by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwin”It’s all about the Game, and how you play it, all about control, and if you can take it!” growls the gravely tones of the late Lemmy Kilmeister during the opening of Triple H’s iconic entrance music. It’s synonymous with the Cerebral Assasin and never have the lyrics of a wrestler’s entrance been so appropriate to the superstar themselves! The man is a decorated veteran of the ring, and one of the most iconic men in the company today. His music still elicits that response from a crowd of “Oh wow, something huge is about to happen!” and more often than not, something big happens. It’s just that, well, recently Triple H appears to be more interested in The Game than in promoting the younger talent he’s got at his disposal. Now, I understand that the match against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania was extremely good storytelling, and yes of course the right man won, but recently, this seems to be a minority case. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (or Paul Leveque depending on who you ask) is approaching 50 years of age, and though he is in possibly the best shape of his life some would argue, the amount he can perform in the ring is limited by that age. Yes I agree he has never been the most mobile in the ring or indeed the most exciting to watch, it always been more about the gravitas of the character in truth, but at 50 years old, a lot of people are finding themselves asking now, when is it enough? Take this year’s Survivor Series (2017) as an example. In the main event of this PPV, which was already beautifully saturated with storylines, we came away from it feeling confused and slightly cheated. It is no secret that of the 10 men in the main event, the average age of the contingent was 40.6 and the youngest man in the match was 34 years old. But that’s not the problem, the problem is that Triple H was a sole survivor from the RAW team, a team that included Finn Balor and Samoa Joe, almost single handedly setting up three WrestleMania matches for himself! Don’t get me wrong, he did put over Braun Strowman, but the fact that he was still there at the end, effectively making it all about him really ground my gears. It didn’t need to happen. On the 8th of December, the WWE performed another live date in India, a market they have been trying to crack for months via a shoddy title run from Canadian Jinder Mahal. The main event of this show? Triple H vs. Jinder Mahal. Okay, there’s nothing wrong with that - after all, the WWE will want to continue to build Jinder Mahal as a legitimate main event guy after investing so much time and energy into him, so putting him in the ring with Triple H could be a way of doing that. The only problem is, Triple H won. Some will say well that is because Jinder isn’t as big a star as Triple H, but how do you become a bigger star than Triple H when he beats talent on the current roster? Sure he said some nice words at the end to Jinder to make him feel better, but he still ultimately lost! Another example is the match at WrestleMania 31 between Triple H and Sting. Why oh why did Triple H need to win that match, apart from the huge ego boost it evidently provided? It wasn’t because Triple H was the bigger draw in that match, Stings reception far eclipsed the 4 and a half hour terminator opera HHH afforded himself. WWE are an embarrassment of riches at the moment, with a roster so deep and so talented that it is a crime every time the WWE cannot fit them all on programming. It is hard enough for people like Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, even great wrestlers like Apollo Crews and other nearly men to break through the ceiling into world championship contenders without Triple H putting himself as the ceiling. The truth is, HHH has had his time. Everyone remembers The Reign of Terror period in the middle of the Ruthless Aggression Era, where talent after talent was buried at the hands of Triple H and his ego. Please understand that I know that it is not that bad now, but the question is, do we even need Triple H as a wrestler anymore? The man does unbelievable work as the COO and the brain behind the NXT juggernaut, he doesn’t need to occupy a space on the WrestleMania card every year at the expense of talent that have worked all year to achieve it! What do you guys think? Would it be that bad for Triple H to disappear slowly from competition to the backstage stuff he does so well? Do you look forward to his appearances and his matches now and do you feel there is a place on the roster for the nostalgia trip he brings? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t forget to follow Wrestling & More on Twitter @WAMPodcastUK
by Scott McLeod @scottmcleod1996The main purpose of a gimmick match is to add to the intensity of a feud or to provide an exciting payoff. Despite being a PG show, WWE has seemingly doubled the number of gimmick matches, keen to cash in on past stipulations that worked in a different time. Unfortunately, this has led to matches like Hell in a Cell and Ladder matches losing a lot of their appeal. Especially since WWE have started giving certain matches their own PPV.
There are some exceptions of course, like this year's Hell in a Cell PPV featuring two feuds that felt like they deserved to be inside Hell in a Cell, but most of the time it feels like a stipulation is added for no real reason. It rarely seems to add anything, and here are 10 matches that I think completely prove my point: by Scott McLeod @scottmcleod1996Think back to the golden era of wrestling. One thing that's prominent - along with the over the top characters and the steroids (allegedly) - Managers. Booby Heenan, Mr Fuji, Jimmy Hart, Paul Bearer and Freddie Blassie to name but a few. Back in the day, it seemed like every major villain had someone in their corner. They helped their charges win matches allowing them to gain as much heat as possible. This in turn made it even more special when the villains finally got their comeuppance. Heenan in particular was great at this. However, despite playing a major role in one of the biggest eras of the company, Vince apparently doesn't like managers. For what reason we don't know. The one exception is Paul Heyman - who will tell you at every possible opportunity that he's an advocate not a manager. I guarantee you if Brock was even a little competent on the mic Heyman wouldn't be around. There are a lot of advantages to having managers in today's WWE: It allows them to help build someone who is really good in the ring but not as good on the mic and can give an extra dimension to an otherwise stale character. Also, a manager helping the heel win gives the faces something to overcome, helping the face appeal more to an increasingly ‘smarky’ Wrestling Audience. Given the state of faces in WWE today, that last one seems more important than ever. An example of how managers can work in today's WWE is Andrade Cien Almas. When he debuted, he was a bland face before becoming a sublar heel, then came Zelina Vega. He went on to get a big win at Takeover Brooklyn and is now building towards a NXT championship match at Takeover WarGames. That is all down to Vega. She told him to quit his laid back approach and get serious. He got serious which lead to him actually winning matches. A storyline that continues in today’s NXT product. Andrade is one of the only true heels in WWE. He isn't like a Kevin Owens who gets booed but the smart fans cheer him, he gets legitimate hate from the audience; a lot of credit must go to his manager who acts as his mouthpiece, adding an intensity to his character.
