Fix That Angle: Daniel Bryan WM30 Run

Sure Daniel Bryan got his big WM30 moment and won the title, but for those who really paid attention to his run up to WM30 realize it could have been much better.  It started so strong at Summerslam and then had a forced finish that I thought could have been done so much better.  Here's how I would have fixed the Daniel Bryan WM30 run up.

To recap at Summerslam WWE executed an excellent heel turn of Randy Orton and HHH.  This lead to the formation of the Authority.  It was a very well done finish that deserves endless praise, but was cooled quickly the night after and made worse at the next PPV.

The night after HHH over elevated himself by having the entire WWE locker room stand on the stage and basically get knocked down a notch while he claimed himself to be the new leader of WWE and Orton would be his champion.  There was no reason to make the rest of the roster look so bad.  They did this numerous times over the coming weeks and it was just wrong.

The other horrendous move they made was to put Bryan right into a rematch with Orton at the NOC PPV and then had Orton lose the belt to him.  Orton was really hot coming off Summerslam and a strong face run.  To simply take the belt away that easily hurt him bad.  They also gave Bryan a PPV win for the title making it seem like he got his moment in the sun, only to take it away the next day on Raw for minor reasons that seemed like simply bad booking.  Tough to keep recreating a guys big win when you have it happened twice in 30 days.

The angle sputtered from there and it became apparent that WWE actually didn't plan to have Bryan win the strap at WM30 to the anger of a lot of fans.  This is why the finished product seemed forced and I think this angle needs fixing.  WWE could have built and took away more from this whole time period.  Everybody could have won.  Here's how.

First the night after Summerslam I would have had Steph, and HHH in the ring crowning Orton as they did with the Shield protecting the ring.  No Vince because this is about HHH and Steph not him.  That's my Authority for the next 7 months.  HHH and Steph would be the mouth piece.  Orton the body and the great in ring worker and the Shield as the muscle.  I think heel groups get over big when they are not made of guys that are made to look like buffoons all the time.  A big part of the Shield's success was the fact that they almost always won.  Combine that with a refreshed Orton and you have money.  HHH and Steph were also filling the role that CM Punk created for them back in 2011 during his infamous promo.

I would have had Bryan come out that night and demand the automatic rematch, but HHH would inform him that he was not going to grant it because he didn't deem the five minutes that Bryan was champion as worthy of that.  Instead at the NOC PPV Bryan could start earning his stripes by taking on Dean Ambrose.  If he lost then HHH informed him that he would be put back down on the bottom of the WWE.

Over the next three PPV's Bryan would face Ambrose then Rollins and finally Reigns.  Given what we know now about Reigns I still think Bryan could have carried him through 20 minutes.  Bryan would win all three matches.  This obviously would upset the Authority, but they would still not grant Bryan his title match. This would built to HHH then would allowing Bryan his chance at Survivor Series with the stipulation that if he could beat HHH he would be granted his chance at the title.

What is equally important about this angle is I would have had Orton win three straight title matches at the three straight PPV's following Summerslam.  Ziggler for sure would have been in there and two other babyfaces at the time.  I would have him winning clean and not cheating because I would want to make Orton as strong as possible.  Also, it's important to note that if a guy like Ziggler got a title match loss that would never hurt him.  For an up and comer it would only make him more believable as a title contender.  I think those three matches would have been win wins for WWE.

I also would have finished the CM Punk Heyman angle faster and got him involved against the Authority playing up the pipe bomb promo from 2011 and how HHH and Steph were proving to be exactly what he said they were by not giving Bryan his shot and how they basically just hate on smaller talents that don't fit their idea of a perfect superstar.  This whole situation writes itself.

At Survivor Series I would book Punk and Orton for the belt and just screw Punk out of the title.  This would be the first match that Orton uses the Shield to gain a win and really sets off Punk.  Later that night I would have the Shield screw over Bryan as well, but just when it seems HHH is going to get the win I have Punk interfere to cost HHH the match and allow Bryan to get the monster win and earn his title chance.

This sets off Punk HHH angle and really rekindles it for all it's worth.  Again I would use the Shield against Punk, but I would focus the promo's for Punk heavily on HHH and their past.  I would talk about how he ruined his push back in 2011.  I think the heat would be really good for this.

At the same time I would have HHH inform Bryan that he had now earned his shot at the title, but all that meant was that HHH would allow him to enter the Royal Rumble at #2.  Since he wouldn't want people to think that he was trying to screw him over he put him at #2.  The heat would stay on HHH and the underdog role for Bryan would grow.

The TLC PPV would be so important.  I would stay with the title merger and have Orton get that clean win over Cena.  Think about how great that would be for Orton.  He would have won 6 straight title matches on PPV and only one with interference.  You are building a strong case for him being a legit great heel Champion a run you rarely see in WWE and you are keeping him red hot.

On that PPV I would have Punk fighting the Shield to win his spot in the Rumble.  I would have him get it after help from Bryan.  Then I would have Bryan take on Wyatt and have the same match they ended up having at the Royal Rumble in 2014 and lose clean.  This would be great as it would allow the Authority to cut promo's on Bryan about how he had lost and make him seem like he was becoming a true underdog to win the Rumble.  Great setup for his rumble win.

This also sets Wyatt up as the natural top heel against Bryan when he becomes champion post WM30.  It's a huge win for him and I would keep him on course and have him knock off the Taker at WM30.  A win that he could use to rocket pack up the roster as the company's new top heel.

At the Rumble I have Orton beat Cena again with help this time.  We have to give Cena some protection, so I would use the Shield to get Orton the win and setup the Elimination Chamger match for the next PPV.

In the Rumble Bryan and Punk get down to the end with the Shield.  They get rid of Ambrose and Rollins to leave only Reigns with them.  Batista debuts and takes out Punk.  This sets them up for the chamber PPV where they can meet.  Bryan gets rid of Reigns, which helps start building Reigns as a real guy and you get the big win Bryan needs to finally get his shot at the belt.

At Elimination Chamber I have Bryan take on Reigns in an attempt to strip him of his #1 spot.  It's basically just filler to get Reigns more solo experience and keep Bryan looking strong as he would get the win.  I have Batista beat Punk after interference from HHH.  Naturally they now have the match at WM30 where HHH has his job as COO on the line and Punk has his contract on the line.  You could cut the promos based on the fact that punk is leaving in July anyway and HHH never wanted him around, so this is his chance to get rid of Punk sooner.

The Chamber match is Cena, Ziggler, Rollins, Ambrose, Orton, and Wyatt.  You use this match to get the Shield leaving the Authority angle going as Ambrose and Rollins go for the belt and don't just help Orton.  You have Cena get eliminated early as well as Ziggler after some double and triple teaming then you get it down to Wyatt and Orton.  When Wyatt starts to look really good you hit the lights out and put the Taker in the chamber who is upset with Wyatt for wrecking Kane earlier in the year.  Orton gets the win and survives after Taker tombstones Wyatt setting up their WM30 match.  Letting Wyatt get down to the final two again helps build his credibility and the Taker interference protects his push.

Finally at WM30 we have super heel Orton taking on Bryan.  Bryan has fought his way here through months of unfair roadblocks and Orton has pretty much looked strong all the way.  Does it seem obvious that Bryan is going to win, maybe, but how it really played out was not much different.  They could have a five star match regardless because you have 7 months of story where these two have been kept apart following that Summerslam finish.  The drama would be amazing to finally see them lock up and they are both excellent workers so the match quality would be high.

Bryan of course gets the win and Orton does a show of respect to him post match.  Dare I say that this would be 10x better than what actually happened.  Orton gets granted his rematch at the next PPV and has another classic with Bryan.  He slowly becomes face again after the second loss to Bryan and the Authority is no longer around to be part of.

Punk beats HHH and the Authority angle ends the right way. Punk sticks around until the end of his contract and finishes at MITB where he had considered leaving in 2011 and loses to Bryan in a wrestling classic.  I think an undervalued reason for the Punk departure was that he was cast aside during the entire fall.  I think he would have stayed interested if the focus would have been kept on him sooner regarding the Authority angle.  I think him being cast aside was really an underrated factor in his departure.

Taker loses to Wyatt who is now becoming super nova hot as a heel.  The Wyatt family should naturally become a strong heel faction positioned to topple Bryan as Champion down the road now.

Cena can beat Batista or lose to him in a grudge match.  It really doesn't matter as both guys could handle the loss.  Batista would get a title match over the summer with Bryan.  Cena would get pulled into a feud with Lesnar.  What I really like is not using Brock at WM30.  I think instead you use him to build a weaker a PPV and make it more important.  Perhaps the one in June.

I would play the angle that Brock is upset because he was passed over for WM30 match and that does sit well with him.  Use the June match to put him over Cena just like they did at this past Summerslam and then position him against Orton at Summerslam to over there as well.  I would put Reigns and Lesnar on a crash course.  Brock's so upset that he wants to destroy all the traditional top faces in WWE.

In the end the purpose of all this though was to get a bigger finish at WM30 where we got there in a very well planned way that protected the heat of Orton and Bryan.  So much steam was lost by having the many matches that they did and the strange way that the Authority treated Orton.

I think in my version you build something that you can't easily recreate. A payoff that really pops that Superdome crowd and a true WM moment for a guy that really deserves it in Bryan.  Maybe that would have put some asses in seats!

5 Options to Save the Daniel Bryan Situation in WWE for WM31

WWE no doubt will have some kind of plan to recover from all the hate they got over the Daniel Bryan loss at Royal Rumble.  Right now many people are at a loss to come up with an idea beyond him getting in yet another triple threat match that would really get people excited.  Even the prospect of that seems a bit forced.  It took me two days, but I think I have finally come up with some good options for WWE.  A few are a stretch, but I think a few also make really good sense.

