|
Ah yes, it's another wonderful edition of the EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. The written equivalent of waving a red cape at a bull... Let's get this out of the way, first... 4 weeks under 3 million viewers for Monday Night RAW. Worse yet, we're over 1 million viewers lost from the RAW following Wrestlemania 33. Just saying, for all of you who dogged me on the "permanently under 3 million viewers" prediction that I made for RAW last year... Yeah... 4 straight weeks in a row is a trend. ANYWAY... Here's where I want to go today and it follows on the heels of my NXT Takeover Chicago discussion... Let's just say that I wasn't the biggest fan of the event... Before you start accusing me of hating on NXT, please consult ANY of my VERY positive NXT Takeover Pay Per View reviews from 2015-2016. In fact, NXT is main reason why I kept the WWE Network after my free trial to watch Money in the Bank 2015. That's a fact... I argued that instead of the RAW/Smackdown brand split, NXT should be pushed nationally instead as a real brand. In my opinion, the talent raid of 2016 and early 2017 has depleted the NXT roster and what's remaining, well, looks smaller by comparison. Just take a look at the NXT Takeover Chicago 2017 card: Roderick Strong (5'10") vs. Eric Young (5'11") Pete Dunne (5'10") vs. Tyler Bate (5'7") Bobby Roode (6'0") vs. Hideo Itami (5'9") Authors of Pain (both at least 6'3") vs. Johnny Gargano (5'10") & Tommaso Ciampa (5'11") Do you see that pattern, folks? Besides Roode and the Authors, who is Vince McMahon going to use on the main WWE roster? Under 6 feet... I'd argue that DIY had a shot but you broke that damn tag team up! When you're a smaller wrestler like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio Jr., you have to overcompensate as a wrestler on offense to cover size. In fact, everybody wrestles like Benoit... High speed offense while everybody does the same kicks where they slap their thighs for the sound effect. Folks, I've been around for a long time... Started during late 1998 and back then, there were rabid fans for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). While ECW was innovative, by 1998, the other wrestling promotions were stealing their ideas and talent... HOWEVER, their fans were loyal and passionate. Anytime yours truly would mention "ECW", my e-mail inbox would explode with hatred and even death threats. Even during 1999-2000 when the quality was dropping off, especially during 2000 with that TNN show that I reviewed... Hatred was spewed towards my way even if the quality in ECW wasn't there. Why? Because it wasn't WWE (or WCW). The big corporate wrestling products aren't for everyone or isn't "cool" to follow. Therefore, they cling to a smaller alternative like ECW during 1998-2000 even if the quality started to fall off... Then when World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and ECW died during 2001, new promotional alternatives were sought... For about a year, a bunch of smaller ECW-like promotions were worshiped by the same fans. Soon, Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) and Ring of Honor (ROH) emerged and many anti-WWE wrestling fans began clinging to those promotions as alternatives. Very passionate, too, even if TNA's quality wasn't there at times. Then, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NPJW) as the next hipster alternative. I never heard of those events until Observer writer Dave Meltzer used to sing high praise of the show and then everybody hopped on that bandwagon. Internally within the WWE, that alternative which wrestling fans cling to is NXT. No matter what happens on NXT, it's highly praised... You know, like an entire NXT Takeover show featuring wrestlers under 6'0" like we just saw Saturday night. You're tired of the big corporate and bloated WWE main roster on RAW and Smackdown... The booking of NXT is more competitive based compared to WWE's "sports entertainment". And to an extent, I agree... That's why I enjoyed NXT during 2015-2016. Only so much of the singles runs between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins that I can take along with the other main event disappointments. Plus, NXT has actual GOOD tag team wrestling. BUT - Here's what you MUST UNDERSTAND. Are you noticing what is happening with NXT call-ups over the past year? How is American Alpha doing? Apollo Crews? The Cruiserweight Division isn't exactly doing much (I realize that not everyone worked for NXT). Vince McMahon is STILL in charge and reportedly not