WWE Musings

  A Merry Monday to You, Enthusiasts.  For those who celebrate it, I hope your Christmas was splendid. I have to say, I enjoyed mine. Kinda miss my Entertainment Industry days when I more or less had the last 2 weeks of the year off but alas, those days are no more, just another casualty of the pandemic. Not complaining, just noting the difference. As for news in the wrestling world, there are some stirrings. Let’s chat about them, shall we. So, this Hook kid is following in his father’s footsteps over at AEW. Some are taking note of how he no-sold a pile driver recently, never mind how he slapped Cody Rhodes after getting out of school this week too. He’s definitely making waves but he reads like a punk 15-year-old. Why doesn’t Wardlow cram him into a locker? Maybe I’m a bit too WWE but this kid isn’t winning me over. I know I’m not the demographic but I officially don’t get the hype. Is he cruising for a bruising or are we supposed to take him seriously? Personally, he looks too smal

Happy Holidays, Enthusiasts!   I hope it is going splendidly for you. There’s not much going on in the Wrestling World at the moment due to the Holidays and such so let’s just get right to it, shall we.   Right, so something that did grab my attention is how John Morrison, now performing under his real name, John Hennigan, has returned to the AAA wrestling promotion. I suppose he’s not ready to retire just yet and that’s fine. I think training/instruction should be in his future but he certainly has a say in when exactly to pull that trigger. Good luck to him.   The other bit of news circulating worldwide is the COVID Omicron variant snarling all sorts of end of the year plans. Flights are being canceled and people are getting sick. As far as WWE is concerned, NXT is the one most affected. Reports are stating that WWE has some substitutions to make but are not yet willing to stop the show in terms of Day 1. Part of me is hesitant to believe this as news mainly due to this e

A Good Monday  Good Monday to You, Enthusiasts.   I hope it is treating you well. So, everyone is winding down for the Holidays. I suppose I have to make a slight correction as I thought RAW and SmackDown were going to be taped from here on out, looks like it’s just SmackDown. I suppose I shouldn’t have jumped to such a conclusion. Federal Holidays don’t always stop WWE. Why would any other Monday?   Yet, what we have for the night doesn’t sound too different from what we’ve already seen for the bulk of this month so it is clear that WWE is doing just as I thought they would and are dragging their feet with this “revolution”. This is due to necessity not innovation. If they could keep on doing it the old way, they would. Yet the general consensus is that it’s just not cutting it. WWE doesn’t want to be the most boring promotion. They want to move tickets not see them sit there or worse yet, get returned. Unfortunately, they’re clearly at a bit of loss. This Revolution won’t l

  Happy Friday, Enthusiasts! I hope it is treating you well. So, there are a few things of note going on in the Wrestling World this week. I’ll touch on a few that caught my interest. Care to join me?   First item of note is Bryan Danielson and Hangman Page performing an unofficial Iron Man Match which resulted in a draw. I haven’t seen the match yet ‘cause it’s hella long but I will get around to it because I’m sure it is a stellar match. Yet, for all that to end in a draw says a lot. AEW clearly doesn’t want to diminish anyone but keeping everyone “even” isn’t any fun either. WWE usually defaults to some DQ or No-Contest finish in those cases which can at least demonstrate character. The heels are punk-ass and Faces become appalled which makes sense. In AEW, with Kenny Omega and with Page, it seems like they’re just being too nice in a way. Omega needed to go get surgery and that’s fine. Page and Danielson have just begun but is this the first in a slew of no-decisions with ti

How Are You, Enthusiasts?   This Monday treating you well? Given the news that’s floating around, this isn’t the best Monday, yet for me personally, I’ve definitely had worse. In any case, let’s chat about some of the lighter news. I’m in no mood for downers.   The first item of interest was Taz’s kid, Hook’s debut on AEW Dynamite. Commenters had nothing but raves so I had to check him out. He’s skilled, I’ll give him that but the persona reads like a little punk so I don’t know how to feel. He’s not that big so plenty would think they could take him in theory. I can’t say I was intimidated but his attitude definitely reads. He’s looking like an AEW / pro-wrestling lifer to me. I can’t see WWE fans taking him seriously. Those who praise him are probably fine with that.   In WWE news, Bayley has started to tease her return. This was good news to hear because I was starting to miss her. That’s kinda strange because I tend not to lean too much towards any wrestler but Our Arya

A Good Friday to You Enthusiasts!   I hope it finds you well. So, we all know what the big news is. Let’s just dive in, shall we.   Ah me, it looks like WWE wants to nip potential problems in the bud going forward. I suppose Jeff Hardy’s release shouldn’t be too much of a surprise seeing how he was “sent home” for his recent departure from a house show match. In the real world, that’s what getting sent home tends to mean. The question is why. Everyone presumes it’s alcohol/drug related. It is in his history but I honestly thought something may have just gotten into his guts. I hope there was a true offense and he’s not just getting fired for a sketchy meal. WWE needs to establish a sense of credibility not come off as if they’re operating under a hair trigger. It’s hard to say if we’ll ever get the full details.   Another bit of unfortunate news is that Chris Jericho has had some sort of medical event. He was hospitalized in the UK while on tour with his band, Fozzy. Recent