One superstar that could have benefited from having a manager is Big Cass after his ill-received heel turn. He's not the best on the mic, which was made painfully obvious when Enzo schooled him repeatedly, especially at Great Balls of Fire! Instead of splitting them up, make Enzo his manager. He can be the mouthpiece and push Cass as the 7ft monster similar to the Lesnar/Heyman relationship. It's a win-win because Enzo is way better on the mic than in the ring, a fact that is drummed into us on every episode of 205 Live. The pairing worked from the getgo and splitting them up so early was met with confusion from the wrestling public. Keep the team dynamic but push the wrestler and keep the promo guy as his mouthpiece, it seems dangerously logical. Obviously, the answer to helping any character is not to just give them a manager, but it can help. That is as long as you pair the right manager with the right wrestler which has often not been the case. Look at when Paul Heyman was paired with Curtis Axel, or even Ryback, no amount of managing prowess could have aided their pushes. It is certainly not an exact science, but if you weigh up the amount of wrestlers who have been aided greatly by their managers; Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, The Legion of Doom, Macho Man Randy Savage and anyone managed by the late, great Bobby Heenan, it would certainly seem that managers still have a large role to play in the WWE. by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinJuly 16th 2016. A monumental day in WWE’s calendar as it was announced that the WWE would be subject to a brand extension for the first time since August 2011. The news was met with joy from most, as an influx of talent in NXT had led to a deeper well of talent for the WWE to utilise, and a brand split would allow more of this talent a time to shine.
Come the Royal Rumble the following January, many would argue that the Brand Extension had indeed benefitted the company massively; SmackDown was seen on a level playing field with RAW for the first time in a decade, AJ Styles, Finn Balor and Kevin Owens had all been champions of their respective brands, talent such as Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss were being pushed in a way they simply wouldn’t have been were it not for the split and Bray Wyatt was in an engaging storyline for the first time since the Daniel Bryan storyline of 2014! Things were rosy in Vince McMahon’s garden make no mistake. Even at this point though, there were still a few worrying signs: RAW’s worryingly disappointing reviews, lack of roster depth, especially spread across paper-thin Tag Team and Women’s rosters and the dead end booking of proven stars such as Sami Zayn and Rusev. For the most part, storylines, especially on SmackDown, and the Owens and Jericho team made up for this. Fast forward now to April 11th. WrestleMania 33, one of the better WrestleMania’s in modern memory in this writer’s humble opinion, is in the books, and the much ballyhooed Superstar Shakeup has been completed. The entirety of SmackDown’s mid-card is shipped to RAW, including The Miz, Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt (who would thusly never receive his rematch for the WWE Championship.) Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Rusev, The New Day and Charlotte were taken to SmackDown SmackDown in return, along with serial jobber, Jinder Mahal. Rumours are rife that RAW is the main priority amidst floundering ratings and uninspired storylines. The result SmackDown will suffer! Sure enough... We reach the present day. Kane and AJ Styles have just taken part in the TLC 2017 PPV (despite both being SmackDown superstars,) John Cena is a free agent so as to boost RAWs ratings, and the Shield, a group that have only been apart for 3 years have been hastily thrown together in a thinly veiled attempt to finally get Roman Reigns over. We have endured some awful PPVs since WrestleMania, namely Money In The Bank and Battleground, as well as Mania worthy main events; Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns vs. John Cena and Finn Balor vs. AJ Styles have been given away on B-Level PPVs in an attempt to boost ratings. SmackDown’s overall show has only been saved in recent weeks by the Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens storyline, coupled with the outstanding work that The Usos and The New Day have produced to try and make the SmackDown Tag Team Titles relevant again. At the moment, the blue brand seems directionless, which is baffling when you consider how it came out of the gates back in July. All of this alongside the fact that... Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship reign, at the time of writing, stands at 155 charisma free days; longer than any reign of Ric Flair, Roman Reigns, Eddie Guerrero and The Rock. Let that sink in for a moment... As consumers we are over-saturated with PPVs, two paper-thin Tag Divisions and Women’s rosters as well as uninspired booking decisions and non sensical title reigns and title changes. When the original brand split idea was put forward, I was as excited as any other Wrestling fan, and I am by no means saying that the Brand Extension should be scrapped, it just needs to be rejigged to solve the problems a brand split inevitably throws up. Rather than having two of each of the tag and women’s divisions, why not unify them and have 1 on RAW and 1 on SmackDown? Build feuds and storylines properly rather than meaningless tag match after meaningless tag match? Strip Jinder of the title and place it on someone who can take the company forward, someone like AJ Styles or even Sami Zayn to tie in with his current storyline? Finally, cut down on the number of PPVs. Bi-monthly is killing the modern WWE fan, and is making them numb to what is happening in them, especially when you consider that a lot of what we have watched since WrestleMania, hasn’t been that great... In conclusion, yes the brand split has indeed had its ups and downs, but what doesn’t? It’s worked wonders for the careers of people like Braun Strowman and The Miz, The Usos and Jinder Mahal. But to keep plodding along pretending there is no problem at all, that’s when real problems begin to set in... by Anarchy ‘The Enforcer’ AndersonIt was a cold November evening and my mother returned from work