fakeplastictrees

I wonder how different WWE would be if all the racist were fired and replaced with non-sexist and non-racist personnel?

LOL. Yeah its just a thing with me and all media. As soon as I hear someone talking with that U.K. or Australian accent, it takes some adjusting. Usually its turned off the first go around and then the second is 'already let's give this a fair shake' and everything is usually smooth selling from there. At this point I'd be pissed if the gents sounded any different or 'more American' as I feel the accents add to the charm and makes me pay attention to their words more.

That's a dream of mine. But I'm different than most people. Wrestling differently needs more promotions like CHIKARA and PWG. Companies with their own style. Too many people are aping WWE and its making for a snoozefest. Lucha Underground was suppose to be this brave new concept right? What's one of the FIRST THINGS they do? Run a video package introducing the heel authority figure.

Yeah the show is good. I had to get over the accents at first, but once I overcame that hurdle...its been a pleasant listen ever since. I can't remember what my first show was but I have been listening to at least the last 5-6 episodes or so (again no idea when I started). Keep up the good work mate.

Why?

Because of this thread, I decided to watch the match tonight. One of the things that sticks out is the fans chanting for Taker. If it was 2014, people would chant for Foley. I'm not exactly sure when it happened but people started to appreciate the bumper more than the one setting up/executing a move that caused the bump. It is because of this reason that someone like Ziggler is so over today. I also think this shift in fan appreciation (amongst over reasons) is why HIAC should be retired after this year. Imagine Ambrose playing the role of Taker and Rollins playing the role of Foley. Rollins would get over HUGE after the match and would turn de-facto face despite the booking.

Owen's death was not shown to anyone outside the arena. The cameras were still rolling during KOTR. People were able to 'move on' (and I use that term as respectifully as I can) from Owen's death, because while it happened- the majority of us didn't see it. Foley dying in front of us would have definitely changed the landscape. I can see WWE losing its PPV deal and USA getting REALLY STRICT with WWE about what is allowed and what is and possibly even not renewing the contract after it ends. Perhaps stupid stuff like Angle's cage moonsault and Seth Rollins taking a back bump on the ladder during TLC 2013. WWE would still be around in some form and a lot of fans would have moved on. HIAC,as a gimmick, would be gone and WWE would have probably transitioned immediately out-of-attitude and something into what became The Ruthless Aggression Era. Perhaps even some wrestlers begin to unionize as to completely avoid WWE 'forcing' the wrestlers to do spots like Foley. Owen's death probably would have never happened.

I don't think the Vince ego stuff is a spacegoat at all. For the past few years reports have been coming out about Raw re-writes mere hours before Raw goes on the air. Former WWE writers have all said Vince changes things on the fly. Paul Heyman had to remind Vince that Smackdown was still Vince's show because Vince was in a mindset to crush and ruin Smackdown! And of course there is a the famous 'There is only one titan in Titan Towers'! story. Vince is a control freak and regardless of the talent WWE had at the time, I still believe that it would have all revolved around the McMahons in some way. In all honesty, I think The InVasion worked out for the best for WWE as WWE didn't have to deal with the politics of the guys who decided to sit out their contracts. How many things would have flat out NOT gotten off the ground with Hogan, Nash, and other big egos floating around. The Invasion could have been WWE's 2011 in 2001.

Yes It was doomed to fail from the start. Two reasons: Because one person was so heavily involved and because six people weren't. The person that put the kabosh on anything being TRULY interesting and having legs: Vince McMahon. The missing parties to the biggest angle in pro wrestling history of course were: Hall, Nash, Hogan, Goldberg, Sting, and Flair.The stars WWE did acquire were held hostage by Vince McMahon's ego and his desire to WIN not only in real life but on HIS OWN TV SHOW! Vince playing out his machinations on every Monday night just to show 'them' (Turner, TBS, Bischoff, etc.) that he won was always something that was going to happen unless by court order Vince, his entire family and Vince's stooges were banned from being anywhere near the book.

