WWE Musings

A Good Saturday to You, Enthusiasts.   The Royal Rumble is upon us yet again and I have no idea what to expect. This will be a short post because of it. There are only 6 matches officially scheduled so, either the Rumbles will be extended affairs or this will be a short PPV.   That’s another reason I don’t have much to say. Not much is actually advertised and as I said last night, that’s not exactly a bad thing. WWE kinda has to start over with its fanbase and simultaneously begin building a new one so, keeping things quiet and just seeing what works is a respectable tactic. Keeps us guessing and we can’t badmouth beforehand. I don’t blame them. They’ve had to clean up their own mess for a while. They won’t overtly admit it, but we should see stuff like this going forward for the time being, light advertising and the surprise factor. They’re going to hope word of mouth brings people around on curiosity.   So, all that said, I just hope for a fun time tonight. Royal Rumbles

Happy New Year, Enthusiasts!   So, here we are at Day 1 to see if this is the first day of something. I know I’m saying it’s the revolution but I should add that it’s a realistic revolution. This is born out of necessity not outrage. With talent like Toni Storm walking out, you can’t exactly say it’s your best days. WWE may anyway just to prove a greater point but they run the risk of people not caring enough to get their real meaning.   So, Day 1 has some pressure on it. The question has become, why should people keep bothering? Just out of sheer habit? The numbers will only continue to dwindle. We all know they don’t want that. Can’t maintain a profit with interest waning. How to turn the tide? They don’t know. And to be honest, those who think they do, would find that it’s no easy task.   The WWE Universe is not exactly or exclusively comprised of pro-wrestling fans so, sticking to that original construct isn’t guaranteed to gain the interest of the common person. That i

A Merry Extreme Rules, Enthusiasts!   I know that many don’t really care about this one but that never stops me. I’m here for the action. This will be an interesting evening because it’s a mild test for the WWE. Take a brief look across social media outlets and there’s little to no buzz for Sunday. AEW got a 2 nd hour for Rampage and they appear to be what to keep eyes on at the moment. There’s not much WWE can do about this but they do have to establish that they remain in business for a good reason besides periodic budget cuts. For the immediate and near future WWE has to change its reputation. It’s got to put on a good show no matter what. If they want to remain relevant, failure is no longer an option.   That being said, we have Extreme Rules and there are a few places it could go really wrong. I will touch on the big ones that I feel could crash and burn epically but I won’t go over everything. In those cases, I’ll just sit back and watch.   This post is a little spec

  A Good Monday to You, Enthusiasts.   So, the big news is Bray Wyatt getting released. And I find myself not so much in “I told you so…” mode as, “That’s too bad…” mode but, I’m not that surprised. Given how things have been going, we all know that WWE has been trying to trim the proverbial fat and with Alexa Bliss not exactly selling the occult shtick, looks like WWE decided to cut their losses. They’ll stick to stuff they know how to sell for now and perhaps revisit the more outlandish angles later. It’s a bit of a shame because to be honest, they should have seen this coming.   I’ve been professing all the things wrong with The Fiend gimmick since it dropped. It’s really hard to sell that sort of angle in real time and if they were going to go for it, they needed to get invested in getting it off the ground, which they were not. This needed more than a ghoulish mask. The premise had to be believable, how people got sucked in had to be compelling and the repercussions of def

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?   Enjoying the Olympics? It’s different without the fans but at least the employees/volunteers, athletes and everyone else who can are watching. Maybe press too. There’s some scant participation but it is strange. This is the first Olympics I haven’t been glued to the TV for. Last Olympics I had it on all day every day until the Closing Ceremony. This time around, I’m just checking in from time to time, catching up here and there. It’s weird. But I kinda get it. They postponed and the Winter Olympics are next year. Gotta knock it out now or never.   Well, as far as the wrestling world goes there are a few things going on. It’s not as thought-provoking as the recent rumors but it’s something.   First bit that stuck out was word is that Jeff Hardy caught the COVID. Now, if he’s sick with it or just tested positive hasn’t been confirmed or denied just yet but my first thought is how real is this? It’s believable if he’s positive. That’s the crux of

What’s Going On, Enthusiasts?   You ready for this early Hell in a Cell PPV? I’m not going to lie and say I’m hopping with anticipation but I’m going to watch it like always. No biggie.     Per usual, I’ll just talk a little about matches of interest and then we see what they actually do with it. The first match that comes to mind is Shayna Baszler vs. Alexa Bliss. Now, this could go horribly bad or surprisingly well. Don’t think I want this to fail. There’s just a way to do things. If someone is innovative and accounts for the crucial aspects, great! Anything is possible. It just wasn’t achieved with The Fiend angle. It’s a horror flick gimmick, not a wrestling gimmick. It’s too hard to make it work in real time. Can’t suspend the disbelief. Where Bliss is going right is that she’s more some crazy bitch playing with Witchcraft. There are too many paranormal shows on to not think there’s some truth to playing with “doors”. We can buy she’s fucking with something. Bray Wyatt, ju

