Hello, Inside Pulse, I’m back! Things have been busy for me. I’m moving in a few days, I just got done with school and a lot of other stuff. So I wanted to pop in and provide my thoughts on things.
Payback: Quite frankly, I’m not happy with this card. Half of the card is rematches from Extreme Rules. Sheamus & Dolph again. Neville and Barrett……again. Cesaro & Kidd/New Day……again (although, to be fair, they are going with a new match stipulation so that makes sense). Cena/Rusev……AGAIN! The Fatal 4 Way feels like a throwaway match because the entire match is not focused on the four men vying for the WWE Title……it’s on KANE!! The whole purpose of the match is not about the belt around Seth Rollins’ waste but whether or not Kane will turn face or not. Cena/Rusev is an I Quit……a match that John Cena has never lost and, quite frankly, will never lose clean. The only way Cena can lose is by introducing Lana into the match and they pull a Flair/Foley/Melina from Summerslam 2006 where Cena quits to save Lana. However, I find that to be highly unlikely to happen. Ryback/Wyatt doesn’t seem that great due to lackluster build up but it might surprise. At the end of the day, this could be nothing more than a forgettable PPV and I agree with the WWE in making the month of May free, meaning this PPV is free (for new subscribers though).
Classic Content: On the news that the classic content isn’t doing so well and that the new content is doing much better, this is a double edged sword. On the one hand, people are usually going to go after new stuff, especially if the WWE shills it as much as they do. On the other, the WWE doesn’t put out enough new classic content, meaning fans are stuck watching the same classic content over and over again, meaning they’ve gotten tired of it. What they need to do is to call a spade to spade: release some new content but every now and then, release some older content. The idea of holding classic content back is stupid, there are still going to be people who are going to want those ’98 Nitros and those ’99 RAWs and so on.
Injuries: As we’ve seen, a bunch of former Indy stars have been bitten by the injury bug. Hideo Itami is out for most of the year with a shoulder injury. Sami Zayn is also out with a shoulder injury. Daniel Bryan’s career might be over. Quite frankly, it’s to be expected. These men have gone from working their own schedules to working the demanding and grueling schedule of the WWE. Plus, none of these guys are spring chickens (all are 30+ years old) and now people are coming out of the woodwork in commenting on how these Indy stars can’t hang in the WWE. While that may be true in some sense, it also shows off that the WWE’s schedule is just too much at this point. Many have been calling for an offseason for years yet the WWE won’t do it (even though now would be a great time to do one…….the few months after Wrestlemania heading into the summer). Quite frankly, this is probably going to continue to happen……and sadly, this will begin to make the WWE think less of these guys.
Elimination Chamber: I HATE the idea of a Chamber PPV two weeks after Payback. It’s just there to pop a Network boost. Now, if it’s being contested by the mid-carders for, say, the vacant IC Title…….that’s a fresh idea instead of it being for the WWE Title or something.
That’s all I’ve got for now. It’s nothing special but I’ll be busting out better columns once I’ve moved and once there’s more meaty stuff to talk about. Stay classy, Inside Pulse AND MAKE YOUR PAYBACK PREDICTIONS!!!!