Shinsuke Nakamura

I'm starting with by far the least likely and that's a match between NJPW's top star who many in the business today consider to be the best wrestler on the planet.  His name is Shinsuke Nakamura and is the self proclaimed King of Strong Style.  WWE has not done anything with talent exchanges on a big scale since the 90's, which really hurts this scenario, but also I wonder if anyone in creative has the vision to find their way to this piece of business.

This match would be off the charts and you can make a strong case as to why it would happen.  Nakamura has only just gotten on the casual fans radar with his appearance at WK9 on January 4th and that's only if the casual fan saw this show.  It was the first chance for the American market to see the NJPW product as called by live American announcers.  Only in the past two weeks have they started running replay shows from 2013 (that are insanely good by the way).  Nakamura has only been featured in part of one show to this point.

So, he is not widely known in the US, but there's a method to my madness here.  It starts with Daniel Bryan calling out Vince McMahon.  I respect keeping behind the curtain behind the curtain, but what I would have Daniel point out is that he has been screwed out of his mandatory rematch by Vince McMahon and he wants it.  Bryan never lost the WWE title.  He also respects the fact that he did not win the Rumble and does not wish to interfere with the WM31 main event.  He will wait, but Vince needs to promise him the #1 contender spot after WM31 or else he's walking.

That would go over huge as it plays against the CM Punk walk out angle.  Vince's hand would be forced and he would agree although not happily.  This gives Vince a chance to utilize all the hate that he garnered with the fans as well.  It gives him a reason to be on camera.  When Vince goes to leave the situation Bryan demand, just like he did to HHH last year, one more thing.  At WM31 he wants a chance to steal the show and the only way he can do that is against the biggest star that Vince doesn't have.  Something he points out that pisses Vince off.

He asks for Nakamura.  The match comes together and WWE airs highlights of Nakamura and gets him over to the states for a few weeks leading up to WM31.  He does a few matches where he is made to look like a badass and he's giving a talking head to get him over as legit.  Considering WM31 is in California this is not the worst idea ever either.  It would take much for Nakamura to be taken seriously as he oozes charisma and has a very unique look.  Bottom line is you are putting two of the best workers ever in a match.

The result is you probably get a wrestling classic and they do steal the show.  Remember Bryan uses the same finisher as Nakamura, so that can be played up as well.  There is probably no doubt that Nakamura would want to be on one WM card in his career and I know Bryan is someone that he would appreciate working with.  He has mentioned him on twitter recently.

I'm sure all WWE would have to do is offer up Bryan for a few weeks in Japan, which based on WWE behavior towards him should not be a big deal.  If not maybe they can send Cena over there and test the market.  Also, get Cena away from TV for a few weeks.  It's all not likely, but it's a fun idea.

Sami Zayn

Use the above angle and insert Sami Zayn.  The premise here is that Zayn would create a great match and it introduces Zayn to the main roster in a big way.  This could be his launching pad.  They would work probably the match of the night.  It's a win-win and it gets Vince some love from the portion of the fan base that is so hard on him.

I don't want to see Ziggler or Orton against Bryan at WM.  I want to see something fresh and this would be WWE's chance to give us something fresh and perhaps special.  This one is easy.  Again for the reasons I said before Vince gets the heat off of the Rumble debacle and makes Bryan the #1 contender.  He takes the NXT darling Zayn and puts him against the main roster darling in Bryan.  Just sit back and watch the magic.

I think I like this one the best because it's so easy and makes so much sense.  How could fans be upset after this as twitter where NXT trends big time would explode with love for this match.  The downside is I doubt that anyone will think of it in WWE.  It may need a hashtag to get their attention.  #ZaynBryan

Vince McMahon

Vince took on CM Punk on Raw in 2012, but since his hip surgery, and according to reports, he has really slowed down physically.  I don't know if he is up for the demands of a match against Bryan.  Yet it would be fun to see the two go at it.  Bryan the guy that Vince has no faith in with that entire crowd behind him.

Perhaps this could be one last Vince versus the top babyface angle that the WWE has probably done way too many times.  Yet with all the hate built up it gives people a place to vent it.  You could put Bryan's #1 spot on the line and if necessary give Vince Rollins as a tag team partner to make the match a little more believable.

I would also suggest just having Vince back Rollins as his horse and have Bryan's #1 spot on the line if he loses.  So in this case Vince doesn't wrestle.  Imagine the promo's that literally write themselves for this.  Vince talking about how he wants to rid the WWE of Bryan and never ever allow him to be near the title again.  Bryan talking about how he's tired of being held down by Vince.  This would re-energize the entire Yes Movement if you ask me.

Roman Reigns

I think Reigns sucks as a face right now, and like many I think one day he can be better.  Yet, I feel like this could be the chance to flip him heel and save the day.  I don't buy turning him at WM31 because what do you do for the 8 weeks until then that doesn't turn fans off.  What I would instead do is have Reigns call out Bryan.

Have Reigns acknowledge that the fans booed him and that it was clear to him that they wanted Bryan to win the Rumble, but there was nothing Reigns could do about that.  Have him offer his hand to Bryan and have Bryan endorse him.  Bryan can point out that there is nothing Roman can do about the booing, but he shouldn't let it stop him.  Make it seem like Bryan is supportive and Reigns appreciates it.  Just as Bryan is about to exit the ring have Reigns attack.  Specifically the neck area.

Have Reigns destroy Bryan and turn heel.  End the show with Bryan getting taken away in an ambulance with a neck injury.  The next week Reigns acknowledges that he would not be disrespected by Bryan or the crowd.  Have him point out how easy it was to injury Bryan and how he's nothing, but a frail competitor and that Reigns is the future whether the fans like it or not.  Have Reigns talk about how people like Bryan should never get in the way of guys as gifted as Reigns.

I think the heat on Reigns would be epic.  You no doubt have Bryan return right there and the two battle to close the show, but are ultimately separated.  The next week you have Bryan challenge Reigns at Fast Lane, but you make the stipulation that the WM31 spot is on the line.  Bryan plays against Roman's ego and he accepts.

Bryan wins the match at Fast Lane due to interference by Dean Ambrose who is pissed at Reigns for turning heel.  This protects Reigns.  Ambrose and Reigns could have a match at WM31 that people would be hot for.  You probably interject Rollins in there and you have that Shield match many are clamoring for, but in this case it's got some heat with it.

I think this Scenario works on so many levels.  It makes basic common sense.  It continues the idea that Bryan's road is never easy and makes the Fast Lane PPV must see.  Reigns needs time and a change of pace to get over with the crowd.  This would create his chance.

Seth Rollins

I think the WWE is smart enough to be considering this angle over all the ones that  I have mentioned, so I think it could happen Yet, I'm not a huge fan of it.  Bryan comes out on Raw and cuts a promo talking about how he appreciates everyone's support, but he did not win the Rumble so the fans should support the main event and he wishes both guys good luck.

Out comes Seth Rollins.  He does his usually stick repeating Bryan's name 100 times.  He makes fun of Bryan for getting knocked out of the Rumble so easy and tells him to step aside.  Bryan fires back by calling out Seth for not having the guts to cash in his briefcase at all this past year.  He says that he knows that Seth knows that he's not on that level of a John Cena or Brock Lesnar despite his match at the Rumble.

Bryan accuses Rollins of basically just not having any guts at all.  He traps Rollins into agreeing to take him on at Fast Lane for the case.  If Bryan loses he will not wrestle at WM31.  Rollins let's his ego get the better of him, which is totally within his character and agrees.

Bryan wins that match and gives the briefcase to HHH the next night and says the Main Event of WM31 is now a three way.  Even if WWE makes Reigns the winner Bryan can be the glue in that match.  One of my biggest beefs with WWE right now is I can't figure how they think that Lesnar and Reigns are going to have anything close to a good match.  As a matter of fact I don't think it's possible.

At least in this scenario the main event can be entertaining, and you could raise the level of intrigue. I don't like this angle because Bryan and Lensar one on one is way more epic.  I also don't like having yet another triple threat main event just like the prior year.  I don't like the fact that I still think the crowd will be way against babyface Reigns and if he wins it won't go over.

Yet I think this would appease the WWE brass and it's actually something they are probably considering even if they get there some other way.  I think there is money in all five of these suggestions and as long as WWE embraces one of them on the next Raw and starts the process I think the hate for them will quickly subside.  If they choose to stay on course I think the next 8 weeks are going to be an emotional battle between their fans and the people behind the curtain.

WWE needs to start getting in tune with the audience.  They need to start answering for their sins a little.  We all thought after Survivor Series they had, but they for some reason they are now way off course and it's time to right the ship.

The Timeline Leading to #Cancelwwenetwork

I think anyone that believes people got so upset about Roman Reigns Rumble win that they canceled the network are sadly mistaken.  There were a bunch of events that created the tipping point where people decided to take action against the WWE.  You can make the case it's been years in the making, but I think just looking back at 2014 you can see the tide was building.

To suggest that it was just Reign's winning that set off the WWE universe is silly.  Remember he was most people's pick to win before the event took place.  So why did people get so upset?  It was clearly the execution of the match, the current perception of how Reigns, is being over pushed and certain key events over the past year.  The WWE knew animosity was brewing, which is why they trotted the Rock out their to protect Reigns.  Funny I can't remember them running out top stars to shield CM Punk or Daniel Bryan?

