Hello, Inside Pulse, and welcome back to another edition of Douces Wild!! Sadly, this is my first post since late November…..maybe early December…….since I decided to take an extended vacation away from writing for the holidays and such. I didn’t even post anything during Rumble season because I was just looking forward to getting to Mania season where I felt I would have more things to talk about. And my have the past few months given me a good amount of material to discuss!!! So, let’s get down to business!!
2016 Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble, which occurred a week ago as of this writing, was the first WWE PPV I have watched in full since Summerslam. I watched a little bit of Night of Champions the month before (mostly Rollins vs Brock), I watched the main event of Battleground (Rollins vs Sting) but I did not watch Hell in a Cell, Survivor Series, or TLC. I think I had to work on the night of Hell in a Cell but Survivor Series and TLC did NOTHING to draw me in and watch them, even if I was off! Survivor Series, by all accounts, sucked while TLC was better but the booking to the show was pretty atrocious and didn’t really draw me in. After that time period, Roman Reigns defeated Sheamus for the WWE Title on the following night on RAW, Reigns wiped out Triple H at Survivor Series, Vince McMahon returned on that night and Roman actually got face pops from the crowd!! So, for all intents and purposes, the WWE appeared to be doing something right with Roman Reigns. And no, it wasn’t giving him massive amounts of overbooking to keep him strong, having him run through the League of Nations over and over again, and it wasn’t hyping him up as the greatest thing since sliced bread…….it was having him face somebody who the fans hated and he actually got cheers! Sheamus is just DONE as being any kind of a relevant threat in the WWE and fans hate this guy……..Triple H is one of the most hated wrestlers in wrestling history……by having Roman target these two guys finally drew some positive reactions from the crowd. I thought it was a shrewd move by the WWE to book Reigns beating Sheamus for the title on RAW in Philadelphia…….the site of where Roman got booed out of the arena just 12 months earlier…….and having that very harsh Philly crowd cheer for Roman probably gave Vince a stiffy. So, this pretty much allowed Vince to go ahead with the very predictable Roman/HHH Wrestlemania match with the only real question being whether or not this was going to be for the WWE Title or not.
So that brought us to the Royal Rumble……one vs all……with Roman defending the WWE Title in the Royal Rumble and having to go from #1 to win it all to just retain the title. The idea was very intriguing but it also left itself open to criticism from fans that believe that it was just ANOTHER booking crutch for Reigns to make him look good, which I can understand. I mean, having Roman survive 29 other guys and retain the title is quite the booking crutch needed to get this guy over but the WWE thought it was ok since Roman was getting a decent amount of face pops leading up to the show so they felt justified in doing this, despite the fact that Roman wasn’t really setting the world on fire when it comes to ratings and merchandise sales. I also liked the idea that every match on the card was going to be a title match because it finally made everything seem important and not like throwaway filler whatsoever…….thankfully, the throwaway filler was left on the Pre-Show where it belonged. So, let’s run through the card. Dean Ambrose/Kevin Owens in the Last Man Standing Match for the IC Title was a great match but I don’t necessarily believe it’s the MOTYC that everybody makes it out to be. I loved the character dynamics, I loved Owens as this asshole heel that he can play so well, the table bumps were great, the chair shots were great and my favorite part about the entire match: this is a match that is taking place for the INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE!!! This is probably the most important the IC Title has looked in a LOOOOONG time, even moreso than when Daniel Bryan won it but had to instantly vacate it. The fact that these two were killing each other and themselves because they hate each other and because they want that belt really hammered home my enjoyment of the match!! There were a few little things wrong with the match (although they are mostly problems that hamper most WWE hardcore matches or LMS matches these days anyway) and I honestly felt that Owens winning would have been the better call because A) I think he has a brighter future as IC Champ than Ambrose and B) probably would have made those final few moments in the Rumble even MORE interesting but for the most part, I found it to be very enjoyable and the best Owens/Ambrose match ever.