  How Is It Going, Enthusiasts?   This Monday treating you well? I hope so. So, there are a few wrestling tidbits floating around but I’m expecting this December to be fairly tame. It’s all about Day 1 right now so, we’ll see how they fill up the month. We can already expect a couple of pre-taped shows for Christmas and New Year’s.   In former WWE news, Fandango and Adam “The Titan” Scherr f.k.a. Braun Strowman showed up in new promotions. Fandango debuted over at NWA and Scherr wrestled at a fundraising event for the Wisconsin Christmas Parade Tragedy. I’m glad they’re moving on. I don’t know what’s going to happen to these guys but I’m rooting especially for Scherr. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. I wish him the best. Wouldn’t mind him returning to WWE but they have to either let him have more creative freedom or come up with a sure-fire angle for him. He could work but they’d have to be open. It’s just hard to say with Wardlow out there. I think that’s what they really w

  A Good Friday to You, Enthusiasts.   I hope you had a good one. There isn’t a whole lot going on in the wrestling world so let’s chat about what stood out. Game?   So, let’s start with AEW. Their ratings appear to be going in the wrong direction and interest in pro-wrestling across the board seems to be on the decline. Why? Social norms changing primarily. As I’ve been saying in this blog, the violence has to be validated in these times and in AEW’s case, they tend to cater to the sadist with their stunts. Cody Rhodes’ latest one is a case and point. I don’t need to see anyone maim themselves for my amusement. We all know that everyone out there are just doing their jobs and we want them to retire intact and happy. I like action but a lot of that comes from the comfort of knowing all the carnage I’m looking at is staged and not actual bedlam. You see how people complain when someone isn’t safe or how the mood changes when someone takes a bad bump. We generally don’t want to s

Happy Monday, Enthusiasts!   I hope Thanksgiving treated you well. For those of you who don’t celebrate the tradition, I hope your weekend was splendid. There are a few rumblings in the world of wrestling but nothing too exciting. I think last week was a little more eventful but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about. Let’s get to it, shall we?   So, not too much of a surprise, AEW took a bit of a hit last Wednesday ratings-wise. Most of us stateside had other plans, myself included. I don’t watch Dynamite regularly so that drop had nothing to do with me but this is generally the case come the Holidays. Now, I would try to hype days like this up more for both AEW and WWE. I felt the pandemic really highlighted the pitfalls of WWE because with all these people sitting at home, they still couldn’t draw people to watch. I think they did the best that they could with what they had but that’s not saying much. They’re only scratching the surface of their own potential. AEW,

 A Good Black Friday to You, Enthusiasts! May you be pleasantly stuffed with leftovers. So, even with the Holiday it has been an eventful week. Though, many of us don't even remember RAW  there is some wrestling that resonates. Chatter is starting to churn up with ideas of inter-promotional trading, as I foretold. It may not get to the status that it is in MLB or the NFL but people are beginning to consider who from AEW should go to WWE. Now, what people must understand is that it's clear that this wouldn't be considered a "promotion" or "graduation". This may merely be a mark of better placement. WWE could one one day be the pinnacle it may have once represented but I think many of us can admit, it may never had been that great a place. The outrageous "pops" and personalities definitely lent to a good time when all the right pieces were in place but most of it wouldn't fly now. Match quality is too subjective to call. What sold before, sim

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts!   Well, Survivor Series was supposed to be historic for other reasons but I am superbly proud of what it may go down in history for. Last night was the first time that women proved, without a doubt that they are main event material. This has been considered and toyed with in recent years but now, it is official. Women can main event!   Charlotte and Becky Lynch should be very proud. They opened the show and no one could follow them. That is the sort of statement that needed to be made. Now, it’s the best match to main event, not just the best men's match. This is a pivotal time. The women just ushered in the real revolution. We may not recognize the place after this overhaul is done.   On the other hand, the men are probably feeling a little emasculated whether they intended to or not. I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if there was a lot of “discussion” over the content for RAW tonight. I’m sure most of last night’s players want to save som

Happy Thanksgiving, Enthusiasts!   And a productive Autumn to all others of the world! So, there’s something kinda different about this year’s Survivor Series, isn’t there. Something is going on, isn’t there? Now, don’t take this as gloating because I never thought WWE would admit to needing to fix itself. But it appears that it actually is trying to correct itself and I am honestly at a loss. I thought I’d have shit to talk about until they ran themselves into the ground. Now, it appears that it wants to survive. That is a different scenario indeed.   So, that kinda explains things, doesn’t it? They have to completely rethink the model and if they want to boast and gloat, they have to have the best. Technically, they do but now, they really have to if they want to validate shedding dead weight. Let me just say I’m all for them being “Cobra Kai”  or "Slytherin" or however you want to think of it. They just have to own up to it to a certain degree. A person has to unde

Well, I Guess It Wouldn’t Be Politic to Say, “Happy Friday.”   So, looks like WWE is serious about this revolution. I still see the rumors about a sale but you’ve seen enough of WWE to know how they operate. As is, they don’t get nearly as much as they could if they got it operational for once. If they sell, it will be in 5-10 years when they have this shit figured out. It’s an overhaul, my friends. You all know they’re trying to make money. They get a fraction of the potential if they sell now. You all know they’re going to get all they can if they ever do it. You’ve got that intel already.   Anyway, that being said, yes it always sucks when you see layoffs but if WWE is doing this to make an omelette, that omelette better taste damn good in the end. Let’s hope that’s what the end result turns out to be. Regardless, of this round’s releases I thought John Morrison was the most surprising. Yeah, he’s cheesy but he is pretty awesome. Not many can do what he can do. I wouldn’t be