Posted in: Mr. Tito
MR. TITO STRIKES BACK - WWE Should be a Bigger Company and Monday Night RAW Review
By Mr. Tito
Mar 16, 2015 - 11:45:58 PM

Follow Mr. Tito on Twitter.com: @titowrestling

We're getting close to Wrestlemania 31, but do wrestling fans care about the "Super Bowl of Pro Wrestling" as they have in previous years? Viewership suggests "no"... For the past 2 weeks, Monday Night RAW viewership has been below 4 million viewers. This is heading into a Wrestlemania where the WWE is supposed to make Roman Reigns its next major star. However, continued "YOU CAN'T WRESTLE" chants are thrown his way. As I said last week, before they became WWE Champion, you never heard those chants for the rises of Austin, Rock, Triple H, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, John Cena, and even Randy Orton even though history suggests that Orton's 2004 World Title run was a big premature.

Yet, we should have this discussion... WWE should be a freight train that not only dominates the pro wrestling business (and it does by a mile), but the entertainment business. When WWE's television contract with Comcast/NBC/Universal was up during 2014, they expected the "NASCAR Deal". Yet, despite drawing more viewers for many weeks than NASCAR, WWE did not receive a new deal even remotely close to what NASCAR received. In fact, there was only 2 real bidders for the WWE. AMC, who only wanted WWE if they could own it (not happening), and Comcast/NBC/Universal. WWE had zero leverage and thus took a less than expected deal which crushed their stock price at the time. But the fact is that the WWE wrestling product isn't good enough to merit more networks wanting their services. After all, WWE draws as much fans into their arenas for televised events as the NBA and NHL yet their revenue is much lower.

WWE is lucky that they have a workaholic like John Cena as their top draw. That man has been carrying the company on his back for years upon years. Having Cena has enabled the WWE to make bad decision after bad decision on talent. In the end, they can always put the World Title on John Cena and everything will be just fine. Watch what happens if (or when) Roman Reigns flops as the #1 guy. WWE Title goes back to John Cena. Always does and always will, as long as he's still active on the roster. Cena is not getting any younger which thus justifies why the WWE should try someone new at the top. But NOT a guy who regularly hears "YOU CAN'T WRESTLE" chants during his matches. Sorry, but I've NEVER heard "YOU CAN'T WRESTLE" directed at ANY of the participants in the JOKE of an Intercontinental Title Ladder Match, and that includes R-Truth!

Many want to blame it on Vince McMahon. After all, he is majority WWE stock shareholder, CEO, and Board Chairman. That's pretty easy to do... Yet, I've seen Vince McMahon change the wrestling industry not once but twice. Once in the 1980's with the rise of Rock & Roll Wrestling fueled by Hulkamania and the other time with the Stone Cold revolution or Attitude Era of the late 1990's. It's certainly easy to get complacent at the top, but at least Vince McMahon has a resume. As I've said before, Vince McMahon relies on his supporting cast more than you think... During the 1980's and 1990's, he had many people backstage with him who had lots of experience in the wrestling business. Pat Patterson, Jim Cornette, Gerald Briscoe, Jim Ross, Bruce Pritchard, Jerry Jarrett, Terry Taylor, JJ Dillon, and even to an extent, Vince Russo to feed him ideas. All of those guys are gone... Now, he has put more responsibilities on his Executive Producer Kevin Dunn, his daughter Stephanie McMahon, and his son-in-law Triple H... The results? RAW viewership since 2000, the peak television year, has been cut in half...

And everybody is quick to anoint Triple H as the "savior" because they are buying into the Fool's Gold known as NXT. Yeah, congrats to Triple H... He takes a big pile of corporate WWE money and surrounds what is basically a glorified Independent Promotion. Could you imagine if WWE did the same thing for Jim Cornette and Danny Davis's Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) during the early 2000's? OVW packed houses locally in Kentucky with wrestlers like Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Batista, and Shelton Benjamin with only local television coverage. Imagine if WWE acknowledged their developmental system back then? The OVW roster during the early 2000's was stacked beyond belief and they could have actually drawn more viewers if they had a WWE Network. When WWE actually publicized their Top 10 WWE Network viewed shows, NXT could never crack the Top 5. Go look at many of the top Independent promotions in the United States and you'll see 3-4 Star matches nightly from their performers, too... What sets NXT or Indy promotions apart from the WWE is the fact that for the WWE, you must be able to move merchandise, draw television numbers, draw well for public appearances, and wrestle a much lighter style than most independent promotions.

