The show kicked off with Roman Reigns coming out to the ring and saying he is “the guy” again. AJ Styles confronted Reigns and said he is going to beat him and take the title. It was an awkward promo to say the least. Both of these guys would be so much better off if they weren’t required to talk and simply just performed in the ring.

The Vaudevillians vs Lucha Dragons

The first match of the night was a quick one but featured the debut of the Vaudevillians. They got the victory of the Lucha Dragons in pretty easy fashion. Hopefully the WWE has something planned for them and they don’t quickly become another tag team that didn’t work out on the main roster.

https://twitter.com/IamTheFuture18/status/718233253015117830

Natalya vs Summer Rae w/ Charlotte on commentary 

This was another quick match with Natalya getting the win via the sharpshooter. The match between Charlotte and Natalya is going to be awesome when they finally get to it. For now, I’ll gladly take this over watching Ric Flair dance around the ring for 10 minutes.

Zack Ryder vs the Miz for the Intercontinental Championship

Zack Ryder won the IC title at Wrestlemania only to immediately lose it on Raw to the Miz of all people. Maryse made her surprising return and accompanied the Miz to the ring on Smackdown. Maryse played a key part in this match as she distracted the referee as the Miz hit Ryder with a thumb to the eye. This was a decent match but I don’t really understand how having the Miz be the Intercontinental Champion is any better than having Zack Ryder hold the belt. At the very least, Zack Ryder being relevant is a breath of fresh air. I guess it wasn’t in the cards.

Well Zack Ryder, back NXT you go w/ Mojo. #SmackDown

— OLD SKOOL📚 (@OldSkoolRules_) April 8, 2016

Apollo Crews vs Curtis Axel

Total squash match. Apollo Crews is now 2-0 since coming to the WWE. Crews is another guy with great in-ring talent that I really hope the WWE has a plan for him. I wouldn’t mind seeing Crews vying for the United States or Intercontinental Championship sooner rather than later.

Dean Ambrose vs Tyler Breeze

Tyler Breeze has the greatest entrance in wrestling. That is right, I said it. This was yet another squash match with Breeze losing to Ambrose in under a minute. Not much to say about this one. The only interesting thing that happened is that after the match, Jericho’s music hit while Ambrose was just outside the ring. Ambrose hit Jericho with a death stare as he walked passed him. Maybe a Jericho vs Ambrose match in the future? Sounds good to me.

https://twitter.com/TheQueenHEEL/status/718250275228815360

Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles & Cesaro

This was a very entertaining match to close the show. Kevin Owens did a hilarious impersonation of AJ Styles in the middle of the match and also shouted “I’m phenomenal” a few times. Sami Zayn wound up factoring into the decision in this match when he came out with arm bandaged and distracted Kevin Owens. AJ Styles snuck up behind Owens and scored the victory via a roll up. The Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens feud is the most interesting one the WWE has going right now. AJ Styles vs Roman Reigns is certainly intriguing, I just know for a fact Owens vs Zayn will steal any show they are on.

https://twitter.com/ninjapolitician/status/718257759448342529

Final Thoughts

The youth movement is finally here, for better or for worse. I’m excited that so many talents from NXT are being called up to the main roster, I’m just n0t confident in the WWE’s ability to use them correctly. For example, Tyler Breeze is already an after thought and he seemingly never got a chance to prove himself on the main roster. While it is awesome to Apollo Crews and the Vaudevillians on Smackdown, I’m worried that they won’t be on it for long. Hopefully, that will not be the case.

One of the worst-kept secrets in wrestling became headline news this week. After a 30 year career spanning multiple promotions and dozens of championships, The Man Called Sting has wrestled his final match. So says TMZ, which claims the official announcement could come from Sting himself as part of his WWE Hall of Fame acceptance speech in Dallas next month. And while he doesn’t get to go out on his own terms, he can take solace in the fact that few men have been able to enjoy the kind of charmed career he has had.

The writing was on the wall after his match with Seth Rollins last September at Night of Champions. One buckle bomb was bad enough, but two? The move looks brutal enough for a man half his age, but for Sting to go out there and willingly give up his body for two of them just seemed to be tempting fate. To his credit, on wobbly legs, he soldiered on to finish the rest of the match because that’s just what you do. He didn’t blame Rollins for what happened, and really, how could he? It wasn’t anyone’s fault. In fact, he later credited Rollins as being the best worker he had ever shared a ring with, which is pretty high praise coming from someone who has been in wars with the likes of Ric Flair, Vader and Kurt Angle.

With his neck all jacked up, he learned that he has cervical spinal stenosis, or a narrowing of the spinal canal. This can affect the nerves and result in great pain as time goes on. At the time, he indicated he would need neck surgery, but was hopeful that Night of Champions would not be the last image fans had of him inside the ring. Back in December, I made it pretty clear that I thought Sting was done, if for no other reason than the fact that spinal stenosis is the very thing that ended the careers of both Steve Austin and Edge. In the case of Edge, WWE made it clear that they would never medically clear him to wrestle, and he was “only” 37 years old at the time. Sting will turn 57 this weekend. It made little sense to think, and still does, that WWE would ever allow him to lace up his boots and step back through the ropes. This is just my opinion of course, but I believe this is more a case of WWE making the decision for Sting than Sting making it for himself. Were it entirely up to him, I think Sting would prefer to heal up and have one last match for closure, but ultimately, as hypersensitive as WWE is about these things today (concussions in particular), it wasn’t his call to make.

So, what now? The same TMZ report claims that sources close to Sting indicate he would be open to a non-wrestling role in WWE, but they have yet to pitch such a role to him. They could potentially offer up a scenario where Sting gives Shane McMahon the assist at Wrestlemania, looping back to the storyline where Shane “bought” WCW, and in turn, the next night on Raw, Shane could appoint Sting the new General Manager of Raw. The one drawback with that idea is that to have Sting cost Undertaker his match and NOT follow that up with some sort of confrontation between the two would likely leave a lot of fans feeling underwhelmed. Still, I think it merits some consideration because it would be nice to find a role for him on the show (not necessarily weekly) while also doing away with the overdone heel authority figure gimmick, at least for a while.

I can’t help but feel sad that Sting never got to have a real productive run in WWE. To think that his lone Wrestlemania appearance was in a losing effort to Triple H, even though Sting himself may have wanted it that way thinking it could be his final bout, it hardly seems like something loyal Sting fans had envisioned when he first came to WWE. Perhaps, as rumored, it was done as a way for Vince McMahon to put the final exclamation point on the WWE vs. WCW war once and for all, a war that apparently still exists only in his mind. Or maybe it was done with the idea of keeping Triple H strong for a Wrestlemania match this year against The Rock, also rumored before Rock’s filming schedule rendered such a match impossible. He earned two wins on Raw, one via disqualification against Big Show and one via submission in a tag match teaming with John Cena against Big Show and Seth Rollins. He followed that up with the loss to Rollins, so he goes down batting .500 with two wins and two losses. Yet I’m still glad he had his Wrestlemania moment. I’m glad he had the chance to wrestle on Raw. And I’m glad he finally got to wrestle for the WWE title. Not a bad way to go out.

I’ve spent nearly 15 straight weeks counting down the greatest WCW matches of all time on my podcast. Sting has appeared five different times on that list, and there’s a reason for that. Whether it was leading his own squadron against The Dangerous Alliance in War Games, battling Big Van Vader to determine the “King of Cable”, or challenging DDP for the WCW World title, Sting had a tendency to deliver in big matches. More than his work, I think most people will remember him for his loyalty. His loyalty as the avenger of WCW against the nWo and Hollywood Hogan. His loyalty to the promotion behind the scenes as well, never working a single day for Vince McMahon so long as WCW still had a breath in its body. That loyalty extended even to TNA and Dixie Carter, to whom he arguably gave the last great years of his career. It was that loyalty that cost us potential matches with The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton, but at the same time, gave us matches with Kurt Angle, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe.

It’s not easy to “get over” in wrestling. It’s even harder to stay over. Sting has been a beloved figure for the majority of his 30+ years in the wrestling business. In a few short weeks, he will take his rightful place in the Hall of Fame. What his future holds beyond that date is still a question, but to steal a phrase, “the only thing that’s for sure about Sting is nothing’s for sure.”

Two of the WWE’s biggest stars in history will make the trip to Dallas, Texas for WrestleMania 32. The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are confirmed for the event. Rocky announced it on his Instagram page and Austin just confirmed it for a second time in a recent interview.

That doesn’t include the third person in this title, Shawn Michaels. He’s not guaranteed for the event, but it is in his hometown and the rumors about his involvement in the main event have run rampant recently.

Despite the alliteration, these three men need to have a plan if they’ll be there. WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year and WWE fans aren’t keen on the main event. At this very second, Roman Reigns is set to take on Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight championship.

There’s nobody in their corners and a special guest referee hasn’t been announced. Less than six weeks still remains between now and April 3. WWE fans are so enraged, that “#CancelWWENetwork” was trending after WWE Fastlane.

In a recent column, I talked about how Shane McMahon, the Undertaker and Vince McMahon saved WrestleMania 32. There match will build suspense, drama, and it already has a great story to go along with it.