with a VHS tape, battered and written all over were various hastily scored out names like “Coronation Street”, “London’s Burning” and something about a hostage crisis. The last name written on in Black ink would change my life forever. In the days before the internet, when the U.K. had only four stations and almost no one had Sky, access to the wonders other countries were producing was very limited, as I was only 7 I had never seen any wrestling, my mum likely wouldn’t have let me watch if she had known what it was. The cassette was, like most, old and worn, firing it up opened static and brief clips of the start of countless shows recorded over the years and then after the person recording it missed the beginning of the show it started. The first wrestler I ever saw was Ted Dibiase, followed by some men that would go on to be my all-time favourite wrestlers, Roddy Piper and Bret Hart. 7-year old Anarchy Anderson was hooked by the time Dibiase was even in the ring. Viewed as one of the weaker Survivor Series Pay-per-views, it was and will forever be the one that started it all for me and made me eternally afraid of “that dead guy beating up the old guy”, Mother Anderson would go on to hear this and countless other things about this crazy show. The following week the tape was returned and I thought that was it, but then another showed up, with 4 weeks of the WWF shows directly from Sky, with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Big Bossman and countless others. It wasn’t just a one-off show, this happened every damn week, I can’t put into words how exciting this was for little Anarchy Anderson.
On we move to the present day, Anarchy Anderson is married and has a little one on the way. The world is vastly different, how we access our media has changed drastically and we now have hundreds of options for our viewing time. Wrestling has changed drastically, with the advent of the superfast internet we now have access at the touch of a button to hundreds of hours of content on the WWE network, countless shoot interviews and hundreds of promotions uploading videos ranging from high school shows shot with an audience of 30, to Japanese companies instantly beaming images of shows from the other side of the world. All the new content, all the new production techniques and money in the business and I find myself asking one question: What will my new little anarchist think of the wrestling thing daddy loves so much? Will the music, characters, colour’s and action mesmerise his little eyes, just like my young eyes hungrily swallowed up Survivor Series 1991, or will the fact that he can view almost anything he wants at the touch of a button make him forget all about dad and his hobby? Little Anarchy isn’t even here yet and a custom wrestling belt is already purchased and waiting for his first Christmas, at the very least I am going to try and get him watching. The question is though, can children ever be as excited as we were as children? As a child I believed! When Yokozuna beat Bret Hart at Wrestlemania IX I cried, even the following year Owen won and I couldn’t take it, I cared because I thought it was real. Now we are in age where everyone is in on it, everyone knows it isn’t real, has the loss of kayfabe made it more difficult for new generations of fans to get intothe business in the same way older fans did? When was the last time you saw a granny hitting a wrestler with her handbag because he was beating her favourite wrestler? Has the removal of kayfabe spoilt the fun? In the words of a great man “it’s still real to me” by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinIf there is one thing that irritates you as a fan of the WWE product; more than 'Beachball Mania' or completely nonesenscial 'What?' responses from select members of the crowd, it is nonesenscial booking decisions and the under-utilisation of outstanding talent!
WWE is blessed currently as the modern-day roster is that jam-packed with talent that they genuinley find it difficult to fit everyone into shows, and to some extent you can understand it, but with some superstars, it is baffling to the point of it seeming as though the company are doing it to spite fans! Bray Wyatt, Tye Dillinger and Bo Dallas are a few names that can count themselves as unlucky to have been treated this way, but not one person seems to have been as badly, and as almost offensively treated recently as the Bulgarian Brute, Rusev. With rumours in abundance on the internet that Rusev is currently negotiating his release from the WWE, the company must be thinking, can we really blame him? Looking at the facts, this is a literal brute of a man who is both charismatic and good in the ring as well as being built like a Sherman tank, which in theory is the trifecta in the WWE. Yet, over and over again, he is booked in awful angles with no seeming pay off for him. In just over a year, he has been part of the dull League of Nations stable (a stable in which he was the sole shining light) and the abysmal love triangle angle with Ziggler, Lana and Summer Rae, in which, despite being the heel, the crowd ended up becoming so sympathetic toward him that the angle fizzled out. He was then given a dominant US Title reign which started to rebuild his strength only to drop the title to a Roman Reigns who was being 'punished' for his 1st violation of the Wellness Policy... Since that, he has been paired as a jobber Tag Team with serial jobber Jinder Mahal, lost in a short amount of time to The Big Show (who clearly needed the momentum...) before taking time to heel a shoulder injury. A seeming reset was on the cards when he was shuffled over to SmackDown Live. His promos before coming back seemed to allude to a championship program or even an angle with commissioner Shane McMahon, rumours were even widespread that he was to be the winner of the 2017 Money In The Bank contract, things were certainly looking up! Then...nothing... This is a man who could be THE dominant force on SmackDown Live, yet he was surpassed as resident beast on the show by Baron Corbin, who consequently also took the Money In The Bank contract, which of course went so well, and was instead inserted into a car crash of a flag match with John Cena before being buried in 9 seconds by Randy Orton at Summerslam. Look at the top of the card on SmackDown, the