Burgundy LaRue

2 million, give or take, seems to be the magical number. Even though that's off from SD's previous average, that number along with doing pretty well in the 18-49 demo gives them a cushion. Also, you can see SD's ratings soften then fall and correlate them to when Roman Reigns left. They stayed on par for a couple of weeks after he dropped out of WM, but have dipped below average since. Some of that is due to many fans not wanting to watch no-crowd wrestling. But with the decline happening as Roman walked out the door gives SD an out. RAW doesn't have that. Even though they've also lost their biggest star in Becky Lynch, RAW's ratings have been down all year. Someone mentioned it before: Roman may be one of the biggest winners in the Pandemic Era simply by going home. Not being around to get covered in the stench with the current mess and having ratings fall during his absence--even with it not completely being about him--makes him look good.

I think ratings may play a part in this change. SD's ratings dropped since the pandemic hit, but still clears around 2 million most weeks. RAW has been teetering around 1.7 million on average, with the third hour going into the tank pretty bad. RAW feels unstable. I can see a case to give Prichard a go at RAW while WWE is still in COVID mode. SD isn't perfect, but it's found a groove for itself and seems to have a plan going into every show. RAW has had some quality wrestling, but the stories are lacking in most areas. Nothing that happened this week was different from last week. And it's been like that several times recently. Also, Prichard has managed to do better with his women's division than Heyman. Sonya is getting to showcase her talent. Mandy is still involved with that story. Bayley's annoying brat heel gimmick works in this current environment. Heyman somehow can't find time on RAW for Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, and Liv Morgan. That's professional ineptitude. He also put Ricochet and Cedric Alexander together as a tag team--then proceeded to bench them. Heyman has given new talent some shine--Garza, Murphy, Theory, Crews. But sidelining half your women's roster when Becky is on maternity leave is glaring. What concerns me with Prichard is 'non-traditional' women are likely screwed with him. He messed up Naomi's return on a massive scale. I can see him pushing Asuka to the side for Charlotte. That's probably going to happen with anyone, but still. Shayna, Bianca, Ruby? Good luck, they may need it even more so than with Heyman. I can see young guys getting de-pushed with Prichard, too. He'll want to stick with the more tried-and-true stars, unless someone like Otis or Sonya breaks out. It probably can't be any worse for RAW, on some level. The pandemic has made things worse, but RAW has been teetering for a while. I don't think anyone is getting over on that show. Heyman isn't terrible, but he's not lighting the world on fire. Neither is Prichard, but he may be doing better than Heyman, at least on paper. Plus, he'll tell Vince what Vince wants. Which is the name of the game.

There's the running joke of Kross being the Marc Mero to Scarlett's Sable. But I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

There's no way Kross is 6'4, 265. That's roughly the same size as Lesnar. Lesnar's listed size seems mostly legit and he projects way bigger than Kross. I audibly yelped at that bump from Priest. Three inches in another direction, and he's probably crippled. No good, sir!

Yeah. There's not anything one can say to justify this They cool her off going into WM. She taps to Charlotte at WM and drops the belt. She gets beat for the belt tonight, protecting Charlotte who's presumably on her way back to the main roster full time. And it was for nothing, because Charlotte didn't increase NXT's ratings or social media imprint. They literally gave Rhea a gigantic push over 2-3 months for her to be just another woman on the roster right now. Personally, I thought they should have went with Bianca. She was the more-rounded performer for me. But if they were committed to Rhea, go for it and continue the push. Instead, they did this. Confusing, to say the least.

I've long thought the reaction to this was overblown. Cameron mentioned being a fairly new wrestling fan before trying out for Tough Enough. She sees a match with two women with backgrounds similar to hers, and she likes it to where she looked into trying wrestling as a profession. It was a honest response. Last I heard, she was getting back into wrestling on the indie scene before the pandemic hit. I think Austin admitted he overreacted to it, but the damage was done.

