EvenStevenBooking

Colt didn't really play any factor at all in this, positively or negatively. It was essentially Cabana presents the CM Punk Show. Remember when Lance Cade blasted Bobby Lashley on WWE.com for taking time off for shoulder surgery? Remember which one is still alive? I think people are misreading the fragile comment. I took it as a reference to Punk's ego, not his physical being. In that respect he's not wrong, because even the most die hard Punk fan shouldn't be able to deny that he has a very fragile ego. He said he'll push himself hours on end even when hurt. I just don't think he should be so gung-ho about such things considering he may be in Punk's situation one day except without the millions to fall back on. Taking time off shouldn't be something talent fears or disparages.

Then that promoter isn't very bright. It's like a warehouse banning the forklift because an employee floored it by accident one day and crashed into a wall. If Yoshi Tatsu was stupid enough to not tuck his head in, why should it fall on Styles shoulders?

It is when the move isn't dangerous at all unless the receiver fucks it up by not doing one easy thing.

It's the Benoit Effect. Anytime something remotely controversial occurs, people speculate if this will be the thing to take the company down. If the Benoit incident didn't kill the company, I don't think any public relations disaster will in the foreseeable future. And the merchandise thing is how carnies work. Did he pass Cena? Yes. The question of how long and by how much wasn't brought up so people can't say he's lying.

What was up with the Styles Clash discussion at the end of the WOR today? Every time someone fucks it up, it's their fault and not AJ's, no discussion needed. Kind of weird to blame the guy doing the move fine by suggesting possibly banning it.

Remember when Lance Cade blasted Bobby Lashley on WWE.com for taking time off for shoulder surgery? Remember which one is still alive?

It supposedly is and that's what Lawler is credited for allegedly doing, but I was saying that it wasn't happened. It doesn't seem to be "Vince respects Lawler too much to fire him," but instead "Lawler lost his job once and doesn't want to lose it again hence becoming so bland and corporate robot-like."

https://twitter.com/Ryback22/status/538068948278083584

Well, maybe Swagger/Zeb wasn't the best example, but live wrestling audiences aren't usually best barometer for intelligence. And I still disagree on the sissy thing. A verbal insult/retort is a lot less worse than getting whacked with something that is apparently capable of rendering someone unconscious. And Rusev is something I agree and disagree on. I still think they're heels due to constantly instigating audiences (and doing so before their "official" debut), but they have booked him oddly sympathetically at times. His feud with Swagger and his chronically injured ankle and that time Big Show and Henry double teamed him for no reason stand out.

He sounds EXACTLY like a lot a ex-wrestling celebrities do. Good on him for getting out if that staph/concussion stuff is true (and I have no reason not to believe him on that) and I hope he gets as much money as possible from that doctor/company for that nonsense. As far as how he was used, he said pretty much everything an angry ex-wrestler does. He should have main evented [x show], that he was a bigger draw than the numbers actually say, he was just trying to help out "the boys" by doing/complaining about [x], he really put [x talent] over instead of [y talent].

I wonder if Lawler is so shitty these days is because he's afraid of losing his job? I know the popular story is Lawler told Vince to go fuck himself and walked off thus impressing Vince and securing his long time employment after his return. Listening to an old WON radio, Lawler actually attempted to come back fairly quickly, and during an interview with Dave, read his letter to the company on the air that was a bit embarrassing in how groveling it was. The only thing Lawler got was his official release. http://youtu.be/BSw5ynuz1tQ?t=14m30s

Well, if disappearing for the better part of the last 11 years of your life is being paranoid and narcissistic, Punk could stand to be more so. And I don't recall Punk saying it wasn't his idea. He may have wanted time off, but since he couldn't, he went with the Heyman feud. It was full of the typical "I was held back" Punk promo stuff.

Wasn't that awful Heyman feud last year mainly his work? He may be a creative person, but if stuff like that was really his idea, I can see why they'd stifle him. Also, for all the talk about Vince being senile, he sure was able to get "you can't bullshit me" Punk to do a lot of his bullshit. This makes no sense at all. Either you're implying he shagged some kid or the reasons for their separation are somehow not well known. He's (despite being married to a twelve year old) neither in this case.

Aside from the staph infection issue, I have no sympathy whatsoever for him. He could have avoided the wedding day thing by actually communicating with the company when they tried to do so a few days earlier. Everything else was just typical wrestling grandstanding/ego inflation. I'll give him credit for pointing out what a carny Jericho is.

The lesson to be learned from this post is: don't talk about stuff you have no idea about.

Foley was trash. He probably got yelled at because he was so awful. Mocking a guy they were trying to push as a top heel by mixing up sambo with samba every time he appeared.

Some of these responses are a great example of why wrestling audiences are terrible today. If a guy is taking cheap shots at me with a loaded tennis racket and hiding behind his two weightlifting friends, then yes, he is a sissy. If two people who are xenophobic come out and insult me just for living in a country, then yes, they are heels. No one is going on about how the Swagger/Colter heel act were really faces just because they were standing up for what they believed in and rightly so. It was because they acted like instigating idiots. Were the Russians in JCP really just proud country men or were they antagonistic braggarts who also happened to be able to somewhat back up their claims of superiority? My issue with the average audience is how meta they are. Chanting "this is awesome" takes me out the moment of watching what is supposedly an athletic contest and reminds me this is a show where these combatants are actually performing an intricate dance. The WWE writer is now the biggest heel in the business. People don't boo because their favorite was cheated out of a victory by the nasty heel, but because he's being buried, misused or whatever. Cesaro is an example. He's fun to watch and has a ton a ton of impressive spots. He's a heel though and wrestles like a face. Why should I boo this guy who's doing all of this awesome stuff? He's in the spot he's in because of this. Taking away the giant swing got people upset because he got a pop for it. Why should a heel be doing moves that outshine the babyface though? I'm not saying all heels should be grounded and do nothing, but chinlocks, but they certainly shouldn't be making the babyface look inferior. Meltzer had a great point on a podcast a little while ago about a Cesaro and Ryback match. It was awful because Cesaro tossed Ryback, the muscled-up babyface, around like he was nothing. I know certain people will say blame the agents or bookers, but considering they allegedly took away the swing because it was getting cheers, I'd imagine it's more on Cesaro calling the match as he's the vet of the two.

lolwut

All that build up and he's the 2nd out...

I wonder if anyone remembers Nikki's first title reign right before the Bella's left.

Beatdown was too long and too obvious of a time filler, but it does help reestablish Dean as an asskicker.

It was long and boring, not some crime against humanity. I know being hyperbolic, "worst [x] ever!" is your thing, but give me a break. Also, Bray needs to do more fat guy stuff. I like the senton and Dean just bouncing off him when he tried the crossbody.

This divas match is dreadful. I know Paige was apparently decent down in developmental, but she's yet to produce anything above "okay." Her random screaming is Edge-level terrible.

Listening to the Sin Limite podcast, why do people always point to the two week span of RAW ratings going up as proof as Edge as a HoF draw? Smackdown ratings went up when Mark Henry was champion and, as good as he is, no one is arguing him for the HoF. Edge was a guy like Kurt Angle: ratings didn't go down when he was champion/main eventing, but they also didn't go up.