WWE Musings

Happy Halloween, Enthusiasts! Hope you’ve got some fun planned.   Since I have no youngins and don’t feel like dressing up, I’m staying in and having my own grand ole time and it just so happens I get to work from home too.   That means I get to witness Crown Jewel live.   Now, I can’t say I’m looking forward to this event but I am, as always, curious.   We all know that the WWE has put themselves in a precarious spot and though it very well could be seen as a song & dance for foreigners, Crown Jewel has to amount to quite a bit more than that. Though Hell in a Cell only had 1 bad spot, that left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.   I suppose people felt the WWE would “feel the heat” and “rise to the challenge”.   The display could very easily be construed as the WWE not recognizing the situation.   They may have very well believed they didn’t have a “threat” to worry about and in a way, they may not but if they don’t deliver, they certainly will.   Whether they me

A Merry Monday to You, Enthusiasts! This is an important night.   The WWE seems to be going out of its way to tank its own flagship show as not only are they set to continue the Rusev, Lana & Lashley saga but now, there’s some bad press circulating over a member of the NXT roster.   Now, knowing that the WWE probably has a fanbase that consists of a fair share of text book “rednecks”, it’s no surprise that the WWE runs into sensitivity issues from time to time.   This time around, it appears to be more of a “tone deaf” sort of situation as a Jordan Myles called out the WWE for what he feels was a blatant show of what I call “minstrel-ization”.   You’ll have to see the shirt for yourself to make your own decision.   I can see where he can make the allegation but this seems a bit off…why make the accusations after approving the shirt?   This is not the full story.   Yet, I do wonder how this idea didn’t get struck down sooner.   I could see this if it was like 15-20 years ago

Greetings Enthusiasts! Here we are at another Friday night and I have to tell ya, the stakes are kinda high.    The WWE is seeing staggering drops in ratings of late and now have no choice but to turn things around.   Fortunately, SmackDown has been holding its own of late.   It’s RAW that has to make serious changes.  Personally, I’ve been voicing in this here blog that the WWE should be prepared to lose fans as they retool itself.   Some people may simply not like what it has become and that’s okay.   I can’t vouch for them when it comes to putting poor content out but I can understand it not suiting everyone’s taste.   The way they may continue to go, hopefully with improvements, may not go over well with all fans.   A lot feel they should mimic AEW and NXT’s style and presentation more and show less of the corporate glitz it seems to.    I don’t mind the glitz because the WWE definitely had its grittier days and it’s good to see that they’ve “made it” and it should be clear

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts? I got front row seats to a brush fire.   They’re quite common in SoCal. It wasn’t that big.   Anyway, we are gathered again tonight to witness WWE’s RAW offering. As you probably know, these are some interesting times as rival factions continue to make their play for wrestling fans.   AEW continues to make strides and I hear that New Japan is making a play for American markets.   That may not take as well because they tend to “really wrestle”.   Not to say that the matches aren’t still booked and decided beforehand but the outcomes and matches look actually wrestled and I’m not sure that the American palate will adapt.   People will either like it or they won’t.   We’re used to more showy displays. They’re almost like Olympic style.   We’ll see how it takes. As for the WWE Universe, they have to reestablish themselves as leader of the pack.   I think AEW is doing that for the most part ratings wise yet, WWE has its street-cred to worry about and it

Happy Friday, Enthusiasts! Did you make it through the week in one piece?   Kudos if you did.   I know it was a tough one for some of you out there.    So, here we are, ready to watch this third installment of SmackDown on FOX.   Since we were last here, there have been some managerial changes.   It appears Eric Bischoff just wasn’t up to snuff in his new Executive Director role and somewhere down the line he didn’t do himself any favors by displeasing FOX as well.   Appears the writing was on the wall and someone simply read it.   Too bad.   I suppose they are falling back on whoever was running things before.   Most would say that’s just Vince McMahon but I was never so quick to point the finger.   I don’t doubt when the material is subpar he may rewrite it but if it’s no better than what he can do, I’m sure it gets sent out.   I just don’t buy these sentiments that he’s that controlling.   I buy more that is what is put out there for us to believe.   Remember, given the concep