You could make the case that the fan issues with the WWE go back to right after the attitude era, but I would suggest they start at WM27 when the Rock took over the main event that he wasn't in, but I think most of the animosity built up in 2014.

CM Punk Leaves

It starts for me with CM Punk.  At the time of his departure he was WWE's 3rd strongest babyface and had been the closet thing to Cena until Daniel Bryan got hot.  Many Punk fans were always unsettled by the way Punk's push got wrecked in 2011.  There was some feeling that the 2013-14 push of Bryan was being sabotaged in the same way.  At the Royal Rumble 2014 Punk was eliminated by Kane and put through at table.  Then boom Punk was gone.  Never heard from or seen again in WWE.  A massive star for WWE the past few years and he was gone without a barely a mention.

The Punk fans were upset and don't undersell it their are a lot of CM Punk fans out there.  Fast forward to Thanksgiving Day when the Punk Podcast drops on Colt Cobana's Art of Wrestling.  He basically runs down HHH, the Medical Staff, the focus of the company, and makes WWE to be the bad guy in this situation.  Needless to say CM Punk's departure was a chance for a large part of the audience to start viewing the WWE as the bad guys.  He made many fans think that it's the guys behind the scenes that are the real bad guys.

Remember in his podcast he mentioned ever so slightly that he had suggested the formation of the Shield and wanted Chris Hero in Roman Reign's spot.  Hunter and Vince wanted Reigns.  Punk chose not to die on that hill.  For those who read between the lines that was some real backstage info that suggest Reigns was a favorite of the top brass despite the fact that maybe he wasn't ready.

Daniel Bryan's Lack of Support

Going into 2014 Daniel Bryan had become WWE's hottest new baby face.  His trajectory off Summerslam seemed to have him pointed for the Rumble win in 2014 and the title shot at WM30.  WWE did some strange things like have him win the belt back the next month after Summerslam only to have it stripped and then screwed him out of the belt the next month.  This didn't seem like smart booking because it was taking some of the shine off Bryan.  Yet when WWE turned the title story away from him for the moment it seemed like they were doing that to relaunch him for the Rumble and WM30, so no one bothered to get to upset at his poor booking in the interim.

Coming off the New Year he was booking in a great match with Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble and lost.  This seemed like the right move.  Bryan loses to Wyatt and then after WM30 you have a built in excuse for a rivalry between WWE's two up and coming hot stars.

Many assumed that Bryan would be in the Rumble match later that night and win, but he was not even an entrant.  A Pittsburgh crowd not known for being hostile in the past booed the result of the Rumble like never before.  There was a strong under current of animosity for Batista who was a full blown face at the time.  It seemed illogical to fans that Bryan wasn't getting the natural push and they took it out on the WWE by booing faces and cheering heels until the finish of the match.

The next month Bryan was booked in the Elimination Chamber match with the title on the line and WWE tipped their hand.  Bryan got close to winning the title, but he was beaten by simple interference from Kane.  It then became clear that WWE had no plans for Bryan to be part of the title match at WM30.  Fan angst was brimming.

The Orton Batista match scheduled to headline the show was not being well received at all and WWE was being forced to add Bryan to make it a triple threat.  While this was all good there were certainly fans that were frustrated at the way this had to be done just to do what seemed right.  Bryan was popular and the WWE was ignoring it to choose stars that they had traditionally supported as ideal.  The big muscle guy syndrome.  WWE fans were feeling like they were being ignored.

Post WM30 Bryan got a real injury that would sideline him for the rest of the year and cause him to have to give up the belt.  Also the Authority angle that many assumed would end after WM30 was carrying on.  WWE put the belt back on Cena.  This was important because people are simply tired of Cena.  Nothing against John, but he's just been overexposed and needs time away from the product to refresh.  Yet, WWE pretends that a majority of the fans like him and tune in for him so they keep the focus around him.

Brock Lesnar Plays Houdini

Enter Brock Lesnar.  Lesnar has been largely a part time player and at WM30 he stopped the Undertakers streak.  While it will be argued for a long time if this was the right thing or not one thing for sure is that Lesnar is part time.  Giving that rub to a guy that probably didn't need it and wouldn't be around past the following years show seemed really off putting to many fans.  Why not give that win to a younger talent who could launch his career off of it like Bray Wyatt?  WWE will look really bad if Brock leaves after WM31 having only had four matches since breaking the streak.

The loss of the streak and the lack of any Undertakers sightings throughout the year really had people up in arms.  I'm sure there were fans that decided after that they were done with the product.  I think it contributed to the anger of the crowd.

Lesnar used that win to return for Summerslam and win the WWE title from John Cena.  I think many thought that Lesnar would now be around more and give the belt and the company new life.  He took on Cena in a rematch at NOC the next month, but the match had a non-finish.  Lesnar did not appear on TV much the rest of the year and did not defend the belt until January of 2015 from September 2014.  Although I think it's good that the Champion is held out of some PPV's and not on TV every week this was near abandonment.  Four PPV's passed with no title defenses.

That type of booking surely pissed off WWE fans.  WWE didn't even use Heyman to fill the gaps, but instead chose to largely focus again on John Cena and his new rivalry with the Authority.    The Champion was touted as being an attraction and only having to make limited appearances.  Rumors circulated that WWE would not pay the amount requested for Lesnar to do more dates.  If WWE truly felt that they needed to make their Champion a little less exposed then how do they explain not having Cena off TV for great periods?

The Big Survivor Series Moment Ripped Away Quickly

Cena was now the new target of the Authority.  This was strange because he largely got along with the Authority until he won the title.  This was just more of WWE jamming Cena and the Authority front and center.  The Survivor Series angle finally gave everyone hope that possibly the Authority angle might be gone.  I want to point out that the Authority angle kicked off with an excellent heel turn by Orton and HHH, but it largely flopped after that because of the illogical behavior of almost everyone in the company.  By this point it was a tired angle and just them leaving meant maybe something new would happen.

The Survivor Series angle seemed like the moment when WWE was getting right.  Vince had returned to set the stipulation that the Authority would be removed from power if their team lost.  This was the first time WWE seemed to have an angle that was intriguing in quiet some time.  People were very interested in this PPV and it was free on the WWE network.

They even eliminated Cena when no one expected it and it seemed to set the tone for Ziggler to final get a massive push.  It was good to see a guy finally get his moment.  Sting returned to create a unique and memorable event helping Team Cean win.  HHH and Steph did a great sell job about how upset they were about being gone and seemed like fresh air was coming into the company.  Finally fans felt like the dark cloud was leaving the area.  (Note that Ziggler would only last about 3 minutes in the 2015 Royal Rumble, this after having an excellent ladder match to win the IC title following SS.)

Yet, WWE couldn't help itself.  First they tried to bring back the Computer GM.  This seemed like a way for the Authority to control the show without being there.  Fans were enraged, so WWE used the angle to start the next show, but basically abandoned it. Something you rarely see them do.  It was a show that WWE didn't know what to do next.  Like they didn't have a plan.  I think it was a lack of trust in new stars or a willingness to try someone new at this time.

This time frame really exposed the roster from a heel standpoint as being very slim.  This was largely because WWE spent so much time working the Authority angle for the past year or so.  An angle that was putting over two non-wrestling talents.  Although Seth Rollins did establish himself during this time and I do think he is now a fully fledged top heel, I have to point out he was pushed to the moon and just barely got there.

WWE probably could have brought up Kevin Owen to feud with John Cena at this point.  They probably could have brought up Adrian Neville as a new heel as well as Finn Balor.  They could have built a new stable with Paul Heyman.  Yet, instead of doing something fresh and new they turned right back to the authority almost a month after dismissing them and surrounded them with Kane and Big Show too long time stale characters who's time has well pasted them by.

Vince Talks In Tongues

Vince's appearance on the Stone Cold Podcast was interesting.  He accused his roster of not being ambitious.  I had a hard time with that because he had booked his roster at about a .500 win rate for the past few years.  I often wonder how he expected people to care about a guy if he can't string two wins together or hold a belt longer than two months.

He accused Cesaro of not connecting with the crowd.  I wish Stone Cold could ask Vince what changed after WM30 for Cesaro when he was being cheered?  People have said a lot about this topic, but I think it's very simple.  WWE started pinning Cesaro too much and after he took loses fans started to care about him less.  Just like how poorly Curtis Axel was booked it becomes hard to get over if the company constantly has you getting pinned.

I think Vince was entertaining regarding some topics on this show, but he largely opened himself up for criticism and stirred the fanbase up by not more directly answering questions.  He did little to put the wounds of CM Punk behind him and he looked very foolish when a month later the Authority was back in power.  That certainly wasn't exactly what fans wanted.

I think overall Vince took on an adversarial tone instead of a welcoming one.  Coming off the heels of what CM Punk had said it again made him out to be the real bad guy.  Not in the way that wanted to make you watch more, but instead watch something else altogether.

When you add into that the phony excuses Vince made about guys not getting over and connect that to the over push of Reigns and the passing over of Bryan you start to see that fans feel a bit betrayed.

Bryan Gets Hotter Than Roman

The month leading up to the Rumble seemed like a battle between Reigns and Bryan to win the crowd.  Reigns didn't even get out of the starting blocks.  I can barely remember Reigns getting a pinfall victory on Raw or Smackdown in a singles match.  I'm sure he did, but I can't remember it, which speaks volumes to his impact.  What I do remember was bad promo after bad promo after bad promo.  It seemed liked Reigns was not ready to be the guy.

Bryan returned and had three good matches.  He even took a loss to Bray Wyatt.  Yet it seemed like the Bryan story was laying over the Reigns story.  Going into the Rumble match they were the clear favorites, but it just felt like if you were listening to the crowds that Bryan was the guy.  Especially if Lesnar was going to hold on to the title.

