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Ugh, the current WWE product. Don't care... I'm seriously sleepwalking through my WWE viewership until Brock Lesnar returns. As talented as the recent developmental classes have been, their booking has been so poor that it has created years of setbacks for much of the younger WWE roster. Just don't care... The last 2 Pay Per Views has erased all goodwill that Wrestlemania 31 and the RAW following it created. WWE neutered Seth Rollins as WWE Champion (seriously, banning the Curb Stomp?) while giving him the rushed Roman Reigns, the guy of many title shots but nothing to show for it in Randy Orton, and Dean Ambrose with his ONE Pay Per View victory in the last 12 months. Over it... So I'll write about the past today. I'm getting tons of heat for a few recent columns particularly about Daniel Bryan. Some are suggesting that I've "flip flopped" for suggesting that maybe the WWE was right on assessing Bryan and for maybe quitting too early on Batista. Hardly a flip flop... I stand 100% behind my columns that I wrote during 2013-2014 on how WWE Management went out of its way to BURY Daniel Bryan. I also stand by my comments that WWE Management was wrong to push Batista so strong out of the gate upon his return. WWE gave him a ROYAL RUMBLE match victory in his first WWE match in over 3 years. Bryan had the fan momentum through 2013 and Batista was in poor cardio shape to start 2014. He's sucking wind, big time, at the Rumble. BUT... There's this word called HINDSIGHT, which is defined as understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed. Since Wrestlemania 30 during 2014, two key things have happened: (a) Daniel Bryan has become injury prone. Daniel Bryan not only had to forfeit his WWE Title at he won at Wrestlemania 30 by making Batista tap out, but also the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania 31. (b) Guardians of the Galaxy was a box office success with $333 million domestic and $441 million international. Guardians was the 3rd best drawing film of 2014 and the 3rd highest grossing Marvel film yet. Remarkable. Batista doesn't just have more Guardians films but other studios are now calling. He has a nice career in acting ahead of him. TWO signficant events, folks... WWE had grand plans of crowning Batista as WWE Champion at Wrestlemania 30 and then letting him remain WWE Champion through SummerSlam 2014. This would have given WWE some easy publicity as Batista promoted the film. Remember, John Cena was WWE Champion at SummerSlam 2014 instead following the Daniel Bryan injury. There's a good chance we could have seen Brock Lesnar vs. Batista as a huge match-up (at least on paper). Not sure of the actual opponent plans, but the insiders were reporting that Batista would have held the WWE Title all summer long until SummerSlam. It's not a matter of flipping or flopping... It's looking at actual facts in place and concluding that maybe the WWE had it right on Batista the entire time... Guardians of the Galaxy was a major success and WWE may have projected that by signing Batista through late 2013 after the film wrapped up production. But we should give Vince McMahon more credit... He is anti-smaller wrestlers, particuarly ones posing as his "heavyweight" champions. Just look at Wrestlemania 20 if you don't believe me. He tried to push both Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero as World Champions of both the RAW and Smackdown brands. Immediately after Wrestlemania 20, he saw the houseshow and merchandise numbers. Not impressive with both Benoit and Guerrero at the top of the cards. The only smaller guy he had some confidence in as Champion was Rey Mysterio and that's because Mysterio moved some serious merchandise with the kids. Long-term, however, he gave up on Mysterio as a main eventer too. Vince knows pro wrestling, folks... After all, he built that WWE empire brick by brick. Hosses and larger than life characters is what he's found to be the best successes at the top. If you're under 6 feet tall, best of luck... One of the main reasons why Vince is completely against a Lightweight or Cruiserweight division is due to the smaller wrestlers needing to take high impact risks in the ring compared to larger, heavier wrestlers. Just look at how Daniel Bryan wrestles. Constantly bouncing off the ropes, jumping off the top ropes, and taking crazy bumps. It was only a matter of time before the wear and tear of that style would catch up to Bryan. Sadly for Daniel Bryan, it was immediately after Wrestlemania 30 following the WWE's rewriting of booking plans for that year in favor of Bryan. In my opinion about Batista, his issue was timing... He should have been just an entrant into the Rumble and not the winner. Pushing him immediately upon his return after more than a 3 year absence irritated many fans. Batista has even said in an interview that he could have been better booked from Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania 30. Right from the horse's mouth! He was particularly critical of the WWE bringing him back as a babyface when he's a more natural heel. And he was right... He fit right in again by rejoining Evolution and did a fantastic job in that feud against the Shield. After Wrestlemania 30, Batista