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There's Brock Lesnar... And then there's waiting for Brock Lesnar. Seriously, since that RAW following Wrestlemania 31, WWE programming has been AWFUL. Mainly because the WWE lacks starpower to not only fill the void of a departing Brock Lesnar but also the depushed John Cena to the United States title. Sorry, but Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Randy Orton are NOT strong drawing main eventers and at this pace, they won't be. And adding Dean Ambrose won't help either. While many marks within the drive-by "Internet Wrestling Community" are applauding the Dean Ambrose addition to the WWE Payback 2015 main event, let me remind you that since WWE Payback 2014 when the Shield beat Evolution, Ambrose has ONE Pay Per View win. ONE! That would be like the National Football League giving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a Super Bowl championship spot despite their 2-14 record. That's ridiculous! That's on top of the utter stupidity of the initial 3 way match between Orton, Rollins, and Reigns being decided by votes on the WWE App. Seriously, voting on a Smartphone determines who gets a shot at a World Champion. How credible is that? Aside from Dean Ambrose and his losing ways, let's look at the other 3 "stars": - Seth Rollins: He went from a heel with an edge, a great finisher in the "Curb Stomp", and a wrestler who did anything he could to win a match to a guy WITHOUT the "Curb Stomp" finisher (thanks WWE Corporate!) and a guy arguing with Kane. What's with the "Walking Glass Ceiling" Kane screwing over champions after Wrestlemanias? He was attached to Chris Benoit, Daniel Bryan, and now Seth Rollins after each of their Wrestlemania World Title victories. After years upon years of humiliating Kane with stupid crap like Katie Vick, the unmasking, and losing repeatedly to guys like Austin, HHH, Rock, and Undertaker, Kane is used to keep a thumb on champions that Vince McMahon probably isn't comfortable with. - Randy Orton: He has 12 WWE World Championships since he won his first World Title at SummerSlam 2004. That's right, he's been WWE Champion just over once per year since 2004. What does he have to show for it? He always seems to get the favorable booking yet he's not delivering results during each of his main event pushes. - Roman Reigns: Do I honestly need to discuss this overhyped and overpushed wrestler again? It is quite scary how close this green wrestler almost became WWE Champion at Wrestlemania 31 by defeating Brock Lesnar. Since Wrestlemania 31 when Borck Lesnar carried him to a great match, we've seen bad production in the ring from Reigns. Since the RAW after Wrestlemania 31, we've consistently been BELOW 4 million viewers. That is AWFUL especially considering how well Wrestlemania 31 was received and how amazing the RAW following Wrestlemania 31 was. The WWE exceeded 5 million viewers that night! They've lost more than 1 million viewers ever since. Like I said... There's Brock Lesnar and there's waiting for Brock Lesnar. WWE Payback will be a disaster and the WWE is actually lucky to be in the WWE Network era because we won't see a disastrous buyrate for this show. WWE could actually learn from professional boxing on what works and what doesn't. Recently, pro boxing FINALLY put their top 2 stars against each other after over 5 years of negotiations. Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao will reportedly draw over 5 million buys on Pay Per View. Yeah, that "dead" industry... But Pro Boxing is a dying sport. Aside from fights involving their 2 biggest stars (Floyd and Manny), boxing is struggling on the Pay Per View market. The sport is struggling to get a good feeder system of new and upcoming fighters while I think the head injury issue scared away many fighters years ago. The rise of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) hasn't helped, either. Boxing is a past time and is kept alive by guys 45 or older who remember Ali, Frazier, Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Leonard, and Lewis. Boxing was gigantic in the 1970's and continued onward during the 1980's and 1990's with strong Pay Per View outlets. Since the 2000's, the sport has declined considerably with only Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao proving to be draws. The rest of the boxers without them, not so much. Just like the rest of the WWE roster besides Brock Lesnar and John Cena... Struggling to draw. But unlike professional boxing, WWE Creative has major advantages. For one, they control wins/losses