After a fantastic triple threat match where Lesnar won the anticipation was amped up.  Now Cena was officially out of the title picture.  Something that had to give many great relief.  The Rumble match was going really well and telling a great story.  Then the bottom fell out.

It's not worth repeating what happened after Bryan got bumped off the ring apron, but what is for sure set the WWE universe off.  Fans had had enough of the poor booking, and obvious overpushes for guys that the company deemed best for business.  Everything McMahon had said, all the long Authority promo's, all the John Cena stuff, CM Punk painting them as the bad gusy, and the pushing of heels that had been around for 15 years had finally boiled over.

Fans started canceling the network in perhaps a worse move than turning off Raw.  Something that had to make shareholders not too happy at all.  The story made main stream media.  If you want to send a message to WWE there is no greater way than through your subscription to that network.

A snowstorm has bought WWE 3 days and if they defer most of the major storylines on Thursday maybe even a week to figure out a path that makes more sense.  This is a major moment in WWE corporate history.  It's different from last year because WWE didn't directly on screen screw Bryan or the fans.  They basically did it behind the scenes in the board room where outcomes are determined.

You can't go out and just say he's in the main event.  That doesn't help matters.  WWE needs to grab this moment and turn it around in their favor.  There are many suggestions, but if WWE has demonstrated anything as of late it's that they will create something no one will think of because that solution will be illogical.  Only time will tell.

In closing WWE has pushed John Cena beyond the amount of years they pushed Hogan and Austin.  Cena is largely booed by the audience.  He's rarely 100% cheered.  It has been refreshing to see top stars CM Punk and Daniel Bryan get cheered by almost the entire crowd.  Why is that concept so hard for the WWE to grasp?  We want to go to shows and cheer for guys to close the show.  Reigns will become John Cena 2.0 if he wins the belt at Mania.  Can WWE not see that or perhaps believe that?

Square Pegs In Round Holes

The WWE has a problem.  Their Royal Rumble PPV upset more than just the 16 thousand fans in attendance and perhaps more than just the smart marks.  It looks like they upset everyone.  How did they not see this coming?

The WWE's Reigns push has been like a slow moving car accident.  The upset crowd and internet was loud because it wasn't just the smart marks who think Reigns is not ready.  It's widely felt by the casual fans.  They watched over the past few weeks as Reigns was put in promo's that didn't make him look good at all and how he was rarely if ever the focal point against the Authority.  The show was still very Cena-centric and Rollins got more of a build.

WWE thought that they could just build Reigns through the middle of the shows, but where was Reigns last week when Cena needed saving?  Yes I realize Cena never saves anyone, but still?  That's the chance to get him over and they passed on it.  On Cena appreciation night as well Reigns wasn't there to stand up for what is right.

If WWE wanted to put some love on him that's what they needed to do.  Instead they put him in a weird program with Big Show that few cared about and had him cut bad promo's.  I'm almost certain he will finally take on Big Show either on Raw or the next PPV so they can get him over Big Show, like it will help.

The honest truth that I've been holding back on is I don't think Reigns is the next "GUY".  Certain people have put out there that they think even if he's not ready now he's the future.  I don't agree and I hope that I'm wrong, but he's done nothing to make me feel like he's the guy.  He can't work a match longer than 10 minutes.  He's very botchy in the ring and he's nuclear toxic bad on the mic.  People say it's Vince scripting the stuff, but to them I say he should reject it then.  If he has no back bone then let me tell you he won't make a good champion.

The love I think he gets from WWE is the Rock connection.  Like by default he's going to be good because the Rock is related to him.  He doesn't have 1/10th of the Rock's charisma though.  When you combine that with a limited work rate you are in trouble.

I think if Reigns was going to be the guy he would have changed when the Shield broke up.  Instead of coming through the crowd he would have come out to the ring through the main entrance and he would have worn a different get up.  That flack jacket makes him look gimmicky and it's hard to take him all that serious.  The coolness of the Shield has warn off and WWE didn't want to accept that.

I also have a very hard time with the fact that Reigns will likely beat Lesnar at WM31.  Lesnar just topped Cena and Rollins in one match.  He bested the Undertakers streak and now your going to have him lose to a guy that barely has 10 singles wins in the last 6 months.  That rub is not going to take as well as it should because WWE can do very little to make the universe of fans happy about that match between now and then.

Think about how that rub would have worked for Bryan who had the credentials to get the win over Lesnar.  He would have been moving up the top wrestlers of all time charts with that win.  Yet, instead let's put over a new guy that's not ready.  It's very disrespectful booking and it's really bad when the fans can see it.

Bryan deserved this match and push.  He's a hard working guy taking a major risk to come back.  If WWE found out that he physically probably couldn't deal with a match at WM31 then they should have kept him out of the Rumble and used his misfortune to fuel someone like Ziggler to the win.

WWE knew that the in house crowd was going to be down on Reigns, so they did everything they could to protect him, which was to me so sad.  They sent Rock out there.  They eliminated Bryan early.  They keep Ziggler out of the final four.  They got it down to three heels and Reigns.  They blared the music to hide the boos.  It was cheap parlor tricks at their finest and sadly it only made it worse not better.

Reigns is such a rook that he didn't seem to understand the moment.  Even Batista sort of got it.  Yet I can't remember seeing such blatant tactics to protect a guy by a company.  Almost like they were protecting a real legend and not just some guy who's related to a guy that was the guy.

Tonight should give us some clarity.  We will see if WWE stays stubborn or regroups.  If people are pulling out of the Network and you've upset casual fans then I'm all for a regroup.  Yet I don't have my hopes really high.

Predictions For the Royal Rumble and Why

The Royal Rumble is tough to figure.  WWE has a lot of talent in Philly including apparently the Rock, which is skewing the outcomes a bit, but I'm staying with what I believe is best for business.  If you want to draw money at Mania I say Bryan will win the Rumble and Lesnar will keep the title.

Here's my thinking.  Lesnar beat the Undertaker in the biggest non-title match in the history of wrestling.  Then he destroyed Cena at Summerslam in the closest thing I've ever seen to a squash of a top star ever.  WWE put it's money on Lesnar.  While Rock and Brock would draw it's a part time thing that can't carry anything going forward.

I feel like WWE has invested too much in Lesnar to just have him drop the strap to setup a Rock match.  He needs to be kept as champion to give a major rub to Bryan.  A Bryan title win at Mania will make Bryan even hotter than last year and really put him over as a top guy.  This is something the WWE fails to realize.  Too often they want guys to get over 100% on their own, something that Bryan already did last year.  

To truly make Bryan a mega star they need to give him a mega win.  This would be a big deal and make him a big money draw for WWE going forward.  Contrast that with him beating Rollins who is just not hot enough.  Beyond his rocket pack over push what has Rollins really done in the ring in the last 6 months?  He's got the briefcase win and a some tainted wins over Cena and Ambrose.  He's just not good enough to be the other end of the story for Bryan or anyone really.

For those how make the case for Reigns I think you have two problems.  One he's flopping on the mic and fan aganst towards him has built in some corners.  I think Reigns could be the guy, but he needs a few programs with lesser talents to build him properly.  A run for him now would not achieve the same reception that Bryan over Lesnar would.

He would also seem very forced, which is something that could have a long term and very adverse effect on his career.  So I think you can't run the risk with a guy that could be the guy in a year or two.  Bryan would just draw them too much money off a win over Lesnar.  

WWE might see it different and they have been known to force feed as of late, so I won't be surprised if I'm wrong, but I'm going with the green and that's with those two guys right now.

I would also say that don't be too let down by a lack of surprise entrants.  The Dudleys because it's in Philly makes sense and Jake Roberts because he has shown he can stay sober.  Beyond that I don't think Orton is really a huge surprise, but should redebut in the match.  Although maybe because Orton is a natural foil for Rollins he just takes him out of the title match tonight.  

Fix That Angle! Cena Vs. Miz WM27

This is our first fix that angle piece focusing on Cena Vs. Miz at WM27.  Fix the angle is all about looking at a bad angle from WWE and giving it a rewrite that we think would have been better and easy to execute.  We do not intend to rewrite any angle in a way that is a major reach, but if we do please feel free to comment to us and point it out.

We usually pick angles that we feel hurt the momentum or even in this case career of a Superstar for no apparent reason.

The Setup.  The Miz is the World Champion going into WM27 and must take on John Cena in the main event.  The two have a well developed story.  The Miz is not over huge, but has garnered just enough respect to justify this main event. Cena is starting to grow stale on the WWE audience, but he's still the man at this point and this feels like a battle between the new guard kind of match.  Remember the prior WM was headlined by Taker and HBK.

Miz really got put over in his entrance package when WWE did a throw back of his entire career.  Cena did his usual big Mania entrance.  The Rock loomed over the match as he had been feuding with Cena and the plan seemed to be that somehow have Rock and Cena conflict at some point before the night was over.

The match was nothing memorable, but it wasn't a bad match in the early and middle stages.  Typically what you would expect between these two with a lot of back and fourth.  They went to the outside at one point and Cena speared Miz through a side railing and they were both counted out.  That finish felt very odd and flat, but the Rock quickly came out to restart the match.

The Rock then entered the ring after the match was restarted and Rock Bottom'd Cena costing him the match.  Miz got the win.  The Rock then entered the ring again and attacked Miz and then tossing him out of the ring.  He then celebrated on the top rope as we cut away from the event.