New Day/Usos for the WWE Tag Team Titles was a solid match but it also kind of shows the one major problem WWE has with their tag team division: the New Day is the most over team they have. Sure, the Dudleyz get pops but they are just a nostalgia act, the New Day is fine but nothing amazing, Lucha Dragons are on hiatus…….there’s really nobody else that can supplant the New Day as the top tag team in the company and to me, without that top face team for New Day to work with and garner support, we just continue to get countless New Day overload (imagine Edge and Christian but they spent the entire year of 2000 feuding with the Hollys and Too Cool instead of the Hardyz and the Dudleyz). However, there is one thing that I must point out: as much as I love Big E in his role in the New Day…..I think he is being wasted as a top player and it also showed how much the WWE fucked up with this guy just a few years ago. What I’m saying: when the New Day experiment is over, push Big E as a top prospect again. Alberto Del Rio/Kalisto for the US Title was sloppy but solid nonetheless. There were moments of greatness and moments of sloppiness…..you’d think that after wrestling each other as many times as they have over the past few months that they’d cut out the sloppiness by this point. Plus, I think it also shows the US Title is back to being just another title after Cena spent all of 2015 legitimizing it…….showing that unless John Cena has a title, the title doesn’t mean shit. Kalisto winning was the best moment because I thought ADR was holding that thing until Mania but I was wrong…….it also makes you wonder if they are building towards Kalisto/Sin Cara for Mania as well, which could be interesting.
Charlotte/Becky Lynch for the Divas Title was the most surprising match of the night for me because I don’t watch a lot of NXT (there is a reason, I’m starting from the beginning) so I haven’t gotten to the Divas portion of it. However, I think what surprised me the most (which isn’t a surprise now, given where this show was) was how into this match the crowd was. Becky got a lot of face pops, Charlotte got a lot of boos, I enjoyed the match……it was really moving along quite nicely. In fact, the worst part of the match for me was, and I hate saying this, RIC FLAIR!! Flair smooching Becky and then throwing his jacket on her were the worst moments of the entire match but I do like Charlotte cheating to retain her title and I think this heel turn was EXACTLY what she needed. Oh and I love Becky……she might be my favorite Diva on the roster in terms of wrestling ability and just looks. Sasha Banks making her return was really a great moment because it shows that she isn’t a good girl or a bad girl……she just wants the title and will take anyone out if necessary. That’s why she attacked Becky to appear to join forces with Charlotte only to sucker her into a false sense of security and stake her claim to the belt. So no, Sasha didn’t “turn heel then turn face”, she just showed that she wants the title, she is strictly neutral and she will take out Becky Lynch and Charlotte to get that belt. However, my least favorite part of that segment: Becky sitting next to the announce table crying and the WWE not even doing a close up shot or cutting to her whatsoever……I get that Sasha is the top challenger now but that was a powerful moment that the WWE missed out on…….and that will not be the last time that I have a beef with Kevin Dunn and his fucking crackerjack camera shots on this night. Up to this point, the pace of the show was really top notch. There was barely any bullshit, all of the undercard matches got at least 10 minutes of time to tell their stories and honestly, it was time for the main event.