retiring anytime soon. If he's struggling to use many ready-made NXT call-ups, what will he do with the current crop of NXT wrestlers under 6'0"? And I agree with Vince McMahon on this... John Cena (6'1"), Undertaker (6'10"), Steve Austin (6'2"), The Rock (6'5"), Bret Hart (6'0"), Triple H (6'4"), Kurt Angle (6'0"), Randy Savage (6'1"), Hulk Hogan (6'5" or so), Brock Lesnar (6'3"), Batista (6'6")... Do you see the pattern there? HOWEVER - If you enjoyed NXT Takeover Chicago and smaller wrestlers... Have at it. Go hog wild... For you to get upset over a wrestling opinion is ludicrous. Life goes on and you should like what you like. In case you haven't noticed, I don't let anyone disrupt my taste and preferences. I like what I like and anything that I don't like, well, I avoid forcing it. ---------------------------------- JINDER, JINDER, JINDER I'm LAUGHING at the yes-man WWE fans who are like "let's give Jinder a chance" and "I see it as a great idea now" after watching the WWE Backlash 2017 match. As wrestling fans, you deserve the FINGER OF SHAME for bashing Jinder Mahal hard before Backlash and then doing a 180 to eat up the WWE's table scraps once again! I saw the same damn thing with Roman Reigns over the past years... You HATED his pushes yet when he's champion, you were like "let's see where this goes". Want to see where it goes? LOSING VIEWERSHIP and LOSING ATTENDANCE. I have no problems with Jinder... In fact, I actually commend him for working as hard as he can with this opportunity. But nothing escapes the fact that he's been a career jobber with the WWE and because of that, his in-ring skills are not polished. To Randy Orton's credit, he sold well for him and helped make Jinder look legit. Ditto for AJ Styles last week as well (thought that Jinder beat both Styles & Orton in a short period of time is mind boggling). Orton agreed to cut his Wrestlemania 33 based WWE Title reign short in order to "experiment" with Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion... You know, to appeal to 1 country... What about the rest of the world? But for some of you to FLIP FLOP and suggest "give Jinder Mahal a chance"... You are enjoying Vince's crap sandwiches too much. Unless Jinder Mahal suddenly figures out the in-ring work and can draw in fans well above 2.5 million Smackdown (another bad rating this week), he'll go by the way of Sheamus, Roman, Miz, Jack Swagger, and others whom the WWE thought that a World Title would get them over. Again - Let me REPEAT MYSELF... Macho Man Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Rock, Steve Austin, and Triple H won and drew with the Intercontinental Title while John Cena won and drew with the United States Title. Once they outgrew roles as midcarders and fans are hungry for more, that is when push them to the Main Event. Why can't fans comprehend that simple concept? Why can't Vince McMahon? He keeps on pushing Roman Reigns to the moon... ---------------------------------- Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Bray Wyatt... Who gets Brock Lesnar? Fatal 5 Way... Ugh. You don't see Mixed Martial Arts or Boxing having multiperson matches to determine the #1 contender. It's just LAZY booking and it actually doesn't allow any 1 of the 5 to stand out (besides Michael Cole just gushing all over Roman Reigns). If I had to pick today, I believe that Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins will NOT get the shot. Both have already wrestled Lesnar and the long-term plan is reportedly to have Wrestlemania 34 headlined by Lesnar vs. Reigns. Yeah, whatever... Rollins, though he works with Lesnar well, hasn't had much of a spark from his Triple H feud. That leaves Bray Wyatt, Samoa Joe, & Finn Balor. First of all, you'd have to consider could any of those wrestler actually beat him? My answer is "no". I believe that Bray Wyatt has upset WWE management by his lackluster performances against Randy Orton. If you'll recall, he was flirting with having a feud with Finn Balor. Maybe that occurs after WWE Extreme Rules 2017? If that is the plan, Samoa Joe is the guy... In my opinion, Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe is the best and top drawing match-up... However, to see a 190 pound Finn Balor getting tossed around by Brock Lesnar would be impressive. In case you haven't noticed, RAW workers have enjoyed wrestling Finn Balor lately because they can toss him around so easily. Brock would toy with him with more than Germans Suplexes. 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 - 1998-2017
|