Lio didn't even call WWE flat-out racist. He said they were racially insensitive. I don't think anyone can argue against that. The Aleister-Lio comparison doesn't work for reasons already explained. I'll note that Aleister came up in kickboxing dojos and when one had to be referred to a wrestling school. Based on age, race and experience, there's no way for him and Lio to have the same opinion. Also, Aleister told his locker room story when Roman took his LOA in October 2018. Lio had no problem with setting up/breaking down rings, running merch tables and greeting fans in NXT. Because everyone did that. It's not a case of thinking he's too good to help out. Fetching water and carrying bags for other grown men is ridiculous. That's a form of hazing. If someone in the RAW locker room couldn't see how expecting a Black man to do these things was a bad look, especially in 2019/2020, that speaks to their ignorance. Do I think Lio has a stubborn streak that can rub others the wrong way? Yep. But he's not wrong about this situation. From what I can tell, he's handled it pretty maturely.

This brings up the old conversation of who 'can' and who 'would' say no to Vince or HHH. The list is short, obviously.

I haven't seen anyone defend WWE on this. What they've done with this story is suspect. I think Maverick was legitimately released and understandably upset about it. The outcry for him was real because he's seen a versatile talent who can take almost anything given to him and make it work. WWE took advantage of the situation and Maverick. His desire to keep a job, his willingness to go along with the story. Then again, there are only a few wrestlers who wouldn't be put in a similar spot. That speaks to the emotional games WWE can play with them. It happens because many grew up wanting to be in WWE, instead of looking at it as a way to make decent money fast and move into some other form of entertainment. Maverick is 37, undersized and married for less than a year to another wrestler. We don't know their financial situation. How many more years of steady income does he have from wrestling? Who's to say? He can manage other wrestlers or be a general manager again, easily. But who knows how the WWE winds will blow in a couple of years. Or wrestling in general, for that matter. For all the talk of how bad WWE is for doing this--and again, no one is defending it--I wouldn't be surprised if we see something similar from other promotions once shows start back in earnest in a few weeks.

Dream should probably get the win, because Cole has been at the top of the NXT food chain for too long. They're likely to get the belt on Kross ASAP, anyway. So Dream can be a transitional champ. As far as Dream's possible legal issues, there's been no mention of them in a month. I'm guessing WWE/NXT has investigated and think he's in the clear, along with charges likely not being filed by the accusers. Doesn't make things any less icky. But if Dream's not in trouble of getting arrested, then it's business as usual. Cole, Ciampa and Gargano swallowed NXT's main event whole for over two years. What a chore to get through, even when it was good. Aleister Black had zero chance of accomplishing anything as NXT champ because he always had to play second fiddle to DIY. The elephant in the room is not wanting to send them to the main roster. They tried with DIY for a bit before CIampa got hurt again. But none of those guys have the size Vince likes. Cole's promo skills and personality will help, but he's tiny. Daniel Bryan was considerably bigger than him on SD last November, for crying out loud. Agreed they should have pushed Keith Lee hard after Survivor Series. But they had to go through the motions of Cole-Ciampa, which I understand because Ciampa didn't lose the title. But everyone has been going in circles since. Having Riddle leave NXT without holding either of their singles titles is incredible. I'm not even much of a fan, but he brings something different to the mix. They really need that. Again, get to Kross as champ and reset the deck. But I sort of get the feeling we're going to see Kross/Scarlett mix it up with Gargano/Candice for a bit. Candice as evil Tinkerbell has potential, but Gargano plays heel like a demented Smurf. Wouldn't be that bad if he wasn't so OTT goofy with it.

The Shield had/has a large female fanbase. To the point FMKK made, they were on the main roster at 26/27 years old. Fans got to grow up with them, if that makes sense. Age is going to be an issue for WWE. Many of the big names in NXT are in the same age group as Reigns and Rollins, who have been on the main roster for nearly eight years. The current NXT stars may only get a couple of years of mainstream time before their clock runs out. If they make it to RAW or SD at all. WWE does have younger talent, as Kawada mentioned. Austin Theory is 22. Humberto Carillo is 24. Angel Garza is 27. Otis is 28. Liv Morgan will be 26 soon. Even Sasha Banks is only 28. They're on the main roster already. That's not counting anyone in NXT/NXT UK. Wrestling in general has an age problem. I think the median age across the board is 47 or 48. No new fans are coming in anywhere. WWE is certainly facing that issue, but so is everyone else.