30 Man Royal Rumble for the WWE Title might be the best Rumble since 2010. The Orlando crowd just SHITTING on Roman Reigns during his entrance was great stuff but here is my problem: it seems like the WWE wants to acknowledge it in the same way they do with Cena…..in that it’s just the fans being the fans but we’re still pushing him on top…..go fuck yourselves. Rusev being #2 and getting thrown out in a minute was depressing……it goes to show that yes, Vince holds grudges and takes things personally. Talk about a massive drop from one year prior when this man entered Wrestlemania ON A FUCKING TANK and now gets tossed out of the Rumble like he was fucking nothing. Then we go to #3……..THE WWE DEBUT OF AJ STYLES!!!! When the music started, I didn’t know who it was and neither did my friends I was watching with……..although I found out that if the WWE would have not been focused solely on Roman Reigns and focused more on the entrance way, we would have found out who it was looking at the video package. Sure when the crowd popped, I still wasn’t sure until we finally cut to the entrance ramp and there he was…….AJ Styles making his WWE debut and treated like a fucking STAR!! No matter how much the WWE focused the camera on THEIR star, the man who we’re not getting to look at was the REAL star……..which shows just how childish this company is and why I believe that little fuck head Kevin Dunn needs to be fired. AJ was awesome on this night and quite honestly, the people complaining about AJ not tossing out guy after guy in the Rumble are apart of the instant gratification era of wrestling that is completely destroying it. AJ had a fantastic performance WITHOUT having to throw guys out, it wasn’t forced whatsoever (plus, it fits with this new guy coming into his first Rumble and not necessarily knowing what to do) and AJ was still the most over guy in the match without the WWE having to force it on us. To me, AJ’s low key performance worked because it allowed fans to enjoy it for what it was and it also allowed fans to not get to pissed off when he got tossed out.
I thought AJ getting tossed out when he did was a little early……..I have ZERO problems with who, in fact, did toss him out and that was Kevin Owens…….a guy who NEEDED a big moment like that and got the right amount of heel heat for doing so. This was followed up with Sami Zayn’s epic debut in the Rumble and tossing Owens out in another fantastic moment that fans enjoyed…..that little stretch might have been my favorite of the whole Rumble. Kofi’s near miss elimination sequence was fun and funny but it sucks that the “awesome” WWE production team missed his elimination because ROMAN REIGNS IS THE STAR, FOCUS ON HIM AT ALL TIMES!!!! Braun Strowman got to be a bad ass by tossing both Kane AND Big Show, so that was kind of cool. Ryback came out to ZERO heat and the only thing he has going for him at this point is the “Feed Me More” chants but outside of that, that guy is cooked as any kind of a serious threat or an interesting character. I think I was also surprised that outside of AJ and Zayn, we didn’t get a lot of surprise entrants in the Rumble whatsoever and no real returns but you know what……I’m kind of glad. It shows that the WWE just wanted their core group of guys (and AJ) to fight for the WWE Title. No legends whatsoever and while the Legends thing has been fun over the years, I don’t think it is a necessity nor should they do it all the time. Just remember, people, Kevin Nash got a nostalgia run in the Rumble in 2011 that led to him getting rehired and killing CM Punk’s “Summer of Punk” angle…..sometimes, it’s better if we didn’t have these guys come back all the time. Oh and Chris Jericho’s Iron Man performance was pretty good…….I get why people would have preferred AJ doing it over Jericho (as would I)…….BUT…….I prefer having Owens throw AJ out and if AJ lasts longer to where Jericho was, that leaves him open to a Triple H or Reigns tossing and THAT would have gone well with the crowd, I’m sure.
I guess I should mention that around this time, this was when the League of Nations pulled Roman out of the ring and assaulted him on the floor. I instantly got flashbacks to the ’99 Rumble (the one where Austin had the bounty on his head……only to taken out of half the match, meaning the bounty was pointless) and I also thought how fucking stupid it was for them to splash Roman through a table……and not just throw him back in and toss Roman out. I mean, I get WHY they didn’t do that but let’s be honest: if Vince’s sole mission is to get that belt off of Roman Reigns, then throw him out! Instead, it was a cheap attempt at trying to garner Reigns some sympathy (the worst part about it was during the assault, we missed Kofi’s great elimination) and it was one that the fans didn’t buy for shit because we all knew what was happening. However, it also a massive missed opportunity on the part of the WWE and let me tell you why. I know that fans didn’t want Roman to survive all 29 other guys and win the Rumble or last all the way to the end…….but at least it would have made more sense with the story and probably would have had me sympathize with Reigns just a little bit more. I mean this guy goes an hour in this match only to have it taken away from him in the blink of an eye by a guy who’s only been in the match less than 10 minutes…….it’s a very heartfelt moment and while it probably wouldn’t have changed the reaction that Roman got, at least it’s the company TRYING to get this guy over. Instead…….you have the League of Pussies take him out of the match for a good 25 minutes, Roman runs out fresh as a daisy and fans are supposed to buy it as this “COURAGEOUS COMEBACK” when, in reality, they saw through the bullshit. Austin in ’99 got away with it because he was Austin and fans desperately wanted to see Austin come back, Reigns ain’t getting away with it in 2016 when the fans are heavily mixed on this guy. It also sucks that Roman didn’t even bother to sell it!! Ambrose and Owens sold their injuries from earlier in the night……yet Roman runs out there like he just went into the back, chilled out, took a nap, had a beer and he’s good to go…….how can I, as a fan, buy into this storyline if this guy is not even going to sell it?