The outcome.  Cena and Rock had a a built in rivalry from a comments they had made over the years, so this was the major tipping off point to setting up their match the next year.  Cena wasn't hurt by the loss and actually won the title a month later, but he wasn't made to look equal to the Rock at all the next night on Raw because he got sneak attacked.

The Rock was white hot.  Despite openly costing the Cena the title in the main event of WM he was still cheered by the fans the next night.  I don't think there is anything worse you can do to anyone then cost them the main event of a WM other than hurting a family member.  WWE was so happy with the positive Rock response he probably could have taken a dump in the ring and people would have popped for it at that point.

The Miz was the casualty.  He slowly declined after dropping the strap to Cena and has never gotten close to be considering a top contender.  He was made to look so bad despite winning because of how he was disregarded.  He looked like a flunky that was just in the way of something bigger.  Although he's still a relevant worker and he appears to put a lot of hard work in to his gimmick WWE hasn't elevated him even close to as they did during this time.

So could this have been done better?  Why yes of course.

First WWE wanted to really ignite their Cena Rock feud, which they knew was going to be a ways off at WM28.  So, let's use that as the trajectory of the match.  You probably don't have to have Rock involved in the main event at all.  Instead let Cean just simply have the best match he can with Miz, but in the end have Cena triumph in a way that Miz looks really good.  Have Miz kick out of some spots where it should seem well over and then have him look like a sure fire winner in a few spots.  Really tease that Miz is going to win.  Then just have a solid transition to a final sequence.  Miz loses clean and in the end he and Miz exchange a show of respect like a forced handshake.  Let the Miz walk off looking strong.

As Cena celebrates in the ring hit the Rocks music.  Have him come down to the ring and stare down Cena.  The crowd would go nuts for this.  This is a major moment.  Have them start trading blows and then run a bunch of WWE officials out there to break it up and end the show with a fury of madness.  Off air you can have Rock get the mic and talk up the crowd, but to the viewers we would simply see that this is building to something huge.  We get a massive WM moment when they are staring each other down face to face center of the ring before the exchange.

The next night on Raw you booked the WM28 match and don't have the awkwardness of Cena looking like a loser from the night before or Rock have acted heel even though the fans accepted it.  Basically you have two guys looking strong ready to face off at years end.

The most important thing is the Miz doesn't come out of the event looking as bad as he did.  A shitty main event win over Cena and then getting treated like he doesn't even matter by the Rock did nothing for him.  A classic loss where he gave a massive effort builds him up for a possible face turn or just the fact that if you put him over a bunch in the coming months that he truly is a top guy.

You hardly ever hear the Miz treated or mentioned as a former World Champion.  There's no reason he shouldn't be higher on the card even to this day.  This match really hurt him and the subsequent booking did him no favors.

This angle stands out to me as the start of some really illogical booking by WWE that has only gotten worse.  Later that year a white hot CM Punk would also get hit with a major dose of illogical booking we will look at next time.

Lucha Underground and NXT Do Their Thing!

Lucha Underground and NXT were back this week with some great action promised.  Lucha was pushing the debut of Cage and NXT had the rematch between Neville and Zayn on tap.  How could these shows miss?  It was near impossible.  The wrestling fans were treated to PPV quality matches and that's not an overstatement in the least.

I will start with Lucha Underground because actually I thought it was the more complete show.  I thought NXT was out of this world, so I hope you can understand how good I thought Lucha was knowing that.  The show opened with a segment recapping recent events and leading to a reminder that Fenix beat Puma in the ten man match leading up to Azteca Warfare.  That set the table for Puma's first defense against Fenix, which Dario used to main event his show.  Dario did a good promo with Fenix to hype the match.  I enjoyed it.  The promo combined with the opening segment had me sold.  Fenix is special in the ring and matching him with Puma is a just a huge win win for Lucha.

Before we got to that match we opened the action with a four man elimination match featuring 4 new stars including the debuting Cage.  Cage is built like Rybak and you would assume that he would be stiff the same way, but that couldn't be further from the truth.  Cage can move like no other big man and has a move set and in ring comfort that is unmatched.  This is the guy that Vince has always dreamed of and I won't be shocked if he ends up in WWE very soon.  The best comparison is he can move like Brock Lesnar in his first WWE run, but probably has a greater understanding of how to work moves and sell.

They debuted three other stars in this match who all looked really good, so this match came off as really fresh.  This wasn't just a big 5 minute squash fest by Cage.  Instead it was a long match that let everyone get their stuff in, but Cage did shine big time here.  He wasn't just a big body.  He actually caught one guy in mid air, but not into a body slam, but right into a suplex.  I've never seen that.  Cage eventually started eliminating guys and got the win.  He cut a very brief promo and everyone came out of this match looking great.

Chavo and Blue Demon Jr. cut a promo segment together.  Blue Demon didn't say a word and hit a couple chair shots on Chavo to balance out their feud.  I would assume a match is coming soon between these two, but I assume Chavo and Sexy Star is the bigger payoff here.

Drago took on King Cueno.  This is the third time they have met and they are yet to disappoint.  These guys could have topped the card and it would have been fine.  The match was a draw after Drago jumped off the top of Dario's office onto Cueno through a table.  This feud goes on and rightfully so.  I'm totally fine watching a longer match between these two.

Right on to our main event where Puma and Fenix tore the house down.  Too many sequences for me to do this match justice.  Puma is a major talent and I'm saying that knowing he's yet to actually cut a talking promo.  Lucha Underground is safe with him as their champion and should be for some time.  They put on a fantastic match and I would watch it again if they made me.  Dare I say it was every bit as good as Neville and Zayn, because it was.

Cage hit the ring post match and destroyed Puma.  I think they need to put Cage in a few matches before they give him a shot, but his opening match might just have been enough to put him into a feud with Puma.  I was really happy that they weren't going to Mundo as Puma's next opponent.  Cage is fresh and as new as this show is it's good to see fresh meat being tossed into the title picture right away.

I really can't stress how amazing the action was on this show.  Lucha is building history quickly and they are continuing to introduce guys that are great in ring workers. You watch this product and wonder why WWE doesn't sign a handful of guys like this into their midcard to just add some action to their stale shows.  You constantly see moves in Lucha that you have never seen before.   Last night Argenis did a backwards fall from the top rope on to the outside.  I never have seen it and enjoyed it very much.  It also was a very safe move.

One spot that deserved major love was the suicide dive by Angelico over the corner turn buckle, which added distance, on to three guys.  This move was beyond solid, but he got right up and didn't play dead which I also thought was cool.  I'm sick of every guy hitting a high spot and then acting dead from the contact they caused.  Angelico could have been played off as a jobber and instead looked like a promising star, and I go back to what I said earlier they let him get his moves in.  That's how you let guys connect to the audience.  Pay attention WWE.

What was really good about this show is that you didn't see 80% of the roster.  That means next week we will get stars we haven't seen for a while, which keeps it fresh.  I'm a big believer that WWE product is over exposed and we tire of guys because we see them every week.  Mundo and Big Ryck have been major focal points and they were not seen tonight.  That only helps keep them fresh.  If Mundo topped the show next week against Mil and you didn't see Puma and Fenix you would probably still see a lights out show.  That's what they call roster depth.  Think back to the last time Rollins missed a RAW or Smackdown for that matter.

To contrast this in NXT we have seen Banks and Flair almost every week since the live event R Evolution.  Even on the year end recap show they had a feature match.  I needed a week off from them, but it was still a good match that they gave on NXT.  Good to see Banks get a win that wasn't by distraction roll up.  (The most dangerous move in wrestling these days.)

The show opened with Balor and Kidd.  They are great dance partners.  Balor's entrance was main event quality and he wasn't even painted up.  I tweeted earlier that I wondered if he would come out painted like a cat.  That match was great action.  Both guys are at the top of their in ring games.  Balor is a star on all accounts.  He has to go to the main roster.  It's like if Michael Jordan played a year in college during the 90's.  It would be cool, but kind of pointless.  His entrance alone is better than 80% of the guys in the main roster right now.  It only adds to his attraction and marketability.

Corbin and Dempsey was at least longer than a minute.  You can see why they have been protecting Corbin.  He botched some minor things and the whole match was very overbooked so they could get right to their finish.  I might have booked a DQ or double count out here.  I think this has more legs than just having him beat Dempsey in a short match.  I know they will probably revisit this, but it's going to have lost some steam.  They didn't do much to protect Dempsey here, but I understand pushing Corbin.

Corbin is getting all the love from the fanbase right now, but he's really probably a guy that needs to stay in NXT for a year at least.  Dempsey is actually probably way closer to being worth bringing up.  I'm not sure what the limit is for Dempsey, but I think if he can keep a good work rate and bump well he can be a solid guy in the main roster.  The problem is WWE views everyone as feast or famine.  Until that attitude changes I say keep both guys down in NXT to develop.

So skipping the ladies match, which we already covered we move right into our World Title rematch with Zayn and Neville.  They did a short piece earlier in the show to hype this match.  You can tell that Neville and Zayn have worked this match dark many times and they are starting to add nice twists to everything.

Just like the Lucha main event this was a spot fest with so many good parts.  Neville's kick through the turnbuckle to block Zayn's DDT attempt was my favorite part by far.  I thought the ending seemed a bit rushed, and didn't compare to their last match, but this is still a great treat.  Zayn gets the win and maybe Neville is headed to the main roster and the three way match with Owens is not going to happen.

Owens did hit the ring cut the best, and only, in ring promo of the night destroying Zayn.  Owens said nothing, but didn't need to use his words to get his point across.  I honestly can't believe this feud is going to happen in NXT because it's better than anything currently happening on the main roster.  Yet, since their is little hope WWE will be ready for something this good anytime soon let's book the match and start hyping it!