While many disagreed, more might need to be done before WrestleMania is “saved.” These three men could do just that, but it’s going to take a creative angle and originality. In this writer’s opinion, here’s what the Rock, Stone Cold and HBK should do for WrestleMania:

• The Rock – He has to protect Roman Reigns as much a possible. Sure, they tried that at the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia in 2015, but Reigns was despised then. There are more fans that support Reigns, that didn’t use to support him. Most WWE fans know that Reigns will beat Triple H to win the title. If that’s the case, then he needs to be over-booked. Put the Rock in Reigns’ corner against the Authority. When Stephanie or even someone in HHH’s corner tried to do something, have the Rock perform one of his finishers on HHH while the referee is distracted. That allows for a big pop from the Mania crowd, by giving the WWE fans a chance to cheer indirectly for Reigns. It’s worth a shot.
• Shawn Michaels – This one is a big difficult to figure out. If he is involved in WrestleMania, then he must be backing up his friend, Triple H. Then again, why not throw the entire kitchen sink at the Authority and have the Heartbreak Kid back up Reigns instead? Vince doesn’t want AT&T Stadium booing Reigns out of the building. He’s supposed to be the next face of the company. It won’t be as a heel, even though Reigns’ inevitable heel turn will succeed. Triple H is still the heel in this feud. HBK will be a babyface no matter what he does. HHH needs to reach for a sledgehammer and the Sweet Chin Music must connect with Paul Levesque’s face.
• Stone Cold Steve Austin – WWE officials have some thinking to do before deciding what Stone Cold is doing at WrestleMania 32. Frankly, where does Austin fit? It wouldn’t make sense for him to get involved in the main event. For Austin, it’s probably best to put over a young guy in a big match. In that vein, a promo war between the New Day and Stone Cold would put “butts in the seats.” It doesn’t make much sense by looking at it, but Edge and Christian already helped put over the New Day even more. Giving Austin the platform to go back-and-forth with Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods isn’t a bad idea.

None of those ideas are guaranteed to happen. Reigns will surely be over-booked in fear of him getting booed out of the building at AT&T Stadium.

WWE put themselves in a precarious position with the booking of Reigns. Monday Night Raw was a great example of that. Triple H was beating him to a pulp and feeding off the crowd. HHH was the babyface in that exchange. The show ended with HHH standing over Reigns with the strap as the crowd cheered.

Something needs to get amended if they want Reigns to go above and beyond with the WWE Universe.

At one point, the Rock wasn’t well-liked by the fans. He was Rocky Maivia. When he turned heel, the rest is history.

Perhaps Roman Reigns should follow that path. WrestleMania would be a great place to do that.

After a nearly seven year absence from WWE television, Shane McMahon made what can only be described as a triumphant return to Raw last Monday in Detroit. As overexposed as the McMahon clan has been, the Boy Wonder (and the thunderous ovation he received) proves that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. In one night, WWE succeeded in adding genuine intrigue to what had been shaping up as a ho-hum WrestleMania card. If Shane hopes to take control of Monday Night Raw, all he needs to do is defeat The Undertaker inside “Hell in a Cell”. Easy enough, no?

Shane was always the one McMahon I never got tired of seeing. While I would argue that Mister McMahon is the greatest villain the company has ever produced, there have been many times where he has overstayed his welcome. His return to TV a few months ago, albeit a desperate attempt to help make Roman look strong, got people excited largely because he had been hidden away for so long. Stephanie and Triple H, while great in their roles, would do well after WrestleMania to take the old man’s cue and disappear for a while (we are now going on THREE YEARS of this Authority nonsense). As for Linda, she always had the charisma of a wet dish rag and thankfully was limited in her roles. For someone who likely never received any formal training, Shane has turned in plenty of memorable performances over the years against the likes of Kurt Angle, Test and even his own father. I always respected him for the risks he was willing to take, however stupid they may have been.

Let me just say that I don’t believe for a second that Shane McMahon is wrestling The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Not that I would mind, it would certainly be something different, which seems to be a dirty word in WWE’s vocabulary. Nonetheless, I think what we saw was the first of several chapters in a story that will play itself out in the months (yes, months) to come. With the announcement that the dead man himself will be on Raw next week, I imagine he will be none too happy about being tasked with doing the chairman’s dirty work and may reject the match outright. This is where the idea of a surrogate wrestling on Shane’s behalf becomes more realistic, and the question then turns to who that person may be. There are several options, including a certain 15-time champion currently rehabbing from a torn rotator cuff. It’s an injury that should, in theory, keep him out of action until the summer, but John Cena has remarkable mutant healing powers, and I think it is very likely that he takes Shane’s place in an effort to help rescue Raw from the evil Authority.

You also have Sting, who we know will be present that weekend to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. It’s a match that many fans still clamor for. Others may dread it, but there is no doubting the marquee value such a match would have (once the bell rings, that’s another story). Were it not for Sting’s diagnosis of spinal stenosis, which ended the careers of both Steve Austin and Edge, and the fact that he still needs neck surgery, he would make a fine choice, but it just doesn’t seem possible. Or how about The Rock? He did tease a major role for himself at WrestleMania, though the belief is that he won’t be wrestling on the card, which would seem to disqualify him from consideration. Then again, in wrestling, it’s probably wise to never discount anything from consideration.

On my podcast back in November, in response to a listener question about a potential Shane McMahon return (hat tip to Adam from Newcastle, England), I pitched an idea that while not exactly the same, is not all that different from what we are now seeing. In my scenario, Shane would return to confront Triple H, not Vince, in an effort to reclaim his birthright and would handpick a representative to wrestle another superstar of the COO’s choosing at WrestleMania for control of the company. I thought it would be most intriguing for Shane to recruit a major name from the NXT ranks, say Finn Balor or Sami Zayn, given Triple H is something of a proud papa to all of those guys. He could then spend the next several weeks playing off his relationship with them and trying to convince them to do the right thing, or as he would say, “what’s best for business”. The end result would be a big win for the NXT star and the end of The Authority storyline, which is long past its expiration date. As things are currently set up, Demon Balor could very easily be recruited by Shane, if they wanted to go in that direction. I love the idea (just imagine the entrances), but I still believe Cena will be their choice if he can make it back in time.

I do want to look beyond WrestleMania for a moment. Many fans online are excitedly pointing to a Ticketmaster listing for an upcoming Raw in May that is being billed as “Monday Night Raw vs. WWE” as evidence that a return to a brand split is imminent. Given how stale and monotonous the show has become, Shane McMahon taking control, even if only in storyline, could give Raw a fresh feel that it so desperately needs. That being said, I believe a formal brand split, at least at the moment, would be a terrible idea. Even a decade ago, WWE never seemed to fully embrace the idea of a true brand split, and so long as the same person is in charge of running things, that is unlikely to ever change. But that’s not even the biggest problem they face. One of the biggest changes since that time has been the expansion of Monday Night Raw to three hours. At a time when the company lacks depth at the top of its roster, a roster that has been absolutely ravaged by injuries, it makes absolutely no sense to take an already depleted roster, split it in half, and then attempt to fill those same three hours every Monday night. Of course, they can always call a bunch of NXT names down to the main roster to fill those spots, but will they? Colin Cassady and Enzo Amore are most certainly ready to make the transition, as should someone like Samoa Joe, but I just don’t see them gutting the NXT brand by shifting over enough names at one time to make up that deficit.

Would a brand split help shake things up? Sure, it might. If they insist on moving ahead with the idea, they should do so IF and ONLY IF Raw is moved back to a two hour format. Believe me, the McMahons (sans Shane) are hardly the only ones suffering from overexposure, and in order for the idea to have a shot at working, it is a necessary move to make. It’s great to have Shane ‘O Mac back and I’d like to see his character be the catalyst for some exciting television post-WrestleMania.

They’ve got people talking. Don’t drop the ball.

Several months back, I found myself starting to wonder about WWE’s YouTube channel as WWE was getting a lot of press for just how successful it is. By most metrics, it’s among the top channels on the service:

• WWE claims it’s the number one sports channel, and it appears to be nominally true if you count them as sports.
• For the week of January 22nd, the most recent week tracked, TubeLifter has them ranked as the number three channel worldwide with the same ranking in the United States. That’s based off with 127,606,969 total views (up 7% from the prior week).
• In SocialBlade’s overall rankings for most views, they’re in eighth place as of this writing. In their weighted rankings, WWE is number four. For most subscribers, they lag behind, but are well within the top 100 at number 55.

It’s clearly a success by YouTube standards, and it’s noticeable even just looking at the numbers for the individual videos. The main event level segments from Raw usually top 1 million views within a few days. As I write this, he edited version of the previous night’s SmackDown main event is closing in on 400,000 viewers after just 16 hours. The edited Daniel Bryan retirement speech, while an anomaly to a point for obvious reasons, is nearing 2.5 million views after less than four full days.

Of course, Raw ratings have been in a freefall over the past year-plus, so I got to thinking: While there are certainly other issues at play, could this be a big factor in the ratings decline? I tabled it for a while, but that sentiment grew in me after WWE dropped their 2015 annual report yesterday. In conjunction with the report, they put together an infographic, and the YouTube part piqued my interest:

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/697811272604250112

And those 8 billon views for 2015? They doubled the 2014 mark, and that increase comes with two noticeable changes:

1. I don’t recall when exactly this was, but I believe it was in the past year or so that WWE sped up the uploading schedule of the video clips from their TV shows. Raw clips, for example, now go up as the live show is going on with a pretty short delay (especially considering the editing being done). Before, they went up at irregular times between early Tuesday morning and early Tuesday afternoon.
2. WWE scaled back on some of their original content during 2015, like ending The JBL & Renee Show (formerly the JBL & Cole Show). While there’s still compelling original content, like “5 Things” and “This Week in WWE History,” the comedic destination programming is gone.

While one theoretical draw is gone, they’ve made it much easier to consume an edited version of the weekly TV shows, and that appears to have been one reason for the huge increase in views year over year. Which is where this really starts to get interesting.

WWE programming tends to skew pretty old in that the average viewer is a middle aged man…the type more likely to consume Raw in “traditional” ways, watching on cable/satellite TV during the live broadcast or maybe later on their DVR. But more and more, young people (think kids, tweens, and teenagers, as well as cord-cutting young adults) are consuming most of their content online, often primarily from YouTube only. That would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?

Which isn’t to say that it’s the only reason: The company is in a rut creatively, of course. On top of that, Raw is a slog at three hours except for the very best episodes, which, as I alluded to, we haven’t seen as of late. So a large chunk of the audience may be closely following along, but only checking out the most interesting looking YouTube clips so as to not go through the three hour mixed bag that is Monday Night Raw in 2016.