I felt no sympathy for him when he got tossed out, ZERO! Because he didn’t earn this, he didn’t earn this spot…….he didn’t earn that sympathy. Watching Roman and Triple H battle at the end was not the colossal battle that the WWE wanted it to be, Reigns is no better than Triple H because Triple H has only been in the match about 10 minutes and Reigns probably was in the match for about 20……meanwhile, you got Jericho, Owens and Ambrose all were far more sympathetic than Roman Reigns was. That’s the problem with this company: their micro-managing is so bad that they try to micro-manage face sympathy for Roman and it got spit right back into their faces by the fans. Going back to the Rumble, I did love the Wyatt Family dominating the Rumble during that long stretch and I think it did a great job of making them look like a threat…….but I also hate that because THIS TEAM SHOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN A FUCKING THREAT TO BEGIN WITH!!! I mean, these guys all got their asses kicked by Taker and Kane back at Survivor Series but then they come out here and dominate the Rumble……Adam Sandler had the correct response for this in The Wedding Singer in regards to Cindy and Scott being newlyweds……
Anyway, Brock coming out and wrecking house was great and the Wyatts eliminating him was great stuff as well. I have no problem with Brock not winning the Rumble (even though he was my pick), I have no problem with Brock vs Bray at Mania (although I do because that means Bray would have lost to Cena, Taker and Brock in three straight Wrestlemanias) but I DO have a problem with Brock just casually walking off after his elimination instead of just destroying motherfuckers afterwards…….I guess the WWE didn’t pay him enough to do that. Plus, maybe they should have had him last towards the end to at least TEASE the notion of him winning but, let’s remember, the WWE didn’t want Brock anywhere near the end so that they could tell THEIR story. Then we got Triple H returning and getting a great face pop…….I hoped it was going to be Bryan but then my buddy said “No way” and then HHH’s music hits…….shut me the fuck up, I guess. Anyway, we got the big Triple H/Reigns and……..sorry but I fell asleep because I could give two shits about these two fighting at this point. I just don’t care: I don’t care about Roman, I don’t care about Triple H and the worst part about it was that Triple H had an interaction with Dean Ambrose AND Bray Wyatt…….both were FAR MORE INTERESTING interactions than the one he had with Reigns. The scene of Bray and HHH doing battle and Bray almost hitting Sister Abigail on HHH was a great sight to see and the finale between Triple H and Dean is wrestling done right when you have a hated heel and a babyface THAT PEOPLE LIKE doing battle! That’s the problem: I’d rather see Triple H defend the belt against Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania or against Dean Ambrose at Wrestlemania…….instead, we’re getting Roman Reigns…….AGAIN!! I immediately got up with my buddy and we went out to smoke right when Dean’s feet hit the floor because I knew what was coming……and I hated it. The overall match was very good…….this isn’t the greatest Royal Rumble ever but it’s the best one in the past few years, it did a great job of actually setting up potential matches for Wrestlemania, had some great moments and was fun for most of it. It’s just the ending, the arc of Reigns and where they are going with the story that I loathe and honestly that hurts it for me. So, I’ll give the show a Thumbs Up.