I guess this will be better than the consistent WWE Network ads on THE WWE NETWORK!? I don't think this is a situation where the ads are being put in to suppliment the income to address future (and much needed) improvements to The Network features. WWE will make its money and all the things discussed within the first year will still continue.

ROH is responsible for keeping me going as far as interest in pro wrestling is considered. WWE 2002 did its best to kill my interest. It was nice around 2004 or so that TNA and ROH introduced me to wrestlers and a style of wrestling I had never seen. Styles, Sabin, London, Red, SATS, etc. all great acts that got me interested again. As for the high points? 2005-2007 for me. More on WHY later.

I've been subscribed to the WWE Network for some time, but I have been slipping in my viewing.

Austin, Brock, Taker, Cena, Punk, and The Rock will all need to be involved in matches that mean something. Punk/Austin, Brock/Rock, Cena/Taker would be the match list. Vince tried to get a fight with Dana, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Vince try to get an MMA fight for Batista. Angle will soon be free and I can see him going back to WWE. And of course there is Sting. Sting can face anyone who can actually go (Jericho, Wyatt, Rollins, Orton) as the draw would be Sting's debut WWE match. Toss in those 5 matches and I think WWE will beat Mania 28.

I would still say 'no'. In its Time TNA did these ROH have yet to do. When ROH sells out arenas close to 10K capacity- then we can say 'maybe'. Also, what are ROH's PPV and iPPV numbers? Surely those aren't better than TNA's?

This might have been covered before but Bill seems like such a RANDOM choice to have as a head trainer. Why him? Why SPECIFICALLY him? Maybe I'm just a mark, but if I was running a program built on developing the future of my company...Bill would be the LAST person in the world I would ever consider. So why keep him around? If he were to step down, who would replace him? Smiley? Noble?

I don't think it should be a watermark. I think it should be something to help the faces get over more while at the same time allow the heels to appear more heelish. Kane doesn't have to cut a promo about how he wants to spread cancer to the WWE locker room and the world. Rusev doesn't have to cut a promo about how cancer will never be eliminated because AMERICA is the biggest cancer of them all. Bo Dallas doesn't have to get on the mic and tell the world that he BO-LIEVES in cancer. WWE just needs to make sure that on Raw, Smackdown, Superstars, and Mainevent that none of those guys (or any heel) is wearing anything that supports cancer awareness/research. Just the fact that these guys are NOT wearing it would make people think the heels are purposely going out their way to do this. Instant heat. Now if WWE wants to run some ads and do a pep talk at a school or have a special charity dinner and Rusev, Kane, Rolling, Bo Dallas, etc. are all there- that is 100% fine. That's real life. But in fantasy land, WWE isn't going to take a hit if Nikki Bella isn't wearing pink. The entire heel section of the WWE roster can't have a 'pet the dog' moment for an entire month- let alone a night. I don't want to pretend that this is one of the top reasons why heels aren't as over as they could be- but its one of them. If The Miz is suppose to be a dick- then make him a dick. Allow him to be a complete dick. Having Miz come out in pink reminds me that The Miz is just a character and behind this character is a guy who really cares about cancer research and wants to make the world a better place in his own small way. HOW DOES THIS MAKE ME HATE THE GUY? It takes me out of the narrative.

Re: Cancer shirts Let's make this pro wrestling related. Should heels wear 'Fight Cancer' shirts and the like? No matter how heelish the words on the shirt/merchandise ("I love to motor boat so let's save them tit-tas!"), it still supports cancer research. This goes outside of cancer. What about ALS? Should heels EVER take up a noble real-life cause while on screen? What Seth Rollins does in his personal life is up to him, but on TV- I don't think he should wear a breast cancer awareness pin or anything like that. I would seriously like everyone's thoughts on this. Perhaps I am over thinking the entire thing?

