Strummer

Completely agree. This reeks of desperation

Eh maybe but that's a pretty big storyline development to get no reaction like that. so essentially we have brand split lite I guess

Wildcard rule? Crowd didn't exactly pop for that

I'm sure the thought is the crowds won't boo him if he's feuding with the McMahons. It's probably leading to Roman getting the title before the Fox debut maybe with the ratings down they will go back to the "loose" brand split where it technically still exists but they have a bunch of crossover without really explaining it

Roman said on twitter he would be appearing on Raw because he had "unfinished business" but he was denied from appearing on the show by the McMahons. So it looks like another way to push the Roman v the Authority storyline. Roman is surely going to "invade" Raw on Monday I guess building to Roman v Shane?

WWE cancelled SD's house show on Monday so SD stars could appear on Raw to help build MITB. Looks like a reaction to bad ratings as well PWI

I don't even think it was all about character development, I think Loss was alluding to the fact that WWE nowadays goes out of their way to make the opening acts seem laughable. Like basically telling the audience they suck and are just lucky to be on the show at all. Heath, B Team, even R Truth (in the past at least) to an extent are portrayed as incapable bumbling morons who can't get out of their own way and the announcers laughing at them for it. Yes not everyone can be a big star but you don't have to tell your audience that directly

exactly. In 1988 they didn't talk about how Koko B Ware never won and was just lucky to be on the show. He was a high flyer who liked to have fun and had an awesome entrance theme the fans loved. Not much but something to hold your hat on

My guess is Vince saw Harper's look and thought of a psycho hillbilly type Deliverance character. He probably thought the voice didn't match the look which is huge for him according to a bunch of the old timers from the 80s. IE he hated George Steele's "shoot" voice and made him change it to the grunty version in the 80s

Newest Observer says Bryan has been cleared to return

and what if the data collected doesn't jibe with Vince's views on the business? Will it be like Russo in WCW who just ignored the results and booked what he wanted anyway?

I think Corbin is a perfectly fine midcard gatekeeper. He just isn't a top guy no matter how hard they try. And he gets way too much air time. and I'm liking Shane's heel run but man Roman is back facing the Authority stuff. Basically a carbon copy of the early 2016 run. League of Nations reunion next ?

Raw has been quite bad since Mania. SD is still pretty strong but not quite on fire like it was at the beginning of the year. And yeah like FMKK said everything just seems lifeless and dull since mania. Post mania doldrums I guess

Shane feuding with Miz and Roman at the same time

Storylines centered around body hair? Death segment

Dave on WOR said before he asked for his release Harper was supposed to come back and feud with Sami Zayn but it was dropped. Then Harper asked for his release

Also think it's clear that with the pushes of Kofi and Becky they don't want anymore hijacking by the hardcore fans. Dave has said they don't want to be seen as the "bad guy" promotion that's a killjoy to their audience. So yeah it's tough because as soon as the hardcore fans see they are getting behind someone to appeal to the casuals again (i.e. Roman) the fan revolts could start right back up again. The fan survey stuff is interesting because apparently they are taking it seriously and this isn't like Russo in wcw who ignored all the results. so yeah a lot of this is PR. I think it's a constant battle for the company to worry about pr/pleasing hardcores and trying to expand their audience at the same time

also from the Observer Owens was set to be the number 2 babyface on SD, behind Roman, but like many mentioned, Bryan got hurt and they had to turn KO heel to fill the spot. Bryan v Kofi was the plan for MITB before the injury

Newest Observer says WWE did not grant Harper his release. Plus they added 6 months on to it because it was frozen while he was out with a wrist injury.

Maybe these things don't matter anymore but they kinda made Kofi seem dumb by trusting .Owens so much based off....

Has Bryan been mentioned on TV at all since Mania? I'm pretty sure he was going to continue feuding with Kofi but they had to turn KO when they realized he(Bryan) wasn't coming back. Babyface KO could have been pretty great. Oh well...

So looks like Shane/Miz is over with Shane moving to .Roman. So that would be the first feud Shane has won since X Pac 20 years ago, right? I guess he "won" the Bischoff feud in 2003 but can't think of any other ones well there was the Sami/Owens stuff last year but he had Bryan as a partner. Can't think of the last singles program he won

Also the mitb winner is going to look foolish if they don't cash in on Becky (if she retains) after she has 2 title defenses in one night maybe they have the women's mitb match main event to avoid that

KO beats Kofi for the title and then transitions to Roman by the Fox debut seems like the obvious direction here. Would be pretty shocked if it doesn't go down that way

And there's the KO heel turn