Wrestlemania Thoughts
So, at Fastlane, we have Reigns/Ambrose/Brock to determine the #1 Contender for the title at Wrestlemania. People are complaining because the match is predictable and in essence, it is. We know the Wyatt Family will interfere to set up Brock vs Bray and we know that the WWE wants Reigns vs HHH at Mania. That just leaves Ambrose as the wild card and probably the guy who will eat the pin for Reigns to win. To me, what sucks about Ambrose being in this match is the fact that he’s still the IC Champion……if he loses the IC Title before this show, that will create a great amount of suspense (hence why he should have lost to Owens at the Rumble) and wouldn’t it just be a great story if Ambrose wins here at Fastlane, beats HHH at Mania and Reigns turns heel on Ambrose for stealing his revenge and Wrestlemania moment??? That way, Reigns becomes a more interesting character, Ambrose is the sympathetic babyface because both of his Shield buddies have now turned their backs on him (making him even more dangerous) and that also leaves the door open for Rollins to come back and feud with HHH when he gets healthy. Instead, we are getting Reigns/HHH at Mania whether we like it or not and I am entitled to hate it as I see fit. I think the match will be good but who cares at this point? There is nothing this company can do to make me want to see HHH vs Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania in the main event for the WWE Title, there just isn’t!!! Ambrose is the wild card but I don’t think they are going to shoehorn him into the match this time like they did with Bryan at Wrestlemania 30…….I just don’t think they will. It makes all the perfect sense in the world to do so but that we mean retconning all of those “precious” months of “amazing storytelling” this company has been doing with Roman Reigns over the past few months: all the battles with the League of Jackasses, Vince McMahon, Stephanie, assaults on Triple H and so forth and in their mind, that is the selling point.
I think this is where the fans need to fucking speak up and act if they don’t want to see this fucking match. Stop buying Roman’s merchandise, don’t watch RAW, turn this guy into a ratings killer, turn off the show before the main event of Mania……just don’t watch! We know the outcome……..it’s a lose-lose situation. There is no MITB winner to spice things up……it’s just going to be Triple H vs Roman Reigns for the title and Reigns will get his moment and win at Wrestlemania 32, whether we like it or not. Like for me to even be somewhat invested at all in this thing is something major has to happen at this show……..I’m talking Cena turns heel to save Triple H or Taker turning heel to save Triple H or Seth Rollins magically comes back healthy and costs Triple H the title or something. Ambrose turning heel and costing Roman the title doesn’t do much for me because now, they have nobody to beat Triple H for the title until at least Seth comes back and that means Ambrose will feud with Roman in a feud that fans are just going to hate because Ambrose is going to be the loser in the end. I’m not going to make any major judgment calls yet but as of this moment, I have no interest in seeing this match. Another match that is taking place will most likely be Brock Lesnar vs Bray Wyatt. The idea of the match is great and this combination intrigues me………it’s the result of the match that I hate. Brock Lesnar is probably going to win, meaning Bray would have failed to beat Cena, Taker and now Brock at three straight Wrestlemanias in matches that he clearly should have won. I just think it’s sacrificing Wyatt, once again, to another top star……..when he faces the rest of the roster, he’s a beast and wins a lot but when he faces the top stars, he’s Tito Santana. Like I said, I’d much rather watch Bray fight Triple H than Brock and I would rather have Bray defeat Brock but that’s obviously not happening. For someone who is supposed to be this Reality Era version of the Undertaker…….they sure do treat Bray Wyatt like a fucking choker.
