fakeplastictrees

It's 2014 and WWE has absolutely zero competition in the U.S. The releases and injuries of the last decade or so tells us that no one REALLY matters outside of John Cena. With that said, why is Kane, RVD, The Miz, and Jerry Lawler still working for WWE? I can understand if TNA was this HOT product and was on the verge of creating another 'war', but this simply isn't the case. The 4 guys I mentioned (and some others- ADR being a prime example) are beyond terrible and bring ZERO to the product. Why keep them around? If WWE wants to keep these 5 guys on the payroll and off TV, I can live with that. But why have these subpar performers, that board on being absolutely dreadful, on TV in 2014?

WWE's top face is homophobic and misogynist (at times), so of course TNA is going to continue its trend of copying WWE and make sure their top face is as close as possible.

What's the story behind Ernest Miller's 3 World Karate Championship victories? I am able to find information on his other credentials, but nothing specifically relating to the Karate tournaments. He has been the ISKA Kick Boxing Champ, and Atomic Freestyle Karate Champ. Miller has also won the Rhode Island Invitational and Bluegrass Nationals. Doing a quick google search- I haven't found anything. I can find Angle's, Cromier's, etc. Olympic matches. I can find Bubba Jenkins, Lesnar, and Koscheck's NCAA matches. Hell I can even find Alberto Del Rio's MMA matches and Mir/Nelson BJJ match. Is Miller's 3 World Karate Champion stuff a gimmick?

Now all TNA needs to do is bring back the wheelchair for Angle and it will be 2004 all over again.

On the TNA website there is a poll: 4 sided ring or 6 sided ring! YOU DECIDE~! TNA should be more concerned with improving the product they're putting out than how many sides their ring is. The Eric Young/MVP feud in a six-sided ring is just as unappealing to me as it is in a four-sided ring.

It really comes down to this: entertainment. That's why I watch wrestling. If a wrestler keeps my interest....they are good. Some have the overall package and others have just elements I like (i.e. Jake with the promos, Cena with the matches, etc.).

You are also forgetting KO Law Traci Brooks and Brook Tessmacher. Also, TNA Xplosion commissioner Desmond Wolfe.

Disband The Authority? I am all for it. I would love for Vince Mcmahon to come out on Raw and starts talking about the Wallstreet fall from grace. During this over-the-top rant, Vince mentions that management having their hands and heads in all other places aside from business is one of the reasons for the great stock crash of 2014.Personal agendas, egos, etc. "AND IT COST ME 350 MILLION DAMNIT!". Vince then mentions that going forward- all authority figures will be working from Titan and will be attending to the business they have negelecated while trying to screw Cena and put the fix to Daniel Bryan. This will give WWE some nice wiggle room as Stephanie, Vickie, Teddy, HHH, etc. will still have their jobs and an occasional blurb might be sent out by one (or more) of them via Twitter, Facebook, wwe.com, etc. to setup matches. This will clear the air of the authority figure stink that has been in mainstream wrestling for far too long.