The rumors of Charlotte politicking have only surfaced recently. They seem to be more about making Charlotte look bad, not based on actual happenings. Charlotte doesn't have to do anything to stop Shayna from moving up the ladder. It's clear someone in the main office isn't keen on Baszler. She'll be 40 soon and isn't WWE's definition of beautiful. The entire attitude around her is short-sighted, because she could be a dominant heel champion for several months, then put over an upstart baby Liv Morgan with some planning. But so far, there's no indication they're doing that. Charlotte is a mixed bag. She's talented and has good matches. She doesn't miss much time due to injury. She carries herself like a star and represents WWE well in public relations. But of the four pillars they've built the women's division around, she's the least popular. She sells almost no merchandise, which is often used to see if someone should get top billing. Alexa Bliss was a better fit in terms of popularity alongside Sasha, Becky and Bayley. She can check out of performances when uninterested. She's Orton-esque in that respect, though Charlotte is 'on' a lot more than RKO. She's now in the habit of not selling signature moves for her opponents. Whether she's doing that on her own or it's a creative mandate, it's not doing anyone besides Charlotte any favors. Putting the NXT's women title back on her would be fine if she was only on NXT for a few months. But they have her going around to all the shows and it's overkill. She's not popular enough for that. Also, it diminishes what could be the purpose of her being champ. Charlotte could help elevate the division. That's not happening. It's not her fault, the booking isn't there. But it's weighing what was NXT's best feature just six months ago. Charlotte being part of WM 35's main event made sense in WWE wanting to make two stars from working with Ronda. They were pushing the first-ever women's main event narrative, may as well maximize it as much as possible. However, it split attention and neither Becky or Charlotte got to where WWE probably saw them being. Charlotte's presence in the WM match had meaning until Ronda turned heel. Charlotte wasn't needed after that, but there was nothing else to do with her at that point. They had already compromised the SD women's division for the main event, to give Charlotte another reign and have Becky Two Belts at the end of WM. It'll be interesting to see where the rest of her career goes. She's 34 and engaged. Don't know if she wants children like Becky. But I don't see Charlotte wrestling full-time five years from now. So it becomes a question of how fast can they get her to equal her father's championship reigns, then have her put over whoever is in line after that.

The problem is you're passing judgment while admitting you weren't there and don't know what happened. You're making assumptions when a family has to rebuild their lives. It's inconsiderate, at best.

As I remember, this started when Lio moved to the main roster and was negotiating a new contract. Word had WWE offering $300K per year. Lio wanted more, possibly $600K. Lio said that he was having trouble paying for travel while still providing for his family. There was also the issue of some expecting Lio to carry bags/fetch water/clean the locker room as the new guy on the main card. Lio felt that it undermined his status as a superstar, especially as an African American man. Mark said he approached Lio in catering one night. Said he heard Lio was having problems, did he want to talk. Lio said everything was cool, though it clearly wasn't. Mark went on Busted Open and publicly shamed Lio, called him a liar, said that he needed to go along with the program and that if Lio was has having money problems, it was because he spent too much. Lio eventually returned to NXT, and is now gone. Lio may be a hothead, but he's not wrong about most of this situation. Mark is a WWE stooge, simply put. Asking someone if they have problems at work in a public area where co-workers can hear what's being said is bad form. And who's to say Lio saw Mark as a mentor, anyhow? The locker room stuff is plain stupid, especially in 2020. If other adults can't get their own water, that's their problem. I understand new talent have a probation period, if you will. But that shouldn't require running errands for co-workers. Mark works under the impression of doing things like he did when he arrived to WWE. But he received a multi-million dollar deal based on his powerlifting career and potential, a deal Vince almost instantly regretted when Mark didn't catch on as fast as hoped. They stuck him in terrible angles in hopes of him quitting so they could nullify his contract. To his credit, Mark stuck with it. But that was nearly 25 years ago. Expecting any talent, let alone Black talent, to have a similar mentality is silly. And Lio was never afforded anything on Mark's level. To assume would take the abuse he did and ignore it is terrible. Not everyone is going to move on after Michael Hayes calls them the n-word to their face like Mark did. Threatening to sue Lio for talking about a situation he himself made public is Mark trying to throw his weight around. Hoping to shut up Lio because he knows the guy doesn't have money for lawyers, especially now. Mark takes being a company man to Seth Rollins' level, and it's embarrassing.

