Russellmania

uh, because they are worked headbutts that are highly unlikely to hurt anybody?

Quick fix? He stayed out extra long to avoid an unnecessary 2nd surgery. His situation was the opposite of a quick fix. If that's really their concern then hopefully he has a nice long IC title run that proves them wrong.

HHH's entrances at WM 22 and 30 are two of the most memorable WM moments of the last 10 years. I can't understand anyone calling themselves a fan of pro wrestling and not being able to appreciate something like that.

I thought that was the best Bray Wyatt promo in ages

the fact that the overwhelming majority said the show looks bad but they'll still watch is all you need to know about why WWE thinks they can put out a sub-par product without any consequences.

Yeah, that sucks. Here's a letter one of the guys posted. "As a life-long fan of your product, I was very excited to attend your show last night (Des Moines 3/16/2015). I had secured 10 tickets in the front row at $100 a ticket. By my math that is $1,000 that we paid the WWE to attend your event. The seats were in the front row. Being a huge fan, I made sure to invite 9 other rabid fans and we all made the decision to pay tribute to our favorite wrestlers and dress like them. Within 10 minutes of the show starting, we were told that our outfits were "too distracting" and to change clothes, or we would be moved. I assure you none of the members of our party were being in any way unruly or belligerent. You can watch the taping and see for yourself. We were merely watching the show. Now, I have heard rumblings in the past of people being booted from their seats for costumes, but I always sided with the WWE and assumed that those fans HAD to have done something else to lose their seats, and WWE wouldn't boot people for simply dressing up. Now I know that they indeed will do that, regardless of how respectful you are. This seems to contradict your "Be a Star" promotions (which ironically enough was running on the screen as we were being scolded by WWE producers) that seem to encourage fanaticism.I guess at the end of the day, all I am looking for is an explanation as to why you would boot fans who spend the time, energy, and money on advocating your product. Seems like just the kind of people you would want in your corner. For the record, I am still in your corner, however disappointed I may be. Thanks for your time, Matt Sheridan PS - Had we all been dressed as John Cena or Roman Reigns would the outcome have been different? Please advise so I can let the other 9 guys know for future shows" Key word in that whole letter is this: "For the record, I am still in your corner, however disappointed I may be." For as much as everyone bitches about WWE and the shit it pulls both inside the ring and out, most everyone "remains in their corner." Nothing will change until people start leaving that corner. Makes for good message board fodder, but nothing will change. yeah it's almost as if I made this exact point on the last page.

the issue is that there are still way too many fans who will pay for their shit (live shows, Network, PPV, merch, etc.) and then do nothing but bitch about it online. Whenever I come here or some other place online for wrestling conversation and see people talking about how fucked up WWE is these days I wonder how many of them still subscribe to the Network and watch RAW every Monday. At some point people need to put their money where their mouth is and just walk away for a while. Until business completely tanks or Vince dies nothing is going to change (and it may still take years even then) I mean look at that letter from one of the costume guys. He rants about how shitty WWE was to him and his friends at the live show and then ends with this: "For the record, I am still in your corner, however disappointed I may be." As long as fans keep coming back for more abuse from WWE they are going to keep doing whatever the fuck they (Vince) want.

something that has been lost in the shuffle regarding Brock/Taker from last year is that before the 'shocking' finish, people seriously did not give a fuck about that match. the crowd was really dead, and that was an otherwise really energetic crowd. I think Bray/Taker will be met with similar apathy.

haven't the ratings in recent weeks been terrible?

yeah it's totally beyond the realm of imagination that paid interns could look up information about WWE wrestlers and storylines on wikipedia and youtube. Or that the company that is paying him to do this segment might have given him some backstory to work with.

do people really think Jon Stewart writes his own shit? He probably had his Daily Show writing team help him out with the promo. I see people praising guys like Stewart, Colbert and Oliver all the time for their great monologues and completely ignoring the fact that they have whole teams of writers.

exactly. the comparisons are completely unfair. Bryan actually connects with people, and not just wrestling fans. To this day I am still completely fucking bewildered by the fact that they had one of their top stars interacting with both the World Series winners and the Super Bowl winners, including his catch phrase spilling over into mainstream sports events and rather than go all in and fan that flame they fucking smothered it. I think the problem is that Vince genuinely has no idea how to relate to Bryan or his fans. This groundswell response for Bryan probably totally baffles Vince. He has always struck me as a guy that if he can't connect with a gimmick or worker then it just won't work in WWE even if there's a shitload of money being left on the table. It's funny because in the Austin podcast he bragged about how he's this lower middle-class everyman who understands what the people want, but he's completely incapable of looking at things through any perspective but his own.

so long as they have the mentality of resenting a guy like lesnar rather than resenting the company then those conditions are never going to change for them. don't hate the player, hate the game, etc.

Well, you were wrong. seems that way. apologies if that's the case. though I wouldn't be at all surprised if Meltzer is getting worked too. Wouldn't be the first time.

honestly i've had thoughts like this too. Bryan's humility is endearing, but I also find myself wishing he'd realize his value and stand up for himself in this situation. I mean they are actively limiting his ability to make money in the future and he's a fool if he thinks taking one for the team right now is going to somehow pay off later. WWE behind the scenes has always seemed like such a prison culture to me. People only respect strength in that environment. I mean look at Brock...he's the most demanding star they have and they bend over backwards to accommodate him. Granted he has more leverage than anyone, but Bryan has his own leverage and is kind of dumb for not using it.

i'm calling people marks because it's common sense that it's a work. has nothing to do with over-analyzing how they normally use twitter to promote things and everything to do with having watched wrestling my whole life and knowing a work when I see one. I'm just confounded that anyone posting here, where supposedly the smartest of smarks hang out, would think for a second that this is a shoot given that we already know they have been considering a Steph/AJ program.

are you implying that I thought it might be a shoot? because I never said that. It's obviously a work. I *wish* it wasn't a work but it clearly is.

y'all are the biggest marks on earth jesus christ

lol if you think this is a shoot

I really hope it isn't a work, because I totally agree with what she's saying but turning that into an angle seems like it kind of cheapens the sentiment.

that card looks like absolute shit.

I think I'm done with this company for a while. not worth my time to constantly follow it only to be disappointed.

and you just know they are going to carve out some significant time for a shitty multi-divas match and some kind of bullshit 'celebrity' appearance or music performance. and that's a lot of singles matches. Even if they do go with Bryan and Ziggler there's no way they are given enough time to do anything special

Switching gears would have been a mistake because then they would have lost control of ever Royal Rumble from now on. They need to have that thing in Iowa every year. or you know...just...give people what they want maybe

here's the thing about old guys coming in for big attraction matches at WM (and other events): The purpose of doing it should be two-fold. First goal should be to pop the buyrate/attendance for that particular show and make some short-term money. Second goal should be to leverage all those extra viewers into future business by getting them hooked on your current stars/stories. To me, that 2nd goal is where WWE has really failed. Usually the old guys come in at the expense of the young guys rather than enhancing them. The current stars are often made to look like jobbers or less important compared to the old guys like Rock. I hope in the future if they do something like Rock vs. Brock then they are smart enough to realize that it's a perfect chance to showcase all the other guys on the roster in front of all the new/returning viewers it might draw.