WWE likes to hire the former writers of popular television shows/movies, but fails to use them to their full potential. You have guys who took months/years to come up with a tv/movie idea and now these same guys are expected to come up with something EVERY WEEK? I honestly believe WWE could attract different viewers if they went to Seasons (Say SummerSlam to WrestleMania) and made a big deal about who is writing and producing the show. Example: Emmy Award winning writer BLAH BLAH BLAH and the co-creator of the hit tv show BLAH BLAH BLAH team up with the guy who brought you BLAH BLAH BLAH and the team executive producing team behind BLAH BLAH BLAH to bring to you the longest running episodic television show in history....Monday Night Raw. Just with the intro alone it comes off big and the fans of those TV shows will most likely tune in to see what's going on. I feel WWE would have to ton down on the outlandish gimmicks (which would be unfortunate in some cases [ no more WeeLC] ) and focus on guys who are less gimmicky and very entertaining. CM Punk, The Shield, Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, Ceasaro, Big Show, The Wyatts (minus the demon kids, etc). The terrible commentary will have to go as well. I think these people who feel they are 'too good' for wrestling will turn the channel if they see Cole dancing, King making his terrible jokes, and have to put up with JBL being JBL (he is fine sometimes...but shit). Bring in someone like Mike Goldberg and Mike Hogewood. Hell, what is "The Voice" doing these days? Rene Young is a step in the right direction as is the very corporate looking and sounding panel of Justin Roberts and Alex Riley. WWE will also need to have its hands on the pulse of what is hot right now and what people are watching. Shelton Benjamin singing Hootie and The Blowfish is NOT hot. Rosa Mendes chasing a tiger with a golf club (while topical) is NOT hot. Not only if it not hot, but its not funny. If I were WWE I would get someone like Kenny Page, David Cross, Louis CK, etc. to handle the comedy aspect of the show and save the comedy ONLY for certain wrestlers. There will be a CLEAR divide. When you see Santino on the screen- you know something funny is about to go down. When you see The Shield...not so much. There should also be less dancing and 'having fun' gimmicks as a lot of people on this board (myself include) see it as just stupid and complete overkill. If you have a Fandango...cool. Just build him as a So you Think You Can Dance reject and go from there. Hell WWE has so much clout I am sure they can go to these competitions and have something on the side filmed for the guy to give credence to the gimmick and make it less cringe-worthy.

Conway and Lagana were there, but John and Christy weren't. Russo left in Feb of 2012 and there were rumblings of Bully Ray popping into creative meetings. 2012 had a lot of solid points, but TNA fell back into some pits. It's amazing to think that Rob Terry has been kept around while Styles, Daniels, and Kazarian have been given their walking papers.

I know the man's daughter. Met her a long time ago at the beach through a mutual friend. One of my buddies went to Mania this year and she mentioned on facebook that her dad was doing something with WWE- this is pretty cool! Thanks for sharing mate.

I'm surprised the RVD/HBK match from Raw is getting no love in this thread. A ton of people wanted to see it and then when it happened...it felt flat. The ending of the match with the HHH run-in was the worse and killed the crowd dead.

Beard. Check. Teamed with the 'monster' of the company. Check. Two matches in one night. Check. Defeated the company's chosen champion. Check. Let me word it like this: A small bearded man, who use to team with a man known as the 'monster' of the company, just overcame the odds by winning not one but two matches on a show. The second match was against the corporate champion hand picked by the boss. The corporate champion had no real fanfare leading into the match and was an after thought going in. The small bearded man use to protray a goof some months ago, but got serious, got over, and won the World Heavyweight Championship in April. Who did I just describe? Eric Young or Daniel Bryan?

I don't see WWE cutting Mania. If The Network received 600,000 subscribes due to it being every wrestling fans wet dream AND including Mania in the deal, I can see the subscription number increasing every year before Mania. WWE removing it will not give that on-the-fence person any incentive to buy. If Mania doesn't convince someone to buy the network (and let's admit that its a huge selling point for some), then nothing else will. WWE has pretty much made, though not really, 40 million dollars off Mania and their next 6 PPVs. When the cable provider numbers come in and the math is done and compared to last year's numbers when there wasn't a network. I think we will then have a better indication is Mania will be included in year 3 of The Network.

What reason would someone outside of Vince, Taker, Lesnar, the ref, and possibly Heyman need to know? Not being snarky, I'm just actually curious. This isn't a Vince Russo working the boys type of thing. This isn't Bischoff trying to work a few people backstage into believing something that in the grand scheme of things is completely meaningless. This was/is pretty fucking big. So why would Joe Blow Cupcake Guy need to know Undertaker is taking a hit at Mania?

Not trying to jump on the Rusev hate, but I am just not seeing anything special in the guy right now. The fact that he has been saddled with a terrible finisher that hasn't been over in a very long time is also a bad sign for the guy. I think Hassan was the last one with the Camel Clutch as his finisher and despite how over he was, even he could not get that finisher over. Rusev needs some work. I am not sure if he can do any awesome suplexs, but he should learn how and start doing it. Rusev running a Taz gimmick in 2014 could really work. Hell, bite Taz completely and allow him to use The Tazmission. It will look good on both small and big guys. Titus is definitely a star, but I feel he is going to get lost in the shuffle as we approach summer. It's amazing that WWE has so many guys on fire right now. Bryan, Wyatts, Shield, Cesaro, and The Usos are all hot. I feel that second tier of Barrett, Titus, Sandow, Ziggler, and Ryder could really benefit from a brand split ( I know) with those 5 running on top against Christian, Del Rio, Big Show, Mysterio, and RVD on Smackdown. I would love to see a Titus IC run. Get the title off of that charisma vacuum Big E. and put it on Titus and watch Titus become a huge star in less than 3 months.