As the YouTube numbers keep going up, though, it’s hard to look at the situation as if it can’t be a major factor in the ratings going down. On the surface, it’s not a big deal, but YouTube ads are much less lucrative than traditional TV and there’s always the risk of angering NBC Universal, who gets nothing from the YouTube channel. The Hulu deal is through NBC Universal, who owns part of that service, but we have no idea how many people are watching WWE shows on there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egLks2yh4L4

Another potential factor is the change in how WWE does social media now. Last May, WWE dropped the WWE App’s second screen experience. Instead, all supplementary content was shifted to third party platforms (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube of course, etc.) as well as WWE.com. As part of the change, they’ve dramatically increased the amount of video and animated GIFs on their Twitter accounts. If you were planning on watching Raw because you want to see New Day do a funny dance, it will probably show up in your Twitter feed, anyway. It’s probably not close to as big a factor as YouTube, but it should be in the conversation.

What does everyone else think? How has your WWE consumption changed in the last few years? Do you use the YouTube channel frequently? Please et us know in the comments.

Sony Pictures seemingly has big plans for the Will Smith movie “Concussion,” as they have it opening on Christmas Day. Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the real-life forensic pathologist who made it his mission to publicize his findings about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, especially in the brains of American football players. Besides the overall issue having importance to the pro wrestling world, another connection is that WWE Medical Director and Pittsburgh Steelers Team Physician Dr. Joseph Maroon is a character in the film. The script of a seemingly pivotal (but now deleted) scene with the fictionalized version of Maroon (played by Arliss Howard)  leaked via The Hollywood Reporter in September, and it started to get some play on wrestling sites (like the Squared Circle community on Reddit) yesterday.

The short scene, which was reportedly cut due to concerns that it was defamatory (it was sourced from a secondhand account) went like this:

MAROON: We have a serious problem.
DR. ELLIOTT PELLMAN: Dave Duerson killed himself today,
MAROON: He didn’t just kill himself. He shot himself in the chest, Roger. In the heart. He left a note. He wanted his brain donated. To be looked at. For CTE.
NFL COMMISSIONER ROGER GOODELL: Good God. Was he symptomatic?
MAROON: I thought he was just an asshole. For the brain’s last act to not just die, but preserve itself in the act of killing, humans don’t do that. We can’t explain it. This is going to unravel.

You can see why, if there were questions about the accuracy of the dialogue, why it would have been cut, even if the movie has the usual disclaimers about the characters being fictionalized versions of real people.  That said, if Maroon is still a prominent character in the movie, and it looks like he is, then it’s likely he still comes off badly, if just going by the official record. As my friend Keith Harris noted at Cageside Seats in September, this is, after all, the man who, among other things:

• Attacked the Omalu’s findings of CTE in former Steeler Terry Long by falsely claiming that there were no records of him suffering a concussion during his time on the team.
• Argued that youth tackle football is safer than skateboarding.
• Authored a journal article on CTE that didn’t disclose his connections to the NFL, the Steelers, and WWE.

It’s not like this one scene being cut means Maroon is in the clear, public perception-wise, though there are indications that the movie became much less anti-NFL over time and apparently, he’s only in one scene in the final cut. The impact to Maroon himself (and WWE) may not be as significant as originally theorized. The movie will get more of a dialogue going for a while, that’s for sure. Still, will anyone actually se it? Will Smith is a big star, but it’s not the most uplifting and commercial subject matter for Christmas, though a romantic subplot was included seemingly for that very reason. Advance reviews have been mixed so far, with some critics feeling that the movie focuses too much on the personal journey of Smith as Omalu. But Will Smith doing an award bait movie also has its own magnetism. So we may not know until we know.

This all looms as WWE is in the midst of multiple lawsuits modeled after the successful NFL litigation over the concussion issue. That’s something that I’m guessing they don’t want a spotlight on. Especially now that lawyer Konstantine Kyros is pointing out that they simultaneously give money to Chris Nowinski’s Concussion Legacy Foundation (where Paul Levesque serves on the board) while seemingly not directing wrestlers to pledge their brains to the foundation for research.

Last night, I went over the key items in the report that the Tampa Police Department released released this week about the 2012 theft of DVDs from Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. These DVDs included videos of his former wife Heather Cole having sex with various men, some (like a police officer friend) who knew they were on camera and others (like Hulk Hogan) who didn’t. While there are still some unknowns, like who leaked one of the Hogan videos to Gawker and why nobody has been prosecuted, the report fills in a lot of details that weren’t public previously. I tried to outline those in last night’s article, and now, it’s time to examine them a little deeper.

So, how do you contextualize all of this?

To me, the most interesting part overall was the detailed summary of the December 14, 2012 FBI sting operation in which Hogan and lawyer David Houston pretended to go along with making a deal with sex tape broker Keith Davidson. Not only was it a detailed look at a strange, seedy backroom celebrity business deal, but Davidson made some telling comments. Specifically, the “issues” in the videos that he mentions are Hogan’s now-infamous N-word rant and Hogan saying his son Nick’s then-girlfriend’s twin sister had been coming onto him. The former has been out since July and the latter was known going back to Gawker’s October 2012 article.

I was able to confirm that, contrary to the baseless rumors about racist comments towards Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson being on one video,  there are no other comments deemed to be a threat to Hogan’s public persona. At least when it comes to the videos themselves, there’s not much more damage they could do to Hogan. He was lucky, relatively speaking, that only transcripts got out and not the audio. That the general public hasn’t heard the comments likely plays a factor in why:

1. He’s so optimistic about being rehired by WWE.
2. Some fans mistakenly think he got in trouble for an old radio interview where used the n-word in the context of quoting people.

Obviously, he wants to make sure that doesn’t change, and he also wants to ensure nobody else sees him having sex. But unless there’s something that came up in the FBI investigation that we have no real concept of, there may not be further skeletons this case’s closet that can ruin Hulk Hogan.

Gawker has, at times, claimed that determining if Hogan was aware of the cameras in Bubba the Love Sponge Clem’s house is why they sued the FBI. He’s always insisted that he wasn’t, with skepticism coming from Bubba talking about his security system on his radio show and Cole seemingly positioning Hogan for the camera on the video. While a friend of Bubba’s who had a tryst with Heather after Hogan was aware of the camera, Heather swore to police that Hogan was unaware. From the report (in a section that’s been redacted from the version Bubba posted on his website):

Cole stated that the sex she had with others during her marriage to Bubba was consensual. She stated that Bubba insisted on it being videoed. I asked Cole if Bollea knew he was being recorded and she said no. I told Cole that the in the videos it appears as though she is positioning Bollea for the camera. She said she did that because that is what Bubba wanted. Cole said Bubba could be very controlling. Cole said she remembers Bubba coming to the house after they had separated and requesting the DVDs sometime around the end of 2011.

One would think that issue should be put to bed at this point. Of course, that passage raises another issue, which is that Bubba comes off terribly here. It at least reads as if he heavily pressured his wife into participating in making secret videos of trysts with his friends even if she was fully into their swinger (for lack of a better term) lifestyle. That doesn’t take away from him being a legitimate victim when it comes to the DVD theft and related crimes, and he’s right to be angry at the prosecutors for not charging anyone. After all, if the police have so much evidence and are willing to name Matt Loyd in this report, why do the prosecutors think they won’t get a conviction?

There’s honestly no good answer other than that  conspiracy theories about Hogan using his influence because he’s worried about things that could come out in a trial. As I said earlier: If it’s not on the videos, we don’t know what that is. Unless it’s just not wanting anyone to hear his racist comments on the videos out loud, there’s no indication why this would be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk0ZACuiYAY

Speaking of things that Hogan doesn’t want out: One would think that Gawker as well as various interested media outlets (who have filed intervening motions in the past) may try to parlay the release of this report into the unsealing of some of the FBI documents. After all, if the substance of what was said during the sting operation is now public record, why not the word for word transcript? It wouldn’t shock me at all, and it’s something to keep an eye on in both lawsuits.

As for Matt Loyd being named as who stole the DVDs from Bubba, that’s no surprise at this point, as it had been hinted at in various lawsuit filings. But if he didn’t leak one of the DVDs to Gawker, then we don’t really have any good leads as to who it is. That is unless there’s some obfuscation going on here.

We’re still over three months away from the Hogan-Gawker civil trial, and this story is far from over.

Because some people ask for a label: Yes, this is an editorial.

Last night’s show-closing segment on Monday Night Raw was not the first time WWE has, uncomfortably, worked someone’s real life death into an angle. That goes back a decade to Eddie Guerrero’s death, and you can go back further for them using it outside of the storyline context, like the Raw interview with Brian Pillman’s widow in 1997. It’s never a good thing and it’s always uncomfortable, but what they did last night was, in its own unique way, the worst of them all.

“You know what, Charlotte? You’re wrong sweetheart. ‘Cause your little baby brother? He didn’t have much fight in him, did he?” -Paige

It’s been over two and a half years since Reid Fliehr’s death at just 25 years of age from an overdose of heroin and prescription medication. Ashley/Charlotte considers her wrestling career, in large part, her way of fulfilling his dream and keeping his spirit alive, .as he had been working for independent promotions and All Japan Pro Wrestling. As you might think from the cause of death, he had been battling drug addiction for years. Which is the beginning of why last night’s scripting stands out as so objectionable.

The Eddie Guerrero exploitation was terrible and crass, but was never really about demeaning him in a direct way. The same goes for the Paul Bearer stuff, and that at least had th slight improvement of it being more clearly delineated that the Paul Bearer character was killed off because William Moody had actually died. How they died was off limits.

Last night? It wasn’t.