I know that both of these shows don't get the ratings that Raw does, but wow they were both so on point.  When people say they want more wrestling on Raw this is what they mean.  They want matches that have finishes, which is what both main events provided and they want action that keeps their attention.  How anyone could have watched Lucha and thought it was boring would shock me.  NXT didn't build a month around Kidd and Balor, but anyone who watched would be hard pressed not to enjoy their match.

This is what we need more of in WWE.  I do love great promo's and I prefer when RAW opens with a promo versus a match because I want the story to develop, but the rest of the night should be chalk full of great action match's and guys being allowed to get in their move set.  I think that WWE's main roster is capable, but the writing team is not at this time, so for now I'm going to just enjoy these two shows for what they are, the best SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT on TV right now.

A shout out to Jason Solomon who made me realize something on his Sound Off podcast, you can find this on iTunes.  He recapped the NJPW WK9 PPV and he talked about how JR put over the Okada drop kick.  He was so right about this.  JR had mentioned it a few times as something like we have all never seen before and when it came JR sold it like a million bucks and Okada nailed it.  When you intermix great commentary with action that lives up to it you get special moments.  Even before Jason recapped this on his show I had rewatched just that specific move twice.  Kudos for him to bringing that up.

I might put something out Saturday to cover Impact.  I'm not sure it's going to be something I watch on Friday because that time slot is brutal, but if I stay in that night I just might.  Until next time.

Raw Gets Over....A Very Low Bar

Anyone who read my expectations column that preceded this one knows that I set a very low bar for Raw this week.  Last week was so poor I kind of figured it would be rather easy for Raw to be better.  I also had some reservations that with a National Championship Game as competition the WWE might hold off a week and save it for the go home Raw into the Rumble next week.  In my opinion this was a terrible show that just on star power was better than last week, but otherwise this did very little to help the cause.

This week I'm not going to do a blow by blow because that would require me to put effort into breaking down segments where very little effort was put in the first place.  Take the Divas match where Paige lost to Brie by distraction roll up.  Tyson Kidd came on to the apron, for no apparent reason, and Paige was incensed so much by this she allowed herself to get rolled up.  This distraction roll up finish is becoming the laughing stock of WWE.  It's more dangerous than an RKO at this point.

Paige is a star.  She's got a unique look, can work the mic, is really good in ring, but WWE apparently is ignoring all this and treating her just a little better than they do every other Diva.  Brie has enough talent to put on a good five minute match with her.  So why not work a better finish, but the WWE writing crew refuses to work hard.  So why should the fans bother to watch any of these matches and get invested.

A great example of not allowing the fans to get invested is the Kidd Cesaro New Day feud.  Last week Kidd and Cesaro surprise attacked the New Day.  This didn't get a huge crowd reaction, but it was fresh and interesting and to those who believe Cesaro and Kidd have never been given a fair shake it was promising.  I would even argue that it gave the New Day something to do other than clap and look happy.

This week they had a match, which didn't surprise, but I knew was wrong.  The tag match between these two teams is the blow off of this feud.  That's how you finish it.  That's at least worthy of an under card PPV spot or at worst a few weeks of hype.  I would have expected to see a one on one perhaps, but not the big tag match.  To make matters worse the New Day just straight up won.  Fans had no chance to build some love for them or get excited about them getting revenge on Kidd and Cesaro.  They just went out and beat them clean.

How can we be asked to care about Kidd and Cesaro if they just got beat?  I fully expect WWE to have a return match where Kidd and Cesaro get a win or some singles spots to continue this, but the damage has largely been done.  So if WWE wonders why more and more fans are just fast forwarding through there shows let it be noted it's not just because of the main storyline.  It's the complete lack of care and effort to anything beyond the Authority and John Cena.

One more great example of this occurred on Smackdown.  Bad News Barrett lost clean in just a few minutes to Sin Cara.  That's right Sin Cara.  He's currently one half of the NXT tag team champions and basically a part time performer for WWE.  They used to him famously bury Alberto Del Rio on Raw this past year and for some reason they decided that they needed to put him over their newly crowned IC champion.

What sense does that make?  Let me tell you none!  The WWE is starved for top heels right now.  Lesnar is two matches away from probably leaving the company.  Rollins is really the only full time top heel.  He's being forced on us despite not doing all that much.  Then there's a big fall off to Rusev.  Wade Barrett should have officially became a 100% Authority underling last week.  He's the IC title holder.  He beat Ziggler who the Authority hate with a passion.  Instead he's losing to Sin Cara and if my memory serves me right he was just a lumberjack on the show last night.

Take the IC belt and just throw it in the garbage because it clearly means nothing.  Then start booking Barrett on NXT because following these bookings people don't and won't care about him.  I say that full well knowing that his Bad News gimmick was getting over.  He's a great heel and probably should be given a push.  I'm just not sure what he's lacking that WWE wouldn't do this.  There's a tailor made feud that can culminate at Mania with him and Ziggler.  I'm of the belief that Ziggler doesn't have and won't get a top match at Mania.  This would be the next best thing.  They had a chance to build for that by having Barrett get built up.  Literally just have him win every match he has over average competition for a few weeks until Ziggler is back. How hard is this?

That's how WWE is choosing to handle pretty much all it's non main event business.  They are continually putting good in ring performers into really short matches with poorly booked finishes where they are often trading wins and not getting in their move set.  That formula is awful and again is a big reason why the show is drawing so much additional hate.  It's also why you have no one able to grab the brass ring.  These guys don't book themselves.  It's near impossible to get over with the crowed when you are winning about half your matches.  Americans don't like .500 teams they want winners.

WWE also doesn't give you the logic you have to have to get fully behind an angle and this factor was on display again last night.  John Cena came out one week after being left with hat in hand and being blamed for the termination of three somewhat popular superstars.  So did Cena come out angry and wanting to do something about it?  No, he came out happy and played to the crowd and then he got to his plan for getting these guys rehired.  If I was one of those three guys logically I would be super pissed at Cena.

Even more important is that I would have not booked Cena to cut a promo like that and to take that attitude or to have the weird attitude he had when the Authority confronted him.  Why would he put up with all this?  The logic just doesn't work and it doesn't help the story.  It also didn't help that HHH wasn't upset that Cena was going to win and take the title home.  It's probably not a bad plan, but HHH behaved like he didn't care.  It's almost like two different people were writing this.  HHH should have cared.  It's logically he would just like Vince cared when CM Punk threatened to do it.  That's what gets the crowd behind it.

So your asking the fans to care about this angle, but HHH doesn't so why would they?  It's a lack of logic that WWE consistently puts out there.  Seth Rollins heel turn was shocking, but his logic for doing it and the timing was so off that it didn't go over as well as it could.  Rollins should have went over like a million bucks finally being the guy to quit on the Shield and then slowly drifting under the spell of the Authority and the lust for power.  Instead he went from breaking up Evolution the night before to joining them 24 hours later.  This was a WCW/TNA quality heel turn.  When Rollins finally was challenged to explain himself the best he could do was say he did it to be selfish.

It defied logic and when you do that people are less likely to care.  WWE has had to put a ton of effort into Rollins every since and many people feel like he is making it big.  I feel he has definitely been elevated, but it's taken a nuclear strength rocket behind him.  If he would have simply said that HHH came to him the night after their match and said that he realized after the beating Rollins gave Evolution that he was a special talent and he promised him money and title shots then hey we've got something here.  Instead they just copped out.

So let's just get to the only part of the show worth talking about and that was the contract signing.  It was good to see Heyman acknowledge that Seth Rollins being added to the match was not a good thing, and Rollins held his own.  HHH looked beyond uncomfortable allowing the other talent to tell the story.  Like they were stealing his spotlight.  He wasn't selling for anyone at all.  I think he honestly wasn't happy with the booking of ending and it showed.

The unfortunate part about this ending was it did nothing to help Cena.  I know many people would say they are beyond tired of him and I get that, but there's no reason to make him look like a lost little boy standing off to the side.  It was awkward just like his opening promo.  I also thought Lesnar needed to impose his will a little more here and be the guy.  I realize that they are trying to test the waters with Rollins and gauge fan reaction to him being the guy.  I'm not sure what they will think and I wouldn't try to, but I can understand if he does get the belt.  At least we would have a Champion that will likely be on the show again.

The downside is Rollins has lost so many times to Cena I don't think he has the ability to draw big money unless his dance partner is over.  He couldn't headline the next PPV against Ziggler and sell out the arena on his own.  That's not because Rollins won't ever be able to do that it's just because they have booked him so poorly the last few months and his whole stick hasn't been as logically as it could be.  Fans find him beatable and he's already been beaten by Cena and lost the big match at Survivor Series.

I also felt like the exchanges here were dumb.  Cena feel right into an awful curb stomp.  Lensar sold his better.  I would have just had the entire Authority help Rollins to top both guys.  I think that made more sense than the I'll do my move you do your move BS we got.  I have to say it helped Rollins though, but I'm not anymore invested in this PPV or match than I was at the start of the night.  Heyman's story telling was decent enough to make the segment watchable as well.

Some other notes would be the Daniel Bryan Stephanie segment.  This was another example of WWE trying to shill product to people in a really bad way.  Steph tried to put over her DVD.  I'm not sure how in the world they thought this was a good idea.  Bryan mildly made fun of it, but in previous years that DVD would have ended up being smashed into a 1,000 pieces.  A good way to make Stephanie more upset with Bryan and build some heat.  Now you just have people saying I'm not buying that and supporting a heel character.  That's bad marketing people.