was in better ring shape and was returning to his in-ring form seen through 2010. If only the WWE waited a little bit on Batista during 2014. Maybe after the Evolution/Shield feud, Batista could then turn babyface and then win the WWE Title. The bigger issue with Daniel Bryan was NOT what happened with Batista, but what happened during late 2013. In my opinion, Batista was just the wrong person at the wrong time. In the end, WWE Management was actually right on pushing Batista during 2014. Guardians of the Galaxy was, in fact, a major box office success. Cannot deny that as a fact. The issue was timing. No, what happened between SummerSlam 2013 and Royal Rumble 2014 was the bigger issue. In particular, the WWE gave another chance to Randy Orton to become World Champion. Instead of using Randy Orton as an opponent for Daniel Bryan to overcome after SummerSlam, Bryan ended up being the doormat for Randy Orton. By Survivor Series 2013, Orton had moved on and WWE legitimately began converting Daniel Bryan into a member of the Wyatt Family. Seriously... Daniel Bryan should have put the stake through Randy Orton at Survivor Series 2013 and then set-up his eventual revenge with Triple H maybe at Royal Rumble 2014. Then, I would have run a rematch with John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 30. Then, AFTER Wrestlemania 30, the WWE could have built Batista back up, made him WWE Champion sometime between May-July, and then see what happens at SummerSlam 2014. WWE could have capitalized on the success of Guardians of the Galaxy. Instead, someone backstage felt the need to have Batista vs. Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 30. And who could that be? If only there was a guy backstage who groomed both of those wrestlers in the past. Maybe the same guy who convinced Batista to return to the WWE? Gee, who could that be? Fact is that it's NOT a "flip flop" on Daniel Bryan and Batista. It's hindsight to observe that maybe the Internet was wrong about Batista and misplaced their hate regarding Daniel Bryan getting screwed. The Internet Wrestling Community just cannot escape the FACT that (a) Daniel Bryan is injury prone and (b) Batista was part of a box office success. I stand by my columns during 2013-2014 but I don't place as much hate on Batista as many others did. The Internet Wrestling Community should be more angry at Randy Orton. This is a guy who gets repeat chance after chance to be World Champion. Orton has 12 WWE World Titles in 10 years and yet what does he have to show for it? And there he is again... Going right after the WWE Title right now against Seth Rollins. Better yet, Randy Orton BEAT Seth Rollins on the same show where Rollins became WWE Champion. Orton's thumb remains on top of the WWE roster for everybody except John Cena and Triple H and even that's difficult to say for the way Orton was able to beat John Cena to unite and defend the WWE World Titles. Do you think Seth Rollins is a failure as a WWE Champion? Sure, losing the Curb Stomp hurts, but look who he's feuding with after Wrestlemania 31. He's feuding with, who else, Randy Orton. Viewership has been consistently below 4 million views since the RAW following Wrestlemania 31. Hey, what was that big Roman Reigns singles feud last year? Oh yeah, it was against Randy Orton through SummerSlam 2014. Matches were ripped as being lackluster. As green as Roman Reigns may be, has anyone ever considered his opponent? Orton may be a talented performer but a top drawing wrestler and a wrestler who makes others look good... He is not. Orton's mega-push of 2013 broke Daniel Bryan, not Batista's return. Batista has a proven track record from his years on top of the Smackdown roster and now as a movie star. WWE Management was actually right on bringing back Batista... Just awful timing with the Royal Rumble 2014 match victory. But the true damage to Daniel Bryan was performed before Rumble 2014 from the same WWE Management that actually kept Bryan out of the 2014 Rumble match. Now, Batista is laughing all the way to the bank with his blossoming acting career and the WWE has nothing to show for it other than how willing he was to actually lose to Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 30 and to also put over the Shield. Batista will never come back and he doesn't need the WWE. But damn, WWE could use his star power right now because his Evolution buddy, Randy Orton, isn't working out nor are the 3 members of the Shield as main eventers. The WWE Creative team is awful, period. ------------------------------------------------------------ PHAT QUESTIONS I still receive tons of Email questions and I attempt to answer them the best I can... But some questions are quite provocative and could make for good column topics. I'll try this little section out to keep my columns fresh and to change it up a bit. Maybe it will encourage more quality questions to come in? Let's see how it works... Question #1 - Do you believe that Vince Russo should be a WWE Hall of Famer? Absolutely. If you go by the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame's format, Vince Russo was a major influence on the WWE and his input changed the WWE's programming forever. If you look at RAW during 1998-1999 and right now for 2015, you see