As bad as it is to invoke his death for some lame pro wrestling angle in the first place, here, the inference is, effectively, “Ha-ha, your junkie brother ODed!” It prostitutes his worth as a human being and the mental illness he struggled with from his teens (and yes, addiction is as much a mental illness as OCD, depression, or bipolar disorder are). And for what? Some doomed to fail skit put at the end of the show because the third hour is siphoning viewers anyway?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2WR40HgDbU

What gives this more wide-ranging, real world consequences that past WWE death exploitation angles is that mental illness is heavily stigmatized, especially in the United States. Die from cancer and the perception is that you lost your valiant battle. Die from a mental illness and the perception is that you’re weak. Unless, by some small chance this storyline ends with a passionate Charlotte promo about destigmatizing mental illness, then what exactly is the point?

No, most viewers don’t know how Reid Fliehr died. But plenty do: Charlotte talks about him all the time when she does media appearances and more fans than ever follow wrestling news online, anyway. Being cryptic helps WWE, because, like with Lana’s promo last year that viewers thought was about the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, you can always say that’s not what they meant.

@WWE @StephMcMahon @VinceMcMahon @TripleH WWEWriters really, that lazy! #CheapHeat #disgusting #disrespectful #cruel #sad ?#RawGreenville

— Elizabeth Fliehr (@EFliehr) November 17, 2015

As for Charlotte, it’s really quite simple: If it wasn’t her idea, it’s disgusting as her employer to script her to take part in last night’s angle. If by some chance it was her idea, and her mom’s tweets certainly suggest that it wasn’t, then she should have been vetoed anyway.

To think this company wonders why they have trouble getting advertising rates at the level of non-wrestling programming with the same viewership. They’re in the bubble. Nothing will ever change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9htQLbhCys

If you asked me about the first time I ever saw Eddie Guerrero wrestle, my first instinct would be to respond with one of the more common answers: The match where he and Art Barr lost their hair to El Hijo del Santo and Octagon at AAA When Worlds Collide in 1994. It’s a positively brilliant match, one that not only blew away the lucha libre newbies watching on pay-per-view, but played off years of storylines that long-time fans would know. The match got him his job in ECW, which he parlayed into his WCW run.

When I think deeper about when I first saw Eddie, the real answer is probably one of two other matches. The first would be his famous squash match loss to Terry Funk in WCW in May of 1989. I don’t really remember for sure if I saw it when it aired since I was very young, but I was watching all of WCW’s shows then and I’m pretty sure I did see it. Funk was wrestling his first WCW match since debuting by injuring Ric Flair, and Eddie was brought in as a great working job guy to make him look amazing. Funk being Funk, he gave Eddie a lot, including a gorgeous plancha, before winning the match. Since it was 1989, Eddie was “too small” to hire and not given a second look.

The only other match I would have seen first was from a TV taping for Red Bastien’s WIN promotion, a short-lived lucha libre startup. Mario Savoldi’s ICW promptly lifted matches from WIN shows to craft an “international” tag team tournament in 1990, which included a throwaway Eddie Guerrero match that I know I saw. That’s how I saw a lot of older wrestling for the first time: ICW airing it because reasons.

I became a huge fan of Eddie’s during his ECW run, though unlike most fans, I was partial to his matches with 2 Cold Scorpio over his more famous feud with Dean Malenko. As wonderful as the technical wrestling was in the Malenko matches, the Scorpio matches weren’t run into the ground and  had a more clear babyface/heel dynamic. In WCW, he built upon that by becoming one of the best babyfaces in the  business, even being named the most likable wrestler in the company when they hired research companies to poll the audience.

As he mastered the psychological side of the business more and more, that became his strength. It carried him to a level of stardom in WWE that nobody could have foreseen, especially as his body was breaking down. Not only was his heart on borrowed time as we soon learned, but his back was a wreck to the point he shouldn’t have been able to walk.

I hate to say it, but my reaction when he died was not exactly surprise. He had gotten too muscular and he had a long history of drug abuse. When the coroner listed steroid use as a contributing factor in his death, there was hope that the black and white information would lead to changes. To a point, they did. Days later, another wrestler had a drug-related episode on WWE’s European tour, and the company announced that they’d be resuming drug testing. As much as there’s been skepticism into WWE’s Talent Wellness Program, and rightfully so at times, in the long run, it has been a net positive.

But that’s just a silver lining. It doesn’t bring Eddie Guerrero or anyone else back. There should have never been the pressure on him to get bigger that he had to deal with for his entire career. Has that changed? Probably.

Has it changed enough? I honestly have no idea, and that worries me.

When WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins’ knee exploded last week under a mistimed sunset flip powerbomb attempt in Dublin, Ireland, fans were sad. He’s in the middle of the biggest run of his career and is going to miss WrestleMania 32 in Dallas, which WWE has planned as a “biggest show ever” type of event. That said, when the dust settled and a tournament was announced, there was hope.

With Randy Orton injured, John Cena on sabbatical, Daniel Bryan out indefinitely, and now Rollins out six to nine months, everyone figured WWE had to shake things up. How couldn’t they? They’re being forced into something new and have a ton of options.The bracket and booking for the tournament so far, however, have made it look like they’re not really interested in that. The expected names are in the tournament, like Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, Sheamus, Kevin Owens, and to an extent, Dolph Ziggler. Everyone else felt like a designated jobber.

Nothing against Kalisto or Titus O’Neil, but they both stuck out like a sore thumb. At least The Miz is a former champion. Tyler Breeze being in the tournament was, in and of itself, a good idea, but then he lost his first ever Raw match in the process to Ambrose. What exactly is the point of that exercise? Seriously, why would you even consider doing that?

The way the brackets line up, it looks like the finals will be Roman Reigns from the left side taking on Dean Ambrose from the right side. There have been a number of times over the last several months where references to their friendship got so heavy-handed that it seemed like one or the other turning heel was inevitable. Now, with a new top heel being a necessity, it’s hard not to think one of them won’t turn. At first, maybe you’d think it’s Ambrose: He’s been a great heel in the past and a strong heel run would make him an even stronger babyface down the line.

After Monday’s Raw, though, that doesn’t look like the plan.

Raw opened with Triple H announcing the tournament and, basically, inviting Roman Reigns to turn heel, join The Authority, and get handed the title as an alternative. After all, that’s what Triple H did as a management-approved top contender in 2002 when the world title split off. Reigns, of course, turned him down…for now.

Where it gets interesting is that there are similarities to The Rock’s storyline 17 years ago this month in 1998. The Rock, then a freshly turned babyface, had left Vince McMahon’s Corporation stable and turned down offers to return. He made it to the finals of the WWF Championship tournament at the famous Survivor Series: Deadly Game PPV, where he was gifted the title in a Montreal Screwjob reprise.

Is this what WWE’s going for? Should they be trying it? One of the things about the fan reaction Monday in Manchester, England was that the fans like Reigns…they just don’t like his current babyface persona and wanted him to turn heel. That’s probably not changing for a while. A heel run where he wipes off the stink of WWE trying to model him too closely on John Cena would be a good setup for an eventual run as top babyface, similar. t0 what I said about Ambrose but arguably more necessary.

That would shake things up. Ambrose turning would shake things up to a point and probably help him, but feels like the worse thing possible for Reigns. At this point, I don’t see what option they have other than Reigns turning heel to get him the momentum he needs.

Meanwhile, in his WWE.com interview that went up today, Triple H had this to say (h/t Cageside Seats for the transcription):

People will do amazing things when given the opportunity. Some people will look at that opportunity and turn it down because they think they know better. Some people would look at that and say they’re crazy for turning that opportunity down. But I can guarantee you this: That opportunity is still there. Somebody will be crazy enough to take that opportunity. Somebody is willing to do absolutely anything to be the man.

Well, that’s certainly interesting.

The following editorial reflects the opinions of the author.

Well, we are at an interesting crossroads in the life of the WWE right now. As we are all aware,  WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, has been injured. While in the midst of his reign as champ, Mr. Architect is sidelined with a torn ACL, and will be out for 6 to 9 months.

While the way he was being booked is questionable, what’s not in question was the roll that he was on. He was the main event, the champion, the focal point of the show, and putting on the matches of his career against high caliber, main event talent. He is someone who took the ball and ran with it.

That said, again, we are at a crossroads. Your champion is injured, your other top talents are either injured, as well (Sting, Randy Orton), or off doing their own things outside of the WWE (Cena, Lesnar). Now, WWE, you are scrambling to find yourself a new “man”, the guy that you can trust to carry your show. Tonight marks the start of a tournament to crown a new champion at Survivor Series.

Here’s where we find ourselves in a pickle. I hate being the guy that calls back to the Attitude Era, but hey, that truly was the pinnacle of wrestling.

Let’s take all the vulgarity aside. Let’s take the cursing, violence, sexuality, and blood out of consideration. What is the one thing that the Attitude Era had that the current does not?

Answer: Hungry, talented people that had the goods, and were ready to reach for the stars.

Let’s be honest, we all hated and cringed at Vinnie Mac’s ridiculous Millenials comment during the Stone Cold podcast. However, let us also not kid ourselves: his point was not far off of the mark. There are many talented individuals waiting in the wings. However, which of them is truly ready and up to the challenge of carrying the company? Ah, I can already hear the angry gnashing of your keyboards. Hang with me, here.

During the Attitude Era, there were countless wrestlers who were on the cusp of the main event, at any given time. Every title was important. Every wrestler was important. Every storyline was important. WWE was not afraid to take the chance on a guy to either sink or swim on their own merits. The importance of the midcard had just as much emphasis as the WWE Title. They managed to build up every single wrestler, no matter at which level, to be true superstars.

That said, this current lack of main event caliber is not necessarily the fault of the wrestlers, themselves.

No, the reason that the WWE is scrambling, the reason that no one is at the ready, the reason that no one is capable of being at the main event, falls upon one person. It lies solely at the feet of Vince McMahon, Jr. himself.

The WWE has spent so much time building one wrestler at a time to the main event level, that it forgoes all other talent, regardless of actual readiness and capabilities.

Kevin Owens is the Intercontinental Champion. A title and role that, at one point, held more importance than the WWE title and champion. Does that matter now? Sure doesn’t feel like it.