We find out that Kane will be Bryan's opponent on Smackdown.  What a load of horse shit.  That's such a limited stale match.  We've seen it already too much.  I'm not sure why WWE thought that was good booking.  I would have rather seen him in their against anyone that can actually work.  Yet, WWE rarely books by observing what would make a good match quality.

Roman Reigns needs to get beat up badly on the next Raw by the entire Authority. Then he needs to go out into the Rumble and get screwed over by them and lose the match.  Then he needs to come out on the Raw after the Rumble as a no nonsense non-talking character that destroys the Authority one member at a time.  I mean this like when he beats you we don't see you for a few months on TV.  Then after Mania he can be pushed into a conflict with the Champion.  I could get behind that.

The promo's Reigns has been doing are beyond awful.  If WWE thinks that a Rumble win and slapping the belt on him will be well received after seeing how strong Bryan is with the crowd then they are sadly mistaken.  For Reigns sake he needs to be held back a little bit.  He can do a Lesnar and win the title at Summerslam then lose it somewhere along the way and then have a crowning match at WM 32 if he has earned the spot.  Again it's just common sense booking based on what I'm seeing.

Lastly the Macho Man stuff.  A couple of things that really bugged me about this was again WWE was trying to capitalize on this beyond being the big moment than what it is, but a way to sell more DVD's.  They turned his announcement into a promo for their recently released Macho Man DVD.  They also plugged the network by acting like they had just recently added the first 30 minutes of this DVD for subscribers to watch when it's been out there for a few months already.

I'm happy for Macho, but I think this could have been done in a more respectful way.

Next week WWE finally is free of any football competition.  Typically the show before a PPV is not very good.  It just fans the flames of all the feuds.  This week needs to be a little better.  I will say that Heyman needs to do something to show that he's got a plan to help Brock Lesnar at the Rumble.  If not then the last 9 months of pushing Lesnar has been a big waste.  Heyman also is presented as being devious, but if he's just going to stand by while Lesnar gets screwed then yet again I'm forced to ask where's the logic.

Until next time.

Big Week In Wrestling

It's a big week in Pro Wrestling.  Raw has to recover from what many thought was a bad show last week while competing against the biggest College football game of the year this week.  Lucha Underground has to progress their story-lines effectively to capitalize off their buzz from championship crowning match.  NXT has promised a loaded card for their move to Wednesday.  Impact needs to start making us believe that their move to Friday is watchable and Smackdown promised the return of Daniel Bryan to in ring action.  Here are a few of my thoughts on each show.

Raw was so bad last week that it made my top five list of worst Raw's ever.  The bar is not set too high this week, but I think WWE felt the wave of negativity for their lack of good storytelling last week, so I'm betting this week will be a bit better.  Their obviously comes a point when Sting returns, I'm not sure if it's this week.  WWE probably will position a way for their fake terminations to get back on the roster.

I'm hoping that Reigns takes a clear line against the Authority.  They started this on Smackdown, but they really need to drive that home this week.  I expect Daniel Bryan as he's going to be on Smackdown (which tapes on Tuesday) so perhaps they can set his match.  Cena needs to be recovered a whole bunch as much as he is overpushed he can't be made to look that weak.

Typically the go home show into a PPV, which is the following week, is not that good. So, I think they might roll with big developments this week, but you never can tell.  They tend to react to competition by being conservative and a big part of their audience will be locked into the football game.  So don't get your hopes too high.

Lucha Underground was quietly the best show I watched last week.  This program is still in it's infancy, but they are using experienced talents to put on great action.  It's important that their not trapped in the cycle like WWE and Impact of repeating the same match over and over because it's good action.  Usually we can only take so much of the same guys going out there with a minor story behind them.  I'm hoping that they can keep Mundo and Puma apart.  Also, I'd like to see Big Ryck go a different direction.  Why not have Ryck get some wins over lesser talent on the show.

I'm not sure how many shows they are taping at once, but I assume it's minimum four weeks worth of content maybe more.  That being the case they have to be correct in what they do because they can't change direction week to week with so many shows in the can already.  This is probably the biggest show for them because they have to move the storylines forward.  I'm pulling for these guys and hope the show is good.  Also more Son of Havoc.  That guy is underrated.

NXT was just ok to me last week.  There really wasn't anything insanely special.  It was good to see Zayn, but his promo was nothing all that moving.  The best part of the show were all the moments where they named the matches for this week.  The rematch with Zayn and Neville is an amazing booking as well as Kidd and Balor.  Literally they could spend the entire hour with just those two matches and the show will be hard to top.  Baron Corbin with meet Bull Dempsey and I'll give this feud some respect because they have built to this slowly, but I can't imagine it's a match that lasts very long.

I have a major fear that Zayn Neville will be a squash with Owens doing a run in.  When these two guys go it's art so that would annoy me a little and I'm a huge Owen mark saying that.  Yet, I can't blame WWE for looking to setup a three way with these guys for their next big live NXT event.  Balor finally gets to shine against a guy that can flat go in Kidd.  The in ring talent here is off the charts.  So beyond bad finishes this is probably the show of the week or at least the one I'm looking forward to the most.

Smackdown has already promised Daniel Bryan.  The only question is will this be a throw away match or something special.  WWE so poorly promotes Smackdown these days that they don't even know yet I'm sure.  Still I think this is worth tuning in for.  They are moving to Thursday so this is a kitchen sink show.

The last two Smackdowns were really good shows, considering the way the show has recently been booked, and that's a low bar.  WWE needs to spend a little more time acting like what happens on Smackdown matters.  The only way to do that is to really progress angles on that show that are talked about on the super long three hour Raw's.  I also like the idea of quietly only featuring certain guys on Raw and certain on Smackdown.  I wouldn't do a brand split, but allow fans to get invested in shows where they know their favorites will be.  I can't stress enough that they need to cross promote on Raw and announce more matches.  It can't all just be random.

Impact had a finish that personally was a big letdown to me because I'm so sick of all the heel turns.  Still what's done is done and they need to start building the story behind this and try to get us invested as to why this is important.  Friday nights that late are a death sentence so Impact needs to get really interesting really fast.

I'm really worried this roster has been run down too much and the heel turns have burned out the life of any angle.  I also feel like the talent that is left is not near the best of what they have had over the past few years.  This show really has to be interesting or I don't even know if they are worth continuing to cover.

Stay tuned as I'll be recapping each show as the week progresses.

WWE Reality

The Main Roster WWE product has been very poor as of late.  They can't seem to get anything right even the return of the Authority.  While they have been struggling for balance the NXT product continues to get high praise with HHH in charge.  Vince's ability to lead has been called into question while HHH looks like the next great promoter.  Is there a cold war in the WWE for ultimate control or is Vince swerving us all to swing HHH in to the big chair while protecting his stock price?  I haven't decided what I believe yet, but the facts suggest that something is amiss.

NXT puzzles me.  I find the product very refreshing and enjoyable, but I wonder why the roster is so stockpiled while the main roster in need of talent.  I'm beginning to believe that the WWE is treating NXT less like developmental and more like a brand.  A brand run by HHH proving he can run a successful show.

That's why he was out front at NXT Arrival doing the intro.  He's also being put upfront as the man behind the Performance Center with Vince having no interest and little input.  He's being deliberately behind shown behind the scenes of NXT on WWE.com supporting the talent.  Sometimes this is done as a work, but the point of this is obviously to show that HHH has his hands in NXT.  Let's not also forget all those twitter posts he has made with NXT talent.

I've taken issue with this because HHH is portraying the main heel on the WWE main roster right now.  Why show him being a good guy?  It confuses the audience.  The only explanation beyond feeding his own ego is to make sure everyone within the company and the fan base see HHH is in charge.

With the main roster starved for fresh heel talent, it makes perfect sense for them to draw stars out of NXT ready or not.  Yet, WWE continues to drive the same old same old product and ignore the fresh crop seemingly right under their hands.  They have two experienced fresh heels in their NXT roster that are on the wrong side of 30 with 10 years plus in the business already.

Finn Balor was head of the Bullet Club in New Japan Pro Wrestling.  That's the second biggest wrestling company in the world behind WWE.  He's headlined shows in front of 50 thousand plus people.  He's been on TV a ton.  He's an insane talent and he's also 33 years old.  That's right Finn is no spring chicken.  Yet, WWE felt it was correct to send him to NXT.  He signed in July, but didn't debut in a match until October.  Were they teaching him how to run the ropes for 3 months?

You can make the same case for Kevin Owens who's 30 years old.  Owens may have needed to get in a bit better shape, but otherwise his promo work and in ring work to this point has been stellar.  What's does he have to prove in NXT?

It really seems ridiculous when you think about it.  What are Balor and Owens doing wasting away in NXT for?  So they can learn where the WWE prefers to position it's camera's?

For those of you who think that transition from NXT happens quickly don't believe that fact.  Adrian Neville has been in NXT for 3 years.  His gimmick has barely changed from pre-WWE.  He may have improved on the mic a bit, but isn't that something he could have worked on doing promo's on Smackdown?  Why is a talent like Neville still in NXT when the main roster is starved for anyone that can do what he does?

When they aren't dragging out the call ups WWE is botching the transitions.  The Ascension were formed in the summer of 2013 and held the NXT tag titles for one day short of a year.  Yet the WWE just called them up to close out 2014.  That's right they held the tag title for a nearly a year, but it took WWE this long to call them up.  After doing so you thought it was easy just keep the same gimmick that was working in NXT and improve on it where possible.

