Current WWE

[Matt D]

Even if that's NOT what's going on, I kind of hope people spread it around like it is so that the Philly crowd can revolt over it.

[Sean Liska]

They wouldn't end the show with Ambrose on top if that's what they were doing. He just needs to stop feuding with heels they have big future plans for.

[cm funk]

Well, Ambrose did beat Wyatt at Tribute to the Troops, a show nobody watches and a match that was never mentioned by the announcers tonight.....

 

Yeah, it's ridiculous how he's yet to win any important match. I know they thing they're protecting him with all the wacky gimmick finishes, but it's not working

[Strummer]

For someone who is supposed to be getting a rocket attached to him they sure made Reigns look like crap tonight. The strange WWE internal logic of "if you are pushing a big guy he must go up against other big guys right away to make him stronger" was in full effect. I like him more than most but he isn't ready for this kind of monster push yet. I doubt the fans revolt but I don't think he will be the most over face on the roster or anything.

 

the way they are positioning Dolph they better be careful or the crowds are going to expect him to get pushed "for real" this time.

 

I don't think Ambrose is dead but he is significantly less over than he was last summer when he was probably getting the biggest pops on the show

[Timbo Slice]

For a company that knows how to book ahead so far in advance, having the Rumble in fucking PHILLY of all places really is hilarious. Everything they do in that show is gonna blow up in their face.

[Strummer]

a report from a fan in attendance sent rajah a note that Wyatt was rushed to the hospital after the show went of the air. From the way he worded the situation it doesn't seem to be a work

 

 

 

After Monday's WWE RAW went off the air, Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt continued to brawl. Ambrose brought another table out, which led to Wyatt offering a handshake. Ambrose hit him with Dirty Deeds instead and then put him on the table.

Ambrose climbed a ladder and dove onto Wyatt, which got a huge pop from the crowd.

Referees checked on Wyatt, who indicated that he was injured. After being tended to by medical staff, he was eventually taken out of the arena and ambulance. Wyatt was then transported to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

[goc]

I feel like I'm almost done reading other boards at this point. It's just ridiculous to me after every Raw to read a dozen people claim Vince McMahon needs to be forced out so HHH can take over and make Raw just like NXT. Besides the fact that I find NXT to be highly over rated, a lot of the shit that works in NXT doesn't work on the national stage. Does anyone think the Vaudevillians is an act that would work on Raw? The NXT iMPACT Zone loved Adam Rose and his entourage entrance but it didn't exactly make him a star on Raw.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

 

a report from a fan in attendance sent rajah a note that Wyatt was rushed to the hospital after the show went of the air. From the way he worded the situation it doesn't seem to be a work

 

 

 

After Monday's WWE RAW went off the air, Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt continued to brawl. Ambrose brought another table out, which led to Wyatt offering a handshake. Ambrose hit him with Dirty Deeds instead and then put him on the table.

Ambrose climbed a ladder and dove onto Wyatt, which got a huge pop from the crowd.

Referees checked on Wyatt, who indicated that he was injured. After being tended to by medical staff, he was eventually taken out of the arena and ambulance. Wyatt was then transported to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

 

 

There always seems to be at least one injury at every Raw in Minneapolis.

[Loss]

The Dolph push does sort of strike me as something they don't realize they are doing. As soon as they figure out that they have him on a pretty good winning streak, they will cool him off.

[anarchistxx]

WWE booking is so disjointed and bizarre. They push Jack Swagger massively as a threat to Rusev over the summer and a month or two later he is jobbing in a few minutes to Fandango...another guy who got a huge push for a few months before jobbing to the entire roster in short, pointless television matches. This ridiculous pattern of events happens again and again and again. Someone like Dolph Ziggler is a prime example of someone who is pushed as a big star one month and then jobs every week to nobodies the next. The inconsistency is appalling. Ryback? Exactly the same.

 

Dean Ambrose is going to have a hard time becoming a top guy. The promo material they give him is utterly appalling - he has gone from this wild, natural character to someone putting on contrived facial expressions and exaggerated mannerisms and reading an awful script. Nothing feels believable anymore. Doesn't help that he is stuck with the heat pit that is Bray Wyatt - his matches are almost always met with silence (or 'a hushed aura' as Michael Cole might put it). It is made worse by the fact that he is almost always in gimmick matches, where the fan is are usually silent anyway until the big dives and weapon shots come into play.

[Sean Liska]

WWE booking is so disjointed and bizarre. They push Jack Swagger massively as a threat to Rusev over the summer and a month or two later he is jobbing in a few minutes to Fandango...another guy who got a huge push for a few months before jobbing to the entire roster in short, pointless television matches. This ridiculous pattern of events happens again and again and again. Someone like Dolph Ziggler is a prime example of someone who is pushed as a big star one month and then jobs every week to nobodies the next. The inconsistency is appalling. Ryback? Exactly the same.

 

I don't think it's that baffling. They build up guys as threats to Rusev so it's impressive when Rusev cleanly beats them. It's not that they had big plans for Swagger, they just got him hot for a bit so people would be mad when Rusev won. Same thing with Ryback now. They gave up on him like 18 months ago, they're not building him up to headline SummerSlam, they're just heating him up to put Rusev over.

