Slasher

They were going to have Daniel Bryan face Sheamus in a midcard match after the authority angle that he needed to win to pay it off. They had a black wrestler get run down by the white heel champion and then...lost the match. Heck there is talk of Daniel Bryan getting backstabbed by his partner in his very first match out of retirement. Heels have to win sometimes. Gargano is more likely to jump to the main roster than he is to stay in NXT. Anyways if Gargano won, it's not like Ciampa would leave it alone. We'd have to see him in NXT for a few more months if you want him to win the belt too eventually. The WWE doesn't seem to have that time to wait for Gargano to do all that before getting called up. So it is better to just troll the fans and have Ciampa win this, then move Gargano up and have them revisit the feud later when Ciampa gets called up and maybe have Gargano finally win there.

When you are asking your guys to do stuff like wrestle a ladder or job to a little girl, you don't really get to be picky about who you are bringing in. Backyard wrestling is extremely dangerous and should never be done but you can obviously tell that a lot of them would be very willing to train and be further involved in wrestling as opposed to if you are asking the star athletes from the local universities who have more options to choose from, and DDT wouldn't be a realistic one among those options.

That's pretty sad, because that's what pro-wrestling was about. Watch who gets over and push the hell out of them. Rusev could be a hot act. Braun should be the Monster Champ. Honestly, this all is a product of the monopoly. With WCW kicking their tale, there's no way WWE spends three Mania main events in a row on Reigns "becoming the Ace". This is my biggest thing when it comes to Reigns. I don't love the guy, but I think he's a great wrestler and has improved as a promo by leaps and bounds. But so rarely does any wrestling promotion go with the hot hand or stray from the plan. There's no telling what they could have done with Braun if they made him the guy. I don't wanna come across as a guy who only complains about WWE. I mean, I am pretty excited for WrestleMania this year... ... but ... I am somehow 100 percent confident that, if they had decided to make Braun the guy they would have done it in such a way that at least half of us would hate Braun now. You know, book him as a Superman instead of a monster, or try to make him into the next Austin-style guy who is succeeding despite being held down (while forcing him down our throats) or have him find an old ventriloquist dummy that gives him advice... Not sure about that. Braun (and Rusev really) have shown an ability to rise above the material given to them. How many times have we seen the silly "fake twin" angle to tepid reactions? But Braun turned Brains into something people enjoyed. Rusev's even better, considering what he has to work with. That said, I will admit that I think the WWE should not always react to crowds on every guy they have. Otherwise we'd have a failed Fandango title reign in the books by now (remember the Fandango craze?) But they need to do a better job pulling the trigger when they can confirm that a guy is really over and not ironically.

I was saying this: 1. Benoit left WCW as the champion, in real life because he didn't feel comfortable with Sullivan around and felt the title was a bribe to get him to stay, in storyline because he felt that the WWE was a better place and that their title was more prestigious. The WCW title is the same physical belt as the World title that Benoit chased on Raw after Royal Rumble, not the WWE title which was on Smackdown, held by Brock Lesnar, the very title he claimed was more prestigious. That was illogical. 2. The suggested reasoning that Benoit in storyline would just give up after a struggle with a GM and jump brands so he could have an easier path to the belt is weak. What top babyface is booked like that?

The fact Triple H is where he is now despite years of pushback on his push, and the fact that John Cena has showed them how a babyface can stay a babyface despite being polarizing, is why I think we will never see that big time babyface ace anymore. Not unless the fans' interests aligned with the bookers' (and no, not Booker T).

Yeah Roman Reigns is already the ace. Has been for a long while now. The earliest strongest evidence of that was moving Cena to Smackdown so Roman could have more room to himself on Raw. Super positive reactions don't matter to the people that counts-the McMahons. If it mattered, you know we'd be about six months into a long Braun title reign by now.

Especially after part of the story being told was that Benoit wanted to win the WWE title. He claimed that was part of why he left WCW, because he thought the WWE title was more important. So to have him win the Rumble then decide that a year old title (in lineage) was more important to chase than the very belt he made career altering decisions in the past to have a chance to win, was head scratching to see. I always presumed the reason Benoit jumped to Raw was because he was tired of getting screwed by Heyman out of the belt. Im sure there was more than one opportunity he got screwed over which is probably why no one helped him when Austin came to Smackdown to get his ATV. That makes him look weak. Just imagine Austin deciding to jump to WCW because Vince didn't want him as his champ. Every top babyface stood his ground and fought for what was right. I guess though it fits how the WWE saw the Benoit character in terms of where he ranks in the main event hierarchy.