Instead they repackaged them so they looked like a hybrid Demolition or Road Warriors.  I think many would have let this go by the boards, but WWE chose to have the group acknowledge the comparisons.  This immediately made the team seem hokey and easy cannon fonder for the most casual of WWE's fans.  Add into that the WWE booked them in third hour of Raw as two screaming idiots this week taking on two absolute jobbers.  We haven't seen local jobbers on Raw in the third hour ever.

I felt like this was a being done purposely.  A way of making people believe that maybe these guys and all the rest of the NXT roster should stay there as a brand on to itself.  If you combine by that with that fact that guys are being kept down there way too long despite there age it all starts to make sense to me.

They say in every crime you need a motive.  It's really simple in this case.  If Vince were to step down as WWE's top guy the stock price would plummet.  What major wrestling company has ever survived in the US that was not run by Vince McMahon?  So, Vince wants to paint HHH in the best light possible.  Put him in a no fail position in NXT and then run down the main roster so everyone starts questioning his own ability. (Mind you Dusty Rhodes is helping to book the NXT shows currently, so it's far beyond just HHH calling the shots.)

When the timing seems just right HHH is put into power.  He immediately calls up all the talent he has in place from NXT to recharge the main roster.  The WWE isn't hurt in the least if they stripped NXT bone dry because the show is basically just a bonus when you get the network anyway.  Plus it's easy to restock with guys that need to be repackaged and fresh new talent.

Think about Neville, Bryan, Cena, Owens, Zayn, Sting, Rollins, Reigns, Ambrose, Balor, Itami, just to name a few.  Anyone of those match ups is a main event on a PPV within a few weeks.  You could start that revolution next Monday and the show would light up twitter like a Christmas tree.  CM Punk would be a thing of the past.

HHH would receive praise from all corners of the wrestling world.  What a great idea for him to bring up all those guys people would say.  Vince could probably go to a part time schedule playing the role of figure head and relaxing a bit more while the stock price rises and stabilizes behind his handpicked successor.

Sound far fetched?  Perhaps, it's a bit area 51, but the pieces fall into place quite nicely.  The holes I could poke in this is that Vince could openly name HHH as the defacto head guy right now.  He could then say that he has Veto power over him, but behind the scenes take a huge step back.  Let it leak out that HHH really is running things.  The shareholders would likely see the spike in ratings if HHH made the correct moves and the price would rise as the ratings do.

Another is that Vince is obsessed with WWE.  Why would he ever walk away?  He loves his product.  What's happening is a cold war between he and HHH where HHH is sabotaging Vince by playing backstage politics and Vince is surrounding himself with an incompetent writing staff and group of  moronic yes man advisers and he really has lost touch.  When you really think about that it makes sense, but I just can't believe this Vince is totally different from the Vince that ran the company in the late 90's.

I would say it's all just BS, but it's the backstage leaks that make me think there is more than meets the eye.  In the past two years more info has been leaked about Vince and HHH than we have previously ever heard and I'm not talking about the CM Punk stuff.  You hear more and more about Vince rewriting shows and HHH pushing for things.

It's all hard to say, but I'm just forced to think that there is much more to meet the eye with this entire situation.  I will continue to form my opinion over the coming months, and observe how this all plays out.  Sadly I think the drama behind the curtain is far surpassing what is happening in front of the curtain.

CM Punk, Lucha Underground and Destination Impact!!

Last night was the kick off of Lucha Underground and TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America.  I'm going to give you my thoughts on those and a thought that popped in my head about CM Punk this morning.

Lucha Underground had it's big Azteca Warfare match last night to crown it's first champion.  I thought this would just be a no holds barred battle royal, but instead the only way to get eliminated was pinfall or submission.  So you were promised 19 falls, which I thought was very creative.

This also works better in the Lucha format since there is a lot of high flying.  It's hard to get your spots in if you can't go over the top rope.  Also, it seemed like numerous stars used common sense and rested on the outside when they could, I love common sense.  The hour flew by and the result with Prince Puma winning was probably correct.  I dug the Wrestle Kingdom 9 mention by Matt Striker.  I thought it might not have been bad to rip on Raw for being so shitty.  What's the worst that can happen WWE mentions their product in jest?  Wouldn't hurt their ratings in the least.  (WWE knows this and that's why they never mention anything not WWE, even NXT on the network barely gets mentioned or has a commercial spot running during their 3 hour show!)

My other takeaways were Son of Havoc is a beast.  He has been portrayed so far as kind of a flake, so I wasn't buying in, but his skill set cannot be denied.  The 90 seconds after his arrival were the best of the match for me.  He did a move where he dove head first into the ropes and was able to hit the rope right across this chest so he could bounce off of it and reflect back into his victim.  He was also freaky fast.  I think this guy is a diamond in the rough and I need to research his previous work.

I liked how they progressed all their angles, but also started new ones.  Johnny Mundo's kick on Mil's girl was killer, and I hope they had added that smashing effect because otherwise that was nasty.  It sets up perfect for Dario to now use Mil to punish Johnny, which should be good and allows Puma to do something else away from those two.

Prince Puma is killer solid.  Again not a guy I followed before this show started, but his in ring work is amazing.  This show works because almost everyone on the roster is a good dance partner so guys like him look good constantly selling and getting their moves in.  The roster quality on this show is off the charts.

I think the future is brighter for this company as that match was something special.  The hour flew by and I felt like I had been through war after it was all said and done.  I'm interested to see where this goes next, but I assume Dario will unleash his caged fighter with that key to battle Puma.  Also the debut of Cage should add some interest as well.

Impact followed Lucha and I thought that this was a good thing for both brands.  Why not piggy back off of each other, but later I found out that Impact is moving to Friday's.  I think that is a huge mistake.  Who's watching at 8 PM on a Friday consistently?  Friday's are generally one of the biggest go out nights of the week.  I think they will need to address this if the ratings really slump.  Wednesday is a good night for them.

I hated the opening segment.  It was just mindless to have everyone out there brawling.  It was not accomplishing anything and was very cornball.  I'm sure it was cool for the live crowd, but beyond that pointless.  I thought the impact of the Angle announcement was lost in all the madness.  I was happy he was stepping down as the GM and more happy that at least so far no one stepped up to be the next one so far.

His match, like many on the card, was very blah and same old same old.  You aren't getting your money's worth by having Angle out there wrestling in jeans.  That's a main event quality match, but I also realize they are trying to throw the kitchen sink at us for the first show.

I'm not going to be negative on the entire show.  There was good action, a few minor surprises, and it had a lot going on, which was refreshing, but I can't let that finish go.  TNA's biggest problem is that they look for the major heel turn way too often.  They build guys ups as faces for a short time and then look for riveting moments where those guys can turn.  Remember MVP, Angle, and Hogan were all saviors who eventually turned heel.

I'm not saying every heel turn they have done is bad, but they have done so many it's impossible to keep up with who is a heel or face.  Eric Young turning heel was just another example of this.  He was a face for a long time so TNA went for shock value by doing this and it fell very flat in my mind.  Samoa Joe has already flipped so many times I can't keep track.  TNA just can't keep doing this and pass their title around like it's just a prop and meaningless.

The real dumb thing was that Lokee lost his title 30 minutes before this, in the match of the night.  Would he really not get help from his new crew to retain his title.  Wouldn't it add some heat for his new crew if he got helped and turned heel on Aries?  Then Joe and Young could have been the guys turning at the end of the night, which would have been enough.  So to me this factor also made the whole thing feel a little dumb.

TNA needs to realize that it's hard to get invested in their product if we can't get invested in their characters.  Most casual fans want to pull for a guy, but when he flip flops a bunch they can't truly support him no matter how good he is in the ring.  I'm sure the people behind Eric Young weren't too excited last night with that finish.  I think that's what staled the product on Spike TV and starting on your new network this way was a mistake.  Just have a great Main Event match and let it be about the quality of your characters and wrestling.  Let the product breathe a few months before worrying about that kind of drama.

To close I had a thought on CM Punk. I have flip flopped on his situation many times over the last few months, but I was firmly on his side after hearing his podcast and not hearing enough from Vince about it on the Stone Cold podcast.  I did respect what Vince said that you don't air your dirty laundry.  I give him kudos for being a pro about it and I respect that, but I felt he owed the situation a little more info.  He could have used it to build heat for HHH, but I guess he didn't want to fan the flames.

Now that CM Punk has cleared the air with his side I thought time to move on, but what I realized today is the UFC announcement came shortly after the podcast.  To me it suddenly feels like Punk did the podcast to clear the air so that he wouldn't have to deal with questions about it during all this UFC Q and A stuff he is doing.  Now he has a pat answer of I said what I had to say about my time in WWE.  I think that's a PR thing as much as Vince apologizing for the wedding thing.  (Bottom line on that is if Vince was sorry whoever did it should be fired.)  (I don't think he would fire HHH though, damn.)

Yet, I can't give Punk a pass here.  I think he has to own up to having an agenda with that Podcast.  It raised his profile with all wrestling fans and made the UFC thing an even bigger deal.  Then later mentioning Daniel Bryan as the next guy who could jump was another way of grabbing headlines with WWE fans that he can get to watch his UFC event.  It keeps feeding the stories about him and WWE without talking about his time there.  Also, no chance Bryan ever does MMA, which is why Punks answer should have been more bland.

Do I completely dislike CM Punk because of this...no.  That's the problem I have with a lot of people.  They jump all over someone for a mistake they made or a selfish thing they did and don't forgive or garner too much hate on someone.  I still like the guy, but I take the opinion that he was being self serving in this situation.  It's not like HHH who has done so much stuff over the years that I fully dislike the guy...ok ok..I'll stop.

Until next time!  May your drop kicks land flush and your clothesline connect true.