Thoughts on Warrior's WCW run? I remember at the time that Warrior showing up was just another reason why WWE was a better product. WCW was pulling out all the stops to bring in anyone who was a huge star in WWE pre 1995 and I hated it quite frankly. I wanted to see the new guys. I remember their Halloween Havoc match being pretty bad and the criss-cross-the-ropes spot was met with a big boo by the crowd. The spot was never really over and IIRC, again the network will assist, that spot was boo'd when Hogan/Warrior decided to do it in the 1991 Royal Rumble. Why they decided to do it years later when the audience was more educated and in the era of Austin, Rock, and DX is only something those two and the agent of the match will know. Aside from the Hogan rematch, that no one was asking for, what type of mileage could have been gotten out of an Ultimate Warrior run? I feel like he began to overstay his welcome with the crowd toward the end of his run. Thoughts? Also, who was used better in WCW: Bret Hart or The Ultimate Warrior? The earliest I can remember is ROH circa 2002-2003. This was the era where everyone wore their influence on their sleeve and was very on-the-nose on who they were cribbing. While I never enjoy a wrestling calling out their finisher, I understand why indy workers did/do it. Hitting different towns every night without the benefit of TV means that the wrestlers have to re-introduce their shit. Undertaker can make the sign for the tombstone and the arena will pop because they have seen on Raw, Smackdown, PPVs, etc. Joe Blow indy worker doesn't have that same benefit. The yelling while charging most likely began around the same time as indy workers began channeling their 'fighting spirit' and felt it added to the intensity of the match. A charge in the corner is one thing. Adding a point and yell to it makes the match come off as more personal and heated than it real is and also provides an extra cube of sugar to the 'new-night-new-town' narrative the guys are forced to tell. So yes, I blame the super indy of the early 2000's ROH for making it a staple.The real question is why is it done on NXT in 2014? Maybe because the majority of guys there are rookies, it slides. I don't know. I do know however that it most likely will not be tolerated on the main roster without HHH dressing the wrestler who decides to relive his favorite AJPW 91 moments on national TV.

Yeah Gallows and Styles have NJPW contracts. Young Bucks and Hero have a current working relationship as well. Colt Cabana will most likely not join because he wants his freedom that I am sure JJ will not be able to provide. I feel guys like Carlito and Masters are shoe-ins. Hopefull the same can be said for John Morrison. The remaining roster should contain guys like Brian Cage, Trent?, and other indy guys who are not overly exposed at this point.

I've always heard of a 'TV style' of wrestling, but what is it? I can only think of two different things that actually matter for TV that really don't matter as much when in a house show setting. The first being facial expressions and the second being the location of the finish, as its usually done facing the hard camera. Are there any other noted elements that wrestlers have to consider when working TV versus working a house show?

The Knux stuff and the DSLR filming is the only real difference. I know they are in a soundstage and operating on a smaller budget, that's not what I am talking about. The overall feel of the show is just like WWE. The problem is WWE is on fire right now and the next couple of months look very promising, I cannot say the same for TNA.

- Authority Figures - World Title as the main focus of the show while every other title is treated as secondary - HOF ceremony before the 'biggest event of the year' - Bro Metal - Big screen and ramp combo - cribbing big WWE/WCW angles and running them. TNA doesn't feel like a different company. It doesn't look like a different company in a lot of cases.