The third rumored match is now Undertaker vs Braun Strowman in a match that we should have seen coming but it still doesn’t make us excited to see it whatsoever. I get why they are doing it but really? Is this Taker’s final match? Is his final match going to be fighting Braun Strowman? I get that Sting’s injured and probably done……I get that John Cena is injured…….but they couldn’t have found someone else to fight this man on what could be his final Wrestlemania ever?? Sure, if Taker wins, then he goes out on top by beating somebody the fans really have no emotional connection to because I know the WWE wouldn’t be stupid enough to put Strowman over Taker…….if it was Bray instead, I’d want Bray to win (like he should have the year before) but not Strowman……I see nothing for Strowman to gain long term from beating Taker. The Rock will be at the show in some form and quite honestly……..I don’t care. Think about it: it’s 2016 and the three most featured guys at Wrestlemania are The Rock, The Undertaker and Triple H…..who is currently WWE champion. These three were three of the most featured guys on the show back at Wrestlemania 17……that was 15 years ago. I get it……these guys are STARS and they popped this week’s RAW rating but at the end of the day…….I could give two flying fucks about these guys at this point. They are no longer exciting to me: Rock is just there to garner pops, get some exposure and leave, Taker does the same thing and Triple H is just there as a plot device to get Roman Reigns over but he also got to win the WWE Title once again. I mean……you have all of these amazing possibilities in the mid-card to make this show a must-watch show and I get it……everybody will say “Well…..what about the casual fans? They know Rock, Taker and HHH……thus they are bigger stars!!” Here’s the thing: I could give two shits about those kinds of casual fans because they are the ones who would turn their backs on the product in the blink of an eye…….why sell your product to only fly-by-night fans instead of the ones who will stay there and support your product? It’s like AC/DC coming out with a rap album to appeal to the younger audience and to the majority of people nowadays instead of sticking to what they know and to the fans that support them and support their type of music.
Is bringing Rock, Triple H and Taker back a good move financially? Yes. But what’s gonna happen when Rock can’t come back? When Taker can’t come back? What then? What if Wrestlemania 33 comes around and Rock can’t come back because he’s shooting a movie? What if Taker can’t come because he’s enjoying his time off. Plus……what would those two do anyway? Come in, make an appearance, pop the crowd and that’s it? Yet the WWE would build the entire show around them because they are the real stars while these stupid new guys on the roster are just the guys filling the cards. They need to get away from this line of booking but the fact that they have to fill a 100,000 seat stadium at Mania this year means that they just can’t and I think that the WWE’s massive amount of ambition is biting them in the ass. Stone Cold might show up, but I don’t care…….he’s not wrestling, he’s just coming out to get pops…..cool. Hogan might come back next year……..don’t care, just there to get pops. And that’s my biggest problem: these guys literally come back, do nothing and the WWE markets the entire show around these guys because they can’t build any new stars of their own! People always use the excuse of “Well……the casual fans care about them and don’t care about these guys” but why can’t this company let casual fans care about the guys on their roster now? I get it: we live in a society dominated by looks and that’s how the WWE has been for so long……..it doesn’t matter how great you are in the ring, it’s your look that matters and that’s what the fans have been conditioned to believe. I’m just saying that once this bullshit Attitude Era bloom falls of the rose and the Rock, Austin, HHH, Taker and Hogan finally don’t start moving numbers the way they do, this company will be in deep shit because they forgot to make their mid-card important because Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn don’t like how some guys look in the camera (I’ve seen Kevin Dunn in photos……that man is literally nothing more than a jealous prick who uses his power to take it out on people who are better looking than him).
Injuries
The final topic is the massive amount of injuries that have assaulted this company and to me, THIS is a major worry. Rollins, Orton & Cena will NOT be wrestling at Wrestlemania (although, the jury is still out on Cena because nothing surprises me anymore about that guy)……they also have lost Nikki Bella, Cesaro & Tyson Kidd for an extended period of time and 3/4s of the League of Dumbasses (ADR, Sheamus & Barrett) are all injured while Rusev spent most of 2015 injured!! Hell, we don’t even know what the holy fuck Daniel Bryan will be doing because he’s been cleared…..yet he hasn’t been cleared……yet they keep reporting he’s been cleared and so on (if I missed anybody else, please let me know in the comments). So what’s the problem? Simple: the WWE wrestlers of today’s age wrestle a style that is just too much for the human body to take during the WWE’s long traveling schedule. This isn’t the 1980’s anymore where guys literally just had to kick, punch, and use chin locks in 20 minute matches to get by…….now fans want high flying maneuvers, constant dives, constant table bumps, constant high impact moves…….this shit takes a toll on these guys. I will say that I’m glad that it’s not neck injuries or concussions…….it’s just shoulder and knee injuries but those take people out for extended periods of time. I understand the argument of this company not wanting to take an extended off-season…….I agree with that 100% because it would pretty much be a major discredit to their business, it would kill their ratings, it would kill their house shows and so forth.