She did! Ended Natalya later on in the show too, both verbally and in the ring. Give me more of this Shayna who's the most condescending backstage jerk. She had me howling!

That's entirely possible. But WWE could have easily pulled the FS1 special coming on tonight, yet haven't. WWE has always worked in the shade. Part of being the ultimate carnies. Could there be something deeper happening with Roman? Of course, we can't dismiss it. But it feels more like Hanlon's Razor at work, at least for now.

Agreed to all this. We're seeing WWE's often awkward approach to handling curveballs. They don't want to bring attention to Roman onscreen because it's a reminder of how he had to make the call himself not to wrestle, along with emphasizing how no one should be wrestling right now. It's confusing, no doubt about that.

If the opinion of some random fan drives another random fan to hate a wrestler, the second fan has problems far beyond how a wrestling show is booked.

Goldberg issued a challenge. Roman answered it. Who else was it going to be on SD? And since we knew he was winning the Elimination Chamber and didn't need it to build himself, cutting to the chase made sense. Not to mention that both men had thrown teasers in HOF speeches and on social media for a while. That match wasn't out of the blue. Anyone who complained about that was looking for any excuse to hate Roman again. Some fans refuse to be happy with anything.

Roman hasn't left the company and there's no indication he will. Many think he won't be back until a vaccine is available. But no one knows, because Roman hasn't said. It's all up in the air. We're guessing at this point.

Gotta think WWE's mindset is Roman will return. When that will be is the question. If I'm Vince, I look to have Roman do some cinematic stuff. It can be more controlled with having those on set tested and secluded for a couple of days, to ease health concerns. I know ratings are what they are with the pandemic. But we would be surprised if FOX says to WWE to figure out something with Roman? SD was doing well with their numbers, but have gone down big the past couple of weeks. They need something to spice up the show. In theory, with how much they seek mainstream attention, WWE should want Roman and Becky to get more opportunities. Especially in these times. While it may take them out of the ring at times, it's more exposure for the company than they'd get if the two are wrestling on Raw and SD every week. But to everyone's point, WWE doesn't want to risk their two biggest stars leaving for Hollywood, especially at the same time.

Yeah, getting in with Sandler is a golden ticket for continuous work. May not always be the best quality, but the checks will clear. Roman and Becky will also do VA for the animated wrestling monster movie starring Will Arnett. It was scheduled for an early 2021 release, but I imagine that will be moved back. All the same, both are making moves beyond wrestling and that's the smart way to go.

Roman is just as likely to leave for Hollywood as Becky, especially with his leukemia. He's got a small part in a Netflix movie later this month. He's a fit for any lower-tier action films Jason Momoa can't get around to doing. As Kawada mentioned, he can also go into football commentary. And he's got a good sound for voice work/narration.

Roman will have a best of show right before WWE Backstage next week. Do I think Vince is upset that Roman told him to get lost? For sure. But Vince also knows going after a two-time cancer survivor whose wife just had another set of twins during a pandemic would bring bad press. If anything, Vince quietly respects it.

It's more complex than this, but long story short: for years, Rollins thrived from the He's Not Roman Reigns factor. Once Roman was moved to Smackdown, it was matter of time before Rollins' shortcomings would be exposed. Bad social media etiquette, playing rescue for the bosses, and a disastrous feud with The Fiend sped up the exposure.