[anarchistxx]

That would make sense if they didn't do it with every single of their upper mid carders every few months. It isn't just building these people up for Rusev. Swagger's last push can be perhaps explained away like that. The others? They have been pushed and depushed to baffling extremes with no consistency whatsoever.

 

Even Jack Swagger himself went from a massive push to champion to massive depush jobbing to everyone, to massive push with Wrestlemania title match to massive depush jobbing to everyone to big push to build him up for Rusev to jobbing to jobbing to everyone. What a pointless, uncreative cycle.

[Fantastic]

^ Yes, the stop/start cyclefuck that leads to the inevitable list of:

Current WWE Wrestlers Who Will Never Be WWE Champion (*Or if they have been: never again)

 

Bad News Barrett - injury prone, victim of shitty booking

Big E - no real charismatic spark, victim of shitty booking

Chris Jericho - too old, not as over anymore
Christian - too old, injury prone
Cody Rhodes - victim of shitty booking, tag team wrestler typecasting, comedy act
Curtis Axel - too old, wooden act

Damien Sandow - victim of shitty booking, comedy act

Darren Young - no real charismatic spark, wooden act

David Otunga - no real charismatic spark, wooden act

Diego - wooden act, comedy act
Erick Rowan - "a Jannetty", victim of shitty booking (breaking up the Wyatts prematurely)
Fandango - victim of shitty booking
Fernando - wooden act, comedy act

Goldust - too old, comedy act
Heath Slater - victim of shitty booking, comedy act, personal troubles
Jack Swagger - victim of shitty booking
Jey Uso - tag team wrestler typecasting, non-main eventer style
Jimmy Uso - tag team wrestler typecasting, non-main eventer style
Justin Gabriel - no real charismatic spark, non-main eventer style
Kane - too old, not as over anymore
Kofi Kingston - victim of shitty booking, non-main eventer style
Luke Harper - victim of shitty booking (breaking up the Wyatts prematurely), too old
Mark Henry - too old, not as over anymore, years of shitty booking
The Miz - not as over anymore, victim of shitty booking, comedy act
R Truth - too old, comedy act
Rey Mysterio - too old, injury prone, not as over anymore, too small
Sin Cara - too old, no real charismatic spark, non-main eventer style, too small

Titus O'Neil - wooden act, victim of shitty booking
Tyson Kidd - victim of shitty booking, not as over anymore, non-main eventer style, too small
Xavier Woods - wooden act, no real charismatic spark
Zack Ryder - comedy act, victim of shitty booking, disliked

[goc]

Not really sure what the point of that list is. Every wrestling promotion everywhere has guys who can't be the top singles champion.

[Fantastic]

Not really sure what the point of that list is. Every wrestling promotion everywhere has guys who can't be the top singles champion.

 

Since none of those guys are not likely to win the WWE Championship, they will probably never be a fixture in the main event, hell most of them probably won't ever touch upon a main event program. The main event is all that matters in WWE when it's all said and done, as soon as something gets too entertaining that isn't intended for the main event, it's usually shut down or ruined.

 

And because of that, and how the main eventers receive the best booking and storyline priorities, it's very likely that the frustrations of nonsensical booking and start/stop pushes for the guys in that list (many of whom can be, and are entertaining) will continue.

[C.S.]

Miz will get another run eventually, mark my words. Might be a late career twilight JBL run, but he'll get it. Like him or not, he's a fantastic spokesperson for the company.

[Fantastic]

Did Miz actually draw as champion? It seems to me that people were paying to see Orton, Cena, Rock, etc. He didn't actually headline a PPV as champion until Wrestlemania XXVII, which was all about Rock and Cena anyway.

[Matt D]

What's a Coral?

 

As for Bray, I think a lot of the problem is that the message is off. He's not the sort of guy that can just try to win matches for the sake of it. He has to have a compelling purpose. With Bryan, it was about subverting the Yes Movement. With Cena (which really should have probably been built to over another year before it happened) it was about destroying the hypocrisy involved in "Rise Above Hate" and showing Cena that he was really no better than anyone else, a false idol. With Jericho, I have no idea. Ambrose isn't much better. Maybe he's trying to channel the primal chaos that Ambrose is tapping into or something? I don't know. That's a problem though. Also, while he wins matches, and even feuds, he doesn't actually accomplish what he set out to do most of the time.

 

Alternatively, part of why Rusev is so successful is that the message is real clear. He is the Superior Athlete and he will prove it again and again.

[Loss]

Moved all the Coral-Miz talk to Pro Wrestling Mostly. Sorry for opening that up.

[C.S.]

Did Miz actually draw as champion? It seems to me that people were paying to see Orton, Cena, Rock, etc. He didn't actually headline a PPV as champion until Wrestlemania XXVII, which was all about Rock and Cena anyway.