Fact is that the "savior", Triple H, has reportedly been at WWE production meetings as early as 2002, which Steve Austin reported in his book and DVD documentary as issues he had with WWE management during that year. If you watch Triple H's video documentary, he suggests that Vince invited him to meetings earlier... By 2003, Triple H was married to Stephanie McMahon, the lead writer and eventual EVP of Creative for the WWE. He was there regularly and contributing in increasing amounts to meetings as many backstage reports suggested. By the early 2010's, Triple H became Vince's #1 adviser and EVP of Talent, Creative, and Live Events. How is he NOT responsible for WWE's sluggish business? He's the same guy who pushed HARD for the multiple Sheamus pushes and was responsible for Sin Cara being brought to the WWE. He's been in full agreement about the Roman Reigns push, too, and HHH was the mastermind behind Batista's 2014 MEGA PUSH to start that year. Triple H was personally involved the momentum destruction of CM Punk during 2011 as Punk recounts. Exactly where has Triple H's Creative Mind been?

CM Punk said it PERFECTLY during his 2011 "pipebomb" speech just before the Money in the Bank 2011 Pay Per View event: "Vince McMahon is a millionaire who SHOULD BE a billionaire!"

Just nailed it. WWE has completely whiffed on the PG-Era. While you shouldn't bring back the extremely trashy stuff like Hot Lesbian Action (wait a minute) or legitimate domestic violence towards women, but you don't have to give Nickelodeon a run for its money on content either. If you watch many networks beyond 9am, saying words like "shit" regularly has actually become common for shows. You can have a little "edge" in your pro wrestling shows or at least save it for the 10pm hour if you're resistant to parental groups attacking again. If WWE believes that they are catering towards the Corporate climate, then I laugh... Investors just care about profits for the most part... WWE is not generating profits as indicated by their losses last year.

But the wrestlers pushed since the Ohio Valley Wrestling "Class of 2002" (Cena, Lesnar, Orton, Batista) have failed to generate a long-term solution to replacing those OVW wrestlers as top draws. The best hopes since John Cena won the WWE Title and Batista won the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 21 have been CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. As stated repeatedly by this column, the WWE didn't care to push those former Ring of Honor greats. CM Punk has actual merchandise numbers to validate his drawing power while Daniel Bryan just needs to show SportsCenter clip after clip of sports event crowds doing the "YES!" chants. Yet, both Punk and Bryan were sabotaged. WWE could have performed well with CM Punk, Randy Orton, John Cena, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar while cycling in the rest of the roster around their "core" superstars. Then, when any of those top drawing wrestlers are hurt or have fallen off, then push one of your up and comers to the top. You know, someone who has proven to be a legitimate midcard champion.

I remember a time when the WWE could headline Houseshows with the Intercontinental Title or Tag Titles being defended... Can't do that now...

The fact is that Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H are POOR assessors of talent, particularly for World Champions/Main Eventers. Since Cena and Batista became champions at Wrestlemania 21 during 2005, complete bombs for the last 10 years. Briefly after debuting from developmental, Sheamus was pushed to the WWE Title during late 2009 and kept pushing him as champion through 2010. Also during 2010, WWE tried to make Jack Swagger become a main eventer by awarding him the World Heavyweight Championship. Then, the WWE tried to push Miz to the WWE Title. As evidenced by his career since the WWE Title crowning during late 2010, he's fumbled the ball on push after push. Eventually, WWE figured out that Miz couldn't cut it after Wrestlemania 27 during 2011 and the next selection was Alberto Del Rio. Where is he now, by the way? Del Rio won the title at SummerSlam 2011 and by Survivor Series 2011, WWE figured out what a bust he was.

However, during 2011-2014, the WWE had two natural break-out stars that the FANS selected as their next main eventers. CM Punk got naturally over during 2011 when he moved to the RAW roster, changed up his look (awesome slicked back shorter hair), and was allowed to speak his mind on the mic about the WWE. Daniel Bryan did nothing but wrestle amazing matches since his 2010 debut with the Nexus. But then, being paired with AJ Lee in a boyfriend/girlfriend situation and then as a comedy tag team with Kane, Bryan was able to show his personality. Both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan were giving the WWE exactly what they needed in the next Main Eventers: Great Wrestlers and Great Personalities. And they were crazy over, too, despite the unfavorable booking given to them by the WWE Creative Team. CM Punk's momentum was destroyed immediately following his match at SummerSlam 2011 in favor of pushing COO Triple H and Alberto Del Rio. From there, CM Punk was given a WWE Title run where he barely main evented RAW or PPVs. For 2013, he lost to everybody... Daniel Bryan was owned by Sheamus in less than 20 seconds at Wrestlemania 28 and then his SummerSlam 2013 WWE Title victory was quickly undercut in favor of pushing Randy Orton (again) and trying to push newcomer Bray Wyatt.