Does it feel like the U.S. Title matters now that it’s been taken off of the WWE Golden Boy, Cena?

There are many superstars who, if given opportunity to build themselves up, could be there. The abilities are there. Wrestling today us inarguably more athletic and competitive than it was during the Attitude Era. I’m not going to get into the who’s and why’s, because that’s all subjective to who you’d personally like to see given the push. However, the WWE has not given anyone, outside of a select few, that opportunity.  And it’s been that select few for a very long time now, and we’re all a bit bored with it. I believe that this is something we can all agree on.

We are at this interesting crossroads because now WWE is being forced to give out that opportunity to the talent. Here is the chance to allow someone to sink or swim, to reach for the brass rings, and all those other cliches. It’s time for the WWE to overhaul their thinking. Sadly, it comes at the expense of the incredible Seth Rollins.

Maybe, hopefully, now Vince will use this unfortunate set of circumstances to realize that there needs to be a top to bottom importance set on every person backstage. There are three hours every Monday, and two hours every Thursday. There is no excuse for every superstar to not be given ample time to get themselves over.

I guess we’ll find out who the WWE and Vince give the ball to later this month. Or, worse yet, if we’re going to fall into the same rut of predictability.

Discuss!

Well, that dreaded day has come. Seth Rollins is out for 6-9 months with a knee injury, the WWE World Heavyweight championship is being vacated and the main event booking plans for the next 6 months are now out the window.

WWE is scrambling to bring in big names to fill out a star-deprived roster and a new champion will be crowned in less than two weeks at Survivor Series. The fact that WWE finds themselves in such a bad spot without multiple young talents ready to fill the void is a lengthy discussion for another day.

What I want to hear from you is who you think is ready right now? Who do you think is ready to take the next step? Who is genuinely ready to carry the show?

WWE could go in a number of directions from here. We could see Roman Reigns continue on his path, win the championship tournament and stand tall as the new babyface champion. Another popular ‘fantasy booking’ scenario has Reigns turning heel, aligning himself with The Authority and becoming the new golden boy sellout champion, not unlike his old pal Seth Rollins. We could also see a dark horse champion emerge, perhaps a Kevin Owens or even Mr. Money in the Bank, Sheamus.

Comment below and tell us how you think it will all go down at Survivor Series!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VegtxEp2rU

This is an editorial, obviously. It reflects the views of David Bixenspan only and should not be construed as reflecting the opinions of SEScoops.com.

Last night, The New York Observer’s editors posted an editorial about some of the recent developments in Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media. Specifically, it pertains to the judge’s ruling allowing Hogan to hire a forensic expert to search Gawker’s computers, portable devices, cloud storage, and so on for proof that they leaked Hogan’s racist comments to The National Enquirer. As I reported here last week, Gawker will be appealing that ruling and has compelling evidence to suggest that it’s incredibly premature to suggest they were behind the leak.

The New York Observer editorial gets some of the basic facts wrong. Like many wrestling fans, they think Hogan using the N-word in an old interview is what got him in trouble when it was actually an oddly personal racist tirade on one of the sex tapes that was shot without his knowledge in 2007. Having said that, the overall point of the article is dead-on: This is a big deal, and it has implications reaching far beyond pro wrestling and celebrity gossip. Hell, the whole case does.

Specific to this latest development, the Observer describes the most recent ruling as having “much of the news media in frenzy”  because of “the potential loss of reporter’s privilege.” It’s a basic First Amendment Protection, and Judge Pamela Campbell is just throwing it out…why, exactly? Because they just happened to have an interest in Hogan’s reputation being ruined even if there’s no evidence to suggest they were behind said ruining?

Throughout the case, the perception has been that Campbell has favored Hogan, sealing any court filings that could make him look bad (like an old magazine photo shoot of him with naked women). This is just the latest and most egregious thing she’s done. Yes, she did limit what can be searched for, but there’s still no actual evidence suggesting Gawker did this. Regardless of how you feel about Gawker or the lawsuit itself over them publishing clips of one of the Hogan sex tapes, this is just not something that should be happening.

Like I said, though: It’s not just this. The whole case is a big deal. As egregious as Gawker’s actions may come off and as strange as their defense (Hogan made graphic depictions of his sex life part of his public persona) may sound, most legal experts who have commented to the media thinks they have the case won. A Hogan-friendly local jury could go against them, but they’d inevitably win an appeal. It’s a fascinating battle over freedom of the press involving arguably the biggest pro wrestling star ever and all sorts of crazy things like sex tapes, FBI stings, and alleged cover-ups.

Jesse Ventura’s defamation lawsuit against Chris Kyle’s estate was a similarly big deal. On its face, it may not be any kind of precedent setting piece of litigation because it’s much more straightforward: Did Chris Kyle lie about Jesse Ventura making comments suggesting he deserved to lose friends in the Iraq war and that he then punched Ventura? A jury (the majority, as agreed to by both sides) agreed that yes, he lied. But it was almost unheard of for a public figure to win that kind of defamation case. The estate is appealing and various media companies are intervening on the claim of unjust enrichment (essentially making money from the lie), which Ventura has spoken out against in interviews. That fight could have huge, long-term legal implications, as well.

In all likelihood, the Hogan-Gawker trial will be even bigger, at least in terms of coverage. It’s so much more tabloidy and salacious, but the consequences of all of the actual legal issues have real world importance.This is bigger than pro wrestling and celebrity gossip.

I know I’ll be watching closely, and I hope you all will be, too.

Coming out of this past Sunday’s WWE Night of Champions pay-per-view event, there was a throughline to the big news stories: Wrestler safety. On the undercard, we saw the latest in the series of recent fan run-ins/attacks on wrestlers, leading to the fan in question getting arrested. In the main event, Sting suffered some kind of neck injury taking a turnbuckle powerbomb from Seth Rollins, and it was bad enough that they quickly went to the finish. On the surface, they’re separate problems, but the safety issue ties them together. WWE already appears to be increasing security to deal with unruly fans, so we’ll set that aside for today.

Sting’s injury gave me a lot of pause about both WWE using older wrestlers (especially in a main event position) and the type of moves they allow. Sting is in fantastic shape for a 56 year old man, but he’s still a 56 year old man. The buckle bomb, as Seth Rollins normally does it, is relatively safe, and it looks that way, too. Just look at how Rob Van Dam took it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCPso908-68

The goal is to come down as parallel to the ring post as possible, the way Van Dam did. Personally, I always thought the move was kind dumb because of how obviously Rollins is trying to protect his opponent. If you want the move to look “good,” you do it the way guys like Ricky Marvin did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2u7oWHdV24

Of course, that’s clearly  many orders of magnitude more dangerous than the way Rollins usually does it. If there’s no real middle ground and the safer version looks ineffectual, why do it in the first place?

Sunday at Night of Champions, Sting hit the turnbuckles much more folded over than Van Dam did in the first example. This type of newer spot that uses the areas of the ring you’r not supposed to bump on require incredible body control and timing ven by pro wrestling standards. If I had to hazard a guess, maybe a 56 year old man who barely wrestles anymore doesn’t have the reflexes to ever take the buckle bomb correctly. That’s nothing against Rollins, and he could very well have done everything on his end correctly, but my gut is that whoever produced the match for them should have nixed that spot. Maybe it was just a miscommunication and Sting could hav taken it safely, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Eo-rpv4gfA

Sting’s injury reminded me of how a couple months ago at Battleground, for whatever reason, the show was full f wrestlers taking bumps on the ring apron. Apron bumps were popularized on the independent scene in the IWS promotion in Quebec where Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn first made a name for themselves. The whole point is that everyone knows it’s legitimately unsafe (again, but relative standards) to bump on the apron because of the lack of give. It’s just a cheap pop, especially when it happens repeatedly on the same card, and Battleground showed a surprising lack of continuity in WWE when it came to limiting those spots. Like with a man nearing his 60s taking a buckle bomb, it’s hard to believe it happened.

Of course, there’s also the question of whether or not someone Sting’s age should even be taking bumps, doing dives etc. I hesitate to say they shouldn’t wrestle at all because you can work a simple, safe match, but Sting being expected to work a 2015 WWE main event style match with modern indie influences was not smart. He’s a beloved legend who still looks really athletic doing his trademark spots and should not have been put in that position when something safer would have sufficed.

After thinking about it for a few days, my gut says WWE needs to b more diligent about cutting guys off and not letting them wrestle past a certain age. Jerry Lawler was, by all appearances, an ageless freak of nature who could wrestle forever until his heart stopped right after a match on Raw. Ricky Steamboat suffered a brain bleed much worse than most fans realized after the 2010 angle where the Nexus attacked him. Hulk Hogan, who has no business taking a bump these days, took one on the floor at WrestleMania, though he may have gone into business for himself on that spot.

And that’s is really part of the problem: You can’t guarantee that they’ll agree to work a restricted style while they’re amped up in the ring. WWE has been pretty careful as of late with how they’ve used older wrestlers, but they’re in a business where they can never be too careful.

On Wednesday, Destination America dropped the bombshell announcement that Ring of Honor will be premiering on the network next week as the lead-in to Impact Wrestling. The news solidified ROH as the #2 national promotion and sent TNA another curveball that can be seen as “not bad news” from the most optimistic viewpoint.

TNA’s rocky relationship with Destination America and the uncertainty of Impact’s future past September was already a developing story with a lot of moving parts. With ROH now in the mix, let’s take a look at what this means for both companies moving forward.

– This is a big win for ROH. They’ve been negotiating with Destination America prior to the decision to drop Impact at the end of the third quarter. TNA moving to Destination America was seen as a step down for the struggling promotion, losing nearly half their TV exposure and working with a partner that soured on the relationship almost immediately. ROH is now available in several new top markets (including New York City and Los Angeles), is a far less expensive show to air than TNA and by all accounts, the people running ROH are far less erratic than Dixie Carter. That said, this is only a test run for ROH and the show is only scheduled to air on Destination America through the end of the year. They don’t have to equal TNA’s viewership to be a worthy replacement.