WWE Championship picture is tracing paper thin, why not have Rusev there? All of this while Rusev's jobber tag partner Jinder Mahal is the WWE Champion...let that sink in for a moment! As a fan, obviously my moanings will change nothing, but venting frustration certainly helps. Looking at it objectively though, what has Rusev done to deserve this treatment? Obviously there has to be issues backstage, as this can't still be about the engagement photo!? Or his bloody haircut!? For those who don't know, Lana and Rusev were a couple in real life during the previously mentioned love triangle angle. In the midst of this angle, the couple posted a picture on their private social media account announcing their engagement and impending marriage. WWE were clearly livid, dropped the angle entirely, scrapped Lana's proposed singles run and both competitors were placed firmly in the doghouse. Now, if this is about the kayfabe element, I understand, yet when Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman, in the midst of their feud of the year, are posting pictures of themselves together touring Italy with no repercussions, where is the consistency? But even this can't really be the reason as Lana's singles push is firmly back on, in fact recieving 3 consecutive title shots against then SmackDown Live Women's champion Naomi. So why is Rusev being punished? Look at it from his persepective: Dave Meltzer has reported that he was in line for an angle with Shane but this nixed in light of Kevin Owens going forward with it. Was intended to fight Randy Orton at Backlash but WWE bafflingly went with Jinder Mahal, who in my opinion has done nothing to vindicate this decision, and was then to win the Money In The Bank contract, only for that to be given to Baron Corbin. It really is no wonder he's looking to be released! If Rusev does leave the company, it would be a huge loss to the company but a huge gain to any other company, presumably NJPW or GFW as he really is under-utilised and giving him a chance to stretch his wings would be the best thing for him! He's not asking for the world WWE, he's asking for a legitimate opportunity; one that is not there simply to put someone else over. Pull your finger out WWE! by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinAs posted in a previous blog entry, one of the universally acknowledged greatest things of 2016 eminating from the WWE was the Cruiserweight Classic - a fantastic showcase for some truly talented wrestlers, in an attempt to ressurect a forgotten decision. Once the first champion - TJ Perkins - was crowned and the fairly lurid Cruiserweight belt was revealed, murmers of worry began to emerge from the IWC about how WWE (a company famed for uninspired booking decisions and panic endings to storylines) would utilise this momentum. Vignettes began to appear introducing the Cruiserweights to the WWE flagship show RAW - good start! Then the debut happened...
To say that this fell flat is akin to saying that arson is a little bit naughty (Randy Orton.) The audiences could not have cared less, the wrestlers looked directionless, there were no stories, no reason for us to care about whether a character was a heel or a face, but most importantly - for some indecipherable reason - the WWE stopped the wrestlers wrestling in the same way that had gotten them over in the first place! Gone were the flips, moonsaults and incredible aerial prowess, instead, we were regularly subjected to six-man tag match after six-man tag match decided by submission moves. Now don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with a submission move; Ric Flair's Figure Four Leg Lock and Bret Hart's Sharpshooter are amongst the most iconic moves in wrestling history, but these are moves that we tune into the main roster for! I'm not tuning into the Cruiserweight division to see submission moves in the same way I don't tune in to see powerslams and hardcore violence! Seeming to understand that they have made an obscene faux-pas, WWE had the oppurtunity to hit reset at Survivor Series 2016, when they had the oppurtunity to send the Cruiserweights to SmackDown Live - a show with infinitely better writers, and where the wrestlers would have a better chance of connecting with audiences and developing their characters. This could be the best thing that happens to the division... Nope... RAW kept the Cruiserweights and announced that they would have their own show whilst appearing on RAW. Erm...okay, the show sounds good, when is this? Weekly... after SmackDown Live This confusing stream of conciousness seemed to bamboozle every wrestling fan as the Cruiserweights were now not only having to travel hundreds of miles to attend both RAW and SmackDown Live, but the show would be filmed AFTER the latter, a show that has been almost unanimously understood to be the better of the two main shows, a show that exhausts its audience, an audience that cannot invest in an hours show off the back of half-hearted characterisations hashed out as filler on RAW. The Cruiserweight division in short, is not at its strongest in any capacity. However, over the past few weeks, 205 Live and its Cruiserweight roster have slowly but surely been putting on more interesting and engaging shows, which has led to the following entry; 3 Of The Best & 3 Of The Worst Of 205 Live - I do however want to prelude this by saying if I'd completed this blog entry during the first 10 episodes of the show, I'd have genuinley found it difficult to find 3 positives about it. Nevertheless, found them I have and here they are, I'll even put the positives first! 