So, what's been going down in the wrestling world by now? I'm sure you've all heard of some of the stupid things that have happened, even the down right ridiculous, but let's now take some a few of events and take a closer look at them.
SHUTTING DOWN
If you live in England, then you, like me, probably get your WWE T-Shirts from WWE Euroshop. It's been trading for years and now it's shutting down. A post on their website claims that from August 1st, all details and orders will be handed over to WWEShop.Com. That's fine, apart from one thing. People in England had to choice of paying for their items by credit card or British Postal Order. WWEShop.Com is in America. So as of August 1st those English people who payed by British Postal Order because they did not have credit cards (me included) can no longer purchase WWE T-Shirts.
Call me Mr. Picky, but that is dumb business sense. WWE are going to lose so much money on their T-Shirts now, because only half of the people that brought them before will buy them after august 1st. If you don't have a credit card, then you either have to rely on another shop getting them in (which in the U.K they never do), attend live wrestling events (if you're going just for a T-Shirt then it's a ridiculous price to pay), or pay extortionate prices on Ebay for them.
This saddens me, because I have been a long standing customer of WWE Euroshop, I spent thousands there over the years and now, no longer will I be able to purchase brand new WWE T-Shirts. What a damn shame it is.
HANG YOUR FLAG
A few posts ago, I informed you that Chris Jericho had been suspened from WWE, due to his desecration of the Brazilian flag at a live WWE Event in Sao Paulo. It seemed geniune at the time, there were news reports that Jericho was going to be arrested for it. Though, it did strike me something was wrong, when WWE paraded it as main feature news on WWE.COM. If WWE do feature an article on their website about a wrestler behaving badly then it's usually in the scroll down column at the bototm of the page, not on the main news reel.
This leads me to believe that the whole situation is rubbish and nothing more that another WWE fabrication. WWE don't like to parade their talent that have disgraced the comapny about, which means that posting the article as main news is out of chracter. That is unless they are planning to do somethign with it.
If it was real, that what an absolute dumb thing to do. You don't go to another country and disgrace their flag in full view of the natives. That has to be considered as a candidate for the list of 'Dumb Shit to do -2012'. Though it does make you wonder a couple of things. 1) If Chris Jericho did do it, then WWE must have sanctioned it somewhere along the line. For a WWE Superstar to act without the orders of WWE Management is highly rare these days, if it happens then it's a sackable offence, not a suspension. 2) I don't remember anyone getting in this much of a stress when Shawn Michaels stuck the Canadian flag up his nose in the late 1990's.
The final issue that makes me believe this is all a WWE staged issue, is that Chris Jericho's suspension and this incident comes bang on the date that Chris Jericho was due to leave WWE for a few months, to tour with his band, Fozzy. A coincidence? In the wrestling world, there's no such thing.
RATE ME BABY
The lastest news coming from the WWE camp, is that it will no longer concentrate on pay per view ratings, instead it's attention will swing to its television ratings. Not a bad idea, if you're going to do it right.
WWE Raw is switching to a three hour format, which, in theory, will allow WWE to concentrate on the lesser known talent, giving them storylines and a platform on which to elevate them to the main stage.That's in theory. The problem with that, is that WWE hasn't done this with any of its other three hour Raw's, so am I convinced they will suddenly start doing it now? No!
Ryback and the dull as night Brodus Clay may get some exposure, not that we need to see them again, apart from that, expect to see more John Cena, more Big Show, more big stars stealing the light of the young guns. And just a side note. Yes, I'm all for WWE pushing new stars, but Brodus Clay does not have what it takes. I suppose it was fine him squashing jobbers like JTG, but when WWE are booking him to easily beat people like The Miz and Dolph Ziggler - the future of this company - then they've overstepped the mark. Especially when they'll just lose interest in the characters a few months down the line and send them to the scrap heap.
On the other hand, WWE now have no excuse not to push Lord Tensai. The guy has laguished for weeks on Superstars. So with an extra hour, WWE have no reason not to push him. With the three hour format, WWE have really booked themselves into a corner. If they do push new talent, then they can stand proud and say the three hoir format is worth the time. If they drop the young talent into the abyss and concentrate even more on the big stars, then they have no argument to make against the three hours being too long with not enough talent development showcased.
HOW NOT TO MAKE STARS AND ATTRACT PEOPLE
WWE has for so long been awful at promoting and creating new stars. That is old news. But it strikes me that no one at Titan Towers has taken the lead in looking into why. Ok, they deem Cena and Orton and Punk and Sheamus etc, more important and fair enough they are the ones at the moment that draw the crowds. But it won't always be like that.
When Cena is gone, when Sheamus is retired, when people are bored of seeing Punk and Orton, what are WWE going to do then? In the 90's they were great at developing new talent. Luger, Hart, Michaels, all were a product of the WWE machine (Luger came from WCW and made into a super babyface by WWE). So why can't they keep doing it and when it look like they are, why does WWE sabotage its own efforts?
Cases in point. Brodus Clay. WWE have invested so much time into this boring, dull, beach whale that they're happy to take time away from the matches that could shine on PPV and give it to him and Ryback, yet they're not preapred to let him look like a match to the main stars. The Raw after Over the Limit 2012, Big Show layed waste to Brodus Clay, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth like they were nothing. After all that time building the three up, WWE undo that work in seconds, just to make the Big Show, who has had his time in the spotlight and done nothing with it, look fearesome.