– The Ring of Honor lead-in could help or hurt TNA. The first impression is that Destination America is already bringing in TNA’s replacement and will use TNA to solidify ROH’s presence on the network. Destination America signed with ROH under the assumption that Impact is getting phased out this year and it’s hard to get around that fact. Alternatively, ROH could also help strengthen TNA’s viewership and establish an appealing block of wrestling action for fans of both companies.

– Ring of Honor’s relationship with WWE could be affected. ROH & WWE are on good terms, with ROH serving as a feeder system for WWE/NXT and WWE understanding the importance of talent development that takes place outside of their corporate umbrella. With ROH now on national TV, WWE could pull back on their willingness to let guys like Samoa Joe work for ROH and could get more aggressive poaching ROH talent to beef up NXT, which will be expanding their touring schedule in 2016.

ROH joining Destination America is not the nail in the coffin for TNA, but TNA’s survival is as uncertain as ever. Their successor just showed up to the party and we are now going to see what happens when their backs are truly against the wall. Facing cancelation for the second time in two years, TNA’s fate might already be sealed – or we could be on the cusp of an exciting new chapter in wrestling history.

Share your feedback below and tell us what show(s) will be airing on Destination America come 2016.

With all the things you can criticize WWE for these days, the company should be commended on doing an excellent job in elevating their secondary championships.

If you flashback to around this time last year, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was virtually ‘on ice,’ only being defended on major pay-per-view events due to the champion at the time — Brock Lesnar — working under a special, limited-date contract.

Now, at the time, you could make sense of it, and even Vince McMahon himself did when asked about the topic during his interview on the short-lived “Steve Austin Show” live WWE Network podcast, as he pointed to the fact that having Lesnar defend the biggest title in the company on an infrequent basis made World Title matches feel that much more important.

Fast forward to the present day, and when it comes to championships in WWE — all systems are “go.”

First and foremost, we finally have a fighting WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Sure, the storyline surrounding Seth Rollins, the current world champion, is that he chickens away from ‘the big fight.’ At the end of the day, however, the bell eventually rings, the referee raises the golden belt up high, and two or more competitors end up vying for the richest prize in all of sports entertainment.

Now, move down one level to the two secondary championships. For the longest time, the WWE United States Championship and the WWE Intercontinental Championship, for all intents and purposes, were viewed as a total joke by the WWE Universe — and rightfully so.

Not anymore.

WWE came up with a great idea heading into WrestleMania 31 this year — put more significance behind their secondary titles. First, slap the U.S. title belt around John Cena’s waist. In a bit of irony, it was Cena who really launched his career off of his first U.S. title run, so in a story-telling fashion, his story comes full circle.

So, basically, WWE decided that now that they want to elevate some new blood into the top spots in the company, they decided to put one of their secondary titles — in this case the U.S. title — on arguably the biggest star in the company today.

On the flip side of the coin, when it comes to the WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE decided to put that belt on the most popular wrestler in terms of the fans — the leader of the “Yes! Movement,” Daniel Bryan.

And that brings us to Monday’s WWE Payback ‘go-home’ edition of RAW.

After being unable to defend his WWE Intercontinental Championship against Bad News Barrett at the recent WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view as originally scheduled, WWE played the waiting game to find out how the latest round of the Daniel Bryan injury-bug would work out. As it turns out, whatever Bryan is going through is serious enough that WWE felt they had no choice but to have him surrender the Intercontinental Title on live television, much like they had him do shortly after he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX last year.

The idea behind his forefitting of the title last night was where the plan regarding secondary titles in WWE remains in tact. The reason given by Bryan, delivered in a passionate way I should add, was that the WWE Universe deserves a fighting champion. A top contender who deserves the right to bust his ass day-in and day-out, city-to-city, state-to-state, country-to-country and even continent-to-continent, all for the right to try and earn what is now once again slowly being viewed as a title of importance. One of value. One worth fighting to obtain.

Where WWE goes next with the Intercontinental Championship in particular remains to be seen in terms of how far they are willing to go to try and elevate the perceived importance of the title.

Basically put, the company can go one of two ways, as I see it. You can follow the mandate that they have been following since this year’s WrestleMania, which is find the most over performer with the fans, give him the I-C title, and try and get the belt over that way, so that in the future, the belt can make the man, as opposed to the current formula, where the man makes the belt.

Their second option is to try and do the opposite. Put the title on an up-and-comer who has the goods to deliver, but just needs something to put him over the edge so he is viewed as a bigger deal than he already is. Names like Neville and Sami Zayn come to mind.

Zayn, depending on his injury, would make a great impact on the main roster by giving U.S. Champion John Cena all he could handle — with an injury no-less, in his first high-profile match on RAW since having his run as NXT Champion in WWE’s developmental system, and then go on to win the next high-profile match he is in and become the brand new WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Keep reading on Page 2 …

The WWE Universe will get its annual dose of extreme this Sunday at Extreme Rules. Every major title is scheduled to be defended, and nearly every match on the card features some sort of stipulation. Here are my predictions for this Sunday’s pay-per-view.

Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (Tag Team Champions) vs. The New Day (Pre-Show Match)

The New Day sucks, plain and simple. They belong on the pre-show, and there’s absolutely no way they capture the titles on Sunday. Kidd and Cesaro continue their run as champions after picking up the victory. I do not think they will do so via pinfall or submission, however. I believe the New Day will be on the verge of defeat, leading to Xavier Woods interfering in the match and the New Day viciously attacking the champs. This would further solidify them as heels, while also starting a face turn for the champions by building fan sympathy.

Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by disqualification

Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper (Chicago Street Fight)

This has the potential to be one of the better matches of the night. Expect the action to sprawl all over the area in something resembling a hardcore match from the Attitude Era, with multiple weapons being utilized along the way. In the end, Ambrose will find a way to win after incapacitating his opponent with Dirty Deeds, hopefully leading to a push where he goes after the Intercontinental Championship now that it appears Daniel Bryan will be on the shelf for a while.

Winner: Dean Ambrose by pinfall

Daniel Bryan (Intercontinental Champion) vs. Bad News Barrett

Bryan is injured and will not be competing on Sunday. That’s basically a guarantee. WWE is essentially engaging in false advertising by not announcing that this match will no longer take place. Expect some sort of backstage segment during the show where Bryan is attacked to write him out of the storyline.

Winner: Match will not take place

On July 8, 2013, The Wyatt Family made their debut on Monday Night Raw. After weeks after perfectly done vignettes, Wyatt and company finally appeared, absolutely destroying Kane in what was easily one of the best main roster debuts in recent memory.

Although fans had seen them in NXT (with Harper & Rowan even winning the NXT Tag Team Championship), there was an air of mystery when it came to the stable. Fans didn’t really know what to expect, Wyatt had a way of captivating audiences, and perhaps more than anything, it was something fresh in a company that was full of stale characters.

Within months, Wyatt was already near the top of the card, entering into a lengthy feud with Daniel Bryan that saw The Wyatt Family establish themselves as undisputed future stars in the the company. Say what you will about the Bryan/Wyatt program (especially regarding Bryan briefly joining Wyatt), but it is hard to deny that he was completely over with the fans, he put on great matches (particularly his match with Bryan at the 2014 Royal Rumble), and he felt important. In short, he was one of the only superstars in the company that fans didn’t want to miss on a weekly basis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23tVe5PiZq0

Fast-forward a year from Wyatt’s epic match with Bryan at the Royal Rumble. The Wyatt Family had recently disbanded, Wyatt himself had just finished a program with Dean Ambrose that was more about shenanigans and trying to fill a void left by an absent WWE World Heavyweight Champion than building either superstar toward something bigger, and all three members of the Wyatt Family were worse off than they were a year prior.

After a relatively uneventful performance in the 2015 Royal Rumble and sitting out Fastlane, Wyatt had a shot at redemption at on the Grandest Stage of Them All by calling out The Undertaker. Leading up to WrestleMania, fans did not see The Undertaker once. Instead, the burden of getting the match over was placed solely on the shoulders of Wyatt.

He did an admirable job, as most can barely get a program over when they have a willing participant on hand to engage with, let alone coming out on a weekly basis and cutting promos when fans know there is no chance of seeing his opponent before the pay-per-view.

It seemed as if they were setting up a “passing of the torch” type of situation. The Undertaker – the man who had relied upon mind games and the supernatural to intimate his opponents for years – was squaring off against Bray Wyatt – a man who has used similar tactics in the past. Wyatt began referring to himself as the “New Face of Fear” leading up to the event, setting up a perfect situation for Wyatt to destroy the hero of old and establish himself as the next generation’s monster heel.

That of course did not happen, and Wyatt has been basically absent from television since, aside from cutting promos where he has still been referring to himself as the “New Face of Fear,” despite the fact that he lost clean to the old face of fear just a few weeks prior.

This begs the question: Where does Wyatt go from here? His character has not really evolved at all since his debut, he lost his stable mates and is now flying solo, and he hasn’t had anything even vaguely resembling a title shot since debuting on the roster. One could argue that he is the type of character who does not need a title to make an impact, but it could also easily be argued that the aforementioned belief is bogus.

Something needs to be done to legitimize Wyatt, because right now he is completely lost in the shuffle. The company clearly has no idea what to do with him, the one chance they had to put him over as the next big heel in the company was botched to put over a 50-year-old superstar who shows up once a year to collect a paycheck, and he has been cutting essentially the same backstage promo on a weekly for several months. The company has a potential goldmine in the form of Wyatt, but they are simply sitting there with a giant thumb up their you know what while they figure out how to mine it.

How do you feel about Bray Wyatt? What needs to be done to establish him as one of the top stars in the company? Discuss the situation in the comments section.

With WrestleMania only a week away, we continue our survey of the best matches in the event’s history by looking at the second decade of action. This was an important and transitional decade for the company, as they started the period relying on superstars such as Bret Hart, Diesel, and Shawn Michaels at the top of the card, while ending it with guys such as Triple H, Brock Lesnar, and of course, Steve Austin.

