the final 6 months. So one in June and the other in Dec. Have it on the website, all WWE social media sites, and show the video (only once a night) during the dark periods before a show/during intermission. Also, WWE should really think about not bringing the cameras EVERYWHERE as it just comes off really cheap. The Bella Twins showing up in full makeup to hammer a few nails for a photo op and then leaving within an hour or arriving doesn't make anyone look good in the long term as people like myself can see right through it. John Cena doing the Make A Wish comes off as more genuine as he is tailoring his activity and it doesn't come off as 'I have to show up here, get some photos, shake a few hands, and then fucking go back to my mansion!' SHOW Cena's Make-A-Wish stuff, but don't show The Bellas cosplaying Jimmy Carter and pretending to help construct a house/playground/whatever when in reality they hammered in 4 or 5 nails, took photos, posed with fans, looked at blueprints, and then left. Everything doesn't need to be documented. WWE likes to pretend its on the cutting edge of 21st century tech marketing without realizing that even still to this day there are things that became popular through viral means. I believe the charity work should be the same in some regards. Me randomly hearing about The Colons spending their off-schedule weekends helping out at the local soup kitchen means more than WWE setting up The Colons to work at a soup kitchen for an hour in order to get video footage for that night's episode of Raw. Also, I hate to continue this, but I also hate the semi-deification of the wrestlers doing 'acts of charity'. Again, I get Cena spending time with a child and walking them backstage and stuff. I am fine with that. But Eva Marie showing up at a hospital to shake hands and take pictures with Vets is more of WWE being heavy on reducing the genuineness of the exposition and in some cases (in the video packages) go overboard using voice-overs to bring things to another level. So yeah, this goes hand-in-hand with cutting the fluff.

What really tapped me out of this season was the fact that no one could cut a promo. Not one person. Even Patrick who CLAIMS TO LOVE PRO WRESTLING wasn't able to cut a promo. I am not Ric Flair and nor will I ever bee on the level of Dusty Rhodes, but if I am standing in front of Hogan, Jericho, and Miz (who is pretty good on the mic more-often-than-not)- I am going to cut a goddamn promo about the made up IC title match happening at Summerslam against (whomever I am promoing against) this Sunday night at the Omni. I just couldn't hear anymore people talk about how they are passionate while not fucking showing it. Seriously this Patrick guy grew up watching Hogan, Flair, Dusty, SCSA, Rock, Macho Man, and Piper, and yet he CANNOT CUT A PROMO? A big NO THANK YOU from me. The Brasilian girl was cute and I hope to see her in WWE, but WWE doesn't really like diversity and Vince/Dunn/etc. have a certain body image (see: big boobs ) for all women.

So come 2020, who can WWE bring in at WM to really sell the show? Let's break this down by the superstar's age five years from now: Batista (51) Jericho (49) Mysterio (45) Even if Vince/HHH wanted to mend all bridges with every past superstar: Jeff Jarrett (53) Kurt Angle (51) Jeff Hardy (42) Out of all of those people Jeff Hardy seems like the most likely case and that is ignoring ALL of his problems. Bobby Lashley will be 44 and if he keeps himself in great shape and continues winning in MMA (even if he retires before 40), WWE will at least have something legit to go off of for a nice short run with him. The pool is really thin as there is no way in hell Michaels, HHH, Nash, Steiner, Booker T, Taker, etc. will even step up to the plate. They would all be too old and broken down. So again, five years from now special WM attractions could potentially be 2015 TNA maineventers...go figure. Oh...and then there is the guy who will 'never step foot in WWE again' CM Punk who will be 41 years old. WWE should be fine in 5 years come WM time as long as the company eliminates the trading wins and burying talent in the mid-card formula.

In my older age there are just some moves I really don't want to see. A top-rope inverse hurracana is one of them. What makes it even worse is it happened to a wrestler who is hot, getting hotter, and has TONS of upside. We have already seen Daniel Bryan derailed due to his own stupidity (and flat out bad luck), hopefully the same doesn't happen to Sasha. A week off is probably all she needs to shake the cobb webs out and hopefully she didn't suffer a concussion.

I think adding Charlotte to non-wrestling role would be a better fit than active wrestler, but I agree in general with this post. She's a great example of Dave's point about the NXT women's matches being super rehearsed. Every time she's given the spotlight on the main roster, she's fumbled rather badly. That's so sad when you think about it. Baffling that people complain about Nikki who is perfectly fine in ring while praising Alicia who just recently almost killed that Tough Enough chick with a side slam. Yeah Nikki isn't really bad in the ring for the most part. The shit she is feed to say/comes up with during promos really negates everything she has done.

This entire Divas Revolution has no real substance. Its all just a big wink and nudge aimed at the "hipster' wrestling fan (NXT viewers) and the vocal minority that started the #givedivasachance stuff. All of this was mis-read by WWE yet again. WWE viewed the Full Sail, on-the-road, and online crowds praise of Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha, and Bailey's work as - HEY PEOPLE WANT TO SEE MORE DIVA ACTION~! Instead of realizing that no one is calling for more Brie Bella matches, but an actual complete elimination of the status quo. If WWE were to have a roster split today and send The Bellas, Alicia Fox, Rosa, Eva Marie, Cameron, and Summer Rae to Smackdown down and put Sasha, Becky, Charlotte, Kanna, Bailey, Natalie, Paige, and Namoai on Raw fighting for the title...I am sure everything (well the majority of the current 'problems' ) will fix itself. For the longest time the fans have told WWE that they do not care for olives. And what does WWE do? Instead of removing the olives from the salad, the company decides to toss in cheese, onions, and othwer ingredients while not removing the main reason for people dis-likning the dish. Its all self-congratulatory. Everytime I see Becky Lynch walk to the ring she has a smug "I had a MOTYC" look on her face. Charlotte is the same coupled in with her being Flair's daughter and Paige has the same look of self-importance as a random person hanging around a bunch of celebrities. Its a bit too meta for me while being completely out-of-touch. How WWE manages that duality on a weekly basis while keeping a straight face is beyond me. The whole reason Paige wanted 'change' is because she wanted Nikki dethoned. Since the new girls came in the title has NOT been the focus at all. For some reason teaming up with each other is more important. What is the end goal? For WWE this is a lame duck session to keep the title on Nikki for as long as they can in order to break AJs record. For the fans, this is a non-sensical affair where no one cares for the fucking title. Why would Sasha, Becky, and Charlotte leave NXT if they don't want to become Divas champion? They can still be friends with Paige and tag with her here-and-there, but they should be going after the gold and going over the veteran divas like Fox and Cameron to slowly start establishing the new pecking order. Its just all really bullshit. The whole 'wins and losses doesn't matter' stuff from Nikki was really the shit icing on a turd cake.