Under Vince, HHH, Stephanie, and Dunn, the WWE is a poorly run wrestling product. Vince McMahon doesn't have a VP of Talent like Jim Ross to have the balls to disagree with him or someone like Pat Patterson who is an amazing idea man even when the gimmick is completely awful. That, or anyone with wrestling experience who knows the business well and can assess talent far better than Dunn, Stephanie, or Triple H. Vince is at his worst without competition and with enablers like Dunn, Steph, and HHH. He's not getting senile but he's just not hiring the right surrounding talent to delegate authority properly. That, and as Board Chairman and CEO, he's not properly performing job evaluations for his daughter, son-in-law, and his best friend. Vince is highly impaired right now by his top generals whereas in the past, his generals disagreed with him and changed his mind on many things. Demand is NOT THERE for fans to want to pay $9.99 per month for the WWE Network because of the poor product and talent assessment performed by Vince, Dunn, Triple H, and Stephanie.

Again, WWE needs to thank its lucky stars that they have John Cena. The guy is a workaholic and continues to draw well for them.

But that's not to say that the WWE is a total failure... Thanks to the rest of the competition (I'm looking at YOU TNA Wrestling and Ring of Honor), the WWE has "pick of the litter" for wrestling prospects. Funny thing is that there are many great indy wrestlers that the WWE refuses to take on or the WWE would rather develop homegrown stars (see Roman Reigns). Just grab an edition of the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 and see how many people are still trying to make it as a pro wrestler. Since late 2012 when the Shield debuted at Survivor Series, the WWE has unloaded its developmental system. Shield members (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns), Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan), and Rusev. That's a ton of talent, larged sized to boot in several cases, that were added to the WWE roster. For the most part, all 7 guys have been utilized relatively well with some cases of impatience shown by WWE.

However, here we go again on talent assessment... Out of the 7 wrestlers just mentioned, is Roman Reigns the most ready to become WWE Champion? Is he the most worthy to defeat Brock Lesnar, especially after Lesnar has beat Triple H, CM Punk, Big Show, Undertaker (ending the streak!), John Cena, and John Cena/Seth Rollins in the last 2 years? At least Bray Wyatt has a few big matches under his belt to point to as being ready and his mic skills are good. Seth Rollins has been amazing as a heel and a beast inside the ring. Dean Ambrose has worked hard all year but the booking has made him lose repeatedly. Rusev keeps improving as an in-ring performer and the heel heat keeps growing. I could easily argue Reigns over Harper/Rowan at this stage in their careers.

Can you honestly argue Roman Reigns over Daniel Bryan for 2015, though? Bryan is STILL over and that's despite repeat attempts to sabotage Bryan upon his late 2014 return. Bray Wyatt beats him in a match, the quick exit in the Royal Rumble, and cleanly losing to Roman Reigns. Total destruction of a guy who appeared "over" enough to change Wrestlemania 30's booking plans during 2014.

Roman Reigns could be great in the future... He just needs more seasoning as a singles competitor both in the ring and as a personality. It's just not there yet and it's making fans scream "YOU CAN'T WRESTLE" and "ROMAN SUCKS" as Reigns clings to his Shield music and look with all of his life.

As I hinted at above, just a complete lack of consideration and respect for your midcard. The strongest eras of ALL TIME were the late 1980's WWE with strong Tag and IC Titles and late 1990's with strong Tag and IC Titles. You have to fill an undercard with something that can keep fans entertained for 2 hours before they get to the final hour which should host main event action. The model is so simple and proven... Vince, Dunn, HHH, and Stephanie should simply watch their own WWE Network to see how it is done. It's only $9.99.

If WWE goes the Roman Reigns route for the rest of 2015, it will be a disaster. He's NOT ready and guys like Randy Orton and John Cena will be waiting for another WWE Title reign. Why? Because Reigns failing will cause Vince to put on the security blanket while blaming the quality of the developmental system because of Reigns failing.

Soooooooooooooo much money left on the table based on poor talent and creative decisions by the braintrust of the WWE. What's worse is that 3 out of 4 are freakin' Board members now. Nothing will get fixed... WWE should be a much bigger and stronger company and its management should be held accountable by its Board.

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RAW THOUGHTS

"I Can. I Will" Ugh... Just an embarrassing promo tonight by Roman Reigns. He just doesn't have it. Audible "Daniel Bryan" chant going on. As I said above and in other columns... ON THEIR WAY UP to the WWE Title from their push, did you ever hear "YOU CAN'T WRESTLE" or another wrestler's name chanted at Hogan, Macho, Bret Hart, HBK, Steve Austin, the Rock, Triple H, or John Cena? Nope... The bigger issue is that they've built up Brock Lesnar to be WAY TOO STRONG that it would take a super-human effort by someone to beat him. And damn, Paul Heyman is TRYING to talk up Reigns but it's just not sticking. Reigns is NOT READY to be WWE Champion and is NOT CREDIBLE to defeat Brock Lesnar during 2015.