The content of the product also changed dramatically during this time period, with it starting as a family-friendly product during the “new generation” era, and we all know what went on during the Attitude Era after the company shifted focus due to pressure from rival WCW. With that said, here are the ten best matches from this era. Matches are judged based on workrate, in-ring psychology, pre-match build, and historical significance, and a full video of the match is included with each entry.

10. Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Jericho (WrestleMania 2000)

Despite being billed as the greatest thing since electricity, WrestleMania 2000 was basically a bust. One of the few bright spots was the two-fall triple threat match between Benoit, Angle, and Jericho. The stipulation was unique in that both the Intercontinental and European Championships were on the line, with the first fall deciding the former and the second deciding the latter. Angle would go into the match holding both titles, but would unfortunately walk out with neither. Benoit won the first fall with a diving headbutt and pinning Jericho. Jericho would win the second by delivering a Lionsault and pinning Benoit. It featured fast-paced action with a ton of near-falls, and it told a great story by having Angle lose both of his titles without being pinned or forced to submit.

9. Triple H vs. Chris Jericho (WrestleMania X8)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2d0qox_wwf-wrestlemania-xviii-chris-jericho-vs-hunter-hearst-helmsley_sport

This was the first time Chris Jericho had the opportunity to headline a WrestleMania, and he came into the match aligned with Stephanie McMahon as a heel. It told a great story that featured a thorough build, and eventually ended with The Game winning the Undisputed Championship after hitting the Pedigree.

8. Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania XX)

These guys were three of the best technical wrestlers in the game at the time. The match was entertaining, there were multiple near-falls, and in the end, the title changed hands after Benoit forced Triple H to tap out to the Crippler Crossface. After the match, Benoit’s best friend Eddie Guerrero came to the ring and the two embraced while confetti rained down from the rafters. It’s of course a little bittersweet due to what happened years later, but it is still an emotional moment and a great match nonetheless.

7. The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania X8)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2d0qps_wwf-wrestlemania-xviii-the-rock-vs-hollywood-hogan_sport

This match seems to receive a mixed reaction from a lot of fans. In my opinion, it is one of the most entertaining and unpredictable matches in WrestleMania history, largely due to the crowd reaction. Going into the match, The Rock was the fan favorite while Hogan was booked as the heel. However, the crowd turned on Rock halfway through the match and started to cheer Hogan. The two improvised from there the match ended with Hogan once again turning face and celebrating with The People’s Champion after going down in defeat.

6. Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania XIV)

Following his match with Bret Hart at the previous WrestleMania, Austin was undoubtedly the top dog in the WWE. It wouldn’t be until this night that he would finally capture his first WWE Championship, however. This wasn’t a technical affair by any means, largely due to Michaels wrestling with a severely injured back. With that said, it was still an entertaining contest that featured great in-ring psychology and one of the best builds of any main event in WrestleMania history due to the involvement of Mike Tyson. Austin would of course go on to win the title and start his run as perhaps the most successful superstar in WWE history.

WrestleMania is now only a few weeks away, and to say that the build has been abysmal so far would be a bit of an understatement. Instead of criticizing the company for its incompetence, let’s relive the glory days together.

Over the course of the next week or so, we are going to be looking at the ten best matches from each decade of WrestleMania. Today we start by looking at the first ten WrestleMania events.

10. The British Bulldogs vs. The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) (WrestleMania II)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2cyy4p_wwf-wrestlemania-ii-the-british-bulldogs-vs-the-dream-team_sport

This took place at one of the absolute worst WrestleManias of all-time, and was one of the few (if not the only) highlights of the night. Davey Boy put in most of the work for his team, showcasing his power throughout the contest.

There were multiple near-falls in this contest, with the Bulldog attempting Perfect-Plex that registered a two-count at one point. It appeared The Dream Team had the victory at one point, but Valentine foolishly pulled the Dynamite Kid’s head from the mat, and would lose mere seconds later after having his head smashed into the turnbuckle. Overall, there weren’t a ton of memorable tag matches during the first decade of WrestleMania, but this is definitely a highlight, and one that usually doesn’t get much credit.

9. Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. Rick Martel (WrestleMania VII)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hsfmz_wwf-wrestlemania-vii-jake-roberts-vs-rick-martel_sport

Let me start by saying this match was pretty cheesy. We all knew the two competitors could see each other through the bags they were sporting. With that said, they employed decent in-ring psychology and told a solid story, and it was even unintentionally humorous at times. (I mean how could one not laugh at Martel delivering an elbow to the canvas after The Snake was long gone, or the two running past one another in the most obvious manner?)

Roberts finally tracked down “The Model” and picked up the win after hitting his signature DDT. Most importantly, this was one of the first gimmick matches to be featured at WrestleMania and would lay the groundwork for the next generation, which would deviate away from the traditional wrestling style that had characterized the first six WrestleManias. For that reason alone, I feel that it deserves to be included on the list.

8. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant (WrestleMania III)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1u6x5h_wwf-wrestlemania-iii-hulk-hogan-vs-andre-the-giant_sport

The action in this one was basically garbage. One of the main selling points involved fans hoping to see Hogan slam Andre for the first time, even though he and others had already done so in the past. And on top of that, it was the main event of the biggest show of the year and only lasted a little over ten minutes. Don’t get me wrong, the feud leading into the event was money, but the match itself was rather meh.

Even though the action didn’t live up to the hype, this was the most important match in the company’s history at the time, and one would be hard-pressed to find one since that had more impact. These guys worked a lengthy feud leading into the event and had millions of eyes watching a product that wasn’t even putting on pay-per-view events just a few years prior. Not only did they have millions of eyes watching at home, they also drew a record 93,173 fans to check it out on in person.

Hogan did slam Andre and followed it up with his Leg Drop for the win. The action wasn’t memorable, but without this match, there’s a good chance the WWE would never have become the global juggernaut it is today, so for that reason alone, it has to be included in a list such as this one.

7. Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage (WrestleMania VII)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hsck9_wwf-wrestlemania-vii-randy-savage-vs-the-ultimate-warrior_sport

After Savage lost his title to Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania V, he had tried on numerous occasions to win it back. Hogan passed the torch to Warrior at WrestleMania VI, and the “Macho King” set his sights on the newly crowed champ. After Warrior refused to grant him a title shot (instead granting one to Sergeant Slaughter), Savage interfered in the contest, hitting Warrior with his scepter and costing him the title.

This led to a feud between the two heading into WrestleMania VII, with Savage putting his career on the line. Sensational Sherri accompanied the “Macho King” to the ring but his former girlfriend Miss Elizabeth was also in attendance. After hitting a remarkable five flying elbows drops, Savage was still unable to diminish the power of the Warrior, eventually taking three shoulder block tackles that each sent Savage to the floor. Warrior would stand over the fallen King and pick up the victory, forcing Savage to “retire.”

Some of the most memorable action actually took place following the match, however, as Sherri attacked Savage, leading to a memorable reconciliation between Miss Elizabeth and Savage, with Savage once again becoming a fan favorite after holding the ropes for Elizabeth. Awesome match. Awesome story. Awesome Wrestlemania moment.

6. Bret Hart vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (WrestleMania VIII)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2gs2s7_wwf-wrestlemania-viii-bret-hart-vs-roddy-piper_sport

Widely considered to be one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history, Hart and Piper battled for the Intercontinental Championship back in the days when the title was actually worth a damn.

Hart could make anyone look good, and Piper was an above average worker in his own right, so there was little chance of this contest being anything other than a stone cold classic. It really felt personal too, with stiff action that was a borderline street fight at times. The “Hit Man” bladed during the match and was covered in blood by the end of this brutal affair.

After the referee was driven into the turnbuckle and knocked out for a few minutes, Piper considered using the ring bell as a weapon, but had a change of heart and chose not to. The “Hot Rod” instead attempted to put Hart away with his signature sleeper, but Hart countered the move by propelling himself off of the turnbuckle and countering into one of the most beautiful pinning combinations fans will ever see. Piper embraced Hart and helped him to the back after the contest, earning the respect and admiration of basically everyone in attendance.

As you all know by now, WWE head trainer Bill DeMott “resigned” yesterday amid allegations of abusive, homophobic, and sexist behavior. I won’t go into the specifics, as we’ve covered the situation at great length here already.

What I would like to discuss, however, is the WWE’s culture of hypocrisy. For years now, the company has been affiliated with the Be A STAR campaign – an organization whose goal is to “ensure a positive and equitable social environment for everyone regardless of age, race, religion, or sexual orientation.”

Allegations have been levied against DeMott for years, with superstars apparently being fired for speaking out against the former trainer. It wasn’t until the story went viral this past week that the company took action though. In short, the company did not give a damn about DeMott’s actions; they simply wanted to avoid bad publicity.

To think that DeMott (I’d call him a has-been, but that would imply he was ever something to begin with) held unilateral power and ruled with an iron fist in the WWE is absolutely ludicrous. The higher-ups, including people like Vince McMahon, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon, were likely well aware of these accusations for years, but they simply did not care because they have fostered an abusive and hypocritical work environment.

The situation bears striking resemblance to the Penn State sex abuse scandal a few years back. Although Jerry Sandusky was the one who was guilty of molesting children, the school’s president, athletic director, and even Joe Paterno himself turned a blind eye to the situation in order to avoid bad publicity, instead allowing it to continue with hopes that the victims would not go public with the allegations.

That is not to say or insinuate that DeMott molested children, but he is like Sandusky in that he is the face of the problem, but he does not encompass the problem itself. Instead, it is those who wield actual power within the company who need to be held accountable. Simply letting someone go – likely with a “golden parachute” severance package – does not excuse the bogus investigation and the cover-up that occurred in the first place.