3 Of The Best... Neville The Heel Champion Neville, hands down, has been the best thing about this division. The man truly is King of the Cruiserweights and seems to be revelling in his tremendous heel turn. A criminally underrated wrestler since being promoted to the main roster, he was seemingly forgotten after breaking his ankle in a match with Chris Jericho, destined to roam the lower mid-card with the likes of R-Truth and The Shining Stars. Why he wasn't drafted to the Cruiserweight show from the get go is still a baffling question that is yet to have an answer as the internet commiunity was clamouring for it. Not only is this man an absolute artist in the ring, his Red Arrow is a thing of absolute beauty, but he can help other performers, performers who may not be as used to the WWE style as Neville is. Look at the matches he has put on with Rich Swann and Jack Gallagher, both absolute classics in my opinon! His promos are flawless and the way he carries himself shows that he is going from strength to strength. He needs to continue carrying this title for an extended period of time, engaging in feuds that make us want to tune in to 205 Live, just like his impending feud with Austin Aries has done. Let him lead from the front and draw even more fans to a show that could potentially be on the cusp of turning itself around. The Brian Kendrick Brian Kendrick, similar to Neville, is a vastly under appreciated talent. The man was quite honestly, bar Jack Gallagher who should consider himself quite unlucky not find himself on this part of the list, the best thing on 205 Live until the WWE finally understood what was best for business and brought Neville in. Kendrick's feud with Perkins was good, but was only really good due to Kendrick's character work. His 'man with a plan' tag line is brilliant, and he was the first person on the current 205 Live roster that the audience really connected with, shown most prominently when he took the belt from Perkins at Hell in a Cell, with an apathetic crowd giving him praise, even though he was supposed to be a heel. Even after losing the belt, Kendrick continues to provide us with entertaining angles, as his feud with Akira Tozawa is plainly demonstrating. This man almost single-handedly held up the division whilst the other talents were establishing themselves, and before the much needed interjection of star power, speaking of which... Austin Aries From the outset, the franchise itself suffered from a lack of established starpower. Sure, 205 Live was set on developing its own stars, hence the belt being put on Rich Swann and TJ Perkins, but the characters hadn't had time to develop their characters or establish themselves with the crowd. With the vast expanse of potential Cruiserweight talent that the wrestling world possess and even WWE has in it's own roster, something desperately needed to be done...step forward A double. This man oozes charisma and is the perfect foil for the outstanding Neville - who in truth was in danger of being that good that he buried the rest of the division. From his commentary with a now infamous banana in his pocket, to his scathing remarks to his fellow commentators, to that incredible interchange with Neville when Aries announced himself to the roster this man has corwds around the globe in the palm of his hand. An established star with a wealth of wrestling experience already behind him, the crowd connected with him immediately and brought some much needed credibility to the roster to balance out the 'greeness' of some of the current talent. The man has it all, an explosive wrestling style that's incredible to watch, charisma to fill a bathtub and the ability to hold the entire audience in his hand with a single promo. I'm going to go out on a limb right now and make a prediction that his forthcoming Cruiserweight title bout with Neville will be a dark horse to be match of the night in Orlando come April. Who would have thought a Cruiserweight match would even come close to that accolade even a month ago? 3 Of The Worst... The Live Crowd/Straight After Smackdown This may seem the most obvious point to make, but if you want an audience to care about your product, then don't showcase it in front of an exhausted audience! When the WWE announced that the Cruiserweights would be getting their own show and that it would be filmed live straight after SmackDown, the collective wrestling community scratched their heads. Yes, obviously it makes sense if you have the venue to squeeze every last drop of revenue possible out of it and sure, it means that the Cruiserweights are performing in bigger venues, but these venues are emptying rapidly as an exhausted audience leave after SmackDown. Think about it, in the last few weeks, SmackDown Live have had a triple threat for the WWE Championship between Bray Wyatt, AJ Styles and John Cena and a match of pay per view calibre between Randy Orton and AJ Styles for the number 1 contendership for Bray Wyatt's Championship as main events. The audience were incredibly invested in both matches and were therefore burned out by the end. Would you want to stop for another hour of wrestling between wrestlers you have barely heard of? Do you think NXT would have had the same level of success if it was tagged onto the end of a 3 hour RAW? No, absolutley not! Having its own venue and most importantly, being taped, has worked wonders for NXT, effectivley turning it into its very own brand, this could be a potential life saver for 205 Live. Film it in a smaller venue, a venue you know you can fill and the atmosphere changes. If the rumours are true and WWE want to turn 205 Live into a touring brand, then this really must be the only way forward. Lack of Storylines/Direction - RAW This is only a short point really, but the whole reason I love wrestling, is due to the complex storylines and how everything links together. 205 Live does not do this. At the moment, the program seems to be random people fighting random people with the most basic of phantom stories pushed to the background. When stories do rear their heads, they are the most bizarre of angles that we just cannot invest in, for example the current feud between Noam Dar and Rich Swann over the affections of Alicia Fox. Yes a love storyline is a tried and tested storyline for the WWE and hell, some work extremely well, this however seems rushed and put together without any thought, and that is nothing against the competitors, after all, they can only do what is put in front of them. It all just seems rather uninspired, and that remains an issue to this day in 205 Live, with the only real storyline bar the Alicia Fox angle and the humerous interchanges between Kendrick and Tozawa, being the title match between Neville and Austin Aries. Looking at it, that's an awful lot of competitors with very little to do, and with no real justification for doing what they are doing. It still vexes me that the Cruiserweights stayed on RAW after Survivor Series. With 205 Live being on Tuesday night after SmackDown, it just seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Cruiserweights would go to the blue brand. But no...whether it be a Stephanie McMahon muscle flexing activity, or whether it be WWE refusing to acknowledge that they completley dropped the ball after the CWC, leaving them to fester in the lower mid card for the audience to ignore, or whether it be to add some filler to RAW's gargantuan 3 hour time slot, the red brand has done nothing for these athletes. Countless vignettes announcing their arrival did indeed garner some intial excitement, but after match after match of dull six-man tag matches with no consequence or reason, the audience switched off. Even now, the only thing RAW is doing is attempting to advertise 205 Live with ill-placed matches which no-one cares about. It seems as though the writers aren't terribly concerned with the division and this is a shame - all it would take is a low level WWE creative writer to take on the Cruiserweights as their own and really run with it, showing it the care and attention it deserves, allow the time on RAW to mean something as opposed to just being needless filler, for it to really begin to build up a head of steam. TJ Perkins - Thief of Moments Some people may think that this is incredibly harsh. After all, this man is the first Cruiserweight Champion of the current generation and his in-ring ability has never been in question, this lad is technically fantastic. However, it is the WWE's use of him that places him on this list. Winning the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016 seemed to be a great stepping stone for TJP, even though reports revealed that he may not have been the first choice as victor, and the final of Gran Metalik and Perkins was only established once it was discovered that Zack Sabre Jr. wasn't going to be signing with the WWE and Metalik and Perkins were. Nevertheless, Perkins was selected as the face of the Cruiserweights going forward. However, after a series of head-crushingly mundane, obviously scripted and listless promos in which we got no idea about his character or his motivations, after announcing himself to the main roster by dabbing his way to the ring and after being depicted as a gullible fool in his feud with former friend and infinitely more charismatic The Brian Kendrick, it seems baffling how the WWE expected him to connect with the WWE Universe. Depicting the face of the division as a millennial, and even worse a boring millennial, was not the way forward. It seems to have done him considerable harm as well, as his matches are met with neither enjoyment or boos, but merely silence, which is even worse. Look at his bout with Nakamura at NXT 381 (home of the worst promo of the modern day where Perkins announced himself not to be a thief of moves, but a thief of moments, delivered in a way that even Keanu Reeves would describe as dull) the match was excellent and both competitors told a good story, did the audience care about Perkins? When he dabbed to the ring did they cheer? No, the audience aren't bothered in the slightest. I geniunely hope that Perkins renovates his character soon, because as stated, he has excellent in-ring ability, but his run at the beginning of the Cruiserweight division and on 205 Live set a terrible precedent and unfortunately, set the WWE on the backfoot straight away. by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinWWE recently has been... hit and miss let's say. Compare it, if you will, to QPR in the English Premier League (the proper football for our American cousins), or to seasons of Dexter, or albums from Coldplay....oh no they....wait....ignore that last one... Anyway, the last year has been seen almost universally as a huge improvement in WWE, some better writing and general (I cannot stress this point enough) better star usage (do not throw Sami Zayn into this argument, do not do that, I said general dammit!) However, similar to eating far too much Nutella straight from the tub before spending the following morning throwing up violently into any container you can find, where there are good times, there are inevitably bad times. For every Harry Potter 1 there is a Harry Potter 3, for every Terminator 2 there is a Terminator Genisys and for every high point in the WWE in 2016 there has been a terrible low point and in this article, I'm going to list 3 of the best and 3 of the worst things to happen in the WWE in 2016. 3 of the Best... Braun Strowman As a huge lover of the Wyatt family, I can, hand on heart, say that I never thought a list headed The Best things in WWE in 2016, would have Braun Strowman even close to the list, never mind breaching the top 3. A man who started as one of the 'Rose Buds' (Gahhhhhh) and who almost singlehandedly turned me away from The Wyatt Family, has more than made up for this since the brand split. His roadkill haircut aside, the man can do no wrong and seems to be on a fast track to bigger and better things. The fact that he has improved his wrestling style has helped hugely and the fact he is no longer merely relying on that woeful submission hold has made me sit up and take notice. He had a fantastic showing at Survivor Series and this seems to be only the beginning for the big man. His feud with Sami Zayn should be fantastic and it's certainly one of the only reasons I'm tuning into RAW at the moment due to its seeming inferiority to its competitor SmackDown Live...speaking of which... SmackDown Live SmackDown is by far the superior brand thus far. The storylines, rivalries and general wrestling, coupled with the fact that it is only 2 hours long, makes it a far more watchable program. Plus it hasn't got Stephanie McMahon which is added bonus. Don't get me wrong, Shane is still ever present during the program, but at least he knows that he's a face, whereas Stephanie...Stephanie is...I mean what the hell is Stephanie?? This program has taken its (limited) roster and has slowly given them more exposure but also given them the storylines to rekindle what would otherwise be ailing careers; Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler and even Randy Orton have benefitted from this! Yes, you could argue that there are people that haven't been used to their fullest potential (see Apollo Crews) but I feel that the progression of SmackDown, as well as the fact Backlash blew us all out of the water means