fakeplastictrees

WWE should have REAL SEASONS and not 'seasons' like they currently have. A season requires a break or at least some time of majority seperation to know we are going into a new period. Sure we can all assume that: Rumble to WM is Season one. Season two is everything after Mania- SummerSlam. Season three is Post Summerslam to the end of they year. WWE wants to do everything to get the company to be considered a normal TV series, so why such the hard avoidance of having actual seasons?

I've never been into the Lynn/RVD series from the late 90's and I remember them going out there and pretty much having the same match. In fact everytime they touched you could expect certain spots. The worse was the RVD/Lynn Mexican standoffs. If we use kayfabe logic- a wrestler might try something again if it failed the first time and that wrestler is determined to make it work i.e. the HBK/Bulldog match(es) you mentioned. I don't mind a fun sequences that is repeated over a span of matches as long as its not souless. My biggest problem with 'repeats', I guess moreso applies to American pro wrestling. Wrestlers in WWE, TNA, ROH, and PWG (that's all I really watch from America- a little CHIKARA here-and-there) tend to hit his/her signature moves in EVERY match and its kinda lame. The American companies, I think, would benefit greatly from doing a 21st century Southern Style. Tone down on the finishing moves and signature moves. Instead of a wrestler breaking out his/her 5 signature moves in EVERY MATCH, the wrestler should spread them out. -Monday's match has move 1 and 2 only. -Tuesday's match has moves 4 and 5. -Wednesday's match has 2 and 3. -Thursday's match only has move 1 and the wrestler's finisher. -Friday's match has no moves or finisher and is won by the wrestler doing something completely different that wasn't seen on any of the previous days. I think variety is important and is lacking.

I understand that point-of-view. We all see it as the 'jobber entrance' because of its history. I wonder what the new fans think? The kids that are 12 and have no idea about Iron Mike Sharpe, WCW Power Hour, etc. What do they think when Raw returns and The Miz is making his entrance and Kofi Kingston (multi-time tag, IC, and US champion) is already in the ring? I think picking the minds of the younger generation would be interesting. Also, as we have been conditioned to see it as the 'jobber entrance' what will these kids think in 10-15 years if the same shit is going one and the paradigm doesn't shift away from post 2007 WWE? I think another thing to consider on the entrances being cut being such a big deal is this- WWE, in some cases, doesn't make its roster look like stars. The trading of wins, the scripted bland promos, etc. So in some cases all these guys/gals have left is the superstar entrance and when that is taking away- then what? I would be curious to see if WWE continued with the cutting of entrances and ceased with the cutting away of the talents' legs when certain talent gets hot (i.e. ADR, Ziggler, Ryder, Ryback).

I have been going through the WCW Nitros on The Network and some top guys have gotten the 'jobber intro'. It was a one hour show and everything was presented as important. I don't mind WWE cutting out the intros because in all reality- I can't think of a really spectcular entrance in WWE that I just HAVE to see. I can understand if WWE had a roster consisting of talent with entrances as OTT as The Undertaker, Glacier, 1996 Goldust, 1996 HBK, ADR circa 2011,WrestleMania Rey Mysterio, etc. Then yeah, I would be PISSED that WWE would even think about cutting that stuff out. But a lot of WWE wrestlers are robotic and have the same mannerisms for his/her souless entrance. WWE is stale, WWE is cookie-cutter, and sometimes its best to take a break from the same-old-same old.

Jerry Lawler getting the ring to announce Michael Sam followed by Damien Sandow coming out dressed like him to a chorus of forced chortles from Michael Cole doesn't sound remote to me at all. I think the chance is remote since the subject matter is heavier than usual celebrity goofing. Could be a football-related skit next week tho. On the Bellas in-ring segment, I thought it was really stupid when AJ's theme played when she skipped around with the belt right after Brie shoved Nikki. Why is her theme playing? She "crashed" the segment, picks up the belt 5 seconds after Brie leaves, and her theme plays. Ugh. And Steph chews her out a few secs later anyway. Do they have to fill a quota on how many times to play her theme? I would have been alright if AJ motioned to the back or said "hit my music", but it's like she "earned" her theme playing with this. And it's not just her, it's all across the roster in all types of segments that this illogical theme playing has happened as of late. I've also had a problem with the theme music recently. So I guess the question then becomes, when is it appropriate to play a wrestler's theme music? When does it become overkill? At what point does it become silly and counterproductive?