I really like the Larry Zbyszko induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. Considering that 1974 was when he won Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year, the guy wrestled for a long time and was quite capable as a performer during the early 1990's. What I like about Larry's induction is that it's another link to the 1970's era of WWE (or WWWF or WWF). His feud with Bruno Sammartino was quite huge and drew quite well. Larry has the greatest nickname, too... "The Living Legend". Most of all, every time I look at him, I see Zybyszko as a Kevin Spacey pro wrestling clone...

I'm actually excited for the AJ Lee/Paige vs. Bella Twins match-up. Call me crazy, but I think it might really surprise at Wrestlemania 31. Both Bellas have improved greatly as performers and AJ/Paige can flat-out wrestle. I figure the crowd could be hot for it as Bellas are hated and AJ will get pops. Decent chemistry with AJ and Nikki tonight.

I'm so sick of the Authority and how Old Man Kane and Old Man Big Show are the enforcers or "Walking Glass Ceiling" for the stable. The WWE has zero plans to make either guy WWE Champion anytime soon, so why let them dominate everybody? Seriously, guys... I've been writing for LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com since October 1998. I covered both Kane and Big Show then and I'm still writing on them now. Fucking forever... Old Man Tito wants these guys off his lawn!

I hope that the WWE Creative Team has good things in store for Damien Sandow (Mizdow)... He's the guy who is actually over from their team, not Miz. Fans are completely burned out by this guy. Sandow has proven that he has a legitimate personality that fans want to enjoy. Sometimes, you need to find yourself in the midcard when the main event push doesn't appear to be working... As bad as some of Sandow's gimmicks were, it was many booking attempts to let him shine. He took that stuntman gimmick and made it work. Miz lost to Ryback tonight which makes me wonder what on earth the WWE is doing with that guy, long-term?

What the fuck, WWE Films? You are owned by WWE corporation whose biggest draw of the year is Wrestlemania. In fact, Wrestlemania probably helps fund many of the straight-to-video films that are created through WWE Films. Yet, Lana is NOT allowed to work through Wrestlemania 31? Are you fucking kidding me, WWE? They had the PERFECT ending in place to let Lana have some time to work on that WWE Film, too... Remember at Fastlane? She interfered and caused John Cena to lose to Rusev. So she tries it again at Wrestlemania 31... However, by accident, John Cena bumps into her on the apron and knocks her to the ground. Rusev shows legitimate concern and is screaming for the paramedics to help. John Cena takes advantage and defeats him... The event humanizes Rusev and helps evolve his character to not just having a spokesperson in Lana, but a love interest that he can care for and parade around like "Macho Man" Randy Savage did with Miss Elizabeth. Ohhhhhhh yeah! But WWE blew it again... Stupid, stupid, stupid... How can you skip Wrestlemania?!?

LOL @ the New Day. What a waste of time. It will be a new day when all 3 of those wrestlers aren't treated like second class citizens by the WWE.

WWE is trying to sell the Intercontinental Title Ladder Match HARD... Probably the show stealer, but it's still disappointing to see Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, and Dolph Ziggler getting disrespected. Pick any of those 3 and they are far more ready to be WWE Champion and top babyface than Roman Reigns. Pretty entertaining 6 man match tonight, though... I just wonder will all 7 guys still care about the IC Title after Wrestlemania?

Just sad to see that Bray Wyatt is kinda getting sloppy seconds with the Undertaker now that the Wrestlemania streak is over. With his size, mic skills, and in-ring ability, Wyatt is primed for big things... I'd love to see Wyatt paired up with Roman Reigns just to outwork him.

Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins was the main event. Throughout the show, Seth Rollins was having issues with his fellow Authority members. Seth Rollins arrived with a mic in hand and well, it was all a set-up. All of the Authority members came out to attack. Orton, the idiot, instead of jumping over the barrier to run away, he grabs a chair and re-enters the ring. Dumb dumb dumb psychology. The crowd knows what's up with a "WE WANT STING" chant. Just as the Authority tried to attack, the lights went out and Sting appeared!! Sting and Randy Orton quickly clear the ring and Sting taunts Triple H. Poor Noble and Mercury take the beating. Fans are chanting "STING, STING, STING" loudly, which is how you should chant for an over babyface, right Roman Reigns? Great ending...

LAST WORD: Ending saved RAW from being a booking disaster. Seems like Orton/Rollins, Sting/HHH, Rusev/Cena, and Wyatt/Taker will be just fine on their hype but the real cold sore of the WWE remains this Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar match. It's broken and should have NEVER been booked. WWE, however, is not turning back... Unless they have Seth Rollins "save the day" by cashing in that Money in the Bank briefcase, the WWE is set for a disaster. C+ for this show.

SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE!

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