However, what they could do is implement three months of time off to different groups of wrestlers throughout the year (go watch Wrestling With Wregret on Youtube for a great scenario of how this plays out……it’s my favorite suggestion to this time off argument and I think it is fair, balanced and does everybody a great service), cut back on some house shows, cut back the number of PPVs, cut out shows like Main Event & Superstars (who would really care if these shows were gone?) and so forth. To me, I think the only one stopping this from happening is Vince McMahon and we know why. Vince does not take time off from his job, Vince rarely sleeps and he expects the same from his talent…….Stephanie McMahon has a very similar lifestyle. However, just because the McMahons are freaks of nature doesn’t mean the wrestlers should be as well…….it isn’t Vince and Stephanie out there killing themselves every night to entertain the crowd. Vince is a guy who definitely needs to just take a vacation or something to let Triple H run the company for a little bit but I know why he doesn’t……..it’s because he doesn’t trust anybody but himself to run this company until he’s dead. Vince is probably the company’s biggest asset and its greatest detriment……..Vince making all the decisions was once a great thing but now, it’s a horrible idea. I’ve heard that the writing team doesn’t actually suck whatsoever………it’s just that Vince forces numerous re-writes that their scripts and stories don’t even resemble what the hell their original intentions were once they first started. Hell, the WWE could have had a fantastic angle or storyline on their hands but Vince didn’t agree with it, had it re-written and we got shit instead. But even something like rotating the writers around would do the company a world of good or rotating announcers every once in a while would be great!
I get it that Vince is a cranky old son of a bitch but so was Al Davis…..and he made things worse in Oakland until the day he died because of his stubbornness. And I’m sure that HHH and Stephanie see this and probably want what’s best for the wrestlers…….if anything, I get the sense that HHH and Stephanie want to be presented as the good parents while Vince is the mean old grandpa who ruins everything but still has the key to the castle. But what I find really depressing is that for as much of a lover of family values that Vince is……he sure is screwing these wrestlers out of spending quality time with their families. I mean, look at December for instance……it is usually the worst month for the WWE because no one gives two fucks about wrestling during the holidays. Why not just send these guys home for two weeks during the holidays to be with their families and then come back refreshed for the new year? Sure, we miss out on a December PPV and two episodes of RAW…….so what? Just make up for it on the WWE Network by showing old RAWs or TV specials or something? I am 100% certain that if the WWE did not run house shows, RAW, Smackdown or a PPV for two weeks in the month of December to give everybody time off to go spend Christmas with their families that this company would just up and die and they wouldn’t take that massive of a hit in revenue (you still have the Network, DVD sales, merchandise sales, Christmas deals, video games and so forth…….this isn’t the age where the company lives and dies on house shows and ratings alone anymore and don’t let anyone tell you different). All I’m saying to the WWE is this: it doesn’t hurt to give your guys some fucking time off so they can go spend time with their families, rest up and heal up injuries. Less people would end up injured, the product would become less stale, fans would be more excited with the product and it would just be a much better all-around product…….but again, that’s not going to happen.
So that marks the end of this edition of Douces Wild!! I will be back with my next column as I take a look at Wrestlemania 28, a show I watched just a few weeks ago and I wanted to give my thoughts on it…….does this show still hold up almost 4 years later, considering it’s the most financially successful Mania ever…….or is it one of the most over-hyped and disappointing Manias of all-time? Tune in next time to find out!