 

I blame the WWE's horrendous writing for this. Same sort of thought process that relegated WWE Undisputed Champion Jericho to 4th place in his own feud behind Trips, Steph, and their pet poodle. Just awful garbage all around.

 

When Miz cashed in Money in the Bank and won the title, it was a HUGE moment.

 

CM Punk was butthurt that it wasn't him vs. Cena that year, but quite frankly, it shouldn't have been. Miz was far more over and entertaining at that point, and felt like a much bigger star. The CM Punk documentary, which was one of the best otherwise, made him look like a whiny asshole in that regard. Punk moaned about not getting the match, bashed Miz, etc. Miz, meanwhile, praised Punk on the same documentary. Like I said, Miz is a great spokesperson for the company and always shines in those segments. Even Daniel Bryan comes across as a smark douchebag when he's a talking head, but Miz is great.

 

As for Bray, I think a lot of the problem is that the message is off.

 

Overrated character and wrestler. His message is indeed off, but the biggest problem is that he doesn't feel like a real person in any way. Being a "cartoon" (for lack of a better word) was fine for something like Undertaker, but it doesn't work at all with Bray.

[DMJ]

Right now, Cody Rhodes doesn't look like a future WWE Champion...but there was a time, in 2013, that he seemed poised for a breakout feud with the Authority.

 

I could also see Miz getting another run sometime. He's been doing quite good this year, essentially wrestling handicap matches every night. In-ring, he's never going to be confused with (Insert Beloved Technician Here) but he's getting to that point where is consistently able to deliver 3-stars. When you add more sizzle, more build, and more theatrics to a 3-star match, you get a main event in today's WWE.

 

Luke Harper may not be a WWE Champion...but I could see him in a "main event level" program. He's a monster of a guy, he's very competent in the ring, and whoever the babyface ace is over the next few years is going to need monsters to slay. Big Show, Henry, and Kane won't last forever and all have gotten multiple runs in the main event over the past 5 years.

 

Mark Henry and JBL were definitely not on anybody's radar as potential WWE Champions in the late 90s and Henry was involved in a romance angle with an 80 year old woman (and a transvestite too, IIRC). Hell, Fake Diesel was a worse gimmick than anyone on that list.

 

I think the larger point you were trying to make, though, is one I do agree with - that the writing/booking/promoting has done a miserable job of keeping character motivations and arcs consistent, which has led to meaningless rivalries and no upward promotion of anyone. Fans don't want to get behind anyone because everyone is on a treadmill.

[sek69]

Don't get me wrong I'm happy they're doing it, but it's surprising such a looks-first company like WWE is putting Luke Harper in such a prime position.

[The Thread Killer]

That would make sense if they didn't do it with every single of their upper mid carders every few months. It isn't just building these people up for Rusev. Swagger's last push can be perhaps explained away like that. The others? They have been pushed and depushed to baffling extremes with no consistency whatsoever.

 

Even Jack Swagger himself went from a massive push to champion to massive depush jobbing to everyone, to massive push with Wrestlemania title match to massive depush jobbing to everyone to big push to build him up for Rusev to jobbing to jobbing to everyone. What a pointless, uncreative cycle.

 

Wasn't one of the reasons that Swagger got de-pushed is because he got busted for a DWI? I'm not disagreeing with you though - WWE booking baffles me, it makes no sense whatsoever when it comes to building and maintaining new stars.

[SteveJRogers]

 

Did Miz actually draw as champion? It seems to me that people were paying to see Orton, Cena, Rock, etc. He didn't actually headline a PPV as champion until Wrestlemania XXVII, which was all about Rock and Cena anyway.

 

I blame the WWE's horrendous writing for this. Same sort of thought process that relegated WWE Undisputed Champion Jericho to 4th place in his own feud behind Trips, Steph, and their pet poodle. Just awful garbage all around.

 

When Miz cashed in Money in the Bank and won the title, it was a HUGE moment.

 

CM Punk was butthurt that it wasn't him vs. Cena that year, but quite frankly, it shouldn't have been. Miz was far more over and entertaining at that point, and felt like a much bigger star. The CM Punk documentary, which was one of the best otherwise, made him look like a whiny asshole in that regard. Punk moaned about not getting the match, bashed Miz, etc. Miz, meanwhile, praised Punk on the same documentary. Like I said, Miz is a great spokesperson for the company and always shines in those segments. Even Daniel Bryan comes across as a smark douchebag when he's a talking head, but Miz is great.

 

 

Reading this kind of hits as to why Miz has so much "X-Pac Heat."

 

Its not so much that he isn't that good of a wrestler, or that he came from reality television, or that his character is too much of a smarmy asshole, its that he is the Wesley Crusher of the WWE!

 

He is a real life Mary Sue type of character that is loathed in all genres of fiction.

[anarchistxx]

The biggest problem Miz has is that he doesn't look like a threat, especially at main event level. He doesn't carry himself like a threat either. Even when you are playing a weasly, cowardly, fluky champion you need to seem like you can be dangerous and take advantage of mistakes.

 

I don't find him remotely interesting, entertaining or believable, although he is a good ambassador for the company.