How’s Everyone Doing?   So, color me impressed. I did not see half of that show coming and when I say that, I mean in terms of quality. The audience is necessary. I think that has been thoroughly confirmed. There’s nothing like having eyes on you. The pressure to perform is palpable. Kudos to Mandy Rose for turning her little slip around. See, stuff like that happening to people like her just makes them human. Now, she’s even more likable.   As for match of the night, I think Bianca BelAir and Sasha Banks took it. They kept it simple and just had a match and it was just as solid as we all knew it could be. I’m glad for the both of them. They did their jobs… Now what? Well, we’ll see. As I said on the Twitter, it feels like everything that happened no longer matters. It’s all about what goes down in real time.   So, how does Night 2 keep pace? They shouldn’t overthink it. Night 1 had a lot of natural aids. There was a rain delay so they had people shoot backstage and that ri

Hello Enthusiasts! Happy Sunday! So, we’re all here for Elimination Chamber and I don’t blame anyone for simply being curious. How they’re going to make this all make some sense is a bit more compelling to contemplate than in recent years. Not that they have gotten themselves into a mess or backed themselves into a corner it’s just, there are a lot of looming questions and we should presume that’s on purpose. That being said, the point I’m really trying to make is that I hope that the “plan” is as crafty as they think it may be. For me, that’s the real curiosity. Will it all amount to a watchable show? They have been focusing on streamlining the presentation. I have noticed and appreciate the effort. It’s been a long time coming. Now, we watch and witness whether WWE can maintain its own continuity, something I was beginning to think would never happen. The unexpected repercussions of a pandemic show themselves in mysterious ways 😉   Anyway, a lot of tonight’s intrigue comes f

A Merry Royal Rumble to You, Enthusiasts!   Are you ready for tonight’s action? You better get in the mood ‘cause it’s all about to go down! There’s too much up in the air to focus on all of it but I will get into some of the speculations going around.   So, personally, I get the feeling that a lot of what’s currently in play will not be valid come Sunday. I just think WWE may be trying to get in front of us and is saying one thing but may end up doing something completely else. I see this for Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens and for Goldberg and Drew McIntyre. For Reigns and Owens I feel they may go this route because this is going to be like the 3 rd showdown in like, 6 weeks. And for Goldberg and McIntyre, no one really wants to see it or at least, no one wants to see Goldberg win. WWE may be setting us up for a bait and switch just to nullify fan disapproval. WWE doesn’t like to lose face, no one does and for the most part, they have to demonstrate that they do in fact know wh

A Merry Sunday to You, Enthusiasts.     My, this is an interesting time in the WWE Universe. For those of you wishing that an overhaul would someday come, the time may be soon. As I deduced, WWE is getting its ass handed to them in the boardroom and they now have no choice but to up their game or get written off as a joke. Never thought the day would come but, when you look at the content, I’m sure many aren’t sure why it didn’t happen sooner. Well, if you ask me…they didn’t think it was that bad. Numbers don’t lie.     So, what does all this mean for TLC? Well, we’ll still have to see. Given their attempt to make 2020 a Cartoon Heel, it’s hard to say how the creative department thinks. I would say they think the audience is predominantly under 13. So not true, this could be what’s at the core of the issue. Creative doesn’t know how to cater to its audience. Again, what’s the point of them? Wrestlers should view this as an opening. They definitely need to start pitching their o

Happy Survivor Series, Enthusiasts!   Excited for the show? Well, I can’t say I am per se but as usual, curiosity gets the best of me. The only reason is well, we all know the WWE track record. People get all hot and bothered for something only to get massively disappointed in the end. I’m never really geared up for anything anymore. I just sit back and see if I’m impressed. As I’ve been saying, there’s plenty of talent, little to no vision. So, we’ll see who manages to make something out of nothing tonight.   So, also as usual, I won’t run down the entire show just the matches that have caught my interest, the first one being the Ladies’ 5-on-5. I’m intrigued by this due to the eclectic mix of ladies, especially on the SmackDown side. Both teams are relatively fresh. Natalya is the only real veteran participating. Nia Jax and Bayley aren’t exactly new but this is more or less the new school in effect. The Ladies have made it clear that even though they’re under-utilized, they