A few things are clear following this situation: 1. The WWE knew of the allegations for years and chose to do absolutely nothing (sorry, there was an unfruitful “investigation”), 2. Anyone who spoke out against DeMott was essentially submitting their resignation letter, and 3. Bill DeMott would still have a job today had major media outlets not picked up this story.

And finally, to anyone who has defended DeMott’s actions by saying something to the effect of, “This generation is too soft” or “Things were done differently back in his day,” all I can really say is that I’m sorry, but you’re delusional. Defending DeMott’s abusive behavior and attempting to justify it with the aforementioned excuses is akin to saying it’s still acceptable to lynch black people because your parents and grandparents did so in the 1950s. The cycle of ignorance needs to be broken somewhere, and I’m glad to see that someone finally stood up to this bully.

The campaign should not end here either. Bill DeMott walking out the door does not mean the culture he epitomizes will be accompanying him. The WWE should not be off the hook for ignoring this situation for years and conducting a phony investigation. One can only hope that more victims speak out about their experiences with the company and those who wield real power are held accountable. DeMott wrestled under the name Hugh Morrus for many years in WCW. Unfortunately, there’s nothing amusing about this situation or the WWE’s abusive, hypocritical culture.

The Road to WrestleMania will become a lot clearer after Sunday’s pay-per-view. Fastlane is available for free to all new WWE Network customers, and even those who previously cancelled their account and re-subscribed, so there’s really no reason to miss out on the action. Here is how I expect the event to play out.

Goldust vs. Stardust

Man, they really should have saved this one for WrestleMania, but I guess there is only room on the card for one tag team breakup storyline, and it looks like that’s going to be Miz and Mizdow. Expect these guys to put on one hell of a match, as they have been lobbying for it for what seems like years. After a solid ten-minute contest with a number of near-falls, Stardust will pick up the win with Cross Rhodes.

Result: Stardust via pinfall

Rusev (United States Champion) vs. John Cena

These guys have done a pretty good of building up this match over the past few weeks, and it genuinely seems like Cena is interested in winning the United States Championship, which is always a plus. It’s almost guaranteed that this feud is going to continue into WrestleMania, so I expect Rusev to pick up the win, but certainly not clean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHA5g_T227k

Lana will become involved at some point, possibly distracting Cena long enough for Rusev to pounce and pick up the win via the deadliest finisher in all of wrestling (the distraction roll-up), or by using the title as a weapon to knock out Cena while the Ravishing Russian distracts the referee. This will set up a rematch at WrestleMania where Cena will most likely go over.

Result: Rusev via pinfall

Nikki Bella (Divas Champion) vs. Paige

Paige is the most popular diva in the entire company by far right now. They are going to want her to capture the title at WrestleMania. Nikki wins with help from her sister before dropping the title to Paige next month.

Result: Nikki Bella via pinfall

Earlier this week, Samoa Joe took to Twitter to deliver a shocking announcement. After nearly ten years as one of the pillars of TNA, Joe announced he would be parting ways with the company, effective immediately. Much like an RKO, the announcement came from out of nowhere.

Since the announcement, there has been speculation that Joe could try his luck with the WWE, as former superstars such as Steve Austin and Mick Foley have publicly stated they believe the company should sign him. However, what role would Samoa Joe play if he and the WWE reach an agreement? Here are five worthwhile feuds for Samoa Joe if the two sides can reach an agreement.

5. Finn Balor

If Samoa Joe does sign with the WWE, he will have to do his best Drake impersonation and start from the bottom, with NXT being the starting point. Finn Balor is currently the number one contender for the NXT Championship, and should be in NXT for at least the rest of the year. With Joe’s agile, submission-based style, and Balor’s high-flying, strong style, the two could mesh well together and provide a nice juxtaposition of styles in an entertaining program.

As the entire northeast freezes under a mountain of snow, the WWE decided to dip down to Orlando in an attempt to heat things up heading into Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view. The show featured eight matches, as well as appearances from Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.

Pros

Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler was pure gold. Before the match, the two engaged in a hilarious back and forth, with Rollins laying down some burnsauce by telling Ziggler: “I know you fancy yourself a comedian but the only thing funny about you is that joke you call a career.” It was also hilarious to hear Ziggler question whether J&J getting him the wrong chocolates ruined his Valentine’s Day. Something tells me his Valentine’s Day was ruined for other reasons… As for the match, it was fast paced, full of spots, and exactly what you’d expect from two of the best workers in the business. Other than the J&J interference and non-finish, this was pretty much perfect on every level. I suspect a match between these two will be added to Fastlane after Smackdown. Here’s to hoping they give these guys 15 minutes and let them tear the house down. Highlight of the night by far.

I enjoyed the Dusty Rhodes backstage segments. The match between the New Day and Gold and Stardust was also nice, as it served as a nice juxtaposition between the brawling opening contest between Ambrose and Harper. Following the match, Stardust attacked his brother and called Dusty a “polka-dotted freak of a father.” I’ll admit, they’ve dragged this out forever and I wasn’t too excited at first, but I’m now getting into it.

Roman Reigns was the man last night. He sounded like a completely different person during his backstage interview before his match with Kane. His calm, confident, and collected demeanor is a stark contrast from the nervous guy we saw out there a few weeks ago talking about beanstalks while stumbing over every other word. His match with Kane was actually decent too, with Reigns winning via countout after hitting a big Spear. Daniel Bryan was on commentary during the match, with he and Reigns playing off of one another very well. It was also humorous to hear Michael Cole state: “Daniel Bryan is trying to steal Roman Reigns’ thunder. Roman Reigns just beat Kane, guys!” That means about as much as beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015.

For a comedy segment, the Paige bit was actually hilarious. The outfit was funny, it actually served some sort of purpose in furthering her feud with Nikki Bella, the fans seemed to be enjoying it, and the match with Summer Rae was good for the time they were given.

The Dean Ambrose “weekend update” promo, where the Lunatic Fringe was parked at a desk looking like a shady used car dealer, was also entertaining. His match with Luke Harper featuring some nice, brawling action and was a good opening contest. JBL’s “we’ve got an air psycho” line had me cracking up, and his plot to force Barrett to sign the contract for Sunday was perfect. Nobody in the midcard deserves the IC Title more than Ambrose, and it looks like he’s going to find a way to capture the gold on Sunday.

Bray Wyatt’s promos are starting to become a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed his work this week. He once again attacked the Undertaker, stating: “You’re an empty shell, and any fear that I once of you has turned into nothing more than putrid, hateful pity.” I can’t wait to see this program.

As we all know, Raw is tonight. By show of hands, how many people are planning to bail before the end of the program? If this question were posed to last week’s viewing audience, over 250,000 hands would be in the air right now. That number represents the number of viewers who tuned in for the first hour but were long gone by hour three, and that’s not even counting the 600,000 viewers from the previous week who called in sick and didn’t show up at all.

Since Raw 1000, the program has been a three-hour fixture on Monday night, even though the company has done little with the additional hour in most cases. In all, the numbers show that it’s time to turn back the clock to Raw 999 and cut back to two hours.

Emma vs. Summer Rae in a dance-off? No thanks!

There are a number of reasons this makes sense. Most importantly, this roster is as thin as a two-dollar blanket right now. Take last week’s show, for instance. The company bookended the show with the nearly identical matches – neither of which was particularly memorable. By the end of the first hour, the crowd had already seen every participant in the main event compete in a match (aside from J&J, but they interfered in the Rollins/Ryback match). And please don’t get me started on how many times we’ve seen the Usos battle Miz and Mizdow over the past few months.

It would be a massive understatement to say that the shows have lacked direction in recent months too. I went back and watched a few episodes of Raw from 2012, right before Raw was permanently extended to three hours. Mind you, this was during the dreadful John Cena/Kane “embrace the hate” program, and even those shows featured more direction than the current product.

If the past is any indication, expect to see The Authority opening tonight’s episode of Raw.

By putting less stress on the writers and limiting exposure, they were able to establish a conflict (Kane attempting to terrorize Zack Ryder/John Cena), provide a climax near the middle of the show (Cena kissing Eve while Ryder hilariously looked on), and finally a resolution in the form of a catastrophe (Kane launching Ryder off of the stage).

They were able to build around this central storyline by sprinkling in five matches and a few entertaining segments that highlighted other members of the roster, ultimately creating a neat two hours of wrestling (or sports entertainment, whichever term you prefer). In recent weeks, the program has been an absolute mess, with the typical structure usually as follows:

The Authority starts the program by cutting the same boring 20-minute promo they cut every week and setting up a main event involving Kane and/or Big Show. Next is a match that they say will start after the break, usually trying to invoke some sense of suspense as to which superstars will be involved, but the roster is so thin that we know it will be Seth Rollins or an over-the-hill Authority goon competing against either Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Ryback or Roman Reigns – usually ending in a non-finish. We next get a sagging middle with “comedy” matches and backstage segments that rarely go anywhere. Paul Heyman is sent out somewhere near the middle to try to save the crowd. A few more filler matches typically come next, and finally a tag match to end the show, which also usually ends in a non-finish. Eat. Sleep. Lose A Quarter Million Viewers. Repeat.

Even with the help of Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, Raw lost over a quarter of a million viewers by the end of last week’s program.

The overexposure is killing everyone involved in the process, including talent, announcers, and even the fans, hence the reason they aren’t sticking around for the full three hours. I get that the company is trying to appease shareholders, and increased ad revenue is one of the easiest ways to do so, but in the end, they are doing long-term damage in exchange for short-term ad revenue.

This is also not to say that a wrestling promotion can’t put on an entertaining three-hour program. It is simply stating that this wrestling promotion has proven they are incapable of doing so. There are a lot of problems with the current product, from hotshotting anything that is remotely popular to underutilizing some of the company’s best talent to even dragging out storylines fans are disinterested in. However, the biggest problem with Raw, and perhaps the company as a whole, can be summed up in one word: overexposure.

How would you feel about Raw going back to two hours? Do you think it would improve the product? Voice your opinion in the comments section.