that the "B-Brand" of WWE gets a well-deserved place on this list. The Miz Good grief I've enjoyed The Miz this year. This man has bought nuclear heat onto himself time after time and has embraced that heat, turning him into one of the most legitimate and well developed heels in WWE today. His reign with the Intercontinental championship is never anything short of entertaining and his feud with GM Daniel Bryan, starting with his now infamous, sensational outburst on Talking Smack, as well as his continuing beef with the show off Dolph Ziggler, which produced several matches that can be considered seriously as match of the year candidates. His promos have vastly improved and again, similar to Strowman on RAW, his wrestling style (though described by many as 'safe') is ever evolving. With Maryse by his side, his strike a triumphant figure, one who you love to hate, a figure who has had one of the years of his career, and one that has undoubtedly been one of the highs for WWE in 2016. 3 of the Worst... Cruiserweight Division I loved the Cruiserweight Division during the attitude era (or the Light Heavyweight Championship as it was known then) and as the last champion was Hornswoggle before the belt was inexplicably retired, the entire WWE universe was clamouring for the belt to be re-instated. So imagine our joy and wonderment when the WWE announced the CWC! Imagine further the joy when it actually turned out to be good! We developed connections with the stars and the matches were incredible, full of incredible spots and, often, death defying feats of brilliance. The WWE seemed to agree, placing the entire division, complete with newly crowned champion, onto the flagship show, RAW. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot as it transpires. WWE creative, especially the writers for RAW seem completely baffled on how to actually develop any characters save Brian Kendrick, to the point where the only time we see Cruiserweight nowadays is in countless bloody 6 man tag bouts, which I am fed up of seeing. Now the WWE seem to be trying to hit reset by giving them their own show -205 Live, but instead of allowing the division to go to SmackDown, where 205 will be recorded afterwards, they have left it on RAW, meaning the superstars must travel to both destinations in 2 days, to be continually pushed further down the pecking order on RAW, where they are currently less important than a piece of paper Chris Jericho is writing things in, to be then completely ignored after SmackDown. It doesn't look good for the Cruiserweights and I honestly fear for the which is a shame because the CWC was brilliant, but yet again, WWE seem unable to comprehend what isn't 6 foot and as muscly as Brock Lesnar. James Ellsworth This is just boring. It was funny for about a week and then it got tedious and annoying. It's a blight on an otherwise fairly impressive copybook for SmackDown. But I can't accept that this man, who cannot wrestle, I will make that plain now, he cannot wrestle, has now beaten AJ Styles, possibly the greatest wrestler in the world at the moment in any promotion, 3 times! I know Dean Ambrose has been a huge part of those defeats, but even so! It's a gimmick taken just a step too far which is an annoying habit I wish WWE would break. Just because we have found something funny before, does not mean we will find it repeatedly funny the more you shovel it unrelentingly into my mouth. He said on the last SmackDown that he wants a shot at the WWE Championship and I'm sorry if he gets that shot, over wrestlers who deserve it infinitely more, it is a travesty of justice. Already, he is currently getting more airtime than The Wyatts, American Alpha, Kane, John Cena, Dolph Ziggler and even the Miz, people who are good and deserve more screen time. Yes I will grant you that he played a good part in the Survivor Series match, but his constant presence on the show is both irritating and pointless. Sort it out WWE! Brand Split A contentious one to end possibly, but I do have my reasons so please don't send anything dangerous my way, and send any offensive emails or comments to [email protected] The Brand Split itself has given us high points, absolutley, more airtime to some superstars, Mick Foley's jackets, Braun Strowman, the Women's main event at Hell in a Cell and the rise of SmackDown as its own show. But look at the facts, the rosters on each show, especially SmackDown is paper thin, to the point where we now have to endure James Ellsworth on our screen to fill 2 hours, whilst people like Apollo Crews sit twiddling their thumbs. We have now reverted back to 2 PPVs a month which is just two much wrestling and a lot of money for the average wrestling fan to shell out to watch them (although all of them are streamed on the WWE network for £9.99 a month - did you know?) which unfortunately means the inevitable return of utterly crap gimmick based shows (see Fatal 4 Way, TLC and Breaking Point - disclaimer - these are example, these specifically may not return, but you catch my meaning.) On top of this, it has seen a rapid decline in RAW! It's rating have plummeted, the Cruiserweights are underused and frustrated, superstars like Sami Zayn have absolutely no direction at all, Stephanie McMahon turns face and heel so many times per show she's doing somersaults, all the while have more airtime than half the roster and we get the same matches with the same formulaic build-ups. Yes it is unfair to blame all of this on the Brand Split, and yes there are some obvious exceptions, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins and Chris Jericho is the one that immediately springs to mind, but maybe the Brand Split has highlighted all these problems that the WWE need to sort, and fast. by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinRemember when there was feud in the WWE? Remember the feeling it used to give you, watching CM Punk and John Cena, or The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels beating the loving bajesus out of each other, dropping insult after insult in promos that lit the WWE Universe on fire? And we as fans knew that the feud would end, not with a wimper, but with a vicious Hell in a Cell bout that would leave us screaming for more. Cheers of 'Holy Shit' and 'This is Awesome' were commonplace and everyone would go home happy.