I would've missed Heyman five years ago, but he's become dull, repetitive, and a shell of his former self. I think Heyman still can go, but he needs another role, asap. How many times can you go out and hype the same match? Find him something other to do (manage someone other, this time with the full focus on them, and not 80% lesnar and 20% the other (Cesaro, Axel)) and he can create something great again. I really think it's the Lesnar stuff has dragged him down so much. He doesn't want to do any of that though. I think people missed the fact that Heyman isn't into pro wrestling on the same level he once was. He has a lot going on his plate and he isn't going to want to waste time managing guys that may or may not get over. He knows Brock requires almost no work in hyping up, and they obviously have a great working relationship that goes beyond the televised role of "manager", so of course Heyman is interested in helping book Brock's stuff but he isn't like that with anybody else in the locker room. Cesaro failed not because Heyman kept hyping Lesnar, it failed because Heyman had nothing to do with Cesaro to begin with. He was dropped into the spot cold and it didn't work out. That was a lesson to Heyman to "stay in his lane" as Brock's associate rather than WWE employee.

Especially after part of the story being told was that Benoit wanted to win the WWE title. He claimed that was part of why he left WCW, because he thought the WWE title was more important. So to have him win the Rumble then decide that a year old title (in lineage) was more important to chase than the very belt he made career altering decisions in the past to have a chance to win, was head scratching to see.

I think it is pretty clear after the failed attempts to pair him with other guys that Heyman is now only interested in being Brock's manager in WWE, and not much more than that. So when Brock goes, I think Heyman follows him out the door and we won't see either guy again until they are ready to come back together in the future, if it happens.

I'd go with the idea I saw floating around where Taker does the Maven at Royal Rumble beatdown to shut up Cena at Mania, leading to an official match booked for the following year's show.

Just to be clear, you are saying you'd have Cena and Taker attack Nia and Alexa, removing them from their spot on the card?

Cody is the Kirk Cousins of pro wrestling.

The women's wrestling revolution thing is Stephanie's project, so she is the public face of it, whatever decisions made associated with the project, she is the one in front of, but the WWE is still Vince's. If Vince tells her to sell the idea, she will, even if she doesn't want to.

Isn't it possible that Triple H and Stephanie legitimately likes that the PR backlash forced their cranky old man dad to change his mind after trying to force a name from HIS generation with an obvious seedy past? Who knows if they argued with Vince about what a bad idea it was, but being the man with the big dick, Vince tried to force it on everyone and got his hand slapped for it through this? That is my theory. Stephanie is an idiot and she doesn't really know how to relate to people on a human level but she is smart enough to know this could and would happen, and it fits how they are trying to sell the change in plans.

Yeah but we're in year 5ish of Roman and he doesn't move the needle much at all.I think his point is it doesn't matter if he moves the needle or if he gets cheers or not to the WWE. He is their guy, and they have the luxury of doubling down on him because they have John Cena (for how much longer though?)to sell tickets and do everything a real ace is supposed to do, so Roman can too.

I think Ronda is ending the streak, and then depending on her placement at the time, they'd have Charlotte give Ronda her first significant loss. Seems like the WWE thing to do.

Not to defend those anti-Reign folks but a few things: 1. This is a pro wrestler receiving a top-top level push, it is hardly unbelievable for someone in that position to take PEDs. Hogan did it, Austin did it, Rock did it, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, etc etc, even Ric Flair tried it. If a report comes out saying Braun got caught, I doubt anyone would immediately question the validity of the report, regardless of how liked he was. 2. You do realize Reigns was caught before and suspended for violating the wellness policy, right? Yeah dude is beyond reproach here. How dare people jump on this! Again, not denying a level of schadenfreude for those people, but it isn't like they are pouncing on some totally unbelievable report like him going to space to rape some female aliens. This is steroids in wrestling. As common to the sport as an irish whip. The surprise is how people think this means any changes to his push in the WWE. I mean, this is Vince and Triple H.