The 'conversation' aspect of this conversation was very interesting. Let me explain. WWE loves to tell its fans to use Twitter, Facebook, etc. to discuss Raw with other fans. The strong encouragement of conversation while things are happening vs. the encouragement of full digestion of the information before discussion, I feel is aiding in increased creation of the jaded fan. I think this might have changed me, slightly, as a wrestling fan even when viewing something outside of live WWE events that encourage interactment. This happened to me ealrier today when I was watching a SNME that featured The Mountie vs. Roddy Piper. The ending of the match had The Mountie dump a cup of water on Piper and shock Piper with the Shocker Stick (or whatever the gimmick name). Piper responds with a QUICK and absolute no sell and winds up winnin the match. I switched tabs and was going to start a discussion about The Mountie's gimmick weapon and its effectivness, etc., but I decided to watch the rest of the segment.Come to find out, Piper had on 3 shirts and a SHOCK PROOF VEST. It all made it and made it even more awesome. I was in the mindset of 'talking while watching' that I wasn't even patient enough to allow the story to finish before discussion. In this case, because I saw EVERYTHING, there was nothing to talk about. I wonder what would happen if WWE killed all the hastag stuff and encourage people to 'not to touch that dial', etc.

Bix, are you going to release the name of the racist WWE HOF or is the cover up going to continue?

Re: Intergender matches I am a pretty open minded person, but I can't help but feel that the man/woman matches are just sleazy. It just SCREAMS lo-rent indie and is one of the worse carny tricks still in existence. I love PWG, but I NEVER enjoyed Candice LaRae being pimp slapped or doing all the crazy shit she does with Joey Ryan as part of her tag team with her. It usually takes me a few minutes (and Candice being slapped around a couple of times) for me to 'settle' into one of their matches. I don't watch a lot of intergender matches (and have no desire to), but from the little I've seen from Jenny Rose, Mia Yim, LuFisto, etc. I have to say Candice is the most realistic performance and the most 'fun', if that word can even be used.

The Wolves vs. The Usos Jeff Hardy vs. Cesaro Dean Ambrose vs. Matt Hardy Sin Cara/Kidd/Gabriel/Neville/Del Sol vs. Sanada/King/Homicide/Low Ki/Tigre Uno Roode/Aries/Joe/MVP/Storm vs. Team Go Away: Orton/RVD/Kane/Miz/Jericho Angle vs. Cena Lashley vs. Lesnar Big Show vs. Rockstar Spud/EC III

I think this sums it up for me. I am not asking for every season to be WM Season. That's impossible. Its not be real. WWE should look at its resources during the 'down time' and just have some fun. If Jan-Apr is the hot months then there should be no reason for trying to find a new star during the cooling down months. Toss everyone out there. Tyson Kidd, Sami Zayn, Del Sol, etc. Put them on the main show in random matches. Give me a random ass 5 on 5 as the main event on Raw on night. Have the tag team champions close Smackdown with a ladder match. Just have some fun. It's important to be on-the-ball from Jan-Apr, and I can understand the company not wanting to task risks. WWE being 'stale' around that times makes 'sense' as there is a lot of money on the line. After that? No one is jonesing to see Pay Back, BattleGround, etc. So try some new things and have new people main event and being to use that time to run injury angles,etc. with guys like Cena, Orton, Jericho, Kane, RVD, Miz, Lawler, and and other stale acts on the roster. WWE should also look into shooting Smackdown differently than Raw. Superstars/Mainevent/NXT should also look different from the actual TV products as they are Network exclusives.

WWE should continue efforts in merch and international markets. Attacking digital platforms is difficult as people always find/create gimmicks to go around the system. The Network is is just one hack away from shaking consumer confidence. Remember what happened to UFC's Fight Pass? The Network has shown me that WWE doesn't have the tech specs down fully to fire on all cylinders for The Network to be as big as it can be. The Cena/Superman stuff got me thinking. What is Cena's weakness? His ACTUAL weakness? I don't think WWE has ever defined it. Clark Kent having flaws and weakness makes him a more beloved character than the non-challenging and God-like Superman Prime. Cena isn't Clark Kent, he is Kal-El. This is a problem. WWE having its own 'Justice League' wouldn't hurt either. This would be guys who would NEVER turn, but at times will show elements of darkness and heel behavior in order to secure victory. Cena, Sin Cara, The Usos, and Sami Zayn would be a good WWE JLA. Obviously I don't think they should roll together 100%, but it should be established they are all friends and have each other's back.