Re: Bourne and JTG Why are they still employed? Those two and Rosa Mendez are puzzling keeps for the company considering who they have released in the past year (Mistico, Chris Hero, etc.) . Rosa and JTG are not over in the slightest and are both just collecting a check. Bourne must have some big dirt on WWE or else he'd be gone. I don't see why they would keep him on as he has been on the shelf for some time and WWE has a ton of vanilla personality guys who can fly like Neville, Gabriel, Kidd, etc.

JJ is such a con artist. The guy is selling shirts and photos of him and Karen before even selling tickets to an event. This seems like one of those schemes were JJ is going to make money off the merch and then 2-3 months later say "Welp, it didn't work out". Presentation is everything and GFW took the TNA approach to things and if this is any indication of where the company is going then they should be able to gain even less traction than TNA.

I think that at some point in time, people need to realize they are in the entertainment business. The fake outrage over the incident was second only to JR's 'mistreatment' in WWE. The crying wouldn't have been that loud if Aries did it to JB. Christy Hemme being a part of the creative team means nothing. Why? Because whether its Vince Russo, Dutch Mantell, Dave Lagana, Big John, Cornette, Bischoff, Hogan, or Conway...its always the same shit. Same presentation with the goal of the company to have no identity outside of being WWE-lite. TNA also has a long history of stopping people out backstage who start getting their stuff over and/or have any ideas that can help the company not come off as bush league. Hemme will be off the team in 6 months if she starts working on KO angles that draw bigger ratings and more heat than anything the men do. A new member on the team, I wonder if that means the 3-5 authority segments will drop? What about the MNW TV tropes? We shall see what she brings the table and see if there is any change to the status quo or if its business as usual. In 2006, I gave Russo until BFG. I think its only fair to do the same with Hemme. 6 months. I don't know much about her personality, so it will be hard to pin-point what she directly had an influence in creating, but if the company as a whole is in a better creative spot in 6 months, then it will only be fair to give her her due.