A Merry Monday to You, Enthusiasts! Did it go smoothly?  Mine is currently free of complaints.  Definitely had worse.  Well, we turn our attention to RAW and it appears that a lot of WWE fans or “ex”-WWE Fans are still butt-hurt from this past Hell in a Cell.  Let’s be honest, the bent out of shaped-ness stems more from watching a character fans felt had promise in the form of The Fiend getting the WWE Treatment and thusly get completely tanked.  The WWE is supposed to be coming at us with its best and that’s what we get….again!  That appears to be the general consensus.   I was never sold on that gimmick but, I suppose what I’m getting at is that a lot of the fans are taking this really seriously and I’m just not sure it is that serious.  I get it as a fan, though.  Just look at how Game of Thrones ended.  People are still bent out of shape and it’s just a TV show.  People invest into that which they love and those most bent out of shape are inadvertently displaying that they

Happy Friday, Enthusiasts! Hope it’s a good one.   So, let’s get right to it.   We have SmackDown in the position of trying to somehow start the “rebuilding process”.   I call it that because it’s quite clear that the WWE has to proceed differently.   RAW wasn’t bad or at least as bad as it can be but it still had plenty left to be desired and SmackDown is now in the familiar position of having to correct the overall course.   But before we get into all that, let’s touch on the news of the matches of Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury and Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Hernandez getting booked for Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.   Apparently, Hernandez is WWE property now as he has signed a multi-year contract and this is quite an interesting development.   This is a chance for the WWE to change the landscape a little more and blur the lines between fiction and reality.   With more legit MMA fighters, the general “wrestling action” is set to change.   For me, I would have Hernandez as a Heel who

Greetings Enthusiasts! Well, I’m not surprised at how Hell in a Cell ended but I will say that it is poor timing on the WWE’s part.    Now the question becomes, do they care?  Because if they don’t, I would read that as the company more or less folding.  To pull in new fans requires quality content and if they refuse to offer it then they basically make the statement that they refuse to stay in business.   I doubt it will go that far but do take note of how they proceed.   We have to now look to see if WWE Management is operating under some kind of delusion.   That's a step passed "out of touch". Yet, let us be fair.   The main event was the only real low point of HIAC.   Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch should be very proud of themselves.   They came out and set a very respectable tone and even get to take match of the night.   The Ladies in general delivered as expected and the Men came off too self-involved to care about portraying a clean match, realistic but un

A Good Sunday to You, Enthusiasts! So, I see a good deal of people felt a little undercut by the first SmackDown of the New Era.   Fair enough but I think we shouldn’t miss the real point here.   The WWE made a fair attempt at decent storytelling.   I understand that the bulk of the WWE Universe doesn’t feel this should have be done at Kofi Kingston’s expense yet, it’s merely what I touched on before and on the Twitters.   This is a more “realistic” outcome.   Rumor has it that FOX wants SmackDown to have a more realistic tone and this appears to be the initial attempt and I’m intrigued.   So, what the WWE now must do is validate this move.   They have to if they actually want to establish the drama.   I’m up for it…pleasantly surprised actually.   It’s one of the few things I didn’t expect. I would have to assume that this will be addressed tonight somewhere because judging by the advertised card, there’s a lot of room for “surprises”.   Only 4 matches scheduled either me

A Good Friday, Enthusiasts! And it’s not even a Holy one 😉 So tonight, we witness the first SmackDown on FOX making the new era official.   To usher us in, it looks like “The Rock”, Dwayne Johnson will be gracing us with his presence and rumor has it that Randy Orton is trying to orchestrate a match with him for WrestleMania 36 and I’m strangely fine with this.   Yet, what we may not have considered, is whether that match will hold up in this current atmosphere.   Naturally, many may just marvel at the spectacle but we have to admit, it’s been some time since The Rock has actually wrestled and if you’ve ever strolled down Memory Lane and looked back at some of the Attitude Era matches, you may be surprised at how dated the material may look.   I don’t doubt these 2 as performers though.   If this goes down on the greatest stage, we shouldn’t be disappointed. There’s also word floating around that Finn Bálor is heading back to NXT.   I hope that this is temporary if it is tru