I just finished watching one of the most recent episodes. Was Austin/Mcmahon REALLY the most profitable angle of all time? Surely Sting vs. NWO/Hogan around that same time period did better business?

Unfortunately, I am unable to locate the documents. I can understand wanting to write a piece and not include names for the reason you cited, which is fine. What I don't understand is why you or anyone else would withold any names outside the article? Surely Michael Hayes isn't the only known racist working in WWE? Kevin Dunn can't be the only misogynist? It just seems that in pro wrestling (and this is outside of you and your article) that there is a lot of protection for people who really should be no where near the business deciding the fate of people her/she hates.

Just finished reading your piece on the WCW lawsuits. The WWE Hall Of Famer that is mentioned on the last page, did your source withhold the name or is it you witholding the name?

Are we talking about a top title or spcifically the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE? I think wrestling needs to move away from the WHC being the centerpiece of PPVs and Shows. I believe the champions should not be overexposed and the company should work on rotating the champions into the billed features. Examples of this is what the UFC and boxing currently does. The biggest titles in both are NOT the heavyweight title. I would love to see a wrestling promotion take a chance (as ROH did in the past- to an extent) and feature another title as the biggest deal in the world. So yes I would like to see a Sheamus/Cesaro match for the U.S. title positioned as so Important that is closes out one of the B level PPVs. The Usos have been tag champions for a LONG time. Maybe billed to a program with Tyson/Justin and have them close out the Oct. PPV. When the biggest PPV draws in the world are all under Heavyweight- its time to reconsider the old pro wrestling presentation. The overexposure of the champions also doesn't help.

When I think of WCW's use of The NWO, I can't help but to think of Chubby Checker's song "The Twist". Checker's 1960 cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist" reached number one in 1960. It started a dance craze that swept the nation and made Checker a lot of money. Did Checker leave his 'Thriller' alone and continued forward with trying to create another "Thriller" while not RE-CREATING THRILLER? No. Not really. As the years rolled on the following were released: "Twistin' U.S.A." "Let's Twist Again" "Slow Twisting'" "Twistin Round the World" "Twist It Up" "Yo Twist" Checker kept going back to "The Twist" bag and made money, but began to typecast himself as a musician. WCW, after the NWO, became so obsessed with company takeover angles. It got to the point that NWO like angles were ran with or without The NWO. The New Bloods is a prime example of this.WCW 1997-2001 focused mainly around who was in control of the company, who was trying to take over the company, and different NWO incarnations, and at one time an actual NWO reboot. How has the NWO negatively impacted pro wrestling today? Simple. Everyone except for WWE (as Vince found that out in 2002) keeps trying to re-create The NWO. The worse offender of this is, of course, TNA.TNA trying to re-create NWO like angles (and at times using actual members from The NWO) is one of the reasons TNA has been stuck in second gear for years. The main focus of WCW from 1997-2001 has been the "A" angle for the majority of TNA's 12 year existence. The NWO created such an impression within the 20th century that a 21st century wrestling company decided to crib the NWO angle at every chance it got to the harm of its own business and American pro wrestling in general.

I'm not sure when this stopped, but at one point-in-time refs had to have his/her full body in the ring in order to perform a 3 count. Feet dangling outside the ring? Another thing that bugs me is when refs try to enforce the open hand rule and when the refs begin counting when people are on the top rope. Supposedly being on the top turn buckle for more than 5-10 seconds can get you disqualified? Confusion in the ring over a finish? No worries. Ref B (who just came running down to the ring) apparently has the same, if not more, say in the match than the guy who just finished reffing the match. Why aren't there refs reviewing the footage and overturning victories every night? Why only once in a while. Re: Count Out The commentators have explained in the past that the ref is 'going to let them go'. So I don't mind if its a main event and the ref is trying to be laxed on the rules. If it was Joe Blow vs. Joe Nobody and these guys went past the allowed 5 minutes and try to do some crowd brawling -- then that 10 count will last 10 seconds. If its The Rock vs. SCSA at WrestleMania 17 for the WWF title-- a 10 count maybe actually be two minutes. I think WWE should just have FIP rules and have a 20 second countout. Adhering to it would be really interesting as well.

It says a lot about the current WWE product that there is no one SUPER HOT that Lesnar can run a program with while Cena is out for 2-3 months. Guys like Ryback, Swagger, and Cesaro should have been heavily protected in the mid card. Big Show and Mark Henry (while a fun team) probably should have both returned putting people on blast. Lesnar would be able to finish up this year working with all 5 of those guys (in various lengths obviously) and come RR the rematch with Cena would be super fresh and something people would want to see. This would also give tons of time for Reigns to get where WWE wants him to be, Bryan to return, Ambrose to continue to get super hot, and build the anticipation of Rollins cashing it.