whereas boxing does not (because it's real). What WWE can truly deliver is a strong Pay Per View viewing experience. Boxing or MMA can totally screw you on Pay Per View. For example, if you bought the last UFC event where Ronda Rousey fought, you lost a lot of bang for your buck with a quick 14 second match from Rousey. Pro wrestling, however, can fix the times and the events of their matches. That's why it BAFFLES me to see poorly constructed Pay Per View cards and shows. How can the WWE struggle so much with producting something close to a 4 out of 5 star match per Pay Per View show? The true reason why WWE created the WWE Network was due to their steady declines in Pay Per View buyrate numbers. We already proved this in my July 14th, 2014 column about WWE Pay Per Views and prices. Little did WWE realize that they were simultaneously raising prices and putting on weaker quality shows. Thus, it gave them the impression that something "new" like a WWE Network streaming service was needed. Instead, the WWE was gouging its fans through higher prices for lower quality shows. Stars draw... make no mistake about it. Pushing a neutered WWE Champion in Seth Rollins, a consistently losing wrestler like Dean Ambrose, an inexperienced wrestler in Roman Reigns, and a guy who has failed on many opportunities handed to him in Randy Orton won't work. Better yet, guys like Rusev and Bray Wyatt are struggling right now. The WWE lacks star power right now to create a "sense of urgency" for fans to watch every show and to buy the WWE Network. And that's why reuniting the Shield is a great idea. Seems pretty obvious... Randy Orton just so happens to be in a 4 way match against 3 former Shield members. That's interesting... What tipped me off was how random Dean Ambrose's addition to the WWE Title match was. After all, he won ONE Pay Per View match since the last WWE Payback show. Something is up or the WWE is just trolling fans to get more people interested into the Payback show. While Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose are doing OK as single wrestlers, they had a strong brand with the Shield. To this day, I wonder what would have happened if they did NOT break-up. After defeating Evolution twice, the WWE could have kept pushing the Shield brand and getting all 3 over as babyfaces. Instead, the move was made to have Seth Rollins turn heel while Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were to be babyfaces. WWE chose to push Reigns out of the two which proved to be problematic through Wrestlemania 31. Reportedly, Vince McMahon feels that the WWE lacks strong heels right now. You do have Bray Wyatt, Rusev, and the Authority... But they're lame. WWE could have real potential pushing the Shield as a "cool heel" group and I can already see some crazy money in Class of 2002 (John Cena, Randy Orton, & Brock Lesnar) vs. Class of 2012 (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose) 6 man battle. Why not? If RAW goes under 4 million viewers, again, I believe that the chances of a reunited Shield become stronger. Compared to what we're seeing with Seth Rollins arguing with Kane and struggling to get his feud with Randy Orton and Roman Reigns to get over... I'm OK with the Shield reunion. There's Brock Lesnar and there's waiting for Brock Lesnar. I might just start writing columns only when Lesnar appears. You can call me the "Pedro Gomez of Internet Wrestling Columnists" who is linked only to 1 wrestler. Seriously, WWE is getting that bad for me. I'm completely mailing it in until Lesnar or even Paul Heyman appears. Quick WWE Payback Pay Per View Predictions: -Sandow/Axel defeats the Ascension -King Barrett defeats Neville -Sheamus defeats Dolph Ziggler -New Day retains Tag Titles over Tyson Kidd/Cesaro -John Cena defeats Rusev -Seth Rollins retains, Shield reunites... UNLESS WWE is serious about having a WWE Champion Randy Orton wrestling Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2015. Here we go again with Daniel Bryan. Hate to admit it, but there are good reasons why Vince McMahon was hesitant on a wrestler like Daniel Bryan along with other wrestlers under 6 feet tall. Smaller wrestlers have to compensate for a lack of height and size by taking higher risk moves to look credible. Considering that Vince gave up the opportunity to hitch his wagon onto the Guardians of the Galaxy film which had Batista in a nice role, I believe that he'll be further critical of smaller wrestlers. SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2015
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