Matt D

He's not going to pop a buyrate but he can generate interest over 2 generations of lapsed fans in the network. They need to tap every source they can there, to the point where, like I said, I don't think they should put him on PPV, but they should make a network exclusive event around his last match. (I think the right pairing is probably Cena, not Wyatt or Daniel). It's WWE, if they present something as important, it will be looked at by the fanbase as important. That's how it works 9 times out of 10. They're just sort of bad at presenting anything as important because they have the announcers shit on almost everything. Look at what they did, on extremely short notice with Warrior. They give Sting that sort of push on the network coming in, build it to one big event, and I think it'd generate interest. You tap into 20% of the lapsed fans who watched Nitro at its height and stopped either in 01 or well before it and that's more than worth spending a week making some exclusive content with Sting and one live event that you could make money off of anyway. If they present him as important, then whoever beats him gets a rub. It's all artificial and it's all cost/benefit. As he's fresh and has a lot of history behind him, I think it'd be easier to heat him up over a short period of time to put someone over, draw lapsed eyes to the network (and really, the entire point of the network is to tap into nostalgia. If their younger fanbase hasn't bought in for Mania, when are they going to?), and sell some merchandise than it would be for most of the talents they have on the roster now.

Evolution should win because that way they can rationalize putting Bryan on last so the babyface wins at the end of the night and putting Bryan on last is more important than the Shield winning. (ALSO NEXT MONTH CAN BE QUASI-WAR GAMES)

Look at what just happened with Warrior. (I also don't think it should be a Mania match vs Taker, granted. I think they should build to some special to go along with Nitro and Monday Night Wars coming on the network with one big match to capitalize on his name, which in some ways does mean more since most of the audience they're targeting haven't seen him in years and years).

I think there's going to be one moment to capitalize on that people will be interested in. I don't think that there will be two. They just milked Ultimate Warrior Nostalgia in a huge way. I think they can tap into that to get people into the network. Have him come back for one big match vs someone (in this case Bryan since he could make it work and is the champ), make it a network only special and tie it to Nitro and the Monday Night Wars show debuting on the network. I honestly think they need to do big launches like that, big pushes now and again.

You just don't want him to climb a cage in anger.

Sami Zayn is a better Bryan than Bryan in a lot of ways, at least character-wise.

There is no better case study for the things WWE does wrong than that debut. He got bitchslapped by HHH in an in ring encounter too. And then he didn't even get a decisive win. I don't think he was announced the winner. The match just stopped due to the concussion. It was so bad.

Bryan can run into his fist. It'll be fine. Just have it be a WWE storytelling match with a lot of dramatic looks and a few holds and Bryan doing most of the bumping and working from underneath.

And it'd be the perfect way to draw lapsed WCW fans to try out the network. Bryan could make it work. Sting could say he wants a taste of that big gold belt one last time. The way I see it, past as an ambassador and a talking head, the only real value in Sting is in one match. I think there'll be a lot of interest the first time they use him. I think it should be in some sort of network exclusive and I think you need to do it at a point that's not Mania. No one will be interested in seeing him twice but there are a ton of lapsed 28-35 year old lunkheads who were on their high school baseball teams in 1997 and picked the black baseball bat for a reason. Grab their 60 bucks, put Bryan over as defeating an icon, and send Sting off to talking head land.

Part of the problem with Tensai is that they gave him a bunch of BS wins over top guys all at once. It's a crappy way to get someone over. It was even worse when they did it with Curtis Axel who had probably the worst debut I've ever seen in my life.

The answer is to do a Network only special in June called Clash of the Champions and put him against debuting special attraction Sting. That'd put butts in the seats, or on the network, or whatever.

Could have made a deal with Punk. He, coming back the night after Mania and ruining things for Bryan saying that Bryan had stolen his adoration and his fans and his movement, etc. It would have worked.

I'd get a kick out of a Barrett vs Ambrose feud.

They should have just ran with the Network/PPV change and done an 8 man tag with some kind of gimmick. I still kind of hope they give that to us next month. On the one hand, it's unlikely, but on the other, this is a company that gave us Shield vs Wyatts this year.

I'm not going to call Kane great. I will call him good though. I will also call him much, much better than RVD.

I do think they could get away with ONE month of Orton (he has a rematch clause) if they set it up like Austin vs Mankind in 98 what with the Stooges as timekeeper/etc. If the deck looked really stacked against Bryan and he had a very definitive win, it could do some good.

I wonder if they are pulling the trigger on the Rhodes feud to try to get Cody to that level.

This is why you don't turn Mark Henry face.

RVD is pretty much the worst wrestler ever

I'm just getting along to watching the Warrior Week stuff. So does HHH really have a live feed from the Performance Center in his office 24/7? That's pretty awesome.

That reply reminded me of a nature documentary.

Natural Disasters vs Beverly Brothers is the match of the night for Summerslam 92 anyway.

I remember after Total Divas Aftershow #1 how the report was that WWE thought she did an amazing job. Steph also just talked her up in one of those ways that is remarkably easy to read into on the most recent JBL/Cole show (Granted, she also talked up Clem Layfield, but it just felt like one of those red flag moments). I could see them try to keep her.

I like their series with Cactus Jack right when he turned face in 93.

PPVs are all Clashes now.