What is the point of this? You're making Clay, Kingston and Truth (the tag team champions) look weak, people won't buy into them if you do this. By rights, if WWE had been serious about the Clay push, then they'd have had Clay either out up more of a fight or beat down Big Show. Imagine how good that would have looked for Clay, it would have made people stand up and take notice of him. Big Show didn't need to look like a monster because he already does. WWE could have done something great here, instead they piss their work up the wall.
The last case in this segment, will be a guy by the name of Andy Levine. Many of you might not know him. If not, then he won last year's WWE Tough Enough competition. You know the one where wannabe wrestlers comete for a WWE contract? The winner is meant to recieve a wrestling career. Well, WWE have released Levine from his contract even before he made it to WWE T.V. The point, anyone? In fact, that technically means that WWE are telling us that the competition is worthless.
TWITTER ME
Just a quick word about something really funny on twitter. It happened last month but I like it. A.J tweeted that she would take the blame for Daniel Bryan's loss at Wrestlemania 28, then adding that if she was the one who took the blame then that technically means she was World Heavyweight Champion and she lost the main event.
Three problems. 1) She was never World Champion 2) Bryan and Shemaus was the curtain jerker, not the main event and 3) A.J is talking like it's all real. For those of you who don't know, wrestling is worked out. It shouldn't stop us loving it, but come on A.J, you have better things to do with your life than pretend your job is actually real, don't you?
REALITY SUCKS
Who remember the WWE interactive Pay Per Views, Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday? Yes? No? Well, they were pay per events which the fans had control of. You could vote on each match and decide the opponent or the match type or the Championship title on the line. They were amusing at times, but never really worked to what WWE wnated to them to work towards. In other words, fans wanted to see something completley different to what WWE wnated to book.
Now, WWE have announced that Raw will go more reality based. More interactive, fans will be able to vote on things, shape feuds, all that. It's a really bad idea. WWE will not like what the fans vote for. WWE will end up dropping this idea becuase it does not like being told what to do with its own talent. If it did, then they'd open up to storylines from their fans. Yet on WWE.COM it clearly states that you should not sub,it story ideas as they will be destroyed and not used. Why, I don't know. WWE could do with all the help they can get. Of course, it's all because they cannot stand someone else taking the credit and not them. And they don't want to take the chance of someone from outside the company coming up with a better storyline than anyone writing for WWE. Then, it wouldn't be theirs.
What WWE does, TNA attempts to do - even if it comes out even worse. So after the WWE announcement, TNA followed suit and claimed that they would also go more reality based. Why Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan think it's better to copy than to come up with something origonal is beyond me. But Hogan clamis he'll fix the problems TNA has, without actually acknowledging that he created most of them himself. Does he think he's doing us a favour?
Anyway, this comes from a statement from Dixie Carter:
“We took a step back to look at our product with fresh eyes,” says TNA IMPACT WRESTLING President Dixie Carter. “People watch TV differently today than before, and the wrestling format itself has become stale. What happens backstage, in the office and on the road is so entertaining that we decided it was time to pull the curtain way back and give viewers a peek at that world as well. Over the next few weeks and months, viewers will continue to see our show evolve as we expose more real aspects of our business that have always been sacred,”
Basically this means that TNA are going to now bombard us with backstage goings on, let us into the rooms where results are decided. This is a bad idea. No one wants to see people sititng around a table deciding the results of the upcoming 'Impact' then watch, because they'll know the results before the matcn happens. This idea can have no good ending for either company.
NOT SO WEDDED BLISS
I'm usually critical of John Cena, but this time, I feel sorry for him. The news broke recently that John Cena was divorcing his wife. In recent weeks, his wife has hired the same lawyer as the former Mrs. Linda Hogan, who took Hulk Hogan for millions.
The solicitor claims that even though Cena's wife signed a prenuptial agreement before the marriage in 2009, she still has the right to millions of dollars of his money. Now for this time only, I'm on John Cena's side. His wife didn't earn the money, his wife didn't sell the merchandise and his wife didn't go out into arenas night after night, in front of fans who hated him, took their abuse and still came out with a smile on his face. Did she?
John Cena I believe never said he wouldn't give her anything, yet now the money grabber wants millions that don't belong to her. Is anyone else envisaging an Attitude Adjustment from a court pugh?
Anyway, I hope John Cena wins this one. Because she doesn't deserve millions. And if she gets it, then we're going to be forced to sit through more John Cena WWE Championship reigns and more awful merchindise just so he can make back what he has to give her.
WRESTLEMANIA 29
Early plans for Wrestlemania 29 (they could change) are to have Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker. A match that would pull millions, agreed, but it's not a match we haven't seen before. They fought numerous times in 2002 and 2003.
This is the reason why Brock Lesnar is out of WWE T.V for the time being. So WWE can leave enough dates on his contract to properly build a feud with the Undertaker next year. However expect to see Lesnar in the build up to SummerSlam this year, because he will face Triple H on the Summer Spectacle.
A VIPERS DEN
Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Randy Orton had it all. A great fan base, a great career, now he decides to violate WWE's Welness Policy and get himself suspended for 60 days. So we now won't see him until the end of July or the bgining of August. Idiot!
I'm an Orton fan, but that is ridiculous. For fans that don't know what this means, it means that in WWE's random drug testing, Randy Orton tested positive for a drug that wasn't on the WWE's allowed list and one that he didn't have a prescription for. Why would he chose to do something like this at the peak of his career? And at a time when WWE are seriously short on stars?
NO WAY OUT 2012
I just wanted to add, that with the internet issues solved, you lucky people will be getting a full preview of No Way Out 2012. Check back each week for new blogs and on PPV weekends for previews of the upcoming events.
Onwards and Upwards...