For the record: I don't watch The Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, Emmys, or any award show really. Whether WWE wins an Emmy or not is of no concern to me, but I am sure its on Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon's bucket list. WWE winning an Emmy will be the 'told you so' to TV Guide, THR, and anyone else who dares calls WWE a pro wrestling company. I can understand the writing and acting being considered low brow, but the actual production? If the atmosphere of WWE Raw was that of the smoke filled arena's of the 70's then I would agree. But this isn't the case. What specifically is wrong with WWE production where people feel that an Emmy is completely out-of-the-question for WWE? Aside from the obvious 'its pro wrestling'. Let's pretend that The Academy had absolutely no problems with pro wrestling and viewed it on the same level as Leverage, Arrow, Castle, and all these other shows. What specifically about the production would make someone say 'Nope! WWE doesn't have its shit together!". '

On 5/28/08, WWE set up a screening of the 2007 Tribute to the Troops USA Network special for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. This was done by WWE to continue to expand its brand further away from 'wrestling' and closer to 'entertainment'. To my knowledge, this was the first time WWE vyied for an Emmy nomination. Years later WWE hired a 2 time Emmy Award winning writer,Tom Casiello, to serve on WWE's creative team. With the quality production, countless angles, 'acting', being the longest running episodic action/adventure show in television history, etc. Can WWE not only earn an Emmy nod but eventually win an Emmy? Why or wht not?

Related question: have the heels ever dominated a WWE PPV so thoroughly before? Backlash 2000. The heel won in every championship match.

So WWE Raw 2014 should using the bridging techniques of WCW Nitro 1998? I wouldn't be against it. Its just interesting that for The Network to work in the 21st century, WWE might have to start looking back toward The Attitude era and ask how can Raw and Smackdown be used to have people ask "What Now?" and "What's Next?" all the while finding a balance to shift this traffic to The Network while not producing fans so jaded where these fans are then conditioned to believe that Raw and Smackdown really don't matter as the only programs to watch for the answers to the "What Now?" and "What's Next?" questions...is too watch The Network. I don't want to turn this into a Kevin Dunn thing, but is there a reason (again aside from Dunn) that The Network looks like WWE TV? I can understand why The Main Event and Superstars entrances and general feel are those of Smackdown and Raw. Okay fine. Not going to beat a dead horse on that one. But seriously those two shows don't have to be FILMED and DIRECTED like their TV counterparts? Re: The Fans Since the boom of the internet, the wrestling promoter has had it out for the fan. It's become a self-loathing business and the people writing the show want to tell their narrative regardless of whether its over or not. This has, in part, produced the jaded fan. The jaded fan is what is, again in part, hurting the business and yet the narrative is unchanged because pro wrestling promoters/writers have this hard on for showing the fans who is in charge and what these fans are suppose to think, say, chant, etc. The whole Bryan/HHH angle from last year was meta as hell and offers the biggest insight into the post 1997 pro wrestling world.

The human mind is amazing. Its amazing how we can create our own world outside of reality. We have all had that moment/day in our life were something small ruins the entire day. Its easy to forget blessings at times. I hope on next week's show Alice gets a little more platform to talk about depression. I'm not saying this needs to turn into Dr. Phil or anything- but they usually use the first 15 minutes to talk about bullshit and get the plugs in before the interview- why not switch it up and have a friendly debate/education piece on the subject of depression before rolling into the interview with Sydney Batt.

This all seems so backwards. This isn't 1982. Why the hell would WWE go the TV route for its programming? Were there some technical hangups? It couldn't have all boiled down simply to dollars and sense. Unless the money WWE is getting from Rogers will help supplement The Network's 'income' as it continues to lose WWE money.

I think this weekend I'm going to try to watch 10 Raws from 2011 and take notes. I want to gain a better understanding of Dunn's craft. I should have enough information from 10 episodes of Raw? I'm going to start at some random point in the calendar year and go from there. WWE didn't win its first Emmy with its Tribute To The Troops show, which is not surprising at all. So serious question: Will WWE ever win an Emmy? What would it take (aside from not being pro wrestling) for WWE to win an Emmy? Can WWE some how pull one of the biggest cons in pro wrestling history and kiss the right ass for the Emmy people to eventually create a Sports Entertainment category?