Then WWE did what it always does when they stumble blindly onto a good thing, either it shoves it down our unwilling throats at every opportunity; see Roman Reigns, John Cena, Rocky Maivia or Bobby Lashley. Or, they don't get it and destroy it by giving it a stupid gimmick or just booking them in bafflingly stupid angles; see Enzo and Cass, The Club, Bayley, Dusty Rhodes or The Red bloody Rooster. However, with Hell in a Cell, the WWE decided that the 'feud ender' should have its own PPV, similar to such successful gimmick themed PPVs such as Breaking Point or Fatal 4 Way. Needless to say, it's been, a mixed bag to say the least! Since the inaugural event in 2009, the gimmick has grown very stale, and far from it continuing as the terrifying, brutal ender of feuds that it always has been, it's now a tired concept that the WWE have over saturated! Never has this been so apparent as this year when, seemingly overcome with love of the gimmick, Mick Foley has thrown 3 separate matches into the cell this time. 3 matches in a cell...in one night...Good grief! Yes, this PPV hasn't really built anything to make me interested in the same way I feel Smackdown builds some of it's own feuds (NOT JACK SWAGGER VS. BARON CORBIN! Do not use that as your example), in fact the main star of the RAW show at the moment is Chris Jericho, a man not taking part in the PPV at all!? To then put every main event into the cell just seems stupid, and a bit directionless. The only thing that I feel could redeem this PPV is the idea of Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks being the main, main event (of the three billed), making history as the first women's match in the cell, but reports have surfaced that big, bad Vinnie Mac doesn't want the women's match on last (article in Wrestling News). This hasn't soured my thoughts on the PPV as a whole, as I feel it will just play out in the exact same way it always does! No change, Lord no, apparently WWE fears change like I fear a Dana Brooke promo. Has the gimmick themed PPV died out? Yes! If WWE keep over saturating us with Hell in a Cell matches then obviously a PPV of them gets boring extremely quickly! Let's make this match interesting...Erm let's...Erm... throw it in a Hell In A Cell match! Something that offends me on a molecular level, is the way that these matches rarely, if ever, actually utilise the 'Hellacious Structure!' at all. Yes there's the standard, here's a fence, I'm going to throw you into it, followed up by the same spot with the roles reversed. I'm not into it WWE stop forcing me to be into it! Powerbombs on top of the cell, chokeslams through the roof, spears through the side of the metal cage is what these matches are made for, but the sheer over exposure we have to them has made us numb to these spots if they ever do come along - similar to how I feel when I watch a Matthew McConaughey film, where good acting is like trying to find a public toilet when you are desparate for a poo...impossible! Its a shame as it's the same that befell Elimination Chamber, matches which I love! Don't let the same fate befall the concept that has given us the King of the Ring 1999 match between Undertaker and Mankind, or the debut of Kane in 1997 following an excellent match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels! Don't do it WWE, just make it a once in a blue-moon stipulation and make it as violent as you can in the goddamn PG era, to build it up again as this terrifying structure once more. Do this, and the WWE Universe will be on board, 100%! by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinWhat happens when a roided out Bull of a man takes on an unstoppable boulder with two finishing moves capable of making your spine jump out of your mouth at the biggest pay per view event of the year?
7 minutes of fierce...staring...!? Yes the infamous Wrestlemania XX match which saw Brock-I've just eaten a mountain- Lesnar take on Bill- Who the hell put me in these silly cycling shorts- Goldberg. It was viewed and billed as the clashing of 2 Goliaths, the match that everyone wanted, but when it came, rumours had surfaced (and by rumours we all know it means verifiable truth, after all, WWE don't know how to keep anything a secret; Sting, Batista, Bret Hart) that Lesner was bound for his beloved Vikings and a career in the NFL and Goldberg would not be renewing his $1 million (?) year long contract. Did the fans accept these truths? Nope, not even a little! The 'match' was an exhibition of heckling as chants of 'BOOOORING' and 'YOU SOLD OUT' echoed from every corner as fans tried to boo the blue blazes out of the place! Never has a spear, F5, spear and jackhammer felt so tame. Now obviously Brock came back after his uber successful (sic) stint in NFL and a few years maiming people to within an inch of their lives in UFC, but Goldberg kind of died afterwards. He opened his very successful gym sure, but he never would reach the heights of his WCW unbeaten streak, outwardly slamming WWE on the TV! Now, with the brand split and WWE realising far, far too late that they didn't quite have enough wrestlers to pad out the rosters, there have been rumours a-flying about the company contacting previous stars...top of that list? A Mr. William Goldberg! Now I know I know, this rumour has also bought us WWE talking to Lashley, Kurt Angle, Matt & Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Jon Morrison and half the stars of wrestling promotions around the world, almost crippling the NXT development centre by drafting almost all of its female talent except of course Asuka (God she's brilliant.) But as the other rumours have quietened, all disappeared altogether, it seems Goldberg's return is a foregone conclusion, being more or less confirmed in JR's podcast in which he stated the deal was basically done, and Goldberg right now is on the advertisement trail having just been included in the WWE2K17 game. Even more than this... Rumours are beginning to surface of a match already scheduled for this years Survivor Series - Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg! Now, would you want to see this? Lesnar seems to be sent out to squash opponents in the most vicious way possible before pinning (TKO - Summerslam), but Goldberg would be a worthy opponent surely? He's still in unbelievable shape and his power would give Lesnar genuine food for thought. Obviously Goldberg's age is a problem as he is now in 40's, but he never had long matches, preferring quick 10 minute power matches, surely this would also be in Lesnar's wheelhouse! The only risk? ... Have they left it too long? Is Goldberg the draw he once was? Have people forgiven him (and Lesnar) for their diabolically terrible match at Wrestlemania? Do we care about this match? My answer? Yes! It cannot possibly be as bad as the last one, which is a plus and I genuinely feel giving the beast a match of this magnitude could potentially lead to something special, what I have no idea, but it certainly has a bit of magic about it! What do you think? |