I think it is actually simple and obvious why it is the way it is. With how they changed how they get revenues (no more lucrative PPV money), and with how reliant they are on the few hours a week they are on regular tv, it would behoove them to not piss off the bosses at USA, who we know makes copious suggestions to the WWE how things should be on their channels. They want stars, not Luke Harper. They want character focused stories, not 3 star matches between Gran Metallik and Brian Kendrick. They want appearances by Vince McMahon, not appearances by Mojo Rawley. So for the two main shows, of course USA has a big role to play in what we get to see on our television sets. Then you have to think about how to present the WWE Network so that it can also be used to support what they are doing on tv. This means they focus on the stars that they intend to feature on tv in order for people to continue to treat them like stars. If you want fan service, go watch the old footage on the Network or their lesser emphasized properties on there featuring the lesser known talent, however very little that is available. But this mindset isn't going anywhere. When it is Stephanie's time to run the company, I seriously doubt she'd reverse the trend considering she was one of the big proponents of "Screw wrestling, lets do soap opera" style of presentation. People think Triple H will help but I think it's becoming clear Triple H isn't going to be better than Vince. He isn't trying to change the structure of the organization. All he is doing is slowly replace Vince's cogs with his own. Basically all Triple H is doing is replacing car engine parts for new but same quality parts. The engine still runs the same. WWE will too.

Ive heard alot of fans hated Bill Alfonso's WWF run as a referee because of his high raising counts. Worst Ref ever id probably go with Rita Chatterton. She was absolutely terrible in the ring, didnt really show any facial expressions like other Refs would during matches. Isn't she the one who was supposedly sexually assaulted by Vince in his limo? If so, I think she has a pretty good excuse for not liking her job and therefore not doing a good job of it.

It is an escalation year on year, after the Shane match he left his gloves in the ring. Vs roman he left his hat, coat and gloves I don't want to know what he leaves this year. His eyeliner pen? I don't understand this. Brock already took his streak and Reigns handed him a post Streak loss already. What is there for Cena to take? Let Reigns keep Taker's last Mania match thing. There's nothing for Taker to come back to now really anyways either.

To expand on this, for most people, the WWF *was* professional wrestling, so they weren't going to tell Vince to shove Survivor Series and take this show from this b-level company out of the south. The WWF was a proven moneymaker, and Vince had the stroke to say this. I don't think it held up, though. I think that they just allowed everyone who wanted to sell WrestleMania IV to sell it. I thought the WWE also packaged their upcoming Wrestlemania PPV rights with this threat? No one was turning down Mania, period. Edit: I mean it wasn't just "Hey if you get Survivor Series, you get Mania too!", but rather "If you pick Starrcade over Survivor Series, you lose Mania too"

Not that it is a great reason for Cena to behave the way he did, but I do suspect this is exactly what will happen. If it is Reigns vs Lesnar at Mania, there is nothing to protect in a future rematch, so you might as well give Reigns a decisive win to get him on his way to his Mania showdown and Cena is Cena. When he comes back from the movies, it isn't like he'd be damaged goods or anything like that. At least that is what I hope happens after last night.

Right now it doesn't feel like Randy Orton is blocking anyone better really from a bigger push. Over his career, I'd agree that Orton has been a chore to get through more often than not, but lately that isn't the case. Obviously Jinder Mahal is going to be the champion for now and the however long term. Why feed someone like AJ Styles to Jinder Mahal? This is one of the rare times where Orton being the main eventer gunning for Mahal and failing in Jinder's first title program is a good use of Orton the title contender. On RAW though, you have Braun who many people actually like, you have Samoa Joe, you have Finn Balor, guys that people could actually get behind. Guys that fit what Loss said before about getting the fans back on the same page as the company. Roman Reigns is a great worker and he plays an excellent heel. Yet I get this feeling Reigns is still meant to be the ace of the show, which is why I say boo to all that.

Pretty much. Does anyone think Vince when he hears about it, he'd be happy with Braun? He was rude to a mother and child asking for an autograph AND then grovelled to a GFW employer? No chance Braun gets booked over Reigns now, if there ever was a chance to begin with. I feel embarrassed reading this post and you should feel embarrassed that you typed it out. No I am pretty comfortable being a Braun mark and as much as I respect his talent, I hate Reigns's character. I would rather see Braun on my tv instead of Reigns. If you meant everything I typed before the Reigns part, well I don't know what to say. Everything in Vince's history would suggest that to be the case. So uhh no not embarrassed. Thanks for worrying about what I should think though.