the same exact format. Long interviews in the ring, backstage happenings where the camera man is ignored, and more soap opera based storylines. The biggest contribution from Russo, however, was his injection of adult themed storylines into WWE programming. After pro wrestling appeared cartoonish through 1996, Russo ramped up the vulgarity and made characters more real than they were before. Vince Russo oversaw the WWE during it's major growth period as lead writer between 1997-1999. Most will discredit Vince Russo because he struggled to replicate his success in other promotions outside of WWE. It's quite difficult to succeed, for example, when you don't have Vince McMahon, Mick Foley, the Rock, the Undertaker, and Steve Austin as characters. But by the time he joined WCW during late 1999, the promotion had already diminished. And TNA wrestling was, well, TNA wrestling... Nobody has succeeded in TNA because the Carters have created a culture there to fail. In my opinion, the WWE ought to consider adding Vince Russo to the current WWE Creative Team. Russo and Vince McMahon worked great together and the WWE could use Russo's creative input. Question #2 - Should Martha Hart remain bitter towards the WWE for her husband, Owen Hart, passing away in 1999? Of course. WWE was careless during Over the Edge 1999 with Owen Hart's life with that dangerous stunt. Anyone asking Martha Hart to "forgive" the WWE for what happened should ask themselves what they would do if a workplace was negligent in causing their loved one to pass away. Owen Hart was a WRESTLER. Let him wrestle. WWE wasted him following Survivor Series 1997 and made him into a comedic joke during 1999 with the return of the Blue Blazer. Then, in an attempt to one-up WCW with their stunts involving Sting dropping down from the ceiling, they tried stunts with Owen Hart but WWE officials wanted a faster release from the harness. That desire killed Owen Hart. However - The WWE can still put Owen Hart into the WWE Hall of Fame without Martha Hart. Owen Hart was his real name and he was a real person. WWE can put anyone into their Hall of Fame. Using past footage of him, that might be different. But they could easily convince Bret Hart to induct him. But I would still seek Martha's blessing. She lost her husband and father to their kids. WWE has to earn her respect. Question #3 - Do you think that WWE airing and promoting NXT is good for WWE's business? Many people like it and I'm sure many have bought WWE Network just to watch NXT shows. To the show's credit, it's booked like an indy show and is more about workrate in the ring than "sports entertainment". But going back to before 2002, if you wanted to watch Ohio Valley Wrestling (WWE's former developmental territory), you had to obtain tapes through trading or hope for decent video online. Remember, we were a few years away from YouTube and other improved video streaming services. You had to bust out that Real Video player and pray that the video was coded correctly. Point being, you didn't really see Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, and Brock Lesnar until they made their WWE debuts. Now, however, you can easily see the next developmental stars through your WWE Network connection on the NXT shows. That element of surprise is now gone. However - Where I believe NXT has added to pro wrestling is that it serves as an alternative for WWE programming. The in-ring product is pushed harder at NXT than WWE and that's hilarious to me. Goes to show you that Vince McMahon and his merry band of Hollywood writers aren't interfering with that show. WWE needs valid competition and it seems that NXT has provided an in-house solution. Question #4 - How much longer can TNA Wrestling survive? I believe they are just limping along... The Destination America channel is just not carried on most cable/satellite packages. Reportedly, Destination America officials are growing impatient for TNA's lack of success and might actually opt-out of their contract after 1 year. If so, we can consider TNA officially dead. I've heard it for a while from various Florida independent wrestlers that after the attempt to briefly appear on Monday Nights, several big signings, and trying to go on the road, accountants from management above TNA have seized control of the company. Costs have been scrutinized harshly for the last 3-4 years and it's a response to shrinking revenues coming in. TNA leaving Spike TV has now ensured that they've cut their television audience in half which hurts everything. In my opinion, TNA will only improve if they make a big splash executive signing. They need someone like Jim Ross (talent) or Paul Heyman (creative) to make key decisions to build a strong product. TNA had their chance with Paul Heyman but turned him down after not wanting to give him full power over the company (which he reportedly wanted). Problem with TNA or any competing promotion is a lack of creative minds in the pro wrestling business. With Heyman making WWE money and Jim Ross not wanting to take on a big power position, TNA is left limited options. I do wish the promotion the very best. Enjoy these questions? Let me know... 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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