The I.C. title at one point had a strong lineage of unover champions. It all started with Drew McIntrye. He was followed by Barrett, Rhodes, Jackson, Axel, and The Miz. Not in that order, but still. That would be the JTS moment for me. The most un-over guy on the roster getting to hold the second tier title. WWE was on this kick of making all of its heels as boring as possible.

Over/Under on Hayes saying something racist and blaming it on a hack or being burnt out? Matt Hardy, Angle, Melina, Taryn Terell, etc. The list goes on. All the dumbshit wrestlers say on Twitter. Michael is not always on his best behavior. I give it until Feb. 2015.

SummerSlam 2000. There are few cards that actually make me give a shit about its undercard. Summerslam 2000 is one of those cards. Going into it I was looking forward to the 4 big matches. But everyting delivered and was entertaining. I was never a big fan of Terri and/or The Kat so I didn't mind their 5 minute tom-foolery in the 'stink face' match. I re-rewatched this PPV on The Network this year so this isn't my teenage self talking. No rose-coloured glasses and such. So what so good about it? Including but not limited to: Shane McMahon taking a 50 foot fall inorder to make Blackman look like a million bucks. E&C/Hardys/and The Duds totally upstaging their WM 2000 ladder match and having their best TLC match to date (yes! Even better then WM17). The nightly build to and conclusion of one of the best angles in WWE of all time (HHH/Angle/Steph love triangle). The Main event of Rock/Angle/HHH. Tazz being a COMPLETE dick and getting what was coming to him via a candy jar that had some nice foreshadowing ealrier in the broadcast. And of course Jericho/Benoit being Jericho/Benoit. SummerSlam 2000, Backlash 2000, and SummerSlam 2002 are three WWE PPV's I purchased with my own money and I didn't feel disappointed in the less. WWE hasn't always hit a home run and there have been PPVs where I felt WWE owed me money...but on those three nights, the WWE was at its best and proved why its the most sucessful wrestling promotion of all time.

And this is the problem I will have if there was ever a Vince McMahon autobiography. The guy just will NOT tell the truth. The long standing believe (as propagated by WWE and McMahon) is that if 1997 didn't pan out then WWE would be out-of-business. Then of course there is the boyout of WWF, The first WrestleMania, etc. All of these fake/overly exagerated underdog stories are something else. I can understand telling that story in the 90's, but why in 2014?

Reading the last page of this thread got me thinking of Raw's JTS moments. Celebrity hosted Raws The Mystery GM Raw going three hours The entire roster walking out because they were afraid of Miz/Truth and things being 'too crazy' I can't think of anything else post 1996.

I've never heard nor seen Chick Donovan until the posted video above. That guy sucks. He cuts this terrible promo to little reaction and then starts shaking his ass to NO REACTION. You could have heard a pin drop in that studio if the music wasn't so damn loud. I know this isn't the popular opinion, but stuff like that has no place being shown in a serious capacity on The Network.

Reading Chris' blog today: (And if anyone was curious, section 10.2.b is the 'Rey Mysterio' clause: " ( In the event that WRESTLER is unable to wrestle for six (6) consecutive weeks during the Term of this Agreement, for any or no reason, including, without limitation, due to an injury suffered while performing services at PROMOTER’s direction, PROMOTER shall have the right to thereafter: (i) terminate this Agreement; (ii) suspend WRESTLER either with or without pay; and/or (iii) extend the Term of this Agreement for a period of time equal to the entire period of inability to wrestle, or any portion thereof." I believe that WWE is using this part of the contract to 'extend' Rey's time under obligation to WWE by the amount of injury time he's accumulated.) I thought it was just paranoia. But no. Its actually written in the contracts.No wonder people rush back. Though I can't think of the last person who got hurt and WWE immediately canned the person.

RVD and Jericho ARE RIGHT THERE. The rest of this year are mainly throw away shows. So why not sure them to write out Jericho and RVD? WWE should give them both title shots and have Lesnar go SS14 on them.