The most important and telling thing coming out of Wrestlemania XXX, was that WWE has finally welcomed in the future rather than live in the past. WWE opened a new book, showcasing the future of WWE in a huge way, while closing the book on much of the past in such a way that was only fitting of the biggest Wrestlemania to date. Lead by Bryan and his triumph over The Authority, the likes of The Shield, Cesaro and even Bray Wyatt (despite the loss) proved they are the real deal. It was a huge statement by WWE saying, “The future is here.” …and the fans are completely on board. The fans have been ready and waiting for these young guns to be given the spotlight. For the last 4 years or so, it’s just felt like every time there are hot young acts that seem to be gathering steam and making moves, come Wrestlemania time, they were shoved down the card to make room for all the part timers or main eventers of past eras. The Rocks, the Shawn Michaels, the Batistas, the Triple Hs, the Lesnars of the world had been taking the spotlight in what was seemingly a musical chairs of past big name wrestlers for each passing Wrestlemania event. “Triple H faced Taker last year, so he should get Lesnar this year”. It just became tiresome and it was like we were playing old movies. Now when we talk about WWE closing the “old book”, a lot of the acts from yesterday took the fall, showed some serious ass, and put over the future to announce their arrival. Bryan got the whole 9 yards put behind him, The Shield squashed Kane and the Old Age Outlaws, Cesaro got his big moment and Bray stood toe to toe with Cena. But above all those, the biggest and possibly important part of the old book that was closed was The Streak coming to an end. Shock, disappointment, disbelief, anger. All words that I’ve seen, heard and in some cases experience myself to describe the emotion of watching Brock Lesnar break the most coveted accomplishment in WWE history. Either this was truly Taker’s last match, which I think is very possible, or it was a way to contain the monster that has become and grown into The Streak. The Streak in many ways had become too big. Too important. Too legendary. No one was credible enough, no one was worthy enough. And with each passing year as The Streak grew, it became more and more ominous. But as it grew, so too did the predictability of it. The intrigue of it ever being broken became slimmer and slimmer, and that is a promoter’s worst nightmare because predictability leads to lost interest. It became an automatic assumption that Taker would win year after year. Sure, the matches were great and "stole the show", but did anyone actually think Triple H was going to break it in the rematch at WM 28? Did anyone actually think Punk would break it last year? Sure there were some really close calls and near falls, but the answer is no. The only person anyone could even think was a legitimate threat was John Cena. That’s a real problem when you really think about it. Not only do you have no one in the company, except one man, that is seen as a credible threat, but if any of these non-threats were to actually break The Streak you're then left with the question, “so, what do we do with this guy now?” You couldn't have a guy like a Sheamus end The Streak, and then be on Raw and Smackdown week in and week out. The guy could never lose again. And the amount of heat that would be on that person…God help them. Not only is that individual a heel for life, but they would probably become resented by fans. Sure it could have given an incredible rub to a younger performer, but it almost puts that superstar into a stratosphere that they wouldn't be able to handle; neither WWE or the superstar. And for those who say it should have been saved for someone like Wyatt or Reigns, that’s quite the gamble to take…because while they look promising now, who’s to say they will pan out? And that’s where the beauty is of picking Lesnar to be “The One”. He isn't there every week, he’s supposed to be a special attraction, and he is exactly what his nickname says: The Beast Incarnate. The man already is a monster heel, and if anyone could take the possible repercussions of being the “culprit” of breaking The Streak, it’s Brock Lesnar….because afterall…he’s Brock fucking Lesnar. The problem was until the very moment last night when he pinned the Dead Man, no one actually thought he had the slightest chance in hell at winning. It’s as if everyone had forgotten that he is probably the baddest man on the planet and the most legitimate competitor in WWE history. Despite all of that that, no one thought he was a legitimate threat. And it was seen in the match itself. The crowd was dead and no one bought the near falls. It’s almost as if…no one cared. And when that happens, and the prestige of The Streak is just assumed, much of the aura fades. It goes from accomplishment to habit. Now a lot of the perception of Lesnar is due in part to how WWE had handled his character and booking since his return in 2012, but especially the way he was built in this feud with Taker. He’d been knocked down and made to not feel like the legitimate spectacle that he is. Losing to the likes of Cena and Triple H did him no favors and couple that with the fact that he was on an extremely limited schedule really hurt him. I think WWE and more importantly Undertaker looked at The Streak and saw what it had become. Too big, too predictable and quite frankly, too much. An unattainable colossus that nothing else could ever live up to. Undertaker, Mark Callaway, at age 49, respects the business too much to put himself above it. What would that say about the future stars of tomorrow? Those very same stars that were finally able to shine on the grand stage. It would have been more of that old school of thought, where the stars of yesterday keep getting today's glory. That same school of thought that the past was just so great and nothing in today’s WWE could ever surpass or live up to it. But that’s not what a successful promoter does and I commend Vince and Mark for making the call they did. Living off past glory can only sustain you for so long before you need to open the door to the next phase. The Streak had taken on a life of its own, and quite frankly I think they knew it needed to be put to rest. It had become bigger than any championship and was almost becoming as big as Wrestlemania itself. With every year that it grew stronger, it became another year more predictable. And that’s a dynamic that does more damage than good. Now where does that leave Lesnar? I think first and foremost, his deal should be restructured a bit to have him work more dates per year..not to mention they should lock him up for a few more years. I think to honor his re-found aura now that he is “The One”, he still can’t be around every week, but I’d like for him to work a few more PPVs…or at least be on every Raw for 4 weeks leading into said PPV. Lesnar is THE guy now in terms of big match spectacles, and I think he can definitely rise to the occasion and deliver as such. He’s got all the legitimacy and credibility in the world to back it up, but they need to use him correctly now. He’s obviously now THE opponent for Daniel Bryan, but that can’t happen right away; not at Extreme Rules. It needs to be Summerslam at the earliest, but I would even propose penciling it in for Wrestlemania 31. As a whole, there are just a lot of things to commend WWE on with Wrestlemania XXX. I think it goes without saying that they saved their asses with the Network holding up and delivering exactly as advertised. And from that, we saw Bryan get put over in the biggest way possible by three of the biggest stars in WWE, other young stars get their time to shine in the limelight but also had our heartstrings and emotions thrown into a knot when Undertaker’s Streak broke. There was no shortage of drama and this Wrestlemania truly had it all. I applaud WWE for delivering a memorable night to usher in this new age of WWE.